These Familiars Are Strange - Chapter 43: Cicada, mantis, oriole (1)

BLURB> He was reborn by mistake. Raised with purpose. Loved by a god. Worshipped by monsters. And the galaxy doesn’t stand a fucking chance.Irvine’s soul took one wrong turn through the wheel of karma and woke up in a body grown by an intergalactic hivemind goddess with boundary issues and galaxy-sized ambition. Now he’s the golden child of a psychic swarm that feeds on control and burns whole worlds for affection.With Crystal at the helm, warriors like Kimchi, relic-weapons like Kiya, and a council of psionic horrors eager to call him king, Irvine must choose what kind of god he wants to be.Because when a hivemind learns to love......it doesn’t know when to stop.The universe will kneel—or get devoured trying.SYNOPSISIrvine didn’t ask to be reincarnated, but the cosmos had other plans. And it didn’t hand him a cheat code or a clean slate—just one random boon, selected by an uncaring divine roulette wheel.Good karma? Bad karma? Balanced as all fuck.Now he's reborn in the body of a psionically tuned alien hybrid, raised from psychic infancy by Crystal, the hivemind queen of a race so advanced they’ve abandoned individuality for shared omniscience. All except her baby boy.Irvine is the singularity inside the swarm, the first soul allowed to think, dream, and desire independently. Trained by warriors like Kimchi, advised by bio-symbiotes like Kiya, loved ferociously by hive sisters like Diane, and shadowed by powers ancient and unnamed, Irvine is both weapon and wielder, saint and sacrifice.But empires don’t run on hugs and handjobs. As Crystal expands her dominion—across star systems and sentient nebulae—Irvine must lead the charge through blood, fire, and psionic flame.His soul is still human. His body? Engineered for extinction. His heart? Not entirely his anymore.

Han Muye, who was full of comprehension, was reborn in the world of cultivation, entered the sect of kendo, and became a sword watcher guarding the sword pavilion.

There are 100,000 swords hidden in the sword pavilion, and the sword watcher needs to wipe the long sword once a month.

Wipe the long sword “Qinghe” to get a wisp of sword energy.

Wipe the long sword “Purple Flame”, comprehend the original sword master’s swordsmanship, Liaoyuan, and acquire the fiery sword intent.

Wipe the spirit sword “mountain”, comprehend the experience of real kendo of the giant stone, and obtain the sword power of the mountains.

…

Han Muye has been watching swords for sixty years, and Han Muye has cultivated sword energy for sixty years.

In sixty years,

There were disciples who came to ask for swords and got Han Muye’s advice.

The saintess of the Demon Sect who came to steal swords was rewarded by Han Muye.

There was a swordsman who came to challenge and returned with a broken sword.

…

Sixty years later, the fairy world invaded.

The disciple who asked for the sword at that time has become a peerless sword fairy, holding the sword to the sky to guard one side.

The saintess of the Demon Sect who stole the sword back then was already the master of the Demon Sect. She only sent a letter to the sword pavilion and led the Demon Sect to fight in the sky.

The swordsman who challenged back then entered the Dao with one step, and his sword qi shot up three thousand feet into the sky.

…

Above the sky, the fairy masters suppressed it.

In the sword pavilion, Han Muye slowly got up, followed by thousands of long swords behind him.

“Today, I, Han Muye, hold a sword across the sky, looking at the gods in the sky, who can enter this mortal world?”

- Description from novelbuddy

Long Chen, a crippled youth who cannot cultivate, is constantly targeted and bullied by his fellow noble heirs. After a particularly vicious beating, he wakes up and realizes a Pill God’s soul has somehow merged with him, giving him some additional memories. Within those memories is the mysterious Nine Star Hegemon Body Art, a cultivation technique that even he can train in, but whose secrets and origin are still a mystery to him. Relying on his improved instincts as he finally begins to cultivate, he realizes a huge conspiracy is underfoot within the Phoenix Cry Empire, one involving his father, members of the imperial family, and even the Emperor himself.

In order to solve the mysteries around him, he must rely on his new alchemy techniques and the powerful but baffling Nine Star Hegemon Body Art. Countless enemies block him as he attempts to climb to the peak of the cultivation world.

Fate destined him to be only a chess piece, but he would not bow to the will of the Heavens.