2 Pangs of Rebirth

As far as the eye could see, pitch black darkness. Huanzhi's eyes never did refocus. His eyes were closed by a weight that Zhi had never felt before and for how much he tried, he was unable to force them open. It was then that a soft, gentle, feminine voice called out to him from a space situated above and behind him. A voice that expressed care and concern for him. It called his name once. "Huanzhi."

Huanzhi suddenly felt the weight from his eyes being lifted and let them fly open. He had been laying on the ground in a rather undignified position. He slammed his arms into the ground and rose from the floor. He was dressed completely differently than how he was when he had seemingly died only a few moments ago. He now wore a crimson-colored robe and no longer had a straw hat, but left his hair tied loosely.

Zhi rose from the ground admiring this clean, prim attire when suddenly he felt a presence behind him. He turned and saw a feminine figure, dressed in a perfectly washed red robe as well. Not a single trace of disrepair could be seen upon this beautiful robe. What astounded Huanzhi doubly more was the person wearing it. It was someone who Huanzhi had thought dead for a painful many years.

"M-Meiying? Is that you, my love?" Huanzhi stared for a moment in disbelief. Only a few moments ago, he had been regretting his part in her death and now here she stood, in the flesh. "How is this possible? Has the darkness finally enveloped me?..." His suspicions began to mount and suddenly he whirled around and stared back at the ground. Surely enough, his bloody and battered corpse was there.

Huanzhi's face became white as a sheet for a moment as he tried to touch his body. From seemingly nowhere, a strange force blocked his hand from touching his own body and electrocuted him powerfully.

"Zhi-zhi! Don't try to do that again. The Gods will be furious. I know you cannot believe it, but you are a spirit now." Meiying finally spoke, her voice trembling with emotion. Tears streamed down her face at the sight of her former beloved. "You passed from a combination of blood loss from wounds inflicted by Lu Gongfen and by a Qi Reflux."

Memories began to flow through Huanzhi's mind. He began to remember how he died and for what. Suntao. He regretted having brought that poor man to his death along with him. Huanzhi sighed and rubbed his eyes with his fingers. "So now what will happen? Will I live out the rest of eternity in peace with you, Meiying?" Huanzhi opened his eyes, tears flowed from them freely.

He had been remorseful. Remorseful for what he had done to his beloved and to others throughout his entire life walking the shadows. Zhi had made many happy spouses into widows or widowers thanks to the contracts that were pulled against his clients' enemies.

"Zhi-zhi. You know that what you have asked of me is the only thing that I will ever wish for as long as I have memory of you. Unfortunately, the Gods above have deemed you a 'Returner'. We shall not get our wish." Meiying spoke in a pained voice, as if something were stopping her from explaining further.

"A Returner?" Zhi asked in a soft voice. "What does that mean and why the hell am I chosen as one?!" He shouted from the top of his lungs.

"Zhi. You cannot argue with the Gods. Once judgement is passed on a soul, you cannot force them to change the outcome. You must accept your fate and continue onwards in good faith."

Zhi looked Meiying's spirit directly in the eyes. He seemed so serious, but suddenly broke into a laugh. "Meiying, have you been practicing writing your own poetry again? I know you were a writer, but even in limbo you can't take a break?"

Meiying smiled in return. "Isn't this why you missed me? I always used to come up with some stories that you always enjoyed."

"Even if they weren't interesting, I would still be joyful just to be around you." Zhi warmly beamed. He was old. Wise enough to flatter a spirit but also add a little bit of diminishment to an accomplishment.

A new voice interrupted the lovers' reuniting.

"Huanzhi Ren."

The masculine voice boomed these two words as loudly as he could to gather the man's attention. Huanzhi turned in surprise. He hadn't expected to see someone else so soon. "Why are you so surprised to hear a voice? Heed my words. You shall return to the lands as one of the new generations. However, you expressed regrets for your past villainy. I will send you back to the mortal realm."

The voice paused for a moment to collect his thoughts and continued. "If you are unable to redeem yourself in the eyes of the Council of the Gods, then you shall be banished from the Immortal and Mortal Realm. You shall be sentenced to eternity in the underworld. Do you understand? You may choose to give up now, or you may choose to redeem yourself."

Huanzhi looked around, still unable to discern where the disembodied voice was coming from, but he stood as upright as he could and stared forward. "All I wish for is to be reunited with Meiying. If you are to send me back to the land of the living, then you must allow Meiying to come with me. I must have her with me!"

"Bastard! You dare place conditions on our judgement?! You have no authority in the Immortal Realm, you were the absolute weakest of the greatest warriors in history." Huanzhi roared in anger upon hearing this, "Shut up, I am stronger than you think!" but the voice snarled back.

"Silence yourself! You dare try to challenge a God?! Meiying shall not return to the mortal realm, for she has proven herself useful as the Scribe of the Gods. I shall not allow you to take away our most trusted advisor. Either return alone, or suffer for eternity."

Huanzhi stared forward for a moment. Here he was, a renowned warrior, but he could not do a thing to receive his beloved once again. He had no other choice. No other possibility. He had to return to the living, so that he could return to his Meiying at the end of his new journey. "Suntao. I am sorry for what I am about to do. You would have chewed me out for this, I know." Huanzhi took a few deep breaths before answering.

"Then, I shall return to the land of the living."

The God that had spoken to Zhi now laughed, "Never disobey your elders, young prick. Now set off." A giant hand appeared from the rocks of the cave within. As Zhi looked back upon his corpse, it was nothing but a dusty, cobweb covered skeleton. How many years had truly passed? The giant hand rose upwards and with a loud thwack, sent Huanzhi flying. "Are you kidding me?!" He shouted as his spirit flew through the air and eventually landed.

His eyes were once more closed with a heavy weight. A heartbeat within him pumped. Once, twice, thrice. Suddenly a loud crash was heard and Zhi bolted upright. He tried to raise his right hand. His right hand responded to his movement. An arm that he had not been able to use since his loss to the junior warrior of the Kanling Sect twenty years past. Wait. Twenty years ago? Was it truly just twenty years past?

Zhi stared at his arm as he contorted it to his will. He was in an unknown bed, covered loosely by a blanket. Zhi turned from the bed and pushed himself towards the edge, finally rising. He walked to a closet located at the west wall and opened the door. What the absolute hell was the attire in this closet? It looked like something an insane person would wear. Short sleeved shirts made from some strange stretchy fabric, long pants made from some incredibly stiff form of... cotton twill cloth? Seriously? What a horrible sense of fashion.

Zhi sighed, the sun shone through some curtains. But not any regular curtains, they were somehow horizontal. He walked through the room. It was rather small. But the architecture was something divine. How could the floor be so glossy when it was made of wood and how could the ceiling and walls be made of some hard substance that looked slightly rough? This was something that Zhi had never seen before in his life.

He walked to another smaller room in this larger chamber. To the right was something sticking out of the wall. He found his way through the dark and touched the panel, it suddenly dropped into the wall and a bright light blinded Zhi severely. He shouted and fell back. "A flash bomb?!" He wiped his eyes rapidly and suddenly searched for where the light had emanated. It looked like a candle that was suspended from the ceiling surrounded by glass. Zhi rose from the ground and walked into the room carefully, he looked to his right and saw a mirror. "Holy shit..." He stared blankly for a moment into the mirror.

"I'm even better looking than in my past life!" Huanzhi yelled in joy and touched his face. "Is this even real?" He smiled and looked at his hair. "Gods above, this hair looks horrible. It's not even close to how long my hair was last time." He grabbed a comb from atop a counter and brushed it slightly into an upright position. Somehow that felt right. He suddenly paused and looked at the counter once more.

"What the hell is this?!"

A large parabola-like tube was coming over to a drain. To the right of the tube was a handle and to the left another. One was marked red and the other blue. Huanzhi instinctively turned the one that was marked blue and suddenly water burst forth from the tube. Huanzhi grinned. "Plumbing? I must be one of the richest men alive to have these sorts of contraptions throughout the house."

And finally we come to the last part of Zhi's acquaintance with his household... The toilet. It was everything that Zhi had ever dreamed of while being on the run and what was more... there was paper. So much paper! No more fallen dried leaves! How wonderful!

Huanzhi dressed rapidly with some of the clothing he had found in his closet and walked to the curtains. He pulled on a small hard string and the curtain rose. He continued to pull. The sun shone through and Zhi gasped. "Where... Where the hell am I?!"

Automobiles bustled by on the roads below. Billboards were electronically operated. Buildings were over seventy-stories. People were everywhere. At least one thing had not changed. The world was still inherently evil, perhaps even more so than before, and Huanzhi knew that. He turned and checked the entire room, finding an identification of himself.

The name of the man whose body he had now occupied was Yijin Liu, his title was something called "First-Year High School Student" at Hungsho High School. He was living alone due to a lack of money. He was also a recent transfer.

"Well, I guess I have to get used to this new name. Yijin... not too bad. I always felt I was deserving of a more interesting name than Huanzhi. I wonder why this body was given to me. He must have died of starvation.

"Speaking of which, I might as well grab something to eat."

He began to look through every door in the house for some food supplies. Zhi eventually and coincidentally opened the refrigerator door and found some cold leftovers from a takeout restaurant. 'Yijin' placed his food on a counter, pulled up a stool and began to eat from a plastic container. It was temperate enough to stomach but Yijin, having not known how to microwave food, could have eaten it a bit warmer.

He rose from the counter after having eaten and quickly washed it in the kitchen sink, finally figuring out how to use it. After quickly studying and figuring out how to use a cellular phone, Yijin quickly read up on Hungsho High School. He figured out that they had a dress code and that it was rather prestigious. He dressed in the attire. "Damn! Dashing as hell!"

He walked to the door. "I always wanted to study and become a scholar, maybe I'll end up wiser for it." Yijin turned the knob. "To the start of my new life, however far fetched it may be."

He walked out and with that final statement, began his new journey to the terrors and joys of modern high school life.