[Bonus chapter]Climax of the Battle, Martial Spirit Fusion! (1)

"Wake up, Yu Tian. Wake up!" A feminine voice called.

Still bloody and battered, Yu Tian's eyes slowly opened. He found himself suddenly floating in a blank space, unsure of where he was, but the pain he was feeling had disappeared.

"Where am I?" Yu Tian looked around in confusion. He then remembered what happened, when Qiu Xue charged in front of him to block Li Hao Ran's attack.

"Qiu Xue!" The former god cried out, looking around for his martial spirit.

He couldn't see or sense her presence. Then, a white figure suddenly appeared in front of Yu Tian, startling him.

"You..." This person felt so familiar to him, yet Yu Tian couldn't remember anything.

It was the same feminine figure from his fragmented memories. Even right now in front of her, Yu Tian still couldn't see her face, yet he felt a strange connection between them.

"Who are you?" Yu Tian asked quietly.

Without seeing her face, somehow he knew that she was smiling. The figure then knelt down and hugged him, making it quite awkward since he was way shorter than her due to his current body being a young boy.

"This scent and feeling..." Yu Tian was stunned when tears began to roll down from his eyes.

Wasn't she supposed to be cold and heartless in those memories? She saved him in order to use and manipulate him, right?

But right now there was only warmth from her touch. Just who was this person?

The figure didn't reply, only hugging for a moment that seemed to last forever before letting go. A soft hand stroked his cheeks that were stained with dirt and blood.

"You don't need to know who I am for now." Her voice suddenly became cold, surprising Yu Tian again. However, he swore he heard a faint tremble in her melodic voice.

"Right now you've become far too weak, and you don't remember anything after the White Night incident." The figure shook her head sadly.

Yu Tian was certain that she knew what exactly happened to him. There were far too many holes in his memories that were abnormal, and if she wasn't responsible for it, something definitely happened in his past life that made him unable to recollect important details.

"White Night?" Yu Tian tried to pry for information, wiping away the tears.

Sighing, the figure shook her head again. "I can't tell you anything for now. Once you've become stronger, I'm sure you'll start to remember again."

"Right now, you've become so lazy and complacent in your new life." Yu Tian began to sweat in embarrassment as the figure began to lecture him. "You can't keep doing this. Look outside."

With a sweep of her hand, the figure opened a window. Yu Tian saw the [Fireball] sent by Li Hao Ran explode once it came into contact with his martial spirit, causing his heart to suddenly clench. "Qiu Xue!"

The figure looked away, although she couldn't help but wear a wry smile. "Don't worry, your martial spirit is fine. Look at your mother though."

Yu Tian's heart was once again gripped with pain when he saw his mother scream. Seeing Li Mei Ling faint right after, the former god immediately panicked. "Let me out! I need to go save my mother!"

"What can you do once you get out?" The figure sighed disappointedly. "Li Chang is a War Grandmaster just like your grandfather. Not only that, you still have a Li Hao Ran to deal with."

Yu Tian froze. She was completely right. If he fought just with what he had currently, there was no way he could beat Li Hao Ran after he fused with his pyro serpent, much less a Li Chang.

Sinking to his knees in defeat, his heart was filled with regret at being too careless in his new life. Now the cultivation difference has come to bite him back hard, and he was powerless to do anything.

"Honestly, I'm not sure what their goal is in targeting you this much." The feminine figure shrugged. "Getting rid of the weeds in the family, maybe. I can't be certain though."

"However, it's not like that you have no chance." Yu Tian felt her smile again.

"Really?" The former god felt hope reignite within him, looking back up at her.

He wanted to grab onto the figure's shoulders but he was too short, causing him to feel awkward. Yu Tian settled for pulling on her dress instead. "What can I do?"

"Stop that!" The figure suppressed her laughter from seeing Yu Tian's antics.

Back then, he was completely cold and emotionless, only becoming excited during fights like the battle maniac he was. This life, he became an adorable and mischievous kid, but she knew that the Yu Tian in front of her now was still the same Yu Tian in their past lives.

"Big sister~" Yu Tian continued to act like a spoiled child, making her sweatdrop.

She had no idea where he learned all this from. The figure felt that if the old Yu Tian came back now and saw what was happening, perhaps even the cool and collected former God of War would become embarrassed.

"Alright, alright." Yu Tian felt the figure roll her eyes in mock annoyance. "The answer is simple."

She pulled her dress away and pointed a finger to his face. "If Li Hao Ran could use [Martial Spirit Fusion], why can't you do the same?"

"Eh? Isn't that a Qi technique?" Yu Tian blinked in confusion. "Only Qi Warriors could use Qi techniques right?"

The figure secretly smiled and turned around, her back facing Yu Tian. "Yes, but also no."

Putting a soft hand onto Yu Tian's eyes, many understandings immediately flooded into his mind. The final words echoed deeply into his heart.

...

"In this world, there were abilities, techniques, and skills.

Although sometimes the terms are used interchangeably, the correct definitions were that abilities come from cultivaton, the techniques are derived from Qi, and skills were powers acquired and used by martial spirits.

Cultivator abilities, Qi techniques, and martial skills are the full names used to differentiate the 3.

[Martial Spirit Fusion] is a unique case. It doesn't belong into any of those categories. Rather, like the fusion in its name suggests, it is a combination from all 3 aspects.

When both the cultivator and their martial spirit becomes one, a miracle could be created through their bond."

...

"[Martial Spirit Fusion] isn't a Qi technique, dummy." Her voice was filled with warmth as she finished enlightening Yu Tian, causing his eyes to widen in realization. "If you can't win by yourself, why not have the strength of another to fight with you?"

Feeling her remaining energy depleted, the figure's voice turned melancholic. "My time talking with you is already up. I'll have to send you back now."

"Wait!" Yu Tian had many unanswered questions, but he could feel the space around him beginning to distort. "When can I see you again?"

"Don't worry," The last thing that Yu Tian saw was her waving before everything disappeared.

"I'll always be by your side."

...

Yu Tian awoke in a jolt, gasping. His body ached all over and there was the taste of ash in his mouth, the pain of all his injuries returning to him at once.

Resisting the smoke from the flames that still burned around him, Yu Tian saw Qiu Xue's unmoving form nearby. Her body was now fading in and out of existence, causing his heart to stab with pain.

Crawling over to her, Yu Tian hugged onto the kitten. Her sapphire eyes opened and she weakly nuzzled his face. "I'm sorry, Qiu Xue. I wasn't strong enough to protect you."

"Meow." His martial spirit placed a soft paw onto his cheek, comforting him.

"But I swear I won't make the same mistake again to you or anyone else I care about." Yu Tian's dark eyes burned with righteous fury.

Grabbing onto her paw, both the heavily injured martial spirit and her owner closed their eyes. As their feelings and spirits intertwined, the surrounding Qi began to be pulled in like a black hole.

...

"Huh?" Li Hao Ran's snake-like eyes narrowed.

He was initially pleased with his victory, having killed 2 birds with one stone in the literal sense. Li Hao Ran's heightened senses also detected the signs of life disappearing within the remnant smoke.

Thanks to his empowered [Fireball] dealing the fatal blow, the older boy was confident in stepping down from the stage.

However, he suddenly sensed a strong life force returning from where Yu Tian was. Not only that, but there was now an uneasy feeling in the atmosphere around him.

"[Martial Spirit Fusion]." A familiar voice resounded before a power explosion of Qi knocked Li Hao Ran backwards.

"What!" Thanks to his fused form, Li Hao Ran still managed to land on all fours. His serpentine eyes widened in shock as the lone figure sharpened in the blurry fumes. "H-How can this be?"

Walking out casually, Yu Tian's hair was now the colour of snow-white, and his face expressionless. However, there was also a burning fury under those ageless eyes, which seemed to glow eerily from under all his dried blood and injuries.

"Who... Are you?" Li Hao Ran took a step back instinctively in fear.

...

"What is going on?" Li Chang was also stunned by yet another sudden change in the situation. "How can that little bastard use [Martial Spirit Fusion]?"

A seven-year-old able to already fuse with their martial spirit was almost unheard of. Even in the entirety of the Holy Qilin Emperor, he has never heard of anyone performing this feat, even if their martial spirit was trash.

The uneasy feeling increased, and the grand elder was prepared to charge onto the stage, intending on helping his grandson. However, Shan Dong Hai stepped in front of him, blocking his way.

"Move out of the way, Shan Dong Hai!" Li Chang snarled. "If you don't want to see your granddaughter hurt then..."

The grand elder trailed off, noticing something was wrong. The little girl was missing from the spectators, meaning there was nothing to prevent Shan Dong Hai from helping the Li clan.

"Fellow elders!" Li Chang turned to the representatives from the other clans, but his heart immediately turned cold.

"You are a bad old grandpa." Shan Qian Xue scoffed as she appeared with many others behind her, chewing on another baked potato.

The young girl had slipped away from the tournament unnoticed, after giving a silent signal to her grandfather. Reaching her residence, she immediately explained the situation to her family, who acted without hesitation and sent many reinforcements to help their patriarch and the Li clan.

Thanks to her martial spirit, the power to sense and to mask her own presence was enough to even fool a War Grandmaster. Seeing many Shan clan members appear, the other families that allied with Li Chang and Li Cheung decided not to move from their seats.

"Patriarch." Shan Dong Hai's family members bowed and greeted him.

"Li Cheung chased after something and ran off. Capture him." The Shan patriarch was pissed as he commanded half of the reinforcements to find the other grand elder.

Although Li Cheung was also a War Grandmaster, a number of elders in the Shan Clan have already stepped close to that domain. Even a low level War Grandmaster would lose when outnumbered by several high level War Masters.

Having been promised a hefty share of starlight ore and precious technique manuals once they held power, the representatives that had agreed to support the grand elders in their coup decided to back out now. The situation has changed with the advantage lost, so it was best to abandon the burning ship rather than sink along with it.

Not only that, seeing Li Chang raise his hand to a junior left a bad taste in their mouths.

"Elder Chang." The Yun clan elder raised and cusped his hands together towards Li Chang. "We elders will be stepping out from our agreement now."

"Both of you!!" Li Chang was livid.

"Auntie!" Seeing the collapsed Li Mei Ling, Shan Qian Xue rushed to her side and tried to awaken her.

"Quick, give her this." Shan Dong Hai appeared with a medicinal pill in his hand. He watched as his granddaughter helped the young woman swallow it.

Coughing, Li Mei Ling's eyes fluttered open as she regained consciousness. "Qian Xue?"

She immediately tried to sit up forcefully after remembering what happened to her son. "Yu Tian! He-"

"Relax Auntie," The tomgirl carefully supported her and helped her calm down. She looked to the stage, a startled look appearing in her eyes. "Yu Tian is fine, look."

Li Mei Ling turned to the stage and was also shocked with what she saw. "Is that... Yu Tian?"

The familiar yet unfamiliar presence perturbed her. With a head of snow-white hair, her son still had the same face, but his expression and demeanor were completely foreign to Li Mei Ling.

Yu Tian's eyes were as cold and expressionless as chipped ice. A faint crackling of electricity radiated from parts of his body, as if it were alive and excited for the battle that's about to occur.

Noticing his mother, Li Mei Ling sighed in relief when she noticed some warmth return to his eyes when he looked at her. The tips of Yu Tian's lips curved upwards into a slight smile before he turned his attention back to his opponent, returning to the same unexpressive yet intimidating look.

The final showdown was about to begin.