Aiden's heart pounded in his chest, the rapid beat echoing in his ears like the hooves of a fleeing horse. Two glittering eyes locked onto him, and he felt the icy grip of fear coursing through his veins. It wasn't the prospect of death itself that terrified him, but the memory of the agonizing pain he had endured during his last three encounters with the Reaper. The pain and agony coursing through his mind and body still haunted him, and he wasn't ready for the same sensation once again.

He had gone through this three times already, and each time he found a body with an enemy nearby.

Only time would tell if he could make through this. No - that thought gave a bad taste in his mouth. He couldn't let the destiny control him. It had done it in the past, but not in this life.

The snake leaped at him, scaring his heart from jumping out of his rib-cage and run away. No. He couldn't die again. That would be hysterical, and if someone was keeping a tab on him, they would be rolling around, laughing at his bad choices of targets.

It had to end.

Summoning his inner strength, Aiden swung his right fist, but he was too feeble, and the snake sank its fangs into his thigh before his hand could move.

Pain shot through his limb, and a debuff message appeared. Thank heavens - he wasn't dying right away. That thought alone gave him the courage to stand up.

The snake sunk its teeth into his leg, but he just smiled the pain away. With his health pool and snake’s 10 damage he could survive for hours.

Wait, he was a Holy Alchemist and there was a Healing Hand skill in his character sheet.

Healing Hand

Quality: Normal

Grade: Low Tier Bronze Grade

The holy alchemists are not limited to alchemy, but they are the epitome of healing. As a reward to their relentless study, they gain an ability to heal others from the start of their initiation.

The holy alchemist's ability allows them to heal their smaller wounds, or infuse a little health into other's bodies.

Heal: 5 Health.

Cost: 10 qi/20 Mana

Sounds fantastic.

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Sneering, he cast a quick Healing Hand on his thigh and it healed him quickly for 5 health. The soothing energy eased his pain, and the debuff reduced a little. Another cast and he felt better, and then another and another until his health returned to full. It even had a pleasant aroma to it and he felt like sitting in a room with incense sticks burning in all four corners.

This was a godsend.

"It's time to fuck off." He grabbed the snake, peeled it away from himself and smashed it on the broken wooden pillar, killing it in one go. The snake had hurt him badly, and it deserved to die.

After killing the snake into a pulp, he got up and walked out of the hut. It was time to go back and think about the future. There were things going inside his mind, and he needed time to go through his thoughts. They were all jumbled up, and he needed time to process them into a quick stream. In fact, if he had a note taking application, he would love that here in this world.

“Is that you brother An? What are you doing here?” Someone asked, and Aiden stumbled. Was it an enemy?

"Who is that?" Aiden asked, searching through Li An's memories. They were much shorter than the old man Li, and apparently this guy lived in a remote village with a good aptitude for cultivation among his village people. He passed the disciple exam for the White Sun Sect and joined the alchemy hall. However, the hero from the village turned a zero in the sect and lost his arrogance and pride after entering the sect.

Then came the main part where he was teased by one of the elder's daughter and someone saw him teasing her back, and his bad days started. The so-called senior brothers put him to manual tasks, cut wood, clean dishes, and sometimes even forced him to scrub toilets.

Fuck! How could they bully this guy so badly?

The story didn't end there.

While scrubbing backyards of the elder's caves, Li An found a miracle pill created by head alchemist Li.

Wait, was this the same old man Li?

Aiden scanned the memories of the pill and how Li An ate the pill and died a few minutes ago.

Then he quickly scanned the old man Li's memories about the Second Life Pill.

God, the head alchemist Li, was the old man Li, and it was a fucking scam. The pill had only 25% chance of success, and 75% chance of killing the user. Old man Li knew it and didn't want to sell those pills, but the sect master pursued him and sold a few batches outside.

Somehow, Li An got a failed pill, and he ate it thinking it was a real deal. Poor fella, but it helped Aiden. So, the old man Li had helped Aiden one last time. For this help, Aiden will take revenge for old man Li if time permits.

However, this posed a big question to him.

Was it his destiny to come to the same sect as the old man Li, and become part of his alchemy hall? There were many memories of the old man Li he still had access to, and most of them were around the alchemy hall. Well, he could use them to his advantage.

The world worked in a mysterious way, and he wasn't going to complain about it.

"Brother An, it's me. Gun Pu." A burly man entered the hut with a smile on his face. The ugly face of the burly man struck Aiden like a stick in the eyes.

Aiden staggered back. This was the same guy who had killed the first person he possessed after old man Li got killed.

What the fuck was going on? Why was he meeting the same people again and again?

"Are you here to kill me?" Aiden asked blatantly. If he was, then Aiden would do everything to kill this burly man. It would be a double revenge. And even if this burly man wasn't here to kill him, Aiden would kill him one day. The pain he caused Aiden couldn't be forgotten.

Now the burly man's life depended on his answer. Whether he died right away, or he died on a later day.