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  Ancient Fragment #6

  A master warned his disciples to be ever wary of soul cultivators. With but a moment of carelessness, one’s body could be seized and reduced to a lifeless puppet beneath another’s will.

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  Long Tianyu groaned softly as he awoke, his head throbbing with a dull, lingering ache. His eyelids trembled, they were extremely heavy before slowly opening. A low wooden ceiling came into view, its beams darkened with age, unfamiliar yet strangely comforting.

  Where am I?

  He lay on a simple single bed, the thin mattress firm beneath him, a rough woven blanket pulled up to his chest. The room was small and sparsely furnished. A plain wooden table sat near the wall, its surface bare save for a chipped teacup. A single chair stood beside it, one of its legs uneven, carefully wedged to keep it steady. There were no decorations, no ornaments of wealth, no traces of cultivation tools or precious artifacts.

  The house was quiet, filled only with the faint sounds of the outside world, distant footsteps, the murmur of voices, the rustle of wind brushing against paper windows. Sunlight filtered through the lattice, soft and pale, casting simple patterns across the floor.

  It reminded him of his own home in Xincheng.

  How is mother and father...?

  A middle-aged woman walked through the door, dressed in simple, well-worn clothes. Her robe was clean but plainly stitched, the fabric faded from years of use. Strands of dark hair, already threaded with gray, were pulled back into a loose knot. Her hands were rough, bearing the signs of steady labor. She looked in surprise at Long Tianyu.

  “Ahh! Miss! Husband! He woke up!” the woman cried out in alarm.

  The shout echoed in his ears as confusion washed over him.

  The storm of grey mist… the sea of lightning… that thing… Qingqing!

  Pain exploded inside his head.

  “AHHHH!”

  He screamed as torrents of foreign memories flooded his mind. His hands clawed into the cotton bedsheet as his body twisted violently, startling the woman beside him and the family that gathered inside the house.

  Endless knowledge surged through him like a raging tide. Swords and blades. Rare materials. Alchemy and forging. Formations and talismans. Information about cultivation. Nine Heavens Sword Bloodline, Divine Tempering of the Three Origins.

  His vision spun. The sheer weight of it crushed his thoughts, leaving him dizzy and horrified. Memories that were not his pressed against his soul, demanding to be his from now on.

  What happened in The Godslaying Abyss?

  What saved us?

  A colossal shadow surfaced in his mind. A beast taller than any mountain he had ever known, its form drowned in boundless azure light. That was all he could remember.

  Gratitude stirred deep within him, heavy and instinctive, as though he owed an immeasurable debt to whatever had intervened. Alongside it came something else.

  An overwhelming obsession.

  It burned within his soul, foreign yet absolute, as if it had been branded into his existence. Phrases echoed again and again, growing louder with every heartbeat.

  Nine Tribulations.

  Find it.

  Bring it back.

  The pain receded. His screams faded into hoarse whispers as his body curled in on itself like a shrimp. His lips trembled as he muttered endlessly.

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  “Nine Tribulations… Nine Tribulations… Do you know where it is?”

  Silence fell.

  He stopped moving.

  Slowly, Long Tianyu lifted his head and looked at the horrified faces of the family, a woman, man and their daughter. Their fear reflected clearly in his eyes which were now wide and bloodshot, tears of blood also fell from his eyes.

  Suddenly, his expression twisted.

  “WHERE IS IT?!” he roared.

  The room shook with his scream, causing the young girl to fall down in fear as the mother and father protected her.

  Hua Qingqing rushed into the room as Long Tianyu roared, she had been further away helping the family to gather wood.

  For an instant, fear flickered in her eyes. She grabbed Long Tianyu’s wrist, her hands trembling as she pressed down on him.

  “Tianyu… look at me,” she said, forcing calm into her voice. “Whatever you saw… whatever you heard… you’re safe now.”

  Her grip tightened. “You’re here. With me. Tianyu… it’s me. Qingqing.”

  Long Tianyu’s eyes gradually cleared. “Qingqing, you’re really alive,” he whispered, hugging her tightly.

  “Qingqing! You’re safe, you’re really safe!” His voice shook, like he was scared she’d vanish if he let go.

  “Mmm, we're safe,” Hua Qingqing replied softly, her arms wrapped firmly around him.

  Tears of happiness welled up in her eyes as she looked at Long Tianyu. She had experienced something similar yesterday when she first woke up, but the obsession gripping Long Tianyu’s soul was clearly much stronger.

  For a long while, neither of them spoke. Only when Long Tianyu’s racing heartbeat calmed down did Hua Qingqing begin to explain everything that had happened since she had awakened the day before.

  She told him how she had opened her eyes on the shore, weak and disoriented, and how she had been discovered by Jin Xue’er. She gestured toward the family nearby.

  “The man you scared earlier is Jin Haotian,” she explained softly. “He’s Jin Lian and Jin Xue’er’s father. Their mom is Jin Ruyan.”

  Long Tianyu stiffened slightly when he heard this. Turning toward the family, guilt immediately surfaced on his face. Remembering their pale expressions and shaken bodies, he bowed deeply.

  “I’m really sorry,” he said, meaning it. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

  “Wait, did you say Jin Lian?” Long Tianyu straightened up, turning quickly to Hua Qingqing with surprise.

  “Yes,” Hua Qingqing said, smiling happily as she gestured toward the family again.

  “Miss Qingqing told us everything yesterday,” Jin Haotian said with a bow. “We’re happy to help our son’s friends.”

  Long Tianyu hurried forward to stop him.

  “Please, Uncle, you don’t have to bow,” he said quickly. “Jin Lian’s a good friend of us.”

  Jin Haotian halted and looked more closely at the young man before him. Trusting his instincts, he was certain that this youth would become someone great one day.

  Our son always had a good eye for people.

  “Please, stay as long as you like. We’re glad to have you here,” Jin Ruyan said with a warm smile. She then gently ushered her husband and daughter away, leaving Hua Qingqing and Long Tianyu alone.

  Throughout the exchange, Jin Xue’er remained unusually quiet, still shaken by Long Tianyu’s earlier outburst and strange behavior. She did not dare say a word. The rest of the family followed Jin Ruyan without question, their footsteps retreating from the room.

  Outside, Jin Haotian and Jin Ruyan tried to comfort Jin Xue’er about what had just happened and they tried to change subject to talk about her big brother Jin Lian instead.

  “Jin Lian be fine in the Scarlet Battlefield,” Jin Haotian said softly.

  ''How could you know?'' Jin Xue'er questioned and raised her eyebrows.

  “Miss Qingqing told us he’s with her brother, Xiao Chi. If he’s anything like her, he won’t be weak.”

  Jin Ruyan’s eyes softened. “Aiya... that child, Ever since he got that golden spear, it’s like he’s become a battle maniac.”

  Jin Haotian nodded and laughed. “Hahaha, yes, that’s our boy.”

  The Jin family suddenly heard footsteps approaching their home.

  Ah… trouble again. Jin Haotian sighed, already bracing himself for the storm of questions that would follow. The earlier scream from Long Tianyu had likely startled half the village.

  Before him stood several villagers dressed in simple, worn clothes. At the front was the village master, Chi Diu, his long beard hanging so low it nearly brushed the ground. Ever since the Jin family had taken in Hua Qingqing and Long Tianyu, the villagers had been on edge. Cultivators were both revered and feared among mortals, and many worried that their presence would bring disaster to the village. Though everyone had helped when Hua Qingqing and Long Tianyu were first discovered, unease still lingered in their hearts.

  Chi Diu stood firm at the front, the villagers clustered behind him.

  “What happened?” Chi Diu asked, his voice tense.

  “We’re not sure,” Jin Haotian replied, forcing calm into his voice. “But they won’t pose a threat to us. I promise. They’re my son’s friends, after all.”

  Murmurs rippled through the crowd.

  “How can we be sure?” a middle-aged man named Xu Hanfeng said. “You saw how bloodied they were when we found them.”

  “I know,” Jin Haotian said, “but they didn’t have any visible wounds, you all know that.”

  “It could have been the blood of others,” Chi Diu added quietly.

  “I’ve already spoken with Miss Qingqing,” Jin Haotian continued. “She promised they wouldn’t bring trouble to us. She’s helped this village ever since she woke up.”

  ''But...''

  “Do you have no shame?” Jin Haotian finally snapped. “Trying to drive away someone who helped you, like a street dog?”

  The villagers flushed with embarrassment, their gazes dropping.

  Chi Diu frowned. As the village elder, he understood Jin Haotian’s point, yet the safety of the village rested on his shoulders. After a long pause, he spoke. “Once that man has healed, they must leave. We cannot fully trust them.”

  With those words, the discussion came to an end and the group of villagers left the Jin home.

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  End of chapter 6 - The obsession