(Author: It's that time again: another side project. If you are a writer, you want to test new ideas and see how people react, but you don't want to risk ruining the story you actually want to write. Hence, you make a side project like this one. Hope you enjoy.)

---------Chapter 1: A Second Life--------------

The place where souls of the dead gather is unknown. People believe in reincarnation and hope to be reborn in a new, better life. Some souls have such deep ambitions and regrets, they retain some memories of their past life. These souls always bring great change, bad and good in a direct or indirect manner. Their actions are like a rock skimming on a lake, each small wave hitting another and forming new ones.

However, some souls choose to linger in the Mortal Realm and choose their own body. The Keepers of the Dead search for those rebellious souls so that the Heavens choose their next life as is Heaven's Decree. One such soul has ventured from a planet Earth and has ventured into the unknown in search of an interesting world. Its memories slowly fade and only small fragments remain as it slowly forgets its purpose.

Countless millennia pass and it finds a planet similar to Earth. Earth. What was it? It had forgotten long ago in all but name. The spirit's orange soul flame remains undetectable to the living as it descends the planet. It searches for days and there is still no body. It does not want to possess the body of one of the living or the Keepers of the Dead will destroy its soul completely. It needs a body, freshly dead.

It wants to live a life of luxury. Why did it want that life? Was its previous self someone who wished for it? Did it used to live such a life? Too little faded fragments of its life remained. It found an empire much like ancient China on television and the world was like a xianxia novel. China? Television? Xianxia? So many names but no memories to connect to them. It didn't have much time. Its memories were fading.

At last, it saw a little boy in a princely garb being bullied by other children. It wondered why the boy did not fight back. He looked like a prince. His clothes seemed to be made of silk. Ah, it was jealousy. The people of this world was just like Earth. The boy didn't cry out when he was kicked and pushed onto the wooden bridge over the lake. No. It was more like he couldn't. The boy was a mute.

Oh the boy saw something green shine in the lake and leaned over the bridge. It saw the other children grab the boy's legs and hoist him over the bridge. They watched as the boy flailed his arms and mocked when they couldn't hear him scream for help. They paled as the boy sank, realizing he couldn't swim. This was it. The boy would die and it would gain a new body. Black hair, lightning blue eyes, and ten years old maybe?

The spirit watched as the boy flailed and kicked his arms to no avail as he slowly sank. The boy covered his mouth as his feet touched the ground and tried to push up to the surface. The effort was futile and cost him some bubbles of air. The other children start to run away from the scene in fear as the boy does not come up.

If the spirit had a face, it would be licking its lips and smiling. It was not evil. It just needed a body and there it was. The boy slowly walks on the bottom of the lake to the source of the green shine. No, it wasn't green at all. It was a little, golden little pearl with an image of a white tiger inside. The boy stared at it in wonder before choking and popped the pearl into his mouth as he died.

The spirit rejoiced as the body grew still and saw a similar orange flame rise and disappear in a pillar of light, invisible to the living. It quickly entered the lake and into the body of the boy. Its flame body expands and burns with life inside the boy. The boy's veins, arteries, bones, and organs expands and become tougher. The spirit opens the boy's eyes like its own, the lightning blue eyes vibrant with life once more.

The spirit frowned as it swallowed the golden pearl. Its body burned. Was it going to die? It just got a new body! Unable to accept its reality, the spirit willed its new body to endure the pain as he swam to the surface. He gasped for breathe as he breathed fresh air and his body trembled under the foreign energy of the pearl as he swam to shore and lost consciousness on the sands.

---------------------------------------------

The spirit groaned as it began to hear voices. It was alive! It had succeeded. Against all odds, it had succeeded. Its body ached from all the bruises the former host endured before he died. The spirit relaxed as it felt a warm, relaxing energy spread over its body. Its body! The spirit couldn't believe it. It had gained a new life. It would have to play the role of an amnesiac as it did not possess a living body and had no access to the body's memories.

"My boy! Who did this to my boy?" a woman yelled, her scream causing the spirit's ears to ache.

"Please be calm Your Highness. The second prince needs his rest," an elderly voice said.

"Royal Physician, will my little brother be okay?" a younger male asked.

"He still gets bullied and he's already passed ten years!" a young female voice said as the spirit's vision turned from pitch black to hazy.

"Don't worry about those brats who tried to kill your brother. I sentenced them and their clan to death. They'll be killed by my soldiers before the day's end," a mature voice said. "No one harms my son, Lu Shu, and lives! I, Emperor Lu Yi of the Yan Dynasty, will not allow it!"

"He's awake!" the empress cried as she saw Shu's eyes open and look around in wonder. "Shu! Do you recognize me? Do you know what happened?"

"He's mute mother," a teenage boy answered.

"Where am I? Who are you and who...am I?" the spirit asked, laughing inside even though he knew it was wrong. He was just so happy to have a body.

"Y, you! You can speak! Shu can speak!" an older girl cried as she pointed at him.

"Mei and Xing, take your mother and leave," the emperor said as he stroked his black beard in wonder. "My dear Empress Rong, please leave for a moment and handle the nobles for me. I need to assess Shu now."

"I, I'll be back Shu," the empress cried as she hugged her dazed son and led her two other children outside, crying.

The spirit, now Lu Shu, looked around as he leaned up. His lightning blue eyes darted around the red wooden room before looking at his father. He had a family now. This was good. He just hoped his life would be more fortunate than the body's former host. Emperor Lu Yi was over six feet tall and wore a shining golden robe with a black dragon embroidered across the front and back with small lotus flowers here and there.

"Lu Shu, do you really not remember?" his father asked.

Shu tilted his head and said, "I don't remember much. I can only remember being pushed and drowning. I remember holding my breath and screaming, but no one could hear me. How can I speak?"

"I don't know," his father said sadly and smiled and said, "It is a fortune in disguise. While you may have forgotten us, you have gained the ability to speak! Your bullies will all be dead soon. I need to go now, but I need to know one thing: how do you have a spiritual pulse in your body?"

"Spiritual pulse? You mean spirit energy? I, I don't know." Shu asked while he guessed it might have been the pearl.

"So you don't know. When a child turns ten, their body has a chance to awaken with spirit energy through an outside source. It is very risky and many don't survive. Most who do become Mages while those who focus more on physical applications are known as Practitioners."

"So I am a Practitioner now?" Shu asked.

"Yes. You are a Spirit Shaman, the lowest of four tiers. Think of each tier as a higher life form. Each tier has nine stages of cultivation. Each tier is known as Spirit Shaman, Spirit Knight, Spirit Master, and Spirit Sage. In our Yan Dynasty, the most powerful Practitioner would be a Spirit Master of the first stage. Our empire is rather small and peaceful compared to the larger empires of the world, but we are still bigger than kingdoms with out seven provinces," Emperor Yi nodded. "I don't know what stage of cultivation you are, but this is a good thing. When you become thirteen, I will send you away to one of the sects."

"Why? Did I do something wrong?" Shu asked.

"No my son. I have to send you away because you are the second son. Your presence in the palace, as you get older, might spur people who dislike your brother to create a faction under you and claim you as the rightful heir. A civil war is inevitable if I do not send you away. I am sorry, but your circumstance is greater than before as you would have been exiled," the emperor sighed as he sat next to Shu. "The throne is a heavy burden that other people just don't understand. They just see the power, but not the responsibility to the people that it is owed. In the imperial library, there are few books that our ancestors used when they were Practitioners. Perhaps your memory will never return, but it is a good thing. I have read the reports that you suffered much before they tried to kill you. Whatever money or items their clan had will be given to you in a spatial ring. I must go now. I'm glad you're alright my son."

Shu stared back in wonder as he saw his father leave. So much for a new family. He would be on his own soon enough. A fragment of his past came to mind and he sat, cross-legged, on his bed with his hands on his knees. He was going to do what was called cultivation. Perhaps that was what his new father had spoken about.

As he firmly shut his eyes, he could feel the golden energy swirl inside his body. A faint, golden glow emanated from his body as he continued to meditate. His body grew warm from his chest and spread outward to his limbs. It was an amazing feeling and Shu was lost in it as he continued to cultivate and gather spirit energy into his body from his surroundings.

His father returned late at night with a Practitioner who was a general of his army. The genera; was surprised to see Lu Shu meditating calmly as rumors of the weak second prince were well known. He was described as a timid mute who was too afraid to pull a punch. Here he was, gathering spirit energy.

"What do you think, General Meng Ce?" the emperor asked.

"Your son is indeed a Practitioner. He must be given a Practitioner weapon and begin to train if he is to join a sect, Your Majesty," the general bowed. "I can teach him what I know, but I don't dare cultivate anymore to become a Spirit Knight. The Heavens punish higher life forms for dealing with matters of the Mortal Realm and I like being a general. Your Majesty, I can teach him the basics while you provide him with a Practitioner weapon and two or three techniques from your Imperial Vault. We have much to do. Most of the top sects only agree to accept those of the middle of the third stage of cultivation. I know very little sects who have elders who are Spirit Knights. I suggest Your Majesty research about them before the three years is up."

"Will three years be enough?" the emperor asked.

"Yes, Your Imperial Majesty," the general bowed deeply. "The first two stages of cultivation are the fastest as they lay the foundations for his future. By the third stage, his spirit pulse should be great enough that we can see his spirit form. It is the personification of his spirit. Usually its between a weapon or a beast of some sort. With his background and Your Majesty's resources, it shouldn't be a problem for him to get that strong in time."

"Very well. I leave my son in your hands," The emperor said. "Tomorrow we will do as you suggested. Pick the best Practitioner weapon and assist him as much as you can general. This is my only way to repay my son for sending him away and denying him his birthright as a candidate for the throne."

"Yes, Your Majesty," he bowed and followed the emperor out.