Volume 1 Rebirth Return Chapter 43: Grudges (Part 1)

  Originally, Zhou Churen had never given up. When he first found his senior fellow apprentice to kill Liu Mingzhi once and for all, Liu Mingzhi had already left the capital, leaving Zhou Churen's senior fellow apprentice empty-handed. After Liu Mingzhi left, Zhou Churen became that popular master of mysticism again, but in his heart, there was always a thorn, an unrelenting resentment towards Liu Mingzhi.

  Liu Mingzhi had a bad premonition after returning to the capital, so when Liu Qingyun said he wanted to join the army, he agreed immediately. It must be a big deal if it could make him feel anxious, and letting his own apprentice join the army was dangerous, but with his abilities, nothing might happen to him. Leaving himself might even save his life, so Liu Mingzhi readily agreed.

  After Liu Qingyun left, Liu Mingzhi found a small siheyuan to live in. Every day, he would cultivate vegetables and raise birds in the courtyard, living a semi-reclusive life. For several years, everything was peaceful and uneventful, but this tranquil life did not put Liu Mingzhi at ease; instead, it made him more anxious, for that sense of crisis grew stronger and stronger.

  One day, Liu Mingzhi got up in the morning and felt anxious until noon. He couldn't sit still anymore and decided to leave. Just as he walked out of the house, Zhou Churen rushed into the small courtyard with a man who looked over 30 years old. His heart skipped a beat, thinking, "He's here!"

  The man beside Zhou Churen was none other than his senior fellow apprentice, Liu Gao, who had been invited by Zhou Churen many years ago to deal with Liu Mingzhi. Standing together, it was clear that Zhou Churen would be much older than Liu Gao, but in reality, Liu Gao's actual age was already over 50 years old. Of course, he couldn't possibly possess a heaven-defying technique like the Worry-Free True Classic. The reason he could maintain his youth was because he had accidentally obtained an ancient book fragment, which recorded a method to convert others' powers into his own. This sounded similar to the Stellar Devouring Technique or the Northern Profound Divine Technique, but in reality, there were huge differences. Those whose powers were absorbed by Liu Gao all turned into desiccated corpses, and their souls were also absorbed and refined within his body. Not only did Liu Gao gain power, but he also gained the memories of those individuals.

  Liu Guang's qualifications were far from being as good as Zhou Churen's, and he didn't have the favor of his master either. However, he was eager to get his master's recognition, and when he finally achieved some success, he went to find his master and told him about his opportunity. But his master severely scolded him, ordered him to burn that ancient book fragment, and stop practicing. Liu Guang didn't understand why his master would do this, thinking that his master was being too biased. In the midst of their argument, he accidentally absorbed all of his master's powers, and when he looked at his master's corpse, he was stunned. He didn't want it to be like this - he was an orphan who had been raised by his master since childhood, and his master was like a father to him. But he had killed his own master with his own hands!

  When he took out the ancient book from his arms, wanting to destroy it, his master's memories were also refined by him. He put down the ancient book and wanted to watch his master's memories first. In his master's memories, there were his happy childhood, sighs about his mediocre talent, and his master's affirmation and praise of Zhou Churen's talent. Moreover, he was like letting Zhou Churen inherit his legacy, making the sect prosperous and glorious.

  All this made Liu Gan hate his teeth, he felt that the master was indeed biased, and he himself was like a kitten or puppy, the master liked to tease him when he was happy, but when he found someone more beautiful and smarter, he would be abandoned.

  He then put the ancient book back into his bosom, hastily cremated the body of his master, and called back the other disciples to handle the funeral. Fortunately, none of the other senior brothers were present, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to cover up the truth so easily.

  Liu Guang hated Zhou Churen the most after his master. After his master's death, he wanted to kill Zhou Churen first, but he thought that Zhou Churen's qualifications were so good that killing him now was not as good as leaving him alive and letting Zhou Churen cultivate for him, then killing him later, so he could directly obtain all of Zhou Churen's powers. That's how Zhou Churen was spared his life.

  Since Master Mo's mysterious death, Zhou Churen found himself increasingly afraid of this originally incompetent senior brother, so he was also careful in front of Liu Gao, especially after discovering that the other fellow disciples had gradually disappeared, and the entire sect was left with only the two of them, which made him even more fearful, and he treated Liu Gao with increasing respect.

  More than 20 years ago, he told Liu Geng that he had encountered an opponent in the capital and asked Liu Geng to come and help. Afraid that Liu Geng would not agree, he exaggerated his words, saying that Liu Mingzhi was very powerful. After hearing this, Liu Geng's heart moved immediately. Since he killed his master and absorbed his master's power, he had liked this kind of strong feeling. So one by one, he also killed other fellow disciples. If it weren't for the fact that he thought leaving Zhou Churen alive would be more useful than killing him, Liu Geng wouldn't have let Zhou Churen live either. Upon hearing that there was a very powerful person, his whole body was eager to move, so he readily agreed with Zhou Churen.

  When he arrived in Beijing, Liu Mingzhi had disappeared. No matter how hard he tried to figure it out, he couldn't determine where Liu Mingzhi had gone. In the end, he could only leave with regret.

  This time he came to the capital, wanting to retrieve his power. Of course, in his opinion, all the powers on Zhou Churen's body were his own, and they had been temporarily stored in Zhou Churen's body. Now that he wanted them back, it was only natural.

  Just then, Zhou Churen received news that Liu Mingzhi was in the capital. Zhou Churen told this to Liu Gao, who then gave up his idea of killing Zhou Churen for now. Zhou Churen was already under his control, and if he didn't absorb his powers, he wouldn't be able to escape. Now, he was more interested in Liu Mingzhi, which led to the scene above.

  After more than thirty years, Zhou Churen saw Liu Mingzhi and found that his appearance had hardly changed. Looking at his own hair which was already somewhat white, he felt even more resentful in his heart, thinking that this person was born to oppose him. He thought about how he became famous as a young man, and many wealthy merchants were willing to spend thousands of dollars just to ask for his advice. However, since Liu Mingzhi appeared, everything changed, and those people who used to fawn over him all abandoned him. He always believed that Liu Mingzhi had stolen his business and his glory, but he never reflected on himself. If he hadn't been arrogant and sinister in his methods, those merchants wouldn't have one by one abandoned him either.

  "Long time no see, old friend." Zhou Churen's anger grew even more when Liu Mingzhi spoke up.

  "Liu Mingzhi, didn't think you'd escape again, did you? Twenty years ago, I let you off the hook, but today, don't even think about escaping!" Zhou Churen couldn't stand Liu Mingzhi's calm demeanor. Now that he had him cornered in the courtyard with his senior brother, Liu still looked unruffled, which made Zhou extremely annoyed.

  Beside him, Liu Gao wore a black outfit and didn't speak either, only staring at Liu Mingzhi with a sinister gaze.

  Digression

  I always feel like I'm playing a single-player game, why doesn't anyone accompany me?