Chapter 3: Chapter 3: Patience, Distractions, and Time (1)
Xun pulled his knees as close to his chest as he could and then crawled forward. His body was numb from the pain and electricity, but he still felt a brief moment of free fall. His heart dropped. Then, he heard a thump as his body hit solid ground.
Where in the nine skies am I?
"To still move after all that. Anlin must be under immense pain." The female voice sounded again.
"He carried eight hundred stones with just the strength of his spirit in the will test. When I saw that, I thought that the boy was going to be one of those who either become strong and famous, or die from pushing too far. It's a shame that it'll be the latter."
"Elder Pidao, could you save him? He took a strike from such a strong thunder soul and still survived. If you helped him, he might take you as his master to repay your kindness."
"I could. But I said before that his spirit channels are damaged. He'll be a mortal even if he survives."
"But…"
The male voice scoffed. "Zeran, your heart is too soft. Don't you see that old dog, Hetain, up at the top of the mountain? He probably wanted to take the boy as a disciple. Greedy bastard. Now, he's given up. He knows the kid is damaged goods. He already cut his losses and will probably choose whoever reaches the top first of the remaining students."
The words were enough for Xun to piece together the clues. He was in a sect entrance exam and the thing tormenting him was a thunder soul. What kind of barbaric sect still uses elemental souls and doesn't save its disciples when they're in mortal danger? And how can I, the great Earth Sky Sword, die to a lowly thunder soul?
Xun pushed his failing body forward, tumbling down another step before tensing his muscles and waiting for the next thunderbolt to strike. It came a few seconds later, making him writhe in pain and clench his jaw as the electricity did its damage.
While waiting for the shock to subside, Xun looked inside his body. His spirit channels were ravaged, a mess of gaping holes and twisting paths. Not a huge surprise given how much pain he was in.
He focused his attention on the silver hue of the channels' walls and the fact that his aperture, sitting right below his stomach and connected to the spirit channels, was unopened. Once an aperture was opened, nothing short of total destruction could close one again. It was the final confirmation he needed to accept that he was no longer in his original body.
I reincarnated? Xun tried to recall all the events that had led up to his death. He had attempted to break through to the Lord Realm after decades of being stuck at the peak of the Consecration Realm. He failed. The Thunder Tribulation had ruined his body, leaving him desperately clinging to a single breath of life while his sect descended into chaos around him.
I've never heard of a Consecration Realm cultivator reincarnating. I thought that only Lord Realm cultivators and above could reincarnate with their memories intact.
A more pressing problem was his talent. Without cycling zhen, Xun had no way of knowing how severe the damage to his spirit channels was. But based on the quantity and quality of holes, his best-case scenario at this point would be falling a single level to a Shale tier talent. Dropping down two levels to the bottom Chalk tier was also a possibility.
Talent was everything for a cultivator. It determined how much zhen they could retain after each cycle of the cultivation scriptures. Those with Chalk tier spirit channels were usually doomed to be a mortal for the rest of their lives. No sect would accept them. But even that was a small price to pay for getting a second chance at life.
Another lightning bolt came and Xun threw away those thoughts. There would be a time and place to think about his talent later. Right now, if he didn't escape, those bolts would fry his body and he'd die. Again.
Xun waited until his muscles thawed and shifted forward. He felt himself fall before landing on yet another large stone slab.
How many of these steps are there?
Tilting his head forward, he saw that there were seven more steps between him and a patch of grass that he hoped was the outside of the thunder soul's activity range. It was such a small distance, but felt almost impossible to cross. Xun had to fight back the darkness and desperation creeping in at the edge of his vision as he forced himself forward.
You can do this. Xun clawed forward with his left arm, grabbed onto the nosing of the stone step, and pulled himself along.
Six steps left.
As if sensing Xun's resolve, the thunder soul dropped another bolt. Xun tasted metal in his mouth. Something, somewhere, was bleeding.
One minute. That's how long I have between each lightning strike.
Patience. I need to be patient.
Xun closed his eyes, trying to preserve every ounce of energy he had. Trying to distract himself from the pain, he began to think back to his deathbed, where he had plenty of time to reflect on his cultivation journey. His previous talent was Gold tier, but he had failed at only the Consecration Realm.
I failed because I was arrogant. Because I was a sword cultivator, I beat everyone at the same cultivation level as me and began to challenge cultivators who were one to two stages above me. Sometimes, I even won. After each fight, as I savored the glory bestowed upon the victor, I ignored the wounds and scars in my body. When I faced the Second Thunder Tribulations, those wounds reopened. My arrogance cost me dearly.
Xun dropped another step and weathered another attack from the thunder soul. His body felt heavy, and his heart itself was tired from fighting all of the shocks.
Five more steps.
"Anlin? Are you okay?" A new voice sounded. At this point, Xun had guessed that his body's original owner was called Anlin. He opened his eyes and looked in the direction of the voice.
He found the vague outline of a person two hundred steps away, half obscured by the red flames dancing on each step of their path. The arms of the person were almost the same size as their legs. If it weren't for her voice, Xun would have never guessed that the figure was a girl. She yelled again, "I believe in you!"
"Anlin's alive? Please let that be true." Xun looked beyond the girl to find a young boy on a path full of green shrubs and giant plants. The boy had a slender physique. "Anlin, I promise I'll come help you when I'm done."
As the other students realized that their friend was still alive, they also shouted out words of encouragement.
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