When Luna regained consciousness, she blinked her eyes slowly several times. Her mind felt a little foggy and her body felt incredibly light. This weightless feeling was a little unnerving but nice at the same time.
She saw an endless stretch of darkness in front of her that could have made the fears of any claustrophobic person act up. If not for the faint glow of her body, she would have doubted if her eyes were even open.
/This... Looks like I'm finally dead huh…/
[For the moment you are.] A very deep voice suddenly reverberated through the entire area and her core.
Her shoulders jumped in shock and she looked around repeatedly but could not find the source of the voice.
[Do you wish to live?] The same deep voice asked her.
Luna remained speechless for a while. /Is this God?/
Before she could ask anything, he replied.
[No, but I am an entity beyond your understanding. You may think of me however you'd like. Now, answer the question, do you wish to live?]
"... No?"
[... You wish to die then?]
"... Not exactly either."
A long silence dragged out. Just as Luna wondered if she was left alone to float here forever, the voice spoke again. [What do you want then?]
"I don't know. Nothing?" Luna answered easily.
[You didn't even hesitate?! There has to be something that you want. Think about it then answer me again!] The voice cracked a little in its exasperation revealing a tiny immaturity behind the voice.
[To think I was told that this would be the easiest part to handle about hosts...] The voice softly grumbled.
Luna slightly raised an eyebrow then obediently did as she was told. She had spent her entire life trying to be the person her family could be proud of. The only desires she remember having were always related to her family and their happiness.
"Make my family happy." Luna suggested.
[So you want to live then!]
"No. I mean, could you erase my family's memories of me?"
[What? I can't do that.]
"Oh. Nevermind then." Luna knew that she was shooting in the dark anyway. After a long dragged out silence, she asked, "Do I really have to think of something?"
[Yes!] The entity was clearly frustrated with her now.
"I guess I want to know what's going to happen to me now?"
[... So you crave knowledge?]
Deciding to leap on to this excuse, she simply nodded her head to agree with him.
[How interesting! You're like us!] The voice no longer sounded deep and powerful but young and immature. It made Luna's eyes go round in surprise.
[Hm. I guess that'd explain why the standard greeting we were taught to use didn't work on you. In that case, let's get down to business! I'm a system and you're my host.] The voice now sounded lively and enthusiastic.
/System? Host?/ These questions popped in her head while the being that called itself a system rambled on.
[When you died, I bound with your soul before it found a suitable new life in your world to inhabit. Now you'll be transmigrated into the different Legacy Worlds together with me to complete missions.]
/Bound with my soul? New life? Transmigrated? Legacy worlds?/
"What mis-"
[Each time you successfully clear a world, you can learn more about anything you would want to know about!]
"Hey, how do you-"
[You're the first host to input attainment of knowledge as a goal so I guess the end of your transmigrations would be whenever you feel satisfied with the amount of knowledge you've gained. But if you're like us, that would unlikely happen. I wonder if this means that you'll be in this with us for the long haul?]
"I don't- No, wai-"
[Oh well, we'll figure things out along the way. Let's head on to our first world then!
"Wha-?!" Something roughly yanked her from where she floated by her chest. She felt mushed and squeezed through a tiny hole before she passed out from the excruciating pain.
Stifling heat and stuffiness suffocated her the moment she regained consciousness. A thick smell of sandalwood all around made it even harder to breathe. It did not help that the breaths she took were already shallow and weak. Luna tried to open her eyes, but found that it took significant effort before her eyelids finally lifted. Ugly dark yellow draperies and a wooden bed frame was all that she could see. It took awhile for her to register that it resembled the top of a traditional Chinese bed frame. /What in the world… What happened? What's happening? Am I dying again? Where am I?/ As if in response to her questions, she experienced a migraine attack that was so painful it made her nauseous. At the same time, memories and knowledge that were not hers flashed before her eyes. Everything she saw was from the eyes of a girl named Chen Xinyi. Xinyi was the only child of the second concubine to a high-ranking court offici
There were books on plants, poison, martial arts, and spiritual cultivation. The only thing in this world that had piqued her curiosity and interest was the existence of spiritual energy. It was something that could be cultivated and was mixed in with martial arts. Something that her original world did not have. One's spiritual energy was classified into four realms. There was Earth, Sky, Heaven, and God realm. Each realm was then divided further into three levels that signified how well they have assimilated their spiritual energy into their martial arts. It consists of low, mid, and high levels. An average person could practice and cultivate their way to high level sky realm by 15 years old. Whoever progressed beyond that would be considered talents and geniuses. Since normal martial artists without any spiritual energy were basically powerless in this world, people who could not cultivate were considered wastes. Xinyi was one of those wastes in society, du
A fluctuation in the air caused a handful of people to look up from eating or pause their conversations. However, many resumed what they were doing, unbothered by the slight oddity. "What happened?" Hui Shan asked the boys, who had also been disturbed. Wang Wei passed the question to ZhangYong to answer by looking at him. Zhang Yong was the highest level among them, so he could provide the most accurate answer. "Did someone high level appear?" Hui Shan enthusiastically guessed in a hushed voice. Zhang Yong shook his head. "It's just a breakthrough, and only into Sky realm." Hui Shan relaxed, but Wang Wei and Zhang Yong stayed pensive. "Hui Shan, do you know anyone invited who's around 12 years old?" "En, but from what I know, they've all broken through to Sky realm already." As soon as she answered the question, she caught on to their worry and so contemplated along with them. / Was this person a late bloomer or a genius? /
Xinyi spent the rest of the evening and night reflecting on and reading up about the use of spiritual power, cultivation practices, and martial arts. What she found was that with enough skill, one would be able to cultivate all the time. However, the optimal state for cultivating was still by meditating. There was nothing about spiritual power that she did not already know. It was, however, noteworthy to her that there was a caution to not be restricted in their thinking, because not all spiritual power uses were documented. Family secret arts existed and it was possible for people to create new uses everyday. Suddenly, a memory about a story she had read when she was still alive got refreshed in her mind. That story had spiritual people but also spiritual beasts and spiritual plants. /How did I forget about this?/ Xinyi closed the book and rushed back to her courtyard. She then dug out 6 small pots from the tool shed and plan
In the last week of every month, ZhangYong diligently freed up some time so that he could find Xinyi. Through experience, he quickly learnt that the only way he could meet her was after he met HuiShan. Otherwise, he would only be told that she was too sick to receive any guests. He never really understood why that was the case but decided to roll along with it. Their sparring matches never lasted for more than half an hour. Their matches ended as abruptly as it began and he always left with the same satisfied smirk. His brief disappearance within the estate was long enough for some to notice. Tongues began to wag. Gossip about him contained stories about how he was having dalliances with a maid in Xinyi's courtyard. It was not a secret how abandoned Xinyi's courtyard was, since it was never used by the sickly bedridden owner. While everyone tried to figure out who the favoured maid was, Xinyi was not suspected in the least. Such gossip never bothered anyone though.
Xinyi tasted the soup methodologically like she did for the stir fried dishes. The herbs that were directly nourished had the same effect as the stir fried ones. Doing the same as earlier, she gave the one that was nourished daily to BaoBao to finish, while she finished the rest. The results that surprised her were the herbs that were indirectly nourished. When cooked into soup, the rejuvenating effect was multiplied by many folds. It was effective to the point that her body felt cleansed. /This could actually help to speed up one's cultivation/. She wondered in awe to herself. Her mind started reeling with possibilities once more. She wondered about what she could do with this knowledge in this world, how she could use it, whether it would be practical and safe for others to learn of this, and many more. Finally, she arrived at her next experimental question. /If it can have such wonderful effects for the internal body, I wonder
For the past month, ZhangYong went about his life the way he did before he started to pay attention to Xinyi. There was no longer a need to rush things, so that he could free up an extra day for her. However, overtime, ZhangYong realised that he was constantly reminded of her. No matter what he did, be it training or working, he would think of how it could be useful for her training. Whenever he spent time resting or leisurely with WangWei and HuiShan, he inadvertently thought of what she was likely doing at that moment. Whenever he had to assess or appraise something, he wondered about how much Xinyi would improve in another month. Expanding his energy and draining himself by the end of every single day did not help to calm this strange curiosity he has of her. Seeing HuiShan, whom he has affections for, did not help either. The more he told himself to forget about the girl who did not appreciate his presence, the more she stayed on his mind. As much as it irritated him, it also sa
As soon as the first spoonful of soup went down ZhangYong's throat, his eyes grew wide. He quickly took another scoop. Then another. Finally, he whispered in astonishment, "Is this some cooking secret arts? Who taught you this? I thought you didn't have anyone else tutoring you in cultivation other than me." "How does it feel?" Xinyi asked him back without answering his question. Having secret masters was not uncommon, so ZhangYong let it slide, thinking that it was one of those cases. "It feels... refreshing and my spiritual power feels slightly replenished." Xinyi raised her eyebrows upon hearing his answer. Just slightly? "You don't feel cleansed at all?" Zhang Yong shook his head. Xinyi realised that this was her chance to try changing variables she never thought she could before. ZhangYong who was at mid level Heaven realm was the ideal candidate for comparing the