Chapter One: Rebirth in Darkness

Page One

Jiuyan Town, Jiang Family Assessment Platform.

A boy of fifteen or sixteen knelt on the ground, clutching his head and crying out in pain.

Before him stood an elderly man, holding a black stone tablet. The tablet was perfectly square, about the size of a palm, engraved with intricate and mysterious characters. At its center lay a blank area, shimmering with a crystalline, dusky glow.

The boy’s anguished expression lasted only a moment before vanishing like a sudden downpour, leaving him pale-faced.

Around the assessment platform, members of the Jiang family gathered for the test. Yet none seemed surprised by the boy’s strange outburst. Instead, their faces brimmed with ridicule.

“Coward. Even a simple test makes you scream like you’re having a nightmare. Useless as always—someone who will never be able to cultivate.”

“Hmph, I bet he’s faking it, just looking for excuses for his inability,”

“Master Feng, you should stop forcing yourself. If you can’t even meet the minimum requirement for spiritual focus, there’s no point in continuing the test.”

The elder’s face was utterly impassive as he watched the boy. He assumed that, after failing once again, the boy would simply withdraw. But to his surprise, after kneeling five times, the seemingly frail youth stood up once more.

“What’s happening? Where am I—?” Surrounded by mocking glances, Jiang Feng opened his eyes and looked around in disbelief.

He rubbed his aching head, trying to recall what had happened before. He distinctly remembered enduring countless hardships, discovering a way to break his inability to meditate within a prison of lingering souls—only to be captured by a mysterious figure in black, his very spirit forcibly extracted.

Yet the scene before him felt both dreamlike and familiar, memories surging forth like a tide.

If he remembered correctly, today was the Jiang family’s annual assessment. Afterward, based on everyone’s cultivation, martial skills, elixirs, and training grounds would be distributed, preparing for the final test in two months and the family’s grand trial six months later.

He, having just turned fourteen, would, within days, be cast out of the family due to an unforeseen event—expelled before even reaching the final assessment. Not even his father’s tearful pleas to the heartless uncles and elders could save him. A year after his exile, news arrived of his father’s death.

“Could it be that I didn’t die, but returned to my youth?” Jiang Feng stared at his clenched fists, still so thin and frail.

The sensations, the sights, the voices—everything was real. This was no illusion.

Though he could not understand what had happened, he quickly accepted this reality.

…

Page Two

Jiuyan Town, a remote settlement in the far east of Langya Kingdom, had drawn the attention of many powerful factions due to the abundant spirit herbs found in the surrounding mountains.

Decades ago, Jiang Yuehai, patriarch of the Jiang family, had built his house here through sheer force of will, carving out his own domain amidst the tangled ambitions of Jiuyan Town’s many powers.

Jiang Feng’s father was the second son of Jiang Yuehai.

Jiang Feng himself, who should have been born into glory, was instead afflicted by a strange disease, the subject of endless family scorn and mockery.

Whenever he closed his eyes, he was plunged into a sea of blood, cleaved in two by a terrifying figure of fear.

Even recalling the aura of that shadow made Jiang Feng shudder, for he knew it was no ordinary nightmare.

Unless he collapsed from exhaustion, the torment of that dream was unending.

His father, Jiang Xian, had spared no effort or expense, consulting countless physicians in pursuit of a cure. But over the years, not a single soul could solve a problem that was not truly an illness.

Even the best hypnotic medicines prescribed by Jiuyan Town’s foremost doctors proved useless.

Yet no one believed him—no one believed he could experience the same nightmare day after day, year after year, nor that the medicines had no effect.

Thus, it was all dismissed as cowardice; Jiang Feng became known as the fifteen-year-old who feared nightmares, or worse, as a wastrel using dreams as an excuse for his inability to cultivate—a disgrace to the family.

It was not until ten years after his expulsion that he finally, after many ordeals, discovered the cause in a forsaken prison of souls.

A soul prison—such things could only be created by those revered as Soul Kings, beings of near-divinity.

The strange visions that haunted him every time he closed his eyes were, in fact, a soul prison illusion established by a powerful practitioner of the underworld. So long as the underworld power within him remained, he would suffer the endless torment of this soul prison. The trigger was focus—when his mind returned to the sea of consciousness.

The illusion he endured was called the Blood Prison Killing Field, a device meant for murder. Yet he had withstood it for twenty-five years without ever discovering the reason.

At least, he had learned this much: to set a soul prison illusion required the power of a Soul King.

But why would any Soul King, revered as a living god in the Eastern Underworld, come to such a remote place and lay such a curse upon a child?

Page Three

He had found no answer before his soul was torn away and he was reborn.

At this thought, Jiang Feng sighed, then straightened his back.

“No matter what, since I have been given a second life, I will never let the tragedies of the past repeat. This time, I will see my father’s furrowed brow relax, see him beam with pride as I become a soul cultivator and bring honor to our name!”

“Young Master Jiang Feng, you really should stop. You won’t pass—” The elder, now thoroughly impatient, issued a final dismissal. He expected the young wastrel to beg for another chance.

Instead, a pair of icy eyes met his gaze.

“No need. I will not pass the assessment,” Jiang Feng said quietly. Beneath his fringe, the eyes of someone who had lived two lifetimes were visible only to the elder.

Was it an illusion? In a flash, the boy seemed transformed, those cold eyes utterly unlike those of any youth.

Meanwhile, the crowd below the platform erupted.

“So you finally admit you’re useless! Can’t even pass the basic test—stop embarrassing yourself and crawl back to your firewood shed!”

“Don’t wait for the family’s final test—leave the Jiang family now! With you around, we’ll never be able to show our faces in public.”

Listening to the bursts of mocking laughter, the elder shook his head, certain it was only his imagination.

…

Even with the soul of two lifetimes, Jiang Feng’s body trembled slightly at the callous jeers of his kin, his nails digging into his palms.

Rest assured, I will never let you have your way. With a cold smirk, Jiang Feng left the platform, heading toward his own humble quarters.

He had already engraved the method for breaking the soul prison illusion deep in his mind.