Chapter 197 - Hundred And Ninety Seven - I tell Jin Li everything (2/2)

”Oh,” Leon's eyes lowered and he took a deep breath, recalling his promise to himself. ”There was j-just one m-more secret I had n-not t-told you. I was waiting f-for the right t-time.” He then explained, slowly and surely, how he was not from this place, how he had lived somewhere else and lived as someone else and in that world he had closed his eyes to sleep only to reawaken here and possess this body, the body of Leo.

Jin Li listened patiently and did not interrupt up until the point he was finished telling his tale, but his response was unexpected. ”Impossible.”

”W-What?” Leon queried, startled. Did Jin Li think he had lied?

”I said it is impossible,” Jin Li repeated. ”For you to possess another's body and for no one to realise it. It's impossible. If you had truly possessed a living body, then there would be an echo, a remnant of the soul that yours had forced out. Two souls cannot co-exist in one vessel, there would be a victor and a loser. You are here, therefore if this had occurred, you could be considered the victor, but there is no sign of a previous occupant.”

”P-perhaps he w-went willingly?” Leon suggested.

”Unlikely,” Jin Li disagreed. ”From what you have said, this Leo loved his life and being an alchemist, just as much as you. And if he had died before you came to possess his body, then there would also be signs, remnants of his existence. Also, a soul that possesses the dead at best would become a Jiangshi, at worse a corpse puppet.” The first was an undead monster starving for life, the second was as worded, a corpse made into a puppet whose strings were pulled by someone else.

”Then.. w-what am I?” Leon murmured, confused.

”Exactly what the Headmaster claimed,” Jin Li chuckled and tugged the white strands of Leon's hair. ”You are you. You went through a deviation, did you not? I can't comprehend, this Lord has never experienced issues... at least until falling through the realm tear...” these few words were muttered bitterly. ”Regardless, this Lord has never experienced a deviation whilst cultivating. However, I have heard that such can cause a great strain upon one's body, mind and soul. This white hair is just one possible aftereffect, but one's meridians can be effected, one's core and innersea. I have heard a person went mad after failing to cultivate safely through a bottleneck and another's soul was ripped from his body during tribulations. The path to immortality is not for the faint of heart.

”This Lord believes that your deviation caused you to forget who you were and awaken that who you once were, in a different incarnation. You are this Leo, who you thought you possessed and he is you.”

Leon had to process his words for several minutes, before a tremor rippled through his body and a weight lifted from his shoulders. Jin Li felt his lover relax completely into his embrace. ”That is g-good. G-great!” Leon's lips crept upwards in a delighted smile. ”D-do you think I m-might regain m-my m-memories? As Leo I m-mean?”

”Cannot say,” Jin Li replied, moving to what he considered a more comfortable position, one in which his hands could just happen to wander freely. ”However, Cultivation tempers your mind and body over time. It is not impossible to claim that you would regain those memories in later stages. Do not think to much upon it. Whether you are Leo or whether you are Leon, I was meant to find you and you me.”

”En... um Jin Li?”

”What?”

”C-can we n-not... we n-need to visit the B-Beast T-taming school t-tomorrow...ah!”

”And?”