After finishing his meal, Qiuxia spent his time brooding over a counterstrategy, but no matter how hard he thought, he couldn't come up with anything viable. Every time a new idea surfaced, he would immediately shoot it down. Too many things had happened that day, and combined with the dull ache in his head and eyes, he didn't last long before drifting off into a deep sleep.
He had no idea how much time had passed when he began to feel a biting chill creeping in from his surroundings. Shivering, he jolted awake and scanned his environment, his eyes widening in shock.
"I'll be damned... where is this? Did I transmigrate again? Or was the Naruto World I transmigrated to just a dream, and I'm only just waking up now?" Li Qiuxia looked down at his small limbs. "No, this body is the same. Could this be my Gold Finger? A Two-Way Portal to another world?"
"This is actually a good thing. If this is a world of the supernatural, growing up here would be way safer than staying in Konoha. Wait, that's not right I don't even know where I am yet. I need to find someone to ask. But it's the middle of the night; who's going to be out? Oh, wait, there's a light over there."
Since he had no idea where he was, he decided to head toward the light. Even though wandering around an unknown world was dangerous, staying put felt just as risky.
"A Mortuary?" When he reached the light, he found two lanterns hanging above a sign that clearly read 'Mortuary.'
After a moment of thought, Li Qiuxia raised his hand and knocked. "It's the middle of the night and there's nothing else for miles. I might as well try to find a place to stay here. I'll test my luck; even if it's dangerous, I'll accept it."
He knocked repeatedly. On the third attempt, a voice finally drifted out from inside. "Coming, coming! Stop knocking! Who is it?" The sound of a heavy wooden bolt sliding back followed the voice.
The door creaked open to reveal a middle-aged man with a very distinct unibrow. The man froze as he looked at Li Qiuxia, eyeing him up and down with a deep frown.
"Kid, what are you doing at a Mortuary at this time of night?"
"Uncle, I was sleeping soundly at home, and when I woke up, I found myself nearby. I saw your light and followed the lanterns. Sir, may I ask where this is? And could I please stay the night?"
The man with the unibrow considered this for a long time before finally saying, "Come in."
Once inside, the man poured Li Qiuxia a cup of hot water. "Drink some."
"Thank you, Uncle!" Li Qiuxia thanked him and took a sip, grateful for the warmth after the chill outside.
"Just call me Uncle Jiu; everyone around here does. This is the Mortuary of Ren Family Town. Looking at your clothes, you don't seem like a commoner. How did you end up out here in the middle of the night?"
"I don't really know... wait!" Li Qiuxia was about to answer when he suddenly cried out in excitement. "Ren Family Town's Mortuary? Uncle Jiu?" He leaned in closer to peer at the man's face. That's right the facial structure was exactly as he remembered, though perhaps a bit younger than the person in his memories.
Realizing who he was looking at, Li Qiuxia collapsed to the floor and grabbed Uncle Jiu's leg, wailing, "Uncle Jiu, my life is so bitter!"
Li Qiuxia's sudden breakdown completely floored Uncle Jiu. He hurriedly tried to comfort the boy. "Child, don't cry. Tell me what happened. Did you encounter a ghost?"
Li Qiuxia wiped his tears and forced himself to calm down. He looked up at Uncle Jiu and said, "Uncle Jiu, what I'm about to tell you might sound unbelievable, but please, don't interrupt me. I'll explain everything once I'm finished."
"Uncle Jiu, the truth is, I'm not from this world. My original era is over a hundred years in the future. In our time, the Dragon Country has achieved a moderately prosperous society everyone has enough to eat and wear, and almost no one dies of hunger.
The reason I recognize you is because in my world, you are a famous character from movies and stories. You are a Maoshan Taoist, but you have a group of disciples who are always causing trouble. Even when you're facing opponents that shouldn't be that difficult, your disciples manage to make everything ten times harder."
"Of course, even though they cause trouble, they do occasionally manage to help you out."
"As for me, I was just a lazy, laid-back youth a Salted Fish, as we say. I was doing just fine until one night, I went out to buy cigarettes and ran into an old man. It was like the guy had a personal grudge against me; he mowed me down with his truck and killed me. When I woke up, I was in another world I'd seen in a cartoon, but that world was even worse full of lunatics."
"Uncle Jiu, the original owner of the body I'm in now belonged to the Uchiha Clan. According to the story, this entire clan is destined to be slaughtered by Itachi Uchiha..."
Li Qiuxia held nothing back. He explained his origins and how he knew everything about Uncle Jiu. He had never intended to hide his identity. Trying to keep such a complex secret seemed like too much of a headache, and he knew Uncle Jiu was no fool.
Uncle Jiu was a master of many Maoshan Sect arts Feng Shui, Physiognomy, ghost catching, and exorcism. He would likely see through any lies with a single look at Li Qiuxia's face. It was better to just be upfront.
As for whether Uncle Jiu would kill him for being a ghost guilty of Soul Seizing, Li Qiuxia thought it was possible but unlikely. After all, the person he had "possessed" was Japanese.
As he listened, Uncle Jiu's expression shifted rapidly, like an actor in a play. Many of the details the boy mentioned about his life were spot on.
From his fellow sect members to his disciples, and even his complicated relationship with Zhegu and his old flame Mai Kei-Lin Li Qiuxia knew it all. Could this child really be a transmigrator? Or was someone who knew Uncle Jiu's secrets using the boy to play a prank?
Seeing Uncle Jiu's silence, Li Qiuxia added, "Uncle Jiu, I know this sounds like a fantasy, and it's hard to accept. But please believe me, I'm telling the truth. I have no intention of deceiving you. If you don't believe me, I know most Maoshan Sect disciples worship an Ancestor Master. I'm willing to go before him to prove myself."
Uncle Jiu thought for a moment before nodding. "Very well. Follow me."
Li Qiuxia didn't hesitate. He stood up and followed Uncle Jiu to an ancestral hall. Inside stood a painted clay statue of the Maoshan Sect's Ancestor Master. Once they were inside, Uncle Jiu took a bowl, poured liquid from a bamboo tube into it, and handed a silver needle to Li Qiuxia.
"Prick your finger and let a drop of blood fall into the bowl."
Li Qiuxia took the needle and looked at his finger, hesitating. He looked up at Uncle Jiu. "Um, Uncle Jiu... could you do it for me? I'm afraid of pain, and I get dizzy at the sight of blood."
Uncle Jiu: "..."
Speechless, Uncle Jiu grabbed Li Qiuxia's hand and pricked it with the needle. A single drop of blood fell into the bowl. Uncle Jiu then lit three sticks of incense and placed them before the Ancestor Master.
As the smoke rose, Li Qiuxia watched as a golden light erupted from the clay statue. The golden glow flew toward him, enveloping him completely. At first, it felt warm and comforting, but then a sharp, stinging pain flared across his body and more intensely, from behind his eyes.
In Uncle Jiu's eyes, the moment the golden light hit the boy, a thick, black qi began to leak out of him. Uncle Jiu instinctively took two steps back, circulating his internal energy to prevent the black mist from touching him. He knew exactly what it was: a curse, born of pure malice. For a cultivator, coming into contact with such energy was incredibly dangerous.
The black qi on Li Qiuxia's body wasn't too extensive and dissipated quickly. However, the qi erupting from his eyes was a different story. It flared out in twin beams, looking like the laser eyes of Superman or Cyclops except while theirs were red, his were a terrifying, abyssal black.
🚨 Note: Consider supporting this story on Patreon.com/kleinmoretti to access 100+ advance chapters and 2 new chapters daily! (Full story bundles also available without a subscription).