‘Ugh… Where am I…?’ Yuan slowly opened his eyes to the sound of water splashing beside him.
He looked around once his eyes adjusted to the bright sunlight, and to his surprise, there was a large river beside him.
‘What the… How did I get here? I was just at the pagoda…’
Yuan stood up a moment later, but he immediately noticed something different about his body.
“My cultivation base is gone!” He exclaimed in a shocked voice.
Suddenly, another voice resounded, responding to his words, “Are you still dreaming, Tian Yang? You’re not even a cultivator yet, how can you possibly have a cultivation base?”
“Eh?”
Yuan turned to the sound of the voice to see a pretty young girl sitting underneath a tree with a scroll in her hands.
“Meng Lili?” Yuan subconsciously muttered her name even though he had never met her before.
‘Wait… Did she just call me Tian Yang? So I am seeing his memories right now?’
Now that he had an idea of his situation, Yuan decided to play along.
However, it was not as though he could actually control his body freely.
Yuan suddenly began walking towards this young lady named Meng Lili.
“How are you feeling, Meng Lili? Are you excited about tomorrow? Nervous?” Yuan asked her.
“Neither. I am actually feeling afraid,” she responded.
“Why would you feel afraid? We’re going to become disciples of a cultivation sect! You should be excited!”
“Tian Yang, the cultivation world isn’t all fun and games. It’s a vicious path that could easily lead to your death even when you’re not at fault, and it’s a world that we’ll be stepping into soon.”
“If you’re afraid, then why did you agree to join the sect? You could have stayed here in the village with the others.”
“Although I am afraid of the cultivation world, there is something I am even more afraid of— the feeling of being powerless,” she responded with a solemn look on her face.
“…”
Yuan didn’t say anything else for the next few moments.
“Enough about me. What about you? You’ve always wanted to be a Cultivator, right?” Meng Lili suddenly asked him.
A bittersweet smile appeared on Yuan’s face as he spoke, “No, not always. I never even thought about becoming a Cultivator until my mother and sister died at the hands of one.”
“Oh… I am sorry for bringing it up…” Meng Lili said in a dispirited voice.
“There’s no need for you to apologize. It’s the person who killed them that should apologize. Once I become a Cultivator, I will find this bastard and kill him myself if he’s still alive by then.”
“Cultivators are not allowed to kill mortals, so that person must have already been executed by now.” Meng Lili said.
“If that’s the case, he’s really fortunate.” Yuan sneered.
“Anyways, I am going back to the village. I’ll see you tomorrow when the Senior picks us up.”
After leaving the scene, Yuan walked about a mile until he arrived in this small village that had a population of a few thousand residents.
“I’m home.” Yuan said out loud after returning to his residence, but there was no response.
He then walked to the living room, where a home altar for his family was built in the corner of the room.
He kneeled in front of it and stared at the altar for many minutes before speaking in a solemn voice, “I will be leaving this place tomorrow to start my journey as a Cultivator. I know the world of cultivation is a dangerous one with countless victims. However, I rather risk my life to have a chance of becoming someone powerful than doing nothing and becoming a victim to the powerful.”
“Meng Lili said something that really resonated with me today, and I completely agree with her. She said that she fears being powerless more than she fears death. However, while I do fear being powerless, I don’t fear death. If I die, I will just reunite with the rest of you, so I look forward to that.”
“If I don’t die and become powerful enough, I… I’m not sure what I want to do at that time yet, but I hope to find the answer soon.”
Once he finished praying, Yuan went to tend the chickens he raised in his backyard.
“After today, you’ll be Uncle Lee’s chickens. It’s unfortunate that I have to give you away before I can eat you, but alas, cultivation is more important, and the sect does not allow animals.”
After feeding the chickens, Yuan went inside his room and proceeded to spend the rest of the day meditating.
The following morning, Yuan left his house and went to the entrance of the village, where a group of people around his age were gathered.
“Did you sleep well?” Meng Lili approached him shortly after he arrived.
“I spent the whole night meditating,” he said.
“What’s the point of that when you’re not even a Cultivator?”
“To prepare myself for the real thing, of course.”
“Whatever.”
About an hour later, an old man with an unfathomable aura descended from the sky and landed in front of the group.
He withdrew his flying treasure that took the shape of a massive leaf and said, “This is your last chance to turn back. Once you step on this flying treasure, you will either spend the rest of your life as a Cultivator or die as a mortal in the sect. I will give you all 30 seconds to decide.”
30 seconds later, everyone was standing on the flying treasure.
“Good.”
The old man flew away with the flying treasure a moment later.
It was also at this moment that Yuan returned to the pagoda, and the first thing he noticed was the handsome man standing in front of him with a profound smile.
“What do you think?” The handsome man asked him.
Yuan frowned and said, “That’s it? I didn’t even learn anything about my reincarnation or bloodline!”
The handsome man chuckled and said, “Like I’d said, you’ll only get a fragment of your memories. And don’t worry, I gave you a lot more memories than what you just saw, but it’ll take time for them to surface. Give it a few days.”
“In the meantime, you can continue climbing the Stairway to Heaven to regain even more of your memories. You still have a few more trials ahead of you, after all.”