Chapter 1010: The Rapid Advancement
Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio
There were seven basic emotions in men: joy, anger, worry, affection, sadness, fear and fright.
The first life of Ling Feiyu consisted of all seven emotions and six desires. She had experienced the joy in the beginning of life, then sadness, followed by the fear and fright, and finally the worry and sentiments of affection at the end of her life.
The first life had honed her determination and shaped her to be more mindful.
In the second life, she was born into a blue planet and became a doctor, spending her lifetime saving multiple lives. There was no unfathomable sword technique in that world, only advanced technology.
In the end, she died from overwork after saving so many lives.
In the third life, Ling Feiyu was a merciless murderer. Zhang Ruochen was her target, yet she failed to kill him again and again until she died.
In the fourth life, she was born to extreme poverty. The life ended with her being the wealthiest businesswoman under the guidance of Zhang Ruochen.
In the fifth life, Ling Feiyu was the Matriarch of a demonic sect. She was cruel, bloodthirsty and cold blooded.
In the sixth life, Ling Feiyu was born as a fox demon. As the guide, Zhang Ruochen had succeeded in leading her to the path of cultivation.
In the seventh life, Ling Feiyu was born into a brothel. She was so beautiful that every man at that time longed for her. She enjoyed her fame, wasting her youth at the brothel.
Zhang Ruochen spent much effort to convince her to leave but to no avail.
In the end, he had to make her fall for him and both of them lived together in a forest.
They spent the rest of their lives raising two of their children.
During that life, Zhang Ruochen did love her.
Fortunately, during their late years, he managed to keep himself rational from the relationship and pulled both of them out from the virtual world.
As the guide, he had to stay rational throughout the seven lives. Otherwise, Ling Feiyu and he would be trapped in the Seven Lives and Seven Deaths Map forever.
When that happened, their physical bodies which remained outside of the Map would die.
Zhang Ruochen finally realized how dangerous the Map could be, for it could make one forget about himself and get lost in the virtual world.
One lifetime was long enough.
Long enough to let someone forget their purpose of experiencing the virtual world.
Imagine them having to live through all seven lives!
…
Along the riverside.
Chu Siyuan, Luo Xu and Luo Shui Han were waiting patiently outside the circle drawn earlier, trying hard to stay calm.
It had been seven days. Was it a success or a failure? The result would be known to them soon.
Luo Xu frowned and asked, “Brother Chu, since the Map has had a long history, it has been experienced by many veterans, hasn’t it?”
Chu Siyuan nodded and said, “Yes, it has. Not that many though, no more than a hundred.”
“What about those who succeeded?” Luo Xu asked.
Chu Siyuan paused for a moment, then replied, “Seventeen of them.”
“Why is the Seven Lives Seven Deaths Map so dangerous?” asked Luo Shuihan. He was shocked by the numbers.
Because failure would mean death.
“It is a dangerous adventure. Why do you think there are so few of them who try?” Chu Siyuan replied.
A moment later, Chu Siyuan smiled, “Zhang Ruochen and Ling Feiyu are both the finest talents of the century. They will have great achievements in the future. Their success rate is at least a high 70%.”
While they seemed to have a high chance of success rate, the 30% percent failure rate was not insignificant.
They waited anxiously.
No one would know what the result would be, not until the very last minute.
Swoosh.
Two glowing dots popped out from the Seven Lives and Seven Deaths Map and flew toward Zhang Ruochen and Ling Feiyu respectively.
The moment they opened their eyes, their eyes met each other.
Ling Feiyu looked confused, muttering: I thought I was dead. Why am I seeing you again? No… That’s not right… I am not Qing Yu Ou, I am Ling Feiyu.
Qing Yu Ou was her name in her seventh life.
She brought her palms up with her Holy Qi bubbling on them, placing them on her chest.
She closed her eyes again, trying to digest all the memories of seven lives, reflecting on the lessons gained.
Comparatively, Zhang Ruochen seemed troubled.
While he remembered everything that happened throughout the seven lives, he knew he had lived in a virtual world that did not exist.
The memories also contained his understanding of the Saintly Way, the power of time and space, sword mastery, fist techniques as well as palm techniques. These could not be digested within a short amount of time.
Chu Siyuan walked over to his back and placed his palm against his head.
“Zhang Ruochen, you have been through all seven lives. The things you have seen are equivalent to a saint who has lived through a hundred years. You are too young to digest all of this at once. I shall seal the memory of the six lives you had.”
Chu Siyuan cast six chains formed by his Spiritual Power into Zhang Ruochen’s head.
Slowly, colors starting to develop on his pale face.
The next morning, he finally managed to connect all of his memories and understanding to his saint soul.
“I spent the first half of my first life to experience things that any mortal would have experienced. During the second half, other than guiding Ling Feiyu on sword techniques, I had been practicing the fist and palm techniques.”
“Water Luo Fists at the sixth level… What’s happening? I remember achieving the eighth already in my first life.”
The Water Luo Fists had nine levels in total. Each advancement was a huge gap away from the previous level. Moreover, Luo Xu was still studying on the possibility of creating the tenth level.
“Sword Four had achieved the mastery level… I remember advancing to the Sword Five already.”
“Spiritual Power at the level of forty-eight… Shouldn’t it be level fifty?”
…
Zhang Ruochen had only combined his understanding gained from his first life, yet the advancement shown was a rapid one in all aspects.
Though they did not meet his expectations.
Zhang Ruochen shifted his gaze to Chu Siyuan, wondering if he had sealed some of his gains from the first life.
“Why are you staring at me?”
Chu Siyuan was annoyed, and he returned Zhang Ruochen’s stare.
He laughed after realizing what the stare was about. “Young man, are you suspecting whether I have sealed some of your gains? I’ll tell you what, not at all. Those are all that you have achieved in your first life. The rest is your hallucination.”
Zhang Ruochen answered in a doubtful tone, “Really?”
His answer infuriated Chu Siyuan even more. He felt as if his character had been questioned.
Chu Siyuan hissed, “The Seven Lives Seven Deaths Map is nothing but a map. Did you really think it could make you a world top warrior? Nothing in the world is real, and it’s also so with your senses. It is extremely normal if you have had some hallucinations.”
After a lengthy explanation, Zhang Ruochen was convinced.
In fact, he was quite satisfied with his achievement, for he had only combined his memories in his first life.
The Water Luo Fists had achieved the sixth level.
The Sword Four had achieved the mastery level.
Mastery of the Eight Changes of Scales had been completed.
The Spiritual Power had achieved the forty-eighth level.
All he had to do now was to digest all of these achievements completely in order to prepare himself for the memories of his second life.
Of course, he had remained as a Level Four Half-Saint in his first life.
That said, the improvement in his second, third… and seventh life would be less substantial.
There was a bottleneck to a half-saint’s cultivation.
For instance, a half-saint would never master the Sword Seven.
A half-saint would never achieve the ninth level of the Water Luo Fists.
As the techniques increased in level, the time spent on cultivation made only a marginal difference to the progress.
What Zhang Ruochen had truly gained was not the achievements he had, but the different perspectives of life and saintly way.
“When I came back alive at the Yunwu Commandery, why did I lose all my skills learned in the past life?”
Zhang Ruochen gave it a thought.
He came to a conclusion that it could be due to his body.
The Crown Prince of the Sacred Central Empire had a different body than Zhang Ruochen. In fact, their body types vastly differed from each other.
A well mastered technique allowed a monk to perform an attack ten times stronger than the monk actually was. This was because the technique was blended seamlessly into the monk’s body.
Given that the monk swapped to another body, he would not be able to perform a similar technique. Even if he remembered all of the moves, the strength and power released would never be equivalent to the one whIch the body had bound with the technique for.
Ling Feiyu had recovered from combining the memories of her seven lives. She remained seated, but the aura she gave out marked her terrifying presence, completely different from Beauty Shi.
Ling Feiyu laid her eyes on Zhang Ruochen, and asked, “Zhang Ruochen, what are you thinking?”
Zhang Ruochen lifted his head and met her gaze, smiling. He said, “I was wondering, between the two of us, who was the master and who was the student.”
There was a moment of silence.
“Seems like it’s true that you only have the memory of your first life.”
Ling Feiyu seemed calm, so calm that it made her seem cold. Nodding her head, she stood up and was about to leave.