The young man stared through the window beside his bed at the cold, pitch-black sky. It was as bleak as the emotions weighing heavily on his heart. Day by day, he felt his future of becoming someone powerful and renowned slipping away as the poison slowly corroded his bloodline.
In this world, bloodline was everything to a cultivator. It was passed down from one generation to the next. However, after countless generations of intermarriage, many inherited dual bloodlines, while the exceptionally fortunate could possess three. On rare occasions, a mutation would occur, giving birth to a profound or mysterious bloodline. If powerful enough, such a mutation could become a new bloodline that would be inherited by future generations.
Bloodlines were divided into seven hierarchies, distinguished by the color of their glow during testing: orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, and black. Orange represented the weakest bloodline, while black signified the strongest.
Originally, the young man possessed a blue-ranked Nine-Headed Serpent Bloodline, the same bloodline as the founder of the Royal Jin Clan. Because of it, he had once been expected to become the clan's future patriarch. However, as he came from a side branch of the royal family, countless schemes were devised to prevent him from inheriting that position, ultimately leading to his current fate.
From a blue-ranked bloodline, it had gradually deteriorated into a colorless one. Even then, the poison continued to erode what little remained.
The young man felt the last trace of his bloodline disappear.
Tears streamed down his face as he slowly closed his eyes and accepted his fate.
If only I were given a second chance…
I would do anything to destroy those who ruined my life.
~~~
The young man slowly opened his eyes.
There was neither despair nor hatred within them—only confusion.
"Was that… a dream?" he muttered blankly.
"Where am I?"
His mind remained hazy, unable to determine whether he was awake or still dreaming.
He surveyed his surroundings.
His lower body rested on a bed while his back leaned against the headboard. The room around him was nothing like the sterile white walls and ceiling he remembered.
He raised both of his pale, skinny arms.
There were no intravenous tubes.
No syringes.
No hospital equipment.
Confusion filled his face as he looked down at his frail body, now dressed in a plain white robe.
Suddenly, his eyes widened.
Startled, he forced his weak body upright, only to cough violently. A mouthful of black-and-white fluid mixed with bluish clumps burst from his mouth, causing him to collapse back onto the bed.
At that very moment, countless fragments of memory flooded his mind.
His pale complexion slowly regained a hint of color.
After what felt like an hour of sorting through the unfamiliar memories, he finally understood.
The body he now inhabited belonged to a young man named Jin Ming.
Coincidentally, they shared the same name.
The soul residing within this body was Jin Ming from modern-day Earth—a young man who had died from blood cancer.
From the memories he inherited, he gained a basic understanding of this world.
It was a world where humans and countless other races cultivated through their blood to become Immortals, Celestials, or Divine beings.
To achieve such heights, one first had to break through the Nine Blood Cycles.
Before that, however, a cultivator had to awaken their bloodline by absorbing the vital energy of heaven and earth, purifying the contaminated blood that had accumulated toxins from food, medicine, and countless other impurities throughout life.
Jin Ming from Earth soon realized that the original owner of this body had shared the same tragic fate as he had.
Both had been robbed of their futures.
Both had refused to accept death.
Both had longed for one more chance to live.
Yet only one of them had been granted that wish.
"Don't worry… my fate-mate," Jin Ming murmured as he stared at the ceiling.
"I will fulfill your wishes and your regrets."
"I will seek justice for both of us."
"No bloodline?"
"So what?"
"Every fate has its destiny, and every destiny has its fate."
"I never understood those words before… but now I finally do."
Fate was something beyond one's control.
Destiny was the path laid before them.
Two seemingly contradictory concepts born from the same origin collided, and within that chaos, free will emerged.
With enough determination, one could change their fate.
With enough conviction, one could choose their destiny.
Nothing was truly set in stone.
That was the enlightenment Jin Ming had gained from a passage he once read in a book.
"If fate brought me into this body… then why would it do so only for me to remain an ordinary mortal?"
Jin Ming chuckled softly.
He could not help but laugh as anticipation filled his heart.
Whatever awaited him…
His new life had finally begun.
~~~
The charming lady dressed in an elegant robe wore a sorrowful expression. Dark circles lingered beneath her swollen, red eyes from days of endless crying. Beside her stood a stern-faced gentleman, his expression equally heavy.
The two silently faced the door leading to the room where the young man had grown weaker with each passing day.
"I'm sorry… I'm such an incompetent husband."
The stern-faced man lowered his head in shame as he gently embraced the woman.
Today marked the sixtieth day since the poison had been inflicted upon the young man inside the room.
The poison was known as Samsara Days.
True to its name, it claimed the victim's life on the sixtieth day. As each day passed, it slowly corroded the victim's bloodline until nothing remained.
Earlier that morning, their son had asked to be left alone.
He did not wish for his parents to witness his final moments, nor did he want his last memory to be their grief-stricken faces.
Unless an antidote could be found, his death was inevitable.
Unfortunately, such an antidote simply did not exist in the remote backwater region where they lived.
Just as sorrow consumed the couple, a burst of laughter suddenly echoed from behind the closed door.
It was loud…
Wild…
Almost crazed.
Yet it was not the laughter of despair.
Instead, it carried an indescribable excitement.
The husband and wife exchanged puzzled glances before nodding to each other.
Without another word, they pushed the door open.
The laughter came to an abrupt halt.
Jin Ming looked toward the entrance.
Standing there was a man and a woman whose appearances bore an uncanny resemblance to the parents he had lost on Earth.
Although he had only seen them in old photographs and vague childhood memories, he recognized them almost instantly.
When Jin Ming was only two years old, his parents had passed away, leaving him in the care of his grandmother.
Even after all those years, he had never forgotten them.
His grandmother often shared stories about his parents, especially during the final years of her life, when illness slowly clouded her mind and stole her memories.
Life had never been kind to Jin Ming.
At the age of fourteen, he inherited the responsibility of managing his grandmother's company and devoted himself to keeping it alive.
Despite working tirelessly, he could only watch it gradually decline.
Everything he earned was spent on hospital bills.
First for his grandmother…
Then for himself.
The endless stress and exhaustion eventually took their toll, and blood cancer claimed what remained of his life.
Looking at the familiar faces before him, an indescribable warmth welled up within his chest.
His vision gradually blurred.
"…Father."
"…Mother."
The elegant lady could no longer hold back her emotions.
She hurried to the bedside and wrapped him tightly in her embrace.
"My child…"
Her tears soaked his shoulder as quiet sobs filled the room.
The warmth of her embrace stirred the stagnant poison within his body.
Suddenly, Jin Ming coughed violently.
Pfft!
A mouthful of eerie black-violet fluid splattered onto the floor.
"My son!"
The dashing man immediately stepped forward and grasped Jin Ming's wrist to examine his condition.
"Father… Mother…"
Jin Ming smiled warmly despite the tears streaming down his face.
"I'm alright now."
Seeing them somehow eased the loneliness and burden he had carried throughout both of his lives.
For the first time in what felt like forever…
His heart felt at peace.
"Are you certain?"
The lady's beautiful eyes remained filled with concern as she carefully examined him once more.
"Yes."
"My body feels incredibly light."
"I think… I must have expelled all of the poison."
"Hmm… Let me see."
She gently placed two slender fingers on his wrist before slowly closing her eyes.
A faint blue-white aura shimmered around her fingertips.
Carefully, she examined every part of her son's body.
Aside from his completely destroyed bloodline…
Everything else had returned to normal.
Relief washed over her heart.
Yet that relief was quickly replaced by sorrow.
The poison was gone…
But so was his future as a cultivator.
The man beside her let out a quiet sigh.
He understood exactly what she had discovered.
From this day onward…
His son would live as nothing more than an ordinary mortal.