DEMON EMPEROR

CHAPTER 3: A SECOND CHANCE

Ba Bel felt the final sting in his back, warm blood gushing from the treacherous stab. Darkness began to creep at the edges of his vision, engulfing the desolate Skull Valley. "Ah, so this is what death feels like?" he whispered to himself, a barely audible final thought.

Excruciating pain pierced every nerve, yet, strangely, it slowly faded along with his consciousness. He surrendered.

"Mother, Father, Master... I'm coming home!" He murmured softly, trying to suppress the roar that threatened to escape his constricted throat. "At least I succeeded in avenging my sect. There are no regrets left."

A voice argued in the corner of his mind, a familiar voice, his own. *Are there truly no regrets? Who are you trying to deceive this time, Ba Bel?*

A series of scenes flashed through his mind, like a quickly unfolding film reel. Thousands of battles, dozens of intrigues, a century of power and solitude. Then, a glimpse of a woman's face, so beautiful, yet he couldn't recall her name. A bitter smile formed on his lips. Love and affection were luxuries he struggled to attain after his parents and master were gone. Perhaps that was the only regret remaining.

Suddenly, Ba Bel's body jolted. Not the sting of a sword or a blow, but a shock of foreign energy that struck him. A silent, painless bolt of lightning. *Am I truly dead? Why is there no more pain?* Just as he had fully surrendered to eternal darkness, a bluish light appeared, stretching out before him.

"Oh, perhaps this is the gate to the afterlife, like those in the legendary books," he thought, gazing at the light with the curiosity of a scholar, not a Demon Emperor. "But... why does this gate to the afterlife I see look so different from what's described in the ancient scriptures?"

Before he could find an answer, an invisible force pulled him in forcibly. A terrifying pain, exceeding anything he had felt at the brink of death, assailed him once more.

"Ouch! Ouch! What's happening?! Why can someone like me, who is already dead, still feel such pain?!" Ba Bel writhed, screaming silently. *Shouldn't I be dead? Why is this suffering still pursuing me?*

His eyes felt intensely dazzled as he was pulled closer to the bluish light. He could only squeeze his eyelids shut, hoping it would all end soon. The pain grew more intense, tearing at his invisible body.

With a final, stifled roar, Ba Bel opened his eyes. He was shocked. His body was lying down, and above him... it wasn't the ceiling of an ice coffin, nor the light of the afterlife. It was a starless night sky, adorned only by the dancing shadows of lush trees below.

"I... I'm not dead?" Ba Bel murmured softly, trying to get up. However, excruciating pain swept over him again, as if all his bones were crushed. He could only groan and lean against a tree.

*Is this the afterlife? Why doesn't it look like what's described in the books I've read?*

"Child, are you awake?" A man's voice interrupted his reverie. A man who had been by the campfire immediately stood up and approached him. "I thought it would take a few more days for you to regain consciousness."

Ba Bel looked up, his eyes fixed on the approaching figure. That face... a face that had never faded from his memory, a face he always regretted. "Master Wong? Why hasn't your face changed, and why does it look the same as when we first met?" he asked, his voice small and hoarse. He stared in disbelief at the man, who appeared to be in his late twenties.

Wong An frowned, his steps faltering. He looked at Ba Bel with a wary gaze, doubt clearly etched in his eyes.

"Who are you, child? Why do you call me Master and know my name?"

Ba Bel heard those words and instantly frowned. "Child?" he murmured softly, repeating the word like a mantra. He then looked at his hands. Small, short hands. Then his feet, which now looked like those of a five-year-old boy. "What? How can this be?!" Panic seized him. He immediately touched and held all his limbs.

"No! This can't be happening!" Ba Bel screamed inwardly, panicked to find himself trapped in a child's body.

His gaze swept around him, confusion clearly etched in his eyes. He recognized this place. A simple camp in the middle of the forest. Lush trees, the scent of damp earth. "Isn't this the first place I met Master Wong? Am I... alive again?"

Ba Bel, the revered Demon Emperor, now covered his face with his tiny hands. A deep sense of depression crushed his spirit. He didn't know whether to rejoice or scream in fury.

"IMPOSSIBLE...!" he shrieked hysterically, his voice cracking, echoing through the forest.

No human being would remain sane upon discovering they'd been granted a second chance at life, only to return to when they were five years old, in a weak and helpless body.

Wong An, who had been suspicious and wary, now softened with pity. He saw the fragility behind the child's gaze, heard the genuine scream of despair. "Calm down, child. You're safe now!" he said softly, continuing his approach to Ba Bel.

Wong An knelt, embracing Ba Bel. Strangely, within that warm embrace, Ba Bel slowly felt safe. His screams subsided, his tears stopped flowing. He once again felt the comfort and love that had long been lost, a feeling he had only experienced when by his master's side in his first life.

After Ba Bel had calmed down, Wong An asked him to rest again. He didn't force Ba Bel to recount what he had experienced. That night, Ba Bel couldn't close his eyes. He also knew Wong An wasn't sleeping. He heard Wong An coughing softly throughout the night, the same cough he remembered from his youth.

Wong An purposely stayed awake, not sleeping, because he was worried Ba Bel would become hysterical again or do something dangerous.

Ba Bel pondered everything in his mind. He didn't mind getting a second chance at life; what he didn't understand was why he had returned to life at the exact moment he first met Wong An, instead of when he was still with his parents. "Hah... even if I returned to life before the age of five," he thought, "I still wouldn't be able to save my parents when the bandits came to plunder the village and kill the villagers!" It was an unavoidable fate, a tragedy he couldn't change, even with all his knowledge as the Demon Emperor.

Wong An, seeing Ba Bel lost in thought with a complex expression, asked, "Child, what are you thinking about? And what truly happened to you?"

Ba Bel told Wong An that his village had been attacked by bandits. His father was killed to give him and his mother time to escape. However, another bandit chased his mother to the edge of the village, and she was killed when the bandit threw a spear at her. He himself was caught, and all the surviving villagers were about to be sold as slaves. By chance, he and some villagers managed to escape the bandits. This happened two days before he met Wong An. Ba Bel survived by eating whatever he found in the forest until he eventually collapsed and was found by Wong An.

Wong An was very impressed with Ba Bel. Despite having just gone through an extremely tragic event, Ba Bel was able to recount it with fortitude and clarity. Wong An found no falsehoods in what Ba Bel said. When Wong An looked into Ba Bel's eyes, he saw the truth of the story being told, as well as the deep trauma reflected in them. "I understand your situation, child. But how do you know my surname and call me Master?"

"DAMN IT!" Ba Bel cursed inwardly.

A small hole in his story. If, because of this, Wong An didn't take him on as a disciple in this life, it wouldn't be a major issue for Ba Bel, who now possessed his memories and the Nine Demonic Transformations Scripture, the greatest inner strength martial arts text, one of the four most sought-after peerless scriptures in the Dark Ages.

However, he *had* to follow Wong An. It was the only way to resolve his greatest regret from his first life and rectify it in this second life. Ba Bel could only scratch his small head. There was no way he could tell Wong An that he had reincarnated and received a second chance at life right now.

Ba Bel could only say that he had dreamed of meeting and being rescued by a Swordsman named Wong An, who wore the same clothes Wong An was currently wearing. Even Ba Bel himself didn't believe the words coming out of his mouth, as it all sounded very mystical and overly sacred.

Wong An looked Ba Bel up and down, feeling strange. Knowing his surname could be considered a coincidence, but knowing his full name felt very odd and strange. He didn't fully believe what Ba Bel said, but on the other hand, Ba Bel was just a five-year-old child.

*{A dream? This child says he dreamed of meeting a swordsman who looked like me and took him as a disciple. Is this truly the destiny willed by the Gods?}* Wong An pondered inwardly.

"Alright, if you have nowhere to go, you can follow me back to the Earth and Sky Sword Sect in Solitude Valley. Perhaps all of this is a destiny ordained by the Gods. I've never had a disciple; you can be my first," Wong An said, a sincere smile blooming on his face.

Before Wong An could finish, Ba Bel had prostrated himself once, then continued to do so three times, his forehead touching the ground. Then, Ba Bel called out to Wong An, "Master!"

This made Wong An frown and feel a little uneasy, seeing such an overly enthusiastic response from such a young child. However, under the quiet night sky, two souls bound by fate, a master and a disciple, were reunited in this life, carving a new chapter in the legend of the Demon Emperor.