Luòchén landed on the vast courtyard of the Tàihéng peak (Grand Equilibrium peak). The tallest mountain of the five peaks that forms the Tiānhé sect. In hurried steps he went to the sect master palace. Ignoring the clearly distressed faces of the inner disciples that are tasked to guard the palace due to the presence of their esteemed guest. He didn’t care much about them. None of them can realistically do anything to stop him physically or not. They shouldn’t be punished either as they are in no place to even stop him. He held back a cringe of annoyance as he took the first step of the hundreds of steps up towards the palace. If only he doesn’t need to be polite, he already flies in and barges into the palace as usual. This too is still bearable. The problem however, immediately rears his head as soon as he finishes climbing the stairs.

  “Finally learn some humility Luòchén? For you to properly climb the stairs?” The familiar old gravelly voice immediately sounds

  In front of him is none other than Elder Chízhèng, the elder of Tàihéng peak. He looks like an old man in his forties. Fashioning a long beard and very elaborate daoist robes. Powerful Qi and protection enchantment thick on the robes. Corruption of the sect’s treasury no doubt. But who didn’t corrupt some of their own peak’s treasury. While the sect leader do reside in this peak, the elder tends the day to day administration and such. He is also a pain in the ass.

  “I know humility better than you.” Luòchén provoke back

  “The Sect Leader demands there will be no disruption.” Chízhèng shows disgust but doesn’t answer to the provocation this time

  “Chízhèng (Upholding Righteousness), you bring shame to your name if you keep borrowing the sect leader’s name to do everything.” Luòchén strikes again with his word, this time, targeting the very sore spot

  “I said…” Elder Chízhèng took a spear, wreathed in fire from his storage ring and slammed the butt of the spear to the ground. The metallic sound echoes the entire mountain.

  “There will be no disruption!”

  Luòchén holds back a chuckle. He took the bait.

  “That’s not for you to decide isn’t it?” Luòchén asks in a joking manner.

  It's true that it is not Chízhèng’s place to decide if he is a disruption or not. But the two elders have been butting heads for decades. They could be considered rivals though only one side sees it as such and it definitely not Luòchén which frustrates and angers the other party even more. Elder Chízhèng grits his teeth in rage, readying his spear. Luòchén readies himself too.

  “If both of you are done bringing shame to my sect, get over here!” Before both can duke it out as usual, a loud voice booms from inside the palace.

  The two elders immediately stopped and bowed to the palace. They eyed each other, this won’t be the end of it. The two open the left and right side of the door respectively and enter. Bowing to the sect leader, who somehow looks even younger than both of them. Then towards the old man with white hair hunched towards the table. His back is all the two elders can see.

  “Greetings—

  “Xuèchén of Xī Xià (West Xia). You regretted your path, too late. Abandoned your sword. Play as a healer. For what reason, do you seek me?” The guest elder from Tiānjī speaks before Luòchén finishes his words. As if he has heard the questions he is about to say a few seconds in the future.

  Luòchén tries to control his emotions. It felt disgusting now, being called by his old name. To think he once took pride in his old name. But he swallows his shame as that is not the reason he is here.

  “Is it the elixir your friend is trying to make? Or is it the mortal?” The elder speaks again before Luòchén can open his mouth.

  The latter question drew raised eyebrows and side glances from both Chízhèng and the sect leader.

  “Both.” Luòchén dares himself to answer that

  Chízhèng kicks the side of Luòchén’s leg from the audacity of his answer. Luòchén, slighted, kicks back Chízhèng’s side leg too. Then the other kicks back and so on. The sect leader can only place a palm over his eyes over the shameful act of his sect’s elders. But it is true that his question is nothing short but audacious. Tiānjī sect only choose which futures they want to foresee. Many cultivators and emperors requested the same but most were denied and here Luòchén demanded not one but two. Then the cackle of an old man stops the leg kicking and all ears now await the elder’s answer.

  “Why asking for something you already succeeded in? And why be concerned about a mortal that is still alive?” The old man answers both

  To this, Luòchén thinks hard. He already succeeded? Then what about the mortal? What does he mean that the mortal is still alive? His disciple have buried the mortal. Then why did the elder answer both of his questions?

  As Luòchén blinks, the elder from the Tiānjī sect is already standing in front of him. His eyes look straight at the blind lidless eye of the old wrinkled face of the Tiānjī sect elder.

  “The reason is I am more interested in what you are about to do. You will find out about the mortal’s grave being empty soon enough. Then, you will head east. Follow the trail and the dead. There you will find a small clearance near the waterfall. Sit there and wait for a week. The first thing you will meet is the mortal again. But you will find him completely unrecognizable. Then, you will have two choices. A choice to fully abandon your old name and resolve the karma of your old name. Or not. You will know when you meet him.”

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  Luòchén commits the elder’s every word to memory. He blinks and once more he is outside the palace. The door closed behind him as if it had never opened. Once again he bowed to the direction of the palace. Thanking the elder of Tiānjī sect before leaving. Even if he is left with more questions than before. He takes Zhāoxiá to guide him to the place where she buries the mortal’s remains. Only to find the jar within the grave opened and empty. And so he headed east.

  —

  The Thing stumbles as it tries to halt itself. The glow! The bright glow suddenly vanishes! Panic, uncertainty, and fear immediately took place. Its clawed hand scratches its skull as it tries to think. But thoughts remain out of the grasp of its empty skull. It waits for the voice to appear and give it direction but no voice comes. As if it is also cut off from the glow’s sudden disappearance. In shaky, uneasy steps, the Thing tries to go towards the glow’s last position. If it remembers it correctly. One thing it notices is that it doesn’t crash into more tall and thin things (trees). As if it has been cleared from the surroundings. The Thing goes on for an agonizing amount of time. Not that it knows how long it went but it is longer than it should. That is until he saw a faint purple. The Thing immediately rushes towards the purple color. The Glow always leads it to purple color and the Voice says that purple is good for parts. Whatever parts mean. It is more concerned with trying to get the Voice back if he absorbs this purple. As it rushes forward, the purple thing gets bigger and bigger until it fills its vision. The biggest purple it ever sees. With nothing else to do and nothing to guide it, it absorbs the purple.

  In the charred remains of a forest, where an intense battle was fought, a creature, not deer, not wolf, approaches the corpse of a golden serpent. The serpent has the upper body of a human. Attacked midway its ascension to Golden Core stage where it will obtain human form. Like the corpses before, every skin and flesh are burnt clean from its skull. Though there are plenty more burn marks along its serpentine body. The fight is not as clean as before and only its heart is taken from the corpse unlike the wolf. The smell of burnt forest and molten rocks fought against burnt meat should the thing can even smell. The Thing opens its skull jaw wide and begins absorbing the corpse. Bones cracking and flesh reshaped. The serpent has progressed further in obtaining the human body than the wolf, now used as a new frame for the Thing. No longer hunched over, legs straining but finally able to stand straight with its digitrade legs. It stood at three meters tall, with an enormous tail, the golden scale turned black, extending twice its height. Another eye socket appears on its skull, three pairs of purple charred eyes looking around lidless. It's much clearer than before.

  Over there

  You’re back!

  The Thing immediately felt joy hearing the Voice returns. Legs kicking, enormous tail wagging.

  Yes, yes. Now over there

  The Thing immediately followed the direction of the voice and saw a very faint glow. It realizes that it can see farther and much clearer outlines now. So it follows the faint glow dexterously. Not blindly crashing into objects anymore.

  —

  “Brother system, how long have I been unconscious?”

  “Two days.” The System faithfully answers

  “Damn.”

  “Indeed.”

  Zuìshū checks on himself again. The fight is more brutal than expected as the Golden Serpent is already mostly healed. Fortunately, the serpent halts its ascension in favor of healing itself which allows him to ambush it. But still it takes two of his life saving items he got from the system. Just one time he underestimated his situation and he almost died twice. Fortunately he managed to use a healing item before he fell into the river. But still, his effort is not in vain and he has acquired the serpent’s heart that is filled with Metal Qi. All that is left is for him to prepare for his own ascension and heavenly tribulation. But first…

  “Brother Immortal, must you leave so soon? It's evening already and we are preparing a feast.” Asked a young boy with purple eyes, not more than ten.

  “I’m sorry little guy, but I really need to leave soon.” Zuìshū console the boy

  It was this boy and his big sister that fished him out of the river. He doesn’t really have anything he can freely give to mortals other than his plenty of food supply in case of emergency and now the village is feasting in thanks. Bunch of wastrel, what he gives is considered an emergency food supply for a reason. But what’s important is the boy and his big sister. He never thought that he would meet the main characters of an obscure old novel that he barely remembers. The boy who has yet to obtain his courtesy name will be Jìzhào, his purple eyes will awaken as an eye that can discern truth from lies. While his big sister who is shyly peeking from the side is Sùxīn, who will be the main protagonist and war hero in the war against Xī Xià. He doesn't know much about the rest as he doesn’t have much interest then. If only he knows he will be reincarnated here with a system then maybe he will pay more attention. So he knelt to boy’s eye level and fish out a fire talisman from his storage ring.

  “Listen, you will be a big boy soon. Take care of your big sister for me, yes? Use this, only in an emergency. It will bring down fire that will burn any evil cultivator that brings trouble.” Zuìshū handed the boy the talisman

  The talisman only effective against Qi Refining cultivators and at most wound a Foundation Establishment. He knows that giving anything more precious will just invite disaster to the village. He doesn’t want Sùxīn to die early just because he is feeling generous, after all, the most important thing he remembers about the novel is that Sùxīn will grow up to become gorgeous. So he thinks of this as a future investment for his future wife.

  ‘If she’s so important then why not bring her along? You can teach her and her brother in advance.’ The system asks in Zuìshū’s mind

  ‘Why should I? They are the protagonists, they should have incredible fortune. They will undoubtedly meet great teachers themselves that are better than me. Also, what’s better to just get something for free without effort?’ Zuìshū answers the system in his mind.

  “Take care now.” Zuìshū bid goodbye to the boy and his sister as the sun finally sets before using an expensive teleportation talisman to immediately return to his safehouse. He feels naked after losing two life saving items.

  The boy and his sister return back to the village where they have already begun feasting. The sound of eating, wooden cups filled, laughter, and performative praise echoes into the night. That is, until all the light within the village suddenly went out. A loud sound of careful big steps echoes. Three sets of purple eyes glow in the dark. The Thing has arrived in the village.

  “Parts?”