Chapter 1 - The Eighteen Houses of Lianyun (2/2)

Nonetheless, he continued to sit cross-legged on his spot. He sank deeper and deeper into the bottom of his consciousness, akin to an elderly monk entering a one-pointedness state of mind. There, at the bottom of his consciousness, a silhouette of a dagger can be seen. Its crimson blade as slim as a cicada’s wing was transparent as it was luminous. This was it – the true reason why Ye Chen had never given up hope that he could return to his past vigor.

Ye Chen had grown as an average person with no special abilities but it was the Flying Dagger that had brought him into the world of martial arts.

Yet, until this very moment, Ye Chen could not discern the purpose of this flying dagger. All he knew was that the dagger was present whenever he sank to the bottom of his consciousness, hanging within the cocoon of his consciousness, unreachable regardless of how Ye Chen reached for it.

It had been three years since his fall from grace. No average person would be able to withstand such an abrupt dive into their lowest point but Ye Chen had persevered through scornful remarks out of sheer grit. The years had taught him humility and dampened his impulsiveness.

Again, Ye Chen worked on the Inner Thunderclap Energy Cultivation technique. A warm current rose from the pit of his navel as a gust of Celestial Chi swirled and slowly worked itself up into his meridian channels. Yet, when the current passed through the damaged channels, these Celestial Chi – gathered through much effort – would dissipate into the openings until they were gone.

‘Damn it! I still can’t do it!’ Ye Chen’s fist pounded onto the boulder in a fit of rage.

Blood dyed the skin of his hand. It seemed that only physical pain could dampen the agony he felt in his mind. Is he going to be a good-for-nothing forever?

Back when he was at his prime, breaking through stages were a breeze. His body was the eye of a maelstrom, hungrily sucking in every drop of Vital Chi as it transformed them into Celestial Chi at the speed of light. He could handle a Seventh Stage fighter just by being at the peak of his Sixth! However, he was now unable to retain even a single cusp of Celestial Chi within his body without strenuous effort.

Ye Chen took some time to quell his fury. He simply could not afford to quit because if he did, he would be handicapped for the rest of his life!

He calmed his mind and tried to gather Celestial Chi once more. It took some time before he once again felt a little wisp of current flowing through the punctured openings of his meridian channels. However, the current was frail. So much so that it might just go out in a second.

Beads of sweat decorated Ye Chen’s forehead as he strained himself to push the current through his channels. The current joined slowly into a fine little stream that crawled up his meridians from his naval but for every step it took, the stream lost a little bit more of substance. At this rate, there would not be any Celestial Chi left.

‘I can’t fail!’

Just as the Celestial Chi he had strenuously mustered was about to be dispersed, Ye Chen’s mind stilled as it responded to a strange calling. He found himself entering a bizarre trance as if his mind was cleansed from any sort of restlessness by a gentle, cool breeze.

In Ye Chen’s mind, the Flying Dagger once again rose. The cicada’s wing-like blade was suddenly emitting a strange sound.

There was a unique power lying dormant within that dagger and Ye Chen wanted to know what it was. It was this very same dagger that had brought him into this world. So, what could be the secret hidden inside the blade?

‘Lately, the Flying Dagger has been vibrating rhythmically at a high frequency from time to time…’

Ye Chen pushed his mind through, extending the reach of his consciousness to get closer to the Flying Dagger in the hopes that today would be the day he reached it and gain some form of control over it.

A loud peal came from his mind. Ye Chen’s eardrums rang uncontrollably as if being hit by the force of an explosion inside his brain. Then, a course of power burst into the walls of his damaged meridian channels like waves of water gushing out a levee. In a blink of an eye, the Celestial Chi that Ye Chen had so laboriously summoned was completely pushed out of the openings in his meridian system.

In a state of panic, Ye Chen realized that this surge of power was completely out of his control. He pulled his consciousness back in fright and the surge vanished completely as if nothing had happened.

‘W- what was that?’

Ye Chen’s eyes snapped open wide with his body limp. He panted in loud gasps and inspected his meridians but discovered that they remained damaged.

The Flying Dagger remained quiet within his mind. The surge of power flooding out of it felt similar to Celestial Chi, yet the former felt more… formidable. It simply felt more enigmatic.

There was an itch in his hands and he looked down reflexively. That was when a wave of shock hit him as he discovered that there was now a blanket of epidermal flakes around his hands. As he flicked them away, he found himself staring at a pair of supple, rosy-pink hands akin to a baby’s, as his hands had undergone a sort of metamorphosis.

‘All I did was trigger the Flying Dagger… And it had already brought out such an effect.’

The young man shuddered involuntarily. This strange dagger warranted more investigation but he would have to do it when night had fallen.

After finishing his demonstration before a crowd of acolytes, Ye Zhanxiong, with his hands clasped behind his back, scanned through the attendees until his eyes rested on Ye Chen.

The middle-aged man sighed plaintively, his expression one of morose. Had Ye Chen never been ambushed, the boy’s current cultivation base must have had surpassed his own. The boy would have rightfully claimed the title of being the most promising prodigy of the newer generations. He would have become the one capable of shouldering the responsibility of being the guardian of the clan in the future and yet, it seemed that he was being divinely punished for being too stellar.

Back then, he had liked Ye Chen despite his impulsiveness. However, the three years have changed the young boy into a patient, humble man. If it were not for the damaged meridian channels, Ye Chen was set out to achieve great lengths.

However, fate delights in being unpredictable.

As he stood in solitude, Ye Zhanxiong began walking toward the boy.