Chen stared at the woman in front of him.
“Four thousand years.”
“Correct.”
He rubbed his forehead.
There had to be some kind of catch.
Actually, there was definitely a catch.
“Let’s say I agree,” Chen began carefully.
“What exactly am I supposed to do for four thousand years?”
The woman smiled.
“Work.”
Chen’s eyebrow twitched.
“That’s not an answer.”
“It is.”
“It’s barely an answer.”
She laughed.
“You’re already complaining and you haven’t even started.”
“Because you haven’t told me what I’m going to be doing!”
The woman turned around and began walking away.
“Come.”
Chen remained where he was.
“That’s it?”
She glanced over her shoulder.
“Are you coming?”
Chen sighed.
He didn’t have much choice.
He followed her.
The strange white expanse stretched endlessly around them as they walked.
There was no road beneath their feet, yet every step carried them forward.
After several minutes, Chen finally broke the silence.
“What’s your name?”
The woman stopped.
She turned toward him with a small smile.
“Bai Yuexian.”
Chen repeated the name quietly.
“Bai Yuexian.”
“Remember it.”
“I’ll try.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“Try?”
“You did kill me, remember.”
Bai Yuexian laughed.
“You really aren’t going to let that go, are you?”
“Nope.”
“Good. At least you’re honest.”
She lifted one hand.
The white space ahead of them suddenly began to change.
A thin golden line appeared in the distance.
It widened.
Then widened again.
Within seconds, the line had become a massive golden gate.
Chen stopped walking.
The gate was enormous.
Its surface seemed to be made from some kind of translucent golden material, covered in countless symbols that moved like living stars.
Two pillars stood on either side, disappearing into the white nothingness above.
Chen looked up.
He couldn’t even see the top.
“What is that?”
“The entrance.”
“To the Celestial Realm?”
Bai Yuexian nodded.
Chen stared at the gate.
He had expected something impressive.
He hadn’t expected something that made him feel like an ant standing beneath a mountain.
Bai Yuexian raised her hand.
The enormous gates opened.
Light poured through.
Chen instinctively covered his eyes.
Then he looked.
His mouth slowly fell open.
Beyond the gate was a world.
Not a city.
Not a palace.
A world.
Floating continents stretched across an endless sky.
Mountains rose above clouds that shimmered with golden light.
Rivers poured from one floating island to another, somehow flowing through empty space without falling.
Massive cities floated among the clouds.
Palaces larger than anything Chen had ever seen rested upon enormous platforms of white stone.
Farther away, enormous creatures moved through the sky.
Some looked like dragons.
Others resembled birds large enough to carry mountains.
Countless roads of light connected distant territories.
And beyond all of it…
Chen couldn’t see the end.
He stepped forward slowly.
“What…”
Bai Yuexian watched his expression with amusement.
“Welcome to the Celestial Realm.”
Chen looked left.
Then right.
Then straight ahead.
“How big is this place?”
“Very.”
“That’s not a measurement.”
She shrugged.
“Compared to your world?”
Chen waited.
“Your world is smaller than one district.”
Chen turned toward her.
“One district?”
“Approximately.”
Chen stared at the celestial landscape again.
His mind struggled to process it.
The Earth he knew suddenly felt unbelievably small.
“This is one realm?”
“Yes.”
“How many people live here?”
“Enough.”
“How many?”
Bai Yuexian smiled.
“You ask too many questions.”
“You brought me to a place that makes my entire understanding of reality look like a joke. I’m allowed to ask questions.”
She laughed.
“Let me indulge you.”
She pointed toward the distant horizon.
“The Celestial Realm contains countless continents, territories, cities, sacred mountains, ancient ruins, heavenly seas, forbidden zones, and divine domains.”
Chen followed her finger.
“The parts you can see are only a fraction of it.”
“How much?”
“Less than one percent.”
Chen’s mouth opened slightly.
Less than one percent.
He looked toward the horizon again.
The scenery already seemed endless.
Then he remembered something.
“If this place is so huge, how did you even get me here?”
Bai Yuexian smiled.
“I walked.”
Chen stared at her.
“You walked?”
“Yes.”
“From where?”
“Another part of the realm.”
“How long did that take?”
She thought about it.
“Not very long.”
“How long?”
“About three months.”
Chen nearly choked.
“THREE MONTHS?”
Bai Yuexian laughed.
“You wanted to know.”
“You said that wasn’t very long!”
“It isn’t.”
Chen stared at her.
He had officially entered a world where the definition of distance was apparently broken.
Bai Yuexian continued walking toward a massive floating city.
Chen hurried after her.
“So where are we going?”
“My residence.”
“Why?”
“Because that’s where you’ll work.”
Chen’s expression immediately soured.
“You really weren’t joking about that.”
“Did I look like I was joking?”
“Yes.”
She smiled.
“Good.”
The city they entered was unlike anything Chen had ever seen.
Buildings made from strange white stone rose hundreds of meters into the air.
Bridges of crystal connected enormous towers, while people of countless appearances moved through the streets.
Some had wings.
Some had horns.
Some had tails.
Others looked almost completely human.
Chen even saw a man walking beside a creature that looked like a miniature dragon.
Nobody seemed particularly impressed by any of it.
Chen, however, couldn’t stop staring.
“Stop looking like you’ve never seen a dragon before.”
“I haven’t.”
Bai Yuexian glanced at him.
“You’ll get used to it.”
“I don’t think I will.”
“You will.”
They eventually reached a massive residence built into the side of a floating mountain.
Chen looked up.
The building was more like a palace.
He turned toward Bai Yuexian.
“You live here?”
“Yes.”
“And I work here?”
“Yes.”
“Doing what?”
She opened the enormous doors.
“Come inside.”
Chen followed her.
The interior was even larger than the outside suggested.
There were enormous halls, libraries filled with glowing books, rooms containing strange artifacts, gardens growing plants Chen had never seen, and corridors that seemed to continue forever.
Bai Yuexian walked through the palace until they reached a large room filled with shelves.
Hundreds of scrolls covered the walls.
Chen looked around.
His expression slowly changed.
“No.”
Bai Yuexian smiled.
“Yes.”
“No.”
“You haven’t even heard what you’re doing.”
“I can see the scrolls.”
“Exactly.”
Chen pointed at them.
“You’re making me read those?”
“Not all of them.”
Chen relaxed slightly.
“Good.”
“Only the ones that need sorting.”
His shoulders dropped.
“How many?”
Bai Yuexian looked around the room.
“About three thousand.”
Chen stared at her.
“You said four thousand years.”
“Yes.”
“You’ve already got enough work to last that long.”
“Now you’re learning.”
She handed him a stack of scrolls.
Chen caught them awkwardly.
“What am I supposed to do with these?”
“Sort them.”
“By what?”
“Category.”
“Which categories?”
Bai Yuexian pointed toward another shelf.
“The labels are there.”
Chen looked.
There were hundreds of labels.
His face went blank.
“You’re telling me that after dying, instead of going somewhere peaceful, I ended up doing celestial paperwork?”
Bai Yuexian patted him lightly on the shoulder.
“Think of it as character development.”
“Character development?”
“You’ll learn.”
Chen looked down at the scrolls.
He sighed.
“Fine.”
Bai Yuexian started walking away.
Chen looked up.
“Wait.”
She stopped.
“What?”
“You never told me what I get after the four thousand years.”
Bai Yuexian turned around.
Her golden eyes gleamed.
“Your reincarnation.”
Chen narrowed his eyes.
“That’s all?”
“You wanted another life.”
“Yes.”
“You’ll get one.”
She smiled.
“And if you work hard, perhaps I’ll even make sure it’s interesting.”
Chen stared at her.
After everything that had happened today, he wasn’t sure whether that was a promise or a threat.
Bai Yuexian disappeared down the corridor.
Chen looked at the mountain of celestial documents in his arms.
He sighed.
“Four thousand years…”
Then he picked up the first scroll.
“Let’s get this over with.”
He opened it.
The first line was written in a language he couldn’t understand.
Chen stared at it.
“…I can’t read this.”
From somewhere down the corridor, Bai Yuexian’s laughter echoed through the palace.
Chen slowly closed his eyes.
He already regretted everything.
And his first day in the Celestial Realm had barely begun.