Rebirth

Two green flood dragons cut through the skies at unbelievable speed. They were a couple of powerful celestial beasts who could roam free throughout the Realm unperturbed. Yet, at that moment, those two royal creatures were actually attached to a magnificent carriage.

It was light-green in color, carved out of the most crystal-pure jade. Black Gold inlaid each one of its corners, in the shapes of a True Dragon, a White Tiger, a Fire Phoenix, and a Black Tortoise. The doors were made out of white hardwood, carved with multiple delicate lotuses. It was literally a flying piece of art.

An aged man was seated in front, holding the dragon's reins with one hand, while stroking his white beard with the other. He vested a long purple robe, which went from his neck all the way down to his feet, filled with golden buttons in the front.

Although he appeared to be quite old, around his seventies, his eyes gave out an intense sensation. From the way the noble flood dragons flew obediently by his guidance, one could see the great fear they held in their hearts towards that simple-looking aged man.

Occasionally, as they flew throughout the sky, some demon beasts of lower intelligence would fly too close to the carriage looking for trouble. Then, with a simple wave of the man's hand, they would be split into thousands of pieces and fell from the sky in a bloody mess.

The inside of the carriage was just as luxurious as the outside. It was quite spacious, like a miniature Great Hall. Around the room were dozens of large wooden chests with golden borders. Most of them were closed, yet the open ones revealed extravagant items.

Multiple sealed wine bottles filled up one at the corner. Each one of those bottles radiated strong spiritual fluctuations. Another one displayed a small mountain of golden fist-sized stones, which seemed to form a vortex of spirit Qi inside the carriage. One held numerous eye-catching clothes that were made out of golden threads of silk, and so on.

Multi-colored carpets covered the whole jade floor, and a crystal chandelier hanged from the ceiling. Also, exquisite magical treasures filled up the jade walls. There were all types of weapons, ranging from swords and sabers to divine bows and fancy spears. Dark metal armors hanged here and there, with some jewel-inlaid shield in the mix.

Yet, the most eye-catching thing inside the exuberant chamber was the huge bluestone bed right in the middle. Just as the carriage, one member of the Four Divine Beasts occupied each one of its corners. Upon it was a comfortable mattress made out of smooth silk.

A slim figure laid upon the mattress, apparently in deep slumber. It was a young man around his late teens. He had quite a slender body for a man, yet his facial features were breathtaking. With those perfect jawlines, thin nose, and dragon-like eyebrows, a smile would be enough for any pretty girl to fall for him straight away. Also, he had long black hairs, falling above his shoulders.

However, he was too still, even for a sleeping person. Not even his chest was moving. He was not breathing. Seconds later, the handsome young man was dead. A brief second passed after his death before a small sphere of white mist suddenly spawned above his head.

After floating around the corpse for a moment, the small white mist did not hesitate to enter directly into its forehead. A few breaths later, and the teenager woke up in a jump. With a confused expression, he looked around the room, trying to identify where he was.

I'm alive! But how can it be? I had failed the Great Saint Tribulation, and my soul was fated to dissipate into nothingness! Maybe... was it Master's pill?! Could it be the legendary level eight Reincarnation Pill?! But Master was a simple Early Saint Daoist back then, so how could he have such divine pill?!

However, Yi Jiang's frenetic chain of thoughts was suddenly interrupted by a sharp pain that spread throughout his head. At the same moment, multiple memories that belonged to the former owner of his body invaded his mind. Closing his eyes, Yi Jiang concentrated on absorbing and assimilating those foreign memories.

Although he was Yi Jiang and the previous owner of that body had already parted to the reincarnation cycle, it was essential to understand his current situation in the world. As so, he began to pass through that river of old memories.

It turned out that in this life, he had the same name as his previous one, Yi Jiang. He was a young master of the Four Divine Beasts Celestial Sect. As he was talented in cultivation yet unskilled in the ways of beast taming, the sect had to discover new ways to use him in its favor.

Some days ago, though, the perfect opportunity for him to serve the sect appeared. The Celestial Royal Clan began to select young, talented, and handsome male daoists for an occult purpose. As such, any Clan and Sect in the Celestial Realm would have one quota to send a representative to the Celestial Royal Sect to cultivate and learn if they passed the selection.

When such news came out, the whole Celestial Realm entered into turmoil. Sects and clans from all over began fierce competitions to select the best person to represent it at the Celestial Royal Clan. For some decadent Celestial Sects, it was a matter of life or death!

The reason for so was that the Celestial Royal Clan was the most powerful faction of the Celestial Realm. It was a paradise of cultivation and had uncountable Saint Daoist elders. Its influence was so that all the other Celestial Sects and clans had to pay annual tributes to it.

Even the few Celestial Beasts that lived beyond the human domain had to respect its will and lay low to survive. And all of that was because of one person: the Celestial Empress! She was the strongest daoist of the whole Realm. Cultivating a Divine-tier chant, she barged her way through a Full Golden Great Saint Tribulation, becoming the ultimate powerhouse on the Realm.

Some people even said that she was not from the Celestial Realm itself, but was an heir of the upper plane, the True Immortal Realm. Yet, those were just rumors spread throughout the daoist fraternity. Because, since ancient times, no one had ever heard of someone coming from above.

After analyzing all the information he received from the old memories, Yi Jiang came to multiple conclusions. Apparently, as the most handsome male daoist in the Four Celestial Beasts Sect, even that his talents were not the best, he was still the first option to represent the sect in the Celestial Royal Clan selection.

Under such circumstances, the previous owner of his body had probably offended multiple other young masters. The way things developed, he was practically robbing them of the chance to enter the Celestial Royal Clan, humanity's current cultivation paradise. As such, after some thinking, Yi Jiang concluded that the body's previous soul probably died to poison or something like that.

At first, he thought about getting revenge for the deceased soul, but after thinking about all the work he would have, he gave up. The time he would have to dedicate for meanless revenge could be used in cultivation! As such, right at the beginning of his second life, cultivation maniac Yi Jiang already began to plan his stay in this so called "cultivation paradise".

If it did not meet up to his expectations, he would defect from this something beast sect and explore the world. Although he would be losing out in a bunch of cultivation resources, so what? In his previous life, with an almost nonexistent talent, he cultivated all his way to the Saint Daoist Realm! With that new talented body, he would not even take half of the time!

Currently, he was an eighteen-year-old peak Master Daoist. Although it was not the best a generation could offer, a daoist like him had a future filled with bright prospects. Yet, Yi Jiang had already concluded that the body's previous owner was trash! With such talent and sixteen and a half years to cultivate, you were only at the Master Daoist Realm!? Pathetic! Hum, the chant is not so bad, though... Wait! Profound-tier Bright Jade Body chant!? Do you want to be beautiful or cultivate!? I must change this right now!

In his previous life, Yi Jiang had accumulated thousands of Top and Profound-tier cultivation chants. He even obtained some Divine-tier ones by fluke when exploring ancient ruins and passing through trials. Yet, the sole and only cultivation chant he took to his heart was the one his beloved Master bestowed to him: the Handsome Sword God chant!

His Master never revealed which tier it was, and Yi Jiang never asked. In his heart, even if his Master instructed him to cultivate a Common-tier chant, he would do it without regrets. For him, his Master was like his father or God!

Yet, even without knowing its tier, he knew it was extremely powerful! By cultivating it, he was capable of using the rare sword Qi and became one of the strongest Sword Daoists back at those times. That magical cultivation chant also had other collateral effects, like the person becoming more handsome after each cultivation breakthrough. Yet, that was insignificant for him! All that mattered was the Great Dao!

As such, Yi Jiang began to search through the room for a suitable sword for his cultivation. Hum, double Divine-tier swords inlaid with heavenly jewels? Useless! Double-edged Profound-tier sword carved out of Divine Black Gold? Fancy trash! As so, he went on looking through all the exquisite weapons inside the room.

Moments later, Yi Jiang had a solemn expression on his face as he gazed at a small mountain of magical treasures that were rejected by his strict judgment. Did this good-for-nothing only know how to shove money into fancy good-material waste!? Did he not have one proper weapon for battle!? Was he even a Daoist!?

Without much more options, Yi Jiang decided to give a casual look inside the spatial rings on his fingers. There were three in total, each one containing different types of items. Basically, one held a miniature ocean of Top-tier spirit stones. The second had some Spirit Beast Pouches and mountains of spirit herbs used to tame and feed spirit beasts. And the last one had multiple random items.

Ignoring the first two for the moment, Yi Jiang used his spirit Qi to search through the third spatial ring. And for his surprise, after turning the whole restricted space upside down, he found a sword of his taste. Its blade was quite simple, resembling mortal steel, and it was around one and a half meters long. Also, the halt was made out of smooth black jade.

All in all, it was a suitable sword for him, since it was only a Common-tier magical treasure! Another unique feature of his Handsome Sword God chant was that one cultivated their body together with their sword. Therefore, to begin cultivating it, one would have to start out with a low-level sword.

Finally, after obtaining a suitable sword to cultivate his Handsome Sword God chant, Yi Jiang sat down in meditation with his new sword above his crossed legs. The process was quite simple: he just needed to shatter all his progressing in the Bright Jade Body chant, and recultivate the accumulated spirit Qi inside his body with the desired chant. Although his cultivation realm would suffer a temporary fall, it was totally worth it!

And just like that, the dragon-pulled carriage continued its travel throughout the skies, heading to its destination, the Celestial Royal Clan!