Seizing the Body to Rebirth

It was a day in early May 2017, in Jingcheng, a second-tier city in the southeast of Huaxia.

To the residents of Anping Residential Complex in the southern part of Jingcheng, Chen Mo had always been a good-for-nothing. He spent his days idling away without any ambition, and no one ever saw him with a steady job. He had managed to scrape by for over a decade relying solely on the compensation money from that incident years ago.

The only thing that could be considered a merit was his healthy lifestyle; he never brought strange women home to stay the night. Yet, as Chen Mo grew older, this singular virtue began to take on a different meaning.

By the time Chen Mo approached 30, he still hadn't changed his ways, and this finally became his greatest flaw in the eyes of his neighbors—bar none. You ask why? A young man nearing 30, let alone being married, didn't even have a girlfriend. This was hardly the behavior of someone looking to settle down.

Chen Mo was an orphan. He once had parents who doted on him, but when he was 16, he accompanied them on a trip. The passenger bus they were riding in was involved in a tragic accident, and in the end, he was the only survivor after emergency treatment.

Since then, Chen Mo, who had once been cheerful and lively, gradually became gloomy and introverted. He truly lived up to his name, becoming increasingly silent and reticent. Little by little, he completely sealed himself off within his own world.

Having no relatives or connections, there was naturally no one who truly cared about him. Occasionally, one or two warm-hearted neighbors would try to counsel him, but he would mostly just brush them off with a perfunctory "uh-huh" or "yeah." In the blink of an eye, over a decade passed; Chen Mo hadn't suffered any major illnesses or disasters, and he had managed to survive, albeit barely.

Around 3:00 PM, Chen Mo packed his bag with offerings, incense, and candles. After locking his door, he left his residence.

On this day over a decade ago, Chen Mo had lost both his parents. Every year on this same day, he would take his offerings and head to the cemetery where they were buried to pay his respects.

Because the accident had occurred around 6:00 PM, the paranoid and persistent Chen Mo would always arrive at the cemetery around that time each year.

Jingcheng Second Public Cemetery was located in the eastern suburbs of Jingcheng, occupying several low, earthen hills. Though the hills were not high, they were lush with vegetation. Being in the month of May, the entire cemetery appeared vibrant and green.

By the time Chen Mo arrived at Jingcheng Second Public Cemetery by bus, it was already past 4:00 PM. Because it was located in the suburbs and it wasn't a peak season for visiting like Qingming or the Winter Solstice, the cemetery was virtually deserted, appearing vast and silent.

Chen Mo didn't mind. With his bag on his back, he walked straight toward the small hill on the east side of the cemetery. His parents' final resting place was on the hillside of that eastern hill.

An hour later, Chen Mo reached his parents' tombstone. He opened his bag and first took out a rag, carefully and meticulously wiping the tombstone as if he were afraid that using too much force might damage the stone. After cleaning it with care, he stood up to clear away the fallen leaves and the occasional piece of trash blown in by the wind near the grave.

Once the cleaning was finished, he placed the offerings he had prepared—dishes, fruit, and ceremonial wine—one by one onto the altar in front of the tombstone. Finally, he took a small copper incense burner from his bag and set it before the offerings.

Chen Mo silently lit the incense and inserted it into the burner, then knelt before the grave and respectfully kowtowed nine times. Only after everything was done did he place his bag on the ground and sit on it casually. He picked up a six-pack of beer he had set aside and began to drink in silence.

Chen Mo didn't usually drink, but every time he came to visit his parents, he prepared a few cans of beer for himself. In his mind, this was a reunion drink for his whole family. As he drank, he reminisced about his parents and the happy times they once shared, sometimes talking to himself to tell his parents about his recent life.

Taking a sip of beer, Chen Mo's gaze grew unfocused as he sank into memories. The dim light of the setting sun shone on his profile, and the surroundings were quiet and soundless. Soon, after a few cans of beer, the haze in Chen Mo's eyes cleared.

"Dad, Mom, take care of yourselves where you are..." Chen Mo said in a low voice. Then he muttered to himself, "I will live on, I will live on..."

Chen Mo would never forget that dark, rainy night. When he was pulled from the mangled bus by a kind passerby, his father had looked at him with an indescribable expression and used his final strength to shout, "Live on..." Chen Mo would never forget that. It was his father using his life to make one final cry, deeply branded into the depths of Chen Mo's soul.

"Dad, Mom, I'm living well... very well... you don't need to worry about me..." After opening another can of beer and taking a deep gulp, Chen Mo said in a hoarse voice.

The sunset's glow was about to vanish. Chen Mo looked at the incense in the burner; he always waited for it to burn out before packing up to leave. In truth, he had thousands of words he wanted to say. Over these many years, in order to "live on," he had studied Taoist scriptures and read Buddhist texts. Yet, after more than a decade, unsurprisingly, he had achieved nothing.

Chen Mo finished the last can of beer in one breath and silently put the empty can into a trash bag. Looking at the incense in the burner nearing its end, he said with a touch of despair, "A few more years... if I still fail, I'll just find some woman to marry. I'll have a grandson for you... and let him live on in my place..."

A gust of wind swept by, making the leaves rustle loudly. Chen Mo looked up at the sky. Unknown when, the dark, gloomy sky had become covered in leaden-black clouds. Like the arrival of the apocalypse, the immense pressure made Chen Mo feel a palpitation in his heart.

Suddenly, a bolt of purple lightning struck down from the clouds, illuminating Chen Mo's face, which was frozen in a state of shock before it could even turn into fear. The lightning was so swift that in the next instant, Chen Mo lost consciousness. Only one belief flashed through his heart:

May death... not be eternal...

The last of the incense in the burner burned out at the same time, leaving only the photo of Chen Mo's parents on the tombstone smiling brilliantly...

Darkness, silence, like the void before the birth of the world, with no concept of the passage of time. In the midst of this dead silence, Chen Mo's consciousness drifted. He did not know how long he had existed here, nor did he know how much longer he could exist.

The void's dead silence was like freezing ice, sealing his thoughts and corroding his will. It struck his soul again and again, attempting to make him melt completely into the void. Chen Mo had the distinct feeling of being melted, and as for what would happen after he melted? He really didn't want to know, nor was he willing to know.

He couldn't remember how many times he had wanted to give up, but whenever he felt his soul was about to melt, he would feel a tingling sensation emerge from the depths of his soul, spreading throughout his entire being. He could feel his soul gradually growing stronger.

After countless times, Chen Mo's consciousness gradually became stronger and clearer, and his past memories were all clearly recalled. He felt his soul becoming more and more condensed; perhaps he really could hold on forever...

A ray of light flashed through Chen Mo's heart. The sudden change stimulated Chen Mo, who had been lost in memories, and then an abruptly appearing, immense suction pulled Chen Mo's soul toward that ray of light.

May death... not be eternal...

On a rainy afternoon, in the back hills of the Lassos Noble Vocational Academy located west of Linshui City, a youth with short golden hair and wearing a white Knight uniform was standing under a tree to avoid the rain.

The youth looked at the sudden thunderstorm with confusion in his purple eyes. He pressed his body against the trunk of the tree, trying his best to avoid the onslaught of the rain.

Clouds rolled in the sky, and bolts of lightning illuminated the heavens. Abruptly, a bolt of lightning struck straight down, hitting the very tree the youth was leaning against for shelter. The immense power of the lightning split the tree in two and then slanted down onto the youth. The youth only had time to let out a subconscious scream of "Ah..." before he collapsed to the ground, smoke rising from his body.

After the golden-haired youth lost consciousness, a purple light suddenly appeared and crashed straight into the youth's head.

Chen Mo's soul transformed into purple radiance and slammed into the youth's sea of consciousness. At this moment, the youth's sea of consciousness was in chaos, and Chen Mo's soul felt very uncomfortable. After a frantic search, Chen Mo finally reached the center of the sea of consciousness, where he saw the youth whose soul had been shattered by the lightning strike.

At this time, the youth's soul had already shattered into dozens of fragments of various sizes, floating unconsciously in the sea of consciousness. Chen Mo looked at a small fragment floating before him and subconsciously reached out with his own soul to touch it. A segment of memory that originally belonged to the youth suddenly flooded in. As the fragment completely merged into Chen Mo's soul, it created a subtle connection between Chen Mo's soul and the youth's body.

Chen Mo, struck by a flash of inspiration, did not hesitate. He quickly stepped forward and merged all of the youth's shattered soul fragments into his own soul one by one. Afterward, Chen Mo sank into the youth's vast memories.

The rain had stopped. At the base of the fallen tree, the unconscious golden-haired youth let out a hoarse groan. After a long while, the youth struggled to open his eyes. He did not get up immediately but lay on the ground to rest for a while longer, after which he tried to sit up, leaning his back against the tree roots.

Chen Mo silently surveyed the unfamiliar environment. In his eyes, there was shock, curiosity, and that trace of hope in the deepest part of his heart. Seeing that evening was approaching, he felt his new body and discovered that there were only some minor abrasions. He wanted to return to the dormitory of the youth from his memories to rest.

At the same time, because he had devoured the youth's soul, there was no longer any barrier to controlling the youth's body.

Chen Mo sat for a while to recover his strength. After about twenty minutes, he picked up the single-handed sword the youth had been holding and used it as a cane. He began his stumbling journey back to the dormitory.