Chapter 3 — Memories of Nine Lives
Night fell quietly over the Dev residence.
The city outside was still lively. Hunters returned from portal expeditions, merchants shouted prices in the markets, and distant tower alarms occasionally echoed through the streets.
But inside the Dev courtyard, everything was peaceful.
A cool breeze rustled the leaves of the old spirit tree standing in the center of the yard.
Under that tree sat Aarav Dev.
Cross-legged.
Eyes closed.
From the outside, he looked like a child trying to meditate.
From the inside…
His mind contained nine lifetimes of memories.
And tonight, those memories refused to stay quiet.
The First Life
A cold wind blew across a battlefield.
Snow covered the ground.
Broken swords and fallen warriors littered the frozen plains.
At the center of the battlefield stood a man wearing white robes.
A sword rested in his hand.
His eyes were calm.
Cold.
Unshakable.
That man was him.
The Sword Emperor of the Northern Continent.
Aarav opened his eyes slightly.
"First life…"
Back then, cultivation ruled everything.
Sect wars lasted decades.
Entire kingdoms collapsed because of a single powerful cultivator.
In that life, he had climbed the path of the Sword Dao.
At age thirty, he had already defeated most masters of his era.
At fifty, he ruled the largest sword sect on the continent.
At seventy…
He died fighting an ancient beast that emerged from a spatial crack in the sky.
A portal.
Even now, Aarav remembered the moment clearly.
A massive rift had torn open in the heavens.
And from it came something that did not belong to that world.
A monster.
Large enough to swallow mountains.
That was the first time Aarav ever saw a world-connecting portal.
And the first time he realized something terrifying.
Worlds were not isolated.
They were connected.
Sometimes… violently.
The Second Life
A warm desert wind replaced the snow in his memories.
Golden sand stretched endlessly across the horizon.
Tall stone pillars covered in glowing runes rose from the dunes.
This was a completely different world.
A world where cultivation was based on formations and arrays.
In that life, Aarav became known as the Grand Array Sovereign.
Cities hired him to construct defensive formations.
Empires begged him to design war arrays.
At his peak, he once created a formation large enough to cover an entire mountain range.
He thought he would live peacefully until old age.
But then something appeared in the desert sky.
A black spiral.
A portal.
From that portal came creatures with wings of burning fire.
They destroyed half the continent.
Aarav died while activating the largest defensive formation ever created in that world.
He succeeded in sealing the portal.
But the explosion killed him as well.
Aarav scratched his cheek thoughtfully.
"So portals existed there too…"
Interesting.
The Third Life
This life was far less elegant.
There were no swords.
No formations.
Only fists.
Mountains shattered with every punch.
The world he reincarnated into that time worshipped Body Cultivation.
Strength of flesh.
Strength of bone.
Strength of blood.
In that life, Aarav's body became so strong that ordinary weapons could not even scratch his skin.
He once punched a volcano and redirected the lava flow.
It had seemed like a good idea at the time.
In hindsight…
He probably should not have done that.
Several villages were extremely unhappy afterward.
Aarav rubbed his temples.
"Yes… that life had some poor decision making."
Eventually, that world also faced a disaster.
A portal opened above the ocean.
Creatures with scales like black iron emerged.
Sea dragons.
They destroyed entire fleets.
Aarav died fighting them.
The Fourth Life
Alchemy world.
This one was peaceful.
For a while.
Aarav spent most of that life researching pills and spiritual herbs.
He became famous as the Heavenly Alchemist.
At one point, he even invented a pill that extended lifespan by fifty years.
People tried to assassinate him immediately.
Apparently, immortality pills make people extremely greedy.
Who would have guessed?
That life ended when a portal opened inside a sacred mountain.
A creature made of living lightning emerged.
The battle lasted three days.
The mountain no longer exists.
Neither does Aarav's body from that life.
Aarav sighed.
Four lives already.
And that wasn't even half of them.
Behind those memories existed five more:
the Beast Taming Emperor
the Rune Sovereign
the Elemental Monarch
the Space Walker
the Soul Emperor
Each life ended the same way.
A portal.
A disaster.
Death.
Aarav looked up at the night sky.
Above the city, the massive tower silhouette cut through the clouds.
"Interesting pattern."
Nine lives.
Nine worlds.
Nine portals.
Which meant one thing.
Those worlds might not be separate at all.
They could all belong to the same cosmic system.
Connected through towers.
Connected through portals.
Connected through something far bigger than any civilization understood.
A faint smile appeared on Aarav's face.
"Now that is a mystery worth solving."
"BROTHER!"
The peaceful atmosphere instantly shattered.
Kavya's voice exploded through the courtyard.
Aarav didn't even flinch.
After nine lifetimes of cultivation disasters, a loud little sister barely registered as a threat.
Kavya ran toward him waving a wooden sword.
"Look! Father gave me this!"
Aarav examined the sword.
It was… slightly crooked.
Actually, it was very crooked.
The blade leaned sideways like it had lost an argument with gravity.
"Did father make this himself?"
Kavya nodded proudly.
"Yes!"
Aarav immediately understood everything.
Devendra Dev was an excellent spear user.
But clearly…
Sword crafting was not his talent.
Kavya swung the sword dramatically.
"Look at my sword technique!"
She shouted and performed a spinning slash.
Unfortunately, the sword flew out of her hand and landed in the nearby vegetable garden.
Arjun burst out laughing.
"Haha! You attacked the cabbage!"
Kavya turned red.
"I did NOT attack the cabbage!"
"You did!"
"The cabbage was in my way!"
Aarav watched them calmly.
After experiencing nine lifetimes of bloody wars and ruthless cultivation struggles…
This scene felt strangely comforting.
He stood up and walked toward the garden.
Picking up the crooked wooden sword, he examined its balance.
"Hmm."
Then he handed it back to Kavya.
"If you're going to swing a sword…"
"You should stand properly first."
Kavya tilted her head.
"How?"
Aarav moved behind her and adjusted her posture slightly.
Left foot forward.
Right foot back.
Hands steady.
Even though the sword was wooden, his movements were extremely precise.
Kavya blinked.
"How did you know that?"
Aarav shrugged.
"I read a book."
Arjun squinted suspiciously.
"You read weird books."
Aarav smiled.
"Correct."
Very weird books.
Books that came from nine lifetimes of experience.
Kavya tried the stance again.
This time the sword slash looked much better.
Arjun's eyes widened.
"Whoa."
Kavya grinned.
"I'm a genius!"
Aarav chuckled quietly.
"Yes."
"You definitely are."
A future Sword Queen, if his plans worked.
Suddenly Devendra's voice came from the doorway.
"What are you three doing?"
Arjun pointed excitedly.
"Brother is teaching sword techniques!"
Devendra raised an eyebrow.
"Oh?"
He walked closer and observed Kavya's stance.
Then he looked at Aarav.
"That's not from any academy book."
Aarav scratched his cheek.
"Maybe the book was very advanced."
Devendra stared at him for several seconds.
Then he sighed.
"…You're a strange child."
Aarav considered that statement.
Compared to normal ten-year-olds who did not remember nine past lives?
Yes.
He probably was.
Devendra turned toward the house.
"Dinner is ready."
Kavya cheered.
Arjun immediately ran inside.
Aarav followed slowly.
But before entering the house, he glanced at the sky one more time.
His gaze focused on the distant tower.
And far beyond that tower…
Something faintly flickered in the clouds.
A distortion.
Small.
Almost invisible.
But Aarav recognized it instantly.
A spatial fluctuation.
A portal.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
"So it begins…"
Somewhere out there, another world was touching this one.
And eventually…
Those worlds would collide.
When that day came, only the strongest would survive.
Aarav Dev smiled faintly.
Good thing he had already lived through nine apocalypses.
The tenth one should be easy.