The Handsome, Powerful, and Tragic Master Has Been Reborn [Transmigration] - Chapter 9

Jun Lianyi’s eyes widened in sheer disbelief. The will to fight evaporated instantly as he clutched at his throat and nose, collapsing into a fit of violent coughing.

Strings of silver bubbles escaped his lips as his lungs were forcibly emptied of air, and a crushing sense of suffocation swept over him. Instinctively, he thrashed, desperate to break the surface, but ten thousand miles beneath the ocean, no matter how he struggled, there wasn’t a shred of hope to be found.

As the seawater slowly invaded his chest, his body grew heavy. Strength drained from his limbs, and the world before him blurred into a hazy gray.

So… I’m going to die here?

He had only just managed to see his beloved Shizun. He had finally secured a place by his side, a chance at a future together… and yet…

It’s so… unfair…

“Shizun…” A bitter ache bloomed in his heart. Swallowing more bubbles, he called out with a final, desperate effort for the person he missed most. His eyes grew damp, even amidst the salt of the sea.

But that man was thousands of miles away; there was no way he could hear the plea.

In the second before consciousness slipped away, Jun Lianyi saw a figure through the gloom. He couldn’t tell if it was a final hallucination of a dying man, but the silhouette of Yue Wuji appeared before him—robes as white as snow, distant and noble, standing high above the world. Faced with Jun Lianyi’s pathetic, drowning state, the man only knit his brows slightly and parted his lips to call his name: “Lianyi.”

“Shi… zun…” Jun Lianyi reached out instinctively, wanting to grasp the hem of those white robes, but the darkness finally claimed him. Just as his fingers were about to touch the fabric, his hand fell limp.

******

Jun Lianyi dreamed.

He dreamed he was drowning on the ocean floor, but just as his life flickered out, Yue Wuji appeared. His master gathered him into a firm embrace and leaned down without hesitation, pressing his lips against Jun Lianyi’s. He pried open the boy’s teeth, breathing the air from his own lungs into him.

The touch of those lips felt impossibly real and soft—like kissing a cloud, sweet and tender.

He lost himself in the sensation, wanting to deepen the kiss, when a persistent calling drifted from far away:

“A-Lian…”

Jun Lianyi hated that name. He tried to ignore it, but the caller was relentless, repeating it over and over until the Shizun in his dream vanished into thin air. Panicking, he looked everywhere for a trace of his master, but he stepped into a void and snapped awake.

When he opened his eyes, the face looking back at him wasn’t the one he longed for. It was Rong Yu.

Seeing him awake, Rong Yu’s face lit up with joy, and he actually began to cry. “Thank goodness, A-Lian! You’re finally awake!”

Facing the deep sea again, Jun Lianyi felt a surge of primal terror. He didn’t even dare to breathe for a second, covering his face as he stared at Rong Yu, struggling to swim upward.

Rong Yu’s eyes flickered with heartache. He gently held Jun Lianyi down, cupping his face. “It’s alright, A-Lian. You’re safe now… it’s over.” He pulled Jun Lianyi into a gentle embrace, patting his back to soothe him.

Jun Lianyi’s eyes were red. Only when he could no longer hold his breath did he try a cautious inhale; finding no resistance, he finally relaxed. He looked at Rong Yu. “What happened?”

“My health is poor,” Rong Yu explained softly. “The day we left the sect, Shizun was worried I’d have an accident underwater. He didn’t feel at ease, so he gave me two Fish Pills.”

“You gave the other one to me?” Jun Lianyi was stunned. “But what about you?”

Rong Yu nodded, smiling as he wiped a tear from the corner of his eye. “They were for emergencies. Right now, you clearly needed it more than I did.” He paused, his expression turning grave. “A-Lian… that Fish Pill of yours… was it truly given to you by Immortal Venerable Jiyue?”

At the mention of the pill, Jun Lianyi’s chest tightened. He bit his lip, looking down for a long time before shaking his head. “No… I probably just grabbed the wrong one in my haste.”

When he was drowning, he hadn’t had the luxury of thought. Now that he had the time, he didn’t want to think about it.

Shizun gave me a fake Fish Pill…

And looking back further, when he was in mortal danger and cried out for help, Shizun hadn’t come. In fact, when their eyes met through the mirror, Shizun had looked right through him.

His heart ached physically. Jun Lianyi clutched his chest, his face turning a sickly shade of pale. Rong Yu panicked, grabbing his shoulders. “Are you still unwell? Was the suffocation too much?”

Jun Lianyi shook his head. Like a drowning man reaching for a straw, he thought of that dream. He looked up at Rong Yu, his mouth opening to ask a question, but the words died in his throat.

What was there to ask? Shizun had never appeared. From beginning to end, the only one who saved him was Rong Yu. Even if the sensation in that dream was real, it could only have been Rong Yu giving him air to keep him alive. How could it have been Yue Wuji, who was thousands of miles away?

With a self-mocking smile, Jun Lianyi touched his own lips.

Rong Yu seemed to read his thoughts instantly. He caught Jun Lianyi’s wrist and, when the boy looked at him, pointed to the little fox nearby. “He’s the one who saved you. You owe your life to him.”

Rong Yu then recounted the events: when Jun Lianyi began to drown, the little fox had tumbled from his sleeve. Seeing him dying, the fox had bitten Jun Lianyi’s finger to absorb enough spiritual energy to take human form and give him air. Afterward, the fox had woken Rong Yu, who then used the second Fish Pill to save his life.

Jun Lianyi looked at the fox with gratitude, but his thoughts were still on Yue Wuji. The fox was a gift from his master; if the fox saved him, it was almost as if Shizun had saved him.

Clinging to this bit of self-consolation, he felt a little better. He gathered the fox into his arms. “Thank you, A-Li.”

The fox gave a few happy cries and nuzzled its face against his cheek. Jun Lianyi nuzzled back, but he was still heavy with worry. He was desperate to stand before Yue Wuji and ask him for the truth.

Turning to Rong Yu, he said, “Junior Brother, let’s finish the trials as quickly as possible. I want to…”

He didn’t finish the sentence, but Rong Yu smiled understandingly. “Alright.”

*****

For the remainder of the journey, Jun Lianyi stopped looking for curiosities. He followed the original novel’s path strictly, clearing obstacles in the proper order.

Initially, they fought minor demons whose cores provided little benefit to him, so he gave them to Rong Yu and helped him absorb the energy. Only when the beasts grew powerful enough that Rong Yu’s cultivation couldn’t handle the cores did he use them for himself.

On the very last day of their three months in the realm, Jun Lianyi successfully slew the final beast. After absorbing its core, he felt a surge of lightness throughout his body, He had broken through to the late stage of the Nascent Soul.

“Congratulations, Senior Brother, on your advancement.” Rong Yu looked even happier than he did. His face was slightly flushed from the energy of the cores he’d absorbed over the past two months, making him look more radiant than ever.

Jun Lianyi smiled and nodded, but he didn’t notice the change in Rong Yu; his eyes were fixed on the horizon. He had endured for two months and was now beyond impatient.

“Rong Yu, I have something I must do. I need to leave the realm ahead of time,” he said apologetically.

Rong Yu caught his meaning immediately. “If Senior Brother has business, please go. I will explain things to the Elders.”

Jun Lianyi bowed several times in gratitude before pulling a pink, star-shaped pearl from his storage space. “I found this on the seabed and thought it suited you. Take it.” He paused, adding, “Be careful on your way back. Once I’ve handled things on my end, I’ll come find you at the Xiaoyao Pavilion.”

Rong Yu was a genius in alchemy, despite his poor physical roots. At only seventeen, he could already refine fourth-grade Heaven-rank pills. In the novel, it was said that only his shallow cultivation held him back; otherwise, he would surpass every alchemist in the world. He was the favorite—and most fragile—disciple of Xiaoyaozi.

Rong Yu gripped the pink pearl tightly, watching until Jun Lianyi’s silhouette vanished from sight. Only then did he let out a self-mocking laugh. “Will you really come find me?”

Shaking his head, he tucked the pearl away safely and turned to walk in the opposite direction.

******

Jun Lianyi didn’t rest for a moment on his way back to Yunmeng Mountain. Traveling without a flight tool, he turned what should have been a day-and-a-half journey into one that saw him back before nightfall.

Standing once more before the Yueqing Villa after three months, his heart was a chaotic mess. It hammered against his ribs, tight with the tension of the answers he was about to seek.

The man was right there. All he had to do was walk in and ask, and the questions that had haunted him for two months would be resolved. But now that the moment had arrived, he felt a sudden cowardice. He was afraid the answer wouldn’t be what he wanted.

He was a soul from another world who had stayed here out of love for Yue Wuji. He had never considered what he would do if the plot veered off course and Yue Wuji didn’t love him back.

Maybe Shizun has his reasons… I shouldn’t question him. I should just trust the original story, right?

But if he didn’t ask, this doubt would remain like a thorn in his heart, pricking him with every beat.

As he stood there lost and indecisive, that familiar, cold voice he had pined for drifted from behind him:

“Lianyi, you’ve returned.”

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