Chapter 199 – Over the Summit (V)

Chapter 199

Over the Summit (V)

It was uplifting.

Sort of like that time dad picked me up when I fell asleep in the back of his old Cadillac. Half-awake, I felt his arms lift me up with such ease that he seemed the strongest person in the whole world.

Over the length of our courtyard and up the stairs, gently putting me down on the bed, pulling the blanket over me, kissing my forehead, and leaving the door just a bit ajar because he knew I was afraid of the complete dark.

Or that time Yas dragged her tired ass across half the town to my apartment when I called her out of the blue, patently drunk, at 3AM and hung up after mumbling something. I was just so drunk that I passed out on my couch, but she thought something happened to me, so she ran three red lights, got a speeding ticket, and nearly had a panic attack when she saw me sprawled on the couch… only to quickly realize I was just passed out.

Those moments that show the unconditional potential of love.

I felt it.

Something had wrapped around me and held me tightly, and without me even so much as trying, I found the Qi revolutions increasing in quality and speed.

One by one, soon there were ten, then twenty, then there were fifty.

And bit by bit, I felt my entire scope of reality expanding–colors appeared that I’d never seen before, stirrings of invisible insects miles away itched my ears, and I could practically decipher the state of every single one of my cells by just looking inwardly.

Though I don’t know exactly how I knew this, I did know this was a temporary sensation. I knew it’d fade. It was as though something was affording me a glimpse into the world so far beyond my grasp that I could barely wrap my head around what I was experiencing.

But with each new ‘rebirth’, it felt, memories flooded me. Things I’d forgotten, things that I don’t think I ever even remembered, they were all coming back like a tidal flood of the ages.

Despite that, however, my heart remained eerily calm. Not of my own accord, I don’t think. But, for the first time ever, I could ‘objectively’ look back on my life.

… Damn, it was kind of shit.

Honestly.

Hah.

With the bad, though, there was the good.

I didn’t even realize I’d forgotten just exactly how Yas and I met. I mean, I always knew it was ‘at college’ or whatever, but I’d actually managed to forget the exact moment. Probably because we wouldn’t start dating for over two years after, but you’d think I’d remember something so quintessential.

–and yet, just as they surged into me… they vanished. Not all, no. But most of them receded back somewhere in the depths of my mind, perhaps to be remembered yet another time.

[CHOOSE]

The letters were the first to appear in the darkness, and with them came the light–a deluge of kaleidoscopic colors overwhelmed my sight, and I found myself drowned in a strange, vague reality.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

[100 YEARS WORTH OF QI CULTIVATION + A RANDOM ‘UNIQUE’ PHYSIQUE]

[OR]

[ALL YOUR DISCIPLES EXPERIENCE A MINOR EVOLUTION OF THEIR UNIQUE TRAITS]

There were exactly two more windows just like it on either side, and it looked like I had to make three choices. All very deliberately weighed.

[CHOOSE]

[EVERY BREAKTHROUGH IN THE FUTURE WILL BE AUTOMATIC LIKE THIS]

[OR]

[NONE OF YOUR DISCIPLES CAN EVER FALL INTO QI DEVIATION DURING A BREAKTHROUGH]

And the last one.

[CHOOSE]

[YOU WILL NEVER DIE OF OLD AGE]

[OR]

[???]

… right.

It’s like I’m six and my parents are trying to teach me a lesson.