Meng Li was content for now. He had gone into seclusion to break through in order to get to the bottom of the strange nagging feeling in his head, and he managed to do so. Now, the only thing blocking him from breaking through to the Origin Core was acc.u.mulation - he needed to further strengthen the pillar in his Dantian.According to the cultivation system he was familiar with, he was in the late stage of Pillar Merging - he merged all of his pillars into one. He only needed to strengthen it to break through to Origin Core. Although he could do so within the control room, Meng Li wasn"t really eager to do so - he still remembered the system"s warning. He would need to take care and be a hundred and one percent sure until he decided to break through. After all, he had to pave a path himself, and couldn"t rely on the people who came before him to help, only use their experience as a guide.
When he made up his mind, Meng Li teleported out of the control room into his small house. It was exactly as he left it - no dust acc.u.mulated on the floors and the small table, the sun hadn"t moved, and even the flames in the fireplace stayed the same as they were when he teleported away. Meng Li couldn"t help but smile. The time within the control room flowed by like sand slipping through his fingers, but he was already kind of missing this small house he had built himself. He decided to head out and visit Ye Jin and Xie Ja to meet them. Although for them, even a second didn"t pa.s.s, for him, a long time had pa.s.sed. He didn"t ask the system because he didn"t want to confirm the faint feeling, but he was certain it was more than ten years, and was quite sure he spent more than five decades in the bare, white room.
Meng Li slowly walked outside of the room. The sun was high up in the sky - it was the middle of the day. Meng Li sighed - he knew he wouldn"t be able to meet Ye Jin and Xie Ja. However, he could meet Ye Jian. The long period of seclusion made him eager for some human contact.
Meng Li turned away from the road and walked into his house. He closed the door behind him and locked it. Then, he suddenly disappeared.
He had used the system"s teleportation function to visit Ye Jian. He didn"t teleport directly in from of the man - he teleported to the entrance of the valley, near the stream. By walking next to the stream, he would soon get to the place where Ye Jian was practicing.
Meng Li started walking. His steps were light, and barely left a mark on the gra.s.s. It was as though he was floating through it, not walking. Soon enough, he could hear faint sounds of an object moving at high speed. It seemed like Ye Jian was practicing the sword.
Meng Li continued walking until he could see Ye Jian. With his sight, he could see him clearly. Although Ye Jian was merely eight, his figure was lean and he had visible muscles. Although it would normally look quite strange on an eight year old, it looked natural on him. His face showed a resolute expression. His eyes were closed, even as he was dancing on the slippery rocks with a tree branch in hand. The branch cut through air, producing faint whoosh sounds. However, weirdly enough, the only times where it produced these sounds were when Ye Jian wasn"t cutting with it, and merely moving it. When he used it like a sword, the air was cut without any resistance, even though the branch lacked an edge. It was a strange matter which Meng Li wasn"t able to answer.
A few minutes after Meng Li came, Ye Jian stopped. He stood still on the rocks, without opening his eyes. However, a few seconds after stopping, he suddenly opened his mouth.
"Aren"t you going to introduce yourself?" the voice was resolute and forceful. Even though it came from an eight year old boy, it didn"t sound funny. Meng Li smiled slightly.
"Meng Li." he said. He didn"t feel a need to be polite to Ye Jian since the man wasn"t polite to him. After all, even if he was interested in him, it wasn"t to the point of degrading himself.
Ye Jian opened his eyes and gazed at Meng Li. His eyes were piercing, as though they were swords pointed at Meng Li. He could tell that Ye Jian was studying him. They hadn"t met in quite a few years after Meng Li stopped helping Xie Ja "babysit" him. Even when that happened, Ye Jian snuck away as soon as Xie Ja exited the door, and Meng Li didn"t stop him. The interaction between them was severely limited.
"What did you approach my parents for?" Ye Jian asked. His tone was cold - Meng Li knew he cared for his parents.
"I didn"t approach them for anything." Meng Li said. It was true - he approached them because he wanted to get close to Ye Jian.
Ye Jian narrowed his eyes in response. He knew Meng Li was lying - even with a cultivation of the 6th layer of Qi Gathering he couldn"t tell Meng Li"s strength, but he could tell he was definitely not a mortal.
"What would a cultivator approach a pair of mortals for? Stop lying." Ye Jian snorted. His tone grew colder. Even though he knew Meng Li was stronger than himself, he wasn"t worried.
"Sigh..." Meng Li couldn"t help but sigh looking at the eight year old kid. He was unsure of what to say. He really didn"t think his approach tactic through very well... He wanted to pretend to be an ordinary person who is a friend of their parents, but Ye Jian managed to see through his concealment somehow. And even if the disguise managed to work, how would he initiate the conversation? "h.e.l.lo I became friend with your parents because I knew you were reincarnated."? No way. And even if he somehow managed to do so, he would certainly expose himself. Meng Li gradually realised that his plan was flawed from the beginning.
"I could tell that you reincarnated. Actually, during the pregnancy, the innate Qi was protecting you from the eyes of the heavens. After all, the heavens prevent reincarnation not through the Cycle of Samsara. I used a secret technique to help the innate Qi, so you weren"t struct down by the heavens." Meng Li explained. The only way to prevent the relations.h.i.+p from deteriorating further was to be honest. So, he went all out.
Ye Jian couldn"t help but widen his eyes. Several of the questions bugging him were answered. First, he finally knew who was Meng Li and why he became friends with his parents. Secondly, he knew why the strand of innate Qi in his body was so weak. However, the answer created some other questions: why was Meng Li interested with him in the first place? And a similar question, what did Meng Li want to do with him? After all, if he helped him, he surely expected a reward.
Ye Jian suddenly changed his stance to a defensive one. Meng Li gently sighed when he saw him do so and walked slowly over to where Ye Jian was practicing. He chose a relatively dry rock and sat on it. Ye Jian didn"t lower his defence.
"Don"t worry, I"m not going to hurt you." Meng Li knew that it wasn"t very convincing, but he didn"t have a better idea.
"What did you help me for?" Ye Jian asked carefully.
"From curiosity. And because I was bored." Meng Li answered truthfully. "A thing like what happened with you is extremely rare after all. The Cycle of Samsara rarely makes mistakes and lets soul escape, and rarely do those wandering souls manage to find a fitting host before they inevitably deteriorate and ultimately disappeared."
"Still, what do you want from me? Secret techniques? Battle skills?" Ye Jian probed.
"I have no need for those things. I guess... I wanted to become friends?" Meng Li said. He realised that this was a pathetic excuse, but he didn"t have anything better. "Can we just like... Talk? Maybe sit down and put away that dagger, please." Meng Li motioned to a rock close by. Ye Jian slowly lowered his defensive stance and put away the dagger he was holding behind his back. He realised that if Meng Li wanted to kill him he could easily do so, and a mere dagger wasn"t going to help him if that were to happen.
Ye Jian walked over and sat on the rock Meng Li pointed at. He used his Qi to quickly dry the surface. That usage of Qi interested Meng Li, but he didn"t ask. After all, he had the summoning tab.
"I need to browse the summoning tab for some common techniques later." he thought.
"So, maybe could we formally introduce ourselves? I know your given name but it"s probably different from the one you had before." Meng Li said.
"No, it"s actually... The same." Ye Jian slowly said. Meng Li looked at him in surprise. This definitely had to be fate - the same name in both lives.
"As I said before, my name is Meng Li. Sorry for the previous rudeness." Meng Li cupped his hands and nodded at Ye Jian. He wanted to become friends, and politeness went a long way in relations.h.i.+ps.
"So... Maybe tell me about your past life?" Meng Li suggested. He hoped that Ye Jian would open up to him, as he really was interested in the man"s past life.
"Sigh... Okay. I really need to get this off of my chest." Ye Jian sighed and said. He seemed as though a matter was weighing on him, and he needed to tell it to someone. It even seemed like his cautiousness towards Meng Li decreased slightly.
"I... Was an adventurer. Didn"t have a group, but was alone with a friend of mine. His name was w.a.n.g Tao. That b.a.s.t.a.r.d." Ye Jian started to tell his story. Meng Li could see the intense hatred in Ye Jin"s voice when he said w.a.n.g Tao"s name. It seemed like Ye Jian had a heavy hatred towards his formed friend. The only good explanation was that he was betrayed, maybe even killed by w.a.n.g Tao. Meng Li listened on carefully.
"We were mainly in the Shattered Planet sector. We just came from the Atlantean Realm and were hiding on some planet to heal our wounds. We managed to find some Azure Striped Platinum in a cave we chose to reside in, and when we were celebrating, that b.a.s.t.a.r.d w.a.n.g Tao stabbed me through the heart. He cast down curses to hold my origin soul in and used some demonic arts to plant some demonic lily on my chest. That... Thing replaced my heart and started absorbing my vitality, cultivation and soul through the curses that b.a.s.t.a.r.d cast. When I was hopeless and sure that I would die, I remembered that I had a secret art. Its" main use is to avoid the Cycle of Samsara and reincarnate with my memories intact, at the cost of the caster"s cultivation, but the thing I was hoping for was the side-effect. The secret art produced an explosion when it was cast. It seems like the art itself worked, but I really do hope that the b.a.s.t.a.r.d w.a.n.g Tao"s demonic flower got destroyed. After all, it was directly on my chest. The explosion should"ve at least affected it... And even if it was fine, It didn"t get to finish. I still remember that f.u.c.ker"s smug face when he looked at me dying on the ground... I swear, if I catch him in the future I"ll let him know a fate worse than death!" Ye Jian was grinding his teeth while telling the story while Meng Li watched on with an astounded stare. He didn"t recognize any of the things mentioned by Ye Jian - the Shattered Planet sector, the Atlantean Realm, the Azure Striped Platinum. He had a faint premonition that something went horribly wrong with Ye Jian"s secret art and that he ended up in a wholly different world... Well, he could confirm that Ye Jian ended up in a different world since he was here since the beginning, but how, he had no idea.
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"What level of cultivation were you?" Meng Li asked from curiosity. Ye Jian mentioned that his soul was sealed and couldn"t escape - this was an ability that he had no idea of. As such, he wanted to learn more about Ye Jian"s cultivation.
"Oh, that. I was at the late stage of Origin Soul." Ye Jian casually replied. He didn"t know of Meng Li"s cultivation level, so he probably a.s.sumed that the level of the planet was quite high.