Chapter 2: The House
The persistent humming of a flickering flame caused his ears to twitch. Xiaowen hadn't been more embarrassed in his life than right now, that isn't to say he wasn't confused by the peculiar situation he found himself within.
His eyes were rapidly taking in his surroundings. He learned of the candle lit lantern that was ledged on a small little hook on the wall. There was also the garbage that he could smell, the crates that were near the surrounding.
There was the wooden wall that looked like it was collapsing and a friendly little rat that had been frequently visiting the spot and leaving with a quiet hum to its scurrying. Perhaps, there was more than one. Rat, that is.
He couldn't properly know. Asboring and thinking was the main thing he had to do. At Least that's what he had guessed until he felt a tiny bit of life jolt through the lips of his mouth and the piece of his shoulder.
The sadistic pleasure of being able to smile released a wave of happiness through his heart, though, his smiles were crooked beyond relief and his strength was abysmal, just enough to tug the tiny hairs of his lips up.
"Ta-" He threatened to speak.
That didn't work.
He tried to search his body using Qi. That didn't work. Rather, he felt severed as if something had taken an ax and violently severed all of his cultivation. Ah, that would be a pain to regain.
Yet, merely smilingly was enough for now. He could always worry about things after they were done after all.
…
An hour had passed him by. He regained the memories of the owner of the body and Regained the feeling in the entirety of his face and shoulders that had amused him for a long time, he made faces into the air and just enjoyed the way his skin stretched on his face.
"I've developed a few new theories." He spoke as he scrunched his face, "I've died and become a rather hairy person." He felt like it was covered.
He stretched his tongue out of his mouth and found that he had a rather tough piece of hair firmly glued to his lips and chin. He also felt heftier than normal after lifting his neck.
"How amusing." He thought to himself, "Amusing and scary… I've turned into this person."
He could only tap into their memories a small bit. However, everything else was a haze to him. He could accurately guess his name which was oddly the same as his Zheng Xiaowen. He could also accurately interpret who his family was, who he trusted and who was on his side.
Which after some thorough searching. I mean thorough, after an hour of searching an empty brain he found that there was no one left to support him.
His mother had died a few years back, the very thought urged the body in a feverish shake. Then just after his mother died the fiancee of this body chose to break up with him followed by dark times.
Hatred plagued his days and he became increasingly quick to anger. A failed bow came with a whipped back. A slight insult from any lower noble came back to a roar of anger, an issued challenge and a harsh crack to the face.
It was easy, rather too easy for his brothers to manipulate the situation and end him with a poison. Amazingly enough Zheng Xiaowen remembered the poisoning quite well. A maid, a maid that he had whipped came to him and gave him the tea he had ordered.
"Weak!" Xiaowen had amused himself with the memories, turning into fits of laughter seeing the rather joyous memories of the body's past. Choking upon his own vomit he turned to the maid to grip her throat only to see a flash of silver.
That's where the memories end.
However, he rolled them backward ever so slightly. He remembered broken pieces of information. His father's name was firmly planted into his mind Zheng Zugon. What a peculiar name. The owner was anything but peculiar though.
His father had striking features and as he remembered the emperor of the country. He remembered a few memories, they were firmly embedded into the core of his mind. His father struck his mother with a sword.
Xiaowen paused and thought of it again, "Rich!" He laughed, "Oh, god. No wonder your nerves stand on end when you think of your mother… and then your father!" He shook with even more intensity, "Ha. I see. I won't let this fade… If you are the body I have received, I shall take care of it… I'll take on your dreams."
The words flew out of his mouth like heavy stone blocks. His head grew heavy at the same time, "Hmm… I'll organize all of this information first."
…
An hour later. His arms could move. He could feel the feeling in his legs. Yet, he stayed deathly still as his eyes were glued shut.
His memories were slowly organized like a neat precession of clouds. Standing, one after the other. His brothers, the signs, the weaknesses. Honestly, Xiaowen was disappointed in the way the previous him handled things.
They were so crude in dealings. Open in secrets and so… stupid that he found it an amusing experince to watch.
He had organized a plan of sorts. He sat up and he could hear scurrying. Must have been the rats.
He stood up and yet his legs felt like noodles and his arm ached as if it had been trampled on. As if all of his blood had gone to his head he stumbled awkwardly lurching forward and latching his hands onto a wooden crate.
"Eh…" He shook his head, "That's it you got it." He stabilized himself. The rough feeling of the wood chopped into his palm. Beneath his feet was the trash that he had been smelling for the past two hours and he gaged at the sight.
"You– Can't be serious." He nearly reverted to his old way of talking, "That is just pure shit."
And as he described the ground was covered in feces and bugs, he couldn't see it before but now that he had stood up he could see that rats weren't the only thing crawling around. He tore his eyes from the ground and found himself completely surrounded in garbage.
He took a few steps forward and rubbed his palm against the wall, stains and stone rubbed away against his hand. As if the dirt environment wanted to rub itself onto him. He slid his hand down and found the doorknob.
He tried to open it and it was easy to open. He sighed, he released the doorknob. He had released it when just about his thumb was going to completely relinquish its light the size of a nail beamed on his face and onto his eye. He turned his head, catching a momentary glimpse of himself.
He found a broken mirror, shattered on top of the edge of a wooden crate. Glass shards trailed about the ground and were covered by pieces of dirt and garbage that nearly ate away at the entire environment. His hand caught the bottom of it and reeled it up to his face.
"T–This.." His hands reached his face.
He saw his face. It was peculiar as if it wasn't real. His hair was curly gray but matted and stuck to his skin by blood, his facial features were charming enough and had dancing amber eyes that danced along the edges of his face. A moustache and a forming goatee complimented his face.
He'd be grateful if it was just for that but A sword made a long mark stretching from the forehead running across the bridge of the nose and ended on the chin. He could see the comly memories of his attackers' mark adorning his face.
"I look like shit." He frowned, "I need to clean up…"
He got a good look at his body. He was hefty for his age. His body was 17 today. He grabbed his small gut and shook it. He also found that he was about a head taller than he was in his previous life, perhaps enough to match that giant.
He turned around, "I can see how this body could easily inflict pain." He looked at his palm, "It's about twice the size of my previous body."
Xiaowen cleared the top of a box, then sat on top of it. He heard it creak under his weight. So he pulled his foot on top of the box. His eyes slightly shut like a statue.
"If that's the case… I guess everything can wait…" Xiaowen began to cultivate.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone