Dao Mei, the Undead King, summoned his hordes of skeletons and ghouls from within the earth, commanding them to fight against the swarms of invaders. The attacking forces were all rank six immortals, nothing that a rank seven cultivator like him couldn’t handle. A boom erupted from behind him as a giant undead ogre, clad in shining silver armor, emerged from the false rock wall. Dao Mei smiled. It was his lucky day, that his trump card Yorou decided to make his appearance. The Undead King glanced at the oncoming immortals. Were they… smiling?
“I… kill… Dao Mei…” the ogre boomed. What? Dao Mei stared in shock at the person riding the undead ogre. Busi Zhi, his protégé and a cultivator known as the Undead Prince, was on the back of Yorou.
“What is the meaning of this?” Dao Mei demanded.
“Your time has come, Undead King,” Busi Zhi spat, his voice mocking Dao Mei’s title.
“So it has come to this,” Dao Mei said. “The disciple kills the master.” He looked around at the rank six immortals surrounding him. “And for what? Fame and glory?”
“Don’t try to talk your way out of this,” Busi Zhi said, laughing. “You will die here and I will become the new Undead King.”
Dao Mei stared at his feet. “Busi Zhi, do you know why I created our base of operations in the mortal realm and not in a sacred land?”
“How would I know?” Busi Zhi moved closer to his enemy. “Yorou, kill him. Now.” The undead ogre lifted a fist the size of a small hill and brought it down on the puny rank seven immortal. Suddenly a rumbling could be heard originating from beneath the earth, startling the cultivators and knocking the undead ogre off balance. His fist went awry and landed next to Dao Mei, pounding a crater into the dirt.
“I did it because the Grand Golem Ju Da’s undead body lies embedded here, something that even I can’t control!” the Undead King shouted, laughing maniacally. “But, I can always awaken it and kill us all with my [Greater Undead Control] Zen, can’t I?” The rumbling got louder and the ground shook harder, with nearby trees being uprooted along with the earth cracking beneath their feet.
“You fool!” Busi Zhi screamed. “You’ll destroy the world if you awaken a rank nine immortal, even if its undead body has degenerated over time!”
“Good!” Dao Mei said. “That’s my true trump card!” The head of an iron golem popped out of the land next to them and observed its surroundings. In mere seconds, even as the rank six cultivators began to fly away, a red laser flickered into existence from the golem’s eyes and instantly shredded the escaping immortals, their entrails being flung all over. The rank six cultivators, including Busi Zhi and Yorou, were all dead. Next, the golem turned its head to Dao Mei.
The Undead King accepted his fate and died.
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“The Undead King accepted his fate and died. Yes, what a sublime sentence. I shall meditate on this tonight.”
“What are you talking about? He accepted his fate? Seriously? It looked more like he was just being a coward than anything else.”
“This fucking shit of an immortal managed to get to rank seven? Jeez, these younglings are getting worse and worse every decade.”
“Now, now, everyone calm down. And you shouldn’t talk badly of him, Demonic Hermit, when you only reached rank six in your lifetime.”
“Are you looking for a goddamn fight?”
The discordance of voices rang in Dao Mei’s ears as he tried to make out the silhouettes in front of him. Where was he? Didn’t he die? Was he revived somehow? He reached out to grab one of the shadowy images in front of him and immediately felt a punch in his abdominals.
“Now you’re looking to fight?”
“Relax, it’s just the aftereffects of dying that he’s feeling. Let me assist him.” Dao Mei felt warm water being doused on him, and the people in front of him began to appear clearer.
They seemed to look... like him? Four versions of Dao Mei stood all around him, with one looking like an old man while another seemed like a little boy. Another had a head shaved bald and the fourth one, the one who doused him with water, had a face wrapped in bandages.
“Where am I?” he asked, sufficiently shell shocked.
“You’re dead, idiot,” the young boy said. “Welcome to the Memoryscape.”
The man with bandages stepped closer to him. “Let me try to explain things to you. The first Dao Mei didn’t refine the [Greater Undead Control] Zen like you did. He defied the laws of time by using several En and Ko to create the [Regression] Zen.” He gestured at the place around him, which was white nothingness. “However, since he was only a rank eight cultivator and didn’t reach the peak of existence at rank nine, he could not regress with his memories intact. Thus, only those who are at least rank six, immortals, have the strength to remain in what we call the Memoryscape. A sort of purgatory where we can watch but not interfere with the new iterations of Dao Mei.”
“To simplify fully, Dao Mei, me and you, is able to regress but cannot keep the memories of his past lives.”
“If each Dao Mei is the same person, then why would the next version of Dao Mei be different from his previous versions?” the Undead King wondered.
“According to the Sorcerer,” he stated, “it’s due to the universe’s Entropic Forces attempting to mediate the first Dao Mei’s [Regression] Zen. The Entropic Forces are powers that make the next regression randomized to a certain degree. That’s why you received the [Beast Communication] En in the beginning, evolved it to the [Undead Control] Ko, then further evolved it to the [Greater Undead Control] Zen after reaching rank six. While the first Dao Mei evolved his [Lesser Time Manipulation] En into the [Time Manipulation] Ko, then shocked the world by creating his [Regression] Zen.”
“It’s all due to the Entropic Forces acting on the world, yes, yes,” the little boy said, nodding his head.
“You shall be known as the Undead King now,” the bald-headed Dao Mei said, clasping his hands together and muttering something that sounded like a prayer. “Dao Mei is no longer your name, just as I am known as the Warrior Monk, the one who attained rank six immortal status when still living.”
“I’m the Refinement Grandmaster, rank seven,” the man with the bandaged face said, reaching out to shake the Undead King’s hand.
“I’m the Prodigy,” the boy said. “Which is a fitting name for someone like me, who got to rank six at thirteen before being brutally murdered by those Silver Knights.”
“The Demonic Hermit is the name these fuckwads gave me,” the old man interjected. “I only killed those people because they entered my territory, so don’t judge me based on my name. Oh, and rank six for me as well.”
“And,” the Refinement Grandmaster began, “you did also practice the demonic arts.”
“Bah! Only occasionally.” The Demonic Hermit walked off, his shadow growing more and more distant on the creamy white floor.
The Refinement Grandmaster turned to the newcomer. “The Sorcerer, who you will meet later, is in deep meditation.”
“Why is that?” the Undead King asked.
The bandage-faced man grimaced. “We can’t actually last here for too many iterations of Dao Mei. The Sorcerer has already long passed the expiration date, but as he was a rank eight immortal during his life, the highest out of all of us, he is able to stay longer because of his strong willpower.” He smiled. “Glad to have another rank seven with us.”
The Undead King placed a finger on his chin, deep in thought. “Does the regression take Dao Mei back to when he was born?”
“No,” the Refinement Grandmaster said. “The Entropic Forces should only affect him up to the age of fifteen when we all received our first En, but sometimes it errs, and anomalies like the Prodigy sprout up. But that’s a story for another time.” He waved his hand over the floor and a scene of the mortal realm appeared. “Now, let’s see what the next Dao Mei does. Maybe our dreams of becoming rank nine will finally be achieved by him.”
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I woke up to a massive headache pounding in my skull. Were there… people talking to each other in my dream? Something about… I can’t remember at all. Never mind, today is my fifteenth birthday and I should celebrate. It’s finally time that I receive my first En! In the Hui Gui clan, fifteen-year-olds receive a random En from the sacred locker of the immortals, and with the En, they are able to ascend to become a rank one cultivator and channel their qi through their dantian. Cultivators that are ranked one through five are known as cultivators in the mortal realm, and those ranked six and above are known as immortals. Immortals typically help out the young cultivators of their clan succeed, without actually showing their faces or investing too much time, as they have many other matters to attend to.
I tore off the silk sheets covering my body and hopped out of bed, simultaneously putting on my clothes. As a person of wealth, I had a maid who could do these things for me, but it’s become a little embarrassing at this age to have someone else put on my clothes for me. I stared at myself in the gleaming mirror and tousled my dark, black hair to give myself a wild look. Looking good, Dao Mei, looking good!
“Little brother!” Dao Xing shouted, coming into view from the open door. He was almost a head taller than me, though we’re twins, and had come into the habit of calling me his little brother. It wasn’t actually clear who had come out of the womb first, but as the taller and bigger brother, Dao Xing got older brother rights. Either way, he was better than me at everything, from athletics to math, to reading, and to writing.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“It’s time,” he said, a glint in his eyes. I immediately understood what it was he was implying and readied myself to go to the village temple.
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The boy meditating in a lotus position on the white floor noticed a man with a pallid, almost vampirically handsome look coming his way.
“Dao Xing,” the Undead King mused, nudging the Prodigy. “It’s nostalgic, isn’t it?”
“Nostalgic?” the Prodigy scoffed. “You only say that because you were captured by a lich at an early age and raised as its disciple. Dao Xing usually ends up being engulfed in a jealous rage after a version of Dao Mei surpasses him. He actually sometimes manages to kill some of us.”
“What about you? You got your first En at an early age, right? How did Dao Xing treat you?” the handsome man asked.
The boy’s face turned grim, a silence passing over the two of them before he opened his mouth. “I killed him when I was nine. Just six months after I got my S-ranked [Speedy Growth] En and awakened my dantian. He tried to suffocate me with a pillow while I was asleep, but as we all know, a mortal who doesn’t have qi will never be able to kill a cultivator.” He turned to the white wall next to us, and a misty ripple formed over it. “Well, most cultivators, anyway.”
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Dao Xing and I walked over to the temple, him slightly in front while I kept pace. The thump, thump, thump our boots made against the muddy dirt added to the mild chattering of noise around us. Rain had fallen the day before, and we wore an extra layer to protect against the cold. After several minutes passed, we had the looming temple in our sights. The edifice served as a beacon for the center of the village, and all Hui Gui clan members could rely on it if they ever got lost in the winding forests strewn throughout the area.
“Race you to the temple doors!” Dao Xing said, kicking off into a run. He always did have a competitive streak in him, but I always found it endearing. I chased after him with all my strength, but it was futile. He got to the doors first and lightly punched me on the arm as I gasped for breath. I smiled at him and he smiled back. We now stood in front of the giant doors that would be our gateway to finally becoming cultivators, our lifelong dreams. We wanted to become rank nine cultivators that would shatter the heavens and earth!
Creak.
The doors were pulled open just as we were about to push them, and a reedy man with a bushy gray beard emerged.
“Oh? You two are the last to arrive,” he said.
“We live on the outskirts of the village,” Dao Xing said. “So it takes us a little longer to get here.”
“No worries,” the old man in front of us said, waving his hand in dismissal. “Hurry along now, we are just about to start the ceremony.” We scurried into the building, and the sight of the blue crystals embedded into the walls surprised me, along with the thick qi that even a mortal boy like me could sense.
The man noticed me staring. “The crystals are En and Ko that have coagulated over time, left to emit qi in their state of death. The cycle of life and death is the way of nature, and to release qi when on the verge of disappearing means that new En and Ko will be created from the qi.” We continued walking and he continued to speak. “This is the place where immortals of the clan enter closed-door cultivation when they cannot do so in their sacred lands. Of course, we will only enter an outer section of the building, so that the privacy of the immortals is not breached.”
The busy conversations of the other children could be heard as we opened the door to a room. The qi in here was even thicker than before, and I felt a physical pressure on my body pushing me down.
“You’ll get used to it soon,” the bearded man said. I nodded and turned to look around the room. There were several faces I recognized, but others I didn’t. The ones I did recognize were big names in the village, belonging to families that were both wealthy and powerful. Mao Feng, a muscular fifteen-year-old with blazing orange hair and bushy eyebrows, as well as Yong Qiang, the calm prodigal son of the Yong family, boasting blonde hair reminiscent of lightning. I was a little nervous to be in the presence of such names, but I looked at Dao Xing and was calmed by his cool demeanor.
The man who guided us walked to the front of the room and clapped twice, getting the attention of the children in the room.
“Some preliminary statements before we start the ceremony. As we all know, Zen evolve from Ko and Ko evolve from En, which is the basic building block of all Ko and Zen. The En you will receive will be randomly chosen from a locker of En collected over many years by our beloved immortals. As you gather materials and other En, you will be able to evolve your En into Ko. The Ko you receive depends on many factors, like whether your ingredients were correct or if the weather was proper on that particular day. However, they will never deviate from a specific branch. If the branch for your En was strength, then the Ko and Zen it can evolve to will be related to strength. You get the picture.”
He pointed one finger up. “But, there is almost an infinitude of different Ko and Zen that can be evolved from En. Many have still not been discovered.” He paced back and forth, stroking his lengthy beard. “Something you all may not have heard of is the ranking system of En. The greater the light the En shines, the higher rank it is. Some are D-rank En, and others are A-rank or even S-rank En.” He grinned, letting his rapt audience ooh and aah.
“Now, we shall begin the ceremony!”
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A cloudy mist enveloped the white wall, and a man walked out. He had long hair with a streak of gray in it and had wrinkled features. The Undead King noticed that he had an old, weary look to him that could compare with the Demonic Hermit. His clothing was elaborate but not flamboyant, and he had a regal gait to every step he took. The Sorcerer approached the Undead King and reached his hand out.
“Nice to meet you, Undead King,” he said as they shook hands. “I’ve been paying attention to what’s been going on in the Memoryscape, so don’t worry about catching me up with the shenanigans that the rest of us get up to.” He cocked his head to the other versions of Dao Mei in the white field. “Is the next iteration already occurring?”
The Undead King nodded.
“Good. We shall watch and see how this plays out.”
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An ornate box was revealed, lined with blue crystals and emanating heavy qi. I watched with awe as it was slowly opened, and the orbs of light erupted out into the small room. These were En, and they were drawn to whoever they thought would fit them best. For someone like me without a strong familial tie to the founder of the Hui Gui clan, it was mostly just random. I waited for an En to come to me, and I noticed out of the corner of my eye an En with dim lighting floating next to the wall, indicating a low rank. My first instinct was to pray that it wouldn’t come to me, but an urge suddenly took over and I started walking towards it. Why was I doing this? I cupped the En in my hands and suddenly, it entered my dantian, the empty pool located in the core of the body.
It had chosen me.
A swarm of information flooded my head and I instantly knew what the En was. “A C-rank [Reminiscence] En? It uses past skills to guide me in the present, and it only lasts one minute at a time before a cooldown is incurred. This won’t help me at all when I have no preexisting skills!”
The bearded man once more stood at the front of the room. “Now, you must choose whether or not to make this your Primary En. If you do not choose this as your Primary En, you will not be able to choose another En from the sacred locker, and you will also remain a mortal. However, this is a big decision that must be carefully thought over. The Primary En can be changed but at great bodily harm.”
Even if I remain a mortal now, I would still have chances to become a cultivator later. That’s right, this En is useless to me and would just be a hindrance, which means I should get rid of this for now.
However, even as I was thinking these thoughts, another one of the strange urges overcame me and I started to refine the [Reminiscence] En as my Primary En. It fully merged with my dantian, creating a small stream of qi in my body. I’ve finally become a rank one cultivator!
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The Sorcerer spat blood, his whole body shuddering in immense pain. The other versions of Dao Mei crowded around him, wondering what was happening.
“Finally,” he said. “I’ve managed to influence Dao Mei in one of these iterations, even if just slightly. All my work did pay off after all.”
The Undead King looked worried. “But why the [Reminiscence] En and not a higher rank En like what the Prodigy received?”
“Don’t you see?” the Refinement Grandmaster asked. “An S-rank or A-rank En would have a higher chance of rejecting him, so the best bet was going for something useful for Dao Mei that would actually work in conjunction with our circumstances.”
“Remember what the description of the [Reminiscence] En is. It can use past skills to assist Dao Mei in the present,” the Sorcerer said, crimson blood spilling out of his open mouth. “It’s the only chance we have to influence this iteration of Dao Mei so that he can ascend to the peak of rank nine.” The man with graying, long hair began to grow transparent.
“The Sorcerer!” the Undead King exclaimed.
The Warrior Monk shook his head with a gloomy expression. “It is his time. He used all of his remaining strength to just barely affect the mind of Dao Mei. This is his final gamble. Will the [Reminiscence] En be able to connect with us? How powerful will the connection be? We shall wait and see.”
The crowd of immortals looked down at the mortal realm from the Memoryscape, a mixture of fear and hope in their eyes. Only time would tell how effective the C-rank [Reminiscence] En would truly be….