I wasn’t particularly worried about the fall, or even the impact, to be honest, but I wasn’t looking forward to it. Though I tried to steer my dive toward the river, the winds were harder to combat than I expected. I was treated to a minute of free fall with wind rushing past my ears and the world expanding out in front of me. It was beautiful, and I resolved that if I could figure out how to fly, I would.

  The birds had it right.

  Before I could think about what kind of bird I would be, or want to be, I struck the ground beside the river. Aiming was harder than it looked.

  The body I’d spent all day healing was shattered again and slumped into the river like a butcher’s garbage. I tumbled along the bottom of the river, pulled by the icy current and feeling my brain slowing.

  Slowing, but not dying.

  Though, wouldn’t it be hilarious if that was what finally killed me?

  I chuckled, and my blood seeped into the water. My willpower was fractured, and I couldn’t control my body, but my regeneration continued without my command. I drifted and dragged along the riverbed as my bones pieced themselves back together. Eventually, my willpower regained purchase over my body, and I could control my blood enough to stop it leaking into the water.

  After that, I manipulated my limbs to drag myself over to the riverbank and crawled up the muddy slope. Water cascaded from my mouth and nostrils. No matter how much water had entered my lungs, there was no ill effect. It made sense since I’d walked around as a skeleton. I could drown endlessly without dying — though it was far from pleasant.

  My bones were still mostly broken, but I was intact enough that I looked like a man as I lay on the mud under the moonlight.

  The river had pulled me away from the mountain, and I let out a sigh of relief as I pulled myself up out of the cold water. I’d expected a land covered in winter, but it seemed only the mountaintop had snow and ice. Forest surrounded me, and along one side of the river ran a dirt road leading both toward the mountain and away from it.

  I didn’t know where I was.

  The Shining Mountain Sect was a name that meant nothing to me, but I had no desire to return to the mountain I had leaped off.

  I would simply hope that civilization lay in the other direction, so I started limping my way along the road. Most of my bones remained broken, and using blood control to move my entire body was taxing. On top of that, I was getting hungry.

  At least the warm weather removed the chill from my bones.

  As I walked, I gathered all the details in my mind so I could begin my favorite thing in the world: making a plan.

  First, I needed to figure out my abilities. I clearly wasn’t human, and I wasn’t something I’d ever heard about. Though, to be fair, two of my lifetimes were poorly educated.

  Still, I might not be able to figure out what I was, but I could figure out what I could do.

  My first ability was mental manipulation over my blood. This lets me control blood inside and outside my body. The range was terrible, but I could increase my strength by pumping my muscles full of blood. I could also fight through any injury, because a blood-controlled limb could ignore broken bones and torn muscles — though the cost to my willpower was exorbitant.

  My next ability was healing. This was, frankly, incredible. I held no illusions about that. That I was still alive after what happened to me was a miracle, though if demonic cultivators were involved, perhaps it wasn’t so miraculous…

  There were a couple of hitches to my regeneration that I noticed. While I didn’t feel pain, having my blood destroyed by the formation hurt immensely. It hadn’t hurt when the river swept my blood away, so I supposed it had something to do with the qi in the formation. That, or it was because of the fire totally destroying my blood rather than just spilling it.

  Either way, it was brutal.

  Also, massive injuries to my spine and brain made me lose control for a moment — it didn’t kill me, but it was to be avoided.

  There was a slight fear that I wasn’t coming back correctly every time. Hell, I wasn’t even sure what correctly meant right now.

  Part of me didn’t feel like I’d died… like it was all one continuous experience, but I couldn’t be sure.

  I now knew the facility was a demonic cultivator research laboratory, and they were doing experiments with that dark gray stone that fell from the heavens. Those stonebound memories sent a shiver down my spine.

  But at the same time…

  One memory showed me a neat trick with teeth. I tried to repeat it, focusing on my jaw until I felt my teeth slide out like fangs.

  “Thath thun,” I said to myself before sliding my teeth back into my jaw like normal.

  So, a third, minor ability to shape my teeth, which I’d picked up from one of those little grey rocks.

  Finding more of those rocks could assist in understanding what happened to me, and possibly — hopefully — teach me more abilities. It would be nice to find more, but I didn’t want to run into another demonic facility anytime soon.

  Because there was something even more important to me.

  I had three lifetimes full of memories sloshing around, and buried in there were people and places I wished to see again.

  I still didn’t know how long I was stuck in that lab, but I wanted to visit each of my homes.

  So my first step was to find civilization.

  Once I had my bearings, I could try and see if the Shining Mountain released any information about the demonic sect facility. It would be nice to have some answers without risking capture.

  I walked through the night and into the morning. Eventually, I heard the sounds of people coming from a double-story inn sitting beside the river.

  Tan’s Palace looked to be quite an old building, but it had a fresh coat of blue paint and motifs of tigers in a style I didn’t recognize. My street rat memories could only compare the place to the inns from Shadowlight City’s slums, which were all rundown or gaudy or both. I remembered travelling with my merchant father and staying at several inns, but they were all utilitarian structures designed to tough out the northern winters. My other pasts hadn’t left the farming community or the city they grew up in.

  Still, twenty years of memories on the road were more than enough for me to know how to walk into an establishment, ensure my feet were clean, and make my way up to the restaurant. Hopefully, they would still serve breakfast, and I was determined to get some food inside me that wasn’t monstrous in origin.

  I’d eaten horrific things in the facility, but survival can push people into extremes.

  Maybe they even had fried dumplings!

  The thought made me salivate, but I was careful not to drool as I walked into the restaurant. The walls were full of windows letting in natural light. Only a few people sat at the tables, some of whom looked like cultivators, which put me a little on edge. They were all staring at me, which put me really on edge, but I gave a polite bow as I tried to find someone who might be a server or proprietor.

  I needed to explain that I might not have money, but I would happily work for a meal.

  A charming young woman walked out of the kitchen with a steaming teapot in one hand. She gasped when she saw me and dropped the teapot.

  I hurried over.

  “Are you alright, miss?” I asked her. “I hope you didn’t burn yourself.”

  She backed away from me, and I stopped, not wanting to frighten her. The broken teapot looked up at me pitifully. Poor bastard hadn’t asked to be thrown on the ground. I glanced around, and everyone was still staring at me with looks that ranged from amused to outraged.

  A part of me wanted to challenge those disgusted expressions, but I had no desire to mess with cultivators.

  “I’ll just find myself a table,” I said, half to the waitress and half to the room.

  I headed over to a corner and nodded at the two men sitting at a table nearby. One was wearing an old black robe, while the other — quite handsome in a “he knows it” kind of way — wore resplendent robes of the Shining Mountain Sect. I kept my head down and sat, waiting for someone to bring me tea and food.

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  I would just have to explain my lack of funds when they came to my table. Places like this always let someone sweep or do dishes or some other chore in exchange for a meal.

  While I tapped my fingers on the table, the Shining Mountain Sect cultivator continued staring at me. His face grew redder and redder, while the black-robed man beside him hid a smile behind an empty cup of tea.

  I’m all for minding your own business, but the brash street rat in me knew that being looked down on could lead to more trouble down the road. Just as I was about to question their thinly veiled hostility, the man in the sect robes threw his cup to the ground.

  It shattered, and the explosion silenced all other conversations.

  “How dare you?” he shouted at me as the smell of rice wine wafted up from the ground. “How dare you make a mockery of this establishment! Of common decency!”

  “Yeah!” shouted one of the other cultivators. “What are you doing parading naked in front of our young master?”

  Wait…

  I was naked?

  “You’re walking around like a lowly dog with his head too high! Kowtow three times and thank our young master for giving you a quicker death than you deserve.”

  I looked down at myself.

  “Wow…” I said. “I didn’t realize.”

  When the Cleansing Array burned me down to my bones, it also removed all my clothes. My flesh regrew, but it never replaced my shabby prisoner robes. Half of my good mood probably came from no longer feeling that rough fabric on my skin.

  Still, I now understood everyone’s discomfort.

  I quickly stood and bowed toward the waitress.

  “I’m terribly sorry for startling you, miss,” I said. “I’ll be leaving now.”

  I hurried toward the stairs that would take me back to the ground floor and outside.

  Two of the drunken cultivators moved to the stairs to stop me. They moved with more grace and speed than any normal human, and I felt that old childhood fear reawaken.

  Mortals stayed out of the way of cultivators, and I felt that instinct to turn away… except the cultivators now stood between me and the exit.

  “Excuse me, honored gentlemen,” I said, bowing as I tried to shuffle past them.

  The two men — one short, and one ugly — blocked my path as effectively as a brick wall.

  “Um…” I said as I tried to slip between them. “Excuse me?”

  “Where do you think you’re going?"

  The short one placed his hand on my chest and shoved me back into the room so hard I fell into a table and broke it. Cups rolled and shattered on the ground.

  “Now he’s breaking property?” the ugly one said with a laugh. “Surely, our young master must teach this cur a lesson!”

  The so-called young master rose gracefully from his chair and walked over to me with his hands behind his back. He looked so much like a cultivator that I felt I was watching a play.

  His nose wrinkled in disgust as he looked over me.

  “We spent our night hunting the enemies of the empire,” he said. “What did you do? Crawl between bushes and ditches, lapping at rice wine and chasing dogs to fuck?”

  I blinked at his accusation.

  “No?” I said. “I was…”

  I suddenly realized what this prick was saying. Enemies of the empire? These drunken cultivators must be the ones I saw leaping up the mountain toward the facility. Not only were they done with their search, but they’d outpaced me and arrived at this inn.

  Was this all a coincidence?

  Or a trap?

  In either case, telling the truth was a bad idea.

  Unfortunately, the young master didn’t appreciate my sudden silence.

  “What was that?” he asked.

  I shook my head.

  The short cultivator kicked me in the ribs.

  “Answer him!”

  I gasped for air and glanced around at the other proprietors as they stood against the wall. Their eyes were alight with the same mortal fear I’d been raised to feel. Cultivators were like iron moving through a world of glass, and mortal bystanders would do — could do — nothing to stop them.

  I felt a weight settle in my heart.

  “Look,” I said as I stood up. “This is all a terrible misunderstanding. I lost my clothes, and I’d greatly appreciate some help getting new ones. There’s no need for all this unpleasantness.”

  The cultivators sneered at me, and the two lackeys turned to their pretty young master, who glanced back at the black-robed man in the corner.

  “Well, Special Inspector Deng?” the young master asked. “What help shall we give this poor, unfortunate fool?”

  My heart pounded in my chest. Special Inspector? That couldn’t be good…

  ###

  Special Inspector Deng almost shook his head with exasperation, but he maintained his composure. Unlike many others in his position, he disliked the spotlight. For him, there was nothing better than slipping into a quiet part of the province, making a report on some aberrant behavior — more often than not a drunken local’s encounter with something perfectly mundane — and then returning to his comfortable office where he could write his reports in peace. It was a fine job that had served him, his father, and his grandfather quite well.

  But cultivators cared little for his preferences, and despite technically being one himself, Deng could do no more to maintain the peace than could the ridiculous naked young man in the restaurant.

  Ren wanted to murder the man, and his lackeys were all too keen to hold him down. Turning and asking Deng for permission was simply a courtesy, and Ren Feilong was as much throwing his politeness in Deng’s face as actually being polite.

  Deng refused to get involved. It was unfortunate, but at least this little bit of bloodlust would clear the risen passions in time for the young master to forget the waitress.

  “This is a local matter,” Deng said in his best bored official voice. “I see no reason to get involved.”

  “As you say.”

  Ren Feilong’s eyes smiled as he bowed deferentially to Deng — the first time he’d actually done so since they started working together.

  “I’m not trying to cause any trouble,” said the naked young man.

  His appearance was painfully average. Even naked, it was hard to note anything distinguishing about him. Mid twenties, dark hair, nothing else of note. That he was trying to de-escalate was both admirable and pointless.

  There would be no changing a young master’s mind.

  “Not cause any trouble?” said the ugly lakey right on cue. “Your very face causes trouble! Now, bow down and beg for your life!”

  A conflicted look passed across the young man’s face.

  “Just let me leave,” he said. “It’s embarrassing enough that I’m naked.”

  Deng’s eyebrow rose. That wasn’t the tone of someone who was genuinely afraid. It wasn’t even the tone of someone who was particularly embarrassed. Could it be… Deng dared not hope, but still the thought entered his mind.

  Could it be a wandering cultivator had come along to beat the snot out of the annoying young master?

  He detected not a trace of qi from the young man, but he could be an expert at suppressing his cultivation, and with Shining Mountain Sect cultivators flaring their cultivation, it was hard to be sure.

  “You are brazen,” Ren Feilong said with a humorless chuckle. “But you must be as stupid as you are ugly to think I’ll let you out of here after you’ve insulted me so.”

  “Hey, if my dick insults you, then that’s on you, buddy.”

  Deng gripped his chair with white knuckles. He did not know what was about to happen, but he hoped, oh, how he foolishly hoped!

  “You dare!” shouted the short lackey.

  The short cultivator poorly imitated Ren Feilong’s effortless swagger as he stormed over and slapped the naked man. The crack of a 1st stage Qi Condensing cultivator’s hand striking mortal flesh filled the restaurant room.

  Nobody breathed in the silence that followed as the naked man staggered backward. Would he fall? Would he stay standing?

  He kept staggering back, fully off balance, his head rocked back by the blow that had left a bright pink handprint on his cheek. His hands flailed behind him, trying to grab a hold of something, but he only pushed the tables and chairs out of his way. It was truly ridiculous as he stumbled back across the entire length of the restaurant…

  Right up to the staircase, which he promptly sprinted down.

  Another silence filled the room, but this one was much more confused.

  So the young man hadn’t been a cultivator, simply a fool.

  Oh well, he’d been entertaining.

  Tan Lu started clearing away the broken furniture, and the older merchants timidly helped. Deng returned to his dumplings and gazed out the window at the young naked man hightailing it down the road.

  That probably would have been the end of it all, but Deng’s tired mind couldn’t stop the amused snort that escaped him.

  Ren Feilong’s head whipped toward him, a question in his gaze, and Deng felt emboldened enough by the moment’s comedy to shrug.

  “Forgive me,” he said. “I found that young man’s brashness quite amusing. They truly build people differently out in the country.”

  He’d meant it as a compliment, but Ren Feilong’s complexion darkened, and he stormed toward the staircase.

  “I must tell the young man how much he pleased an imperial servant,” he said. “He Shunfeng, Gao Wenqi, follow me.”

  His lackeys hurried over to him.

  Ren Feilong made eye contact with Deng as they descended the steps, and there was nothing but death and cold fire in the man’s gaze.

  Deng sighed as the cultivators left. If nothing else, at least this would provide an entertaining story when he returned to the city.

  ###

  I sprinted down the road as fast as my feet would carry me, which felt pretty damn fast, but I wasn’t complaining. Especially since there were three cultivators on my tail.

  “How dare you run from us!” one of them shouted. “Stop and take your beating like a man!”

  I wanted to shout something witty back at them, but nothing came to mind, so I continued running in silence. Somehow, this annoyed them even more.

  A village lay up ahead. I might run there in a few minutes, but was it a good idea? Bringing angry cultivators into a village could lead to disaster, but I seriously doubted the wilderness would be any better.

  Especially since I didn’t have any mountains to jump off.

  Let me be clear, I wasn’t scared of a beating. It was the chance that they would figure out what I was — whatever that turned out to be — and report me to that Special Inspector. The black-robed figure had been so icy cold as he gazed at me over his empty cup. I was sure he saw right through me, but why did he let me escape?

  I glanced back over my shoulder. Two of the cultivators were running, but the last one — the young master — looked as though he were casually strolling. A single vein bulged in his forehead, and his eyes burned with winter’s hatred, but other than that, he seemed to be quite at ease.

  I really didn’t want that guy to catch up to me, but at the moment, it appeared he was letting me escape.

  The street rat in me rankled at such treatment, while my other two past lives told me to take any advantage I could — let his dismissive mercy serve as my stepping stone to fortune!

  I ran into the village, entering the main market square and looking for somewhere to duck and hide, which was when an iron-gripped hand found my shoulder.

  “Huh?” I said before the young master threw me into a stall of cabbages.