The front door to Shao’s new house unlocked with the sound of metal striking metal. He could feel the subtle flow of ki traveling through the wood and suspected that there was something supernatural about the material itself that gave it such a property. It seemed somewhat unlikely to Shao that a Zhouji or above had infused the wood with ki.
The structure contained a kitchen, a living room, and a bedroom, all of which were separated by sliding paper doors. Shao’s new home was much larger than the Yang Lin family home, and the size of House 12 seemed excessively extravagant to him.
A small clay fireplace had been built into the wall of the living room, and a sword stand had already been placed next to it. Shao quickly removed the sheathed katana from his belt and placed it atop the stand.
As Shao looked around at House 12, Xiahou Ren entered behind him. Ren whistled quietly as he looked around. In a hushed voice, he said, “Nice. It’s very functional.”
“I assume the Xiahou Bian family home is much bigger,” Shao said.
“Oh, yeah,” Ren confirmed. “It’s more of a palace, but that’s mostly because more than fifty people live there.”
“Uh huh,” Shao muttered. “Is there something you want to talk about?”
“Yeah, I think it’s time we talk about our nature as Important People.”
Shao sat on a cushioned chair at the edge of his dining room, and Ren took a seat opposite him. With his sword placed atop his lap, Ren continued speaking.
“I’ve been thinking about the number Pluto mentioned: nine. He said there are nine of us. I suspect there are three groups of three. I’ve decided to call these groups: Immortals, Transmigrators, and Reincarnates. I am a Transmigrator, and you are a Reincarnate.”
“I understand most of what you said, but I have no idea what a Transmigrator is.”
“It means someone from another world.”
Shao paused for a moment. “You mean to say you’re from another world? Like, a whole other planet?”
“Exactly. About five years ago, I died, and my soul was put into the body of a teenager named Xiahou Bian Ren.”
“You’re a ghost?” Shao asked, trying to put Ren’s explanation into words he could understand.
“Not exactly. I was a human before I took over this new body, and the world I lived in was very different from this one. Cultivation did not exist in my world, but our technology far surpassed anything that existed in this world. Mortals could fly through the air like birds, and you could speak to someone on the other side of the planet as if they were standing beside you. All of this could be done without ki.”
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“That’s hard to imagine.”
“There existed people in my world who’s whole job was to learn the laws that governed the land and ensure that they were applied equally. Anyone that committed murder was imprisoned for the rest of their life.”
Shao laughed before saying, “Now I’m really starting to doubt you.”
Over the course of an hour, Ren excitedly described the nature of his world. It was hard for Shao to understand, but Ren’s conviction slowly convinced him that he was telling the truth. At least, he was convinced his words were the truth.
“In my world, I read a few books in the ‘xianxia’ genre. The events described in those books are exactly like everything that has happened to me since I got here. The similarities are so great that I’ve been able to predict most significant events before they happen. For example, I know that someone’s going to visit us tomorrow and try to take our cultivation pills.”
“What? How do you know that?”
“It happens every time.”
Shao’s lips tightened into a line as he tried to wrap his head around Ren’s proclamation. “So, what? Are you saying we’re in a book? That all of this is a work of fiction?”
“Stop saying those words!” Xiahou Ren said, looking around nervously at the normal home of an outer disciple of the Shigong Sect. Yes, that was Shao’s home for the time being. Nothing had changed since the last time Ren checked, of course. “The auth…” he cut himself off and began speaking again. “Fate could be thrown off course if we draw too much attention to ourselves. The, uh, Jade Emperor might notice, and he might, uh, alter our fate out of a sense of obligation.”
Now Shao wasn’t following Xiahou Ren’s point at all. He got the sense that Ren wanted him to not think about it, and that was something he was certainly good at.
“Whatever,” Shao said, shrugging. “You’re from a world with incredibly advanced technology, and someone will try to steal our pills tomorrow. At least this explains your strange vocabulary and your penchant for the Franconian techniques.”
“You believe me?” Ren asked, shocked at Shao’s response.
“I entered the world of cultivation a week ago. I’ve learnt to accept that weird stuff happens constantly. You being from another world isn’t any weirder than me being the reincarnation of the War God or a ship that floats on a cloud. A few days ago, I didn’t know that people with hair the color of straw existed. Just about anything could be true, and I probably wouldn’t be all that surprised.”
“Good point,” Ren said with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Anyway, when someone tries to take your Bone Strengthening Pill and your Body Cultivation Pill, just give them to the assailant. The fight won’t be worth it. We’ll be out of here in a month, one way or another.”
Xiahou Ren stood from his seat, and he soon departed Shao’s home. Soon thereafter, Shao laid down on a large feather-stuffed bed as Zero curled up at his feet.
He thought momentarily about Ren’s suggestion that everything around him was a mere story, but the melodious song of sleep soon began to call for him. Shao wondered what Ren meant when he referred to that “Jade Emperor.”
Shao, of course, did not know that Ren was referring to me.
Within minutes, the black void of sleep overtook him.
