Chương 57: Such a Familiar Darkness

Continuing to follow along the small stream, An came out to a large lake. Looking around and immediately activating his Qi Silence to its maximum, he headed toward the shore. He waved his hand and broke off a branch from the nearest tree. Extending his hand, he caught the branch and enveloped it in Qi. Waving his other hand, he attached a long Qi Thread to the end of the branch. Holding it in his hands and examining his new fishing rod, he nodded with an approving smile and walked farther toward the lake.

Standing on the shore, he had just cast the thread into the water when immediately, a fish grabbed onto it and wouldn't let go, sensing the rich and pure Wood Qi. Whoosh! He sharply pulled the thread toward himself, landing the fish onto the shore. Having pulled out a huge purple eel with two electric whiskers, An, without any ceremony, severed its spine, killing all its nerve endings so the beast wouldn't feel pain, and severing its brain so the creature lost consciousness.

Cutting its throat with a Qi Blade, he immediately took out several fruits from his pouch. Placing the fruits before himself and sitting on the ground, he began to wait for the appearance of the first flow of Death energy. Only a few moments later, Death Qi began to emanate from the dying fish. Watching this black flow, he shuddered slightly, feeling some distant click in his head.' Death is merely the completion of a looped cycle...' Focusing, An reached out to this flow and began trying to interact with it.

Specifically, on a subconscious level, he began to attract this black flow using the same principle he used when cultivating. Carefully interacting, at first nothing worked, but over time, these flows yielded to his will and began to be drawn toward him and follow his commands, redirecting themselves onto the fruits and enveloping them.

But most of these flows settled on his hand and wouldn't move, as if they had found a new home. Not paying attention to this, he continued attracting the emerging Death Qi flows from the dying fish and redirecting them onto the fruits, carefully trying to mix just a few particles of this black energy with the Qi inside the fruits, the energy that composed the fruits themselves.

"I-it's wo-working! The f-fruits are ag-aging!" He could see the fruits slowly beginning to age, turning into overripe fruits, and An understood that he could stop this process whenever he wanted and not allow the next stage, the stage of decay. His face twisted from the strange, terrible pain that made his body twitch, yet a satisfied look remained in his eyes.

He involuntarily concentrated on the black flows, and the more he tried to understand them, the more Death Qi from the fish began to be drawn to him, and now not only to his hand, but to his entire body.

"I..." He suddenly felt a strong chill, his body immediately froze. The moment he opened his mouth, everything around disappeared as he plunged into darkness. The last thing he felt was a strong agitation in his Dao of Wood, and a powerful release of energy within his inner world. …. Trying to open his eyes, he saw a blurry image above him, a clear sky and trees swaying in the wind. He distantly heard voices and birdsong.

"What's wrong with you? Are you alright?"

"Don't fall asleep! Hey, you!"

"Don't crowd! Let me see too!"

"Don't touch him! You'll only make it worse!" Blurry silhouettes finally materialized above An, shouting and running around, constantly touching him, but he felt almost nothing, only confusion and a strong chill.' What… are… these… sounds…' He heard very familiar sounds. The hum of cars and a highway somewhere in the distance.' What… how…' His thoughts were like jelly, his head was in terrible pain. Every time he tried to concentrate, the pain only intensified. Everything around began to blur even more.

"Alright, everyone back! I said back!" He heard a loud voice, which immediately scattered the blurry silhouettes from around him. A male silhouette leaned over An and began touching and examining him.

"He… he was just walking and collapsed on the ground! From that bar over there…" An heard a familiar old woman's voice, which he knew well.' N-no… I…' He understood where he was and what was happening to him. The last day he remembered from his first world, specifically, the details of that day.' I… I'm dying…' He immediately realized what was happening, and began to shake. He perfectly understood that he was dying, accepting and at the same time resisting everything that was happening to him now.

He wanted to stand up, wanted to push everyone around away, but even his head wouldn't respond to his commands. All the noise, the voices around him, irritated and angered him. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"Stabilize his neck! There's trauma here, look. Looks like he hit the back of his head on the curb… Damn, so much blood…" An felt someone gently turn his head and press his body down with something.

"Got it. Blood from the right ear. Looks like CSF leakage. Skull base fracture, what do you think?" A second blurry female voice sounded as her silhouette appeared above him, also bustling around. From her movements, An's head began to spin.

"Looks like it… Thread pulse, over a hundred. Breathing… slow, shallow, four per minute. Terminal. He's going! Get the laryngeal tube…" The man began to jostle him, tug at him. An felt pain, pain from every movement. And the cold crept closer and closer, slowly approaching him.' I… I'm dying! All of it… was… meaningless… Please… I don't… want to die…' Fear overtook him.

Even though he knew there was no point, he tried with all his might to command his body, he knew, he was absolutely sure, if he could make his body move, he would survive.

"Anisocoria. Right pupil dilated, no reaction to light… Intracranial hematoma is growing… Sir, can you hear me?!" An felt himself being slapped on the cheeks, and a bright light cutting through the blur around, but nothing helped.

"No reaction! Get the stretcher! We need to hurry!" He felt the cold envelop him, he was afraid, he didn't want this, he resisted until the very end.' I… only… hope… I will never… have to go… through this… again… I hate…'

" AAAAAGH!" Holding his head, An screamed with all his might. He had never felt such strange pain; at the same time, he saw suppressed memories he didn't even know he possessed, right before the darkness that had cut everything off." Haaa… Agh! W-where am I?!"

Raising his head, he fell onto his back and with difficulty looked around, seeing nothing but complete darkness around him, without a single ray of light. Standing up with difficulty, suppressing the unrelenting pain, he realized that he felt neither fear nor panic anymore. His entire being radiated calm, like never before." HEY!" Shouting, expecting an echo, he got nothing. Even his cry was immediately cut off as soon as it left his mouth.

Finally straightening up and standing to his full height, he was about to look around when his entire body suddenly froze again like a statue. Only his neck and head could still move. Feeling an unusual and very strange calm, An began to turn his head, trying to understand what was happening and where exactly he was.

He felt something familiar around himself, a presence very close, an inseparable part of him that was already completely absorbing his being, yet at the same time, it felt incredibly distant and unfamiliar. In his head flashed the last memories, right before his first death, when he had plunged into pitch darkness, just like right now. That familiar feeling, death.

"Qi… Death Qi?" Closing his eyes, he found similarities with the black flows coming out of the fish he had used for his experiment. However, the energy around him was different: purer, more immense, more terrifying.' How… how did I get here... and most importantly, where?' Looking around and constantly trying to get at least some information from the energy around him, he failed time after time. His eyes could not catch anything, no clue, no information in this darkness.' The energy is too pure?

Is that why I can't read it?' He didn't stop trying to read the Qi, but every time, the result was the same, complete failure. On a subconscious level, he understood that he needed to get out of here as quickly as possible. Something inside him kept trying to remind him of this every moment he spent here. The strangest thing was that all this time, he was too calm, without any spikes of emotions, as if everything was under his control, which was a lie, and he knew it. He didn't know how much time had passed.'

Control… I need to regain control over my body. Maybe that will help me get out of here...' Closing his eyes, he began redirecting all his strength to his right hand, trying with all his might to move his thumb, even the tip of it.

"Come on... Come on... Please... Come on!! Hmm?!" Opening his eyes, he suddenly felt his skin slowly begin to stretch, his muscles weaken, and his bones harden. It didn't take long for him to realize that his body had begun to age.

"No, no, no!" For the first time since finding himself here, his calm completely disappeared, replaced by a terrible fear that instantly consumed his mind.

"I… I don't want to die! Please!" Feeling his body accelerate the aging process, his organs, his evolved cells, and his dantian were decaying and slowly dying; fear and panic began to press down on him even harder.

"No! No! Please! I don't want to!" Feeling himself getting closer and closer to death, to that painfully familiar feeling, as one by one his organs shut down and he lost sensitivity in his limbs, a thick haze began to push aside his panic, consuming his consciousness. He began to beg everyone and everything. The closer that familiar darkness enveloped his mind, the more desperately he resisted, begging for mercy, for one more chance.

Clutching at an invisible chance and resisting to the very end, his mind darkened and occasionally faded as he constantly lost consciousness. After each new blackout, as if at the snap of a finger, upon waking, he understood with his chaotic mind that he was getting closer and closer to his death. Overwhelmed by primal fear, he involuntarily began to sob. Tears streamed from his eyes. Weeping was the only thing he could do without making a sound, no longer having the strength to even open his mouth.

He just closed his eyes and continued to wail like a child, like never before, understanding that this was it, his real end. The end of his path, his cultivation, his chance at the universally desired immortality, his last chance at life. The end of everything..." Ha... fuck… it… all… Hah … Hahaha!" Suddenly, he stopped wailing. He tried to open his eyes, forcing his heavy eyelids apart. Through cracked lips and a dry throat, he began to laugh in an old man's voice.

His laugh was hoarse, as if someone was sawing metal, rough and fierce." Haha! Hahaha! Fuck you! You think I'll keep begging you? Fuck you!" Laughing and spitting black blood from his cracking mouth and throat, all fear and panic disappeared from his gaze. In their place came complete acceptance and peace. With an empty gaze, devoid of any emotion, An continued to laugh, spitting out dead organs and parts of his body.' Who would have known! In my last moment! In my final instant! I finally understood!

I finally realized!' With pain and relief at the same time, he finally realized and understood himself. An smiled, and his lower jaw cracked.' At least… thank something… for giving me… my last chance… it was truly worth it… ah…' Suddenly ceasing his laughter due to his lower jaw falling off along with part of his throat, he closed his eyes, fully accepting his fate. He began to wait for the end, the darkness that would consume him whole, again.