I Refused To Be Reincarnated

Adam glared at Yann's frozen statue.

Even though Leviathan smuggled them inside the Western archipelago, his worry over Misha and their uncertain journey left no time for games—especially not from this deceiving serpent who pretended to be helpless. Not after two dao ancestors had nearly killed him.

He raised one finger, his voice a scalding snarl. "One second. That's all the time you have left before I make your death real."

Before his finger could curl, ice shattered in glistening shards, revealing Yann's perfectly trimmed moustache and unblemished coat. Aside from a shudder from his threat, Yann bore no traces from the Celestial Frost Matriarch's strike, as if the frost had merely trapped him but couldn't infiltrate his skin. How did this work? Not a spell—Leviathan had called it a bloodline ability.

As the question flashed through his mind, Yann rubbed the melted water from his neck with an awkward smile. "About my earlier words... Hmm.. You know..." He gazed aside in hesitation. "It was nothing personal."

Adam's eyes narrowed, but Yann met his gaze without backing down. "Don't glare at me! I hope you realise you've brought Yuehua Ji to my doorstep, when all I wanted was peace."

"Amazing." Adam clapped his hands mockingly. "We've seen where treachery led you. Tell me: what would you have done had I not spent precious seconds to spare your body from that vicious lunatic's grasp? Continue to cheat death for centuries through her abuse?" he snorted. "I doubt you can."

Silence settled between the two men, both knowing neither would shoulder blame. And they also knew they each had a point.

After a moment, Yann turned sideways and observed the scenery. It felt familiar, like any countryside region of the archipelago, but also different. Stenches of burned timber and flesh thickened the air. Atop a hill overlooking root cellars and grape fields, a ruined manor bled dust and dark smoke.

Adam followed his gaze, realisation striking him like a physical blow. "The last survivors of House Laurentius Lux Aeterna. Did Leviathan... burn a real house to forge our identity?"

"You sought a haven," Yann muttered, his voice rising with barely contained anger. Veins bulged on his forehead, his knuckles white. "You'll only find a place of hidden schemes. One day, you think you've found a fateful friend, the next, you're kneeling, bound by mana-suppressing chains. And there you see him, sneering behind the crowd, and understand. Understand that he had orchestrated your arrest, your guilt—a guilt that didn't matter to any of these starved-for-drama fools. Only how much prestige he can steal. With how strictly bloodlines are controlled, of course, Leviathan erased any risks of being found out."

"Sounds like something you would do." Adam sneered, then his hand met the man's trembling shoulder. So the rector's descendant became a rogue mage. Not for your own prestige... but his."

"I don't want to hear about that madman!" Yann slapped Adam's hand, huffing through his teeth.

Adam watched his hand for a moment, recognising the sting of familial betrayal. Somehow, his anger against Yann faded slightly as he nodded. These were the worst kind of betrayals—the kind few men ever overcame.

He produced a gourd of fresh water from his spatial ring and handed it to Yann. "Now what? Do you know where we are and how to get to the capital?"

Yann drank, the water partially washing his anger away. Then, he scrutinised the golden sand of the distant shore. No harbor. Not even a single sail fluttering like a cloud beneath the bright sky. He raised a finger to calculate the wind direction, then pointed north.

"I'm sure of one thing—this place is the most remote of them all. The capital and its damn college are the heart of the archipelago."

"We have a destination, then," Adam patted Qing's head, grinning. "We'll settle soon, so don't worry."

Qing raised her bright pink eyes from his chest, the confusion and fear that had reddened and blurred them fading. She still clutched a wooden doll close to her heart as her voice quivered. "I trust you, big brother. But just after I found my Papa..."

"Hey, don't worry so much." He ruffled her blond hair. "It's not like Wei disappeared. You'll see. We'll meet him again before you can miss him..." His voice dropped to a murmur. "And Misha, too."

However, Yann's voice sliced through his comforting words. "I'd be damned if I ever step foot in that cursed place again." He scratched his hair vigorously, spitting. "I admit it, all right? I spent my ability to cheat death because of our meeting, but I'm back to a place free of cultivators' hate. And I intend to enjoy my new safety. In villages. Small cities. With beauties, and a mug full of the best ale." ReadaheadandgetupdatesbyvisitingM^VLEMPYR.

Adam's lips rose into a full-blown smirk. "Ale better than my wine and beauties more enchanting than those from the capital? Listen, Yann. If living there is the problem, what stops you from enjoying its pleasures for a day or two?"

"Not even a second!" With a roar, Yann turned and walked south. But Adam's words rang in his mind. Better than his wine? Of course not. But if he could get a bottle or two before leaving...

He paused in his steps, his eyes narrowing in focus. Adam needed a guide, someone who would explain the archipelago's customs. Adam also knew forcefulness wouldn't work. His mind wouldn't change about the capital, but he could accompany Adam to the nearest city. For wine, of course.

Eventually, he turned toward Adam and raised both hands. "Ten bottles of the same wine you've made me taste in the cave." His eyes darted to Adam's spatial ring. "And the shamshir you've shown me. I'll guide you to a city a day's travel from the capital."

"Sure." Adam flung five bottles at Yann, the grin of someone whose plan worked flawlessly stretching across his face. "You'd have to forgive me, however. I don't trust you enough to deliver the shamshir and the other half before we reach our destination."

Catching the bottles with a snarl, Yann moved north. "This isn't the same. I deliver on my words once given."

"We shall see if your honesty comes remotely close to your stubbornness."

Adam followed, his boots leaving footprints in the musty dirt road that snaked through sprawling hills and isolated farms. There were no villages, just people working the land mostly for themselves. In the distance, a misty forest of needle-leafed pines loomed, more ominous than beautiful.

For a moment, he let go of his worries, his thoughts turning to what he could get; the knowledge he had dreamed of awaiting him at the end of the road.

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AN: I still tried to write... Hope it's good enough.