Like a bubble

Waking up shortly after sunrise, the brothers started going about the daily business, after which they started eating whatever was left of their food from the previous night's hunt.

While munching on the breakfast, Li Ming suddenly said " Brother, I have never seen a river in my life. You know that all we have in our country are some streams and ponds which provide rainwater as a source of living. I would like to watch the Surging River once in my life. Why don't we go and see it once, bringing an end to our ties with the village and the valley forever after that? Consider this as my request"

Yellow Leaf valley was a very vast valley in the eyes of mortals, as it was surrounded by large mountains which were part of the Great Southern mountain range. It was about 10 km wide and 100 km in length with the village and the Dark Forest on the opposite ends of the width. A small river flowed through the entire length, dividing the valley with one third area on Dark Forest's side, and two third on the side near the village. Its name was Surging River, as the river flowed from very high altitude to lower, the river was always flowing very quickly. The river then ended up underground, forming the main source of underground water for the southern part of the country.

Li Yu had only gone there once to try out the taste of the fish. He never went there again because of the fear of encountering any more cultivation world related items, like he got the gem from the fish he bought at the market. Clearly, ignorance is not always a bliss, it sometimes leads to never ending fear. How could Li Yu know that those items weren't garbage that are easy to find everywhere?

Li Yu nearly rejected the request, however considering that this was Li Ming's request after a long time, and that he would have to face the boring life of a scholar for a long time with no time to spare for leisure, he opted to agree.

" Okay, but we will only see it from afar. And don't ask me to catch a fish. I have tried eating it once, the taste is very bitter. You won't like it." Li Yu warned.

Li Ming rolled his eyes at the obvious lie, but didn't say anything. They quickly finished their breakfast, and set off. As they weren't hunting, they quickly crossed the distance while jogging, and reached the river shortly.

The river was about 100m wide, with clear water flowing at a very fast speed. As rarely any fishermen visited the place, an abundant amount of fishes could be seen swimming in the river. The morning sun dyeing the river with a golden hue, the scenery was beautiful. Seeing the river for the first time, Li Ming couldn't hold back his excitement and rushed towards the bank of the river.

Li Yu shouted " Wait, don't go near the river" and rushed after him.

Li Ming turned a deaf ear to him, reaching the bank and cupping water in his hands, he splashed it towards Li Yu who was following behind him.

Irritated, Li Yu quickly grabbed Li Ming's hand and berated " Don't be reckless, the Dark Forest is on the other side of the river, we should head back quickly. You are 16 already, don't act like a child"

" Okay okay, let's go." Li Ming replied, exasperated.

The brothers slowly started their return journey. Just as they reached a point where the river could not be seen, a loud bang was heard. They quickly turned around and saw an amazing scene. A young looking male wearing green robes was riding on a large orange carpet, which was floating in the air. He was being pursued by a flying bull shaped beast, which was about five times bigger than the biggest bull that Li Yu had seen. It was purplish black in colour, with black coloured wings on its back. It stopped after reaching the river, and opened its mouth to shoot a purple coloured fireball.

The youth continued flying away without looking back, and just threw a small yellowish square paper behind his back, which quickly burned away and produced a square shaped light screen which tried to block the fireball.

*Bang* the light screen shattered to pieces, while blocking majority of the fireball, with only some sparks burning the robes of the young man, who quickly put out the sparks with his hands. Seeing that the beast didn't follow after crossing the river, he sighed with relief and cursed his damn luck while going in the direction of the exit of the valley on the village's side.

Li Yu and Li Ming were slack jawed after what they saw. When Li Yu saw the youth flying in his direction, he immediately pulled Li Ming and tried to hide behind a tree. However, it was late as the youth had already seen them. Angry and ashamed at his own performance, he was filled with pent up anger with nowhere to vent. Seeing the brothers, he shot a sword from his sleeve in the direction of Li Yu. As the sword flew too fast, Li Yu had no time to react. However, Li Ming's body reacted by instinct and jumped in between sword and Li Yu.

* Puchi* "NOOOOO!! MIIING!!" Li Yu shouted as he saw that his brother had jumped right in front of him, saving him. But the sword passed right through Li Ming's left lung, pulverizing it. Quickly grabbing the falling Li Ming, he started wailing seeing the state of his little brother.

The green robed youth stopped paying attention to them, retracted his sword, and flew away quickly in case the beast chases after him. However, the beast did not chase and returned in the direction of the forest.

Li Ming's eyes dimmed down slowly, as he said " B-brother, y-you have... always... lived your life... taking care of... me... M-maybe it's my... guilt for... being a burden... but I...always wished... for... you to... live... a happy life... I am... happy that... I could save you..."

More tears started streaming down Li Yu's face as he said " Stop speaking, I will save you!" He started rummaging around to find the medicine that he always carried with him.

Li Ming held his hand, stopping him before saying " Listen... to... me... I am losing my... breath... I don't... have... much time... Give me... a promise... that you would... live a happy... life..."

" Yes, I promise! I'll live a happy life!" accepting the reality of the situation, Li Yu stopped moving and tried to show a happy smile to his brother a last time. But the tears would not stop, and the sadness could not be contained.

Li Ming smiled seeing his face " Ha... hahaha... brother, you look funny..." saying these words, he closed his eyes taking his last breathe.

" Aahh! AAAAAHHHHHH!!" Li Yu started screaming as he his brother closing his eyes. He screamed till he was hoarse and couldn't scream anymore due to the stabbing pain in his throat. Taking Li Ming's corpse with him, he departed and towards the village. He kept running even when his legs started turning numb from exhaustion. Ignoring the looks of the villagers, he arrived at their house. Falling in the yard due to exhaustion, he kept hugging Li Ming, and sobbing throughout the afternoon and into the late evening, when he noticed that someone had arrived.

Looking up, he saw manager Ma enter the yard, looking quite grave. He came near him and asked " I came after hearing the villagers seeing you carrying Li Ming back from the valley. What happened? How did Li Ming die?" However, Li Yu didn't reply till asked thrice. Coming out of stupor, he started telling the events that happened today.

Silence reigned after he finished, as manager Ma didn't know how to console Li Yu. Li Yu calmed down a bit, and said " Manager Ma, I hope you could give me the house deed back"

" So you are planning to stay here? Well, it's a good choice. The villager life suits you." manager Ma said.

" No, I want to burn this house and cremate my brother in its fire. I am heading towards the Dark Forest tomorrow. I want to be a cultivator." Li Yu replied with a firm expression.

" Fool, have you gone crazy? How will you cross the forest with your pathetic strength? Do you want to die?" manager Ma berated.

" Don't worry, I know what I am doing." Li Yu said.

Seeing the firm expression on his face, manager Ma could only nod and say " Fine, come get the deed tomorrow. I will give you some things that may help you. No need for paying back money for the deed. Consider it as my sending gift to your brother. I always liked him, he was more likeable than you"

Li Yu slightly smiled hearing that, saying " Yes, he was liked by everyone who knew him". His eyes again turned red with sorrow as he said that, but he forcefully stopped the tears forming in his eyes. Manager Ma, seeing him in this state, said " I am going, don't keep your brother waiting for long. Let his body return to earth and let his soul enter reincarnation.", after that he turned and went back towards the Inn.

All Li Yu could now was wait. Wait for the invitation at midnight. Slowly slipping into sleep due to the physical and mental exhaustion, he laid down within the yard, still hugging Li Ming in his arms. Just as he was about to sleep, he couldn't help but recall everything that had happened in his life till this day. He had always asked himself, why did the cultivation world exist? What was the reason for pursuing power? Why were people greedy for immortality?

He found the answer today. Mortal life was like a bubble. Be it naturally, or be it due to other reasons, the eventual end of the bubble was to be popped. Maybe he would have found the same answer if he had lived his life normally with his brother, married someone, and lived till the old age. The most he would do was to lament for a while, then again forget about these unnecessary musings, never to dwell on them, enjoying his old age with his brother, and maybe with his wife, children and grandchildren.

However, he had nothing now. Only the hatred and sorrow remained. But he didn't even know who the green robed youth was, and could only hope to become powerful enough to find him and kill him. Thinking till here, he drowned in his sleep.

Exactly 12 hours after Li Ming died, his chest started to shine with black light, which emerged from his heart. An illusory black drop of blood emerged from his heart, and entered Li Yu's heart where it merged with his heart silently. Unfortunately, Li Yu didn't know anything as he slept soundly.

A burly old man suddenly appeared above the brothers, with an extremely happy expression on his face. Looking at them for a while, he exclaimed "Excellent!! Blocking the cursed fate in the tenth life! Hahahaha, finally, another one appeared after about hundred million years! It's time for our Abyssal Wolf clan to rise higher!" The old man almost performed a twirl in the air, however, he stopped himself from doing that.

If anyone who knew him watched him now, they would be so shocked that their eyes would pop out and their jaws would drop on the floor. The old man was famous for being extremely strict and enforcing when it came to the matters of etiquette. To lose control like this, it showed the extreme happiness he felt.

And why wouldn't he? It was a matter of happiness. In the Abyssal Wolf clan, the cubs that were regarded as highly talented would be selected to go through a special reincarnation ceremony at 10 years of age, where their bodies would be preserved and their souls would travel through void, going through artificial reincarnation with the help of an extremely ancient artifact whose origin was known to only the highest echelon of the clan. They would go through five alternative blessed fates and cursed fates, with first life being least blessed and second life being least cursed, whereas, ninth life will be the most blessed one and tenth life will be the most cursed one.

The aim of the ceremony was to increase the luck and destiny of the talented cubs, but it was very hard without outside help, as the ten lives would be mortal lives with no one entering the cultivation world. However, the clansmen were strictly forbidden to change the fate of those inside the ceremony, hence the most common result was no change in their destiny and luck.

The only way to increase them was breaking of ceremony within the ten lives, which is termed as 'Blocking Of Cursed Fate'. Blocking the cursed fate at the second life would mean the ceremony would end with the fate from the first life- the least blessed fate, which gives least increase in destiny and luck. Similarly, blocking the cursed fate at the tenth life would mean the ceremony would end with the fate from the ninth life- the most blessed fate, which gives exponentially great amount of increase in destiny and luck than the first one, and hence, it was the hardest fate to achieve.

As the ancestors of Abyssal Wolf clan were concerned about the talented cubs, they made the ceremony such that alternative fates cancel each other. For example, if a cub ends the ceremony at the third life, the fates of first and second life will cancel each other, resulting in neither decrease nor increase in the destiny and luck. Whereas, ending the ceremony at fourth life will result in increase of destiny and luck due to nothing neutralising the fate of the third life. Thus, only six results were possible in the ceremony. Methods of ending the ceremony varied from cub to cub.

Li Ming was one such cub who had participated in the ceremony and 'Li Ming' was the name of his tenth life. His tenth life should have been riddled with misery. Losing parents at 6, losing brother at 16, losing everything that he would have gained, he would have lived an ignoble existence as a mortal. However, his instinctual reaction of jumping in front of his brother led to the end of ceremony. This was a classic example of 'love changing one's fate'.

Of course, committing suicide was not considered as a way of ending ceremony, it was considered an escape from the bad fate. Suicidal cases would be interpreted as the end of that particular life, and not the end of the ceremony. For example, if someone couldn't stand the bad fate in the sixth life and committed suicide, he/she would then be reincarnated in the seventh life.

When the old man thought about the attention Li Ming would have in the clan, he couldn't help but look at Li Yu, with a bit of envy in his eyes. This common mortal was the trigger for the end of ceremony, hence a single drop of bloodline had been generated from Li Ming's soul with the help of the ancient artifact, and settled in Li Yu's body. The old man was not jealous of the blood drop, as it was the most common Abyssal Wolf blood. He was jealous because the drop of blood had formed a connection between Li Yu and Li Ming, through which Li Ming would be able to find Li Yu when he becomes powerful enough. Hence Li Yu would be able ride the success chariot of Li Ming. No matter how much reincarnations Li Yu undergoes, the connection wouldn't extinguish. Hence, Li Yu was bound to soar sooner or later.

" Well, you could have been said to have changed your fate too." the old man muttered, and watched as a small portal opened right above Li Ming's head. A small wolf cub emerged from his head, which was his soul. It entered the portal, which disappeared. Seeing the soul entering the portal, the old man vanished into thin air. Never did the old man imagine the magnitude of change that happened to Li Yu's fate that day.

Night slowly deepened, and at midnight, the invitation that Li Yu was waiting for arrived.

*Beep* "Welcome to Good Fortune Cultivation Chat Group. Hello, you have been chosen as the latest member of the group. Get the cultivation start-up pack which includes a low grade Earth level cultivation technique, 10 low grade spirit stones, and a low grade Human level spatial ring. Join now!!"

Li Yu was quickly startled awake, his eyes determined as he said in his mind " I want to join".