In the past, I was called Beast King. I was a violent unyielding warrior of incredible power. As a cultivator, I was one of the strongest on the continent probably within the top hundred martial artists alive.
Cultivation is the practice of transcending mortal limits through growing your internal energy and physical body through a total of 9 levels. The ninth level was rumored to practically make one invincible. A cultivator of the 9th level could live for so long that they were considered immortal and were so strong they could probably destroy a continent. I had reached the seventh level. I was called the Beast King because my physical strength could be compared to an actual beast king, a monstrous beast whose territory spanned massive swaths of land and was a threat to humanity.
I had never really feared death, I had gone through many battles where I could have died at any time. I had faced death more than a dozen times in my life, I had looked death straight in the face and smiled gracefully accepting the end. The only time where I truly feared death was in my youth, when I was still young and inexperienced, and when I had yet to taste a thousand battles.
I was afraid now. I had not known fear in many years, but now it struck me in my core.
Some would call me a lone wolf, but that isn’t completely true, I do have friends, even really good ones and I’ve made several close friends over my cultivating journey. One of those close friends, one of the very few people that I could trust with my life has poisoned me. My incredibly strong body which I'd honed through centuries of training had grown as weak as a newborn babe.
I could feel the grip on my cup weakening. I was at a dinner for cultivators, a gathering of old friends, we all sat together to talk of the future and some hardships that were to come when after a feast the host of the party Sir Zhou the Holy Ghost Knight called for a toast. “Friends, after such a long time most of us managed to gather together here today, even the unpredictable and crazy Beast King himself showed himself to this humble gathering.” Everyone laughed, including me. “I hope everyone can just enjoy each other's company tonight. We can discuss the great calamities and more serious topics later for now let’s have a toast!” It seemed as though everyone was completely caught up in the atmosphere. I for one was always one to enjoy a good drinking party. Every cultivator, a little over twenty people hollered, “Cheers!”
I must have looked so stupid with a silly grin on my face. The moment I swallowed the liquid, I could tell something was wrong. I tried to force the liquid out of my mouth before losing control of my body. Cultivators who reach a certain level won't die from poisoning, the strongest of poisons might weaken you, but you could still fight off the poison from the inside. It was common practice to purge or even forcefully burn powerful poison that flowed through the veins. This poison was different. The moment I swallowed it, I lost my ability to access internal energy, and my body grew weak. Some of the other big-shot cultivators here even managed to spit out the poisoned drink, but they grew weak from the poison, and everyone who resisted was quickly slain.
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Zhou said to the remaining cultivators, “The poison is from the Demon tribe. Incredible!, aren't you all impressed?” No one could even answer him. At least I wasn’t able to speak. Two of the other cultivators stood by Zhou’s side, The Turtle Lee Wugui and The 7 Hells Snake King, everyone else was poisoned. “The look on all of your faces! Hah! It makes this whole damned thing worth it!” Zhou had either lost his mind or was just a crazy bastard from the start. Zhou and his goons began killing every cultivator in the dining hall with incredibly gruesome methods. Fresh blood sprayed out, painting the golden table and the golden halls of the Holy Knight sect. “Your daughter is exceedingly beautiful. It would truly be a shame if there was no one to look after her!” Zhou said this to the clan master of the Thousand Roses, Mr. Chen, who happened to be my closest friend. Zhou's hysterical laughter filled the dining hall like a banshee's scream.
The Seven Hells Snake grabbed Mr. Chen by the hair, Zhou smiled and then swung his sword, my friend's head rolled on the ground next to me, and warm blood splashed all over my face while his body fell next to me. “Oh? Are you angry Beast King? I heard you and Thousand Roses were close, were the two of you together? Hahaha, heeee heeee haaaaaaa!” I could only glare. I hadn’t felt fear in a very long time. When I put my life on the line facing an enemy who was stronger than me, I could always face the situation head-on. I didn’t fear dying in battle since that would only mean that I was the weak one in the end. I would at least die knowing that I did my best, but now I had no control. I was about to die, but I couldn’t even lift a finger, let alone fight. I wasn’t in front of a stronger opponent, but someone I knew was weaker than me. I would die unable to fight back, unable to even defend myself.
I was angry. Incredibly angry, furious from the betrayal, furious from the humiliation and the death of my closest friends. None of us was given a fair fight or a warrior's death. We were all slain like dogs. I was looking death in the eyes right now, a death impossible to avoid, an unfair death, a true death. I felt fear. “For someone called the Beast King you are awfully tame, but don’t worry puppy when a dog gets sick you just have to put it out of its misery!” I don’t want to die. Not like this. I had so much more I wanted to do! “I was expecting a bit more out of you.” His sword came down, and my head went flying. I didn’t die right away as Zhou grabbed my head from the air. He looked me in the eyes with a crazed look and said, “Farewell Weak King I’ll see you around, hahaha but you won’t see me!”
The light around me faded. I was afraid of the darkness, but soon my consciousness was wrapped in it and I faded away from existence itself. As the world dimmed and grew dark my consciousness plunged straight into the abyss. I felt as though I was entering a deep sleep. Everything in my surroundings seemed to float away from me and right before I felt as though I would disappear and be gone forever I heard something. It was a faint noise far off in the darkness. “Waahhh!”. I opened my eyes and there was once again light, an incredibly large red-haired woman, and a tall brown-haired man with glasses were standing over me looking at me. I was incredibly confused. I thought my head was cut off, didn’t I just die? The darkness was about to suck me in just moments ago. Or was that a long time ago? It didn’t take me long to figure out what had happened, I was pretty sure I had reincarnated, it was something I had only heard about from overly convoluted ancient texts and fictional novels with no substance whatsoever. I didn’t believe in reincarnation and I had lived in a world of powerful cultivators who could blow apart mountains and upend rivers with a flick of their wrist. My first thoughts were of revenge. My second was, where am I?