Xi Mengfei, for the first time in her hundred years of life, showed a stupefied expression on her face. If the people outside were to know she made such a face, who knows how many Immortals would have choked to death on their own saliva.
“No?” Tianyi said, his voice unsure upon seeing his mother's reaction.
“Absolutely no,” Mengfei said. The deeper implications of Tianyi’s words were that she had copulated with the Dragon Emperor and given birth to Tianyi, who would have been the Dragon Emperor’s son if that was the case. “The Dragon Emperor, although licentious, didn’t have any openly acknowledged children. For Immortals like him, bearing children was extremely difficult. At most, it would be a few mortals that the Dragon Emperor happened to have played around with that would bear his children.”
Tianyi coughed into his hand, the appearance of his making him seem rather adorable, acting like an adult to dispel the awkwardness he created. “So why would he try to kill me?’
Xi Mengfei didn’t want to linger on this topic either, so she accepted the change in conversation topic. “Speaking of the reason, it should have begun four hundred years ago when all the experts of the Huang Realm allied to kill the Dragon Emperor.”
“The Dragon Emperor was originally a mortal with an inferior Spiritual Vein; however, he came into contact with an inheritance from the primordial era and began his meteoric rise. He made many enemies in his path, but he became stronger than all his enemies, and they became the stepping stones to his rise. Eventually, the Dragon Emperor played a pivotal role in the Human-Divine Beast War, which led to a period of prosperity. The state of peace should have continued. However, the Dragon Emperor became even more tyrannical and conceited, antagonizing all the powers of the Huang Realm. The hegemonic sects and numerous first-rate sects allied together and eventually managed to kill the Dragon Emperor. However, the price we paid was high, and it will take numerous years before we can recover from the war. Had it not been for the battle, I would probably not be the number one acclaimed Immortal. So great and terrible the battle was, not even the Human-Divine Beast War could compare. The aftereffect could be felt in all three continents and great islands to this day. From this, you can imagine how terrible the battle was.”
Isn’t this like the main story for a cultivation novel protagonist? Only he didn’t have a happy end. En, I feel like many of those overbearing and self-centered protagonists might meet this kind of end. Tianyi thought to himself. “But what does that have to do with the sense of familiarity I have with the assassin and the fragment?”
Mengfei looked at Tianyi. “That battle could be said to be the starting point of this all. That fragment in your hand should be a fragment of the Dragon Emperor’s body and contains his blood essence when he self detonated, causing his body to fracture into millions of pieces.”
So I was right. Tianyi thought. He was indeed correct that the fragment was related to the Dragon Emperor, just not the extent of relation to the Dragon Emperor. But that still didn’t explain the feeling Tianyi had towards the youth with a similar face as his.
“You could be considered lucky to have attained the Dragon Emperor’s blood essence. The best use you would have would be to absorb it, and your future accomplishment of the Dragon Emperor Fist will become smoother, and the chances of succeeding will increase. As for why the assassin had the same face as you…” Mengfei had a complicated look as she looked at Tianyi, her son that she did not expect to have.
Xi Mengfei had a heart devoted to the Dao. She had once ever considered giving birth to a child or even having a Dao companion. Tianyi’s birth was a complete accident.
“When the Dragon Emperor self detonated, not only did his body fracture, but his soul followed suit. At first, we did not notice anything strange, but as the years went by, we began to notice many people with similar faces. No, not just similar faces. They had the exact same face.”
When Mengfei said those words, Tianyi couldn’t help but rub his own face. He had a daring thought that he dared not speak aloud.
“They would all be born in the last few hundred years, and they would all contain a fragment of the Dragon Emperor’s inheritance from his cultivation technique, his saber arts, his spear arts, even his dual cultivation techniques. In essence, they could be considered the clone and reincarnation of the Dragon Emperor. By using his fragmented soul shards that escaped, the Dragon Emperor left behind a resurrection method. As the fragments grew stronger, they will eventually seek each other out and absorb the soul fragment from the weaker ones. The clones themselves had no memory of this and was more of an instinct they could not disobey.”
Tianyi felt his back become drenched in a cold sweat.
“Naturally, all the powers noticed the strange occurrences, and we allied once more to capture all the clones. Through this, we were able to compile almost a complete legacy of the Dragon Emperor’s various manuals and scriptures after scanning the souls of the Dragon Emperor Clones.”
Tianyi held his chin in deep thought. I don’t recall any technique that I was born with. Wait, is it the Three Pure Self Visualization Technique? And even if I was, could the Dragon Emperor’s soul fragment exploded into earth somehow? And when I died, I returned to my “original” world?
“So I am also one of those fragments?” Tianyi didn’t know, but his words contained his complicated feelings.
“I admit when you were first conceived in my womb, I noticed that the fetus was being parasitized by the Dragon Emperor's soul fragment. I was at the scene of the Dragon Emperor’s final moments, and his soul fragments must have clung onto me without knowing. Back then, I wasn’t as strong as I am now. However, when I noticed the abnormality, I was considering whether to abort the fetus or not.” Mengfei said.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
“...” Off at the side, Tianyi felt himself become speechless while the edges of his lips began to twitch madly. Dear mother, should you really mention that you considered aborting your child while he was still in your womb while talking to said child!? What’s more, do you really want to talk about how a child is born to your eleven-year-old? Forget it; mother has always been like this. Tianyi felt extremely stifled by his mother like something was blocking the blood in his heart from pumping blood.
“Perhaps I would have aborted the fetus had the soul fragment continued to devour the infant's soul.” Mengfei looked at Tianyi, but her eyes were not gazing at Tianyi but rather seemed reminiscing about the memory. “Just as I thought the Dragon Emperor's soul fragment had completely devoured the soul fragment, it tenaciously clung to life and opposed the soul fragment. As that soul grew, it eventually devoured the Dragon Emperor's soul fragment instead. I had thought that the Dragon Emperor’s fragment might take over that newly born soul, but your soul absorbed the soul fragment and became even stronger. In terms of quality, your soul is better than many Nascent Soul Realm cultivators.”
Xi Mengfei moved her hands towards Tianyi's face and gently caressed his cheeks. Her eyes lingered upon Tianyi’s eyes that were so similar to her own.
“Since the soul fragment was absorbed and there was no chance of the Dragon Emperor reviving using my flesh, even though your existence wasn’t planned, you were ultimately brought into being through your own perseverance. That’s why when you were born, I named you Tianyi. It was heaven’s will that allowed you to be born and not a mere clone of the Dragon Emperor. Who was I to deny your existence?”
Tianyi didn’t notice his mother retracting her hand as flashes of emotion lurked behind his eyes. I do not know how the other Dragon Emperor’s soul fragments are born, but was I able to be born because I was actually another soul and absorbed the Dragon Emperor’s soul fragment? Since mother said that she felt the soul disappear, could it be mother's original child died? Then I came into the fetus and successfully took the original Tianyi's place and absorb the Dragon Emperor's soul fragment? I can’t actually recall how I died or traveled to this world. If I keep cultivating, perhaps I will eventually learn of why I came to this world.
I have to think of some time to visit the Immortal Scripture Repository, I want to see whether or not the Dragon Emperor cultivated the Three Pure True Self Visualization technique... or I could just ask mother. “Mother, did the Dragon Emperor cultivate any visualization technique?”
Xi Mengfei looked at her son and pondered a bit before replying. “Not that we know of. Although we have collected many techniques of the Dragon Emperor, many that we didn’t even know he was proficient in, there were no hints of him ever practicing any Visualization techniques.”
“I see,” Tianyi said, his thoughts in confusion. If it wasn’t the Dragon Emperor that I got the Three Pure True Self Visualization technique from, then how did I get it?
“If you do have a technique that has been embedded into your mind, do not let it leak out. And if it does leak, if the elders ask where you received your technique, just claim it was me. Of course, it would be best if you didn't inherit any techniques from the Dragon Emperor. The other elders are actually monitoring your situation. Back then, your birth caused a large commotion upon the upper echelon of the sect. Thankfully your personality isn’t like the Dragon Emperor’s at all.” Xi Mengfei said.
Tianyi frowned. It looks like people have been paying close attention to me without me knowing. If I am to do anything, I should probably be even more careful. “Mother, what should I do with the Dragon Emperor’s fragment then?” He asked as he held the fragment in his hand up.
“I will extract the blood essence and help you absorb it,” Mengfei said as she made the fragment float into her hands.
“Mother, you aren’t suggesting we do it right now, are you?” Tianyi said, his heart helpless.
“Why not? The sooner you absorb the fragment, the greater the benefits you will receive in your future cultivation.” Mengfei said.
“Mother, you just dropped a lot of serious information on me. Can’t you give me a few days to absorb all this and come to terms with it all?” Tianyi said with a helpless look on his face.
Mengfei tilted her head as she gave it some thought before he agreed. Thus Tianyi spent the next seven days relaxing and attempting to produce tribulation essence when he converted the spiritual qi in the air. As for coming to terms with the information he just heard? As a reincarnated son of heaven, the soul fragment he absorbed can be considered a golden finger for him to aid in his ascension. As for the assassin…
“I don’t feel like that youth was trying to absorb my soul fragment. It didn’t even feel like he could feel my existence. Rather it was more of pure hatred. What did I ever do to him? I just went for a stroll in a backwater region, and I already got two enemies.”
Tianyi rubbed his chin. “I don’t think Yan Nie would find trouble for me since most of his grievance should be with the Fleeting Mist Sect, but as for that assassin… he wouldn’t go on a journey and eventually collect all the fragments of the Dragon Emperor and become the new Dragon Emperor right?”
Once the youth collected a certain percentage of the Dragon Emperor’s soul fragment, the Dragon Emperor would appear. He would either become his teacher or try to take over his body, which was far more likely from what Tianyi heard of his ways. But then the youth would persevere and absorb the Dragon Emperor instead and become stronger. Then in his journey to supremacy, he would take and slaughter all of his enemies, including Tianyi.
Tianyi didn’t think that the youth was just another clone of the Dragon Emperor. If he could absorb the Dragon Emperor’s soul fragments, another person undoubtedly could as well. In addition, it was Tianyi's intuition that the youth wasn’t so simple and had a hatred as deep as the ocean with him.
Just thinking about it gave Tianyi butterflies in his stomach. “I feel like if I don’t become stronger, that person will try to kill me whenever he has the chance. What the hell did I ever do to him? Maybe it was my mother? No, if it was, he would say “spawn of Xi” or something like that. Besides, he is still a small Qi Gathering Realm Pupil, why would my mother ever interact with him?”
“Whatever happens, as long as I become the strongest, it will be fine. In front of brute strength, petty little tricks are nothing. I don’t believe with the cheat of having the Three Pure True Self Visualization Technique, the strongest Immortal -Sword Empress Xi- as my mother, and having the cultivation technique of the Dragon Emperor, I cannot become strong enough to defend myself!”
Tianyi paused a moment as he processed his own words. “Pei!”
“It should be “reigning supreme in the world!” not just being strong enough to defend myself. If I aim higher even if I cannot reach it, I should be able to defend myself in the end, right?”