Death is inevitable for every species in this world.
Even the rocks with no life will one day turn into dust.
Humans are no different from this struggle of mortality.
One day everyone and everything will die.
But not in the world of Cultivation, that is.
I knew I would die one day, but dying the second time was what terrified me most.
Looking back, before I reincarnated into the cultivation world, I was stuck in an endless dark space where nothing was visible, I could not feel a thing, no pain, no sound, no taste, not even a sense of smell.
Now multiply that by eternity.
That was what I went through, an endless torment of nothingness.
But there was nothing I could do, fate was already predetermined and the only thing a person can do to stop it was fight.
But how do you fight fate? Can you walk straight to the heavens and beat it up?
I laughed at my thoughts and walked into a bar.
The bar reeked of cheap liquor, I adjusted my strawhat and walked in.
Yet some eyes were glancing at my white and black hair as if they were confused as to why my hair was like that.
Even I did not understand the white part of my hair until I found out about my curse.
The bar was noisy, thugs, civilians and cultivators alike discussing the next secret realm they were about to invade or something business I did not have interest in.
Naturally some people muttered after looking at my hair.
I did not pay attention to this and walked straight to the rough wooden counter.
I threw one gold coin on the table.
" Hey? I would like one cup of heavy liquor please!!!"
I said in an almost calm voice, smiling at the bartender overhead, not showing him a single hint that I was cursed to die.
But what was I supposed to do?
Even if I cried and rolled on the floor, nothing will still change, I still have five months to die.
This was the curse fate had placed on me, for having a Halo spirit seed.
Soon the bartender dropped a wooden cup full of liquor.
The stench was strong enough to at least get me drunk before I even took a sip.
Soon I took the liquor and gulped it in my mouth, swallowing every bit of liquid in the cup.
"Slow down lad, you're gonna kill yourself if you drink like that!"
The bartender warned.
I stopped drinking and hit the cup on the desk, cleaning my mouth with my right hand.
But I didn't speak, I did not say a single damn word.
Not because I did not want to speak, I just did not know how to connect with other humans that much.
Human connection looks so easy, but this was the hardest thing for mortals like us.
No.
There's no us, it's only me, I lack that ability.
But soon I replayed what the bartender said in my head like a thundering sea wave pushing ashore.
"Slow down lad, you're gonna kill yourself if you drink like that!"
I smirked.
'Kill myself? Do I look like a person that's alive? I am one step away already, my time is almost over, well? Maybe not quite yet, not if I am given the chance to become a cultivator.'
I thought inwardly.
In truth I was merely lying to myself.
Staying calm in the face of death? Yeah right, who would want to die?
I want to survive, damn it!
But those damn sect bastards wouldn't let me enter any secret realms, how shameless.
" I can see your curse mark. By chance, you were born with a spirit seed, right?"
The bartender said arranging some liquor bottles in the counter.
My eyes quickly widened in shock.
" How did you see that? I thought I hid it well?"
I retorted almost immediately.
" Thought? Yeah that thinking and not acting will get you killed out there lad, what is your name?"
I stared at him for a moment and answered.
" My name is Wen Dorian."
" Wen Dorian eh!? What a fascinating name."
I did not let him finish speaking and asked.
" So? How did you see it? My cursed mark?"
The bartender shook his head as if he was disappointed in me and walked right across to where I was sitting, divided by the wooden counter. He rested his left hand a little bit and placed his right hand on his chin.
" You did a bad job hiding it, I saw it when you drank in such a haste, but a cursed mark is not something to hide here, have you ever visited the demon slaying sect?"
'Demon slaying sect?'
I have heard of that sect, but I heard that they were very rude to those with low level spirit seeds. But the problem here is I am not even sure of the kind of spirit seed I have.
What element was it? And was it a low or a high rank?
All I knew was that if it was low, then I would be treated in a way I didn't like, and that would spoil one of my days in five months.
" Right now...demon slayer sect is your best chance in entering a secret realm, otherwise you will die sooner than you think."
My heart skipped a beat.
Don't say that!!!
How can you just mention death like it's just another word.
Memories soon flashed as I tried to calm myself.
When I was reincarnated into this new world, I had high hopes of becoming a great business man.
My parents were just normal carpenters and they were very good at their jobs.
I mean they could even make sculptures of God if you gave them enough time.
They at least had money for daily necessities.
However, that wasn't the kind of wealth I wanted.
They're not from the 21st century; they wouldn't understand it.
I wanted the kind of wealth that I could buy anything I desired. Yet in my youth, a daoist spoilt everything by revealing the knowledge of this forsaken curse.
Saying something like:
" Young lad, you're destined to become a cultivator, unfortunately for you. This is more of a curse than a blessing."
" I do not have a spirit seed measuring device, or else I would have immediately taken you in as my disciple."
Yeah right, disciple my foot.
I came to realise that the daoist was just a low level cultivator, a con artist.
How I wish that his sneers about my curse was just another lie, but unfortunately the truth hurts.
My parents on the other hand did not change their ways and emotions towards me.
I have left them for a year now.
Trying to find my ways to enter into a secret realm so that I could survive and go back home to their warmth.
Yet fate is telling me otherwise.
"Hah! Fate is cruel indeed."
I muttered in a low voice.
" Wen kid."
" kid."
" Hey kid are you here?"
The bartender suddenly snapped me out from my thoughts immediately.
Then the bartender suddenly poured another cup of liquor on my cup.
" Hey, I don't know what you're thinking about?"
" Don't be disheartened!"
"The demon slaying sect is right behind you, if you can summon up courage to go there, they will help you enter a low level secret realm where you can undergo the One-Link trial."
" One-Link trial? What is that?"
I asked.
Curiosity dawning on me.
I knew that to survive this curse, I had to enter a secret realm one way or the other.
However I have never heard of anything about any One-Link Trial.
" Even I don't know more about this subject," the bartender continued while caressing his small dark beard.
" What I do know is that all cultivators you see today went through a test from the Heavens called The One-Link Trial. Each trial is different depending on the cultivators' potential and the most important part is that you don't need to enter a high level secret realm. You just need a low level secret realm, survive the test from the Heavens and come back alive, can you do that?"
I could understand the middle aged bartender clearly.
But what I couldn't understand was the reason why he said this to me, why is he trying to help?
I couldn't help but ask him myself, even though I didn't want to say anything, I needed to know why.
"Why are you helping me?"
I asked in the most respectable way I possibly could.
" Hmm... let's just say I see somebody's image in you, and I decided to help you. The girl was like you... unfortunately, before she could enter a secret realm, it was too late...she."
The bartender covered his face as his eyes reddened to a point of almost crying out.
" She turned into a demon, that's what the curse of mortality does, and those with spirit seed have no choice but to move through secret realms or else they face the same consequences as she did, that's why I am helping you!!!"
I now understood the bartender, yet I couldn't understand why they only told me I would explode, why didn't that daoist also warn me that I might turn into a demon.
Damn that liar, if I ever become a cultivator I will slap him in the face.
However if I turn into such a horrendous thing, the demon slayer sect will kill me before anything happens.
No, I can't die like that, I have to at least try to survive.
I suddenly carried the cup of liquor and drank a mouthful, this time, I made sure I finished it.
The liquor in itself was kind of sour, yet at the end of it all it was sweet, but I couldn't get drunk.
Could it be that the bartender did not give me a strong alcohol?
Yeah it doesn't matter.
It's time to go to the demon Slaying sect before something bad happens to me.
I suddenly stood up and cupped my fist.
" Thank you good sir for your advice."
The bartender smiled and told me to run along.
Soon I picked up my sword from the counter and walked outside the bar.
My heart throbbing with trepidation as I walked up to the demon slaying sect.
'Come on Dorian, they're just going to be rude, but they will help me, if they can help, then they shouldn't be a problem.'
However each step made my heart skip faster than usual, I didn't even realise that I was already at the gate of the demon slaying sect.
Two guards stood tall at the gate of the sect, dressed in black and red robes, their builds were large, larger than that of the body builders on earth.
But I suddenly forgot what I wanted to say.
Was it because of anxiety?
Suddenly, one of the guards asked.
" Hey... Short dwarf, where are you going to, have you lost your path?"
Did they just call me short?
I am almost 5'4 feet tall. How can they not see that.
Oh I see, these bastards are dumb.
I ran an entire scenario of mocking them before I answered.
Yet before I could speak another guard yelled at me.
" Hey if you don't have business here then go home."
" Actually, I do have some business here."
I said, looking at them without fear in my eyes.
Of course I was totally shivering inside, but I couldn't let them see that, if they ever found out I was afraid, they might not let me in.
" Oh! What business do you have here, shorty?"
The guy on the left asked with a smirk on his face.
I suddenly breathed in and out, then I folded my robes on my right hand and showed them my curse mark.
Suddenly, their playful expressions changed.
They were not scared, not that I could know that.
But from what I could see, they were in absolute shock.
" No way."
" You were born with a spirit seed?"
The guard on the right asked walking up to me to confirm.
Looking closer, his face changed into a panic.
Sweat dripping down his temple as if he was certain about something.
" Shorty, you have to enter a secret realm now, you have about only four months and three days to go."
What? Four months? Did something happen?
Why did the number of days drop that low.
I did not know why, but for some reason my curse was accelerating too fast.
Before I knew it, the guards opened the gate for me and told me to walk inside.
Then the guard on the left abandoned his duty to escort me around the sect.
After some time of walking around in the hot sun, I finally found myself in the Ancestral Hall of the Demon Slaying Sect.
The hall was rich in gold embroidery designs that pulsed with energy, it was as if this hall was meant for exorcism of some kind.
Suddenly, a young man appeared overhead and sat down on a golden chair.
Perhaps he was the patriarch.
Soon the guard cupped his fist once more.
" I greet the sect leader, may the sect leader live for a thousand years."
Seeing this I also cupped my fist to show some respect.
Cultivators get angry over slight inconvenience, they may even hunt down my family at home for not greeting them in the morning.
Soon the guard explained my situation to the sect leader.
The young sect leader stood up from his position and walked up to me.
But this walk did not take more than two steps.
It was more like he disappeared and then appeared close enough to me.
An overwhelming dread washed over me, my body forgot how to move.
In fact, that wasn't the only thing I forgot.
I forgot how to breathe as well.