287: New Life (Bai Ye's Memory)

New Life (Bai Ye's Memory)

Bai Ye couldn't believe his eyes.2

Two hundred and fifty-eight years had passed since the day he lost her. He had been waiting, for over three thousand rituals and over three thousand times staring at that wisp of smoke. He had been waiting for so long that he sometimes wondered if this day would ever come in his lifetime, if everything would again end up in vain just like it did before.

But this day had finally come.

He trembled in anticipation as he raised Twin Stars to his eye level. The blood from the most recent ritual was still dripping down the blade, and he used his sleeve to clean it off, meticulously wiping the stains away. He had been careful with the swords ever since she left—he didn't let the three thousand sacrifices leave the tiniest mark on them, because this was where she rested. This was the place closest to her, and he didn't want any blemish to get close to her again in her new life.

Her new life … that was about to begin.

For the past decade, he had been studying all the different alternatives for the precise method to bring her back. He couldn't afford for anything to go wrong at this point. The most important step was to find a body for her—after her death at the blade of Twin Stars, she would no longer be a sword spirit the same way she was before. She'd still maintain a close connection to Twin Stars, but she would no longer be able to manifest into a physical form like a typical sword spirit could. She needed another body, one with just the right balance of yin-yang power to sustain her soul.

Bai Ye had determined from his years of search that the best option for her would be the body of a person on the brink of death—too far gone meant that there wouldn't be enough physical strength left to support her, too intact meant that the original owner's soul would have to be forced out to make room for hers. As much as Bai Ye wanted her back, hurting another innocent life was not the way he'd start her next life anew.

He started traveling again to find what she needed, with Twin Stars at his side. The world had changed a lot over the centuries he locked himself in his hall, but that mattered little to him. He traveled all across the country as a medicine man, using the knowledge and skills she had taught him to help the sick, and when the unfortunate few reached the point beyond cure, he would study the spiritual power of their body, hoping that he might one day find the person he'd been waiting for.

Two years later, that person finally arrived.

It was a young girl sick with the plague. By the time Bai Ye got to her house, multiple medicine men had already declared her beyond saving, and her mother had been crying for so long that her eyes were all swollen and red. Bai Ye tried his best, but in the end, the others seemed to be right. The girl's illness had progressed to the point that even his skills could no longer help her, and her soul was already starting to drift away from her body, lingering on a thin thread that would snap any moment.

Her yin-yang balance was perfect for Twin Stars, but Bai Ye hadn't planned to choose her at first. The ritual he wanted to perform was a somewhat astonishing act, and he preferred to explain everything to the person directly and seek permission. This girl, however, was too young to understand the intricacies behind all of it, and she wasn't even conscious. But her parents begged him over and over. They wanted to save her, no matter what it cost.

So he gave in at last, deciding to ask for her parents' permission instead.

"Common medicine would no longer be able to save your child now," he told them honestly. "But … There does exist another way, as I am not a common medicine man. I am a cultivator from Mount Hua. I might be able to save your daughter … by replacing her soul with another."

The parents were so shocked that they could barely speak. Bai Ye understood the astonishment, and he explained everything to them slowly and plainly. He told them that once their child died, her soul would leave her body and enter the cycle of rebirth. If they agreed, then he'd use a spell to place another soul into her body at the exact same moment, therefore sustaining her life. She would wake up not realizing anything had changed. She would still have her memories from the years of her current life, and she would still think she was their daughter.

He also told them that this was a forbidden art, and it wasn't without consequences. The child's personality could change, as she would have become a different person inside. She might also start getting flashbacks of the other soul's previous life in her dreams. It might even be possible that she'd fully regain the memories of that life at some point, and he warned the parents that it was a life too cruel for a young girl to bear.

The parents considered it for three days. Bai Ye used spells to keep the girl's soul tethered in the meantime, waiting for their answer. In the end, they agreed. The girl was their only child, and they wanted her back despite the risk. They wanted to try.

Bai Ye couldn't blame them. So he readied the spells, and when the time came, he guided the girl's soul gently into the nether world. Then he summoned Twin Stars, awakening the sword spirit. He warned himself to stay calm as he placed her soul over the girl's heart, and he chanted the last spell, carefully pushing it into the girl's body and letting the two merge into one.

He held his breath.

His breath stopped when the girl opened her eyes.

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