The war ended in ash.
My blade shattered.
My bones crumbled.
But my soul burned bright.
The heavens may mock the Alchemy Soul, but I will refine the heavens.
[....]
The sky was dark as night, the air clouded with black smoke. Ash drifted like snow over the thousands of corpses that lay across the vast battlefield—kings, warriors, immortals, beasts, and demons alike.
This was the aftermath of the great war where no side mattered. Where raw strength was met with even more strength. The stench of burnt flesh and blood choked the air.
At the center of the carnage stood a man, impaled by a dozen divine weapons. His black hair was dyed scarlet with blood, his eyes hazy as the last light in his soul flickered.
Fang Shen—once the Heavenly General of the Azure Flame Legion—laughed. Blood poured from his mouth as he laughed. He, who was once said to be the mortal who would rend the heavens, now stood at death's door.
"The heavens betrayed me," he said with a smile. He looked up into the sky, his gaze settling on a glowing figure in the sky, an immortal.
His hair was like strands of gold, flowing smoothly over his shoulders. His features sharp and strong, his amber eyes seemed filled with profound knowledge. His skin was perfect, pale, without blemish. His perfect white robes covered his entire body neck down.
He looked down at Fang Shen and spoke, "General Fang Shen, you have fought your best, but mortals will never decide what the fate of the world is." He spoke, his voice a soft yet powerful one.
He moved his hands in a slow motion, and a massive sword of golden light appeared; it was the size of an average human.
Fang Shen looked at the sword above his head, he forced a smile, "My only regret is that I never cultivated my Alchemy Soul," he muttered.
The immortal dropped his hand, and the sword shot down, tearing through the air, its glow illuminating the surrounding.
Fang Shen refused to close his eyes even at the face of death; he looked at the sword, he faced it, he accepted it with a smile.
The sword hit Fang Shen, an explosion followed, its bright light illuminating the entire battlefield, his entire body was evaporated with the blast.
But as his soul was about to be destroyed, a white pearl within his soul absorbed his soul and burned up in a white flame.
The end of the great general Fang Shen had come, leaving behind no body to be buried.
[..... ]
Three hundred years after the great war, at a village near the edge of the Nine Cauldron Mountains, a frail-looking boy sat beneath a tree.
His skin was sickly pale, his eyes sunken in. He looked very sick, at the point of death, but no one helped; he stayed alone under the tree with his tattered robes, as his life slowly extinguished.
The eyes of the boy closed for the last time, or it was supposed to be the last time, but as his eyes closed, they shot open again, shining with the bright light of life.
His eyes darted around, looking at his surroundings, he could feel the warm air wrap around his body, and the pungent smell of his surroundings clung to the back of his throat.
"I'm alive?" He muttered the question, lifting his weak arms up to his eyes.
"It worked, the Phoenix Soul Pearl worked." His voice sounded a little elated as he said it.
The Phoenix Soul Pearl was a forbidden treasure, one that could grant reincarnation to a person. It was extremely sought after by all, and had been the cause of many wars in the past.
Because of that, it was tagged as forbidden, as there was only one of it. The immortals took the Phoenix Soul Pearl and hid it away from all mortals.
But Fang Shen, the prodigy of humanity, found it. He had sought it out ever since he discovered the Alchemy Soul and the fact that the immortals were plotting against him.
He needed a way out, a fresh start, and so he risked everything to get the pearl. His actions in stealing the pearl were one of the things that acted as a catalyst for the great war.
The pearl allowed one to reincarnate after death and keep all memories and your soul; it was a treasure above treasures.
Fang Shen closed his eyes slowly, taking a look into his own soul. Inside Fang Shen's soul was a vast, dark space, almost empty but filled with a quiet, pulsing energy. At the center, a glowing pearl, the Phoenix Soul Pearl, radiated a soft, white light.
It floated in the middle of a swirling current of faint, golden energy that seemed to twist and move around it, like a calm storm. The rest of his soul was fragmented, with shards of memories and emotions floating aimlessly.
As the energy from the pearl began to flow, the pieces of his soul started to pull together, slowly mending what had been broken. The light from the pearl grew stronger, and the dark void surrounding it seemed less empty.
It was a fresh start, without all that he had achieved in his life. There were no spiritual roots, nothing there, aside from a floating purple rune, an item that Fang Shen had risked his life to get as well.
It was the fragment of the Alchemy God's soul, the greatest Alchemist to ever exist. In his past life, he was unable to add the fragment to his Alchemy Soul because he had created the soul when all his spiritual roots had matured and he had reached the peak of his life.
Alchemy was seen as simply a means to create pills and materials, it wasn't seen as anything special. But only those that reached the peak and researched alchemy discovered the true potential of alchemy.
Fang Shen was one of this select few, and when he knew, he did all he could to get what he needed to grow his Alchemy Soul, but it was too late. The only way was if he had a clean slate.
He knew his death was coming, and so he kept the Phoenix Soul Pearl and the Alchemy God's fragment within his soul. He carried it all the time because he never knew when his death would come exactly.
He regretted the fact that he never took up Alchemy; if he had chosen the path of Alchemy, he would have never had the situation where he feared for his life, he would have been untouchable by all.
'But all that changes now, I have paved the way for my second chance, and now I have a clean slate. I'll fix my mistakes, this time I shall grow my Alchemy heart, and I'll reach the Nine Cauldrons of Heaven.'