Cultivation Retirement Plan (BL)

1. To Fall, To Rise

"It's useless by this point. No one will believe you. And why should they? I've given them every reason to doubt your words."

"There's more to life than just working in front of a computer screen all day, Yixuan. You should try living it sometime."

"Well, at this rate...it looks like you won't have a next time anywhere soon."

—

SCREEECH!

With a scream, Mo Yixuan's car crashed through the guardrails and flew over the cliff before it plummeted into the ocean below. Its occupant was still reeling from the last words of the phone call echoing in his head.

Stealing company secrets? Murder of a co-worker? Wanted on criminal charges?

He'd done none of those things, but the world didn't believe him! Even his mother had a heart attack after hearing the news on television and died on the way to the hospital. The only person he thought to seek help from turned out to be the very traitor who set him up!

He fought back with everything he had—first face-to-face, then in the courts. But everything he used was turned against him, and everyone he trusted turned out to be a ruse, a trick—a farce of a play by Shangguan Yin (上官隱) to toy with him. When nothing worked, Mo Yixuan (陌逸軒) went into hiding, but even there his rival sought him out and pursued him relentlessly. He didn't just want Mo Yixuan to lose, but to despair.

Water began pouring into the car as it sank into the seas, but the man inside only stared in front of him blankly. And then he laughed—because here it was, the final nail in the coffin! He'd driven off the road himself! Whatever Shangguan Yin had been planning for him next couldn't reach him now. He was dead—he was free!

Mo Yixuan was still laughing by the time water reached his chin and tears started flowing down his face. What was the point of his life? Why did he bother to struggle for so long? In the end, he did nothing but prolong his misery.

An end was fine. An end was good.

And though the water burned in his lungs, all Mo Yixuan did was bare his teeth in a ghastly grin as he drowned.

—

But death didn't come as expected. Gradually, the burning sensation in his lungs faded away in place of a pure, refreshing stream that felt like liquid ice. Mo Yixuan sucked in a breath in surprise and found that he was breathing, even though he was still underwater. His eyes flew open in surprise and saw nothing but a clear, natural pool, the bottom lined with glittering stones that dazzled his irises.

He tried breathing a few more times and found the entire sensation completely natural even though he was taking in water instead of air. He might have thought that he was dead already if not for the unfamiliar sight of white sleeves fluttering in and out of his vision. The fabric looked like silk, and was connected to long, flowing robes that billowed about his form. His hair seemed to have lengthened as well, and drifted about his face in waves. He was apparently sitting cross-legged underwater, the streams of bubbles floating past his face the only sign that he was still alive. It was quiet down here and empty; Mo Yixuan felt content to stay forever and soak up the tranquil vibes.

"Mo Yixuan, if you don't get out this instant, I'm going to drain that pool dry!" a voice rang out in his head.

"Junior brother, you better come out! The sect leader has his sword with him today!" a second figure shouted from above.

Instinctively, Mo Yixuan looked up and saw two blurry figures standing somewhere above the water. Neither voice was familiar to him, but a foreboding rumble through the liquid depths told him that the warning was genuine. Mo Yixuan stirred restlessly. This wasn't his place, or even his body—there was an airy lightness to it very different from the bone-weary burden that had weighed him down. He tried pushing up towards the surface, and found himself floating quite easily until his head broke through the water.