Chen Zixi grinned, evidently enjoying the expressionless but clearly pained emotions of Tian Ji Han’s Spirit Budgie face.
“I’ll permit Xiao Feng to keep his former Master around like a pet. It does no harm to me. Although Spirit Budgies do have a cultivation base, what hope is there left for you to reach Immortality?”
Chen Zixi chuckled, Tian Ji Han had absolutely nothing to respond back with. Then Chen Zixi stopped his laughter with a cough, his eyes glittered with meaning.
“I can’t say what would happen to you if you return to the sect with us,” continued Chen Zixi. “You probably don’t even know how many enemies you’ve made among the elders and other inner disciples.
“I’m warning you for your own good, Master Ji Han. Look at where your pig-headed benevolence landed you, by all means you probably should be dead, it would have made the elders breathe easier back at the Heavenly Sword Sect. Instead you’ve just lost your human body. Let me make this clear: once we return home, I’m not going to protect you at all.”
Tian Ji Han grasped Chen Zixi’s meaning. At his current status, he was of no threat to Chen Zixi, but moreso to Xiao Feng. He was going to be declared dead if he returned with them to the Heavenly Sword Sect; his identity as Tian Ji Han will have to remain secret since Chen Zixi asserted that he won’t take his side or offer any support if he was exposed.
And he understood Chen Zixi’s reasoning. He was now a mere Spirit Budgie. He is now weaker than even the lamest of mortal humans, he had lost all his wealth and cultivation base; there will be more harm from associating with him simply because he had angered too many individuals while he was alive as a human.
Therefore, this was the best way to protect Xiao Feng: to remain officially dead, so that his enemies won’t seek trouble with his former disciple. It was only for the better that Xiao Feng took a new master to be his guardian.
The world of cultivation is brutal, one’s enemies know to strike at your most vulnerable period. Having family means having something worth protecting, but also means providing a method for enemies to hurt you in ways that reach beyond personal self-harm.
“...” Tian Ji Han was solemn. He did not want to prolong their melancholy any longer.
“I have but one request to ask of Senior.”
Chen Zixi harumphed. “Speak.”
“Please look after Xiao Feng.”
Chen Zixi smiled as he stroked his beard: “Of course, he owes me after all.”
Tian Ji Han tried to nod, but his pudgy little bird head had no neck, and he could only bob up and down in the air.
“Thank you, senior.”
Chen Zixi harumphed coldly in reply.
After the time it takes for an incense stick to burn…
Brother Liu Kang and Sun Lu continually applied therapeutic techniques on the still unconscious Ying Er, while Xiao Feng was trying to feed her water through a bottle gourd.
“...” Chen Zixi stared coldly at the Spirit Budgie floating beside him.
“I thought you’d have flown away by now?” Chen Zixi said.
“Pardon me?” said Tian Ji Han.
“Don’t act oblivious with me!” Chen Zixi snapped. “I just gave you the perfect closing cue and you threw it away! You were acting all solemn and appearing like you were about to make your graceful departure, unbeknown to everybody else except me, the uncaring self-serving Golden Core cultivator.”
The Spirit Budgie turned its chubby head towards Chen Zixi innocently: “Why would I do that?”
Chen Zixi said, “Because you wouldn’t want to trouble your disciple anymore, and that you’d rather him think you as alive and happily living the rest of your life as a Spirit Budgie somewhere in the wild.”
“...Senior,” said Tian Ji Han. “Are you telling me to scram?”
Chen Zixi was dumbfounded by Tian Ji Han’s directness.
“Bah! I don’t care what you do.”
“If I leave Xiao Feng now,” Tian Ji Han. “After this long struggle of avenging me and without having even thanked him, wouldn’t that be too cruel? If I suddenly leave without even saying my farewells to everybody, wouldn't it not only be an un-gentlemanly thing to do but also cause some misunderstandings?”
Chen Zixi frowned, but did not respond.
“Even though I am a mere Spirit Budgie now, and of absolutely no aid in combat or defense to Xiao Feng, can’t I continue to serve as his spiritual guide? Can’t I discreetly carry out my days in Xiao Feng’s living quarters with you while we patiently formulate a plan for me to return to a human body?
“Wouldn’t it be too illogical for me to be adopting the dramatic leave-without-saying-goodbye trope right now?”
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“...What?” Chen Zixi said.
“Master Ji Han! Master Chen,” Xiao Feng suddenly ran over to them. “What are you discussing about? Ying Er is stirring awake.”
“...”
“...”
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Yin Na stepped through the chaotic door of Uneasy Rebirth.
It took a while for his consciousness to return. He was able to sense, but not “see” that his soul was compressed, his human body having molded into an amorphous sphere. He was floating in a space populated by millions of tiny light orbs.
The orbs resembled stars in their seemingly infinite number and dazzling lights. Yin Na can also sense one massive star many li away within this realm that was, strange as it sounds, “blindingly bright,” despite the fact that he could no longer “see.”
Was this the realm of chaos between Life and Death? Had he broken through the fabric of reality itself? Or was this simply a variation of a Dream World?
Yin Na had no time to ponder these questions, as he felt an otherworldly hunger from the very core of his soul. He was craving nourishment, which was only being sated by these smaller orbs of light that he made contact with.
After he collected several orbs, Yin Na got used to the disoriented sensation, but had only moments to react before noticing the slow looming approach of a massive shadow.
He immediately moved out of the way. His movement was much faster than the gigantic mass, which upon distancing himself, he realized was another Soul orb!
Yin Na thought: “Could this be another cultivator who made the decision to enter the unknown door of Uneasy Rebirth?”
Yin Na saw that the large Soul that was pursuing him was suddenly overshadowed by an even bigger Soul. It was the size of a small planet!
Even stranger, the bigger Soul suddenly split into two, but each of its halves was still bigger than the other Souls around it. It launched one of its halves at the first Soul, which seconds upon getting caught also split into two.
It was able to escape with just its other half, having lost 50% of its mass. But ultimately, it had escaped getting eaten.
Judging from the size of the larger Soul Orbs, they had been here for a long time. Eating the smaller light orbs had long ceased in helping them grow significant size, and now they’re engaging in a constant game of cat and mouse with other big Souls.
“It appears that this Nine Yin Treasured Jade Block has foundations even more ancient and unfathomable than I thought. There must have been plenty of cultivators who were brave enough to take this risk into the unknown, more than Demon Lord Mao could even guess!”
Yin Na thought carefully as he was collecting the smaller orbs of light around him.
“But will devouring every other Soul within the orb and reaching a certain mass really allow one’s soul to escape death and back into the real world? Where do these smaller orbs come from?”
Yin Na observed that the largest Souls left a sparkling trail behind them, which were actually the small light orbs!
This meant that the largest Souls were unable to retain the light orbs and were shedding their gains constantly. This also meant that they had to constantly be on the hunt for other Souls, otherwise they would slowly but surely lose mass.
He also observed that Souls that were too similar in mass were unable to absorb each other, as they simply bounced off each other’s surface like harmless balls upon making contact.
“It seems there is no other alternative to this system,” thought Yin Na. “There’s no way to cheat or game it, so I will have to play by its rules.”
After gathering significant size, Yin Na’s soul had reached a mass of 10 li. It was still fast in speed, but it now was able to start devouring the small, beginning souls at only 1 li. However, the 1 li souls were still the fastest souls, so Yin Na still had to rely on eating the orbs of light which the gigantic 50-100 li souls were leaving behind in their wake.
At 15 li, Yin Na developed a strategy of cornering smaller souls at the 10-12 li size by chasing them towards a gigantic 50 li soul, and then suddenly pouncing on them during their moment of hesitation.
“Alright, I guess I have eaten my first soul. Those Mahjong games felt like ages ago, but even the myriad variations Lord Demon Mao made me learn were easier than this.”
Yin Na felt no difference in change to his emotions, personality, or intelligence after eating his first soul. He gained zero understanding of the soul that he devoured other than the understanding that the victim’s history and experiences and stories were immediately consigned to oblivion. Instead, all Yin Na could “feel” was that his Soul orb was bigger by 10 li.
At 20 li, Yin Na still used his cornering strategy, but his speed had noticeably slowed down. However, his skillful maneuvering and persistence eventually allowed him to devour to the size of a 50 li soul.
At this point, he was no longer able to chase the 10-20 li sized souls using his cornering strategy at all anymore. Instead, he felt safe enough to split his soul into half, and attempt the Soul-devouring strategy he saw earlier.
However, he was caught unprepared by a soul that he thought was only 15 li within launching distance of his soul, but at the moment that he had split into half, that 15 li soul had finished its cooldown and merged with its other 30 li half and became a 60 li soul!
Yin Na was too close, and could only flee as the 60 li soul pursued his two 20 li soul in vengeance.
In the end, just as Yin Na was about to slip away and end his cooldown as well, the 60 li soul split, launching one of its 30 li halves at Yin Na, nearly completely devouring both his 25 li souls!
The only way Yin Na managed to escape was through splitting his soul multiple times, until he was left with only one soul the size of just 1 li again!
“That was close,” thought Yin Na. “Had I not taken quick action my consciousness and therefore my identity would have been annihilated. This is a good learning experience however. I always learn from my mistakes!”
There was no sense of time here. By sheer “feel,” Yin Na felt like a week had passed, but he instinctively believed that if this was some variation of a dream realm or some other dimension, that time simply flowed differently back in the “real world.” For all he knew, the Golden Core Cultivator who killed him was either dead or still over his dead body, depending on the arbitrary rules of time between their realms.
After what Yin Na estimated to be another week, he grew back to 50, then almost 100 li in size. Then to 200 li, then 500 li.
After a year of strategic maneuvers, narrow escapes and strategies, Yin Na had increased his Soul orb to 1,000 li in diameter.
By now he was able to observe that the huge “sun” in this realm was actually another cultivator’s soul! It was actually in constant motion, and seemingly in opposition to two other suns.
The three giant suns were so big, that their movement appeared nearly imperceptible. But judging from their consistent orbiting, Yin Na determined that they had been chasing each other, perhaps for millennia!
Each sun was about 2.5 million li.
Yin Na’s 1000 li soul was like a gnat to them, these three giants could not notice him and even if they could, they would not have cared about him anyway!