Chapter 1: Initial Entry

Lu Jiangxian had a very, very long dream. He dreamt of planting rice in the fields, of the flash of blades and the shadows of swords, of immortal sects, of women, and of a great lake.

"Hand over the *Great Yin Breathing and Qi Refining Art* and the *Secret Essence of the Moon Brilliance*, and we can spare your cultivation base."

A pleasant yet icy female voice rang out by his ear. Lu Jiangxian vaguely saw a hazy face, but could see nothing clearly.

"Clang!"

A violent shaking sensation jolted Lu Jiangxian awake.

Fantastic and bizarre colors emerged in his mind. Lu Jiangxian wanted to open his eyes, wanted to get up, but his body was like a victim of sleep paralysis, ignoring his commands entirely.

At this moment, a brilliant white light pierced through the dense darkness before his eyes. Although the darkness continued to surge in like a tide, that pillar of light stood firm, as eternal and unchanging as the sun.

Dense, golden incantations burst forth from within, stretching their bodies in the darkness, scattering across the sky like stars.

"So beautiful," Lu Jiangxian thought blankly.

As the incantations multiplied, as if reaching some limit, he heard a sound like glass shattering—*Crack! *

The world brightened.

Lu Jiangxian saw a sky as vast as the ocean, a dense, boundless primeval forest, and not far away, a crescent-shaped lake. In that direction, a white stream of light fell into the sparkling water.

Below sat a small cluster of huts with straw-thatched roofs and patches of rice paddies.

Amidst a violently rolling perspective, he flew like a light, airy swallow over the small, brownish-yellow village and its hearth smoke, skimming across the surface of a clear little river.

In a fleeting glimpse, Lu Jiangxian saw his own reflection in the river.

"It looks like a round, glittering thing..." Lu Jiangxian thought in confusion, a vague premonition surfacing in his heart:

"Am I no longer human?"

"Splash!" The violent shaking returned. Lu Jiangxian sank rapidly into the water. The river was too shallow to absorb all the impact, so he bumped gently against a bluestone at the riverbed.

This bump made Lu Jiangxian feel as if someone had punched him in the chest; he felt a bit stifled and short of breath. However, his body, aided by the turbulent river and the recoil of the impact, steadily flipped over, facing upward, directly toward the sun rippling on the water's surface.

"Wasn't I staying up late in my rental apartment revising a project proposal?"

Lu Jiangxian watched the sun on the river surface silently. The water flowed rapidly, causing the light patterns on the riverbed to twist constantly.

Silently recalling the past in his memory, Lu Jiangxian felt a splitting headache. He only remembered collapsing on his bed in exhaustion, the smoke and neon light of the rental apartment passing by his side.

He had opened a beer, sat before the dim computer desk, and as a dizzying, world-spinning sensation arose, he felt his heart beating rapidly and his breathing becoming difficult.

"It seems... I kicked the bucket?"

"This is actually quite nice. No need to worry about the future, no need to worry about life."

Perhaps because he had been suppressed for too long, such a thought actually emerged in Lu Jiangxian's mind; his mood was even somewhat jubilant.

He observed his surroundings: dark green tree branches with hanging aerial roots overhead, nimble fish swimming quickly past his face from time to time, and the faint, tinkling sound of water splashing.

Lu Jiangxian sighed:

"It's just that going on like this will be boring enough to drive me mad."

So, he stared blankly as the sun slowly slid from overhead, a brilliant sunset crawling across the sky, and the water area beneath the tree branches dimming bit by bit.

During this time, two fish curiously patrolled around him, and even a crab tried to flip him over.

Until the moon moved above the tree branches and clear moonlight drifted softly onto the river surface, Lu Jiangxian was pleasantly surprised to feel a cool aura seeping into the riverbed, vaguely bringing a sense of comfort.

Watching the moonlight gather bit by bit above his body, forming a pale white lunar halo as if coming to life, Lu Jiangxian was shocked, his state of mind undergoing a completely different change:

Deep within Lu Jiangxian's heart rose a sense of curiosity and joy. That lunar halo seemed to have accumulated enough strength and drifted down onto him.

He only felt a chill all over his body, falling into a state of meditation that was neither asleep nor awake.

He did not know how much time had passed. The airflow became thinner and thinner, and Lu Jiangxian woke up abruptly. The crescent moon had faded from the sky, the sun leapt out from the tree branches, and warm morning light spilled onto the river surface.

"So fast."

Lu Jiangxian was overjoyed. Upon careful sensing, there was indeed a faint airflow lingering within his body, moving in a circular motion around the round edge of his body.

Even with Lu Jiangxian's concentrated spirit, he could vaguely see a grayish-blue mirror lying quietly on the riverbed, the ground beneath it covered with colorful pebbles, and a few fish foraging on the riverbed...

That river crab was digging in the dirt nearby. The visible range was about one meter around him, not very clear, like the old-fashioned thick-headed televisions he watched as a child.

"This must be who I am now." Lu Jiangxian smiled bitterly. Then, he deliberately controlled the airflow to stop at the center of the mirror, and the grayish-blue mirror emitted a trace of faint light.

"Other than glowing, I haven't found any use for it."

"First, I'll breathe in and out the moon's essence properly; perhaps there will be a qualitative change." He planned secretly: "I don't know the material of the mirror, nor do I know how the outside world views objects with intelligence. I hope I don't get discovered by some immortal cultivator who casually wipes away my consciousness." *** **Chapter 2: The Li Family**