Chapter 15: Becoming Someone Else

The letter’s contents were simple. It merely explained the Third Elder’s reason for protecting Qin Bocheng this time, and went on to say that in the future, he could no longer look after him, telling him to take care of himself, and so forth.

What other reason could there be for protecting Qin Bocheng? No matter how one dressed it up, it all came down to believing his fortune was the strongest, his chances of survival the greatest, and he was the most likely to carry on the sect’s legacy. As for him, a person whose luck had never been remarkable since childhood and who had always seemed almost invisible within the sect, it was only natural that he would be abandoned. Even those who treated you well in ordinary times might not protect you at a critical moment—such is human nature!

Forget it! Everyone lives their own life, and he couldn’t force them to care. Even if he were to encounter them again in the future, he would act as if he didn’t know them. He would simply regard the person they had abandoned as already dead. After all, not only had his nascent soul changed, but even his very soul was now different. As long as he slightly altered his physical appearance, not even a Golden Immortal could recognize him. If he foolishly rushed forward to claim kinship, he might just be mistaken for a swindler and kicked out.

Thinking about all the changes in himself, Qin Chengming couldn’t help but feel unsettled. With a sigh, he mused, “Why does it feel as if I’ve passed through a cycle of reincarnation? Apart from this shell of a body, everything else feels as though I’ve been reborn. If I hadn’t woken up in the very pit I’d dug myself, I’d almost believe I’d already died and just skipped the forgetfulness soup before reincarnating.” As he tucked the letter back into its envelope and put it away, he muttered to himself, though he didn’t truly take his own words seriously. Turning away, he began to inspect the jade slips.

To his surprise, most of these jade slips were originals, not recarved copies. Apart from a few auxiliary slips on alchemy, artifact forging, and talisman making, the rest were all cultivation methods and secret manuals he could actually use—a rather thoughtful gesture.

Yet these things were currently of no use to him. His spiritual power was only at the early Nascent Soul stage, while most of these materials were meant for use after reaching the Divine Transformation stage. For now, he could only leave them in storage.

After examining everything, Qin Chengming found nothing immediately useful, so he arranged all the jade slips in the space he had cleared out as a study, then placed the items he’d intended to store there one by one on the shelves.

When it came to the three items used for the entrance test, Qin Chengming, perhaps in a moment of foolish impulse, felt a strong urge to test himself again. But he was not one to make things difficult for himself—if he wanted to test, he would test! It wasn’t as if he was marching to his death, so why hesitate?

No sooner thought than done—the testing method was simple, but the result left Qin Chengming utterly dumbfounded. He had originally possessed fire, wood, and water spiritual roots, with his purest, wood, only at a rating of fifty-eight, and a bone age of over 1,200 years. Yet this time, everything had changed. His three spiritual roots had become five, and their purity had soared—metal, wood, water, fire, and earth all reached ninety-two.

The most absurd thing was his bone age: only three and a half years! Qin Chengming conjured a water mirror and scrutinized himself from every angle. No matter how he looked, it was the body of an adult, the skin now much smoother than before, but how could his bones be those of a three-year-old? How could a child that young be so tall—and so handsome?

Furthermore, he was certain that this body was indeed his own, unchanged. His body had endured over a thousand years—how could his bone age revert to three and a half? Maybe the bone age mirror was faulty.

With this excuse, he breathed a sigh of relief. Perhaps these things, having been left too long and subjected to the upheaval of heaven and earth, had their arrays scrambled and were no longer reliable as testing tools.

Comforted, he continued to arrange the rest of his items before leaving the space and returning to the inn.

He returned during the day, the street bustling with unknown activity. The array in his room was still operating, and since there was a “Do Not Disturb” sign on his door, no one had entered.

He hung a pendant around his neck to hide his aura and slightly altered his facial features before putting away all the array disks and stepping out of his room.

Downstairs, he found the main hall crowded. These people were all gathering to form teams for a beast-hunting expedition in the Eastern Sea.

His aura was perfectly concealed. Aside from a few curious glances from the proprietress, no one could tell he was a cultivator, and so no one tried to recruit him. He had no urgent need for money and no interest in hunting sea beasts. He’d much rather stroll around the city.

Avoiding the cultivators still recruiting members, he left and walked in the opposite direction from yesterday.

This side had no archways or shops, only residential areas. Many houses didn’t even have protective arrays—it was unclear whether they lacked them or simply didn’t want to waste spirit stones.

The houses here were interesting: initially, they were beautiful compounds with carved beams and painted rafters, some with three, four, or even five courtyards. The layouts were elegant, exuding the air of wealthy families. But almost none of these mansions had protective or privacy arrays.

Qin Chengming strolled along, assessing which house was more luxurious, which more refined—just like a bored, frivolous young master.

After passing through this “wealthy district,” the area transitioned abruptly into a “poor quarter.” Here, the houses were built of stone, each a single dwelling with no courtyards. Yet the stones were neatly hewn, and most houses were two stories, giving the area a distinctive look. Most importantly, while it looked like a poor area, over half the houses had protective arrays.

Carefully sensing the arrays, Qin Chengming realized not one could draw energy from ambient spiritual qi; all relied on spirit stones. Which meant every second they operated, they burned spirit stones.

Given the purity of spirit stones here, the largest array would consume over a hundred low-grade spirit stones per hour—utterly extravagant! He, in contrast, was dirt poor, possessing only a few high-grade spirit stones of unknown origin. The “spirit stones” he used in the past didn’t even have a name here.

Lost in such idle thoughts, he suddenly saw three people emerge from the most luxurious stone house—it was the same woman and two men he had seen at the inn.

Back at the inn, the female cultivator had draped herself flirtatiously over the two men, like a mistress with her kept lovers. But now, she and one of the men were bidding a respectful farewell to the other, the man with a tear-shaped mole beneath his left eye. No matter how one looked at it, such deference was not the way a mistress would treat her lovers.

Qin Chengming saw the trio, and they saw him. Not wanting to meddle, he turned to leave.

Seeing him about to depart, the “mole man” called out urgently, “Fellow Daoist, please wait!”

It was obvious these people were up to something, and their aura made Qin Chengming distinctly uneasy. Not wanting trouble, he called back as he turned, “I don’t know you, and I didn’t see you today,” then hurried off, turning left and instantly sticking a concealment talisman on himself.

“Mole man” was quick, but the distance was too great and he was a step too slow. By the time he reached the alley, Qin Chengming had vanished.

Staring at the empty alley, the “mole man,” who had moments ago seemed so gentle and pure, suddenly had his handsome face twisted with rage. Two furry ears popped out atop his head, only to disappear a moment later.

Qin Chengming had not gone far, and in that fleeting moment when the man’s ears appeared, he saw it clearly: the other was actually a fifth-rank fox demon, equivalent to a human at the mid-Nascent Soul stage.

Qin Chengming was completely unfamiliar with the magical duels of this world and had no desire to get caught up in trouble for no reason. Until he figured things out, he would avoid trouble wherever possible.