Alex was not bothered one bit by the attitude from the new students who basically took him as a failure from the previous years and treated more like a servant. During the discussions with Adil he realized he had to cultivate his ego similarly to how he cultivated Qi, except ego was cultivated by experiencing human relationships. This was the effort he needed to make to, simply said, live longer. At first it was surprisingly hard, but he got used to it with time.

Starting the sixth year in the academy Alex began to create his soul brand. Using the endless supply of the soul particles that were provided by the Qi pond, he spent every night creating his own ‘wheel of life’. This idea was the result of his lengthy discussions and theorizations with Adil and the old man reconstructed his previous soul brand in a similar way. The difference between them was that Adil had the bonus of actually being able to see the soul particles, while Alex had almost unlimited amount of them.

The idea behind creating the soul brand in this fashion was actually based on assumption that the strange imprint on Alex’s soul chains had something to do with him being able to carry memories over to his next life. The fact that this imprint was faded could mean it was loosing strength and in that case there was a risk that at after a number of reincarnations Alex would be born just like any other human – with a blank consciousness.

Alex, of course, was unwilling to stop this adventure and simply had to find a way to go on. On the other hand, Adil intended to start one, thus both worked on a similar project.

Alex had to admit – the old man really took a liking in him. Even though he didn’t actively work in the library, Adil suggested its expansion to the higherups and it was gladly approved by both academy’s council and the emperor. From that day on a large amount of books containing theories on cultivation and actual techniques were brought over from the imperial palace and there was one person who was tasked in copying everything. Alex didn’t shy off from the boring and tedious work, because he knew that everything he read was the knowledge he would carry over to his eight life. One could never have too much knowledge and mastering even the simplest technique could become useful in the future.

Four years had passed since Alex officially became librarian and one after another his former schoolmates returned with their finished tasks. Most didn’t bother to come over and greet him, but Alex didn’t care much as well. The only one who showed up was Jamil – the damn fatty managed to become saint after all, but he only arrived to show off his new status and left after patting Alex on the shoulder and suggesting he should ‘do his best’.

There was one face Alex was missing, but according to the information he had, she went over to Halil continent to prepare the foundation for the future uprising and would not return any time soon. Apparently the emperor’s ambitions were great and the guy was set on conquering the world. Alex, obviously, didn’t care for that, but recognized that even rulers needed their hobbies. The fact they cost lives of hundreds of thousands didn’t matter.

Every night Alex lie on the bottom of the Qi pond, working on his soul brand. By now he finished the general setting that resembled the original wheel of life and began working on the image in the center. Obviously he didn’t intend to make it Buddha-like – instead the person sitting in a cross-legged position closely resembled himself.

From the moment he ‘caught’ his first soul particle he had made great advances. But according to Adil, Alex’s couple thousand soul particles were not even close to what the emperor possessed. Hearing it, Alex’s first reaction was quite competitive, but then he realized he had the unique Qi pond to himself and the Qi kept flowing from the mountains and gathered in the peculiar rune formation, bringing along basically unlimited amount of loose soul particles. All he had to do was to patiently cultivate in a calm solitude.

The problem was – while Alex was in the Qi pond, in a deep meditative trance focusing on his soul brand, someone sat on his face, literally. In addition, the person didn’t feel cozy enough as if his head was a piece of rock and moved their bottom around to settle more comfortably!

“What the f*ck!” Alex surfaced in shock, but before he could curse the intruder’s ancestors the forgotten scent of sweet lilies assaulted his senses.

The flavor had changed a little bit but it was not something he could forget or confuse with something else.

“Nabia?” Alex blurted out in confusion.

The girl, similar to him, also froze from shock for a split second, but after recognizing the voice punched him in the nose.

“You bastard! Pervert! I’ll kill you!” She shouted in anger while raining down punches, most of which Alex couldn’t evade.

After taking several hits he ignored the rest and hugged her, pressing her close. He managed to clinch her in a position where her hands were pushed below his arms and close to her body, thus the only thing she could move was her head, apart from legs that is, but those were behind Alex and she could not use them to attack him.

“Llleeet meee goooo!” She screamed and bit him on the shoulder so deep, her teeth fractured his clavicle.

“Ouch!” Alex shouted from pain, “What the hell is wrong with you!”

“You! You … you … pervert!” She shouted while panting heavily.

Alex did find the situation hilarious, but the stinging pain coming from his shoulder reminded there was another party who didn’t.

“I’m the pervert! You’re the pervert!” He immediately returned the accusation, “I was calmly meditating in my Qi pond when you intruded without any warning!”

“You, bastard!” She gritted her teeth, “This isn’t some Qi pond – it’s the Heavenly Qi gathering formation!”

“Potato-potato. Doesn’t matter – it’s mine and you came and assaulted me! Do you have no shame?” Alex said.

Only now Nabia realized she sat in his lap naked and even worse – the pervert was naked as well!

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Without knowing what to do she bit his other shoulder fracturing the bone there too.

“One more bite and I’ll return the favor!” Alex seriously warned.

Few years ago she could abuse him, but as a man he naturally grew stronger than her. In addition, by holding her in a helpless position he should’ve been the one to dictate the rules.

“You wouldn’t dare!” She hissed, clenching her teeth.

“Wanna try me?” He looked in her eyes, but unfortunately all that he saw was flaming fury.

Apparently she somehow found the place and came with an oil lamp that was weakly illuminating surroundings. Normally Alex put out the torch in one of the previous chambers to not soil the place, but apparently lady preferred to take a bath under lighting.

The problem was – how to get out of this situation not only alive, but with some dignity?

“You dirty pervert! I’ll …” Nabia wasn’t actually clear what she could do, but what she said gave Alex an idea.

“I’m dirty? Missy, did you even wash before getting in?” And while Nabia’s expression turned into a confused one, he sprung up and threw her into the underground river.

Of course, currently the water there was stationary and Nadia’s naked body flew several meters to land in it with a splash and a loud yelp.

It took a couple of seconds for her to realize what happened, but just as she intended to jump up, Alex calmly said, “You don’t want to do that.”

Indeed, there was some distance for her to cover if she wanted to attack him again, but in order to do that she first needed to come out fully exposing herself.

“Wanna talk first?” Alex said with a smile seeing her sinking back in the river leaving only the top of her head out.

He was certain that the cool water over there will have a calming effect, therefore continued, “When did you come back?”

After a long while she whispered in a barely audible voice, “Just today.”

“Oh? And didn’t even come to visit me? I thought we were friends!” Alex pretended to be upset.

“The first thing I did was to go to the library, you jerk!” She barked back.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Lately I began to close up earlier so I can spend more time here.” He explained, “How long did you know of this place?”

The best possible tactics to calm this furious maiden was to talk with her and since they had not seen each other for years, Alex could think of subjects to speak for hours.

“I knew it existed since I learned what cultivation is, but only yesterday I found out the location.” She said with a sigh.

Alex had no clue what was going on in her pretty head, but from what it sounded she gave up on killing him, at least for now.

“Mhm. Quite the place.” He nodded, “I found it a bit before you kicked me off the Southern peak. Honestly, if not for the Qi pond, I would’ve died several times over. It has great regenerative powers – I bet my two shoulders will be as new tomorrow morning.”

“It’s called …” She wanted to correct him, but Alex interrupted.

“The Qi pond. My place, my decision.”

“What do you mean your place? It’s mine!” She became furious again.

But Alex smiled and said, “I was here first, so it’s mine.”

They stared at each other for a while, then Alex said, “You’ll get chilly there. Come in the pond – the formation keeps the water warm.”

“You, pervert! I’ll …” She angrily shouted, but Alex interrupted again.

“Here’s enough place for both of us. No touching, no looking – nothing perverted.”

“But … I can’t get out.” Alex could swear he hear how she blushed all over, but it only made him smile.

He stretched out his hand towards the oil lamp and after a split second the thin flame went out.

Hearing Nabia climbing out he said, “I bet you wish you thought of that earlier. I’d probably lie in a pool of blood if you did, right?”

“Mhm.” She agreed.

“You know, not only you – I also have become better at many things.” He said, but then sensed the direction she was taking and instructed, “A bit to the right. I see you have practiced your sense of smell and can tell the general direction now. Not bad.”

“Apparently I’m not as good as you.” She snorted back while climbing in the pond.

“Let’s be honest.” Alex said, “You should’ve smelled someone’s presence when you entered.”

Nabia didn’t answer for a minute and then softly said, “It did smell familiar, but I thought I was just imagining …”

“Don’t fuss about it. We can’t change what happened, right? Do you want me to teach you a simple Qi technique so we can chat while practicing?” Alex asked.

“Mhm.” She nodded.

Nabia didn’t completely loosen up, but they chatted through the night anyway. Both had a lot to share – she about her adventures on the Halil continent, he – about the progress in cultivation and the many new techniques and theories.

In the morning Alex went out first, leaving the blushed girl lying in the pond, her mind in a complete chaos. They didn’t meet throughout the day, but when he came back in the afternoon, the scent of lilies had already filled the cave room.

This time the oil lamp was already out, but he sensed her already being in the Qi pond. Without saying a word, he went to wash himself in the river first, and then joined her in the pond.

They didn’t notice who was the one who accidentally touched the other’s hand that transformed into a gentle caress and a kiss afterwards, but the night was spent in a blissful euphoria which neither of them would ever forget.

Later Alex mused that it most likely went so well because of him having a female body in his last life in addition to the teachings from the College of evangelism. With the knowledge he had it was almost impossible to make a wrong move and the Qi pond with its formations might have played its role as well.

From that day on they met there every night. At first the two didn’t speak and only enjoyed each other, but their closeness became so natural they began to cultivate together, sometimes chat and sometimes fool around.

Outside the cave Nabia mostly ignored him, but Alex didn’t mind. Approximately a month after arrival she applied for a position of combat instructor and the council happily approved it.

One can guess how popular the lessons of the combat techniques became with her as the teacher. Not only the crazed youths stopped slacking around, they even arranged monthly tournaments in order to impress her, but for some reason the otherworldly beauty remained cold to all.