Darkness consumed my sight, so dense that I struggled to see my own body even with my enhanced sight. My steps echoed with an unsteady beat through the all consuming expanse of nothingness. A tap of three that tripped on every third beat, as the rhythm broke apart, before it began anew again. It had been a while since I’d been in a place this dark.
After gathering better sense for where my feet belonged, so that I stopped tripping over myself, I took a glance around. There was an unnatural stillness to this place that reminded me of the time I’d spent in the eternal darkness after my tribulation. But the sensation when grounded in the awareness of a waking mind was far more unsettling.
“Twilight? Are you there?” I called out to the dark. A check through my bond with her showed nothing. She was either too far away, or this place was messing with the bond. With no other option I began to head into a random direction.
“Liuxiang, do you think—”
My words broke off, as I turned behind to speak to the boy, and found no one there.
“Liuxiang? Labby?” I called out to the dark. My concern began to grow further when I sensed nothing from my bond with Labby as well. “Just what the hell is going on…”
Glancing around one last time, I shouted. “Labby! Liuxiang!” My voice echoed through the dark, fading into the distance. I heard no response.
“Well, it seems I’m alone,” I said out loud. I had a habit of talking to myself, when in uncertain or scary situations. But I definitely did not need that observation right now.
“Would be great if you could give me some clues. Not much of a trial if all I do is stand in eternal all encompassing darkness,” I called out to the chamber.
As if on cue, white fog began to flood the chamber from all directions. I jumped back in surprise, prepared for the owlbear to jump out at me. The fog continued to drift lazily, covering everything around me. After making sure that no owlbear was going to jump me, I shrugged and began to walk ahead hoping I would stumble into a clue on where Twilight was and not a trap or a monster that would instantly kill me.
I kept all my senses out for anything of the sort but found my vision and Qi sense limited to a narrow range around me, and shrinking by the second. If it wasn’t for my body still having supernatural strength, I’d have felt no different than a mortal.
The fog began to grow thicker as I stepped deeper into it. For a second, the expanse of darkness appeared to have been taken over by the white, misty fog. A voice echoed out further in the distance, a vaguely familiar voice that I couldn’t quite place.
I cycled my Qi ready for a monster to jump me. My anxiety was starting to grow into full blown panic as my senses were completely shut off by the strange mist around me. A moment of waiting later, I cautiously took a step forward.
The Fog swirled, forming an image.
“Dear, he’s smiling when he sees you. Look!” a man exclaimed with a beaming smile, holding a child in his arms.
The world had changed around me. I was standing in a small shack of some sort, with an exhausted woman laying on the bed, and the man, likely the father, holding the baby and showing it to his wife. I looked down at my hand, and found them to be translucent, as the edges of the fog kept drifting past and around me.
“He’s got your eyes,” the woman said, holding the child in her arms. The infant had deep brown eyes, and dark black hair. It looked around curiously with wide eyes, its face red like a ripe tomato.
My eyes noted the bleak color permeating everything as if I was watching the world through a dense haze. I stood in silence, watching the couple fawn over their child, knowing that these people couldn’t see or hear me. My gaze kept drifting at the little home. Something about this place… felt strange.
“What should we name him?” the man asked. The woman rocked the child in her hands and with a sigh dripping with motherly love, she swept his dark black hair back, kissing his forehead.
“Jie. He's our Lu Jie.”
The realization hit me like a sledgehammer as I rocked back. This.. was Lu Jie? I was watching Lu Jie's past?
The scene faded in front of me in a swirl of mist. A myriad of emotions stirred in my chest. For a moment, I thought these emotions weren’t my own, but Lu Jie’s, yet I realized that I could not sense the other boy in my soul.
For the very first time in my life, I was well and truly alone.
Dumbfounded, I stood around like an idiot for a few minutes before my mind caught up to me. Just what was happening? Was the trial showing me these sights? Could it look into memories that even I didn't know I had?
I had no answers, and the only way to find out was to walk ahead.
The mist swirled in a dense cloud further into the darkness. I walked into the white expanse, letting it consume it. Another scene formed within the haze. A scene from Lu Jie’s past. One that I’d been watching from inside his soul, like he does for me now.
I watched baby Lu Jie playing with little wooden toys in his bed. A little doll and a stick tied to a wooden ball. Baby Lu Jie swung the ball around, before plucking the ball out from the stick it was tied to. With clumsy hands, the baby then proceeded to tie the ball to the doll’s hand before continuing on to play in motions eerily reminiscent of basketball.
My eyes widened at the sight. Basketball was one of those things I had loved as a kid, but never had the physique for. I had played for a team in my senior year in highschool, but at 5 foot 11, I had no dreams of ever doing it seriously.
I watched baby Lu Jie play pretend basket ball with his doll, until the sound of the door opening came in. The baby’s motions quickly changed, as he rolled around and began do typical baby things.
“Do you like your toys, dear Jie?” Lu Jie’s mother asked, leaning over the cradle. With a smile she picked him up into her arms.
My gaze lingered on the woman’s face, and I closed my eyes trying to recall my own mother’s face. One from my previous life. A vague image came to mind, of a woman in her early fifties, but I struggled to get anything else.
I opened my eyes, and saw a man standing in the gate. His robes were resplendent and I could sense a wave of Qi coming from him. A cultivator.
Lu Jie’s mother’s eyes widened, as she hurriedly bowed her head. His father soon walked in as well, joining his wife.
“What can we do for you, honored cultivator,” the two parents asked together, nervous anxiety more than obvious in their tense postures and voices.
“Be at ease. I merely come to congratulate. It is rare for mortals to have blessed children, and this child is more blessed than most others. His spirit is resplendent and pure, filling its tiny body. Do not let such talent and blessing go to waste,” the cultivator said before turning around and walking away.
I heard something suspiciously similar to ‘fuck’ coming from baby Lu Jie’s mouth.
The two parents looked at each other in concern, before the scene dissolved in mist once more.
I took a moment to gather myself. This was clearly showing Lu Jie’s past… yet clearly the baby had my memories. Had I taken over Lu Jie in the past as well? Then how come I only remember waking up mere months ago? And more importantly, why show me all this?
Once again, I found myself standing with no answer. And so, I took a deep breath, and stepped further into the mist.
The pitter patter of raindrops surrounded me, soon turning into the hammering slam of a heavy downpour. A cold gust of breeze came in through the window, drawing a shiver back my back.
Lu Jie’s mother sat on the bed, keeping a roughly one year old Lu Jie’s head in her lap. His face was bright red and he was clearly struggling to breathe.
“What do we do dear? The fevers have been growing more and more frequent. The last one had only passed for 3 days before this…” the woman said, tears starting to pool in her eyes.
I watched Lu Jie’s father standing nearby, soaked from head to foot, a heavy frown set on his face. The man didn’t reply, just silently looking at his son, laying on the bed with a heavy fever.
“If something happens to our child then…” the mother choked up with a sob.
Lu Jie’s father moved in to take her in a tight embrace. “Nothing will happen to our Jie. I’ll try and go to the city to find a good doctor for him,” the man said, consoling his wife with a quiet hug.
The mother nodded, wiping her eyes. Gently brushing Lu Jie’s hair, she bent down and kissed the child.
The fog rippled, fading away. I stepped forward, into the next image.
Lu Jie lay upon a bed, breathing heavily. An unfamiliar man holding his left arm for a pulse. The man went through his pouch, taking out some herbs and pills that he fed the child. Young Lu Jie’s breathing stilled upon eating the pills. The doctor turned towards the two parents and shook his head.
“I’m afraid I cannot do anything. The issue resides in his spirit. Only an expert cultivator can do anything about this. As things stand, the child has a month at most.”
I watched Lu Jie’s father escort the doctor outside. A moment later, Lu Jie’s mother broke out in pained sobs, as she sat next to her child. Lu Jie’s father walked inside, a deep frown set upon his face. He walked over and sat next to his son on the bed, as the mother began to weep on her husband’s shoulder.
I felt my gut turning over, like I had just been stabbed a hundred times and hung upside down afterwards.
“I’ll go visit the Lord, and request for help,” Lu Jie’s father. saw the mother raise her head in shock.
“The debt… how will we ever pay back such a debt?” the mother asked, hugging Lu Jie tighter, as tears continued to flow down her cheeks.
“I’ll figure it out. I still have portions of my father’s inheritance left for the farm. I could sell it, try to pick up a different trade. Don’t worry about it, just look after Jie,” Lu Jie’s father said. With one last hug, the man stood up. I watched the father put on his outgoing robes and walk out.
Lu Jie’s mother remained, hugging her child as she wept in silence all by herself.
I felt my lips trembling, and even though I knew this was just a vision, for a moment, I wanted to tell her something, to let her know.
“I am alive.”
The thought broke me out of my daze, like a splash of cold water. These… were Lu Jie’s parents. I was merely the soul dragged into his body, who had taken over when he’d got knocked out too hard. Then… how come I felt like my heart was shattering into pieces every time I saw Lu Jie’s mother cry.
Tears pooled into my eyes, and I wiped them, surprised at the burst of emotion.
The mist had receded further ahead, leaving me standing in foggy darkness once more. I sniffed my nose and gathered my emotions.
As always, the answer lay beyond the fog, and so I walked further inside.
The scene shifted, the visage of the Lord seated on his throne as Lu Jie’s father kowtowed, asking for a cure for his child.
“Very well. It would be a debt for a lifetime, but I too am a father, and I can understand the plight of another. I will send for an elder, who will look after this child’s ailment and cure it. In return, I will ask that this child be sent to us, when he has come of age. He shall work under our name to pay off his life debt.”
Lu Jie’s father kowtowed deeply, chanting the lord’s name in gratitude. The scene faded once more, mist receding from around me.
I stepped further into the fist as another image formed, and I saw Lu Jie lying in his mother’s hand, a burning fever upon him as strands of Qi started to escape his body.
A man wearing simplistic robes, yet clearly a powerful cultivator stood nearby, looking upon the child with an intent gaze.
“A spirit from beyond,” he murmured, before looking at the parents. “Your child remembers his past life. His soul is from beyond our reach. This child has seen some tragic things in its past life, and its soul now deviates, splitting apart on itself, unable to handle the memories of its past.”
The parents looked up in shock, before glancing down at their child. “I-is there a fix? We are ready to pay any price you ask of us, please, honored cultivator. Please.”
The man hummed, before glancing down at the child. “I could split his soul in two. Cut off the past completely from the boy that he is, and lock it deep inside. It would forever cripple his cultivation, as he would have to fight against his own spirit each time he would cultivate. But the child would live.” the cultivator said.
“Will he… be crippled?” my mother asked in fear.
“No, he will be like a normal child, better than a normal child, but he will never be able to reach the potentials he could’ve. Not until the conflict in his soul can be resolved.”
“Then… we agree. Please save our boy, honored cultivator,” Lu Jie’s mother said, bowing her head deeply as tears flowed freely from her eyes.
“Please, honored cultivator,” the father followed, bowing as well.
“Very well,” the cultivator said, before he walked up to the child Lu Jie and pressed a palm against his forehead. Torrents of Qi swirled around the man, little streams visible in my sight.
Something crackled, splitting into two perfect halves.
A phantom pain ran through my chest at the sound, a deep throbbing agony that pulsated somewhere inside of me.
“It is done,” the man replied, before turning and walking away.
I watched Lu Jie’s mother hug her child, crying once more, but this time, my gaze lingered on the man who was walking past.
Something had been bothering me about him, something I hadn’t been able to place so far. But the answer became obvious a moment later, as I watched the figure’s back walk past.
The cultivator, the man who had split my soul in two halves… was the Elder of the moon spirit. Tian Feng.