A new light and 'Meng Yun'
Ling Yun did not see the darkness again.
Instead he witnessed something entirely different.
An incorporeal sword stabbed right through his very being , bringing forth with it a storm of memories he could make no sense of.
Strange scenes materialised before his 'eyes' , people, places , smells all sorts of things he had never seen or felt before and didn't make any sense to him.
It felt as if he had been tied to the stake and was forced to watch his mind slowly burn up.
No , it was much fiercer than that.
It was as if he was undergoing the harshest of punishments meted out by the Kingdom.
Watching his body being dragged away by four different horses in four different directions as each horse tried its best to drag away all of himself towards it.
An uncontrollable scream of anguish escaped from his 'mouth' . It was utterly silent of course .Sound never could exist in the empty void.
Strangely the memory of the poses remained intact even when all else faded away.
Even as his sanity crumbled with the assault of memories like a jigsaw puzzle being scrambled and assembled again and again he held on to his own Achilles heel that held him aloft the waters of the styx preventing him from dissolving entirely.
He hung on to the proverbial last straw arranging and rearranging his distorted body into what would pass for a mockery of the poses he had known once but still managed to do the job somehow.
He navigated the fierce currents of the river drifting on his log and saw the other side at last.He steered frenziedly as the shore became clearer and clearer appearing to be like paradise to the worn man who didn't even know who he was.
Strangely he could hear his scream now.At some unnoticed point it had torn through to the material world but even more surprising was the fact that he could hear !
Where was he ?
He blinked once his hands fell down from his face.
His face turned upwards to see the night sky after what seemed like eternity.
Who was he ?
Memories materialised in his mind's eye answering his question . Strangely however there were two sets of identities they alluded to which surprised him.
Most people didn't have two identities did they ?
It was an observation which both of his memories agreed on.
Which meant that he had to choose one.
He frowned for a bit conflicted.
Eventually he decided to choose the one that seemed more 'real'.
How would he decide on that ?
Why instinct , of course .
Half an hour later the doors of the Wild Boar , a low grade inn for travellers in Zilin city opened.
The innkeeper busy cleaning his mantle -piece had his back turned to the door. He barely paused to look at the newcomer .There was simply no point.Only the poorest and weakest of cultivators would frequent his humble establishment and there wasn't much reason to build relations with such people anyway .He was satisfied as long as he was paid .
"The rate is a spirit stone for a night.Pay up front .'
"You can take the first room on the third floor."
He could hear the familiar pleasing clatter on his counter. A smile couldn't help blooming on his face.
It appeared the guest was staying for a couple of nights.
He turned his head to begin a conversation of appearance's sake but to his surprise there was nobody there.
"What a strange person ", he wondered for a moment and then went back to his work.
He didn't care too much .
Cultivators were by nature a solitary species .
Polite talk seemed to be so worthless when compared to the Great Way after all.
The customer meanwhile had settled his bags down on the floor. He Lit up the spirit lamp to give some illumination to the dark room and settled on the bed to take stock of the situation.
To the bewildered Ling Yun the past events were very much like a dream.The best he could make of them was that whatever had happened was a consequence of the Mystical Soul Awakening Gem.
His conclusion only served to make him more excited .If even a casual object from the world of Immortals held so much power then the path of Immortals was certainly a thing to look forward to.
He winced as once again foreign memories assaulted him.
They belonged to a youth named 'Meng Yun' who was eighteen years in age and whose body he now occupied thanks to the Soul Awakening Gem .
This Meng Yun was what the Immortals called a 'rogue cultivator'.
Originally an ordinary villager hailing from a remote area in the Zhao Kingdom which happened to be his homeland as well, the youth when he was ten years old was sent off to a declining Martial Arts Faction in the stormy Rivers and Lakes.
Ling Yun couldn't help clicking his teeth regarding this observation.
He had himself been involved in the many conflicts of the Rivers and Lakes in his youth and was aware firsthand of the danger those conflicts held.
Clearly this Meng Yun hadn't managed to come out unscathed .
In a simultaneous raid on his faction by many other rival factions his faction had perished .Meng Yun however because of being an unimportant person had managed to escape somehow.
In a manner that left Ling Yun sighing regarding the Will of the Heavens this country bumpkin fell down the side of a cliff and 'by luck' was saved by the presence of a jutting out creeper that led him into a conveniently situated cave.
If that wasn't enough the cave even had the inheritance of an immortal !
Not only that the dolt somehow managed to possess the ever-elusive 'spiritual roots' that he , a dragon among his generation had never managed to possess !
Cultivating by luck the dotard managed to stumbled upon a fellow cultivator who directed him to Zilin City and so he came in search of far wider horizons .
Although the spate of luck enjoyed by the bastard Meng Yun made him furious his happiness knew no bounds when reminded of the fact that it was he, Ling Yun who will be enjoying the fruits of that dullard's labours !
He roared aloud in triumphant laughter as he had done long ago when he laid waste to many a city ruled by his enemies .
The delight of conquest never seemed to vanish !
He soon began to sober though , recognising the hard journey before him.
He searched for his prized possession but found to his remorse that it hadn't come along with him.
He had been thinking of using it since both the righteous and devilish factions appeared to be so fond of it.
Although he could find no such object in his memories it was reasonable since there was no way that a person like Meng Yun at the lowest rung of the hierarchy be aware of a precious treasure that the higher ups would want.
He had run into the jade when a tomb had been unearthed as an unintended consequence of one of his campaigns in his youth.
He had kept it close for many a year before eventually revealing it to his old friend out of desperation .
His friend had made an offer after consulting his seniors which had eventually led to the current scenario.
Correction former friend now .
He would certainly be thirsting for his blood now , a wicked grin spread across Meng Yun's face at the thought.
Once again a bucket of cold water was poured on him at the thought that he had cheated the Devilish sects as well.
Who knew if they had left some backdoor on the Soul Awakening Gem they had handed over to him and could use it to track him .
He certainly would have used such a means and the Devils who were far more cunning and powerful would surely have some mysterious means of their own.
The only solution that he could find was that he needed an umbrella of protection and fast , at least until the hue and cry died down.
Out on his own any resistance was futile.He would be hunted down by both factions in no time !
He sighed.
If he had the jade with him now he could have got rid of the trouble by selling it to someone else then it was the other person's problem .
A mystical message regarding the current owner released through the 'underground' would have ensured no ensuing trouble for him .
Now that the jade was missing and he was the last owner then they were all going to come for him.
Not a nice prospect for someone who had just entered the new world of cultivation.
His only solace was that it would take some time for them to track him down in his new 'identity' but he wasn't ready to place any bets .
Therefore the only solution was to join a sect. A reasonably powerful one that could offer some protection and one that wasn't allied to the Righteous and Devilish factions in any way.
Luckily the location of Zilin city provided such an opportunity.
The Realm of Grand Xia had countless factions akin to the stars in the sky .
The strongest being the Grand Xia Empire whose organisation was no different from a Empire from the secular world except for the fact that the entire bureaucracy was made up of Immortals.
Unfortunately for him the Empire was too far away from him or he would have used his previous experiences to great effect.
The Devilish sects and the Righteous factions all occupied one corner each of the entire realm .
There were many other many factions besides such as the Buddhists .
There were even some factions rumoured to be mad up of 'non-human' beings though he didn't understand what it meant.
Neither did Meng Yun for that matter.
If any of those beings were from the bedtime tales told to children in the Zhao Kingdom ...
He shuddered at the possibility.
There were even rumours of the Realm of Shendu a cultivation Realm far far greater than Grand Xia and regarded as the 'holy land' of all cultivators . Ling Yun dismissed them however as they served no purpose for the current him.
The region enclosing ZiLin city belonged to one controlled by Five Neutral sects who were aligned with neither the righteous or the Devilish factions but were instead subservient to the Grand Xia Dynasty.
Although individually none of these sects could put up an opposition to the immensely powerful righteous or devilish factions together in their region they held great sway.
Like the proverbial python that could force the dragon to bow down in its territory so too did the Five sects force the two factions to steer away from the regions under their influence.
As it so happened these sects would be simultaneously conducting examinations for entrance into their outer sects soon .
Because of the random nature of spiritual roots apart from a higher possibility there was no absolute guarantee that the children of a Cultivator couple would be able to embark on the path of the Great Way themselves.
Thus if a sect wished to avoid extermination due to a lack of inheritance they had to open their gates once every ten years to take a steady intake some among these new recruits shall eventually become the guarantee that the sect shall continue to flourish.
However the conditions of eligibility were harsh and required to one to be at least the 3rd stage of the Refining Qi Period and for a high chance of success one had to be at the 4th stage of the Refining Qi period.
According to the information that Meng Yun had collected there were seven states of 'mortal cultivation' which were the following :
Refining Qi
Immortal Foundation
Clasping Core
Nascent Condensation
Natal Refining
Inner Transformation
Mortal Immortal
The Refining Qi period involved sensing of a mystical aura of Heaven and Earth which seemed to exist everywhere albeit at varying amounts.
He didn't have much information regarding any of the other states.
At the peak of the Refining Qi period one could possess a lifespan of about 150 years which was hardly that of an immortal !
He felt cheated when confronted with this fact .
To his consolation however each increase in state would see a seminal increase in life span to the point that when one was in the seventh Mortal Immortal state thousands of years would only be the duration of a single nap !
Comforted by this he sat down to meditate and try to sense 'qi' in the manner that Meng Yun had learnt from his memories.
Surprisingly however try as he might it didn't work at all for him !
Was he doing something incorrectly ?
He hurriedly consulted Meng Yun's memories .It appeared that he had followed the instructions to the T.
Then why didn't it work for him ? After all he was 'Meng Yun' right now wasn't he ?
Frustrated he didn't consider the issue again , he decided to ponder something else.
Spontaneously propelled by instinct he decided to execute the poses that he had learnt earlier .
Surprisingly the memory of all the poses were still intact .
While he couldn't see them per se in his mind's eye he just somehow 'knew' what they were.
He did his best to follow them .
While his movements compared to his previous attempts appeared rusty and strained a new elegance appeared that had been lacking in the ones earlier.
Soon he became engrossed in the movements and time itself came to a staggering halt .
After a while he could feel those sensations again the same mystical feeling sometimes like a pail of cold water washing down his body other times like a pool of heat rising from below his stomach and at other times like many tiny lightning bolts coursing through his veins.
This time they were far more pronounced.
This time they were far more real.
A spell later he stopped as he felt that any further attempt he felt would be ill advised.
Subconsciously he tried to estimate the amount of qi he had according to the method that Meng Yun had learnt.
Surprisingly he sensed nothing !
Nothing at all in his meridians!
He frowned clearly unable to understand the situation .
Even if he hadn't cultivated at all the body being Meng Yun's must have traces of his qi left shouldn't it ?
He took a deep breath and tried to estimate the amount of qi once again this time throughout all of him.
This time while he again didn't sense any qi in his meridians he felt a jolt of response from his heart.
He focused instinctively on his heart .
"Boom!"
He felt a 'tremor' and suddenly found himself staring at his body .
There was Meng Yun sitting on the floor his eyes closed in a meditating posture , there was the room lit up by the spirit lamp, the bags were there as well on the floor as well.
Still he felt that there was something wrong.
He subconsciously looked down and screamed in horror.
He didn't notice the fact that he heard nothing because there was something that captured his attention even more.
Where his body should be there was only a pale shimmer akin to mist after a rain.