Chapter 2
Wei Ying is a fan of the web novels.
He loves the long epic stories of transmigration, rebirth, and time travel consisting of wuxia or xianxia elements. Even though he is a cultivator with a powerful and versatile spirit root; Wei Ying enjoyed reading about stories created by the minds of the populations unaware that cultivators exist among them.
However he was pretty sure that none of those writers ever thought what it was like to actually be aware of being reincarnated or transmigrated when one wakes up as a baby and being breastfed.
What he could remembered before being 'awaken' was being warm with the occasions of hunger and being wet. His vision was also just a blur of colors as his mind developed enough to connect the nerves between his eyes and brain. The sounds of his parents' voices were muffled before a spark kick started his brain into making connections of the situation at hand.
There was something in his mouth and he was sucking on it. Wei Ying could feel that he was drinking something that was sweet and a little rich in content. However whatever he was sucking on was not made out of plastic or rubber like he would have expected. He must have succeeded in using his cultivation to create a portal to a hospital with his siblings if he was warm and safe. However it must be some sort of weird rural hospital.
Opening his eyes, Wei Ying could see something large and white was blocking his vision. His nose smelled the scent of milk, warm skin, and something floral. He reached out to touch and was surprised to see a small hand. A small hand that he was having some difficulty to control. Shit, did that dark cultivator cursed him?
"Aiya, is our A-Ying very hungry today?"
That was his mother's voice. What was his mother doing here? Last he saw his mother, she and his father had decided to leave the Mortal Realm and travel to the Higher Realm for a new life as Immortals. Wei Ying and his siblings had promised to follow them once their cultivation levels allow and they were finished with the Mortal Realm.
Then his line of sight changed and he could see the face of this mother, Cangse Sanren. Except it was not his mother. His mother always kept her hair short and stylish. Sometimes she even dyed it in outrageous colors just for the shock factor alone. This woman had long black hair styled liked the actresses in those historical Chinese dramas. Also, she looked younger than his mother.
While cultivation did slow down the touch of time, his parents did aged before they reached Immortal level and were forever frozen to look to be their early thirties. His mother even joked that they would return to the Mortal Realm on their fiftieth anniversary just to go a senior cruise.
"Look at that little rascal drinking your milk so fast. He'll be a ladies' man."
That sounded like his father Wei Changze. Wei Ying tried to turn his head to see him, but the firm embrace from this woman was preventing...
Wait, how come this woman can hold him so well that he could not break free? In fact, he felt his entire body locked in position and from the warmth, he was practically glued to this woman's side. Contemplating in his thoughts, Wei Ying unconsciously bit at the object in his mouth.
"Ah! A-Ying, don't try to bit off mommy's nipple like that. There is plenty of milk from mommy."
Nipple?
It took his brain two seconds to process this before he spat out the nipple and started to struggle to get away. Holy shit! He had been sucking on his mother's tit!
"Eh? What's wrong with him? Is he full?"
"Must be his belly. Don't worry A-Ying, mommy will help you burp."
Fuck! He is a baby and he cannot even burp! It was getting too much for Wei Ying and he did what he always did when facing a problem he did not understand - running away. However as he tried to use his cultivation to teleport, a strong rush of energy flowed and overpowered his now tiny body causing his mind to go blank.
The two parents stared at the unconscious baby drooling what little milk left from his mouth.
"I guess he wanted a nap." Cangse Sanren mused before giving the baby to her husband and tucking her clothes in properly.
After three days from that incident, Wei Ying finally accepted his lot in life and accepted the milk from his mother of this life. He had tried to abstain from drinking the breast milk, however it only made his tiny body weak and his current parents worry at the sudden change of behavior. Also, he needed that milk because he had tried to use his skills with a body that was foreign with the spiritual root.
The backlash had caused him to faint and he was reminded of Jiang Cheng's problems with cultivation. The main reason why it is rare for cultivators to master the Heavenly Wrath Lightening root was because of the element itself. It was too volatile and without an abundant amount of physical and mental strength, the powerful spiritual root could easily tear the cultivator apart. Wei Ying's little brother had the scars to prove that point after several attempts to rush his cultivation.
The fact that Jiang Cheng had surpassed their sister with such a handicap proved his amazing talent and perseverance. Wei Ying could never understand why people always compared his little brother with himself. To Wei Ying, there was no comparison at all.
He was always called the prodigy, the genius seen once every thousand years, and much preferable to Jiang Cheng, but Wei Ying learned early on that it was not always a good thing. As much as his parents shared their love between all three children, it was obvious there would be favorites. Both of his parents worship Jiang Yanli as all living things should - in fact the entire family worship the lovely lady. His mother spoiled him often and they enjoy messing in her workshop over arrays and talisman while his father stood by Jiang Cheng.
At first, Wei Ying was jealous that his father trusted Jiang Cheng over serious matters like their allowance, at who gets to learn how to drive, and even going to cultivation meets. Over time, he began to understand that his father was trying his best to teach Jiang Cheng how to be a leader - something that was rightfully his little brother's role.
The Great Tragedy of the Five Sect had wiped out tens of thousands of cultivator lives - destroying the balance in China. At first Wei Ying did not understand how a single crater consisting the size of golf course could house five large sects with all their resources. His mother explained that the sects themselves were actually located in a dimension created by the five sects hundreds of thousands of years. The amount of qi, materials, and cultivators it took to create such a dimension allowed the five sects to co-exists in peace for so long. Later, the Yunmeng Jiang sect decided to branch out with the mortals by creating a beautiful lotus resort to gain presence with the modern world.
However the war over the pure ores of Yin and Yang had caused the dimension to rip apart - taking the lives and ancient history. Since the resort was connected to the Yunmeng Jiang Sect, it made the famous Lotus Pier Resort into a crater - a lonely mark in the mortal realm of its ancient history.
The only reason A-li and A-Cheng are alive is because their father sent them away to live with his best friend - Wei Changze, a rogue cultivator living in the Mortal Realm.
Once Wei Ying understood how much his adopted siblings had lost, his jealousy over Jiang Cheng was greatly reduced. Although, it did cause Jiang Cheng to act like his caretaker which was embarrassing for the older boy. For some reason Wei Changze always preferred Wei Ying to be accompanied by his little brother whenever he goes out to shop, to a party, or even to go to the library.
Hell, his father wanted him to go to a local college before allowing him to transfer out to the university that he wanted just so Jiang Cheng could go with him. Wei Ying raised a great fuss over the unfairness that his father gave into his pleas. That caused the family to move to the same city as the university and Wei Ying got to be independent for the first time in his life.
That independence lasted only a term before Wei Ying conceded defeat and moved back with the family. Apparently, there was a reason why his father always wanted Jiang Cheng with him. Wei Ying learned that he could never keep track of his budget, the alarm on his cellphone was useless, his attention span could only last until the end of classes, and he really missed A-Li's cooking.
Rooming with Jiang Cheng made college life easier as the younger man constantly nitpick the elder brother and got him on track. Also, there was always money at hand thanks to his brother's ability to budget correctly.
So, Wei Ying was going to have to start from scratch to regain his cultivation. At least he knows it is possible to regain his cultivation. When he was about seven months old, his parents had travel to a sect called Yunmeng Jiang Sect and was happy to see his sister waiting to great them with a rich dressed couple he assumed were her parents. As soon as his sister got to cuddle him alone, she told him that she was his sister. While Wei Ying could not talk properly, he was able to nod or shake his head.
Yanli was able to inform him that it appears they have been reborn into a world where cultivation exists but it appears to be a rudimentary cultivation. The families they have been born into are the same families as their previous world however in a time period similar to ancient China. Fuck, there goes the easy modern life of junk food, instant ramen, technology, and social media. Also, their brother had not been born yet.
If their current lives are going to be similar to their previous ones, it would be another seven months before Jiang Cheng would be born.
Their visit had lasted almost a month before his parents thought it was time to travel again. He cried at the thought of leaving his sister behind and tried his best to stay hidden before his father dragged him out. Being a baby sucked when all he could do was eat, cry and shit. A-Jie tried her best to stop their fathers with the amount of cultivation she was able to gain, but she was not able to break their legs. Wei Ying was pretty sure she tried hard however an adult with full control of rudimentary cultivation still beats a three-year-old toddler higher level cultivation.
He is pretty sure A-Jie's punches to his father's shins were the main reason why they have yet to return back to Lotus Pier almost two years.
"A-Ze! Look, Ziyuan actually wrote us a letter!"
Wei Ying blinked from his seat on the inn bed as he watched his mother wave a piece of thin paper covered in black ink. His father was staring at the letter with a wary look in his eyes.
"What could Madam Yu possible write to us about?"
"Hmm, it looks like she demanding for us to visit Lotus Pier. She even wrote that she'll track us down and send her maids to escort us if we do not reply soon." his mother mused with a laugh. "Apparently she's upset that we didn't bother to stop by to celebrate the heir's first birthday and that we should compensate for the gross lack of attention. Funny, I always thought she didn't want us around."
Two-year-old Wei Ying perked at this. He had been busy with trying to regain his cultivation for the past two years as well as spending time with his new parents. However, since it has been over a year since his little brother's birth, there was a good chance that A-Cheng remembered his previous life. Time to use the cute factor.
"See baby? See A-Jie?" he asked cutely while widening his eye as large as possible. As he expected, his mother melted at the cute sight while giving him kisses and hugs. Wei Ying returned the affection - this was something both mothers shared.
"Yes, of course we're going to see the new baby and your jie. I bet you two will be best friends."
His father did not look eager with the idea.
"Are you sure they are coming?" Jiang Fengmian asked tiredly as he laid on the bed with his lady.
In another place in time, Jiang Fengmian would have spent most of his time alone in his own rooms. He would have become a distant husband and father; barely getting to know and understand his family properly until it was too late. He would have died with many regrets about the past.
"They are coming. We're lucky that Cangse Sanren is an airhead and that her husband is wrapped around her finger," Yu Ziyuan grumbled before she reached out and slapped him on the chest, "I can't believe you wrote to your best friend everything about our xiao bendan."
He winced at the slap but silently agreed with her complaint. It was stupid, but at the time he needed to vent to someone other than the people of Lotus Pier. For a whole year, their son, Jiang Cheng, was the angriest baby in all of Yunmeng. Screams could be heard through out the sect with only their A-Li being able to calm the baby down. Trying to get a sleep schedule set up was impossible because their son was strong and refused to stop crying until he tried himself out. The disciples were already tense because of the lack of sleep and the tempers of their leaders.
Then their son became quiet and began to crawl - things got worse.
"We are going to stick that child on them. Two fucking years and they have the balls to avoid us! I don't care if they are your good friends - they will pay." his lady snarled as they lay motionless on the bed.
Sighing, Jiang Fengmian pulled his wife into his embrace and she allowed him. After a full year of handling what they believe to be a demon baby, he found that the respect had for his wife growing into admiration. The trials they suffered from their son got their tempers flying that they began to argue with each other. In another place and time such arguments would be about old loves and uncertain futures which would leave a bitter taste in their mouths and their hearts cold with remorse.
However these arguments were from desperation and hope. They argue about what they should do about their son's crying; about finding a healer to help him; about how useless those healers were; their secret and guilty thoughts of sending their son away to her maternal family until he grows older; how which one of them has to change the diaper because the maids and disciples were scared of the baby; how they blame each other for Jiang Cheng's temper; how they had different ideas of their future and so on.
Soon they were conversing with each. Jiang Fengmian admitted that he loved Cangse Sanren but he now sees that she would not have been the wife for him. She was a good person and strong cultivator but she would have failed at being a sect leader's wife. Yu Ziyuan admitted that she had married Jiang Fengmian because he was the best candidate out of the lot - someone she felt she could trust not to expect her to be a wilting flower. They felt better talking with each other and it became a habit to have a talk after their son was safely tucked in his crib - the reinforced crib with extra protection arrays to keep the baby in the crib.
"Yes, my lady."
Jiang Fengmian may not be in love with Yu Ziyuan, but he was pretty sure he was on his way.