"Hurk!"
"Hurk! Hurk!"
Once Xiao Mo's consciousness had detached from the Hundred Lives Book, nausea and dry heaving set in, and his head swam.
He wanted to throw up, but nothing would come.
To keep Wei Xun, standing guard outside, from noticing anything wrong, Xiao Mo covered his mouth and tried his best not to make a sound.
He knew this was the side effect the Hundred Lives Book had mentioned earlier.
A full stick of incense's time passed before Xiao Mo felt himself gradually recover.
【Settlement for the first life experience is complete.】
The Hundred Lives Book's voice sounded in Xiao Mo's mind.
【The Host lived a total of fifteen years and one month in this life experience.】
【The Host brought Jiang Qingyi back to Lingqian Peak and taught her cultivation. At the cost of his own foundation and lifespan, he cleared Jiang Qingyi's spirit meridians, and at the final moment, the Host drew out the innate sword bone and returned it to her.】
【As of the moment of the Host's death, Jiang Qingyi's highest realm was the Nascent Soul realm.】
【System reward settlement:
One. Chaos Human Sovereign Bone: This bone came into being in the primeval age of Chaos. In that ancient era, the Human Sovereign too could cultivate; later, because the laws of heaven and earth changed, the Human Sovereign could no longer cultivate, lest he be deeply entangled in karma. With this bone, the Host may cultivate even if he is an emperor, and the Host will no longer be affected by an emperor's karma.
Two. Cursive Sword Intent: The Cursive Sword Formula was a sword art "Xiao Mo" obtained in a ruin. That art is exceedingly heavy on slaughter and can lead to the Great Dao, and the Cursive Sword Intent holds the entire cultivation method of the Cursive Sword Formula along with Xiao Mo's comprehension of it.
Three. Breath-Concealing Formula: With this method, no one short of a cultivator in the top three realms can detect the Host's cultivation realm.】
【Reward settlement complete. The Hundred Lives Book will take one stick of incense's time to prepare; after that, the Host may experience another life.】
As the Hundred Lives Book's voice fell, Xiao Mo felt one of his vertebrae turn scalding hot, as though on fire.
"Hisss—!"
The pain made Xiao Mo suck in a sharp breath. He grabbed his pillow, hugged it tightly to his chest, and bit down hard on it.
Sweat poured down his forehead.
Ten minutes later, the burning pain gradually faded.
Lying on the bed, Xiao Mo gasped for breath, his sweat soaking the quilt and the pillow.
Yet Xiao Mo felt as though he had become much lighter.
It was an utterly mysterious, ineffable feeling.
Before, Xiao Mo had felt as if his body were bound by all sorts of invisible shackles.
But now those shackles had all come loose.
Xiao Mo guessed those shackles were karma.
Now that he had obtained the Human Sovereign Bone, that karma no longer had any hold over him.
Right after that, the entire contents of the Cursive Sword Formula and the Breath-Concealing Formula surfaced in Xiao Mo's mind.
Back while he was experiencing that life, Xiao Mo had already sensed that the Cursive Sword Formula was no ordinary art.
Unfortunately, the moment he left the Hundred Lives Book, he would forget everything—the techniques, the insights into the Dao—clean down to the last scrap.
There was simply no way for Xiao Mo to reproduce in reality anything he had learned in the Hundred Lives Book.
But now, he had the Cursive Sword Intent.
The sword intent contained the Cursive Sword Formula and "Xiao Mo's" comprehension of it.
It was like having a master at his side guiding his cultivation, which would greatly reduce the chance of taking wrong turns.
The only difference was that this "master" turned out to be himself...
All in all, Xiao Mo was extremely satisfied with this round of rewards.
He even wondered how lavish the rewards would be if Qingyi reached the Jade Unpolished realm.
But Xiao Mo only thought about it.
In that first life, he truly felt he had done all he could.
【Preparation for the second life in the Hundred Lives Book is complete. Will the Host enter the Hundred Lives Book to experience it?】
"Yes!"
Xiao Mo did not hesitate.
He was very curious, too, about what the next "life experience" would be like.
【Please have the Host create a name.】
"Xiao Mo."
Xiao Mo decisively used his real name.
I just like going online under my real name.
【The Host is about to enter the Hundred Lives Book to experience a different life. Please make your preparations.】
Once again came that familiar haze of unreality.
When Xiao Mo came to his senses, he was standing inside a dilapidated wooden hut.
He looked at his own hands.
"Huh? I've turned into a kid?"
【Mission background: You are called Xiao Mo, an ordinary villager of Honghua Village, eleven years old.
When you were seven, your parents passed away, and from then on you were an orphan.
But the people of Honghua Village are simple and kindhearted, and your parents had been generous in helping others and were on good terms with the villagers.
So the villagers took turns bringing food to you.
You grew up eating food from a hundred different households.
After you turned ten, you spent your days gathering herbs on the mountain to trade for money, or herding cattle for the villagers to repay them for your meals.
Poor as your life was, you never starved.】
【Mission issued:
Mission one: You are an ordinary person with no spirit root and cannot cultivate in this life. But you have a real gift for study. Pass the imperial examinations and enter court service: the higher your office and the greater your fame, the richer this reward will be.
Mission two: Today, as you gather herbs on the mountain, head toward the northern side. By the pool where you often herd cattle, there is an injured white snake. This snake has spiritual awareness, and she once met with great fortune—she obtained a drop of true dragon essence blood.
She has the potential to become a dragon.
Becoming a dragon is divided into five stages: "snake, python, boa, jiao, dragon."
Please help her become a dragon. Each time she evolves to a new stage, the Host's reward will be richer.】
【Mission duration: two lives.
A thousand years to make a jiao, ten thousand years to make a dragon.
For a snake to become a dragon normally takes ten thousand years.
Though this snake is extraordinarily gifted and has obtained true dragon essence blood, she will still need at least several thousand years.
Therefore, the Host's life experience this time is divided into two lives, both of them ordinary mortals unable to cultivate.
This is the first life.
After death, the Host will live a second life three thousand years later and continue helping her become a dragon.
When both lives have ended, this life experience concludes and the rewards are settled.】
As the Hundred Lives Book's voice faded, Xiao Mo carefully digested what it had said.
It was not actually hard to understand.
It was simply that turning a snake into a dragon took far too long; in both lives he would be an ordinary mortal who could not cultivate, with far too short a lifespan to manage it.
So this time the Hundred Lives Book's life experience was split into two lifetimes.
After the first life ended, the white snake would be left to settle on her own for three thousand years.
Three thousand years later, I live again and keep helping her become a dragon.
"But here's the problem—even with two lifetimes, I'm an ordinary man in both of them. What can I possibly do for this white snake?"
Xiao Mo sighed.
"Forget it. First things first—let's go save that white snake."
Xiao Mo slung a bamboo basket over his back, picked up a hoe and a sickle, and walked out of the yard toward the mountain.
【Begging for recommendation votes, begging for monthly votes—esteemed readers, have mercy and spare a monthly vote and a recommendation vote~~~】