Soulbound: Chronicles Of A Shadow Assassin-Chapter 33: A Trip To The Past [I]

23 Years ago

Jiang Renxing’s wife, Zi Yu had just birthed her child, and was pronounced dead by the midwife.

"My lady..."

"This can’t be."

Zi Yu’s maid servants wailed at the news of their mistress’s death.

Jiang Renxing could only stand like a statue by the bedside of his wife. His eyes red-rimmed with the tears he was trying to hold back.

Madam Wang was beside him as well, carrying the new born baby in her arms, as she too mourned the passing of the lady of the house while also trying to pet the crying baby.

Hearing the baby’s cries, Jiang Renxing turned to look at the baby. His eyes locked onto the baby’s face, and his clenched his fists as unpleasant memories resurfaced in his head.

About Nine months earlier, at the Crystal Cove Lake...

Jiang Renxing stood atop a hill, gazing down at the serene Crystal Cove Lake. The water’s calm surface reflected the vibrant hues of the surrounding landscape.

Suddenly, the waters stirred, and a naked man with icy-blue hair emerged from the lake. But before Jiang Renxing could even process what he was seeing, the man collapsed onto the shore.

Recognizing the man, Jiang Renxing rushed immediately down the hill, his footsteps echoing through the air. "Long Zihan! Is this really you?" he exclaimed once he reached the man, his voice filled with surprise.

Long Zihan could only cough weakly in response as he smiled at his friend.

Jiang Renxing quickly helped him to his feet and supported him as they walked towards a nearby cave beneath the hill.

As they settled under the cave’s shelter, Jiang Renxing watched in worry as his friend’s chest rose and fell with shallow breaths. Long Zihan’s eyes, once bright and full of life, now seemed dull and sunken.

"What happened?" Jiang Renxing asked, his brows furrowed with concern. "It’s been two years since the Great Purge, and no dragon has been seen since then. We thought... we thought all dragon shifters were gone for good."

Long Zihan coughed before speaking in a weak, raspy voice. "It’s a long story, my friend. I’ll tell you about it later, but what I can say for now is that I’m the last of my kind, Renxing."

Jiang Renxing’s expression turned somber, filled with empathy for his friend’s plight. He couldn’t even find the right words to even begin to comfort him.

"Renxing, my friend," Long Zihan whispered, his voice barely audible. "I have one last favor to ask of you."

Jiang Renxing’s eyes locked onto Long Zihan’s, filled with a sense of foreboding. "What is it, brother?"

Long Zihan’s gaze pleaded with Jiang Renxing. "I want you to perform the Dragon Scale Ritual with me."

Jiang Renxing’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. "The ritual? But why? It’s forbidden, and it was this same ritual that caused the great purge to occur in the first place."

Long Zihan’s smile was faint, but determined. "I want to experience the world as a human again, just once. I want to feel the sun on my skin, to taste the sweetness of fresh air. I want to live, Renxing, if only for a little while."

Jiang Renxing hesitated, unsure of what to do. But Long Zihan’s desperate eyes eventually won him over.

"Okay, brother," Jiang Renxing said finally, his voice filled with resignation. "I’ll do it. But I can’t risk being in your body as I could lose my life in the process, instead, I’ll let you borrow my body. Our souls would co-exist in my body, but you will be the one in charge.

Long Zihan smiled at Jiang Renxing in gratitude. His green eyes shifted colors to bright red, and shimmering blue scales suddenly appeared on his chest area.

With shaking hands, Long Zihan plucked out one of the scales, and handed it over to Jiang Renxing.

Jiang Renxing was a bit reluctant, but he eventually closed his eyes and began the Dragon Scale Ritual. He whispered a spell under his breath, and the scales in his palms began to glow as Long Zihan’s essence got pulled into it.

Unknown to Jiang Renxing, Long Zihan had plucked out a second scale from his body, and while Jiang Renxing’s was muttering the spell, the second scale also glowed, drawing in Jiang Renxing’s essence into itself.

After muttering the spell, a strange tingling, and chilly sensation suddenly washed over Jiang Renxing’s body. Sensing something was wrong, his eyes snapped open... but it was already too late.

Long Zihan held Jiang Renxing’s hand, forcing him to place the scale containing his own essence on Jiang Renxing’s forehead.

Meanwhile, Long Zihan also placed the second scale he was holding, which now contained Jiang Renxing’s essence, on his own forehead.

Jiang Renxing’s eyes stretched wide in disbelief as he looked at his friend. He felt his soul being pulled from his body, while Long Zihan’s soul took its place in his body. And then, everything suddenly went dark.

The next time Jiang Renxing opened his eyes, it was already nighttime, and he found himself in Long Zihan’s naked body.

Coughing and gagging, he sat up from the floor, looking around in bewilderment. The harsh memories of his friend’s betrayal hit him hard, but he decided to still have a little trust in his friend.

Maybe he just feels that both of our souls being in one body would hinder him from doing the last things he wants to do. I’m sure he’ll be back for us to undo the spell. He thought hopefully to himself.

He continued to cough, and his lungs felt like they were on fire. To move was also very difficult for him. "Is this the kind of torture you’ve been going through, Zihan?"

Just what exactly happened to you and the other dragon shifters? He couldn’t help thinking.

His thoughts were suddenly cut short when his gaze landed on a huge rock by the side of the cave’s entrance. Not just the rock, but the words that had been written on it.

’Forgive me, my friend. I can’t die like this with my kind being wiped out. I shall make Zi Yu mine tonight. If she bears a child, just know that the child belongs to me.’

Jiang Renxing crawled to the rock in a haste, rubbing his eyes multiple times as if trying to make sure he had not seen wrong.

"Nooo!!!" Jiang Renxing screamed like a crazed person, coughing in the process. "How could you do this to me?! Zhihan, you fucking bastard!!!"

A sharp pain in the left part of his chest caused him to cry out. Zhihan’s weak heart and slowly dying body couldn’t handle the intense emotions Jiang Renxing was feeling.

Coughing up blood, Jiang Renxing’s vision became blurred, as he wheezed and gagged. He collapsed back to the ground, feeling drained of all strength. Am I really going to die just like that? He thought as the weight of his situation loomed over him.

The sound of Zihan’s weak heartbeat echoed in his ears as he succumbed to unconsciousness once again.

When the morning of the next day came, Jiang Renxing’s eyes fluttered open, and he shielded his eyes as the rays of the sun rested on his face. Is this the afterlife? He wondered as he could no longer feel the torturous pain that Zihan’s body had been inflicted with.

Removing his hand from his face, he scanned his surrounding, and that was when he realized he wasn’t alone. Beside him, lying vulnerably on the ground, was Long Zihan.

"What’s going on?" He wondered with wide eyes as he examined his own self. He was now back in his own body! How come? Was it all a dream?

The answer to the question was answered when he saw the rock from earlier, which stil had Zihan’s message written on it.

Jiang Renxing clenched his fists as his anger arose, making him monumentally forget to question how their souls got returned to their original bodies.

"Long Zihan! I’m going to kill you!" Jiang Renxing bellowed, his fury boiling all over, as he straddled Long Zihan’s chest, closing his hands around Long Zihan’s neck like a vice. "It had better be a sick joke. Tell me you didn’t fucking touch my wife!"

No response.

Long Zihan laid still on the ground, his irresponsive body as cold as ice.

Jiang Renxing immediately released Long Zihan’s neck when he realized this. He placed his head on his chest to listen for his heart beat, and after that he even checked for pulse... but there was nothing.

Long Zihan was long dead!

Scampering away from the corpse, Jiang Renxing’s eye widened in shock. He noticed that there were two blue scales lying on the ground, as well a folded note. The scales on the ground gave him the answer regarding how their souls were returned to their original bodies.

A dragon shifter whose scale(s) was used in a dragon scale ritual had the power to retrieve their scale from the body of a Transmigrator, and once the scale is retrieved, everything goes back to normal.

Long Zihan was the one who undid the spell, but now the question was... did he touch Jiang Renxing’s wife?

With shaking hands, Jiang Renxing picked up the folded note, opening it to read its content.

....

A/N: I’m so pained right now, guys! My phone’s battery is faulty and I found myself in the midst of a gruesome work today. There was no power at work which led to my phone running out of battery, and I had no back up so I couldn’t meet up with the daily Chapter release of 1,500 words.

Don’t worry guys, I’ll try to keep a consistent update, but I can’t promise that I would release Chapters daily. I’ll try again next month, and hopefully, I would have fixed my phone by then. Thanks for your understanding! Much love