Fan Shuangxi is a pretty woman. Yes, pretty. She doesn't possess a calamitous beauty, nor captivating looks but she isn't ugly either. No scars riddle her smooth face, her closed eyes hint of an almond-shaped look with thick eyelashes, her set of eyebrows is thin with an appropriate quantity of hair, her nose is small but straight, while her pinkish lips are pouty, and her long, mahogany hair settled silkily on her sides.

If Fan Shuangxi's appearance can be summarized by a few words, it will be a porcelain doll. Sleeping on a transparent bed with cloud-like mattress enforces this idea. A porcelain doll lovingly sheltered and protected.

She supposes it is fitting for the body's current condition.

Fragile. Breakable.

“My lady, I have brought some sacred objects to aid you in your journey,” Granny Fan stops beside her. Granny Fan sets aside two silver trays with silky, red cloths and tilts her head upwards. The old lady's gleaming eyes reflect her mistress' standing form as the woman stares at the figure sleeping on the bed.

“Take good care of my body, granny. In five years, I will return.” The woman wearing a man's attire of white robe under a black, round collar gown turns her back from the bed and inspects the accessories beside her. Her wide sleeves that entirely cover her hands fall smoothly down on a fair elbow while the delicate fingers caress the ordinary masterpieces presented to her.

The woman sees her face on the surface of a silver tray, and her fingers stroking the treasures land on her cheek instead. If the appearance of that body on the bed can be called pretty, this face, in comparison, can be labeled as 'cute'; a step below pretty.

Two different bodies but having the same name. Fan Shuangxi drops the hand touching her cheek and smiles. A familiar face.

Her face. Now, at least, she has something to remember the real her.

Fan Shuangxi turns to Granny Fan to hear her explain the uses of each object. There are five of them in total; a tattered book, two chain-cuff bell earrings, a rectangular jade tablet, and a thick metal ring. The first three items are treasures that will be extremely useful to her. The jade tablet will be the mode of communication between the Granny Fan and Fan Shuangxi while the ring is a portal that leads to the Treasure Space of the clan.

“Treasure Space? You mean an interspatial ring?” Fan Shuangxi throws around the word.

“No, my lady. The Treasure Space is a real place and is located here, in Shuixian Palace. The ring serves as a portal that connects you to that place. You can only retrieve and return objects already present in the Treasure Space. However, you can never deposit anything from the outside unless you put it first in Shuixian Palace. It is completely different from an interspatial ring wherein space is always carried.”

“I see.” Fan Shuangxi frowns and decides to test the ring.

Under Granny Fan's instructions, Fan Shuangxi closes her eyes and imagines entering a gate. Instantly, her inner self arrives in a round hall with twenty doors surrounding her. No apparent entrance or exit. All doors are built from high-quality stones and strong obsidian; the doors are identical save from a plate hanging above each door.

Fan Shuangxi randomly chooses a door and pushes it open. Rows upon rows of shelves containing different bottles organized according to their use come into her view. Fan Shuangxi carefully takes the nearest bottle and inspects. To her relief, the bottle follows the manufacturing practice of drugs in the modern era with its untampered label containing the name, ingredients, instructions on how to use, cautions, and warnings. What it should have contained but is not on the label is an expiry date, a label that the modern era deems extremely important.

Fan Shuangxi shrugs her shoulders and attributes this to the fact that the ingredients are magical, therefore, they probably have a long shelf life. She returns the bottle but then pauses.

“Maybe, this space suspends time?” she nibbles her bottom lip and decides to check her theory. Fan Shuangxi leaves the room and surveys the other rooms. Her eyes halt on the name 'Garden' and she enters it.

As it says on the door, it leads to a garden, a never-ending garden with numerous herbs, flowers, and trees in their peak. Fan Shuangxi's nose twitches from the smell of manure so she closes the door to escape. She returns to her initial spot. After that, Fan Shuangxi visits every door to double check their respective names while her theory about the Treasure Space being suspended in time becomes less of a theory and more of a fact. Finally, after quenching her curiosity, Fan Shuangxi decides to leave the space.

Fan Shuangxi opens her eyes and spots Granny Fan's eager face. It is the same expression she saw when she closed her eyes and it is the same face that greets her as she returns. She wasted many minutes in the space yet Granny Fan hasn't left her spot.

Is she incredibly patient? or... Fan Shuangxi's eyes flash in excitement.

“Granny, I apologize, did you wait long?” she asks the elder. Granny Fan shakes her head and voices what Fan Shuangxi suspects.

“My lady, whenever you enter the Treasure Space, time stops in reality. You can spend numerous hours inside and return to the same time you left.”

Waah!

“What do you think, my lady?”

Fan Shuangxi glances at the ring with a big smile. “Amazing!”

This Treasure Space ring is not limited by time or space, making it much more valuable than an interspatial ring. Fan Shuangxi also does not need to worry about things like weapons, food, medicine, and even money since the Treasure Space is full of it.

She may not be a genius doctor or any of those godly transmigrators but at least her predecessors left behind their finished goods to her. Suffice to say, they have handed everything to her in a silver platter. Lucky!

Fan Shuangxi inwardly offers her thanks to those transmigrators who had worked hard to leave behind this legacy.

She wears the ring on her pinky finger, the familiar fit reminding her of the stainless ring she wore on the same spot in her past life. Fan Shuangxi then hangs the jade tablet on the black leather belt on her waist. According to Granny Fan, this jade enables her to communicate with anyone whose qi is imprinted in the jade, aptly named as Mind Conveying Jade. This jade works both ways if the recipient also has a jade with Fan Shuangxi's qi. Otherwise, only Fan Shuangxi can establish communication between the two while the other cannot contact Fan Shuangxi.

“The Mind Conveying Jade is the last craft made by the clan and only a handful of it exists in the world. All of them are safely hidden in the Treasure Space.”

Fan Shuangxi observes the jade. The pattern on the jade does not contain an eye-catching design and after numerous looks, she cannot spot any marks to indicate it is a communication device. Fan Shuangxi concentrates next and with her qi, senses Granny Fan's qi.

After that shocking revelation and her ensuing decision to cultivate, Fan Shuangxi has started the mortal's Path of Ascension, and is now able to sense a person's qi, the first level of the first stage, Gathering.

In truth, since the original owner of the body is already on the Path, it is easier for Fan Shuangxi to start the first stage. The sensation is similar to rediscovering how to ride a bike. Indeed, it is. Unfortunately, the process of cultivating may be the same but the application is wholly different.

“All these sacred treasures, save perhaps the Mind Conveying Jade, can only be used by our clan, my lady. Even if you lose them, they will be nothing more than plain accessories,” Granny Fan assures while Fan Shuangxi puts on the two chain-cuff bell earrings; the golden colored one glints on Fan shuangxi's left ear while the silver earring hangs on her right ear, the Bell of Truth and the Bell of Discernment, respectively.

The tattered book vanishes and reappears on Fan Shuangxi's hands with just a thought. Out of the five sacred treasures, Fan Shuangxi deems the tattered book the most precious one.

The Book of Secrets. From that name alone, Fan Shuangxi can already guess its function and then, when Granny Fan explains its purpose, Fan Shuangxi's thoughts of its value solidifies. It holds insurmountable information and information is power.

At least she won't worry about immediately dying when she leaves. This eases her worries a little. Fan Shuangxi sighs.

She grasps Granny Fan's shoulders, “take good care of yourself, Granny Fan.” Fan Shuangxi's hands are firm and cold. The time to leave is near yet Fan Shuangxi is reluctant to part from the first person she met. Past these majestic walls and comforting scenery is a place totally foreign to Fan Shuangxi. The people, its culture and norms. How much of them is different from the modern society she grew up in? How many of her values will be challenged, destroyed, or abandoned?

She is a normal woman who grew up in time of peace and prosperity, and where one's 'powers' are speech and altruistic actions. Here, where real power is in her grasps, where just a thought can create a being, and where the reality is preposterous and fantasy given life. 

Will she still be the same after?

Shuixian Palace¹水仙宫 is Fan clan's secret base and out of the countless residences they've built on the continents, only this haven remains. It is a fort, the last shelter of their clan. The clan's historical books and the record of the family line are preserved here, as such, Shuixian Palace is designed to be impenetrable from all sides. To dare infiltrate it, one must first have the guts to dive into the deep, dark ocean littering with countless deadly creatures. If by a stroke of luck, one survives those creatures' sharp jaws and skin-tearing bites, they must still search the very depths for the palace's presence.

Yes, Shuixian Palace is an underwater palace but it doesn't rely on this alone for its defense. Shuixian Palace, you see, moves. It crawls to the ocean's darkest corners, settles on the deepest trenches, and covers itself with throngs of predators. This is only Shuixian Palace's first line of defense to their yard, to their abode itself, well, only with a blood of a Fan can a cultivator be granted a knock on the front door.

“Shuixian Palace is a place for a Fan and no one else. They alone can leave and return unscathed.” Fan Shuangxi remembers how Granny Fan described  Shuixian Palace. There are many things Granny Fan had also said but Fan Shuangxi only remembers these words.

It is rare to see a clan this united, unlike the usual infighting, they spent their time building a home to return to. Fan Shuangxi shakes her head. Well, she can't say with accuracy that there is no infighting, after all, she the only clan member she knows is Granny Fan.

Maybe their circumstances paved the way for a great bond to exist between them.

“A sad fate,” Fan Shuangxi mumbles, her head thrown back to behold the beautiful star-filled night sky. A tear rolls down and drops to the calm waters of the ocean Fan Shuangxi stands in.

It seems so long ago how Fan Shuangxi arrives here. She is truly in a different world.

Fan Shuangxi recalls her exit from the underwater palace with the closing of her eyes.

Granny Fan had guided her to a giant, suspended circular marble. Next thing Fan Shuangxi saw was a wall of water in front of her and Granny Fan's figure blurred on the background.

The wall of water had split in half and the floor on the other side was a shiny, dark land with the moon and the stars reflected on its wavy surface. The chilly breeze escaped from the wall and tempted Fan Shuangxi forward.

Her black boots thudded on the marble surface then the sound of leather meeting water resounded. A blast of wind had welcomed her and their cold embrace had caused her body to shiver. She remembered the awe of perceiving a mirrored floor and the boundless sky above reflected on its surface.

The sheer majesty of the view had made her heart ache and the pent-up emotions of that day gushed unforgiving from deep within.

You must give birth to a child.

Without Granny Fan's presence, Fan Shuangxi had laughed. Oh, how she had laughed. Laughed so hard her stomach had protested, her face frozen with a pasted smile, and her eyes revealed the true thoughts she had denied.

It is appropriate, she had thought, that a puppet needs a string for it to move.

Everything was too quick. It wasn't even long after she had been kidnapped to this unknown place and then, she found out she had to leave the first place she had warmed up to just to fulfill a mission in order to return home.

A girl like her needed a break dammit, else she's going to be mad!

She really really wanted to go back and hide in Shuixian Palace.

How her mind had turned, Fan Shuangxi muses. She opens her eyes to greet the twinkling stars. The shine in them reminding her of her world but the myriad colors can't fool her any longer.

Fan Shuangxi glances behind her, nothing. Below her, only impenetrable deep.

She is alone, irrevocably so.

“A sad fate,” she echoes her previous mutter. For though the Fan Clan ends in tragedy, they are together while here she is, alone again, at the start of a journey she can't quite envision finishing.

Fan Shuangxi wipes her dried tears.

“Ah, whatever.” She bows her head and sees her pitiful expression on the water's mirrored surface. She chuckles before raising her chin and delivering a loud smack to her cheeks.

Your choice. No regrets. Fan Shuangxi straightens her back. 

It is inevitable that she'll choose to return home despite the preposterous prerequisite and the week following her decision, Granny Fan taught her how to cultivate. The old lady's lectures always end with, “You are already a cultivator, my lady. Your spirit ocean is proof of that. Be at peace with your body because the way is already stamped in you. You know it.” To be honest, Fan Shuangxi is still skeptical even after multiple assurances. 

“Let's do this one step at a time,” she breathes in the salty air. Her old mantra vitalizes Fan Shuangxi's being and she forces a foot to step forward.

Two steps, three steps then, six steps, ten steps, twenty steps, and umpteenth steps later she gives up but she continues trodging on, her feet traversing the inumerable distance though the destination is still unknown.

Why she didn't sink along the way is a puzzle she attributes to this world. Fan Shuangxi has a suspicion this physics-defying treading on the water is only the beginning of the many physics-defying mechanisms of this world, worrying on minor things like this will ultimately distract her in focusing on the important ones. 

For now, gathering qi and breaking through foundation stage is her priority...and then, search for potential husbands along the way, Fan Shuangxi adds with reluctance.

Her heart skips a nervous beat but she brushes it off. 

Fan Shuangxi walks for hours and hours but she never feels fatigued nor hungry or thirsty. Her feet just walk the innumerable distance towards a nameless shore on a clear, dark sky and an orange-tinge horizon. The water under her feet does not ripple with incoming waves, instead, it is a gentle carpet that remains submissive as she passes by.

Perhaps it is because inside her she is not ready to meet the inhabitants of this world, Fan Shuangxi does not inquire her location in the Book of Secrets nor firmly decides the place she'll first appear in, choosing to aimlessly walk to a place destiny has decided for her.

Luck. Fate. God's will. These things she relies on in her modern life, she shamelessly utilizes again. She is no chess master, she has no strategy for every encounter and most of the time, she just wings it. Since she doesn't have the mental prowess to manipulate, she just leaves it to chance.

Fan Shuangxi pauses and admires the meeting of dawn and sunrise. No matter the place and era, twilight remains beautiful.

Well, good thing the atmosphere is the same, Fan Shuangxi cheers in her heart while gazing at the breathtaking horizon. She inhales the fresh ocean air and embraces the chill. The ocean and the horizon have always been her symbol of freedom, and also a source of strength. The vast world beyond the reach of her fingers gives her the notion that she can't have the world in her hands and therefore, it is okay to make mistakes because some things can't be controlled.

Some things will always slip past her boundaries and her only option is to adapt.

Some things like waking in this new world.

Some things like carrying the fate of a clan.

Some things like bearing a child to return home.

Never in her life has she expected for these things to fall on her shoulders nor had she foreseen this event but here she is, standing on the surface of the ocean, a deed nigh impossible, save if one's a ninja or if one has the money to splurge on a useless technology to imitate a biblical miracle. Then again, maybe, she's walking on glass covered with water?

Fan Shuangxi squats and dips a finger, investigating whether the curious thought is true. Sensing no resistance, she cautiously dips deeper until her arm is half immersed in water. A wild thought appears in her head asking her, what if an animal, say, a piranha, or God forbid, a shark, bites her arm off?

Fan Shuangxi quickly retrieves her arm and surveys the dark depths beneath. It is true when they say humans fear the unknown, Fan Shuangxi realizes. She slaps her forehead with her wet clothes and chuckles.

Idiot. Fan Shuangxi laughs at her idiocy and scolds herself for wasting her time lost in whimsical thought. She tilts her head to observe her sleeve but something cold grazes her skin below her right ear. Fan Shuangxi touches the object. It is round, the size akin to that of a pebble while a slit is on the bottom.

Fan Shuangxi shakes the object before it registers to her mind that it is the Bell of Discernment, a bell that rings only when danger is near. Since there is no danger, no sound is produced even after she swings it around. Fan Shuangxi finally relaxes.

Until this moment, Fan Shuangxi can't be sure of the uses of the two earrings, though she did test the Bell of Truth on Granny Fan. The Bell of Truth, which chimes when someone is intentionally dishonest, indeed, did not chime when Granny Fan repeats all the information she told Fan Shuangxi, much to the latter's disappointment. She had also narrated how she found Fan Shuangxi and also the condition of the pregnancy.

Granny Fan did not lie when she told Fan Shuangxi that she must give birth to a child, an heir to the Fan clan, to return home.

“Your predecessors never used this path to return to their place of origin. All of them wanted to stay but it does exist, my lady, only that they chose to refuse when the time came to leave. How it is possible, this old one doesn't know.”

What Granny Fan did know, Fan Shuangxi remembers, is that the partner must be a powerful cultivator for her to be able to beget a child.

Fan Shuangxi's eyebrows were exaggeratedly high upon hearing the condition.

Not only will she has to be impregnated, but it also has to be by a powerful man! She still thinks this is a violation of human rights! In the end, the choice is up to her. She can't possibly blame herself for wanting to return home, can she? With this thought, Fan Shuangxi can only swallow her protests and sigh.

Fan Shuangxi squints as light hits the right side of her face. She raises her dried sleeve and observes her surrounding. Far from her left, opposite the direction of the rising sun, Fan Shuangxi sees a shadow.

Is it land or something else? Fan Shuangxi is not sure. Out of the four cardinal directions, that is the only bread crumb.

Fan Shuangxi turns and this time she doesn't walk, she sprints. Any dilly-dallying may cause her to soak in the heat of the sun, and Fan Shuangxi doesn't want that. 

If only sunscreens are available here, her inner self laments.

In a village of Ji Country besides the sea, fishermen kiss their wives and bid their children goodbye. They hastily clad worn out shirts and trousers, greeting their companions on the same boat. Miles past the sea, the source of their livelihood, is the great Cao Yang. Just as its name implies, the ocean is noisy, tumultuous; many fishermen died from its towering waves and buried deep in its belly. To minimize the casualty, the fishermen decided to fish in teams. The move is wise and so, their practice continues until this day.

“Mama, Papa is going out?” A six years old girl asks, her little hand grasping her mother's skirt while watching her father's back entering a big boat with five other men.

“Yes, dear. The gods have blessed us today with fine weather.”

“But, but, Papa promised to play with me today,” The girl frowns. She glares at the brown sand outside their cottage in an attempt to hide her tantrum. The fine sand darkens as a small shadow stops not far from their home. It is a small girl with the sweetest smile on her face and she waves, her quiet urging prompting the upset girl's mood to lighten up. Since her papa is not around, she'll play with her friends instead. She asks for permission from her mama first before galloping away.

The little girl knocks from house to house, gathering a squadron of children squealing and running around. As they pass by, their mothers sigh and laugh.

“Good fortune befalls us today.”

“It's a surprise the Elementalist Society's prediction of today's weather is wrong.”

“Yes. Not only that, I heard in the neighboring towns the storm that was predicted to have landed last month never came too.”

“The land,” A mother's soft voice interjects, “is happy.”

“Hmph! The Elementalists were half-heartedly doing their predictions more likely. After all, Ji Country is nothing compared to the other countries around us.”

The children retreat to a wider area while their mothers' voices fade in the background. They traverse the path near the forest that resembles their gate to the village. No big predators lurk in the thick forest, only critters and insects more fearful of the wild children than the adults.

Strangely, while the children's laughter near the vicinity fills the air, no sound came from chirping birds or the like.

Peaceful. Quiet. Similar to today's calm waters.

The children continue to play while everything in the forest keeps their silence. Respectful silence.

Light rays peek through thick leaves and sturdy branches, the thin strands hitting pure white robes a beautiful man is wearing. He has a long, black hair tied loosely by a white ribbon. Other than his basic attire, the man has nothing else. No shoes to protect his fair feet as he walks, the dirt staining the hem of his robes, no bag to hint of a clean attire in reserve, and not even a dagger to protect himself.

He walks through the dirty earth with neither pomp nor indolence but an innate elegant glide like an angel searching peacefully in a corrupted land. The otherworldly image is made even more ethereal when sunlight hits his eyes.

Unseeing.

Children of the night, a name christened to their kind by their Mother the moment they were born. It was not just a title, it was also a representation of their origin, an origin concealed and known only by the mother who birthed them.

Beyond his dark orbs is a world far too different from the rose-colored lenses of humans. His world, their world, is a swirl of hues, sometimes wispy, other times tangible. It can be from the past, mostly the present, but never the future. No, never the future. This right is the blessing for their youngest sibling.

The leaves rustle as a great wind blows through, the air silently howling its excitement, the world trembles, and the three realms hold their breath.

On a rocky shore of an unsuspecting continent, a leather boot lands.