The Nine Coloured Paragon - Chapter 8
Within the depths below the mortal city…
There was no light.
One could not even see their own hands before their face.
The eerie howl of wind and distant crying of prisoners were indistinguishable from one another.
The pitter-patter of dew on the cobbled ground sounded out in the otherwise deathly silence.
Within the darkness, a woman sat curled around her baby as it choked silently.
The woman’s taut skin and bony features created a sharp contrast to the chubby baby which she cradled.
If not for the fact she was a martial practitioner and possessed an iron will, that of a mother, she would have long passed.
She watched her child choke on it’s last breath before the silence resumed.
Loss after loss after loss, this cycle repeated.
She found comfort in the thought of death.
She felt her iron will snap, closing tired her eyes to embrace the darkness.
“Mother, Father, Brother, Husband, I’m coming.”
The coldness crept up her chained legs until it reached her thighs where it stopped abruptly.
Suddenly the baby in her cradle shivered.
The woman frowned, eking open her eyelids to look down at the strange happening.
Ecstasy flooded the woman’s filth ridden face as she barely made out two tiny eyes peering back at her.
This was the first time her child had opened it’s eyes.
She was sure of her child’s passing a moment ago, could she have been mistaken?
Before she thought more deeply the babe rolled out of her embrace into the darkness.
The woman discovered she had lost the strength to move.
She drew in a sharp breath, with a hoarse voice she called, “Hu’er!”
What answered her was the sound of movement before silence resumed once more.
She called a second time, this time with more force, hoping to locate her Hu’er.
However it was to no avail, until suddenly…
A dim light was emitted in the cell.
While it was dim, to the woman who had been in perpetual darkness for an unknown amount of time, it was akin to staring at the sun.
The woman squinted attempting to make out the source of the light.
Her jaw dropped as she realised, it was her child.
She squinted harder attempting to water her dry eyes, only to make out her child sat before her in the lotus position.
Resembling a buddha, he meditated silently before his mother.
The woman wondered if this was a dream, she stared intently at the scene before her, not wanting to wake up….
***
Minutes prior to these events…
Jianyu’s soul penetrated deep into the ground beneath the bustling city, passing through the hardened ground unhindered by natural laws.
He could see his potential body through the hardened rock and earth, eventually arriving in a dark, dank dungeon.
Although there was no light, he could still observe the horrific happenings within the desolate place.
Sighing lightly, his gaze hardened as he approached his target.
A newborn was breathing his last breath in its mothers embrace.
He observed silently, waiting patiently.
A tiny white orb passed from the child’s forehead about to return from whence it came.
Jianyu waved his hand at the white orb sucking it in his direction.
It was the child’s soul.
He quickly used the last of his free soul power to bless it with good karma before sending it on its way, allowing it to find a good start in the next life, wherever that may be.
The reason why he never used the reincarnation cycle was to prevent him from getting his memories wiped.
He had learn’t this after the first time he died.
Putting such irrelevant memories at the back of his mind, he dived into the unoccupied body.
The split second between the departure of the orignal soul and death of the body was when he entered the bodies soul chamber.
As soon as he entered he swiftly operated an ancient possession technique, allowing the body to assimilate with his souls attributes completely.
The soul energy he held in reserve for this process evaporated at a frightening speed.
His expression darkened more and more until abruptly, “Success!”.
The body shivered as his soul consciousness faded and he awakened within his new body.
Shivering at the freezing temperature which he previously was unable to feel he slid open his eyes to gaze at the towering woman before him.
Her eyes then opened lazily, greeting him with a smile, it was his mother.
Someone he must protect!
After memorizing the woman’s features subconsciously, he got down to business, focusing on gathering the strength to escape this hell.
Rolling his weak newborn body to the side he found the strength to sit himself up into the lotus position, a smile breaking out on his chubby face as he started cultivation once more.
He thought to himself, ‘Starting cultivation once again may be a blessing in disguise, after all, I myself am the Paragon of cultivation, with the experiences more profound than any other.’
‘Body tempering, here I come!’.
Shorter chapter today, I wrote an exceedingly long chapter and ended up dividing it into two different chapters.
May or may not release the other chapter today based on how I’m feeling after work.
Hope you’re all doing well and enjoying the story.