After furiously tearing the beast-hide book to shreds, Qin Yu collapsed weakly to the ground. Tears glistened in his eyes as he stared hatefully at every word on the torn hide, each one stabbing into his heart like a blade and leaving him in wrenching agony.
Qin Yu was an orphan. He had been taken in by Tian Qi Sect's Ninth Elder when he was young. In Qin Yu's heart, Tian Qi Sect was his home, and the Ninth Elder was like a father to him.
Though he had been born with severed meridians, the Ninth Elder had not abandoned Qin Yu because of it. Instead, he had cared for him meticulously, paving the way for the peerlessly brilliant Qin Yu of later years.
Because the Ninth Elder spent all year in seclusion, Qin Yu had mostly been accompanied by his senior brother Lin Yu after turning thirteen. Lin Yu possessed unparalleled talent and was hailed as the foremost youth of Tian Qi Sect.
Still inexperienced in the ways of the world, Qin Yu had regarded his senior brother Lin Yu as the person closest to him aside from the Ninth Elder. Even when Lin Yu took away the jade pendant that had always accompanied him, Qin Yu had not minded.
But when Qin Yu was fourteen, Lin Yu's behavior became strange. Nearly every other day, he would take a drop of Qin Yu's blood. This continued for an entire year.
Though curious, Qin Yu did not mind. He even gave Lin Yu the first secret art he had created: the Power of Immortal and Demon.
Yet the changes that followed caught Qin Yu completely off guard. His senior brother Lin Yu actually betrayed Tian Qi Sect, and from that moment on, Qin Yu discovered that his body was aging by the day. The ancestor of Tian Qi Sect determined that he had been poisoned by the foremost poison of the Immortal Martial World—the Netherworld Nirvana Poison!
Poisoned to the core, Qin Yu endured for six years. In the span of those short six years, he changed from a high-spirited, vigorous youth into a dying old man with one foot in the grave.
During those six years, Qin Yu lived through the darkest years of his life. He pieced everything together and finally concluded that Lin Yu's actions were most likely connected to that pitch-black jade pendant.
He had carried that jade pendant on him when the Ninth Elder found him, and it was likely related to his origins. Qin Yu remembered that the pendant resembled a bead, covered in densely packed, dragon-flying-phoenix-dancing patterns. In the end, those patterns formed the figure of someone sitting cross-legged!
Past events surged into Qin Yu's mind like a tide. He blankly stared at the beast-hide fragments as tears streamed endlessly from his eyes. His heart twisted in agony, filled with boundless resentment and killing intent.
"I've been reborn, but everything is gone. Tian Qi Sect has been destroyed, and Grandpa Ninth... I fear he too fell to Lin Yu's vicious hand!"
Qin Yu was utterly disheartened, but when his gaze inadvertently fell upon the words "Blood Emperor" on a beast-hide fragment, his pupils shrank sharply. Like a madman, he pieced the hide back together. When he saw the complete passage, Qin Yu suddenly burst into wild laughter.
"The Blood Emperor gathered fragments of the Immortal Martial World with supreme divine abilities, erected a stone monument upon the ruins of Tian Qi Sect, engraved the vast stars, passed down the law of eternity, and established the Ancient Star Sect. From then on, the Immortal Martial World was renamed the Star Realm!"
"It's Xue'er!" Qin Yu laughed loudly, tears overflowing from his eyes. He remembered Xue'er's terrified, frightened sobs when he died in his previous life.
Xue'er... had become the Blood Emperor!
How much hardship and how many setbacks had that timid, shy Xue'er endured to become the Blood Emperor step by step?
Qin Yu was both excited and heartbroken beyond measure.
At the side, Xiao Tao watched Qin Yu cry and laugh through tear-blurred eyes. She was both frightened and sympathetic as she looked at him, her thoughts a pot of porridge. If Third Young Master had gone mad, what would become of her and Xiao Hua in the future?
Qin Yu stood up feebly and staggered out of the Library Pavilion. Xue'er was alive. That was good.
"Lin Yu, I will make you repay your blood debt in blood!"
After returning to the small courtyard, Qin Yu sat cross-legged and quietly began digesting the memories of this body bit by bit. Just then, the door was pushed open, followed by a reproachful voice.
"Brother, I told you to take a detour whenever you saw Qin Feng, but you wouldn't listen. I told you not to sneak peeks at the Thirteenth Princess, but you wouldn't listen. I told you to cultivate properly, but you still wouldn't listen. If you keep this up, Xue'er won't want to care about you anymore! You're already fifteen. Father said that if you don't reach the Martial Realm before you turn sixteen, he'll never let you leave the Qin Family for the rest of your life."
Qin Yu stared blankly at the exquisitely carved, jade-like girl who ran in, and his gaze abruptly froze.
Xue'er? Qin Xue?
Though the memories of this body told Qin Yu that she was merely this body's biological younger sister, Qin Xue, an inexplicable feeling welled up within him as he looked at the graceful Qin Xue.
Seeing Qin Yu's vacant expression as he stared at her, Qin Xue puffed out her cheeks. She wanted to scold him, yet could not bear to do so. She could only say, "If you don't like cultivating, then forget it. Read more books instead, study how to do business. That way, you'll have some standing in the family in the future and won't be bullied by others. But you insist on running off to sneak peeks at the Thirteenth Princess. The Thirteenth Princess is a phoenix atop a parasol tree, not someone people like us can hope to reach."
"Xiao Hua told me about what happened yesterday. Qin Feng forced you to kneel again. Xue'er is angry, but I don't want to avenge you. I just want you to learn your lesson. Otherwise, how will you die in the future..." As Qin Xue spoke, tears continuously fell from her eyes. She directly threw herself into Qin Yu's arms and burst into tears. "Mother is gone. Aside from Father, you're my only family. If you die, what will Xue'er do? You're my brother—you should be the one taking good care of Xue'er—but you're so thoughtless that Xue'er has to worry about you instead. Cultivating every day is so dull. What do you think I'm doing it for? Isn't it so I can protect you... sob..."
Qin Xue possessed astonishing aptitude. She entered the Martial Realm First Layer at eight, reached the peak of the Martial Realm Third Level at ten, and was already at the peak of the Martial Realm Sixth Level by thirteen.
Beneath the halo of a genius, Qin Xue was still only a child.
After crying bitterly for a while, Qin Xue hurriedly wiped away her tears, stood up, turned, and prepared to leave. Yet when she reached the doorway, she paused and said, "Brother, Xue'er is going to cultivate. I'll come see you again in a few days. Reflect on yourself properly, and don't make Xue'er worry anymore, understand?" Seeing that Qin Yu was still staring blankly at her, Qin Xue bit her pearly teeth and steeled herself to leave.
Qin Yu stared blankly at Qin Xue's slender little back. His mind rang and roared, while every word Xue'er had spoken struck his heart like a heavy hammer.
Xue'er from his previous life, Qin Xue in this life?
I failed to take good care of Xue'er in my previous life. In this life, I, Qin Yu, will certainly take good care of Qin Xue. I will not let Qin Xue suffer the hardships you suffered, Xue'er.
"But before that, I must enter the Martial Realm! Only then will I be qualified to leave Qin Manor." Qin Yu muttered to himself as he rose and shut the door.
Then Qin Yu calmed all his thoughts and began examining this body's condition. To his helplessness, this body was truly terrible. Its bones and talent were mediocre enough, but its internal meridians were covered in filth. If this continued, even if the former owner one day came to his senses and wanted to cultivate, there would be no way in.
Slowly closing his eyes, Qin Yu entered a state of emptiness. Countless ancient texts from Tian Qi Sect's Library Pavilion seemed to float through his mind. After much consideration, he selected a damaged immortal art and an Immortal Level battle skill from that sea of books.
Though both were incomplete, Qin Yu was confident that he could perfect the immortal art in the future. They were the Heavenly Dao Immortal Art and the Six Transformations of the Mad Demon.
The Heavenly Dao Immortal Art was an extremely ancient cultivation art. Though incomplete, its might could not be concealed. If cultivated to its pinnacle, one could bear witness to the Heavenly Dao and enter the immortal realm!
"I can use the Heavenly Dao Immortal Art to enter the Martial Realm in the shortest time possible! As for the Six Transformations of the Mad Demon, its first transformation requires vital blood, and only the Martial Realm Sixth Level can condense vital blood. I can only wait for a while."
"The Ninth Level of the Martial Realm focuses on strengthening the body. There is a saying: at the beginning of cultivation, one must first strengthen the body. Only after the body is strengthened can Gangqi be formed and one enter the Gangqi Realm. The first level of the Martial Realm is opening the meridians, clearing all the meridians throughout the body!"
Enlightenment dawned upon Qin Yu. He closed his eyes and began circulating the Heavenly Dao Immortal Art.
In the past, Qin Yu had been born with severed meridians. Though he could draw upon the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, that energy could not remain in his body and would return to heaven and earth. Now, although this body's bones and talent were mediocre, its meridians were intact and could absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.
However, it took a full three days to wash away the filth within his meridians.
On the fifth day, Qin Yu successfully entered the Martial Realm First Layer and opened all the meridians throughout his body.
It had to be said that the Heavenly Dao Immortal Art was exceptionally domineering. The spiritual energy of heaven and earth it absorbed was far more ferocious than that of other Spirit Arts. Had he used another Spirit Art, it would likely have taken him half a month to open the meridians throughout his body.
Feeling his entire body covered in sticky black filth and smelling a foul stench, Qin Yu paid it no heed. Instead, he lowered his head and stared at the dantian in his abdomen. He felt a warm current coming from it. Tearing open his clothes and wiping his abdomen clean, Qin Yu saw a black, oval mark resembling a seed flickering in and out of view three inches below his navel.
That black seed looked exceptionally strange. It was mostly black, yet it bore streak after streak of white patterns that resembled white veins.
"This is..." Qin Yu sucked in a cold breath. He had read countless ancient texts, yet had never heard of a seed appearing above someone's dantian upon entering the Martial Realm First Layer.
"No, I've only just been reborn. There shouldn't be such an abnormal phenomenon. Could it have come with this body? Impossible. If it had, this body's former owner would not have remained unable to enter the gates of the Martial Realm at fifteen."
"Wait!"
"Could it... be because of the Netherworld Nirvana Poison?"
"If so, could this seed be... the seed of Nether Nirvana?" Qin Yu's expression became strange.
After being poisoned by the Netherworld Nirvana Poison, Qin Yu had searched ancient texts for records concerning it.
Although this poison was rarely recorded in ancient texts, and even the few records that existed were mostly speculation, the Netherworld Nirvana Poison was almost a legendary deadly poison. People had only heard of others being afflicted by it, but no one knew its origins.
But!
Qin Yu had once seen a line in an ancient text: "There is an unusual species in heaven and earth called the Nirvana Seed. It gathers the Extreme Power of Heaven and Earth and can bring an unusual species to Nirvana. Legend has it that the Netherworld Nirvana Poison is formed from this unusual species' Nirvana. It is also said that after this unusual species gathers six kinds of Extreme Power of Heaven and Earth, it can undergo Nirvana and become heaven and earth's sacred medicine. This medicine is called: Undying!"
In other words, a poisonous medicine had been planted within Qin Yu's body. Yet this medicine also had a chance of becoming the legendary sacred medicine of Undying!
"Lin Yu, when you poisoned me, did you ever imagine it? You gave me a heaven! Shaking! Great! Fortune!"
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