Reincarnation: A Wuxia/Xianxia Cultivation Novel (Path of Lazy Immortal Book 1)

by A P Gore

  Damn, it was a Soul Stone. In his previous life, he had only seen this thing in an auction where he couldn’t even open his mouth to speak a single word. Now he saw it from inches away.

  “Wow, what a brilliant stone.” Fei’er reached for it. “I can create an earring with it.”

  Wei quivered and slapped her hand hard. If the stupid lass accidently touched it before de-activating the array, she would lose her soul instantly. “Stay away. Not every shiny object is a good thing.”

  Arrays had powerful mechanisms embedded in them. Even though one could activate the power source of low-grade arrays by knowing the proper power points, if one dared to touch the power source, it would explode. High-grade arrays didn’t even allow one to view the power source. They had a different mechanism altogether.

  “Ouch, it hurts, young master.” Fei’er stomped her foot and stepped away.

  Wei heaved a sigh of relaxation and wiped his sweat away. The lass had almost died a moment before. If he hadn’t studied that ancient book for fun, he wouldn’t know about this type of array, and he might have died too.

  But who the fuck put such a formidable array in a sewage system? Unless something precious lay beyond this door, no one would put a Soul Array, right?

  He grew excited suddenly, and he touched other points of the array. Although this array was beyond his capabilities, it was severely damaged, and for an Array Master like him, it was a child’s play.

  “Young master . . .” Fei’er quivered and huddled close to him.

  “Fei’er, stay away from this thing. It’s dangerous,” he shouted.

  “Young master, there’s . . .”

  Annoyed, he turned toward her, but his gaze jumped to the ten Two Fang Wolves standing at the tunnel entrance.

  Shit!

  Chapter 19 Inconceivable Strength

  Li Ti moved through the forest allocated to the Li clan near Old Martial City. Since Li Sua was in the dungeon, he had to look after the business and day-to-day activities of the branch. Although he’d found no fraud in the accounting books maintained by this branch of the clan, he couldn’t find the reason for Li Sua’s apparent wealth either.

  There had to be something he had missed, but he couldn’t find it even after searching the Li clan compound and accounting books ten times. He’d even checked all their servants’ houses, and there was nothing suspicious.

  Then where did Li Sua get the money in the chest from? If he didn’t know better, he might have thought Li Sua had bought that Foundation Refirming Pill, but that wasn’t possible. The legit kid of Li clan, Li Wei, had found it in a hole in the Ancient Ruins; Tang had confirmed it with his own eyes.

  Then where did this money come from? While walking through the small encampment established by the wood cutters, he found an enclosed area.

  When he asked around, he found Li Sua had enclosed this area, and everyone was forbidden to enter. They claimed there was a strange Ferocious Beast living there, and Li Sua had told them to not enter if they didn’t want to die.

  Out of curiosity, he walked inside the enclosed area. Ferocious Beasts were dangerous, but with his cultivation he could at least save his life and run away.

  However, after walking for five minutes he didn’t find any Ferocious Beasts in the area, nor there were any tracks that supported Li Sua’s story.

  When he was about to turn back, he spotted another small enclosed area. And after entering it, he found the answer to his question. His heart raced faster and faster as he stared at the small Earthly Fruit Tree growing in the middle of the forest. Earthly Fruit Trees produced a rare herb that could fetch a lot of money at market.

  With a thumping heart, he turned back and dashed to the Li clan compound. This had to be reported to his father, and this tree had to be protected. This city might become the next headquarters of the Li clan in the future. That tree was much too important for their clan’s development.

  It had to be protected at any cost.

  ***

  Ten pairs of vengeful red eyes stared at Ki Fei, and her heart almost gave up. A shiver passed through her tailbone, and she lost strength in her legs and flopped down. That beast also had ten pairs of eyes lined on its neck, and it always said it wanted to devour her like it had devoured her parents.

  Her soul wanted to jump out of her body and run away when the beast licked its fangs. For fifteen years, she’d faced this nightmare, and many times she’d wanted to give up on her life so the beast would stop hunting her, but then the young master had come in her life, and the beast had vanished.

  But it was back.

  This time even her young master couldn’t save her.

  “Fei’er, give me the beast pills,” her young master said, but she was out of her wits. She shrank back until her back touched the metal wall. The beast was here to eat her, and she was going to die.

  “No, I don’t want to die,” she cried, and then everything went black.

  ***

  Li Wei frowned. No, his heart almost jumped out of his ribcage when the little lass dropped on the ground, and then she’d passed out after blabbering some nonsense. What was wrong with her?

  Fear jumped to his throat. How could she throw a tantrum at this moment and pass out? Without the Beast Subduing Pills, he couldn’t face all of these beasts together. Damn, if only he could access the storage ring himself! But he lacked qi cultivation, so he couldn’t.

  Squatting, he slapped her soft cheeks. “Fei’er, stupid lass, get up.”

  But she didn’t react.

  Damn this girl.

  All ten beasts stepped forward in unison, their canines out and thick white saliva dripping from their fangs. Under purple light from the array, they looked like ugly monsters. It irked him to the bone. Their message was clear. These bastard beasts wanted to shred him into pieces with their sharp canines.

  Dream on.

  With no other option, he drew the sword from the back of his gray robe and stepped forward. Thank god, he hadn’t put the sword in the storage ring or he would’ve had to fight with his fists. That would be suicidal.

  “Come and become our food!” Shouting, he activated One Sword Strike and hit the nearest beast with a rapid motion. Like a knife cutting tofu, his sword pierced through the beast’s hide, drawing a line of blood along its path.

  Blood. Wei’s eyes glimmered when he spotted the blood. It acted as a stimulus, and he attacked the beasts in a frenzy.

  Three strikes in, he’d nearly cut one beast down. This strength almost exceeded that of a layer two qi Refinement Realm cultivator. All these wolves had strength equivalent to a layer three qi Refinement Realm cultivator, and normally only a layer two qi Refinement Realm cultivator could hurt them, but he’d done it with his layer one body cultivation.

  This was inconceivable and thrilling.

  However, before he could enjoy his little discovery, two beasts charged at him from other sides. They were coordinating their attacks.

  Wei spun on his toe and avoided the attack. While he swung around, his sword cut through a beast’s body horizontally. When the sword tip met the body of the beast, sparks flew and the rebound force jumped through his sword into his right arm, numbing it for a breath’s time.

  Why did he fail?

  Once again, he activated One Sword Strike and chopped at the same beast. This time his sword tip cut through its neck with ease.

  It was the martial skill. The martial skill only worked when he attacked overhand. Although he hadn’t put a single drop of qi inside the blade, the martial skill had been perfected to exert all of his might in that attack, and that didn’t happen when he swung his sword horizontally. Basically, he lacked the strength to cut through these beasts with lateral attacks.

  That made sense.

  A beast leaped at him out of nowhere, and its fangs pierced his left shoulder.

  Wei stabbed his sword into the beast’s eye and pushed it away. The beast howled in pain and retreated, but in the momentary gap another beast s
ank its fangs into his right side.

  “Damn you bastards.” Pain shot into his brain, and he punched the beast with his left hand to push it away. His punch worked somehow, and the beast retreated, but it retreated with a big chunk of oblique muscle in its jaws. Torrents of pain shot through his whole body, and blood sprayed from the wound. The whole room swirled around him for a moment, and a small pool of blood accumulated around his legs. That bastard beast had taken a big chunk out of him, and he was losing blood like a tap left open.

  This was bad. With this injury, how could he swing his sword with all his might? If only he had those Beasts Subduing Pills, he could win this easily and see what was behind the defense array.

  Shaking his head, he pushed that stray thought away. Now wasn’t the time. Although his body couldn’t take this pain, his mind could. In his previous life, he had spent days inside a boiling furnace, and this was nothing compared to that torture.

  He could do this. No, he had to do this. He couldn’t die just after getting reincarnated. If he did, that would be the biggest joke of both of his lives.

  Gritting his teeth, he slashed his sword at the next beast coming to take a bite out of him.

  No, he would not die here. He had to save Fei’er too. So, for that, he had to continue on.

  Chapter 20 Blood Pearl

  Pain shot across Li Wei’s whole body when he tried to move his right arm. The pungent taste of blood filled his mouth. It was impossible to move even an inch. Without his consent, the cold metal sword in his hand tilted down like it weighed a thousand pounds. It took everything he had to hold it tight.

  He licked his dry lips. His chest heaved like he’d run a thousand miles and couldn’t control his breath anymore. The battle had taken a bad turn.

  But he would not give up. In the corner of his eye, he spotted a beast marching toward Fei’er, so he dashed madly toward her. “Die, you bastard.” Cursing, he kicked with all his might. If he failed, Fei’er would die, and he couldn’t let that happen. In his whole life, only that lass had cared for him. He couldn’t lose her.

  At least not in this life.

  His right leg ignited with a might unknown to him, and his foot shot forward with crazy fast speed. So fast that he nearly lost balance from his other leg. If it wasn’t for his divine sense being strong and sensing his body’s condition, he might have fallen flat on his back.

  When his leg closed on the beast, something ignited inside it, and its speed increased to an unfathomable level, almost blurring and reappearing an inch away from the beast’s stomach.

  The beast sensed something was wrong, and it tried to stop its advance, but it was already in motion so it had to take on Wei’s kick head on.

  Just before his kick thrashed in the beast’s stomach, Wei felt an unfathomable power exploding in his right leg, and his leg grew hotter and hotter with every fraction of a second.

  His leg hit the beast’s stomach like an elephant ramming into a wooden tree. The beast’s body caved in. It was sent flying at the opposite wall, and when it crashed with a bam, it dropped in a pool of blood and meat.

  The beast didn’t even have time to howl or cry. It was dead before it hit the metal wall.

  What the hell was that?

  The rebound force from the kick shot inside his leg and nearly paralyzed it, but he didn’t care anymore.

  Wei gasped in shock. How could his leg explode with this power and kill a layer four Refinement Realm beast with a single kick?

  But he had no time to dwell on it, as the other beasts would not wait for him to recover. They had already leaped at him.

  Planting his still-sane left leg, he attacked with One Strike Sword and cleaved another beast’s head.

  Another shock spread through his mind. Even after losing a piece of his right oblique, he could wave his sword like it didn’t matter.

  One Sword Strike. The sword descended like an avalanche and sliced through another beast’s head.

  How was this possible? After losing a fist-sized piece from his body, he still had the same momentum to fight. It was like that part went numb after the beast’s bite tore it off him.

  While attacking another beast, he cast a quick glance at the wound. A fist-sized piece of flesh was still missing from his body, but the wound had stopped bleeding, and he felt his blood avoiding that part while moving through his meridians.

  Was this even possible?

  Taking another risk, he sent his divine sense into his body and almost lost his balance. This was the epitome of receiving one shock after another. Even after losing so much blood that it pooled on the metal floor, his blood percentage still neared ninety eight percent.

  But then he spotted a change, and his eyes lit up with understanding.

  His ninety-nine blood pearls had reduced to eighty-one. That had to be the reason he still had ninety eight percent blood in his body. There was no other explanation. The blood pearls could be used to increase his strength and replenish his blood in dire needs.

  Yes, it had to be that.

  Wow! If more people knew a cultivation art like this existed, immortals would fight over it. No matter what, he could let no one find out about this, and he had to get into that secret realm in this life too. Just to prevent anyone from finding out this cultivation art.

  Two beasts leaped from either side of him, but with his newfound power, he roared like a beast and thrashed them with his sword.

  The battle continued.

  The madman that didn’t care about his injuries and the seven crazy beasts that needed to kill that madman fought like wild animals, stabbing, slicing, and biting each other. But the casualties only occurred on the beasts’ side, while the man became more enraged with every new wound on his body. It was like with every drop of blood he spilled, he gained new strength.

  A strength that could transcend the heaven and earth.

  ***

  Ki Fei regained consciousness in the middle of battle and immediately wished she hadn’t.

  Her young master stood a few feet away from her in tattered clothes. His untied black hair rested on his long black, and his right shoulder was missing a big chunk of meat. Blood streamed from his shoulder and traveled down his arm, finally dripping from the tip of the sword he held in his right hand.

  He looked like a god of war.

  His demeanor frightened her.

  “Young master.” She wanted to cry, but she couldn’t. Despite being naïve, she knew he fought with all his might and disturbing him would only break his concentration. The way he stood, he seemed to be in control, but anxiety filled her heart. In the last ten days, her young master had bled constantly. It was like the curse of a blood god haunted him. The more he bled, the more the blood god felt satisfied.

  But why? Why was he facing such hardship? Why couldn’t he rest a little and let go of his worries? One after another, desperate situations fell upon him, and he had to face them without being able to cultivate properly.

  Maybe it was because she wasn’t strong enough to help him. If she could wield a sword and fight alongside him, he might not suffer this much.

  Her mind settled, she rose from her place and pulled a sword out from the storage ring. She was going to give all she had in this fight. If she died, then so be it, but she would help her young master.

  “Stupid lass, if you are awake, throw some Beast Subduing Pills, would you?” the young master panted and struck with his sword, finishing off a half-dead wolf beast.

  “Aiyaa.” She wanted to smack her face. How could she forget that? Suddenly she realized the young master suffered because of her, and guilt struck her heart.

  But that beast . . .

  Suddenly hundreds of red eyes appeared in the doorframe, staring at her, threatening her soul. Fear crawled up her spine, and she lost her will and dropped to the ground. Unconscious.

  She’d once again failed to help her young master. Maybe she should just die instead.

  Chapter 21 Desperate Struggle

>   Drip. Drip.

  Blood dripped from Li Wei’s sord, adding to the blood pool formed under his feet. It was his own blood, mixed with the beasts’ blood, and it gave him goosebumps. He’d done his fair share of killing in his previous life, but it was all done under unavoidable situations. He’d never enjoyed killing to steal resources or to enact revenge. When he’d had to kill, he’d done it cleanly. He could say he wasn’t fond of blood in his previous life.

  But this life was different. Standing in tattered clothes with a warm heart and cold eyes, he felt different. Something he’d never felt before. Seeing all this blood on the ground didn’t disgust him, nor did it make his heart quiver like before. It actually sent a thrill down his core, and he seemed to like it.

  Maybe the cultivation art had a true meaning.

  Blood above all!

  Licking his lips, he scanned the four remaining beasts growling low. His heart urged him to jump in between them and make spurt blood from their bodies.

  Unfortunately, he had to suppress this killing instinct and think about his blood pearl consumption. He was dripping blood, and replenishing it at a greater rate, but he had also used seventy blood pearls killing six beasts. It was a waste of his resources.

  One of the beasts moved, and when he glared at the bastard, it stepped back like it feared him. His heart beat faster than a flying sword traveling at the speed of sound. He bet his enemies faced a similar situation. Although they had a number advantage, he’d proved himself to be their nemesis.

  So far.

  But before he could relax and recuperate, he had to kill them. Swiftly. If he couldn’t finish this fight quickly, he might die here. He had already consumed seventy blood pearls, and every full strike consumed ten blood pearls. If he survived this, he might need to learn a method to reduce the consumption or utilize it through a few medium-strength strikes instead of one full-blown attack.

  Because of all the blood seeping from his wounded shoulder, his sword hilt had turned slippery, but he held on to it. His brain was working on overdrive to calculate the best way to deal with the four remaining beasts.