My Clones Can Cultivate

Chapter 7: Liyu’s Misery (2)

Chapter 8

"Trash."

"Burden."

"Hopeless."

Those whispers had followed him for years. At first he pretended not to care. Then eventually, he started believing them too. Li Yu’s lips curled into a self-mocking smile.

His parents had been powerful cultivators. His mother was a hero of the Li Clan. He was supposed to inherit their legacy. Supposed to become someone great. Supposed to protect the clan.

Instead, he became the reason the clan weakened. A useless heir. A disappointment. A burden everyone tolerated only because of pity and guilt. The worst part was that he could no longer even look himself in the eyes.

Li Yu slowly lifted his head toward the night sky. For the first time in years, something inside him finally snapped. If fate insisted on crushing him, then he would fight fate itself. Even if it killed him.

A dangerous resolve slowly ignited inside his chest. He suddenly remembered an old myth he once read in an ancient scripture. A legend claiming that true rebirth could only occur at the edge of death. That under enough pressure, a person’s very existence could evolve.

Spirit roots. Bodies. Souls. Everything.

It sounded absurd. A fantasy. No expert had ever confirmed such a thing. But Li Yu no longer cared whether it was real or not. Because he was tired. Tired of the shame. Tired of the pity in people’s eyes. Tired of seeing the clan lord sacrifice everything for him. Tired of waking up every day only to remember he was broken.

If there truly was even the slightest possibility of changing his fate, then he would gamble his life on it. Either he survived, or he died trying.

That very night, without informing anyone, Li Yu left the Li Clan alone. His destination was the Beast Forest. A forbidden death zone crawling with spirit beasts of terrifying strength.

Standing at the edge of the massive forest, Li Yu turned back one final time toward the distant lights of the Li Clan. The wind blew against his robes violently. A dangerous determination burned within his eyes.

"When I return..."

His voice trembled slightly.

"I’ll either come back changed, or not come back at all."

Then, he walked into the darkness. And hell began.

The Beast Forest was far crueler than Li Yu imagined. Every step carried danger. Every hour brought bloodshed. He fought beasts stronger than himself over and over again like a madman.

He bled. Screamed. Collapsed. Rose again. Again. And again. His body broke apart countless times, yet he forced himself forward through sheer willpower alone. A mortal challenging spirit beasts was insanity. But Li Yu no longer cared about sanity. He only cared about changing his fate.

At times he came so close to death that even his heartbeat nearly stopped. Yet somehow, he survived. Driven by obsession. Driven by desperation. Driven by a burning refusal to remain weak.

Days passed. Li Yu ventured deeper and deeper into the forest like someone possessed. But despite all the suffering, nothing changed. No miracle appeared. No hidden power awakened. No legendary transformation occurred.

His spirit root remained broken. Reality remained cruel. Still, he continued fighting. Even when his body could barely stand. Even when fear consumed him. Even when tears mixed with blood across his face.

His will refused to break. Until he encountered the Saber Panther.

The beast was enormous. Terrifying. A predator born for slaughter. At his peak, perhaps Li Yu could have escaped. But now he was broken. Exhausted. Half-dead already, he stood no chance. freeweɓnøvel.com

The battle wasn’t even a battle. It was slaughter. The panther shredded through him mercilessly. Claws tore through flesh. Bones cracked. His body was ripped apart piece by piece. One of his eyes was gouged out violently. Deep wounds covered him until he no longer resembled a human being.

And the cruelest part? The beast barely seemed interested in him. Li Yu wasn’t even worth eating. Like discarded trash, the Saber Panther flung his mutilated body off a towering cliff.

The world spun violently. Wind roared past his ears. His broken body crashed downward endlessly. Yet somehow, he was still alive. Barely.

Tears streamed down Li Yu’s remaining eye as he fell. At the end of everything, he had failed. All his struggle. All his pain. All his determination was meaningless. His dream of becoming someone worthy was slipping away forever.

Li Yu trembled weakly. He hated it. He hated this fate. Hated this weakness. Hated himself. As darkness slowly swallowed his consciousness, one final thought echoed desperately inside his mind.

*I don’t want to die... I want to change everything.*

Then, his shattered body crashed into the spring below. And Li Yu died.

Rayden’s eyes snapped open violently. He sucked in a sharp breath as a splitting headache tore through his skull. Fragments of memories flooded his mind like a collapsing dam.

Pain. Despair. Loneliness. Shame. Every emotion Li Yu had ever carried now surged through him completely. Rayden grabbed his head tightly. It felt strange. Now that he possessed all of Li Yu’s memories, it almost felt like he was Li Yu. And yet, he wasn’t.

"...Crazy bastard," Rayden muttered under his breath.

He slowly stood up while exhaling heavily. Suicide was already insane enough. But marching willingly into a death zone filled with monsters? That was a completely different level of madness.

Still, Rayden understood him now. He understood just how cornered Li Yu had felt. How broken he had become. How desperately he wanted to change. The emotions lingering inside this body were so raw that Rayden could still feel them clawing at his chest.

Yet even then, "Gosh damn it," Rayden cursed again.

He rubbed his face tiredly before sighing deeply.

"Alright... let me summarize this. I died trying to play hero. I got transmigrated into a cultivation world. I received a system that clearly enjoys ruining my mental health. And now I discover the original owner of this body was a suicidal lunatic who challenged death itself."

Rayden looked around the endless forest bitterly.

"And now I’m stuck in the same death zone that killed him."

What an amazing start. Truly. Absolutely fantastic. But fortunately, there was one crucial difference now. Li Yu had possessed nothing except determination. Rayden, however, had cards to play.

His spirit root had been restored. His talent had become monstrous. He possessed the Origin Eyes. The Mirror Beast Egg. And even that garbage system of his was still something extraordinary despite acting like an abusive commentator half the time.

Most importantly, Rayden had no intention of dying again. Once was already traumatic enough. Rayden bent down and picked up the rusty sword lying beside him. The blade looked just as miserable as before.

"...You and I are really starting from the bottom huh?"

The sword, unsurprisingly, gave no reply. Rayden strapped it to his waist anyway. The evening wind swept through the grasslands as his long black hair fluttered behind him. He slowly lifted his gaze toward the setting sun beyond the forest.

A dangerous glint flashed through his eyes. The matter concerning Li Yu... he would deal with that later. For now, his priority was simple. Survive. Escape this death zone. And while doing so, Rayden’s lips curled upward slightly. Barely noticeable. But dangerous nonetheless.

"I should probably level up first."

After all, he was extremely curious. Just what exactly was the Infinite Reflection System truly capable of?