Rebirth: A New Determination!
The first shard of knowledge pierced Su Xiaobai's mind, flooding him with the basics of cultivation and spiritual energy.
It felt like a dam bursting inside his skull, an overwhelming flood of concepts slamming into his consciousness. His forehead beaded with sweat as he tried to process it all: the meridians, Qi circulation, foundation-building—terms and ideas every warrior needed, yet now revealed in a depth far beyond anything he'd known.
This was no ordinary "basic" knowledge. It was profound, coming from someone who had lived in the upper realms. The sheer difference between upper and lower realms was crushingly clear.
Even toddlers in the upper realm could defeat fully trained warriors from his world.
The disparity was staggering.
The second shard followed quickly, hammering him with the life and memories of Ning Gufan, the Infernal Emperor.
Su Xiaobai saw everything—the rise of the emperor, the countless battles that had forged his name in blood, and the final fight with the Prison Emperor, where Ning Gufan's fate had been sealed.
Su Xiaobai felt the crushing significance of each victory and defeat as if they were his own.
But then, a shocking truth surfaced from within the memories: it wasn't Ning Gufan who had planned to kill him… there was another force at play, hidden in the shadows, manipulating everything.
His chest burned with confusion, anger, but he had no time to dwell.
The third shard tore into his mind like a blade, filling it with the complex knowledge of formations and arrays.
Runes. Spirit-binding circles. Defensive matrices.
His mind spun as the intricacies of array manipulation and defense strategies bombarded him.
Veins popped on his forehead as he struggled to hold onto every thread of information.
And then came the fourth shard—knowledge of the sacred 'Dao,' of righteousness, evil, and the eternal conflict between the two.
The balance of the universe. The paths cultivators walked.
What is power? What is control?
These weren't just concepts anymore—they were cosmic truths, crashing into Su Xiaobai's mind with the immense weight of the heavens.
By the time the onslaught ended, Su Xiaobai was drenched in sweat, his body trembling. He felt like his very soul had been reshaped by the knowledge forced upon him.
But it wasn't over.
As Su Xiaobai gasped for air, a figure slowly floated upward. It was Ning Gufan's spirit—but not the frail, dying version he had seen before.
This was the Infernal Emperor in his prime: younger, vibrant, a terrifying presence whose power had once commanded respect across entire realms.
Ning Gufan's eyes gleamed with an eerie satisfaction, watching Su Xiaobai's struggle. This wasn't just the passing of knowledge. He was planting seeds—seeds of obsession, of revenge.
It was all intentional.
Su Xiaobai's enemies.
The ones who had torn apart his life and family.
The ones who had plotted against him.
Ning Gufan revealed whatever he saw above Stormpeak mountains that day, one by one, igniting a fire in Su Xiaobai's heart.
A good teacher doesn't just teach—they find their student's driving force and fan it into an inferno.
From this moment, Su Xiaobai was Ning Gufan's successor—whether the Infernal Emperor liked it or not.
As Su Xiaobai sat back, his eyes darkened with newfound determination, Ning Gufan smirked.
The boy had already begun refining the 'Infernal Flames' left behind as his final gift, solidifying his connection to the Infernal Emperor's legacy.
"Bastard got lucky," Ning muttered with a wry smile. If death weren't already dragging him down, he would never have parted with the infernal flames—power that had saved him countless times.
Su Xiaobai's expression was set in stone, his heart ablaze with purpose.
He now knew his enemy was still alive on White Cloud Star...
They can't die so easily...
A mere blood cavalry is not enough to defeat the combined strength of his mother, Eternal Su, and the rest of the guards!
His family's fate was unclear in the balance.
And he was stranded here, with no way to cross realms without immense strength or rare treasures.
Everything had been flipped upside down once again.
At first, he hadn't wanted any of this.
He had only wanted a quiet life, hidden away from the chaos of the world.
But they had forced his hand.
Now, they demanded he play the villain once more.
His first life… had it all been a delusion?
Were the events that haunted him, the dreams of his past, just fragments of a broken memory? None of it mattered now.
They were forcing him to be the villain again, and this time, he would play the role whether they loved or hated him.
There were things that needed to be done.
Ning Gufan's spirit watched with satisfaction as Su Xiaobai's attitude shifted. Had the boy not been worthy of the Infernal Flame, Ning would have gladly killed them both. But now... he had his successor.
His face darkened, old memories surfacing in his final moments. His voice softened, carrying the weight of a man resigned to fate.
"I've done all I can this time... Take your fate into your own hands now. Don't let the higher-ups screw your life again."
He chuckled to himself bitterly, as if —reminiscing about Su Xiaobai's insane outlook towards fate and the vast Heavenly Dao.
His translucent spirit began to drift upwards, his final moments slipping away into the void.
Su Xiaobai watched, his heart pounding loudly, as the clouds overhead began to churn and twist. An immense, ancient shape formed in the sky—an enormous turtle, its shell marked with runes of time and fate.
The turtle's unblinking eyes locked onto Ning Gufan's spirit, and with a slow, deliberate motion, it opened its massive jaws.
Ning's spirit was swallowed whole, drawn into the swirling clouds.
It was a haunting sight—the turtle, a creature of the heavens, consuming Ning Gufan's legacy like a cosmic judge of fate.
"Majestic," Su Xiaobai muttered, his body trembling as he stared up at the sky.
For a long moment, Su Xiaobai remained still, processing everything that had just happened.
It was all too abrupt!
One moment, he was dead, the next he was alive, and all of a sudden, he had a destiny to fulfill.
He couldn't help but chuckle bitterly, feeling slightly self-deprecating, before determination crossed his face once more.
The knowledge shards still pressed on his mind—cultivation techniques, the secrets of the upper realms, the path Ning Gufan had walked.
After a deep breath, Su Xiaobai sat down and began refining the infernal flames within his body. The memories, the emotions—they all began to settle, becoming a part of him.
As his body absorbed the essence of the flames, Su Xiaobai's heart hardened.
From this moment on, he wasn't just someone caught in a storm.
He was the storm.
And he would make sure everyone who wronged him felt its fury.
Above him, the turtle-shaped cloud faded into the starry night.
But Su Xiaobai wasn't thinking of his destiny anymore.
He was thinking of revenge.
______
Red Flame Fortress.
Nestled beneath the towering shadow of Nine Cloud Mountain, Red Flame Fortress buzzed with life, its red walls glowing like embers in the fading light.
The fortress sat on the outskirts of Yue Country, a small province within the mighty Tianlong Empire of the Soaring Dragon Continent.
Despite its modest size, the town teemed with activity. Merchants hawked exotic wares, street performers dazzled with mystical tricks, and cultivators bargained for rare treasures.
The air hummed with the low murmur of commerce and cultivation.
Su Xiaobai, draped in a white jade linen robe with blue embroidery, walked through the fortress's gates. His once-ragged clothes had been discarded after a grueling week-long journey, and now, dressed in cleaner attire, he cut a sharp figure between the tired crowd.
But the new clothes brought unwanted attention.
"Another young master come to flaunt his wealth," someone muttered, disdain thick in their voice.
"Bet he's never worked a day in his life," sneered another.
Su Xiaobai's heart chilled at their words. 'Idiots', he thought. He had simply changed clothes to avoid looking like a beggar, yet here they were, already judging him.
If they knew what he'd endured, they wouldn't dare speak.
Then came the comment that made Su Xiaobai stop in his tracks.
"Maybe he's here looking for his whore of a mother," Fatty Shang grunted, loud enough for the crowd to hear, his greasy face breaking into a smirk. "Heard she spread her legs to climb the ranks in the kingdom."
"!"
Laughter rippled through the onlookers, Su Xiaobai's heart growing colder and more merciless with each word.