The ultimate chaos God

Second Life

THUMP.

Darkness swallowed everything.

There was no pain. No sound. No sky. No earth.

Only an endless void that stretched beyond sight, where even time seemed to have forgotten how to move.

Li Tian drifted through the darkness without knowing whether a second or a thousand years had passed.

Then a voice pierced the silence.

"Li Tian!"

It was faint, almost carried away by the wind.

"...Li Tian!"

His consciousness stirred. His fingers twitched. His chest suddenly tightened as if an invisible hand had squeezed his lungs.

He gasped.

Air rushed into his body in a violent cough. His eyes flew open.

Blinding sunlight poured through a canopy of emerald leaves, forcing him to squint. Branches swayed gently overhead, casting dancing shadows across his face. Somewhere nearby, water trickled over smooth stones while birds chirped as though nothing in the world had ever gone wrong.

Li Tian froze. His breathing became ragged.

This wasn't Heaven's Ruin Gorge. There was no broken battlefield. No towering jade barrier. No smell of blood or burning flesh. The cold wind that had carried the scent of death was gone, replaced by the rich fragrance of damp earth and wild grass.

"...Where..."

He forced himself upright.

Pain shot through every muscle, but it was strangely ordinary. Not the agony of shattered bones. Not the burning frost that had frozen his meridians.

His hands flew to his stomach.

The dagger...

His fingers searched frantically beneath the rough cloth covering his body. Nothing. No wound. No blood.

His palm rested against a chest that felt frighteningly weak. His heartbeat was slow. Fragile. Nothing like the overwhelming vitality of the Chaos Heart.

"...I'm alive?"

"Finally!"

The sharp voice startled him. Li Tian looked up.

A young girl stood before him with both hands planted firmly on her hips. She looked to be around his age, dressed in plain blue training robes with patches sewn along the sleeves. Dirt clung to the hems of her clothes, and loose strands of black hair had escaped the knot behind her head. Her face showed equal parts relief and irritation.

"I told you not to provoke Li Wei again!" she snapped. "Do you enjoy getting beaten half to death? You scared everyone!"

Li Tian stared blankly. Li Wei? The name meant nothing.

The girl's expression softened for only a heartbeat before irritation returned. "Say something."

He didn't answer.

Instead, his gaze drifted toward the polished bronze mirror hanging from her belt. Without thinking, he reached forward.

"Hey!"

Before she could react, he had already taken it. The cool bronze trembled in his hands. Slowly, he raised it.

The reflection stole the breath from his lungs.

"...No..."

The face staring back wasn't his.

Gone were the sharp features that had intimidated countless cultivators. Gone were the crimson eyes that had looked down upon the strongest experts beneath the heavens.

Instead, a pale sickly youth stared back at him. His cheeks were hollow. His lips were dry and cracked. A swollen bruise stretched across one side of his face while another darkened his jaw. He looked as though a strong breeze might knock him over.

Li Tian's fingers tightened around the mirror.

"The Chaos Heart..."

The words barely escaped his lips. "It gave me another chance."

He continued staring at the unfamiliar face. Not reborn as a child. Not restored to his former body. Someone else's body. Someone who had suffered long before he arrived.

"Li Tian?"

The girl frowned. "You're acting strange."

She stepped closer and grabbed his shoulder.

The instant her fingers touched him, pain exploded inside his head.

"AHH!"

He clutched his temples. The world tilted violently.

Images flashed before his eyes.

A violet dagger. Mo Yun's sneer. Xinyi's emotionless gaze. Golden flames swallowing Heaven's Ruin Gorge. The Chaos Heart's final heartbeat.

THUMP.

Then another flood arrived.

A small boy sitting alone outside a training hall while other children laughed. Bruised fists. Hungry nights. An exhausted woman secretly places half her dinner into another bowl. A weary man coughing blood after another failed cultivation attempt.

Fourteen years of humiliation. Fourteen years of failure.

Memories that weren't his settled inside him like heavy stones sinking into deep water. They didn't crash together. They merged. Slowly. Relentlessly.

His past life pressed down upon a body far too weak to bear its weight. His frail meridians trembled. His vision blurred.

"Guh!"

Everything turned black.

---

A-Ning stared in disbelief. "...Seriously?"

Li Tian had collapsed face-first into the grass. Again.

She rubbed both temples. "I spend half the morning dragging you out of Moonshade Grove..." She sighed. "...and you faint the moment you wake up."

She nudged him with her foot. No response.

She folded her arms. "You really know how to make people's lives difficult."

Despite her complaints, genuine concern flickered across her face. She crouched beside him and checked his breathing.

Still alive. Good.

She glanced toward the distant mountain path. If Li Wei came back... No. She couldn't leave Li Tian here.

"You owe me for this."

With a grunt, she pulled one of his arms across her shoulders before lifting him onto her back. He weighed almost nothing. That worried her more than anything else.

She adjusted her footing before beginning the long journey home. Branches scratched against her sleeves. Roots twisted beneath her feet. Li Tian's head rested limply against her shoulder as they made their way through the forest.

The towering gates of the Li Celestial Clan slowly appeared in the distance.

Neither of them noticed the faint golden pulse that flickered once beneath Li Tian's skin before disappearing again.

---

When Li Tian opened his eyes again, the forest was gone.

A cracked wooden ceiling greeted him. The scent of fresh leaves had been replaced by the bitter smell of boiled herbs. Rain tapped softly against the roof.

A small room came into focus. The walls were patched with uneven wooden boards. A single table leaned crookedly against one corner. Everything inside looked worn by years of hardship.

Before he could gather his thoughts, the wooden door burst open.

A woman hurried inside. Her clothes were faded from countless washings. Her face was thin. Dark circles surrounded tear-filled eyes.

The moment she saw him awake, she ran forward.

"Tian'er!"

She threw her arms around him. Warm tears soaked into his shoulder.

"You're awake... I thought I'd lost you..."

Her body shook uncontrollably.

Li Tian sat frozen. His mind went blank.

Who is this woman?

He instinctively tried to pull away. Then another memory surfaced.

A woman sewing clothes beneath candlelight. Quietly skipping meals. Selling the last piece of jewelry she owned to buy medicine. Standing outside training grounds with hopeful eyes despite hearing endless ridicule directed at her son.

Li Yuer. His mother.

No. The mother of this body.

The realization settled heavily inside his chest.

Awkwardly, he raised one trembling hand and rested it gently upon her shoulder.

"I'm... alright."

Li Yuer cried even harder. "You frightened me." She wiped her tears before looking him over. "I told you not to provoke Li Wei."

The name echoed through the room.

This body's memories stirred once more. The room faded. Rain disappeared. The smell of herbs vanished.

His vision was swallowed by another memory.

One hour earlier. Moonshade Grove.