Third Life

"Brother, brother, are you going out?"

Morning.

At the entrance to the Dilapidated Temple.

Xiao Qing leaned against the doorway and looked up at Chen Guan.

"Sigh. Sometimes she really can be clingy."

Chen Guan lowered his head to look at his little sister and nodded.

"Mm..." Xiao Qing seemed to sense that her brother was unusually quiet, as if he didn't want to talk to her.

For a moment, no matter how reluctant she felt, she obediently nodded.

"Be careful on the way, brother. Come home early..."

She knew her brother had to eat, unlike her, who could get by just breathing.

Thud, thud—

Chen Guan left the Dilapidated Temple.

His first destination was a clearing in the woods, five li away. He jogged there.

Then he would keep training his limbs, knock on the "Dinner time!" stone to attract the freeloading underlings who often followed him, and start hunting once they had all gathered.

If he couldn't catch any prey, he'd eat the freeloaders.

As he thought this over,

Chen Guan had already jogged two li up the mountain path, with several freeloaders trailing behind him.

These few were pretty clever.

They no longer waited for the dinner call. They waited nearby instead.

That way, if he killed any prey on his way to the training ground, they could enjoy an extra meal.

Naturally, they flocked to such a perk.

"Can't eat too much before training. I suppose that's a bargain for them, too."

Chen Guan didn't mind and kept running.

But as he ran, he spotted a nearly transparent figure at the training ground up ahead.

The figure stayed out of the sunlight, pacing beside a tree.

In his hand was a scrap of cloth that carried the scent of Chen Guan's blood.

"Is he a ghost?"

Chen Guan stopped abruptly. His keen sense of smell caught the scent of a tiger on the figure.

"Is he... a Chang Ghost?"

The Taoist's manual had recorded various techniques involving the Yin-Evil Attribute.

Among them, "making a Chang Ghost for a tiger" was a peculiar form of "ghost control."

Chen Guan was no longer a novice at cultivation. He recognized it.

"Why is he looking for me?"

Chen Guan thought it over, then looked toward the Chang Ghost.

He didn't know why the Chang Ghost was searching for him.

But the thought that a tiger spirit with cultivation might be nearby told him this was already a "death trap."

After all, he was, at most, a clever Black Bear, while his opponent was a true "monster!"

Could he, in the body of a mortal beast, evade a Tiger Demon who commanded Chang Ghosts?

Chen Guan considered it from every angle and decided he couldn't.

According to the book, no matter how far he ran or how deep he hid underground or underwater, the Tiger Demon could still track him down by his scent.

"Could the tiger I killed before have known this Tiger Demon?"

Thinking it over, Chen Guan realized that if the Tiger Demon was spending magic power to search for him by scent, they were probably enemies.

It seemed he couldn't escape this calamity.

So, before it came, he had to think about what he could do for his next reincarnation.

What a pity that his unupgraded talent inheritance would go to waste.

As he thought this over,

Chen Guan pulled away the vines wrapped around him. Then he kicked open the dirt with all his strength and buried the protective charm his sister had made, the liquid for the Yin-Yang Eyes, the wound medicine, and the insect-repelling sachet.

He had already memorized the manual by heart.

"Where did that sound come from?"

When Chen Guan made the noise, the Chang Ghost turned to look.

Chen Guan dropped onto all fours and smoothed the dirt over, then ran in the opposite direction from the Dilapidated Temple.

The temple was nearby, and the Tiger Demon could command Chang Ghosts.

If it found his sister, his companion in this life might suffer undeserved harm.

Thump, thump—

Chen Guan ran at full speed in the opposite direction.

If he could get away, that would be best.

But then,

the Chang Ghost saw Chen Guan flee and let out several high, "Woo-hoo!" howls, like a wild midnight gale or the shriek of wind rushing past a sheer cliff.

When Chen Guan heard the sound, his head spun and the world swayed before his eyes.

Even so, he forced himself through the dizziness and nausea, running about two li farther.

But when he reached that point,

Chen Guan stopped, because the Chang Ghost's howl wasn't a spell. It was simply a signal to its companion.

At that moment, fifty meters ahead of Chen Guan,

a tiger more than five meters long was gazing at him with faint interest.

After looking him over, the tiger glanced at the pack of freeloaders that had just caught up behind him.

"How amusing, how amusing. These jackals are hurrying along to die with you."

Tiger Immortal spoke in human words, wearing an unmistakably strange, teasing expression.

The sight made Chen Guan's heart sink. He knew he had encountered a "real monster."

"Whimper..." The wild beasts that had come looking for scraps didn't run when they saw the tiger this time. They were too terrified of Tiger Immortal to move.

Chen Guan was no different.

Panic spread through his whole body.

"Just as I thought—you have intelligence!" Tiger Immortal saw the humanlike panic in Chen Guan's eyes and was delighted.

"Some creatures are born powerful.

"Others, like you, are exceptionally gifted. In just over a decade, you've gained intelligence. You're a rare demon.

"Excellent, excellent!

"This trip wasn't in vain. I haven't wasted my magic power.

"My rare demon brother, let's treat each other with Empathy~"

As soon as the words left his mouth,

Chen Guan suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest. His strength was draining away fast.

At some point, Tiger Immortal had crossed the dozens of meters between them. His five-meter-long body dwarfed Chen Guan.

"Since you've gained intelligence, Brother Bear, I'll tell you something, too."

Tiger Immortal jabbed a paw at Chen Guan's powerful heart and pressed down, easily knocking him over.

"Brother Bear, you killed my concubine. Don't blame me for killing you.

"Empathy.

"In a world of gods and ghosts, the weak are prey to the strong."

As Tiger Immortal spoke, he tore out Chen Guan's heart.

Chen Guan's consciousness gradually faded.

"Ah! Delicious, delicious! My good brother's heart and liver are wonderfully chewy!"

Tiger Immortal finished his feast, then looked toward his cave abode, ready to go home and digest his meal.

As for the remains, they had little nourishment left, so he left them to the jackals, insects, and leopards.

Whoosh—

Tiger Immortal opened his jaws wide and sucked all the Chang Ghosts back in. Then he seemed to turn into a gust of demonic wind and vanished in a flash.

Not until six hours later,

when the tiger's scent had faded somewhat,

did the freeloaders cautiously take a few steps forward. They crept toward the former king of the forest, then suddenly swarmed over him.

Before nightfall, all that remained were scraps of fur and flesh. There was no sign of the Black Bear who had once been there.

"Brother..."

Late at night, at the Dilapidated Temple,

Xiao Qing leaned against the doorway, gazing into the distance. From time to time, she looked at the rising moon, then toward the forest ahead.

Usually, Chen Guan would have returned by now.

But today, he still hadn't come.

As Xiao Qing waited, anxiety and unease crept in. She murmured,

"It's so late. Why hasn't Brother come back?"

As she gazed into the distance, her thoughts began to run wild, though she still told herself that something must have delayed him.

She stayed by the doorway like that, watching through the night until dawn.

The unease on her adorable face shifted from anticipation to worry, then finally to deep concern.

"Brother... surely nothing happened to him..."

Xiao Qing bit her lip, trying to convince herself that her brother had simply abandoned her rather than come to harm.

If something had happened to him, she wouldn't know what to do.

But when she turned and saw the animal-hide robe behind the statue, hope returned to her face.

"Xiao Qing, Xiao Qing, stop overthinking it. Hurry up and finish Brother's clothes. When he comes back, surprise him..."

At dawn,

the twenty-hour interval before reincarnation ended.

Chen Guan's consciousness slowly returned. He saw that he seemed to be in a very narrow "ancient pavilion."

A book rested on the shelf. It was the same Scroll.

On the second page, a new ink painting appeared.

It showed a gigantic Tiger Demon disemboweling a Black Bear as the beasts tore him apart.

Below it were several lines describing what happened next, following the normal course of history.

[Afterword: Seventy years later, your "sister Xiao Qing" found Tiger Immortal and tried to avenge you.

Unfortunately, she wasn't cultivated enough and was made into a Chang Ghost. A hundred years later, her soul dispersed]

[That same year, Tiger Immortal had five hundred years of cultivation. He took human form and became the Demon King of Hulin Mountain, ruling five thousand li of forest]

[Causality altered: You have already killed three bandits]

[Your grandson, Chen Changhong, will venture out twenty years later to search for the last bandit]

[Your grandson's heart meridian was slightly damaged. It took ten years for the wound to heal]

[Note: Perfectly completing the causality in the "Afterword" can shorten the reincarnation interval]

The Scroll slowly disappeared.

New lines appeared inside the pavilion.

[Your second life: Soul 0.6, Realm 1, Constitution 1.8]

[Average: 1.13]

[No suitable reincarnation vessel found]

[Expanding search]

[Interval before next life: 20 days]

When the writing vanished,

it had been twenty hours since the Black Bear died.

The next moment,

Chen Guan felt as if he had been reincarnated. His surroundings had changed. The Scroll and pavilion were gone, replaced by blurry, dark red and bright colors.

He also suddenly felt so weak.

In an instant,

Chen Guan's thoughts and vision grew hazy, and he felt unusually exhausted.

But before a few seconds had passed, even though his eyes were shut, a harsh light pressed against them, accompanied by all kinds of indistinct voices.

"The baby is born!"

"Congratulations, Third Madam! It's a young master!"

"Quick, quick, quick! Go tell the master the good news!"

"Young master, young master..."

The area around him was noisy.

Chen Guan couldn't make out a thing, but he could feel someone patting him, and he could see the words in his field of vision.

[Third Life: Fifth Son of the Zhao Family]

[Constitution 0.01, Soul 1, Realm 1, Family Circumstances 2.51]

[Average: 1.13]

[Please choose a talent to inherit from your previous life]

[1: Bear's Sense of Smell]

[2: Fat Energy Storage]

[3: Primary Bear Strength (500/1000)]

[Note 1: After choosing a talent from your previous life, you can continue to improve it in this life, but its upgrade speed will decrease if you are not born into a bear clan]

[Note 2: Choosing a talent from another race will affect your facial features and physique]