(2425 Words!)
[Blue Pole Star: Azure Cloud Continent]
(3rd Person Pov)
(Huff) (Huff)
A young man with brown hair and grey eyes was limping through the mountain, blood dripping from his body and legs causing every footstep he took to leave a footprint etched in blood.
All around him were corpses of both men and animals, their body rotted, decayed and oozing out poisonous gases. As the young man limped away, he couldn't help but curse.
'Die…. Die…. All shall die…. All of you…. All of you will be buried with master….'
As the young man continue limping away, the sounds of footsteps rushing behind him was heard catching him slightly off guard.
(Clop! Clop! Clop!)
"They caught up so quickly? But alright"
A determined expression etched itself into his face as he continued limping away thinking to himself.
'I'll end this once and for all!'
—(Break….)—
{Endless Cloudy Cliff)
The young man reached the very edge of the top of the mountain, where he was surrounded on all sides with no way of escaping by other cultivators who screamed in fury.
"Yun Che! You bring shame to your master! You used the heavenly poison bead to spread deadly poisons killing countless living beings on the Azure Cloud Continent. Don't think you can escape this by reaching the Endless Cloudy Cliffs. Today, we of the Seven Great Clans will kill you in the name of the heavens, ridding this world of you!"
The young man clutched his chest, his breathing haggard, his face wounded and dried with his own blood, he rested his forearm against a boulder next to himself to remain stable.
His name was Yun Che, a 24 year old male and a Disciple of the Healer Saint. He looked upon these disciples of the Seven Great Clans with disdain as he spoke.
"Stop acting. There aren't any outsiders here. Aren't you tired of saying "In the name of the Heavens?" Clearly, all you guys are after, is this…."
Yun Che raised his palm as a small green sphere manifested above his palm causing one of the disciples to exclaim in shock and excitement.
"The Heavenly Poison Bead!"
Another soon followed laughing in excitement and greed.
"Hahahahaha. The Heavenly Poison Bead has finally appeared!"
"It was worth the three days and three nights we spent hunting him!"
"Yun Che! You Aren't fit to have this Divine Treasure of the Azure Cloud Continent!"
"Hand over the Heavenly Poison Bead right now!"
"Hand it over!"
Greed and lust for the Heavenly Poison Bead filled the eyes of every disciple present, they couldn't care about justice, or righteousness. They only want the Bead in Yun Che's possession. Yet to Yun Che, seeing all of them so callously ask him for the Heavenly Posion Bead enraged him as he retorted.
"My master had saved countless lives! He always cared about others more than himself! But to obtain the Heavenly Poison Bead, you forced him to his death! And you still dare ask for the Heavenly Poison Bead!?"
Yun Che's face was contorted in hatred and malice as he raised his palm holding the bead.
"IN YOUR DREAMS!"
(Gulp)
Before the stunned gazes of all present, Yun Che swallowed the Heavenly Poison Bead leading to the disciples becoming enraged.
"Damn it! He actually swallowed the Heavenly Poison Bead!?"
"I'm going to kill him!"
The disciples charged towards Yun Che, weapons drawn.
"It doesn't matter if he's swallowed it, we'll just cut him up and take it out of him!"
"Kill him!"
Yun Che laughed maniacally as he spoke.
"Even if I Yun Che am to die, I will die by my own hands!"
(Whoosh)
Yun Che leapt off the cliffs edge, accepting his fate as the disciples of the Seven Great Clans watched him fall in indignant fury.
"This madman! He actually jumped!"
One disciple exclaimed while another nearly watch as Yun Che vanished into the abyss below where their eyes could no longer see where he was.
"The Endless Cloudy Cliff is the most dangerous of the four dangers! He will die for sure!"
Another disciple spoke with regret. Not necessarily for the loss of Yun Che's life, but for the loss of the Heavenly Poison Bead.
"It's too easy for him to die in the Endless Cloudy Cliff."
Another spoke indignantly.
"What a pity…. The Heavenly Poison Bead…."
As they all walked away, Yun Che's body slammed straight into the ocean below, blood leaking out his body and staining the water around him crimson. His last thoughts before he passed away were
'In this life, I have no attachments…. I only regret that I didn't get the chance to heal my master…. Or that I never found out who my birth parents were….'
Just before he died, the necklace around his neck glowed with a bright light before Yun Che vanished from the ocean where his corpse remained.
—(Break!)—
[Floating Cloud City: Xiao Sect- Xiao Che's room]
In Xiao Che's room the young heir of the Xiao Sect of floating cloud city Xiao Che laid peacefully on his bed, and sitting right on it's edge was his distressed Aunty Xiao Ling Xi. She was calling out to the young man who laid peacefully asleep. His body still and unmoving.
"Xiao Che! Xiao Che! Wake up! Don't scare me like this! Please open your eyes!"
Just as she finished her sentence, the unmoving corpse that was Xiao Che stood up with a gasp, taking in as much air as his lungs could hold startling Xiao Ling Xi.
"Ah! Xiao Che!"
Seeing him alive and breathing from his previous state of being motionless while he rested on the bed filled her heart with relief. Yet for some odd reason Xiao Che looked confused, taking a look at his arms he questioned confused.
"I…. I didn't die? Oof!"
Lost in his thoughts he was, that he forgot there was another person in this room with him. His Aunty wrapped her arms around his torso slamming herself against him as tears pricked her eyes. Yet to Xiao Che, this woman seemed nothing more than a stranger which confused him as to why she was hugging him so hard as he gently pried her off himself and questioned with a confused look.
Say, who are you Miss?"
His words left an awkward pause between them as Xiao Ling Xi stared at him blankly.
(...)
"I'm your aunty, Xiao Ling Xi! Xiao Che, how could you forget me?"
Xiao Ling Xi looked upset at being forgotten by Xiao Che. Yet to Xiao Che, her words seemed to have triggered something in his brain.
"Ah!"
Memories flooded his brain as he could t help but exclaim to himself. As suddenly a surge of memories flooded his mind. That keyword Aunty seemed to have been the catalyst that triggered his memories of the body he currently inhabited as he exclaimed.
"Oh right! Your my aunty!"
Yun Che's face turned sly as he teased.
"We grew up together, we always bathed together until we were twelve, and you have a mole on your butt."
Xiao Ling Xi's face turned red with embarrassment, her ahoge standing straight up as she exclaimed.
"Annoying! How could you say that out loud you shameless man!"
However, her demeanor calmed itself as she spoke worriedly.
"Today is your big day, and yet you suddenly fainted, your grandpa got so worried! Wait here, I'll call for him."
As Xiao Ling Xi left Xiao Che's chambers, his face turned unusually serious as he sat on the edge of his bed and spoke aloud to himself digesting all the information he's just recalled.
"I'm Xiao Che, this is the Xiao Sect. Today is the day I'm getting married to Xia Qing Yue…. But didn't I jump off a cliff and die? Could it be that what happened on the Azure Cloud Continent was just a dream? No…. That doesn't seem right though. I still seem to know how to heal people, and…."
He took a look at his arm, and a faint outline of the Heavenly Poison Bead. The person in possession of Xiao Che's body was none other than Yun Che who seemed to have reincarnated into this boys body.
"The heavenly poison bead is still here, and it has fused with my body. Could it be I reincarnated?"
However, just then, Xiao Che paused his thoughts as he bit his tongue lightly and exclaimed in shock.
"This is?! Heart shattering poison!? The taste of the poison is still on the corner of my mouth…."
He looked around himself before spotting a shattered bowl on the floor spotting that the contents spilled on the floor contained traces of the same poison used on himself.
"So it looks like I died because of the poison, and I've reincarnated back into my first life!"
Xiao Che took a look at his palm where the heavenly poison bead was he stared at it with an intense gaze before clutching his head as he exclaimed.
"This is so insane! It's crazy enough that I reincarnated, but I got reincarnated back into my first life!"
Xiao Che took a deep breath. In his first life, he was Xiao Che. But he died due to being poisoned before ending up reincarnated as Yun Che in his second life. He grew to 24 years of age before leaping off the cliff with the Heavenly Poison Bead. Now he's reincarnated once more back into his first life, the life where he was poisoned, and died young.
"Oh well. Who cares, as long as I'm alive! And as an added bonus, I'm marrying such a beautiful wife as well!"
Xiao Che's body froze as he whispered with a frown.
"Acnologia? Who is that?"
Something didn't seem right. In his first life, there was never anyone named Acnologia, let alone a dark skinned man with long Blue Hair. In his current memories, he recalled seeing Acnologia from afar, he was always surrounded by the likes of his Grandfather, Xia Qing Yue's father or even Xia Qing Yue herself leading to many rumours Xia Qing Yue is actually already married to Acnologia and that himself Xiao Che is getting sloppy seconds or that this marriage is a form of pity marriage to honour the two sect heads brotherly bond.
And if that wasn't strange enough, there was an event that happened four years ago that had traumatised the world. A black Dragon appeared out of nowhere and started causing chaos in what many people now call the Dragon King's festival. Stated to be at the level of the Sovereign Profound Realm, supposedly the dragon was slain by the combined might of sixty disciples, and the head of the Absolute Monarch Sanctuary just to put the Black Dragon down and even then it was a great battle that nearly costed them their lives.
"Somethings wrong…. In both my first life and second life, never once had I ever encountered any stories about a Black Dragon even if I died young in my first life."
Xiao Che shook his head to rid himself of his thoughts, the rumours are just that, rumours. Acnologia has been gone for 4 years already. And while he found it suspicious, the existence of Acnologia, and the Black Dragon, he had a wedding to attend to.
Just then the door to his room burst open as his grandfather Xiao Lie stepped in. A worried expression on his face as he searched his grandson all over ensuring he was alright
"Che'Er! Are you alright!? Do you feel any pain or discomfort?"
Xiao Lie shook the boy who sweat dropped and answered.
"I'm alright Grandpa. I'm alright."
Xiao Lie hugged the Xiao Che and started dramatically sobbing.
"~Wuwuwuwu~ You nearly gave me a heart attack."
Meanwhile his daughter Xiao Lingxi just stared at the two flatly before interrupting them.
"Dad! Xiao Che still needs to get married. We shouldn't take more of his time!"
Xiao Lie froze realising his daughter was right.
"Oh right! Che'Er, go get ready!"
Xiao Che looked out of focus as he replied.
"Alright."
To Yun Che inhabiting his former body, interacting with his grandpa and Aunty again after his previous life was a breath of fresh air. He's really enjoying himself right now with all the funny expressions he's seeing on their faces, the way they interact with him, and the way they are treating him. He dearly missed this kind of feeling.
"Alright grandpa, Little Aunt, let's not keep my bride waiting for long."
He gave a bright cheerful smile returned by his grandpa, but his little Aunt's seemed more forced. Just as they were about to leave for Xiao Che to get dressed, his eyes returned to the broken bowl on the floor. And his little Aunt Xiao Lingxi saw his gaze as she remembered something.
"Ah right. Xiao Che, how did that soup Xiao Yu Long made you taste?"
Xiao Che froze as he questioned.
"Xiao Yu Long?"
His little Aunt nodded her head.
"Yeah. He said you needed some nourishment."
Xiao Che's expression darkened as he thought to himself.
'So that's what happened huh? I never thought you'd be the to kil me…. Older brother….'
Xiao Che turned away and headed to the front door where his Grandpa stood waiting as they began their journey to go to where Xiao Che's wedding robes. And as they walked to the building holding his ceremonial robes he couldn't help but find himself questioning his Grandfather about the anomaly he never recalled ever meeting or hearing about in both his lives.
"Hey grandpa?"
"Hrrm?"
"That man…. Acnologia…. Who or what was he truly?"
At his grandson's question Xiao Lie froze before he continued walking. While Xiao Lingxi listens in curiously.
"What makes you ask such a question? If it's about those baseless rumours that he's Xia Qing Yue's true lover, then don't believe that nonsense."
Xiao Che shook his head.
"My question is simple. Was Acnologia the Dragon that started the Dragon King's Festival four years ago?"
Xiao Lie said nothing as he sighed.
"Che'Er, I'm not sure where your getting such ideas from, but there's no way that could be possible. Acnologia was merely a wanderer who helped save Xia Qing Yue in the past, and so, to repay him, we welcomed him into our Floating Cloud City for a year."
"I see…."
Xiao Che said nothing more after that. His question had been answered.
'That man Acnologia and the Black Dragon was indeed the same person.'
—(End)—