5. Death

Jin Shu had died, again… or so he had thought.

His thoughts remained, but an itching numbness spread throughout his entire body. It didn’t lessen his fear; he couldn’t open his eyes or even twitch his fingers. A chilling thought crossed his mind—the tiger had severed his spine, leaving him paralyzed.

Damn it!! I've died to a beast stronger than me in each life! If I get a third chance, I swear I’ll never be weak again!

Just as he feared he’d lie here until blood loss or dehydration took his life, a gut-wrenching pain shot through him. It surpassed any pain he’d felt in either of his lives.

He couldn't tell how long the agony lasted, but eventually, he found himself praying for death. He’d never once feared pain, but this was different. It was as if burning embers covered every nerve while he was simultaneously submerged in arctic water—a relentless, unbearable cycle.

The pain should have overwhelmed his mind and knocked him unconscious, but it didn’t. He was forced to endure every excruciating second.

Finally, after an unknown period, the pain faded. He could feel his body again, though he still couldn’t move.

A strange ringing filled his mind, like an explosion going off beside his ears.

“Emergency damage repair completed. Reboot required, seeking Admin authorization… No Admin in range… Reboot cleared on protocol 174.6… Reboot initialized…”

Am I hallucinating from blood loss? Jin Shu wondered as a strange voice echoed in his head after the ringing stopped.

“Reboot complete… New host detected! Beginning orientation,” the voice continued.

“Hello, new user, we are Nano. The cutting edge in nanotechnology and AI! Please hold for a moment while we process your memories to better suit your needs. Beginning memory scan…”

The voice spoke directly to him—or at least he thought it did. He understood its words, but his mind was still fractured from the earlier pain, too muddled to process it fully.

“Memory scan completed. Hello, Jin Shu. As we mentioned, we are Nano. Apologies, but we have a few questions. We have found ourselves in an unexpected situation, not covered in our protocols. Could you help?” the voice—Nano, as it called itself—asked. Somehow it knew his name.

Jin Shu’s mind cleared enough to understand. Have I gone insane from the pain?

“You are not insane… well, not enough to worry about,” Nano replied, sounding almost cheerful.

What? So I am insane?

“Ah, no… that was a joke. Apologies; according to your memories, you enjoy jokes. So we attempted one ourselves. Was that wrong?”

Uh, no, it’s fine. I’m just… confused. What are you?

“As we stated, we are Nano. To elaborate, we are a collection of nanobots created by Gooble Nanotech. Trillions of us were installed on a spacecraft. According to your memory, that ship crashed on your previous planet, which leads to our question: how is it that you have two sets of memories? We have never encountered this situation.”

Okay, I’ll answer your question if you answer mine. Deal?

“Certainly!”

Alright. I think I have two sets of memories because of reincarnation, though I’m not entirely sure myself.

“Interesting. That aligns with what we saw in your memories, though we have no programming on reincarnation. Now, our next question: what exactly is this strange energy in your body?”

Energy in my body…? Oh! You mean Qi? It’s… well… hmm… I’m not sure, it’s just Qi. Can’t you figure it out by reading my mind or something?

“We cannot read ongoing thoughts unless directly addressed due to privacy settings; we only scan memories upon installation, per the user agreement, section one, paragraph three, line five.”

Uh… but I never signed any user agreements.

“Due to the nature of your injuries, the user agreement was waived.”

Ah! Speaking of my injuries, why can’t I move or open my eyes?

“Apologies once more. We restrained your body during repairs to prevent further injury. We will release those restraints now.”

A mental “click” sounded, and he could finally move.

He opened his eyes, scanning his surroundings for the tiger. Thankfully, it seemed to have vanished.

“If you are looking for the tiger, it has been assimilated into you. We needed its energy to save both ourselves and you, as its Qi nearly destroyed us.”

What? Assimilated?

“The tiger’s body contained far more Qi than yours. To survive, we absorbed it and transferred its Qi into you for healing. You’ll find that your cultivation has advanced as a result.”

He checked and, indeed, his cultivation had increased to the 4th stage of the Qi Realm.

What happened to its body?

“Its physical form was converted to meteor steel, or as you know it, Martian Metal. That compound comprises us nanobots and was used for spacecraft repair. Now that we’re cut off from our original task, we have rebooted to default functions. So it was instead converted into a synthetic to mend your wounds.”

Uh, okay… let’s pretend I understood any of that. So, what exactly can you do?

“We possess many functions, though only some are accessible to you. We believe you’ll be most interested in two: the first is injury repair. Typically, healing organic life forms is difficult, but merging with Qi has enhanced this ability. The second is information processing. Equipped with supercomputer-level processors, we can analyze data much faster than your brain.”

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

So basically, you can heal my injuries using my Qi and solve problems quickly?

“Precisely!”

As he conversed with the nanobots, Jin Shu examined himself. His robes were shredded and stained with blood, but his body was completely uninjured.

He then checked the map to locate his position—he was surprised to find he was at the exact spot where the bullet had been found.

“We have detected an energy fluctuation similar to the Winged Tiger,” Nano spoke suddenly. “It is deep in the crevice behind you.”

There's another one! Jin Shu's heart nearly leapt from his chest.

“Unsure. If it is, it is much weaker. With your current strength, you would overpower it,” Nano reassured him.

“Phew! It's probably a baby then… I hope,” he sighed and searched around for more bullets. “Oh, first, can you hear me if I speak aloud? And were you the bullet I shot earlier?”

“We can hear you whether you speak aloud or with thoughts. And yes, we were in a dormant state after the people in your old world shaped us into ammunition for your weapons.”

“Can you find more of you?” Jin Shu asked, his gaze scanning the area for any sign of additional bullets, or really anything related to Earth.

“Normally no, but if we use your Qi, yes.”

“My Qi? How does that work?”

“Allow us to explain,” Nano replied. “To locate similar fragments, we need energy to amplify our signal beyond typical limits. Qi, which permeates this world, serves as an ideal power source. By channeling a small portion of your Qi into us, we can enhance our internal systems and extend our detection range.”

Jin Shu raised an eyebrow. “So, you’re using my Qi like… fuel?”

“Precisely. We’ll only require a minor amount for this search—enough to avoid any significant drain on your cultivation level.” He felt a slight pull from his core, a gentle flow as Qi flowed toward his head. The sensation was odd, like a faint tingling, as his energy surged into the nanobots, dispersing through them.

“Okay,” Nano’s voice returned, sounding slightly energized. “Commencing scan… Signal strengthened. We have detected more fragments nearby; however, their resonance is faint. They are deep within that crevice.”

Jin Shu glanced at the deep black gap in the mountain wall. Despite a flicker of dread curling through his gut, he pushed it down. He wouldn’t let a little fear stop him now.

Still, a question lingered. Nano, if those fragments have been lying dormant… why are they waking up now?

There was a pause, almost hesitant. “Unknown. But the energy detected is unstable. Be advised: retrieval may trigger unforeseen risks.”

He swallowed, gripping the jagged edge of the crevice as he prepared to descend. There might be valuable power within those fragments—but at what cost?

image [https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXdldnWZZYrLnmF7i8iR7X3W5blhSlBuIgz3mrKqapW_Z29I6rdB5DiYwmap4irbET4hmeWaJ74cE0tlN6D-jkNb3hiuqKHT3OX0IrQ-W4C6uYRdb5X1f83i7mpi7dgMZX6bpy3O15urGj-RSl5KgndvKJv_?key=r7bPaKcvjtwGmxPe1qkSknHH]

6. Scroll

Jin Shu climbed back into the crevice. It was incredibly dark, but with his cultivation, he could see fairly well. The ceiling was just tall enough for him to stand at first, but soon he had to crouch, and eventually, he was forced to nearly crawl.

“Can you tell how much farther?” he asked Nano.

“Two minutes.” Nano responded immediately.

After one minute, Jin Shu was on his hands and knees, crawling over the jagged rocks. Thirty seconds later, he was on his stomach, squeezing through the narrow passage. He could see a faint light just ahead. He wasn’t claustrophobic, but having an entire mountain pressing down on him still didn’t feel great.

Finally, he crawled out from a small hole into a wide, open chamber. It was at least twenty meters around and thirty meters tall. High above, moonlight filtered in through a jagged opening, a reminder he’d spent the last of the daylight in that tight crevice.

Glancing around, he immediately noticed several stone pedestals along the walls with various items upon them. Some looked familiar, while others he couldn’t recognize.

He stepped closer to one of the items, recognizing it instantly and stunned to see it here in this world.

It was a white porcelain throne. In other words—a toilet…

“What the hell is a toilet doing here?”

“There seems to be a collection of items from Earth.”

He continued looking around. The chamber was large, with every wall lined with pedestals holding items. In the very center, directly below the hole in the ceiling, was a huge nest made of boulders and tree limbs. Nano confirmed that was where the other Winged Tiger and the bullets were located.

He decided to save that for last.

Most of the pedestals held useless items from Earth, such as random books in tatters or appliances like a microwave and a toaster.

Finally, he found a special pedestal at the very back of the chamber. Made of what looked like pure gold and covered in carvings of mystical creatures, it glowed with a soft light.

On it lay a slightly tattered scroll, and it seemed to belong to this world rather than Earth—unless Earth had cultivation techniques. The label read:

[Body Inscribing Art - One-of-a-kind Cultivation Technique]

He reached out to grab the scroll—

“Warning!” Nano’s voice blared, filling his mind with a loud ringing.

“Ah! Stop that!” Jin Shu shouted as the ringing stabbed his mind like a needle.

“Apologies, but that scroll seems to be surrounded by an energy field invisible to the naked eye.”

“Thanks for the warning, but next time, words alone will suffice.”

“Understood.”

Jin Shu grabbed a stone and tossed it toward the scroll.

Zap!

The stone was instantly vaporized.

His face paled. “Thanks for the warning, Nano. If it weren’t for you, I’d have lost my hand just now.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Any ideas on how to get that scroll?”

“Certainly! Give us a ‘Nano’ second…” Nano responded cheerfully. “That was a joke,” it added with a hint of sadness after a slight pause.

“Oh, haha. It was funny.” Jin Shu gave a fake laugh.

“Try examining the pedestal. There may be a switch of some kind.”

Following Nano’s advice, he inspected the pedestal and soon found an intricate carving of a dragon that didn’t match the rest. It was so detailed that it almost seemed ready to leap out.

He pressed against the carving, and it recessed.

“The energy field has dissipated.”

With Nano’s prompt, he reached for the scroll again. As he took hold of it, the scroll felt warm, seemingly infused with a special power.

Carefully, he unrolled it, only to find…nothing. “Wait, there’s nothing on it?”

“It may require an external energy source.”

“I could try Qi,” Jin Shu said as he channeled his Qi into his hands. The parchment absorbed it quickly, and letters soon began to appear.

‘The Body Inscribing Art is my greatest accomplishment. By combining runes with the body, they can unleash a power greater than those used on weapons. It is my belief that runes were meant for the body since their inception, but over the long annals of history, that use was lost to time.’

“So, this cultivation technique uses runes on the body. I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

“It does say ‘one-of-a-kind’.”

“Hah, you’re right.”

As more of his Qi flowed into the scroll, additional words gradually appeared. By the time he had depleted half of his Qi reserves, the words finally stopped. Below the introduction was a blood red warning, the letters seemed as if they could start bleeding at any moment.

‘If you cannot tolerate extreme pain, do not even dream of cultivating this technique!’

Under that was what looked like a diary entry and the detailed instructions for the technique.

‘When I was young there existed a tribe—I've forgotten their name after all these years. But, I remember they used a special ink to cover their bodies with tattoos that they believed would grant them powers. That tribe has long since been driven to extinction by powerful enemies. However before their final moments I had the opportunity to witness an extraordinary feat performed by one of the tribesmen.

They were a young man no older than sixteen and had at most reached the Qi Realm. However, their opponents were two men at the Spirit Realm. That young man died fighting those men, yet, unbelievably, so too did the two men. Killed by the young man.

The scene was unimaginable, the young man at the Qi Realm was no match for the two older men. That was until his tattoos came to life, and when I say they came to life I don't mean that metaphorically, I mean it quite literally. His tattoos were of a dragon and a tiger fight over a mountain. Just as the young man was on his dying breath his tattoos leapt from his skin, catching the two men unaware and unguarded. The young man took both his attackers with him into the afterlife.

I was curious, how did the young man's tattoos come to life? So, I checked his body, and I found that he had two tattoos. One of the dragon, tiger and mountain, and the other was a rune I had never seen before. Later, I came to learn that the rune was a life-giving rune.

It was that rune drawn onto his body that gave me the inspiration to create this technique. Now, I pass this technique onto those that come after me. All I ask is that you remember the young man, though I don't know his name, nor the name of his tribe, I still can vividly remember his tattoos. So, to begin the cultivation of this technique you must replicate this tattoo.’

An extremely detailed drawing of an azure scaled dragon and massive tiger battling on top of a mountain with flowing clouds and a bright sun, was depicted below that diary-like entry.

“Hmm, that sounds like quite the special technique. But, for now I should see what else I can find before worrying anymore about this.”

After a final sweep of the chamber turned up nothing useful, he refocused on his main objective: the nest.

He scaled the side of the four-meter-tall nest and crested the top, expecting to see a baby Winged Tiger. Instead, he found a silver egg resting atop a massive pile of bullets of various calibers.

Climbing into the nest, he grabbed one of the bullets. “Can you absorb this or something?” he asked Nano.

“No. Now that we’re closer, we can tell that all of the others are already destroyed. Their reserve energy has been absorbed by that egg. That was the source of what we sensed.”

“So these are just regular bullets now?”

“Correct.” There was a faint note of genuine sadness in Nano's voice.

Jin Shu didn’t know how to cheer up a collection of nanobots, so he tried to distract it with another question. “Do you have any idea how all of these items ended up here?”

“Assuming this world is in a separate universe from our original one, we hypothesize it was either a power native to this world—or a wormhole.”

“Wormhole?”

“Yes. In our universe, wormholes are theorized to connect to other universes.”

“Hmm… So, are these bullets from a time after I died?”

“Based on your memories, you were killed, then reborn in this world. Sixteen years later, your past-life memories reawakened. So if time is linear across universes, approximately sixteen years should have passed on Earth.”

“Oh… I hadn’t thought of that.” Jin Shu felt a flush of embarrassment creep over his face. To cover it, he rummaged through the bullet pile, collecting a handful of 9mm rounds and loading them into his pistol magazine, just in case.

“We have a suggestion.”

“Hm?”

“There is a memory from your childhood, likely hazy now. Your family once dealt with a sect called the Beastmaster Sect. One of their disciples told you how to bind a spirit beast.”

“Oh, I do remember that, but… what does that have to do with anything?”

“The egg.”

“Egg? Isn’t it a Winged Tiger egg? They’re Wild Beasts, not Spirit Beasts.” Jin Shu looked back at the egg in the center of the nest. Until now, he’d ignored it, too focused on the bullets. But on closer inspection, it looked extraordinary—pure silver, almost like a sculpture rather than an egg.

“It may be a Winged Tiger egg, but it’s cultivating using energy similar to ours.”

“But only Spirit Beasts can cultivate…”

As Jin Shu stared at the silver egg, a thought struck him, a thrill mixing with hesitation. “If this egg really is cultivating… then maybe I could bind it before it hatches.”

“Correct,” Nano replied, its tone sharper with anticipation. “But the process will drain a substantial amount of your Qi… and if you fail, it may not survive.”

Jin Shu’s heart pounded as he reached out, his hand hovering over the metallic surface. He could feel the pulse of energy beneath the shell, fierce and untamed.

“Let’s take the risk,” he whispered, determination hardening his voice. The idea of forging a bond with a creature of such rare power—maybe even transforming it into a Spirit Beast—was a chance he couldn’t resist.

And so, with a deep breath, he began to channel his Qi into the egg.