Chapter 40

When Father Qin learned the truth, he was overjoyed and told everything he knew to his own father, the Empire's Grand General, Qin Yuanlie. Qin Yuanlie had already felt deeply guilty over his son's accident, and he was delighted upon learning of this as well. After repeated investigations, he sent his special assistant Luo Fei to bring him back.

What a melodramatic, thunderstruck plot! Qin Yi sighed to himself again and again. He said to Andre in his heart, "I still feel a little guilty! I'm not the real 'Qin Yi'—what will happen when the time comes? If they discover the truth, won't I die horribly? Besides, that wouldn't be fair to 'Qin Yi,' would it?"

"Who cares whether it's fair or not!" Andre suddenly stammered.

"What is it?" Qin Yi asked suspiciously.

"Because that 'Qin Yi' is already dead." Andre's voice became somewhat strange.

"Don't tell me it was you—" Qin Yi's expression changed drastically. He stared at Andre in stunned disbelief.

"Of course it wasn't me! What are you thinking?" Andre snorted coldly, then suddenly pulled Qin Yi's consciousness into the space. The moment Qin Yi entered, he saw a youth lying on the ground, covered in wounds and bearing the exact same face as himself. His eyes widened. "What happened here?"

"Uh, I got curious after hearing what Luo Fei said just now! So I searched nearby, and then I found him thrown into a broken alley behind a hotel. I saw that he looked pretty much like you, so I pulled him in here. But he was already dead." Andre said aggrievedly, "How could you suspect me—"

"Sorry! I've read too many novels. I thought you'd killed him to silence him!" Qin Yi apologized guiltily. Then, looking at "Qin Yi's" corpse—how strange that felt—he asked in confusion, "What exactly happened to him? How did he end up this miserable?"

His gaze swept over the youth's already stiff corpse. Red welts and wounds gouged open by sharp weapons covered it. His lower body was a complete mess, with some whitish, cloudy fluid that had already congealed. The sight made Qin Yi's face turn livid.

"What a beast!"

"There's only one way to find out what happened to him. We can use the Ghost-Seeking Soul-Summoning Technique to search his consciousness. His body may already be dead, but he died so miserably that resentment must still remain. As long as we can connect with that resentment, we can probably figure out what happened to him," Andre said.

"Alright." Qin Yi sighed. In his heart, he silently recalled the Ghost-Seeking Soul-Summoning Technique Teacher Ying Mai had taught him. A moment later, green light gradually rose from the youth's corpse, slowly gathering together and taking the shape of a person. It was the face Qin Yi knew best.

"Thank you for letting me have a chance to speak again," the youth said first.

"Uh, you're welcome!" Qin Yi scratched his scalp and replied awkwardly.

"If you have the chance, please help me take revenge!" The youth's second sentence was also within Qin Yi's expectations.

Qin Yi fell silent awkwardly. He understood what the youth meant. But in all his life, he had only been killed by others—he had never killed anyone himself!

"I know it's asking too much to entrust something like this to a stranger. But seeing your face, I can roughly guess why you saved me." The youth smiled faintly. "It isn't that I'm unwilling to die. I simply cannot bear that I died under such humiliation. Besides, that beast did not treat only me this way. There are many youths like me being harmed by him. If you cannot get rid of him, my tragedy will keep happening again and again."

Qin Yi looked at the unwillingness and hatred radiating from the depths of the youth's soul and hesitated.

"Forget it. Consider it an exchange! I'll make a deal with you using my soul. After you accept my soul, please accept my wish for revenge as well. Let me rest in peace." As the youth spoke, he suddenly rushed toward Qin Yi. Before Qin Yi could react, the youth had already merged into his body. Qin Yi only felt a clear, cool sensation flow down from his head, and a memory that did not belong to him abruptly appeared in his mind. Even the spiritual power within his body grew noticeably.

Andre said somewhat gloomily, "This is the power of the soul. Among all powers, the power of the soul is the strongest and most wondrous. Many gods would capture pure souls for the sake of power. But that violates the laws of the gods and would incur the contempt of all gods. Later, such methods gradually disappeared. That youth's soul just now was extremely pure, and the obsession born from dying under torment was exceptionally strong. He willingly gave up his soul and gave it to you. Thus, the growth of your spiritual power is purer than a thousand years of arduous cultivation—even purer than the Faith Power you gained last time. But at the same time, you must accept the strongest obsession that soul held before death. In other words, you must help him take revenge."

Qin Yi nodded gloomily as well, feeling the youth's memories in his mind. For no reason, several strands of sorrow arose in his heart. Just as his spirit sank, he heard someone say by his ear, "Young Master Qin Yi, we've arrived."

Qin Yi hurriedly returned his consciousness to his body and opened his eyes. The hovering vehicle had stopped before an exceptionally luxurious villa complex.

Arrival

Chapter 40

The gate carved with an intricate family crest slowly opened, and the vehicle drove in. On both sides of the broad road stretched lawns so vast their ends could not be seen. About ten minutes later, a large fountain leaped into Qin Yi's field of vision. At its center stood a sculpture of Rose and Sword. Seeing Qin Yi staring at it intently, Luo Fei immediately smiled and said, "Rose and Sword is the crest of the Qin family."

Qin Yi nodded silently.

The vehicle went around the fountain and arrived at the villa entrance. Luo Fei got out first, walked around to the back, and opened the door for Qin Yi. The moment Qin Yi stepped out, he heard a crowd before him say in unison, "Welcome home, Young Master Qin Yi."

Qin Yi jumped in fright. Looking at the male and female servants in neat black suits and maid uniforms before him, he inwardly sighed at the grand display.

Luo Fei walked to Qin Yi's side and bowed. "The General, Young Master Qin Huai, and the other elders of the family are already waiting in the living room. Young Master Qin Yi, please come in."

Qin Yi let out a breath as if relaxing, shook his head, and stepped into the living room.

The living room was just as extravagantly decorated, with the air of a European imperial court. The mirror-bright marble floor reflected Qin Yi's somewhat thin figure, while oil paintings hung along the side walls. Luo Fei introduced them as ancestors of the Qin family. Above them was an enormous painted mural. Qin Yi stopped before the first oil painting. It depicted a somewhat familiar young man with black hair and black eyes standing with his hands bound at his side next to a blond, blue-eyed youth. The blond foreigner was holding the black-haired youth's lowered right hand, his face wreathed in sunny brilliance. Luo Fei noticed Qin Yi's gaze and immediately smiled. "This is His Majesty, the founding emperor of the Empire. The man standing beside him is Lord Qin Hu Hai, the ancestor of the Qin family."

"Cough, cough!" Qin Yi choked on his own saliva at Luo Fei's words. After coughing violently for quite some time, he finally asked in astonishment, "Who did you say this man was?"

"Lord Qin Hu Hai, the ancestor of the Qin family." Luo Fei repeated, baffled. "Young Master Qin Yi, what's wrong?"

"Nothing." Qin Yi brushed it off. He suddenly felt as though he had been dragged into some sort of conspiracy. Why was it that ever since Rainbow Continent, every plane he traveled through had some connection to Qin Shi Huang? No, even on Earth it had been the same. Or rather, every single thing that had happened since his rebirth had been so—strange?

Perhaps he was being overly suspicious?

Qin Yi reluctantly thought so, though he himself held no hope for that possibility.

"Young Master Qin Yi, shall we continue forward?" Seeing Qin Yi standing motionless before the ancestral painting, Luo Fei urged softly.

"Alright!" Qin Yi came back to himself and continued onward. At the end of the luxurious corridor stood a gate carved from gold with the Rose and Sword family crest. Two middle-aged men in black suits stood on either side. When they saw Luo Fei and Qin Yi approaching, they merely nodded without speaking and reached out to push open the doors.

The first thing that entered his sight was a golden dragon rolling amid auspicious clouds, painted on the wall. Deer antlers, serpent body, glaring eyes, five claws half-spread—the standard image of a Chinese dragon. At the lower right corner of the mural was a red seal. After comparing it, Qin Yi found that it was precisely the pattern on the He Clan Jade. On either side were murals of two youths dressed in the black dragon robes and crown prince attire of China's Qin Dynasty. Qin Yi recognized Ying Zheng and Fusu at a glance. If he had still held five parts doubt regarding the existence of Qin Hu Hai before, he was now eight parts certain. He simply did not know how Qin Hu Hai had ended up in this plane.

Below the mural were two exceptionally exquisite and imposing chairs. On the left sat a man whose age could not be determined. He had black hair and black eyes, refined and elegant features, and starry eyes half-open and half-closed. Though not angry, he inspired awe. On the right sat a blond, blue-eyed man of handsome appearance, seventy percent similar to the founding emperor in the first painting by the entrance. Qin Yi guessed that he was also a descendant of the imperial family, though he did not know why he had appeared at a Qin family gathering.

Two rows of chairs filled the lower hall, left and right, and all were occupied. When Qin Yi and Luo Fei entered, every gaze snapped toward Qin Yi. Their burning stares made him feel guilty. Especially the man seated in the third chair on the right side, whose expression as he looked at Qin Yi was both joyful and sorrowful, too complicated to describe.

"You are Qin Yi?" the man seated at the upper left asked. His voice was slightly low, with the heavy texture of metal.

"Mm!" Qin Yi nodded crisply. He was "Qin Yi," after all.

"Come here." The man beckoned Qin Yi over. Qin Yi curled his lips noncommittally, then obediently walked over before the man under the burning gazes of everyone in the room.

The man grabbed Qin Yi's right hand, removed the thumb ring from his own thumb without explanation, and placed it on Qin Yi's hand. Qin Yi felt a faint sting from his hand. Then he saw a streak of bright red flow into the thumb ring, which suddenly shone with dazzling light. A moment later, it returned to normal.

"You truly are a descendant of the Qin family." The man nodded in relief and said, "I am Qin Yuanlie, your grandfather. That is your eldest uncle, Qin Lou; your second uncle, Qin Ge; your father, Qin Huai; your eldest aunt, Qin Jin..."

As Qin Yuanlie spoke, he pointed to the people below and introduced them to Qin Yi one by one.

Qin Huai had been extremely agitated from the moment Qin Yi entered, but due to family rules, he had not dared speak freely before Qin Yuanlie. Once Qin Yuanlie confirmed Qin Yi's identity, he could no longer hold himself back. He rose and hugged Qin Yi. "I'm sorry, child. You've suffered all these years."

Feeling Qin Huai's arms around him tighten further, Qin Yi could not help rolling his eyes. He inwardly complained, I haven't suffered. The Qin Yi who truly suffered is already dead.

Perhaps because the situation was special, an indescribable sorrow suddenly surged within Qin Yi, along with hatred and despair. Qin Yi knew it was likely the lingering thoughts the youth had left in his body at work. His heart stirred, and he said to Qin Huai, "If you truly feel sorry for me, then help me kill someone."

"Who?" Qin Huai asked, his reddened eyes fixed on Qin Yi.

Following the youth's memories, Qin Yi told Qin Huai the man's name and address. Qin Huai said without the slightest hesitation, "No problem. Luo Fei, go handle this immediately. I don't want this man to live past tomorrow."

"Yes!" Luo Fei glanced at Qin Yuanlie. Seeing that he had no objection, he immediately bowed in acknowledgment.

Without even asking for a reason, he had protected his own without hesitation. Qin Yi could not describe how he felt. He only sensed a release of relief welling up from the depths of his heart. A pure force suddenly spread through his entire body. Qin Yi guessed it was still the youth's soul at work.