Not every child is born as a blank sheet of paper, waiting for the people and things around them to carve beautiful or scar-riddled stamps upon them.
The child in the thatched cottage arrived carrying a multitude of memories; the reborn soul was rejoicing.
"The bitter paths walked in my past life, I shall not walk again. Descending into the world anew after cultivating for hundreds of thousands of years, my life hereafter shall face no obstacles."
"In my past life, I tread on thin ice for years."
"Reborn as a human, my hot blood has chilled."
"When I return to the path of Heavenly Ascendance,"
"Those before and behind me are nothing but pigs and dogs!"
"Hahaha, haha..."
The baby's crying abruptly stopped.
Low and somewhat noisy footsteps gently echoed outside the house, and only then did the most genuine cry of a newborn ring out.
Even without opening his eyes, the Nirvana Sage Elder's divine soul could feel the peace of the village.
But as silhouettes surrounded his cradle, casting shadows down upon him, he felt the sky collapse.
...
The wailing infant was layered with eighty-one seals.
Li Yaoqing looked at the little life carried in the basket, somewhat curious if this counted as child abuse.
But the one inside was clearly the Nirvana Sage Elder who broke the alliance between the Human and Wu Tribes many years ago, launched a surprise attack on the Western Frontier, and stirred up a storm, taking over twenty Void Refining and several Body Integration experts just to severely injure him.
Thinking of this, Li Yaoqing tied up the hands and feet of the Nirvana Sage Elder, who couldn't even open his eyes yet, and sprinkled itching powder on him.
Seeing the infant in Yaoqing's hands crying while violently twisting in the basket, rubbing his bright red body, and then looking at the white powder Yaoqing was sprinkling, Li Wei's face darkened. "What are you doing?"
Deeply feeling that she was bullying both the old and the young, Li Yaoqing hurriedly pulled her hand back. "He is too fragile; this child is conditioning his body."
As she spoke, she didn't forget to fiercely glare at the Nirvana Sage Elder. "Say thank you!"
"Mind your limits. He is, after all, the reincarnation of a mighty figure. If he dies this time, he will truly have no way out, and we won't be able to extract the information we want."
"Please rest assured, Old Ancestor. This child knows her limits best."
Li Yaoqing grinned. The Nirvana Sage Elder in the basket had no choice but to simply pee himself.
The light rain over Azure Cloud Prefecture was still drifting.
When she returned to the City of Merit carrying the basket, the clansmen all raised their heads to look at the cloudy sky.
Uncle Rain's rain was different from Sword Venerable Drizzle's rain.
Uncle Rain's was more manic, taking away the rivers and streams of the entire Azure Cloud Prefecture, even emptying the water wells.
Sword Venerable Drizzle's rain moisturized things silently.
His sword was planted on the Dao Gate, and it would take at least a century of light rain washing over it to push the Dao Gate open.
Feeling the spiritual qi in the rainwater falling over Azure Cloud Prefecture, Li Wei raised an eyebrow, secretly muttering, "Top-tier artificial rainmaking."
Li Yaoqing said that for the next century, the heaven and earth spiritual entities and the commoners of Azure Cloud Prefecture would be blessed, and the heaven and earth spiritual qi and karmic luck would rise by a degree.
...
Arriving at the City of Merit, inside the Li Clan's main hall.
"..."
The cradle was placed on the ground.
The Nirvana Sage Elder remained silent, feeling the itching that still lingered on his body.
It wasn't that he stopped crying; his voice had gone hoarse from crying.
For the first time, he felt his body so fragile, unable to suppress his body's instinctive crying and defensive reactions.
Simultaneously, he truly realized that the Li Clan's Yaoqing was genuinely capable, leaving him with no control over his own life and death.
The Nirvana Sage Elder never expected to experience such a massive rise and fall.
His new life met its end before it even began.
It wasn't that he didn't harbor thoughts of escaping, but the eighty-one layers of seals on his body were the final straw.
"How did they do it? Just how did they do it?"
"I was just reborn. I haven't even opened my eyes to see the world anew, and the more perfect life and Dao path following my rebirth haven't even started..."
"Ah!!!"
His soul roared. There was no more terror, only the hopelessness of finding a dead end right after seeing a glimpse of light.
He was just placed right in the center, surrounded by the Li Clan members. No one paid attention to this little thing.
Then...
"Waa!!!" He cried out silently, because as footsteps echoed outside the hall, he sensed an aura of the same root and origin—his Great Dao of Heavenly Fire!
He felt the Li Clan was humiliating him.
Back then, he said he would return with a Dao stronger than the Great Dao of Heavenly Fire, and now he couldn't even cry out loud.
At this time.
Li Wei had already returned to the Ancestral Space.
[Special Event — The Nirvana Sage Elder's New Life]
[Your family once severely injured the Nirvana Sage Elder. Years of pursuit forced him to assimilate his body into heaven and earth, relying on a drop of Nirvana blood left by the old phoenix of the Divine Bird Tribe to be reborn.]
[Now that the Nirvana Sage Elder has gained a new lease on life, a drop of phoenix blood has granted him the phoenix bloodline. He will rely on his experience as a mighty figure to cultivate anew.
Your family will face the resentment of a reincarnated mighty figure; one day, the Nirvana Sage Elder will return as a god and enact the most maddened revenge upon your family!]
"..."
Originally, considering the Nirvana Sage Elder was a mighty figure after all, even if the other party had fallen into disaster, he intended to leave him a bit of dignity.
Now, seeing this special event prompt, Li Wei's forehead was covered in black lines.
In the main hall, Li Yaoqing, who was listening to Li Chang reporting on family matters, suddenly froze as the spirit tablet lit up.
Li Yaoqing asked in confusion, "Sprinkle more itching powder on him? Repeatedly sprinkle it?"
Consequently, amidst the noise of the Nirvana Sage Elder frantically rubbing against his cradle, Li Wei tallied his gains in the space while listening to the events that had occurred in the family over the past year.
[While your family resolved the 'Life and Death Crisis' special event in Azure Cloud Prefecture and fought Uncle Rain for over a year, the major factions outside Azure Cloud Prefecture also paid attention to the prefecture, engaging in overt and covert struggles.]
[Special Event — Grandhaven Prefecture]
[At the same time enemies struck Azure Cloud Prefecture, Empress Wenren Xianyi secretly ordered the major hidden factions to head to Grandhaven Prefecture to prepare for the Wu Tribe invasion from the Southern Frontier.
Now that Azure Cloud is safe and sound, the battle orders for Grandhaven Prefecture were quietly rescinded.]