Chapter 2: 1: The Next Beginning
As he gained a hold of his newly formed consciousness again, there is darkness at first, then followed by warmth. This would have been all that he would perceive, but Fendou Yi's powerful soul has led him to discover that he's in his mother's womb again. She is currently lying on a comfy, red-sheeted bed, carressing her round belly.
He can also sense the environment they are currently in: a large room within a courtyard, amply decorated to be elegant and pleasing to the eye.
"Hah~, here we go again. Now, my 99,998th lifetime." Fendou Yi thought to himself. He had gotten sick and tired of the constant, repeating suffering that is his life. It made it so that everything is dull to him, for he had seen the same things for countless times now, over and over and over again.
He then felt a familiar presence of a man approaching from beyond the courtyard. It went through the gate, guarded by two Fendou clan disciples, unimpeded and went straight to the large room where his mother, Liu Youmei resided.
"Mei'er, are you well?", said the man, who has dark brown, medium length hair, a faint stubble and manly visage. He was wearing a purple brocade robe, tied with a golden sash. He is Fendou Sheng, a direct elder within the Fendou clan, and Fendou Yi's father. He gives the impression of being an experienced and reliable person, his bearing's majestic and grand, and is very protective of his family.
"I feel comfortable," replied Liu Youmei, "You don't have to worry so much." A homely face that brings peace to one's heart, a crown full of ebony hair flowing down to her waist, donned with a pristine white robe, as every action flowed with elegance and grace. This is his, Fendou Yi's, mother.
"Right. By the way, my brother has been elected as the new patriarch. I hope he can bring happiness and prosperity for the clan." The brother he mentioned is Fendou Dian, older than him by 3 years.
'There it is. The same, boring events are unfolding again,' thought Fendou Yi as he rolled his currently non-existent eyes. He is inside his mother's womb for 5 months at this point. He will have to wait for another 4 months before his mother gave birth to him. Until then, he will nourish and cultivate his body's foundation and meridians. Again.
It is like a chore to him. Yet, other than observing the outside world, he has nothing better to do within his mother's womb, so that's all he did.
Four months have come and go, and now he is born. His awareness of the situation, coupled with his powerful soul, made it so that he didn't cry upon his birth.
This shocked the midwife who received him, who then expressed her thoughts to his parents. His mother showed a surprised look as she cradled her newborn child, while his father gave a satisfied nod as he hugged his wife and dotingly stared at his son.
"To be at peace upon being born, he is destined to do many great things," Fendou Sheng stated, "thus, bearing the Fendou name, I shall call you Yi."
Liu Youmei liked the name and agreed.
Thus, Fendou Yi spent his first few younger days lying in a crib, now absorbing the world's essence to cultivate according to his comprehension of the laws of existence while stabilizing and empowering his physique. Of course, he intentionally acted like a baby by just eating and sleeping most of the time. At this time, he is now at the Saint Realm with a 10-star Saint Physique.
But, as the next few months passed, he isn't able to focus on his sleep naturally during some nights anymore. The crib he lays in is placed beside his parents' bed. His father truly loves his mother and, seeing that she has recovered from her childbirth, their passionate bed activies continued and kept him wide awake. The sweet talk that first takes place, before creating a symphony of sounds that followed after, it never fails to make him smile wryly.
If it were any other couple, he'd be able to sleep like a log. Alas, attempting to sleep naturally while his parents are having a passionate romp beside him is something he couldn't get over even throughout his many lives. The situation still weirds him out. Hence, he could only cut off his senses and cultivate.
His parents are also cultivators, and perhaps you are wondering: how are they unable to sense that he already cultivates, let alone having a cultivation base upon birth?
Simply put, before he absorbs the world's energy, he condenses them into something like threads which reach extremely long lengths, so thin that it's only perceivable through Divine Sense. He can also absorb it at a rate mortals cannot compare. He can do this upon his entire homeworld, but he restricts its range within the Turbulent Tornado Continent because he finds it a hassle.
As for his hidden cultivation base, his soul can mask it. After all, whenever he dies, only his physical cultivation disappears, but his soul cultivation remains.
Four years have passed and now he is a Planar Saint with a 2-star Divine Physique. A few months away from his next birthday, he is currently 4 years old; and is having his potential tested by the clan, along with some other children. Among them is his younger brother, Fendou Huo, currently 2 years old.
Every 10 years, the newest generation will go through potential testing via a full body scan in front of the Silver Star Mirror. This mirror artifact is capable of discovering Heaven Physiques and below, but will not activate if the tester has an ordinary physique. It is now the 10th year.
"Old Sheng, I'm going to say this now - my son will definitely have a higher potential compared to your son."
The speaker is a man who could be described with one word: sharp!
He is Fendou Jian, the Fendou clan's best swordsman and is the 3rd strongest individual in the leading generation, his cultivation base at the Qi Stabilization Stage. His son is Fendou Xiaodao, 3 years old.
"Hoh? We will see soon enough whose son has a better potential," replied Fendou Sheng. He has faith that his son will be a dragon among men.
"It sure is lively here. How about I join in the fun?"
A voice sounded out and it silenced the proceedings immediately. Everyone then faced towards the direction of the voice and bowed, followed by a chorus of voices, saying "Greetings, Patriarch!".
It's the new patriarch of the Fendou clan, Fendou Dian. He has come to spectate the testing, along with the clan elders. Only the Grand Elder isn't present as he is currently in seclusion.
Without dilly-dallying, the patriarch has commanded the potential testing to commence. An elder went by the mirror's side, holding a scroll containing the list of names of the children being tested. He then started calling out.
A boy from a branch family named Fendou Ming went first. After standing before the mirror, it then shined silver light akin to starlight upon him. 2 bronze halos appeared on his head.
"2-star Mortal Physique, not bad for a branch family member," Fendou Dian said.
The children who went up first are from the branch families and those scanned had physiques ranging from ordinary to 4 stars of the Mortal Physique as being the highest, and there are two of them.
Some parents cheered, while others thought that it was a pity that their children didn't meet their expectations.
Now came the turn for the main family children to be scanned. The atmosphere got livelier and people discussed who would be receiving the highest physique grade.
Fendou Ling, 6 stars Mortal Physique!
The one scanned was an adorable little girl aged 3 whose hair was tied in a ponytail, with ruddy cheeks and wide eyes. The people gathered gasped in amazement. It was only the first one amongst the main family testers yet a high grade physique already presented itself. They can only imagine what's to come.
This time, the ones scanned had reached 3 stars at the minimum. There was also the occasional 5-star, of which 3 appeared. Surprisingly, Fendou Huo got the first 7-star Mortal Physique amongst the children. It made Fendou Yi's parents' happy. There was also a boy who has an 8-star Mortal Physique and his parents were jumpy with ecstacy.
Next came Fendou Long, the son of Fendou Dian, who looked older than the rest at 6 years old. As he stood before the mirror's light, 9 bronze halos appeared. The observing crowd went rowdy immediately. As for Fendou Dian, he can't stop proudly smiling.
"Old Sheng, here's the moment of truth. This son of mine has exhibited innate strength better than me at the same age. He might not be a prodigy, but he will definitely be better than your son!" declared Fendou Jian.
As Fendou Xiaodao was scanned, only one halo appeared, but unlike the previous halos, this one is silver.
The place went silent for a moment before exclamations resounded throughout the testing area.
"Oh my god! It's an Earth Grade Physique!"
"This Xiaodao will become a pillar of the clan in the future!"
Meanwhile, Fendou Jian was laughing uproariously, while bearing a smug grin on his face. Seeing this, Fendou Sheng was irritated immediately, his deep frown showing it all.
"Son, don't get pressured by them. So long as you have a Mortal Physique grade not lower than 6 stars, he isn't that much better than you."
Fendou Yi couldn't even be bothered to respond. He just wanted this done and over with. His father was still worried, of course. After all, a higher tiered physique can filter impurities better even if it's at a single star grade.
As Fendou Yi went up, the mirror shined upon him, but no reaction came from his body. Seeing this, Fendou Jian's smile first froze, then grew wider. After seeing it, one can confirm that it's a punchable face.
As for his parents' reaction, there was dejection and sympathy. The other clansmen showed a mixture of pity, schadenfreude, and contempt, albeit most were just expressed in their inner thoughts. Fendou Yi can sense the mish-mash of emotions in the air, but the amount of damns he could give is the same amount of people who could beat him in the Turbulent Tornado Continent currently.
Everyone assumed he only had an ordinary physique, as the event of the mirror shining but the person tested not having a reaction is unprecedented.
Only a few elders, including Fendou Sheng, and Fendou Dian had thoughts that something was amiss, but disregarded it immediately. They wouldn't let their conjectures on the matter go wild.
"Now that the potential testing is over, everyone is now dismissed," declared the elder in charge of the testing.
"Pa, can we go home now?" said Fendou Yi as he went up to his parents after going down from the testing stage.
This surprised his mother and father, for this is the first time he spoke to them, very fluently, too.
"Little Yi, even if you became a waste, just know this: we will always love you!" stated Liu Youmei as she kneeled down and hugged Fendou Yi lovingly. Fendou Sheng just stood beside them with a bitter smile, inwardly cursing the heavens for giving his son a hard life, knowing that he will face all kinds of problems, big and small. The family then went back to their courtyard to rest.
As for Fendou Yi, he is planning to just live out this life, cultivate casually and enjoy the simplicity. In his first lifetime, he did indeed have an ordinary physique, but after he had experienced his curse, it didn't stop him from becoming someone significant.
All of that mattered little to him, anyway. He would like to dwell on his present lifetime now. For once, he wanted to get his focus off the mind-burdening events that took place in his latest previous life.
Then, something sparked within his thoughts as his childish face smiled. It was a twisted smile fueled by unrestrained, questionable impulses.
"Maybe, just maybe, I should do the crazy shit I didn't even bother thinking about back then."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
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