2. A New Life
"I should be dead. Am I dreaming now?" The baby boy pondered while looking at the ceiling. He tried to get up, but his body didn't listen to him at all. He tried to move his body by rolling sideways. Knowing the baby boy's movement, the father, Ji Hao, immediately grabbed the baby boy and hugged the baby boy excitedly.
The baby boy tried to get away from Ji Hai, but it made Ji Hao feel that the baby boy was too adorable.
Meanwhile, hearing the baby girl's cry, the mother, Ji Yuling, immediately comforted the baby girl by breastfeeding.
"Ji Long is such a cute boy. But I wonder why he doesn't even cry? Yet, Ji Feng was crying all the time." Ji Hao asked Ji Yuling.
"Ji Long? Is that my name? They seemed to talk in Chinese. Although I understand Chinese a little bit, pronouncing it is a bit troublesome." At that very moment, the baby boy knew that Ji Long was his name. And the baby girl on the other side was called Ji Feng.
"Long and Feng, huh? Such simple yet domineering names." Ji Long was secretly amused.
Ji Long still felt it was surreal. If he has a dream of being a baby, it means he is still alive, or maybe still in a coma in the hospital. But he was also amazed because he knew very well that his condition after being hit by a truck was impossible to live. Still, who knows? Perhaps, he was on the edge between life and death.
Ji Long glanced at the so-called father and mother. His father was so handsome and his mother was so beautiful. Ji Long stretched out both hands toward Ji Yuling in joy as his mother was such a beauty. However, Ji Yuling, who was observing Ji Long, thought that Ji Long also wanted to have breast milk. So Ji Yuling started breastfeeding Ji Long, together with Ji Feng.
Looking at her twin peaks… Well, he felt nothing. Perhaps, it was because she was still his mother or he was still a baby. And after having had his fill of drinking breast milk, Ji Long fell fast asleep.
The next morning, Ji Long woke up from his sleep. It was already noon and he didn't see anyone around him. Well, except for his little sister who was still sleeping beside him.
According to his parents' conversation last night, Ji Long seemed to have been born earlier than Ji Feng. Thus, it was fair enough to call Ji Feng "little sister".
"This is not a dream. Have I been reborn?"
He was totally amazed. He didn't think that the concept of reincarnation existed. If he didn't believe it, what was his existence then? Perhaps because he died at the age of 19, he was given another chance to live again.
Ji Long looked around. And honestly, he felt odd to see a lot of Chinese antiques as if he was reborn to the ancient Chinese era. There was no electricity, no computer, laptop, phone, internet, or even lights.
From observing the scenery around him, Ji Long wasn't sure if he was still in the digital era or the modern era.
Ji Long couldn't help but wonder if he could bear to live in a world without the internet.
— — — — —
Day after day after day, the year is increasing from time to time. And imperceptibly, four years had passed since Ji Long's birth.
Ji Long had learned that he no longer lived on earth, but in the world of Jianghu, where many humans and powerful monsters existed.
Originally, Ji Long was so excited that he had parents in his present world. However, after hearing a bit about the outside world, he felt a little depressed. Powerful humans are called cultivators, powerful monsters are called spiritual beasts, and powerful demons are called demonic cultivators.
And what made him depressed further was his meridians seemed to be blocked. The way to unlock his blocked meridians was to consume a certain gold-rank pill. But, the cost was unbearable for the Ji clan.
The currency in the Jianghu world uses bronze, silver, and gold. 100 bronze equals 1 silver, and 100 silver equals 1 gold.
The lowest grade of pill, which is the bronze-rank, already costs 1 gold, and above the bronze-rank pill is a silver-rank. Silver-rank pills had already reached a price of 100 to 5000 gold. One could imagine how much a gold-rank pill cost which was above silver rank.
If his meridians were forever blocked, it would mean that his strength would be stuck at the first level of the Life Energy realm.
As far as Ji Long knew, the first four cultivation realms consisted of Qi Condensation, Life Energy, Foundation Establishment, and Gold Core. And each realm is divided into ten levels.
Currently, Ji Long has yet to cultivate. Even if he cultivated earlier, it would be pointless since he would be stuck at the first level of the Life Energy realm.
Although Ji Long was deemed to be unsuccessful as a cultivator, his intelligence was way above the others. Thus, his parents hoped that he became a scholar.
Ever since Ji Long knew that he couldn't cultivate, he spent his days at the library to gain knowledge of the Jianghu world, as well as looking for an alternative to unlock his blocked meridians.
In the library, Ji Long closed the book while sighing.
"I want to know if there is any difference between the human body in this world and my previous world. But, there's no knowledge about human anatomy in this library. But well, I guess there will not be much difference."
From the knowledge Ji Long got from the earth as Ryū, he knows very well that every human has spiritual power. But it's a shame that people on earth don't know how to control it. Ji Long himself wasn't sure about that as well. However, being able to completely erase his presence while he was still alive on earth proved that spiritual energy existed.
"I guess, I should ask my old man."
Ji Long walked out of the library and went to find Ji Hao to ask about how to cultivate spiritual energy. Unfortunately, even though he had toured the Ji clan residence, Ji Long could not find his father's figure. In the end, he went back to his residence.
What he didn't expect was that he found his parents and Ji Feng already inside.
"Eh, where have you been, father, mother? I haven't seen you here before."
"Oh dear, we just got back." Ju Yuling smiled wryly as if she hid something from Ji Long. Ji Long suspiciously looked at his mother's expression.
Ji Hao spoke his heart out while caressing Ji Long's hair.
"Actually we're looking for a gold-rank pill to cure you. Too bad we can't afford one. We're sorry, son. Maybe I'll look for extra money to cure you. We can't carelessly use our clan's money since we're not that rich. I hope you can be patient."
Ji Long was dumbfounded by his father's sincere statement. His heart shuddered. He never felt the same thing in his previous life. Well, that was obvious since he didn't have parents in that world.
His experience in his previous world apart from pursuing higher education was nothing but training, carrying out missions, and killing. And he carried out the missions as a condition to earn money for his education.
"So, this is what it's like to have parents." Ji Long said secretly.
Unbeknownst to him, tears fell from his eyes.
"Eh, what's wrong, Long'er? Why did you cry?" Ji Yuling was surprised and immediately hugged him. Ji Hao was dumbfounded as well as he didn't know what happened to his son. Meanwhile, Ji Feng looked at his brother curiously from the side.
Ji Long broke free from his mother's embrace, then shook his head.
"Nothing. I'm glad mom and dad didn't abandon me." He said while wiping his tears.
"You silly kid. There's no way father and mother will abandon you." Ji Yuling caressed Ji Long's hair. She thought that Ji Long had experienced something that caused so many people in the clan to avoid him due to his poor talent. Yet, that was far from the truth.
In his previous life, Ji Long didn't know why his parents abandoned him. He never felt this kind of warmth in that life. Never once. For the first time, he felt grateful to be given a new life and a new family that he didn't have in his previous life.