He couldn't believe it. Perhaps he didn't want to believe it. It was just that big of a revelation.
"Is this… me? How can this be?"
Jin was flabbergasted. The face that was reflected in the glass was not his, but the face of an unknown youth he had never seen before.
He took a closer look, trying to confirm whether he wasn't hallucinating or anything. But there was barely any light for him to see his face properly.
He brought his shaky hand to his face in disbelief.
"Is this what those secluded monks called 'transmigration' in their scriptures? Am I really dead?"
His heart ached at the thought.
He took in a deep breath.
"I must not give in to this situation. If I can't even face this trial, I truly don't deserve anything, let alone transcendence."
He groaned and looked around him.
It was a closed space, similar to a praying hall, but on a much smaller scale. There was no statue to pray to, simply a large circle inscribed on the floor. It contained strange runes that he couldn't read.
The place itself was old, too old even. He could see vines and other flora growing between the cracks in the ceiling. He was unsure whether it was a marvel of nature or the failure of the one who had constructed this place.
Not that his sight was clear enough to see that far. He turned uncomfortably to see what he was leaning against.
'Interesting.'
It was a stele that reflected his image crystal clear. It was strange, while the rest of the hall was filled with dust and worn out, this particular object had remained the same all those years.
As strange as it was, it was at least not as absurd as his predicament.
He noticed similar letters written on them. They were much clearer, giving him a few clues as to what he was dealing with.
"Fate has a twisted sense of humor."
It was indeed a prayer hall. But it wasn't simply that, but much more than that.
Even though the characters on the onyx marble were syllables he had never read before, he could comprehend their general meaning. Not only generally, but almost entirely, as if he knew the ancient language by heart.
He traced the letter with his bloodied fingers.
O great one, that resides in this forest.
We pray for your eternal blessings.
We pray for your death.
We pray for your —
The letter after that was intentionally scratched out. It was a mystery to him as to how one had managed to scratch out such a hard surface.
"How troublesome. As if transmigrating in the body of a dying individual was not distressing enough, they had to make it in the tomb of a deity."
A deity didn't always refer to a god. From a thousand-year-old imugi to a transcendent being with consciousness, a deity could be anything. Any sentient being that could be viewed as a guardian was eventually given the epithet of a deity.
He knew as much, as he was a deity too. At least used to be.
He pushed the trail of thoughts aside and focused back on his body.
"Now that I have a sense of where I am, I need to comprehend whose body I've transmigrated into."
Every time he uttered the word 'transmigrate,' a grimace formed on his face.
He wasn't in disbelief. Considering he was a near-god entity in his past life, he had seen his fair share of mysterious phenomena and absurdities of the universe. He had seen almost everything a human could expect, and then some more.
But this was different.
'So even this is not beyond heaven's reach. I had thought that reading it in religious texts was enough, but to experience it oneself is simply…'
He couldn't really continue the thought.
Not because he didn't want to, but because the hall quaked immensely.
Something, or someone, was above the ceiling. And whatever it was, it was trying to break through inside the hall.
One blow, then another; it was jarring. With each blow, cracks found their way on the concrete.
Fortunately, he wasn't in immediate danger. Because the impact was a dozen meters away from him, around the end of the hall.
But that didn't mean he wasn't in danger at all.
After gazing into the youth's memories, he had understood why he was in such a state.
Initially, he was being chased. And the thing chasing him was far from human.
It was an alien beast, even to the child himself. He had refrained from going too far in his memories, but it was proving to be a double-edged sword.
But what agitated him wasn't the arrival of the beast but his own inability to move.
He had suffered one too many vital injuries. His inner injuries were minor, while his limbs weren't his main focus either.
His ribs, on the other hand, weren't as good. He could sense that at least two of his ribs were broken, with a few others fractured. The broken ones needed immediate medical attention, but he was capable of managing with a few ribs protruding from his chest. It would be a completely different matter if they pierced his lungs, though.
What made it all worse was that the physique he had acquired was the worst when it came to martial arts.
The lower dantian was completely missing, as if it had never been there. His meridians were blocked, indicating they had never been used before. Both his upper and middle dantians were closed.
Boom!
The ceiling collapsed. An avalanche of dust rose, obscuring his sight. He guarded his face with his right arm and dropped the locket inside his shirt's inner pocket.
"Arghh!!", a bestial scream roared. The scream sent a wave out, pushing the clouds of dust back.
The moon's silver light poured inside the room, finally illuminating the predator.
Coughing softly, he glanced at the monstrous figure.
It was a species of ape, overgrown out of proportion. The beast had a ludicrous physique, its upper body almost twice the size of its lower body. Its long and muscular arms were relaxed, as if even the ape couldn't keep lifting them all the time.
It was wearing a crooked skull like a visor. Through the cracks in that skull, he could see its ferocious gaze, examining him as well.
He felt threatened. His broken body, paired with his doomed cultivation, was of no use to him. Meanwhile, he could sense its bloodlust clearly.
'How long has it been?'
Instead of giving in to self-depreciation, he steeled himself.
'I had almost forgotten what this felt like.'
Despite his stifled breath, there was a bloody grin on his face.
It wasn't because he had found a way to restore his strength. He didn't have to, after all.
Just seeing it up front awakened something inside him. Anger… no, rage, it was certainly rage that he was feeling at the moment.
It was his own, of course, but there was much more rage in his heart. And most of it didn't belong to him.
It belonged to Lian—the youth whose sacrifice had led to Jin's transmigration.
It was an unadulterated emotion, emerging from the loss of his comrades. He could feel the child's will even after his death. The remnants of what was left of Lian in this body were screaming at him, urging him to brutally end it as it had done to his friends.
He laughed.
"Go ahead. Take everything from me. My enlightenment, my cultivation, my soul—take it all! I don't need any of them."
He brought his hand to his chest. He once had a lower dantian filled with unrivaled transcendental qi. Now, there was a space.
His upper dantian, which had once contained a will capable of toppling mountains with a thought, was a closed-off dantian of a young man now.
His middle dantian, which had been the pillar behind his emotions and intent, was now simply filled with rage.
"You failed to comprehend something."
Besides the uncontrollable rage, there was something else.
Something far more ancient and intimidating.
It was the vital qi of the man who was famed to be unrivaled in the central plains. It was after he had crossed swords with the man that he had actually come to know it.
It was the vital qi of Kang Muyeon, the Heavenly Demon.
This body, which lacked everything, still had something far more precious.
The dark and murky qi slowly absorbed the rage in his heart. Drop by drop, his emotions stirred inside the orb of energy, spinning vigorously. The seed that Muyeon had given him was now turning into something else, taking the shape of Lian's anger and Jin's intent to defy the heavens.
His gaze fell on the beast, his hazel eyes reflecting the moon in them.
"I don't need any of them to defeat a beast that has fallen to its instincts."
He grabbed the stele behind him, using it to support his body.
His leg slipped, but he didn't fall.
Standing straight, he pulled the broken pauldron from his shoulder and threw it away.
Before he could act, it was upon him.