“What do artists do? They notice stuff.”

As an aspiring artist, or former aspiring artist, it was in my best interest to adhere to that quote. People like seeing artistic renditions and reflections of the world around them, and generally speaking, it is the artist’s desire to make the viewer happy... unless your agenda was to bring attention to an issue or some such, in which case the agenda is usually scaring, worrying or evoking empathy in the viewer.

But that’s irrelevant now.

I am no longer a prospective university student.

I am a child of the Xiang (Incense) family. A young boy far removed from the concepts and ideals of a dead man from another dimension.

That, however, does not mean I will simply forget the skills he painstakingly cultured in the other life, no, I still remember that man, I still recall his skills, valuable skills such as; “noticing stuff”.

Stuff such as the distinct lack of stuff, that is to say, a restriction of information.

I snap the book close with a mildly disgusted huff.

Propaganda by omission. Teaching someone is not all about what you say, but also what you don’t say. By not commenting on, or straight up not providing information on a subject, you are still conveying a lesson.

Be it “this is bad”, “this is allowed”, “this doesn’t matter”, or “you shouldn’t comment on this”, they are still lessons.

I place the disappointing book on a growing pile to my right.

This “vetting of knowledge” seems to be something the Xiang family are quite good at.

I pick up a book from a diminishing pile on my left.

It is irritating.

All males of any strength or influence have been stricken from the history books... Those that remain serve only as a cautionary tale of “what happens when a man seeks beyond his station”...

Dammit…

Of all the places, I just had to reincarnate in a realm that is furiously matriarchal. 

And not only that…

I absently observe the deep purple sword-ki waves fly across the training grounds from my window seat. The small, feminine, figures dancing about the affronts to physics.

It’s a matriarchal society in a Xianxia realm.

This. Is gonna be tough.

PervyPanda

Barebone introduction to the new world. 

I’ve read plenty of Wuxia and Xianxia novels, and most tend to be (at least a little bit) misogynistic. This tends to force all the females into archetypes, the most common are “super cold and arrogant”, the “little sister” and sluts. Those are the ones that are most common I think.

This annoys me.

So I’m gonna try and switch stuff around, where the guys are the minority in cultivation. 

Also, as a bit of a spoiler, there will be multiple realms and not all of them will be “furiously matriarchal” like this one. Some will be worse or take it to different extremes, some will be relatively more “normal”.

The reasons for the matriarchal society here will be explained later on, it’s not just a plot tool or something.

From now on I will be making longer chapters (probably).