The passing clouds were cold as mist. Tucked atop a mountain peak blanketed in evergreens was a residence— surrounded by and one with nature, its silence had a sound. The morning light was diffused, this high up— as the sky gained more and more of its brilliant blue tint, young figures trickled out of their morning class to continue on with their day.

Holding a bucket of water was a fourteen years old, expression lost as he stared off into the distance. Every now and then he broke away from his daze and took several steps forward, but would then pause again, and stilled for minutes on end. Several of the younger disciples sometimes stopped to stare— but in the end, recognizing his uniform, they didn't say anything and just moved on.

It was still early morning. Time was not to be wasted.

Yesterday, Shen Jing was a nursing student dragging himself home late at night, exhausted. This morning, he was here, on the Silver Forest Peak, mind glazed over as he stared at the gorgeous, tranquil sight of quiet green forests and trickling streams. The faded peaks further away had veiled themselves with the rolling mists, soft as they disappeared into blue silhouettes. The air stung on its way in, but the chill made him feel somewhat alive.

<Assistant 51C: One thing I like about these kinda novels is the sights. Like DANG they’re still untouched nature. Real real sweet.>

Shen Jing, “......”

Just several hours ago, Shen Jing awoke in a strange, cozy lounge, a woman with a smooth mask sitting across him. She was dressed all professional, a dark blue suit jacket over white blouse, navy slacks, and sat with legs crossed. “Assistant 51C,” she’d introduced herself, handing him a sleek, metal screen. “You’ve, ah, gotten into something of a hit and run while walking back from that study session. We’re here offering you a second chance. What do you think?”

“What?” Shen Jing had said.

<Kinda generic, though, now that I think about it. But I guess generic can still be good.>

“《Through the Eye of the Storm》 isn’t generic,” Shen Jing argued, eyebrows furrowed. His body jerked as he thought so, almost jostling the water in his bucket— he hurried to cover it with his arm. A wet, heavy slosh. Thankfully, not a drop spilled. “Well, I suppose settings can… It’s not the super-diverse fantasy type. But it’s still not generic…”

<Yes yes, you’re its biggest fan, it’s okay. I’m just saying it’s a nice place here!>

Shen Jing, “......” Q__Q

《Through the Eye of the Storm》 was a xianxia web novel written by Three Legged Cat, which had ended early for reasons not entirely clear. It followed Xuan Lang, the eldest disciple of the elusive Sword Saint Bai Nian, as he faced a world that insisted on vilifying him. Though it started off sounding like it was going to be a stallion novel, the author seemed to have backed away from that idea rather early. Yes. 《Through the Eye of the Storm》 ended up being about Xuan Lang’s continuing attempt to keep what was left of his family together as they faced hardship after hardship, holding onto them and hope itself. The early foreshadowed melodrama of power struggles and intrigue became grounded, gritty and whole exploration of the main cast’s dynamics instead, which Shen Jing honestly loved.

There was a major shift in tone, though, as the series went on— it got… more serious, with the updates going from three times a week to once. Some people complained, but Shen Jing himself didn’t mind; he had gotten quite busy with the workload of his nursing course, and he could always reread from the start. But the tipping point was chapter 73— Three Legged Cat blackened Xuan Lang, pushing him into a pit of darkness he never quite came out of.

While other readers railed against this decision, Shen Jing wrote his first comment on the novel that wasn’t the generic bomb-throwing generated message: Big Cat, are you feeling okay?

Three Legged Cat did answer, for the first time in months.

‘Thank you for asking.’

“Oi, Xiao-shidi, are you listening? Hellooo?”

“Wh-wha—” Shen Jing startled, straightening his back. That jostled his bucket again, shoot— this time he winced as his sleeve got hit by a slosh, backing away a few steps from the teen that had snuck up on him. Her eyebrows were raised high in amused curiosity, her lively brown eyes twinkling with hidden mischief. After grimacing a bit as he shook his partially wet sleeve, Shen Jing looked up— oh. Silver-lined pale green robes, and a cheerful disposition— this was Sword Saint Bai Nian's fourth disciple, Fang Xiaoxiao.

“Why are you spacing off ah?” Fang Xiaoxiao puffed her cheeks, hands on her hips. “Come on, let’s get moving! Da-shixiong’s finally back after almost a year, we need to tidy up his room before he comes back!”

Right. The start of 《Through the Eye of the Storm》 was Xuan Lang’s return to the Silver Forest Peak after 10 months being on a mysterious journey with his shifu. The contents of said “task” was revealed slowly over the course of the first arc, which had been fun to piece together— but it involved him helping his shifu find fragments of blessed metals to repair his legendary sword Qianguang. But anyway, right! When he arrived, Xuan Lang noticed that his third shidi He Jiangshan and Fang Xiaoxiao were a bit dusty and sweaty— they’d gone and cleaned his room in a rush, making him chuckle at their thoughtfulness.

But since Shen Jing had inserted himself as a new minor character, the fifth disciple, it seemed that He Jiangshan wasn’t here…

Hands grabbed his shoulders, and then he was pushed forward. The water— well, the water was a lost cause, as was Shen Jing's hopes of remaining dry. “Your mind wanders too much! Let’s go!”

“O-okay!”

_____

Sort of back to the beginning. In that lounge, Assistant 51C had offered him a contract: to fix up the axed 《Through the Eye of the Storm》’s messy latter half, and turn the thing into something more… thematically coherent, in exchange for another chance at life.

“I’ve never written, though,” Shen Jing said, tracing circles on the fabric of his pants, over his knee. “I’m a nursing student…”

Assistant 51C waved her hand. “Nah, don’t worry too much about that. Writing as a technical skill is one thing, but novels, stories are more than just that. Good ones have themes, messages, or at least a sort of point, and that’s really what separates the good ones from the… pointless ones. And hey, we saw that you love it and have written posts showing you understood the characters rather well, so we thought you’d be interested.”

On his left hand was the tablet with the contract. It wasn’t in legalese— everything was spelled out in clear, understandable language. At the very top was the first point: The contractee can withdraw from the project at any time, but their compensation will be reduced appropriately in return.

The second point was bolded, too. The contractee is guaranteed their safety, and have irrevocable access to human resources to report abuse from any party.

“But how am I supposed to achieve that?” Shen Jing asked.

Assistant 51C spread her arms wide. “Lots of ways, up to you! Some people kinda play puppet-master. Some people jump straight into the midst of it. Well, everyone does have to interact with the story in real time, they live in it. But they don’t always all meet the main characters and the likes. It’s up to you.”

Meeting Xuan Lang… The character Shen Jing really respected, the character who gave him strength to power through his first semester of nursing major— he really wanted it. He really wanted to.

And the reward for seeing things through was another chance at life, too. To be revived and placed at a point in time before his death…

“All right,” he said.

____

“I’m starting to think we’re gonna need a map for Xiao-shidi,” a female voice said. An amused grunt, male. “Don’t know where he got lost, but we’ll need help finding him.”

Shen Jing blinked back to the present, squeezing the damp rag in his clutches. Right. He was wiping down the bed and its posts, because he realized that the dust would just all fly into their faces— Fang Xiaoxiao had gone to rummage for new bedcovers and pillows. But she came back with someone else…?

Shen Jing peered down; he’d been standing at the bed to reach the top of the bedposts. A young teen about sixteen was looking at him, a cheeky grin on his face. He was wearing the silver-lined direct disciple uniform of this peak, so… He couldn’t be anyone but He Jiangshan, the third disciple. Or…?

<Yup. Your notes on him are in the journal, you can access it when you have the time.>

“Xiao-shidi is amazing ba,” He Jiangshan complimented, leaning over to inspect the wooden bed. “Not even water streaks when it dries. How’d you do it?”

Shen Jing, “......”

“I just make sure to wipe the spot with a dry cloth after wiping away the dust, Third Shixiong,” Shen Jing explained, working to finish the last bits of this section. After this, he should go deal with the table and bookcase and then the floor. Thankfully Xuan Lang didn’t own that many things; prior to leaving he’d stored all his valuables in a wooden chest, too, so they didn’t have to deal with dusty scrolls and books. “And you should wipe them in gentle, circular motions. And not to have too much liquid on your rag. Using white vinegar helps, too. But only when diluted with a lot of water. You’ll ruin the wood otherwise.”

“...Really amazing,” He Jiangshan corrected. “But you don’t need to be this careful ba, you should go get yourself prepared soon, too, they said Da-shixiong is already at the bottom of the mountain.”

Shen Jing stilled. “Wait, what?”

The Mount Song Sect was a medium, but well-respected sect in the wulin. Situated on its eponymous Mount Song, it had six peaks and a mountain town under its protection, the latter providing food and necessities in exchange for safety and blessings. The central peak was named the Holy Tree Peak, for the thousand-year old divine tree that stood at the top, thin but tall against the blue heavens. The five other peaks were, supposedly, on equal grounds with each other: Silver Forest Peak, Blue Soul Peak, Red Autumn Peak, Hundred Fields Peak and Black Earth Peak.

Hard to really say that it was equal, though, when the Sword Saint Bai Nian was the Peak Lord of Silver Forest Peak— the Sword Saint renowned in the jianghu, the jade of the Sect Head’s eyes.

But the Silver Forest Peak wasn’t that big, in terms of size. Bai Nian was often away, being who he was, and he was young and new at being a teacher, too. His direct disciples were five, outer disciples about twenty— in the end, his absence left the peak rather weak, with only 19 years old Xuan Lang to lead most of the rest. Sect Elders often helped, given that he was a reliable young man and thus well-liked by many— that, and also…

Bai Nian’s second disciple was Ji Hualiu, the Sect Head’s oldest daughter.

Shen Jing was rather excited to see her. He wasn’t a fan specifically of her, but he did like her character— she was intelligent, thoughtful and powerful, with elegance and grace of someone who knew their standing in life. It was too bad, though, that she ended up dying and became Xuan Lang’s white moonlight… Shen Jing would like to see her while she was alive, and maybe if she lived, Xuan Lang wouldn’t be driven to despair as he was in the original novel.

“There he went again,” Fang Xiaoxiao whispered to He Jiangshan. “What’s really astounding is, he’s still wiping things and it’s all sparkling clean! So fast, too!”

“A rare talent,” He Jiangshan agreed, nodding. “I think Da-shixiong will really be pleased with his new shidi, Shizun really knows how to choose them ba.”

Shen Jing, “......” I heard that.

<They’re not wrong.> Was that… the sound of crispy peanuts…? <Been trying to catch your attention and let you know how to access the journal for the past five minutes, but I, tragically, have been shut out…>

That was definitely crispy peanuts.

<Anyway, you might want to finish up soon, Xiao-Jing. The protagonist’s already on the—>

“Where are the three of you?” A female voice called out. “Da-shixiong is at the gate! Even the food has been brought out!”

Fang Xiaoxiao let out a small shriek, and He Jiangshan grabbed the rags from Shen Jing’s hands and then the water bucket, too, and then they uh, vanished— jade ring? But then they both grabbed Shen Jing, one gripping each of his wrists, and started running. “Second Shijie! Da-shixiong, we’re here!”

After a stumble, Shen Jing ran following their pace, a bit dizzy— urk, they kept crashing into each other when turning round the corners. But after a minute, the thought finally dawned on him. They were really meeting Xuan Lang?

Wait, he’s not ready!

namio

Hello, welcome to my new casual project! I've been fiddling with the concept for a while, ie. a found family dynamic, MC who takes care of his siblings and wishes for them to grow into well-rounded individuals, and ML who takes care of them as a big brother, but over the months the details shifted. Now the MC is more... well, he's less of a daddy, you can say.

Shen Jing has honest to goodness Social Anxiety TM. No, not shyness. No, not introversion. Agoraphobie und Panikstörung, ICD code F40.01G, if you go by German diagnosis. So for this reason I will NOT tolerate comments dismissing or making fun of it, or referring to it as cowardice. Of course he also has other problems, but I cannot stress enough that I will not tolerate any dismissal of social anxiety.

Cover art is by me. You can find the full image here.