Crack! Crack! Crack!
As the qi around him began to funnel inside of Zhao Chen at a horrifying rate, Zhao Chen's skin slowly started to have several cracks pop up all around it.
‘It seems when this body first reached the qi gathering realm, it somehow skipped over the body tempering transformation. Is that even possible? Just how terrible is this body's talent!’
Zhao Chen was cursing loudly in his heart, one trouble after another was thrown at him and he had no way to resist. Not only was he facing a roaring sea of essence qi surging into his body, but his physical body was also going through the first stage of body tempering, a transformation that cultivators were supposed to go through when they first break through!
When Zhao Chen began to circulate his essence qi for the first time the day prior, he had felt that it had definitely been several months if not close to a year since this body had become a full fledged cultivator.
The only logical explanation Zhao Chen could think of was that the original host of this body had forcefully broken through to the first stage of the Qi gathering realm via cultivation pills, allowing him to become a cultivator but skipping over the body tempering transformation.
“Arghh, nrhh,mmf” , Zhao Chen attempted to suppress his yells down to a muffle so as not to draw any more unwanted attention from his parents, but at a critical juncture of his breakthrough something unfathomable had occurred.
At the last moment the flood of qi entering his body had helped him pass through the body tempering transformation, and then it happened. Zhao Chen felt his cultivation realm grow rapidly!
Second stage Qi Gathering Realm!
But the qi didn’t stop yet, Zhao Chen had such a strong feeling of euphoria, that he felt as though he hadn’t felt any pain a mere few seconds ago. His cultivation reached the peak of the second stage and then he felt the shackles break again.
Third stage Qi Gathering Realm!
Zhao Chen was too elated to even realize that this sudden increase in cultivation by two minor stages at essentially the same time had caused the entire space to become unstable. The Qi all around him had seemed to have lost their funnel and had nowhere else to go, so naturally it was as if they decided they were no longer needed.
BOOM!
“ARGHHHHH!”
As the entire space around him suddenly blew up, the tired but new invigorated Zhao Chen quickly circulated his Qi to protect himself, but was still a half a step late resulting in him being sent flying from the room.
As his consciousness began to drift off, Zhao Chen saw the figures of his Mother and Father hastily running towards him, and as he shifted his gaze over he also noticed that not only had his bath room been blown up, but it had taken some of the surroundings parts of the manor with it.
When Zhao Chen's eyes got too heavy to keep open, he smiled softly. It was rather unfortunate that such a thing could happen simply from breaking through in cultivation, but since had broken through two minor realms in row as well as complete his body tempering transformation, his parents wouldn't say too much to him, right?
‘Yes, that’s right. They couldn’t possibly be that mad, maybe they’ll just tell me to be more careful in the future.’ Zhao Chen had one final thought before completely blacking out, he had been through enough hardships for the day.
The next day, in Zhao Chen’s room
“ZHAO CHEN! HOW COULD YOU POSSIBLY DO SOMETHING SO STUPID? HAVE YOU NO REGARD FOR YOUR PARENTS WORDS? WE TOLD YOU THAT YOU MUST TELL US IMMEDIATELY SHOULD ANYTHING GO WRONG!”
The intertwining yells of two very loving parents could be heard throughout almost the entire
Tranquil Cloud city. Surprisingly when Zhao Chen awoke from his day long slumber, both Haoran and Yuxuan were both rather calm, which had actually made Zhao Chen feel a little scared.
But nonetheless he thought since both his father and mother seemed to not be very mad, he would just explain everything that happened, exactly as it happened. Of course, without the mention of him almost dying several times, he thought that might cut the wrong wire if said to his parents.
He kept the story simple, he told them a very sugarcoated version of the pain he experienced from the jadegrass turtles medicinal bath, which the name of he had only remembered when he awoke. Then how his body initiated both the cultivation realm breakthrough and the body tempering transformation at the same time, which he passed by ‘a stroke of luck’.
Then finally how he had no idea what could have possibly caused such an explosion. Initially when both his father and mother remained quiet, Zhao Chen had thought to himself that they were taking this news rather well.
But naturally, he was wrong. And the very next moment both Yuxuan and Haoran exploded at the same time, almost causing Zhao Chen to faint again just to avoid the scolding.
When Zhao Chen tried to speak up again he was shut down immediately.
“Not a single word out of you Zhao Chen! We don’t care what fantasial explanation you have for this, neither of us care! Who cares about cultivation breakthrough, or body tempering transformation? Those would come naturally!” The two yelled united again before taking a breath and starting once more.
“But you put your life in danger for them! We almost lost you once Chen-er… We don’t want to ever feel something like that again.” Both Yuxuan and Haoran’s voice faltered in saying the last sentence.
Though they told the same exact thing to Zhao Chen prior to him entering the jadegrass turtle's medicinal bath, this time they had really almost lost their son. It was as if some malicious demon was toying with them!
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Zhao Chen swallowed a mouthful of saliva and stopped his words in his throat. His parents were right, though he had broken through, the possibility of him losing his life was undoubtedly high.
He waited for his parents to continue speaking, but once they didn't Zhao Chen got out of bed and promptly kneeled on the floor, though his mind didn’t agree with it, his heart felt that his parents could bear the kneel.
“Zhao Chen apologizes to mother and father for having made you worried, and solemnly swears to never ever make mother and father ever have to worry about me again” When the words had come out Zhao Chen pressed his head to the ground to show his seriousness.
Up until this point, him calling Yuxuan and Haoran his parents was only him assimilating himself with his body and new identity. But seeing both of them show more care for him than anyone in his previous life did, more than his parents and master, his heart had truly acknowledged them.
As Yuxuan and Haoran watched Zhao Chen kneel, their hearts felt uncomfortable in their chest. Yes, Zhao Chen had really worried them, but they didn’t plan on actually punishing him in any way, those words said before were naturally just out of anger.
Their son was only 15 years old and already at the third stage of the qi gathering realm! Of course they were proud. Though it wasn’t enough strength to reclaim his position as the Chen family's young lord, Zhao Chen now had the capital to stand up to those who had bullied him in the branch family.
The reason they allowed Zhao Chen to stay kneeling was the same reason as to why they never helped when he was being bullied. Zhao Chen was an upright and righteous person at heart, and would never want to push his problems on others. If he allowed his parents to help him at every inconvenience, where would he put his face?
Same as now, if he was not allowed to kneel and apologies, he should quit thinking about continuing to cultivate and spend the rest of his days as a good for nothing silk pants.
Once Yuxuan and Haoran felt enough time had passed they finally passed and that Zhao Chen would be content with this punishment, they put on fake satisfied faces and just nodded at Zhao Chen to signal him to stand up.
“As long as you promise to keep this vow Chen-er, mother and father will say nothing more.” Haoran was the first to speak, and the first who could no longer keep up the act and allow her lips to curl up into a soft smile.
“I promise!” Zhao Chen cusped his hands at his parents and gave a deep bow. Naturally he still had the pride of a once great divine lord, so kneeling again really might affect his Dao heart. Though he fully accepted Yuxuan and Haoran in his heart, his mind would need more time.
“Alright then, you go take a bath and get changed. Once you get out, come directly to the main hall, Mother and I will throw a grand party in celebration of your breakthrough.” Yuxuan also gave Zhao Chen a grand smile while patting him on the back.
As they turned to leave the room, the couple stopped just a step from the door before looking back at Zhao Chen.
“And no explosions.” They both said in a stern and cold tone. Though a passerby might take the scenario as a joke, both Yuxuan and Haoran were being deadly serious.
Zhao Chen just gave an awkward chuckle before responding, “Yes mother, father, I promise nothing else will explode.”
Zhao Chen waited for the couple to leave the room before allowing himself to flop back down onto his bed and take a minute to breathe.
He had only been reincarnated for a mere three days and he felt as though he’d been through more hardships than he did in his first three years as a cultivator in his past life. But now at least the hard part is over. Or for now that is.
He had laid down his foundation, found the most suitable cultivation technique for him and he had a method to help his cultivation progress rather quickly for the first two major realms!
For the majority of cultivators, accomplishing just one of these took at bare minimum two years. Zhao Chen naturally would not take pride in this, as with his former status he felt disappointed that according to his predictions, barring no accidents it would take him close to a decade if not more to return to the greater realms!
Naturally that was if he stayed in the southern domain of the Brightjade world. From the books in his room and from eavesdropping on servants' conversation, Zhao Chen came to find out that the division in between the two domains was not solely because of the endless woods.
The Southern Domains strongest powerhouses belonged to the 6 great families, The Li,Chen,Yuan,Wu,Ting and Chaotian families respectively. These 6 great families greatest powerhouses, which were either their patriarch in the case of the Li family or their grand elder like the Chen family.
The only problem was from what Zhao Chen could find that these powerhouses' strength varied from stage to stage but they were all at the Spirit Unification Realm, the fifth major realm. Which was also the realm in which cultivators were able to start using their soul essence, but nonetheless the spirit unification realm was the ceiling for those in the southern domain.
However in the northern domain, the cultivators at the Spirit Unification Realm measured in the hundreds if not thousands. As soon as Zhao Chen had got his hands on this information he knew what needed to be done.
Within the next two years, Zhao Chen had to break through as far as possible and rush over to the northern domain. The longer he waited the stronger his enemies would become, and though he didn’t like to admit it, the people he wanted to kill could destroy Zhao Chen by just flicking their finger.
But at the current moment, he could just be Zhao Chen. A Third stage Qi Gathering Realm cultivator who was now running severely late to a dinner thrown by his already slightly annoyed parents.
Zhao Chen jumped out of his bed and rushed over to the closest non destroyed bathroom and took the quickest bath humanly possible. He ran back to his room and threw on the azure robes his mother had laid out for him and tied up his hair, before quickly zooming over towards the manor's main hall.
Outside the main hall,
“Is that him?”
“There's no way. I’ve been cleaning here for years and he’s always been good for nothing. How could his strength rise so quickly?”
“You’re right, it must be someone who bears a resemblance.”
Outside the main hall of the Ling Families Manor, two servants gossiped away while observing a youth dressed in azure robes approach them.
Before they could ask anything, two guards swiftly approached in front of the youth and blocked him from walking any further.
“The manor is currently only open to family members, if you have any matters please return tomorrow. If you insist on trying to barge in, though your strength isn’t bad we will take you out” The taller of the two guards spoke sternly, his words were threatening but there wasn’t any real malice behind them.
The youth just stared at the two guards dumbfoundedly before speaking.
“I’m well aware that the manor is only open to family, as one would hope I am. Since the celebrations inside are in my honor.” The youth was of course none other than Zhao Chen.
But he was rather confused, though his cultivation and appearance had changed from the breakthrough, it wasn’t to the point of being unrecognizable.
He still however gave the guards the benefit of the doubt and did not respond sarcastically or haughtily and just said things as they were.
At that moment the shorter of the two guards, a round man who seemed to have already had one too many drinks let out a snort.
“Y-you expect us to believe you're Zhao Chen? Ha! That useless thing couldn’t even break through to the second stage qi gathering realm, after months of bitter cultivation. While you’re at the third stage. Everyone knows even though this celebration is for Zhao Chen breaking through to the third stage, Zhao Chen is probably gonna encounter an ‘accident’ and be unable to come. Haha” The short man blabbered and slurred his words.
But even though they came from a drunk man, Zhao was greatly infuriated by that man’s words and was just about to speak when the taller guard spoke up.
“This lowly one apologizes for having not recognized young master Chen. Please enter” He sidestepped to open up a path for Zhao Chen to walk by.
Once Zhao Chen had said his thanks and walked away the taller guard turned to the shorter one and gave him a tight slap to the face.
“You idiot, are you trying to die? Are you so drunk you can’t even recognize Zhao Chen?” The taller guard said neither angrily nor condescendingly but out of genuine concern.
The round man clutched his face for several moments before finally remembering he had a mouth to speak from.
“But how could he possibly be Zhao Chen! That young man could probably take me out on a fair one on one with ease, but that useless thing Zhao Chen has been stuck at the first stage qi gathering realm for months. I refuse to believe it!”
Slap! Slap! Slap!
The taller guard threw over three slaps at the other guard before finally getting annoyed.
“Will you die if you don’t speak! Do you think everyone is blind as you? I don’t know what happened to him but that is Zhao Chen! Now put down the drinks for the night and stand guard. What you said just now is right, if he wanted to beat you up like a dog he naturally can. And with his status compared to yours no one would stop him!” The tall guard turned around huffing and walked back to his post.
The short guard agreed on the outside but was cursing at Zhao Chen loudly in his heart.
‘So what if he broke through? He’s still just a useless trash, let’s see if he acts arrogantly once he gets inside’ The short guard sneered and thought to himself.
“What? Do you have something else to say? Quickly get over here and stand your post!” The tall guard yelled, today this fatty was really annoying him.
As soon as Zhao Chen arrived a few steps from the door to the main hall, he abruptly stopped. This would be his first time interacting with others longer than simple greetings aside from his parents, and he had no idea how he should behave.
Though the members of the Duan family thoroughly infuriate Zhao Chen, he didn’t want to throw them away just yet. Surely if he gave them some face accompanied by his new found strength, he would be able to get some use out of them.
“The strongest member in the Duan family is the patriarch who is merely at the third stage of the Foundational Harmony realm, even though to the current me I'm unable to win in a head on confrontation, I have nothing to fear.” Zhao Chen gave himself a few reassuring words and finally pushed open the doors to the main hall.
"Here goes nothing," Zhao Chen thought to himself.