Underground, in a dark dungeon, devoid of sunlight.
Through a tiny ventilation window the size of a baby's fist, the moonlight seeped into the dungeon, faintly illuminating two disheveled figures imprisoned within.
One of them was shackled with iron chains on both hands and feet. He had a thick iron chain wrapped around his neck, the size of a baby's arm, suspending him from the ceiling of the dungeon. The other one leaned against the dungeon wall, blankly gazing at the semicircular moon visible through the vent.
The one leaning against the wall, although dirty and disheveled, was clearly a handsome young man. The other hanged by the chain was a thin old man with disheveled hair longer than his messy beard. It was unclear how many years he had been kept in this sunless dungeon.
Yan Nanfei leaned against the dungeon wall, gazed absently at the barely visible crescent moon outside the vent, with memories swirling in his mind like a tide.
"The Blood Sea Dismemberment Technic... I can't believe it's true! I've actually been reborn!" Yan Nanfei's eyes were filled with a mixture of excitement, relief, and disbelief.
Perhaps, one could say that Yan Nanfei was no longer the seventh young master of the Yan family of Luo City. Instead, he had become soul from an unknown time past.
He was once the supreme ruler of Mount JiuHua in the Five Mountains and Seven Seas, a formidable entity feared by many, due to his formidable strength and unpredictable disposition. During his last stand against his attackers, he used the Blood Sea Disintegration Technique to injure several supreme entities, leaving just a shred of his soul to wander amidst cosmic dust.
Imagine his surprise when he was reborn in an era eons later and in an unfamiliar place called Luo City. Engineered into the body of Yan Nanfei, the seventh young master of the city's leading family.
"Dao Jing, Yu Chen, Hong Xuan, just wait for me you old immortals! Now that I haven't perished completely, I'll one day take revenge for that old debt!" Yan Nanfei silently swore, moving slightly, a wave of weakness and pain quickly spread over his body.
"Eastern Continent, Luo city's Yan family?" He lightly touched the still
not healed scars on his head, sighing helplessly in his heart, "Never would I have imagined that going through the risks of the Blood Sea Disintegration Technique will send me to an unknown place like this. Even attaching me to this useless young master."
Yan Nanfei now had two sets of memories, both fully conscious of his situation. He was the only heir of the third household of the ultimate family in Luo city, and by surviving the coming of age ceremony at sixteen, he could have regained his lost inheritance.
However, during the coming of age ceremony, he was diagnosed with the nine voids illness, making him incapable of cultivation. He became the laughingstock of the entire city, the greatest disgrace in five hundred years of the Yan family. Retrieving his birthright inheritance seemed even farther away now.
Yan Nanfei took a deep breath, slowly inhaling the surrounding spiritual Qi into his body. Feeling a sharp pain in his lower abdomen, the drop of spiritual Qi he just accumulated vanished as if pouring out of a sieve.
This is the body of the Nine Leakage, incapable of absorbing the aura of heaven and earth for cultivation - a total waste. Regardless of how much aura enters the body, it dissipates immediately, rendering cultivation impossible.
"A Nine Leakage body, huh?" Yan Nanfei sneered, a glint flashed in his eyes.
Indeed, his current body was the Nine Leakage that was incapable of cultivation, but it was not naturally occurring but rather artificially induced. The former privileged young master of the Yan family naturally couldn't detect this, but the current Yan Nanfei was an ancient monster who had lived for countless years, and he naturally understood everything.
A slow-acting poison existed inside his body which had no effects during ordinary times, but once he absorbed the aura of heaven and earth, it would trigger extreme pain in his Dantian, stopping him from gathering aura.
Moreover, even his imprisonment was a result of being framed. He remembered that night, himself drowning in sorrow with wine and becoming tipsy. His graceful fiancée entered his room. Yan Nanfei had thought she came to comfort him, yet she suddenly tore off his clothes and cried for help.
Without saying anything, the people who arrived promptly started beating Yan Nanfei, throwing him into this dark and dreary underground prison. After enduring multiple blows, the young master of the Yan family couldn't tolerate the immense pressure, slammed his head into the prison wall, and life faded rapidly.
"Since I have taken over your body, your enemies are my enemies." Yan Nanfei touched the scar on his forehead and slowly stood up, "Rest in peace. Everything you lost, I will reclaim it for you! Those who framed you will face their deserved fate!”
Apart from Yan Nanfei, another person was suspended upside down in the cell, shackled with chains. His body moved and the chains jingled. Emitting a hoarse and low voice, he said, "Eh, lad, I thought you were already dead! Surprisingly, your vitality is rather tenacious, pretty interesting! Since you didn’t die, come here, accompany me to pass the time!"
Even this Old Stranger in the cell wasn’t a good person. Ever since Yan Nanfei was thrown into the prison, on top of enduring his daily abuses, he was also subjected to daily beatings by the old man creating a new daily routine.
The old stranger had his limbs locked by chains, being immobilized. However, he seemed to have decent strength previously. A spit from him could cause a bruise on Yan Nanfei’s body.
"Do you plan on attacking me with spit today, old man?" Yan Nanfei suddenly lifted his head, a sly smile creeping up the corner of his lips.
Evidently, despite the old man considering himself experienced and knowledgeable with countless murders under his belt, Yan Nanfei’s smile still managed to unnerve him—like being targeted by an aggressive beast.
His sudden realization was that the person before him was not the sighing and world-weary young master that he judged before. It was as if an entirely different person was standing before him.
No, with such a look and such an aura, they were not the same person at all! It wasn’t about his current state of being shackled, even during his prime, he would have hesitated to face such an aura.
The old man involuntarily exclaimed, "You're not the young master of the Yan family, who exactly are you?"
"I must say, you have quite an eye!” Yan Nanfei praised the old man mockingly, his figure flashed, and he was at the old man's side instantly. With the old man’s limbs locked and immobilized, Yan Nanfei only had to avoid the man's frontal range to evade any potential attacks.
Yan Nanfei stood within reach but outside the old man's attack range, leaning a hand atop the old man's head while he sneered lightly, "Old man, you indeed had fun beating me before, now it’s time to pay the price isn't it? Your vital essence is locked and you can't escape from this prison in this life. Why not let me make full use of your cultivation, to avoid wasting your lifetime's effort to refine it!"
As he said this, sucking force surged from Yan Nanfei's palm, extracting the old man's vital essence out of his body, bit by bit.
