1 ONE

It wasn't a cliff nor was it a volcano or even a bridge. It was a plain like any other. There wasn't anything special or noteworthy about it. Nothing at all. And yet, this was the place they picked for the war between two countries.

Like many other cultivators and warriors of lower ranks, Min-Ki was forced to join in. His cultivation was neither high nor low compared to the other enlisted warriors. Just like them, he had hit a bottleneck due to a lack of resources.

Many people claimed that talent and efforts were what brought up powerful experts. The truth wasn't like that however. Sure, both talent and efforts played a role. But something else played an even bigger role.

It was wealth.

If you were born from a commoner, you would never get as many opportunities as someone born to a noble or an expert. That's just how things were and no one could really do much about it.

He was born in a family of commoners. It was actually quite good that he reached his realm considering his origins. He had managed to enter a sect back when he was a kid and got lucky even after that. He managed to snatch a few resources here and there and diligently worked his way up.

But this was meaningless now. Because of war. And because his sect was part of one of the countries at war. The sect was weaker than the country of course or it wouldn't be inside of it but a neutral power outside of it. Due to this fact, the country forced the sect to deploy cultivators to fight.

As an outside ring disciple, he was sent out. Due to his higher cultivation compared to a few of his peers, he was leading a few others. But it didn't matter.

The truth was that those in front of him, the enemies he was supposed to fight, were far too powerful. They had the quantity advantage and if not enough, they even had the quality advantage. This was a battle lost before it began and yet, he was forced to take part.

Obviously, it didn't go well.

Which was why he was now dying in a puddle of blood. Some was his and some was not. Regardless, it was the end for him. He had dodged a few weapons here and there, used his spiritual energy to defend himself…it had not been enough. He died from a few stabs.

Who murdered him? He didn't know. War was chaotic by nature. He knew he was stabbed and would die, that's it.

As he recalled his life, he didn't feel much. He tried his best and felt like this was the limit of someone like him who was born a commoner. He didn't resent his parents or family for it; it was meaningless and stupid. He cursed his fate that did not give him an opportunity to go further.

Little by little, his eyelids closed as the roars of the battlefield still sounded. As his awareness left him, he wished he was given a second chance…

And that is how a random cultivator met his death like many others in a random place without honor and for the sake of others that he did not even know.

But it doesn't end here for him though. By a twist of fate, his soul that should have moved on to heaven did not go there and instead moved directly straight onto the path of reincarnation.

A soul usually went to heaven where the sins were considered before a cleansing was done. Only after the cleansing and the tabulation of the sins was the soul sent to reincarnate in a place it deserved to be.

Why it happened was unknown but it did. A random soul entered the reincarnation path without being cleansed or having its sins tabulated. It was nothing more than a random error out of millions and millions of successful attempts.

But it ended up happening to his soul and not another…

And so, after he died, he awoke once more as his soul bound itself to a new entity.

He could neither see nor speak. He wasn't even sure he could feel, it was difficult to comprehend the state he was in. What he knew though was that he could think and so, that he was still alive.

He didn't know how it was possible. Maybe someone rescued him? He quickly gave up on that thought as it seemed impossible. Who could rescue someone else during such a battle? But even there had been such a strong expert, why would he waste it on him? He was no one. And so, he wondered as his state remained unchanged.

Time passed as he drifted to sleep and awoke in turns. Little by little, he felt more and more sensations. Warmth was the beginning then it was dampness.

After some time, he began to feel his own breath and the beating of his heart. And later on, he started to regain the ability to move. It wasn't much of course, only very small movements. That's how he managed to uncover that he still had four limbs which was quite the relief.

But then, he began to feel cramped. Wherever he was, he felt suffocated and restrained. He began to trash around with as much strength as he could muster. He guessed it worked as he could sense something breaking around him.

He did not manage to break out on his first try though. He had to rest a few times before he successfully broke whatever had restrained him. Then, he felt many things at once.

The air.

The light.

He couldn't yet open his eyes but he could sense it. He was outside. Did he survive by himself while buried under a pile of corpses? This hypothesis made more sense than all others until now. At least, it was something that could have happened.

As he tried to move, he felt something grab him in the back. He felt a soft pinch and lost the familiar contact with the ground. Someone was suspending him in the air. Who?! Why?! What were their intentions?!

It didn't take long before he was dropped gently a distance away from his previous position. Then, the pinching stopped and instead, something began to cover him. It was weird and hard to describe. It was wet and bouncy. He could feel it moving all over him.

It went on for a few minutes.

And then it happened. He managed to slightly open his eyes. And what he saw frightened him out of his wits. He saw a giant Owl the size of a castle standing in front of him. His first reaction was trying to move. It didn't end well as he fell right on the first step.

The Owl brought its giant face closer and…licked him.

And he got even more scared as he felt as if he would be eaten. Did he survive a war only to be eaten by a monstrous spiritual beast? Oh, how fate was joking with his life! He wondered what he did in his previous life to warrant such a treatment.

The rollercoaster of emotion stopped however as he saw his own reflection in the eyes of the beast. The good news was that it was unlikely that he would be eaten. The bad news was that it was unlikely because he was a newborn owl.

It took him a long time to process this. By that time, the giant owl, likely his mother or father had moved away to lick another newborn. As he looked over there, he could see it. The prison he had been in…It was an egg.

He couldn't simply come to terms with the truth though. It wasn't that easy. How was he supposed to react? He was a newborn spiritual beast. An owl. Even though he remembered who he was before… What happened then? Did he really die? Did his human past die? Or was his self a previous life of this creature he now became?

He had no idea.

And he ended up giving up as he felt tiredness overcome him. He drifted to sleep while his head was filled with questions and his heart with conflicted emotions.

He woke up to more licking from his Mother Owl. As he looked at her, he decided it was likely a 'her'… He had no idea how owls lived but if he had to pick, he would rather believe it was his Mother. Or could he even consider her like that? After all, he wasn't just a random Owl… What about everything he remembered?

He soon forgot all about it as hunger came to him. And moments later, his sweet and affectionate mother owl came to the rescue. Dropping a fat insect in front of him. As he looked at the giant centipede that was as long as he was, he remained paralyzed.

His siblings reacted differently as they rushed towards the poor insect and began to peck at it savagely.