My body is freezing while I am still alive.
This sensation is familiar. I have suffered from it my entire life.
Another sensation has been layered over it. My skin feels as though it is being torn apart piece by piece, as though my whole body has been loosely sewn through with needles.
It was around then that I realized I had been reborn. I was being passed from one pair of hands to another, wrapped in swaddling clothes.
“The Young Master is as cold as ice!”
“Hurry, light the brazier!”
I could not understand their words. But I knew that they were trying to save me.
“Healer! What is the healer doing?”
“Healer Colin is with Madam…!”
“Madam is too late! Tell him to come save the living child first!”
Someone screamed. A woman’s sobbing mingled with the hurried footsteps.
My condition was a complete mess. The Cold Yin Severed Meridian was running rampant, yet I had no Dao Power to suppress it.
I tried to gather my scattered Dao Power, but a newborn body did not yet possess a dantian capable of serving as qi’s focal point.
“Colin, over here!”
Through my blurred vision, I saw a white-haired old man running toward me. He hurriedly exchanged words with the middle-aged figure standing at my bedside.
“What in the world is happening?”
“It is a Nature-Type Awakened Ability. It seems to be draining all warmth from the Young Master and everything around him. Explanations can wait; keep him alive first!”
“An Awakened Ability is not a disease. Even divine magic cannot cure something that is not a disease.”
“Enough. Save him by whatever means you can!”
The old man rolled up his sleeves. I watched them skeptically.
They cannot save me. Even if the Udumbara Flower bloomed again, there would be no way to cure the Cold Yin Severed Meridian.
“Solitas, Parent of Metals!”
The old man shouted in a resonant voice.
“By your holy name, I beseech you: please watch over this small and insignificant soul. Bestow your grace through firmness, steadfastness, immutability, wisdom like bedrock, and mercy that never wears away!”
At that moment, the space above my head brightened, and a radiant beam of divine light shone down on my forehead.
What kind of spell is this?
The Cold Yin Severed Meridian had not been healed. The situation had not improved by even an inch, yet the pain had faded almost unbelievably.
Moreover, a force of an entirely different nature from Dao Power flowed into my body. Clutching at it as though it were a straw, I guided that force into my dantian.
“The Young Master is improving!”
“Quiet. Do not disrupt his concentration.”
This was delicate work. To make an analogy, it was like trying to carve letters into a thin sheet of ice with a hammer and chisel.
Ordinarily, creating new qi channels took many years of slow effort. But here and now, I had to complete ten years’ worth of work. Somehow, I had to create a point where qi could gather. Only then could I put a leash on the Cold Yin Severed Meridian.
There were a few grounds for optimism. First, this was not the first time I had done this.
Second, because I had just been born, all the qi and blood in my body were taut and resilient. If I created a dantian now, it would practically be a fortuitous opportunity that would never come again in my life.
“Oh, Solitas!”
Damn, that startled me.
“Guide this tiny life’s body and mind so it may emerge into the domain of light! I yearn for your grace! I await your miracle!”
The old man’s spells were now no different from noise pollution. From this point on, it was a matter of finesse, not power.
“Answer me!”
…This is driving me mad. To think there would be an obstacle worse than the Cold Yin Severed Meridian.
I had to concentrate. If I lost focus for even a moment, the fortuitous opportunity right before me would slip away.
For several hours, I fought a desperate battle against the noise the old man created. At last, I succeeded in forming a small qi focal point within my middle dantian.
“Bestow your blessing!”
“Colin, I think you can stop now. The Young Master is glaring at you.”
“You have worked hard. Thanks to you, at least we were able to save the Young Master.”
The maids carried me to a cradle. Perhaps to raise my body temperature, they wrapped me tightly in layer after layer of blankets.
Once I had a moment to breathe, memories of my previous life suddenly rose to the surface.
The sights I had seen before dying… The Udumbara Flower’s stalk rolling across the ground, and the old man’s tree-covered burial mound, lingered in my mind.
But I did not have only bad memories.
‘A soul that has not become an immortal must bear the yoke of reincarnation.’
‘Who can say? In the next life, perhaps I will be your disciple. Ha ha ha.’
Master taught me that life was worth living.
That the world was far more beautiful than I had ever imagined.
“It seems you are feeling much better.”
The red-haired woman smiled as she looked down at me.
Could this person be my mother?
If so, I do not ask for much. I only hope she will not abandon me... That she will give me a roof to block the sun and a place to lie down.
“Would you like to sleep?”
My head kept tilting to the side. My immature body craved rest.
Before I let my consciousness slip away, I thought that if I could experience the affection of blood kin, that alone would make this life worth living.
***
The old man called Colin came four or five more times after that. Each time, he bellowed at the top of his lungs and cast spell after spell, but honestly, I no longer needed his help.
I think the old man knew it, too. With each visit, perhaps his voice lost more of its vigor, or perhaps I could no longer sense any sincerity in it.
On his final visit, the old man had a long conversation with the red-haired woman. I still could not understand their words, but I could infer their meaning from the context.
“The Young Master’s body is cold. Why is there no improvement even with divine magic?”
“Did I not tell you? An Awakened Ability is not a disease.”
“But that ability is devouring the Young Master!”
“That is why powerful abilities are double-edged swords. Still, you need not worry about the Young Master for the time being.”
“Why not?”
“This is only my speculation, but it seems another type of Awakened Ability resides within the Young Master. Perhaps it may even rival Young Master Chris……an extraordinarily powerful force. Every time I cast divine magic on him, I felt as though I were throwing a stone into a vast lake. I cannot be certain, but as long as that power protects the Young Master, there will be no need for me.”
After finishing his conversation with the woman, the old man never returned. He had been unbearably noisy whenever he was around, but once he stopped coming, I found myself missing him. I had more than a few questions about his spells.
As I had expected, opening my middle dantian became a fortuitous opportunity. Dao Power accumulated so quickly that there was nearly no qi left in the surroundings.
I had studied Daoist arts under the old man for a little over ten years. In ten years, I had reached the Incarnation Realm, the stage directly below the Ascension Realm.
‘What did I tell you? Did I not tell you that you possessed Immortal Aptitude?’
Master had called the Incarnation Realm the highest realm a human could reach.
Yet at this rate, I could probably reduce ten years to five.
I could not neglect gathering information, either. It was not just the language that was unfamiliar; everything I saw was foreign to me.
Was this a country in the Western Regions?
I had heard that if one crossed the desert of Xinjiang and continued west, there was a country where people with blue eyes and yellow hair lived.
But the people here were not merely blue and yellow. They came in every bright color imaginable.
When I finally had a chance to look in a mirror, I found that I had not changed. I still had the characteristic whiteness of someone afflicted with the Cold Yin Severed Meridian.
My hair was white, my eyebrows were white, and my skin was so pale that I looked sickly.
The creepy part was that it was not only the color. If someone touched me, I was actually cold.
“The Young Master’s hair is so beautiful.”
“Really! How can it be so white, like snowflakes?”
The maids seemed to have different standards. Their aesthetic sensibilities must have been warped.
Three months after I was born, the maids began teaching me how to speak. The red-haired woman who had put me to sleep on the first day took charge of my education.
“Young Master, my name is Lily. Would you like to repeat after me? Lily.”
“Lili.”
“Oh my, you are doing wonderfully! Would you like to try again?”
“…Lili.”
“This time, it is your turn, Young Master.”
The woman pointed at my chest.
“Iden Esterji.”
“Iden…….”
“Esterji!”
“Uh, uh….”
“Wow, the Young Master must be a genius!”
Iden Esterji. That must be my name.
I had never heard even a remotely similar name in my life. I had to roll my tongue so much that it felt as though I would need to grease it.
“Then, would you look this way?”
Lily extended a hand and pointed to a portrait hanging on the wall. It depicted a strongly built man with a stern expression.
“Drek Esterji.”
“Dre….”
“Esterji. He is your father, Young Master. He is His Grace the Duke, who rules the Northern Esterji Territory.”
When she pronounced the words ‘His Grace the Duke,’ her face shone with pride. I instinctively realized that the man in the portrait was my father. I also understood that duke was the word for my father’s title.
I did not know exactly how high a rank it was, but considering that a room for a single baby to lie in was as vast as a palace, and that even small furnishings such as candleholders and tables were slathered in gold, he was clearly a powerful man on par with a provincial governor.
“And the Young Master is…….”
She held up three fingers.
“You are the Duke’s third son, Young Master.”
I still did not understand her words. But those three straightened fingers did not seem to signify anything especially good.