Chapter One: Rebirth
I never imagined that death would come so abruptly. One minute, I was battling my last mercenary mission on Earth at 24, six grueling years in the crosshairs of backstabbing negotiations and the next minute, I was sprawled on cold concrete, a bullet rendering my life's decisions for me. I should have been dead, dissolved into nothing, but fate had other plans.
In the darkness that followed, I discovered in my palm a warm, pulsing vial. Before my head could protest, I quickly swallowed the contents. Instead of the expected agony, a blinding rush of strength enveloped me. I awoke in a stone cocoon my body reshaping as if the very earth itself were carved anew into living tissue. I crawled out of the rocky chrysalis with a new appearance: white hair, refined features, and a frame both strange and powerfully tough.
Standing tremulously in the rubble of an overgrown courtyard, recollections resurfaced. Not simply memories of the old life I left behind, but a vivid, specific recall of a training method dearly fine in its simplicity and potency. I had memories of a Mo Xuechen. I was back to the Stone Tempering realm again so I have to start cultivation all over again though it's not like previous cultivation was any better.
I limped my way to the slave quarters of the Tang family of Xueyue City my new abode. I'd been a slave ever since I arrived, a sour price of rejecting the Tang family's perverse offers. My so-called "master" only treated me like a disposable toy, and when I rejected her filthy offer, she cut my life short. And now, with my own reincarnation, I'd been given a second chance and an angelic cultivation skill stuck in my head.
Though I still find it odd that the former Mo Xuechen refused the chance to wrap his hands around the body of a beautiful lady. Been a virgin for 24 years has left me with a lot of sexual tension.
In the cramped quarters, I found a quiet corner in which to attempt the new cultivation method I had gained. I sat down, closed my eyes, and focused. I ran through each detail of the technique as if they were etched into my essence. I was immediately hit with an overwhelming surge of energy that flowed through me. Far from thepainful and slow Qi ingestion the former Mo Xuechen had been accustomed to in the past, this one accelerated the process infusing me with Qi at a pace unlike anything I'd known before. I knew i was in the skin tampering stage and was still a novice in this world, but I could probably crush nations to dust back on earth.
I had just attempted the heavenly cultivation technique, and now I lay back and marveled at the metamorphosis. My Qi emitted that silver-purple hue now and I lacked hunger now . My body actually survived on the background Qi brewing in the air itself. However, I forced myself to have a meager bowl of porridge afterwards, just so that I would not raise any alarm with the Tang family maids. After all, if my masters discovered that I was not leading the "normal" life, the questions would also come too soon.
Each step as I emerged from my quarters seemed to feel differently lighter, surer. I no longer possessed the rough edges of my previous existence; rather, I moved with a ghostly steps. I was well aware that I appeared totally transformed, a stranger even to others who had once known me. So much so that even Tang Rou the reputed golden daughter of the Tang family could hardly give me even a passing, glance. She didn't know who I am; she could see only a new slave who looked handsome .
Sincerely I wish she could also offer me her body like she did to the previous Mo Xuechen. I want to play with that beautiful body of her's.
Clearing my head of impure thoughts, I was walking down the narrow stone corridors of the slaves' quarters, I caught whiffs of speculation glances. None of them could ever have guessed that I had once been a hard-as-nails mercenary from another universe, or that I now possessed a cultivation method that enabled me to tap directly into Qi from the very air I breathed. A practically tangible aura of power seemed to radiate from every fiber of my body a secret that I would keep locked away until I was prepared to shake the very foundations of the established order.
A part of me reveled in this anonymity. I'd be able to play the grateful slave and continue to develop my power behind everyone's backs. And if a member of the Tang family golden daughter or the like came wandering in trying to interfere, she'd find herself quickly educated physically and sexually. The greatest deceiver in this terrible game of existence was appearance.
I smiled to myself as I continued on, intent on seeing where these new powers would lead me. Tonight, I'd have a secluded corner in the courtyard where I could practice how fast I could learn to absorb Qi and maybe even push my cultivation to the next level.
The Next Day
Mo Xuechen moved silently through the bustling corridors of the Tang estate. In the courtyards and narrow hallways, whispers floated about the peculiar changes seen in the new slave with a refined face, an almost otherworldly calm, and eyes that seemed to shimmer with a secret light. None of the servants, preoccupied with their own daily tasks and the endless demands of the Tang family, gave his demeanor more than a passing glance.
In one shadowed corner near the servant's quarters, a small group gathered over their meager meal. Li Han, a veteran of the Tang household, broke the hushed chatter. "Have you noticed the new guy, Mo Xuechen? There's something… different about him. It's as if he is royalty. He doesn't even do any chores in the house."
One of his colleagues shrugged nonchalantly, wiping sweat from his brow. "Different how? We all have our burdens here. Besides, the master's got so many servants no one's really looking for miracles among us besides maybe he has people doing his chores after all anything is possible with a beautiful face."
Mo Xuechen lingered nearby, listening with measured interest. Though he had once been a notorious mercenary from another world, that identity was now buried beneath the fresh veneer of his reborn self. The servants had no inkling of the divine cultivation method that pulsed within him. To them, his quiet confidence was merely an oddity, not a harbinger of legendary strength.
Another servant, a young woman with sharp eyes named Mei Ling, leaned closer and murmured, "They say he barely eats, almost as if he draws strength from the air itself. Isn't it suspicious?" Her tone was curious rather than alarmed; in the vast, indifferent world of the Tang estate, peculiarities were passed over quickly.
Mo Xuechen allowed himself a small, secret smile. They might not know who he truly was or what power lay dormant within him, but that suited him just fine. For now, he would play the part of a humble slave quietly building his strength, waiting for the right moment to reveal the true measure of his rebirth. And until that day came, his silence and new-found abilities would remain his most formidable secrets.