Reincarnation and transmigration

Thousands of years before Nie Li was born.

"Hei Feng, there is no place for you to hide anymore. Why not become my general? I can still spare your life."

Hei Feng's chest heaved up and down, as he quietly gazed at his enemy. He faintly smiled. 'Your general? You mean your slave, huh? Sage Emperor.'

Hei Feng was a young man with a pale face and blood dripping from all over his body. His jet-black hair was disheveled and wet with blood and sweat. His eyes were bloodshot and his tattered robes were also dyed red with blood. There were countless wounds on his body, with the largest being on his abdomen - almost reaching to his spine; if only this wound was a little deeper, the young man would've been cut in half.

In his heart, he felt quite unresigned. It was not the enemy's strength that he lost to, but to numbers. By the time the Sage Emperor dared to appear, their ten Deity ranked Demon Beast Generals thoroughly exhausted Hei Feng's strength, bringing him to his current miserable state.

At this moment Hei Feng's soul realm was damaged, his soul force completely exhausted and even his demon spirit and spirit beast were already killed.

However, Hei Feng's expression remained cold and focused. His defeat from the Sage Emperor's hand had long been foreseen by his master, Ancestral Master Serenity Peak, thus Hei Feng was not completely surprised by this outcome.

The Sage Emperor anxiously watched Hei Feng and his eyes flickered with a cold light. Even though Hei Feng was at the border of death, he could still feel the frightening aura emanating from him.

In truth, he had long ago divined Hei Feng to be his calamity and would never let him live, even with an eternal slave contract. Hei Feng's strength and potential was too frightening, he had to be eliminated here, his soul removed from the cycle of reincarnation.

The only reason that the Sage Emperor proposed this kind of deal to Hei Feng was to lower his vigilance, being too wary of Hei Feng's trump cards; Hei Feng's calm attitude in the face of death was simply too abnormal!

The Sage Emperorthen attempted to persuade He Feng one more time, promising him a level of freedom, but Hei Feng remained unmoved, clearly aware of this poor scheme - the Sage Emperor would not let him live no matter what. Chatter was pointless.

At this moment Hei Feng felt his soul realm slowly crumbling away; if he did not receive serious treatment immediately, then he would definitely die.

Suddenly, many memories buried deep within Hei Feng's heart came alive and appeared vividly before his eyes.

He recalled when he first started cultivation and struggled to support his sick only uncle as a Bronze rank Fighter; he had to worry about one or two coins, groveling before the strong. When he got himself plotted against and banished from the city.

When he traveled alone through the wilderness, hunting with a faulty crossbow and desperately trying to survive, being at the border of death multiple times. When he stumbled upon the Temporal Demon Spirit Book by pure chance, and eventually, after a long time, becoming a peerless Legend rank expert in the Tiny world, yet at that time most of his people that he had grudges against had already died, his revenge remaining unfulfilled.

Then he came to the Draconic Ruins realm. From being an arrogant overlord, he once again became a weakling bullied by others, before he finally created his own legend.

He was lowly, he was ordinary, he was lofty, he was glorious.

He experienced the ups and downs of life, desperately grasping the opportunity and walking on the path he set on.

'My demonic path has finally come to an end, I have lost. In that aspect, I have absolutely no regrets. But what a pity. In my mistrust to others I have always walked alone and never truly set foot on the road of the righteous path. There is still half of the wonderful world that I have never experienced.' Hei Feng sighed in his heart, feeling thrilled. Within his heart, there was a sense of loss, there was sentimentality, there was contentment, and there was also a trace of regret.

To Hei Feng, walking on the so-called demonic path means to cast aside all of one's empathy and morals, to abandon the lowly lust and desires of the body, the satisfaction of love and hatred, and to channel all of one's existence into a greater goal, to reach what every being secretly desires - the peak of existence and Immortality. One would not concern oneself with the life of others or the greater good, killing and plundering, whether it is innocents, children or women, without batting an eyelid.

Heaven and Earth would not tolerate such existence, with the whole world and the Heavenly Dao becoming your hated enemy. Yet, at that time you are truly free.

The so-called righteous path, on the other hand, is to be kind and selfless, to do good deeds, save the dying, wounded and protect the weak. The Heavenly Dao is nearly invincible in this world, dedicated to maintaining balance; a person should dedicate one's life to follow its guidance, sacrificing oneself for the greater good and receive its blessings.

'There are many things that I regret in my life, many things that I didn't yet experience, but in my pursuit I have also realized half of my ideals. I lived how I wanted to and experienced half of the wonderful things in the world, so what is there to be sad about?' Thinking about this, Hei Feng showed a satisfied smile.

The Sage Emperor's eyes narrowed upon seeing Hei Feng's change of expression. 'What is he planning?'

'Dedicating my life to walk on the righteous path is just too boring, but if the Soul Traversing Time and Space Technique that I learned is effective then I would definitely try to be the hero in my second life, living by my own principles. This time around, I would certainly gather a harem of beauties and not walk the Dao by myself anymore.'

With this final thought, Hei Feng's smile deepened and he recited a chant of a secret technique in his mind.

Sensing the rising fluctuations of energies and Space-Time aura around Hei Feng, the Sage Emperor immediately flung his sword and sent out a ranged attack.

However, before the attack connected, a dazzling burst of ethereal light consumed Hei Feng's body.

…

Morning sun shone down on the St. Ancestral Mountain range and its rays streamed through the gaps between the mountains into a wide valley. It was already early summer, but on the hillsides some snow still remained; winter is exceptionally long in these parts.

Within the valley surrounded by mountains stood a magnificent city, which with its enormous size and vast fields of crops could easily be called a small hidden kingdom.

The world outside of this valley is occupied by demon beasts and the people within have not contacted the outside world for hundreds of years, believing themselves to be the last of mankind.

It is said that in ancient times countless human empires existed across the continent with thousands of Legend rank Fighters and Demon Spiritualists, but those empires had long been destroyed when the whole continent was ravaged by hordes of demon beasts.

The city in the St. Ancestral Mountain range, due to being stealthily located geographically, was well preserved from the Age of Darkness. It would occasionally encounter attacks from powerful Snow Wind demon beasts from the surrounding mountains, however, after going through numerous devastating battles, the city would be rebuilt again and again.

Those motley walls are an indomitable monument.

This city is called Glory City, and it is a symbol of hope for humanity!

…

Holy Orchid Institute of Glory City, Fighter Apprentice Class.

Over thirty students bordering at fourteen years of age were sitting and waiting to listen to the female teacher to impart her knowledge, softly discussing among themselves.

"I heard that we have a new teacher today."

"Yeah, and it's a 3-star Silver rank Demon Spiritualist! She's from the Sacred Family, her name is Shen Xiu!"

"There are also two new students. Do you know who that purple-haired girl is?"

"The new boy is so handsome…"

The students suddenly quietened down and their eyes turned to the teacher who just entered from the connected room.

The teacher Shen Xiu had a tall and attractive figure. She wore a lavender dress that wrapped tightly around her body, giving an emphasis on her perky chest. She had a pair of slender long legs, and wore exquisite make-up that made her look beautiful and elegant.

Shen Xiu's eyes were full of pride and arrogance. Because she is of noble birth, and a 3-star Silver rank Demon Spiritualist at a young age, she naturally has the capital to be prideful. As a Silver rank Demon Spiritualist she wouldn't teach a beginner Fighter Class; she only agreed in order to help her nephew to grow closer to the City Lord's daughter, aiming to raise the status of their family.

"As you are all well aware, Demon Spiritualists and Fighters have five different ranks, which are: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Black Gold and Legend rank. Each rank is then divided into five levels, from 1-star to 5-star."

"A Demon Spiritualist is above a Fighter. It is a truly noble existence. A Demon Spiritualist can cultivate soul force within their soul realms. They have the ability to integrate a captured demon into their soul realm and then merge with the demon spirit in combat. This allows them to possess matchless strength, which is far above the strength Fighters could compete with." Shen Xiu raised her chin and spoke arrogantly, "Just like me, my integrated demon spirit is the Scarlet Flame Fox."

To emphasize her words, the teacher merged with her demon spirit and gained a beastly and fierce appearance.

"Woah!" Teacher's words caused a group of students to let out sounds of amazement.

As Shen Xiu continued lecturing on stage, Nie Li and Lin Tian were sitting at the back of the classroom at different desks. Their clouded gazes gradually became clearer as they suddenly opened their eyes wide in shock.

'Where am I?' Hei Feng asked himself in his heart.

He was dazed momentarily, seeing that he suddenly appeared in another place altogether.

'It worked! I really was reborn!' Hei Feng thought in excitement, looking at his small and skinny hands.

Based on the multitude of mixed memories in his head, it seemed to Hei Feng that he reincarnated into the body of Lin Tian, a commoner and a student of the Fighter Apprentice Class, and it was the time in Glory City to the time when the story of the Tales of Demons and Gods novel is supposed to start.

For some reason, Hei Feng could also recall his life as John, a webnovel reader from Earth who read the Tales of Demons and Gods novel which was surprisingly about the world where Hei Feng lived in.

Hei Feng himself was an owner of the Temporal Demon Spirit Book and was hunted down by the Sage Emperor and confronted him an unknown amount of time in the past.

In his head were hundreds of years of memories of adventuring, combat, cultivating and studying as Hei Feng. The most recent memories in his head were those of being surrounded and attacked by the Sage Emperor and his ten Deity ranked beast generals and being defeated. At the end of his life, Hei Feng used the Soul Traversing Time and Space technique while the Temporal Demon Spirit Book drenched in his blood activated at the same time.

Soul Traversing Time and Space was a mysterious technique taught to Hei Feng by his master. This technique was supposed to reincarnate his soul in the future when a powerful cultivator of the Heaven's Divination Technique exists and there is a chance of defeating the Sage Emperor.

It seemed to Hei Feng that the combination of the Temporal Demon Spirit Book and the Soul Traversing Time and Space technique caused a soul from Earth to merge with his soul.

He suddenly had a thought. 'Am I still Hei Feng and I received memories and the soul of someone from Earth or were we the same person in the first place and I simply regained my memories of a different life?'.

Hei Feng looked down at his desk and entered into a deep thought. 'I feel like John was a soul from outside this world that I consumed, it makes the most sense. I am still Hei Feng, but I feel a little different."

He realized that all of his memories and personalities were now mixed as if he lived three different lives: that of Hei Feng, Lin Tian and John, with Hei Feng naturally being in dominance.

In the end, since Hei Fang now occupied Lin Tian's body, he decided to call himself Lin Tian from now on. A name was only a label. What is the big deal with changing it?

Following that realization, a bead of cold sweat ran down Lin Tian's back as he made a connection. 'I understand now. The Soul Traversing Time and Space technique was a trick in an attempt to reform me!'

With Hei Feng's rich and deep life experience, originally powerful soul and hundreds of years of memories, he should be the one to completely dominate John's and Lin Tian's souls when he reincarnated, causing them to be irrelevant memories at the back of his head. However, Lin Tian was unable to deny that at this moment he felt a much higher level of compassion toward others and also regret for the awful things he had done to others in the previous life.

Hei Feng's Master, Ancestral Master Serenity Peak, cultivated the Heaven's Divination Technique and he always saw Hei Feng as someone with very extreme views and seemed to worry for who he would become in the future. With everything that happened in the past, Lin Tian understood that Ancestral Master Serenity Peak was afraid of Hei Feng's ambitions, wary of Hei Feng becoming the second Sage Emperor.

Ancestral Master Serenity Peak seemed to be someone that would do anything for the greater good, and it seems that he went as far as to temper with Hei Feng's soul. Ironically, even though Hei Feng wished to change at the end of his life; the heavens didn't seem to want to take this chance.

Lin Tian realized that Hei Feng was betrayed and tricked by his master. After using the technique imparted to him, Hei Feng that he once was, is now gone.

However, it was not the current him who was tricked, but the old Hei Feng.

Lin Tian was now himself, a new being, and he didn't doubt himself nor felt any regret.

Following that realization, a fire of determination lit up in Lin Tian's heart.

In his head were hundreds of years of memories of bitter cultivation and studying, the life experiences of a supreme expert, as well as the knowledge of the future that he got from reading the Tales of Demons and Gods novel on Earth.

Putting any regrets and longings aside, Lin Tian squeezed his young hands tightly and immediately swore to himself in his heart. Now that he was reborn in this world of cultivation with all of his advantages and knowledge, starting on his road from the beginning, he definitely could not waste this precious chance.

He would certainly aim to become the most powerful existence, aim to slaughter the Sage Emperor and achieve Immortality!

And he will do it in his own way!

***

It's a rewrite of my previous two TDG fanfictions which had Shen Yue as the MC. It's the final version.