The Founder of Qi Cultivation, Reincarnates?

As the night ended, the morning sun was beginning to rise over the horizon.

Xi Shen had long stopped playing his Zither, but Fei Yin was still laying on the ground.

After a moment, Fei Yin opened his eyes and sat up.

He had tears stains all over his cheeks, and his eyes looked extremely puffy.

Fei Yin then turned to Xi Shen, before he slightly rose and got on his knees. After which, he bowed sincerely to Xi Shen and said, “Thank you, second prince. I-I was extremely foolish and I have no way to ever repay this debt. Please, if there is anything that you wish me to do I won’t hesitate to do it because I owe you my life.”

Xi Shen looked at Fei Yin offering his service to him but he didn’t immediately accept it. Instead, he asked, “You have doubts about the illusions you saw, right? You ask, and I’ll tell you the truth.”

When Fei Yin heard that, his body shook, and with his head still down, he hesitantly asked, “The look within my family’s eyes when they die. Was that all an illusion created by the second prince?”

Xi Shen looked at Fei Yin silently for a moment, which caused the latter to start feeling nervous.

After a moment, Xi Shen finally said, “No, that's not the case.”

However, unbeknownst to Fei Yin, a rather complicated emotion flashed across Xi Shen's eyes as he said that.

After another bout of silence, Fei Yin could be heard mumbling, “Even if it was second prince, I would still be grateful for you saving my life.”

The complicated emotion appeared in Xi Shen’s eyes again, and he couldn’t help but feel slight regret for what he had done. It was because he genuinely didn’t want Fei Yin to end his life because he knew what he was going through, but at the same time, a part of him had wanted this outcome where Fei Yin would be indebted to him.

After letting out a bitter sigh in disappointment at his actions in his heart, Xi Shen said, “I’m creating a faction, and since you’re wearing the standard Inner Disciple robes, that means you haven't joined one as yet. Are you willing to join my Faction?”

Fei Yin finally looked up from his knelt position, and after cupping his fist towards Xi Shen he said with sincerity, “Of course second prince, even if you had asked for my arm I would have given it to you without complaint.”

Hearing that last part of Fei Yin’s sentence, Xi Shen looked at him with a strange expression, before he said, “That was a bit too much, I would ask no such thing from you.”

Fei Yin, upon seeing Xi Shen’s reaction to his statement, smiled rather embarrassingly. But he then had on a frown, before he hesitantly said, “Um.. second prince, there’s…”

Xi Shen suddenly cut Fei Yin off by waving his hands, before saying, “Just call me by my name, you don’t have to bother with addressing me as second prince.”

Fei Yin nodded before continuing where he left off and said, “Yes, young master Shen…”

Xi Shen almost smacked his forehead when he heard the young master being added to his name. But he didn’t correct Fei Yin and just allowed him to speak while silently accepting that people in this Era cared too much about status and position.

“...there’s an issue. Before I entered the forest I had killed a member of the Bai Clan. I don’t think the Bai Clan would take it too kindly that I will be in your Faction.”

Xi Shen shook his head at that, and while standing up he said, “They wouldn’t like me creating a Faction any way so you being a part of it will just be another excuse for them to cause me trouble.”

Fei Yin still had on a hesitant expression, but Xi Shen only said while stretching his back a bit, “Just don’t worry about it. They wouldn’t dare openly come after you now that you're affiliated with me, but we would still have to be careful about what they would do in the dark. Well, let's go.”

Fei Yin stood up to follow Xi Shen who was walking away while he asked, “Where are we going?”

“Hmm, we need to get you into the Sword Pavilion so you would be eligible to join the Faction I'm creating. Oh, before that, I need you to swear a Blood Oath.”

Xi Shen spun around as he said that, and stared at Fei Yin with a serious expression.

Fei Yin wasn’t surprised that Xi Shen wanted him to take a Blood Oath, but even if he didn’t he wouldn’t have told anyone about what happened the day before.

However, that wasn’t what Xi Shen was worried about. As of this moment, Fei Yin would be considered one of his men, and he would be closed to Xi Shen’s side in the future. So whatever happens, Xi Shen didn’t want someone so close to him ever thinking about betraying him, or anyone in the Faction he was planning to form.

After a while, Xi Shen had Fei Yin perform a Blood Oath similar to Yang Su’s own. After that, Xi Shen released the seal on Fei Yin’s cultivation base before the both of them used their movement technique and head back to the Academy.

Xi Shen was still interested in the Inner Disciple Rankings, so he didn’t accompany Fei Yin to sign up to become a member of the Sword Pavilion. He only gave him a simple jade slip that contain some information and instructions for him to give to Yang Su and explain his plan to create a Faction.

After doing that, he parted with Fei Yin and headed back to Missions Hall preparing to challenge the Inner Disciple Rankings.

Inside the Missions Hall, there were only a few disciples inside as everyone had headed for the Colosseum Arena.

Without much thought, Xi Shen approached an empty queue for the Inner Disciple Rankings.

A few Inner Disciples that were still inside busy with missions or just casually chatting, all paused to stare at Xi Shen as he approached the front desk, with befuddled expressions on their faces.

“Huh? Isn’t that the second prince? I heard he was promoted to the Inner Academy, but what is he doing here? And why is he headed for the Inner Disciple Ranking front desk?”

A disciple said in confusion.

Another disciple next to him, suddenly widen his eyes before he said in surprise, “Wait! He’s not going to participate in the Inner Disciple Rankings, is he?”

That disciple had said that too loudly and disciples from across the Hall had their eyes go wide in shock. However, a few had ridicule and scorn leaking from their gaze as they stared at Xi Shen’s back.

Some disciples, if not most of them, saw Xi Shen as an eyesore since he wasn’t even supposed to be in the Celestial Academy with his lack of foundation. But they wouldn't dare openly say so, only kept it festering in their hearts.

Seeing him trying to participate in the Inner Disciple Rankings, made them almost point at him and laugh out hysterically at the absurdity of what he was doing.

Several Inner Disciples even pulled out their identification medallion and activated the communication mechanism. They were slowly starting to spread the word that the crippled second prince was planning to participate in the Inner Disciple Rankings. They wanted to make it out to be a big joke, and laugh about it among their friends.

After a while, this would spread over the entire Inner Academy and would soon be the news on the tip of every disciple’s tongue.

At the front desk, Xi Shen ignored the sudden noise within the Hall since he had expected people to make a big deal out of him challenging the Inner Disciple Rankings. He stared at the stupefied disciple behind the front desk and said simply, “I want to challenge the Inner Disciple Rankings. How do I go about registering?”

Another round of noise sounded out as the disciples' suspicions were right.

The disciple looked at Xi Shen weirdly for a brief moment before he said, “Second prince, as long as you're an Inner Disciple, registering to challenge the Inner Disciple Rankings is easy. However, the Academy has an unwritten rule that disciples should at least be in the Sea Expansion Realm to participate, so as to avoid serious injuries. But… you… um… aren’t in the Sea Expansion Realm.”

As the disciple said that, his face visibly tensed up and sweat started to soak his back. Despite Xi Shen not being able to cultivate and is regarded as useless and such, he was still the second prince of the entire Maple Continent.

Usually, disciples like him would have never gotten a chance to interact with someone as important as Xi Shen, since with his status he should have been in the upper echelons of the Celestial Academy, for example in the Conclave Disciple Section. But since he was here, his status alone made most of these Inner Disciples who were from mid and semi-large clans be on pins and needles.

This disciple didn’t know Xi Shen's personality or how he would react if he became offended because of disciples like him, so he was extremely nervous by simply conversing with him.

What if he said something that angered Xi Shen and his clan got wiped out for it? Far-fetched, but people with high statuses in the cultivation world have twisted views of the people weaker than them, and he heard of them doing things far worst for the smallest of provocations.

Simply stepping on a shoe of theirs would get that leg of yours lopped off immediately.

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Word Count: 1648