Another Returner

Just as Xi Youran feared, another returner actually existed but he intends to hide under the shadow for the sake of his unrequited love from the past. "Even if I failed to make you mine in this life at least you won't suffer any longer" Zhang JianZi said in a whisper but he did not expect that the person he tried to protect is a returner herself.

"Heh...This is interesting" Someone who was looking from afar know that he is not the only returner from the past. "I will wait for the fun to come and I'm looking forward to that day" Then the mysterious man disappeared to thin air like a ghost. 

"Am I being watched? I feel like there's an eye on me just now but maybe it was just me"  JianZi said in a whisper in his heart as he walked away. "Mother, I still feel under the weather. Can I rest here?" Xi Jia becomes worried about leaving her daughter alone so she decided to stay home but Xi Youran told her that she is fine being alone.

"Mother, you have to go since you're the main wife of the most trusted general Jiang Youen" Xi Jia was moved because of her daughter consideration and nodded in agreement as Xi Youran go back to her room and tried to remember all the important event in the past. 

"I have written down all the important events back then but there is something I must do in order to find the one that behind these unusual change" I plopped on my bed as I start to planning something in my head that enable me to go out from the residence without no one know. "I think I know what I need to do" I sit crossed-legged on my bed and put both of my hand on thighs.

"Am I doing this right? Grandpa said that I am not crippled and furthermore the old man from my dream is bothering my thought" When I tried to cultivate Qi for the first time in life, I can feel a warm feeling inside my stomach and it spread gently through my vein. 

"They said I am crippled but there is nothing wrong when I tried it" I stopped and go to the Jiang Family's library. "I should be on the bed resting yet here I am studying about cultivation" I let out a long sigh and continue to read until I stumbled onto a very old book but incompleted because half of it was thorn away though I don't know why but I read it anyway and the whole content of the book already in my head.

"Why I know every one of this essence flames?" Suddenly a voice in my head rang in my ears. "THE HELL!" The creepy laugh made me scared a bit because I am alone in the library. "WHO ARE YOU?" The voice was so close to me yet I don't see anyone there. 

"We will see again tonight" I become very scared and bought the old book with me back to my room and continue to read it. "He said we will meet again tonight" I was researching each of the essence flames and the condition of using each of it but I also don't know why I know something that I should not know. Not in this life or the past life of me ever interested in learning the alchemist.

"Something might change when I returned to this life. Even the 'Me' from past life is reversed. Back then I was the empress not because of my looks but my talent as one of the skilled martial arts cultivator but unfortunately, I was a crippled in this life. 

"Since this thing happened, I should follow the Alchemist path and maybe by becoming an alchemist I could avoid being the empress" I do believe that I will never become the empress in this life but I forget to remind myself of something that eventually will happen to every people. That night I sleep a little bit earlier because I need to do more researching tomorrow.

As the voice in my head told me, the old man that keeps appearing in my dreams come to me. "You again? who are you and why are you inside my dreams?" The old man laughed as I just stare at him. "My child, this is not your dream I'd rather call this is your consciousness world" The old man stared back at me who is left confused with his words.

"Consciousness? As in the cultivator inner world? But I am not a cultivator rather I'm a crippled" The old man laughed again as I can feel that my face is warm. "Why are you calling yourself crippled?" I told him that it what my family told me. "That's what other people said but you never tried yourself. The body may be crippled but your soul isn't. I know that you're a returner because If you're not, I should be the one that possed this child body who already died back then" I was shocked at what the old man told me as I asked for more explanation.

"What do you mean by possessing her body?" The old man explained that he is a great alchemist but died because of essence flames experiment failed.  "At that moment, I was a soul and I found a suitable body to transfer in but when I tried to possess the body, another soul intercept and as a result, I am trapped here in your consciousness" The old man sighed and one of the things that bother my mind is answered. 

" As a punishment for interfering my business with this body, I demand you to become an alchemist to achieve my dreams of breaking the Reincarnation essence flames" I was shocked and told him that I am not a cultivator yet he told me to become an alchemist. "Oh, I forgot to tell you, I just transfer all my Dou Qi to you and I completely becomes one of you" Now I know why I feel strange when I tried to cultivate for the first time.

"I will see you another time. Make sure to cultivate your Dou Qi. I am tired and need to replenish my qi" Then he disappeared before I could ask for more as I, myself woke up in the middle of midnight. "Reincarnation essence flames" I tried to search for it in the old book but failed. "It may be the part of this book that was thorn away" As the old man told me to cultivate so I tried without realizing how many hours I spent on cultivating. 

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Sorry for mistakes.

Xi Mei = Xi Jia [Xi Youran's mother] I 'll be using Xi Jia from this chapter