Blood.
A sky full of blood rain fell, wrapped in the flames of karma. Gu Er’s red robes were soaked through with gore. She lowered her gaze and watched her own fingertips crack apart inch by inch, searing pain spreading from her fingertips through her entire body.
Gu Er raised her head.
In the distance, a figure in snow-white robes stood holding a sword. A faded peace knot on the sword’s tassel swayed in the wind. A crimson bead hanging from the blade’s tip dripped onto the white carpet, blooming into crimson plum blossoms one after another, striking and jarring to the eye.
“Senior Sister… I’ve finally found you.” The voice was soft, as if it had traveled over mountains and rivers to reach her.
“Mu Ci, you…” Gu Er opened her mouth to speak, but a wave of coppery sweetness surged up her throat.
Boom!
A thunderclap rolled across the sky, swallowing everything. Then, a cold mechanical voice rang out in Gu Er’s mind.
[Congratulations, Host Gu Er, on completing the cannon fodder mission. Now exiting the plane…]
…
[Exit failed. Please choose again.]
…
[Mission complete. Requesting exit.]
…
[Blocked by an unknown factor. Exit failed. Please choose again.]
…
[Initiating forced system purge. Deleting saved memories.]
[100%…]
[90%…]
[80%…]
[…]
[0%…]
[Memory clear complete!]
…
Pain.
Gu Er’s eyes flew open. She sat up from the ground, gasping for breath, each inhale carrying the relief of having narrowly escaped death.
The musty smell of rotting leaves invaded her nostrils, and dappled tree shadows swayed before her eyes. She clutched the front of her robes tightly, cold sweat sliding down her shoulder blades into her red garments, lingering fear still visible in the depths of her eyes.
Where… is this?
Gu Er looked around and found herself lying in a forest, confusion rising in her heart. “Didn’t I get into a plane crash? Did I actually survive?”
Talk about bad luck. She had just finished the college entrance exams and was happily planning to attend a comic convention when she ran into severe weather. The plane had crashed, and she had no idea where she’d ended up.
Gu Er braced one hand on the ground and tried to stand, but her foot caught on something. She stumbled and fell back down.
She looked down and saw she was wearing an ill-fitting long-sleeved red robe, its cuffs embroidered with double-petal hibiscus in golden thread, exquisite, but clearly not modern clothing.
A sense of wrongness crept over Gu Er. She slowly raised her hand and brought it before her eyes.
It was a child’s hand. Small and delicate, with rounded nails, though traces of dried blood were wedged in the creases. This was definitely not her own hand, the one callused from years of holding a pen, with clearly defined knuckles.
A chill shot up Gu Er’s spine. She stumbled to a nearby stream and looked at her reflection in the water and froze.
A completely unfamiliar face stared back at her.
The girl appeared to be twelve or thirteen years old. Her features vaguely resembled her previous life’s face, but this one was far more refined.
Her sharply upturned phoenix eyes had become tender peach-blossom eyes. The scar at the end of her brow was gone. The small mole on the tip of her nose remained, but a new one had appeared beneath her lip. Most striking of all was a scar on her left cheek, the flesh not yet fully healed, faint black qi seeping from it, lending her an eerie, fragile beauty.
“Boom!”
Something exploded in Gu Er’s mind, leaving it completely blank.
Transmigration. A word she’d read countless times in novels, now shattering her entire understanding of reality. Unwilling to believe it, she pinched her arm hard. The pain was real enough to make her suck in a sharp breath.
Gu Er collapsed onto the cold pebble bank, her skirts soaked by the stream water without her even noticing. She murmured, “So… it’s not a dream.”
Based on the countless novels she’d read, transmigrators should have a system to rely on. Gu Er closed her eyes and tentatively called out in her mind: “System?”
The wind rustled past her ears. Birds chirped.
No response at all.
“System? Are you there?” She tried again, this time out loud.
“Beginner’s guide? Status panel? Anything at all, just make a sound!” Gu Er raised her voice.
All that answered her was the babbling of the stream and the rustling of the forest wind.
Gu Er tried a few more times before finally giving up, wiping her face with a bitter smile. Heaven had spared her life, but hadn’t given her any cheat codes. She didn’t even know what world this was, who the original body belonged to, or how she was supposed to survive.
Gu Er screamed silently: Heaven above, are you really going to mess with me like this?!
Sitting there doing nothing wasn’t going to solve anything. She steadied herself, and her gaze fell back on her reflection in the water.
The clothes she wore were clearly ill-fitting, like a child wearing an adult’s garments. The collar hung askew, revealing a crescent-shaped scar on her collarbone. At her waist hung a bloodstained white jade pendant. The jade was of excellent quality, even stained, its warm luster was hard to miss.
Gu Er wanted to take it off and clean it, hoping to find clues about the original owner’s identity.
“Buzz…”
The instant her fingertip touched the jade pendant, a violent wave of dizziness struck her, and at the same time, an extremely blurry image flashed through her mind.
It seemed to be an enormous pool, its water dark and murky, its surface covered with large patches of ink-black water lilies, their petals thick and heavy, eerie and strange.
Around the pool stood three tiers of waterside pavilions, with upturned eaves and carved beams and painted rafters, yet they were terrifyingly silent. Only the bronze bells at the eaves let out faint chimes in a sinister wind that seemed to come from nowhere. Beneath the pavilion corridors, a massive white jade table was faintly visible, with something placed upon it that could not be made out clearly.
But the clearest image was at the center of the scene, in a solitary pavilion in the middle of the pool, on a soft couch spread with dark crimson brocade, reclined a woman in red with a graceful figure. Her ink-black hair cascaded like a waterfall, obscuring her face, revealing only a pale, bloodless wrist that hung limply over the edge of the couch, idly stirring the water as she hummed a strange tune in a low voice.
The image flashed and vanished, as quick as an illusion. She snatched her hand back, her heart pounding. What place was that? Who was that woman in red? Was it a memory from the original owner of this body? Or… something else?
She dared not think further. Crouching by the clear stream, she hastily washed the bloodstains off the jade pendant. The jade was of excellent quality, warm, smooth, and lustrous. The original owner of this body must have been a young lady from a wealthy family.
“Going by the usual novel tropes,” she mused, “she was probably being hunted by enemies, fell here by accident, and conveniently got possessed by me.”
She looked down at her young body and the tattered red dress, then instinctively raised a hand and lightly brushed the wound on her left cheek that emanated a faint black aura.
Regardless, she now occupied this body. Whether the original owner was alive or dead, it seemed she would have to bear this karmic burden.
Gu Er pressed her palms together and bowed toward the west, muttering, “Amitabha, mercy, mercy. Dear sister, I’ve accidentally taken over your body. If I’ve offended you in any way, please forgive me.”
“If you don’t want to give me your body, come find me tonight, and I’ll return it to you. But if you’re willing, could you pass your memories to me? Any unfinished wishes, wrongs to avenge, or people to protect, entrust them to me as well. I’ve taken your identity, and as long as I’m able, I’ll help you.”
Gu Er wanted to erect a memorial for the original owner, but this was a desolate wilderness with nothing around. She could only carefully tuck the cleaned jade into her bosom, keeping it close to her body, and try to leave the forest.
Streams always flowed out of the mountains, and where there was water, there might be signs of human habitation. She followed the river’s course, stumbling forward step by step.
…
The forest was deep, the moss slippery, ancient trees towering and blotting out the sky.
Gu Er dragged her ill-fitting, heavy robes along, walking for what felt like an eternity. Her legs had long since grown weak and sore, and her stomach was completely empty. Just as she was beginning to wonder if this forest had no end, the faint sound of fierce argument drifted from up ahead.
Gu Er’s eyes lit up. Living people! Maybe she could ask them for a ride. She slowed her steps and crept closer to the source of the voices.
Two groups of young people in different styles of robes were facing off. One side wore fitted blue-and-white martial attire, with simple cloud patterns embroidered on their collars and sleeves, each holding a longsword, their bearing upright and righteous. The other side wore flowing robes of verdant green, sashes fluttering, wielding various magical instruments, swords and ribbons, with delicate silver bells hanging from their waists.
Between the two groups stood a radiant orchid, shimmering with iridescent light, its fragrance crisp and piercing.
“This thousand-year Biluo Orchid was discovered by our Lingyun Sect first, so it rightfully belongs to us! Members of the Qingmiao Sect, seizing it by force is not the way of the righteous path!” The young man leading one side spoke with a stern brow.
“Ha! ridiculous.” a female cultivator with an oval face and a beautiful countenance, holding a longsword that gleamed like autumn water, immediately retorted with a cold laugh. “Heavenly treasures are born of heaven and earth, they naturally belong to those fated to find them! Does it have your Lingyun Sect’s name written on it? We got to it first, so it’s our fortune. The Lingyun Sect claims to be the number one great sect, surely you have more magnanimity than this?”
“Qin Shuang, don’t you twist things around!”
“You’re the ones going too far!”
Before the words even faded, sword light erupted, talismans thundered, and the spiritual energy in the forest immediately fell into chaos.
“Damn it, shameless bastards! Who threw that explosive talisman?!”
“You’re stealing our treasure, why should we keep our dignity?” A baby-faced Lingyun Sect disciple dodged an incoming ice spike while shooting back, scattering talismans as if they cost nothing.
Gu Er held her breath, hiding behind a tree. Seeing this, she feared that flying swords and blades might accidentally strike her. She’d rather take a longer route to find a way out than get caught in this fight. She turned and bolted.
Just then, someone seemed to sense something amiss and shouted, “There’s demonic energy!”
Almost simultaneously, a fierce sword aura veered off from the battlefield, slashing diagonally past the tree she was hiding behind!
“Rip!”
The bark exploded, wood chips flew, and the residual force of that sword aura seemed to freeze the very air around her.
Gu Er slammed on the brakes in fright, her legs giving out as she thudded to her knees on the ground. A herd of a thousand wild horses stampeded through her mind, all converging into one curse that slipped out: “Fuck!”
All sounds of fighting came to an abrupt halt.
A dozen or so gazes shot over in unison, locking precisely onto this uninvited guest cowering by the tree root with a face full of terror.
Gu Er froze in place, meeting these scrutinizing and wary stares, her scalp tingling. She forced out a smile that could pass for harmless, her voice dry as she waved a hand: “Hi?”
The baby-faced youth in the blue sect robes was the first to sheathe his sword, letting out a puzzled “Huh?” as his thick black brows shot up high. “A little girl?” He strode closer, crouching down, his tone softening considerably. “Little sister, what are you doing alone in these deep mountains and old forests?”
Gu Er lowered her lashes, and when she raised them again, her eyes were already faintly reddened. “I… I fell from the mountain, and when I woke up I was here. I don’t remember how I got here… Big brother, can you take me out?” She reached out a trembling hand to tug at the youth’s sleeve.
Her acting was a bit over the top, but paired with her current appearance, frail and forlorn, clothes torn, cheeks bearing wounds, still shaken, it was enough to convince.
Sure enough, the youth was clearly moved, and said softly, “Don’t be afraid, we-”
“Junior Brother Du, hold on.” Among the Lingyun Sect group, an older disciple spoke up to stop him, his sharp gaze sweeping over Gu Er. “This place is treacherous, and a child appearing out of nowhere, we can’t be too careful.”
The female cultivator named Qin Shuang, leading the opposing Qingmiao Sect, likewise nodded. The longsword at her waist hummed, and the silver bells on her belt swayed without any wind. “Indeed. Even if it’s a child, we must ascertain her origins. I did just detect a faint trace of demonic energy, how would an ordinary family end up here?”
Gu Er sighed inwardly. These cultivators really weren’t easy to fool. She buried her face lower, shoulders trembling slightly, and spoke in a muffled, tearful voice: “I… I’m not a monster… I just can’t find my way home…”
Du Bai looked at the girl curled into a small ball, sobbing quietly, and felt a pang of sympathy.
“Senior Brother Zhou, Senior Sister Qin, she’s just a mortal child. The wound on her face was likely from a demonic beast, and there’s no spiritual energy fluctuation on her at all.” Du Bai stepped in front of Gu Er. “How about we take her out of the forest and settle her somewhere first, then discuss the Biluo Orchid? We can’t just leave her here alone.”
Senior Brother Zhou exchanged a glance with Qin Shuang, then looked at Gu Er, who was crying pitifully. In the end, Qin Shuang let out a sigh first, flicked her wrist, and the longsword slid back into its sheath with a clang. “Fine, let’s take her out of the forest first.”
The two factions temporarily called a truce and packed up to leave. Du Bai scooped Gu Er up, and she obediently wrapped her arms around his neck, asking in a small voice, “Big brother, are you immortals?”
“We’re cultivators,” Du Bai said with a grin, revealing two canine teeth. “I’m from Lingyun Sect. The ones in green robes are from Qingmiao Sect. Once we’re out of the mountains, I’ll take you to the town and help you find your family, alright?”
Gu Er nodded vigorously. “Mm!”
Several female disciples from Qingmiao Sect gathered around, curiously examining Gu Er. A pretty, charming girl leaned in, her voice crisp as she asked, “Kid, what’s your name? How did you get hurt? Does it hurt?”
“My name is Gu-”
Just as Gu Er was about to tell them her name, a streak of white light suddenly shot toward her forehead.
[Bzzt… Suitable host detected.]
[System connecting…]