2 Falling Snow

'It's finally time for me to see my friends and family…'

Opening his eyes, Silver could feel his mind clearing up, raising his head to find himself in an unfamiliar place. His vision clearing up, thoughts jumbling through his mind, pushing himself up from the cold, hard ground. Looking up, checking his surroundings, he found himself inside a dark and ruined shelter. Cracks lined up all over the walls, so-called roof was in shambles, while the interior isn't something you would call a "warm" home. It appeared worse than the standard prison cell.

'Where am I? Did I actually survive?' Silver pondered as he used the wall behind him to stand up.

Taking a look around his environment, a keen yet promising idea came up:

'This isn't the afterlife but a foreign world.'

He was once a great immortal who cultivated to the highest peak while bravely challenging the heavens. With him taking the lead in the war against the heavens, many other powerful cultivators banded along with him, breaking the boundary of their world to ascension.

At the very last moment, a lightning shaped spear struck through him, while he swung his halberd for the final heaven-shattering strike. The last attack depleted his strength since it used all of his accumulated life force, finally breaking the barrier to obtain true ascension. Spiraling down the sky from the hidden attack, his conscious began fading into oblivion, the bittersweet relief of death came to him as he closed his eyes for eternity.

Memories flowing like the yellow river began surging through Silver's mind, a wave of dizziness struck his body.

Silver held his balance against the wall as he relived the life of the individual he currently had taken over. Coincidently, they were both born in the winter solstice but the original was named, Kong Xing.

Kong Xing became an orphan when his parents voluntarily enlisted into the army for the great war. What became an assault from the demonic beings and evolved ranked beasts soon broke out into a full blown war. His mother and father were strong warriors at the 6th and 7th level of the External Realm, holding a strong justice to protect their city, friends and family. During his wait for two long, torturous months, the remaining two members of his parents squad returned with their grotesquely dismembered and mangled body.

Later that day, he buried their bodies and wished them a better life. Since their death, he picked up the sword for the first time. Never will he let those close to him die from a gruesome death.

Months after the war had ended, the empire's army gave him eight hundred moon coins for his parents service, enough to last him a few years. Spending a small amount, he purchased a basic sword and martial art manual anyone could learn.

Growing up, consumed by his regret and wrath, Silver trained hard for two years. With his minimal skills, knowledge and lack of resources, he barely reached the 2nd level of the External Realm. With his pitiful amount of strength, he was able to survive by hunting low-ranked beasts and selling them for a teeny amount of income.

Silver continued to learn more through Kong Xing's memories, finally confirming that this was an actual foreign world.

Desolate Tundra Continent, a boundless wasteland of ice and snow, neverending and ruled by a cruel demonic god named, Arctic Emperor.

This wasteland, before the invasion, didn't have such a demoralizing name.

Back then, this continent had four beautiful yet breathtaking seasons filled with stunning scenery, magnificent and illustrious, casually named the "Divine Continent". The largest of the nine main continents, renown for its very outstanding and exceptional history where even immortals came to relax and play. Even a poem was written about it:

Just look at how the spring blossoms

Petals whimsically fluttering onto the ground;

Summer's flute

Embracing those with joy whilst being carefree.

Travelling through tall mountains

And peerless, translucent lakes

And crossing rivers

And...

If you wish to fall asleep, stay by the lakeside.

Nestled beside the woods of changing autumn colors.

As the yellow leaves drift afar,

To be reborn from the depths of the nurturing earth

And amid the frost,

Lost in the sound of beautiful silence

...of snow,

Playfully falling from the cloudy sky,

Warming your heart as the next cycle

...of seasons can be enjoyed.

Even though it's been speculated to be a wasteland, many vast areas of vegetation occupied the continent. But these places were generally filled with demonic beings and different ranks of beasts from many years of scouting and hunting by cities within the Desolate Tundra.

Sadly, the "Divine Continent" became a spoken and written legend by hundreds of generations that survived after the nine demonic gods took over and sealed the world's will.

Silver stood there, perusing through the memories into the current scene of how he got here. Based on Kong Xing's memories, before he died, a massive blizzard brewed up during his hunt for food. He travelled aimlessly, blinded by the snow to find any form of shelter, bumping into a ranked 3 demon boar and instantly enraging it. The boar, enraged for unknown reasons, then turned around and attacked. It's tusk punctured his abdomen, propelling him further into the blizzard, severely injuring him.

Escaping, without no sense of direction, he found a ruined building to seek refuge in and laid against the wall panting in pain. Few minutes gone by, Kong Xing fainted from excessive blood loss. After hours of losing consciousness from both blood loss and hypothermia, he passed away in his sleep.

Truly a sad fate to have.

"It seems like this body has barely made it to the 2nd level of the External Realm. Since you've passed on, giving me a new leash on life, I will break the heavens in this world too! I'll protect those dear to me," grinned Silver nodding his head in satisfaction. As if Kong Xing heard his resolution, the lingering pieces of his soul began merging with the Silver's soul.

"Needless to say, my soul power has doubled--no it tripled. What an easygoing lad to allow me to take over from a few satisfactory words. I need to warm up and recover unless I want to die a second time."

Grabbing a medium sized rucksack nearby the wall, fishing for materials, Silver picked out a few dried out firewood to make a fire with.

After making a campfire, he grabbed and applied a medicinal paste on his wound to ensure he wouldn't lose any more blood. With a few more careful inspections, Silver finally sat down and grabbed some dried rations to replenish some of his strength. Browsing through his memories with closed eyes and furrowed eyebrows, he searched for a suitable cultivation skill from his past life.

'Hmmmm,' pondered Silver, tapping his chin with his right index finger.

A suitable cultivation skill appeared in his mind. This odd yet outstanding cultivation manual, back in his time, was found from sheer luck during his travels.

Fleeing from a powerful flood dragon from his younger days, before breaking through the heavens, he crashed and found himself in a secret space. Silver stayed in this space, hiding out, for a few months while refining the Yang Dragon Flower he stole from the flood dragon. After refining the flower, he began to cautiously travel and check out the small space. Traveling for a few minutes he found a small cabin and entered it with caution.

Before him was a simple wooden desk, a basic bed, and a spatial ring that sat atop of the desk. Making sure everything was safe, he inspected the inside of the ownerless spatial ring. Using his divine sense, he could see that the ring only held a cultivation manual called [Chaotic Void Skill]. The skill used the void energy or "Void Qi" from the universe.

Cultivation itself is a way of life, those who are born with spiritual roots are given a chance to learn and take in the Qi of Heaven and Earth. Not all are fit in the way of cultivation. Hundreds and thousands had failed to become strong due to the limitation of their spiritual roots. Others were like fish in the water when they cycle Qi through their body without effort. Sometimes talent can hinder hard work.

Back then, he cultivated with Heaven and Earth Qi, rapidly rising in power with his [Superior Spiritual Roots]. Reading through the manual, only those born with [Chaotic Spiritual Root] could learn it hence he instantly gave up learning the [Chaotic Void Skill]. He pushed the thought to the back of his mind and finally left the secret space.

Luckily, he memorized the whole cultivation manual in his past life, allowing limitless potential for the current him. His new body was born with [Chaotic Spiritual Roots], a mixture of four or five attributes within an individual spiritual roots. Truly the great luck he had still followed him into this new world.

Although the worlds were different; the cultivation levels, herbs, beasts rank, qi and other talents he knew were very close to being the same. Thus allowing him to adapt to his situation easily.

With that being said, Silver took his time to recover, choosing to comprehend the Chaotic Void Skill. He sat a few feet away from the fire, following a mysterious rhythmic breathing pattern as the flickering lights of the campfire casted many of his shadows around the room.

The [Chaotic Void Skill] manual comprised of many skills which allowed the cultivator to temper one's body, mind, and soul with Void Qi. To Silver, comprehending the manual was easy due to his ample experiences. Sadly, the latter stages needed some external resources that were exceptionally rare and unusual in this new world.

Silver begun cultivating the Void Qi, cycling the qi through his meridians. These so-called meridians are the network of channels in the body in which Qi flows, like veins for your blood but for Qi instead. They form a circuit in your body, linking to the lower dantian, allowing to access incredible strength and abilities from any manual or martial arts comprehended. But how strong you become depends on the grade of the manuals and arts.

Cultivating too many skills can cause conflicts in the way you cycle your Qi, causing Qi deviation. A very well known state where the cultivation base becomes dangerously unstable, causing internal damage as the cultivators succumb to their heart demons. This is the result of cultivating their martial arts incorrectly.

Many have resulted to death while others become deranged in madness due to taking in too much at a time, or advancing too quickly without stabilizing and creating a firm foundation.

Never bite off more than one can chew.

Three hours quickly passing, absorbing and tempering himself at rapid pace, allowing the [Void Qi] to batter his body constantly as he followed the directions within the manual.

There are 9 levels in the External Realm with the; 1st to 3rd level tempers the flesh and muscles, 4th to 6th level tempers the bones and marrow, 7th to 8th level refines the 5 viscera and the 9th level is to form the Qi Sphere. Interestingly, within the [Chaotic Void Skill] manual, an additional tenth level for the External Realm allowing the Void Qi to temper the mind and refine the soul. An extra bonus in strength.

With Silver's million of years in experience, knowledge, and worldly wisdom; he virtually had no bottlenecks to worry about.

Silver carefully fixed any abnormality in his body that could cause future problems after he restarted his cultivation. Reaching the first level of the External Realm, he slowly opened eyes, breathing out the turbid qi while a putrid odor emanated from his body. He was covered in a black, sticky, and gooey like substance began covering him from head to toe, even attaching itself onto his clothes. This is due to the impurity residing in his body, being pushed out from his pores after reaching the first level of External Realm.

One would only expel the impurity once they reached the first level, or the early stages of Internal Realm. For someone like Silver to expel impurities at the first level of External Realm would be considered inconceivable. But the [Chaotic Void Skill] he cultivated allowed him to do so. A manual that uses the qi of the universe should have something incredibly unique about it.

'I need to clean up and eat before I starve to death. I'm no longer an immortal that can sustain on qi alone,' Silver thought unfazed by the stench emanating from him. He quickly gathered his qi, quickly clearing off the black substance from his body and clothes. After tidying himself, Silver stood up and stretched his limbs.

"Before the blizzard picks up again, I need to find another source of food . . . I'm sure I can pick up some clues to the area of where that ranked 3 demon boar attacked me. It's best to avenge Kong Xing's shameful death," mumbled Silver walking out of the shelter.

Staring out into the far distance, inhaling a breath of fresh air, Silver took a step forward beginning his journey through the snowing land.