Bang!
A loud noise rang out as Chen Yan slowly opened his eyes.
He looked at the cold-faced man in coarse cloth standing before the door, his expression completely unchanged.
Still a bit short.
Chen Yan sighed inwardly.
"Chen Yan?"
A soft, feminine voice ca from the man with dark, gloomy eyes standing at the door.
Chen Yan didn't answer. Instead, he calmly looked past the cold-faced man at the entrance and gazed into the courtyard of Listening to the Waves Pavilion.
He saw Su Hongzhen lying in the courtyard.
Blood was everywhere, and his chest had stopped rising and falling—he had already stopped breathing.
The corpse was covered in wounds, his limbs twisted and broken at unnatural angles. This showed that before his death, Su Hongzhen had suffered an absolutely horrific torture.
"Yes."
Chen Yan replied, then fixed his gaze on the gloomy man before him.
Then, in the next instant, he violently drew the sword at his side and charged toward the cold-faced man—
[Reincarnation Ended.]
[This Reincarnation Rating: B (Nothing much to say—you've done well enough).]
[Accumulated Cultivation: Unity Realm Early Stage.]
[Reincarnation Reward: Cultivation realm increased by one minor level.]
[Reincarnation settlent complete. The host will return to the previous reincarnation checkpoint, inherit the accumulated cultivation from this reincarnation, and restart life.]
...
When Chen Yan opened his eyes again, he was standing in the courtyard of Listening to the Waves Pavilion.
In his previous reincarnation, he had suffered a terrible torture before his death.
The gloomy-faced cold man had snapped all four of his limbs, then broken each finger, joint by joint.
It hurt.
But to Chen Yan, it ant nothing.
Revenge, however, had to be taken.
Thinking this, Chen Yan turned his gaze to the courtyard.
Su Hongzhen was standing before a large tree in the yard, staring intently at a branch in front of him.
Then he took a deep breath and struck out with a palm toward that branch.
The wind from the palm swept past, and the leaves hanging on the branch swayed a few tis before returning to stillness—nothing happened.
Just as Chen Yan had expected, Su Hongzhen's cultivation speed had indeed surpassed his own, breaking through to the Qi Circulation Realm ahead of him.
After all, he was the Falling Star Realman. Even if he grew wildly, his natural talent would still shine through.
But at the mont, Little Su only had the cultivation level of a beginner in the Qi Circulation Realm—nothing more.
If he were thrown onto the arena platform right now to spar with another cultivator of the sa realm, he would just end up being a punching bag.
Just like Si Youyou back then. She had gone from a mortal to the Martial Spring Realm in an extrely short ti, but without Mr. You's special training and the Xun Wind Step that Chen Yan had taught her, winning the Floating Light Summit Dao Inquiry would have been nearly impossible for her.
Even winning the first round of the Dao Inquiry would have been impossible.
Without enough cultivation depth to achieve complete suppression, the quality of techniques beca the most important factor determining victory.
So, at the very least, Su Hongzhen now had to learn how to channel the true qi within his ridians.
"How many tis is this now?"
Chen Yan called out to Su Hongzhen.
Su Hongzhen, who was about to strike again, paused slightly, then withdrew his force and stood still.
"Twenty-seven. What's up, big brother?"
Twenty-seven.
Chen Yan thought for a mont, then looked up to confirm the sun's position.
This reincarnation checkpoint still had so ti, but not much.
He had to hurry.
"Little Su."
Chen Yan's expression turned serious.
"I need to go into seclusion now. So ti later today, enemies might co knocking."
"Enemies?"
Hearing that word, Su Hongzhen was visibly startled.
"There's only one thing you need to do."
Chen Yan said.
"Hold them off until I co out. Understood?"
"...Got it, big brother."
Su Hongzhen replied.
Chen Yan nodded and walked toward the house.
At this point, with the help of the Marrow Cleansing Pills, his cultivation had reached the peak of the Body Forging Realm—just one step away from the Qi Circulation Realm.
With a few more hours, he could fully restore his cultivation.
But as he walked toward the house, the image of Su Hongzhen's corpse lying in the courtyard flashed through his mind again—the torture marks on his body.
Chen Yan lowered his head, his gaze falling on the sword at his waist, the one he had carried with him since the Northern Desert of Great Yu.
"Take this."
Chen Yan turned around and tossed the sword at his waist toward Su Hongzhen.
Su Hongzhen quickly reached out and caught the sword.
Then, after a brief hesitation, he pulled the sword partway out of its scabbard.
"...Big brother."
Su Hongzhen said slowly.
"Am I really suited to learn the sword?"
Chen Yan stopped walking toward the house. He paused for a few seconds, then finally spoke slowly.
"Of course. Across the entire world, no one is more suited to learn the sword than you."
...
Su Hongzhen didn't continue wrestling with the few leaves on the branch.
He sat on the steps of the house, holding the sword Chen Yan had lent him in his arms, as if lost in thought.
This was only the second ti he had touched a sword.
The first ti had been back in Matou Village, when he had returned from the town to find the village massacred.
The bandits still lingering in the village, rummaging through the ruins, had spotted him too. But seeing that he was just a half-grown boy who didn't look like he had any money on him, they ignored him.
If he had chosen to run away back then, he could have escaped.
But he didn't.
Instead, he charged straight at those bandits.
Even though he knew full well that he would die, that he was no match for those burly bandits, he still charged.
Why had he done that?
Clearly, he didn't have the strength to avenge his master or the villagers.
Clearly, no matter what he did, the dead wouldn't co back to life...
But he had charged anyway.
If he hadn't t big brother back then, he would definitely have died.
Su Hongzhen knew this fact clearly.
But if he had truly died there, would he have regretted it?
The answer was: no regrets.
Without any hesitation, Su Hongzhen quickly reached that answer.
He lifted his head and looked at the cold-faced man in coarse cloth who had appeared at the entrance of Listening to the Waves Pavilion.
"Are you Chen Yan?"
The man standing at the gate, clearly hostile, spoke in a soft, feminine voice.
"No."
Su Hongzhen slowly rose from the steps. The youth stared straight at the cold-faced man, who was much taller than him, standing at the gate.
"My na is Su Hongzhen."
A sharp sound cut through the air.
The sword was drawn.
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