"The magical power here is too strong; even time and space distort. To glimpse the true mysteries, we can only head to the right side," Tom said.
Once inside the Room of Requirement, Tom sat down on the couch in one fell swoop.
He was truly exhausted. Voldemort's "journey" at its peak had been truly breathtaking and had put a great mental strain on Tom. Even reduced to dust, some words still haunted his mind.
Tom believed that if he had given the Horcrux a little more time, it would have caused more problems down the line. In the original timeline, the Horcrux had even revealed "inappropriate material" involving Harry and Hermione in front of Ron. Tom was just relieved it hadn't done the same with him.
Hermione entered the small attached kitchen and began preparing afternoon tea, making a clinking of cups and saucers.
Shortly after, the kitchen filled with a mixture of the scent of cream and freshly brewed coffee.
Tom: ???
In no time, Hermione returned with a silver tray holding several warm croissants and a cup of creamy coffee.
"I didn't know you had such skills; it looks great," Tom said, raising an eyebrow as he smelled the buttery aroma in the air.
Hermione's face turned red immediately.
"There's a menu in the kitchen; you order what you want, and it appears on the plate..." Hermione said shyly. Just now, she had also enjoyed a bit of slave labor, becoming part of the exploitation of the blood and sweat of house-elves.
"I see," Tom didn't pay much attention to the food's origin. He picked up one of the fresh croissants from the tray and took a bite, savoring the flakiness and the buttery aroma in his mouth.
"At least I made the coffee," Hermione muttered quietly, not very confidently.
"Thank you!" Tom received the coffee cup from Hermione's hands, sipping coffee and biting into the croissant, relishing them deliciously.
Besides croissants, the tray also included chocolate-filled pastries.
The way these pastries were made was similar to croissants, but in the final step, chocolate bars were placed on the dough before rolling it up. The heat from the oven would melt the chocolate inside, filling your mouth with a delightful flavor when you ate them.
After finishing the croissants and coffee, Tom felt fatigue overwhelming him.
"I'll take a break for a moment," Tom said as he lay down on the bed and quickly drifted into sleep.
...
Dreams took hold of him.
[May 6, 2018, a dreary Monday.]
Quandu High School, Third-Year Classroom (Eleven)]
Shen Ming abruptly raised his head from his desk; sweat had accumulated on his face in a small pool on the table, and his clothes were soaked as if they had been sprayed with water.
"This should be Earth. I did it! This strand of soul managed to return to Earth; it really wasn't easy! Looking at this familiar yet strange environment, it seems I've merged with a student's body."
Looking around at the unfamiliar yet familiar arrangement of the classroom and hearing the pronunciation of these familiar words, Shen Ming felt everything was so welcoming.
"A happy and beautiful school life. It's a pity that an invasion from an alternate world will soon come; how long will this fragile peace last...?"
"...Students, there's never a time of peace; there are only people who keep moving forward under a heavy burden. Well, I won't say more; class is over!"
"Is he always extending the classes...? I thought we were still in class," Shen Ming thought to himself.
Unfortunately, when a breach opens between the alternate world and Earth in a few months, extending classes might become a form of happiness. "I want to keep this peace in front of me forever," Shen Ming silently thought.
"The aptitude test will start the day after tomorrow; make sure not to miss it, as it could be a crucial turning point in your lives," the teacher said, but Shen Ming hardly paid any attention since it was either admission tests or autonomous competitions.
If he were an ordinary high school student, he would surely strive to get a good score in the autonomous admission test. But now, he preferred to think about his upcoming plan.
Should he forcibly awaken the power behind him that sent him to Earth? Or should he enhance his current body?
While Shen Ming made plans in his mind, he had no time to chat with the classmates around him.
Those young people couldn't imagine his ambitious goals. Sorry, our destinies are different!
As he thought about his small plans, suddenly, a classmate with a face full of muscles, who was sitting in front of him, turned around and asked, "Shen Ming, Liu Fan, are you going to participate in this aptitude test? Hey, you've been sweating a lot. In the future, it's better to avoid staying up all night. I think if you continue like this, you'll suddenly die at some point."
As if by natural reflex, Shen Ming knew that this boy was called Wang Jian, and Liu Fan was his tablemate, both close friends to him.
Even my name is Shen Ming. What a coincidence. It turns out the original owner of this body died suddenly from staying up all night, which benefited me. Regrettably, Shen Ming had no intention to respond.
His tablemate, Liu Fan, on the other hand, shook his head and said, "I'm not going to participate in this test. My father has certain connections; he advised me not to take it this year, and you guys should think twice too. This is a new direct admission university, and we don't know how real it is. The conditions seem very tempting, but it turns out parents have to sign a waiver form, i.e., a life-or-death agreement, which is very strange."
Wang Jian sighed and said, "It's true, but this university's advertising is huge. They say if you pass the test, you're admitted directly without the need for a college entrance exam, and they also don't charge fees, there are subsidies, and guaranteed employment after graduation. If we miss it, I fear we'll regret it for the rest of our lives."
Wang Jian's tablemate, named Du Fu, also joined the discussion at that moment, his face gloomy: "This test is going to be very difficult; it's a pity this opportunity for the carp to leap through the dragon's gate has nothing to do with us."
The three lamented and sighed, and Shen Ming looked at them in confusion.
What?
Isn't it just an entrance test?
Why are they talking about it as if it's a date with a superstar? And what's this about signing a life-or-death agreement to get into college? I never heard of anything like that in my past life.
In this era, for most students, autonomous admission is really the best choice. If you're lucky, you could be admitted directly into the front line of studies. Why are they so averse to that?
What are these kids doing? What are they talking about?
Or maybe this test isn't for autonomous admission.
Shen Ming decided to intervene and ask. At that moment, his tablemate, Liu Fan, adjusted his black-framed glasses and said determinedly, "We'll have more opportunities in the future! After we graduate from college, we can still pursue a master's or doctorate; it's never too late to try."
"Plus, there will surely be opportunities in society later on. Once we've made money, we can resort to connections and arrangements. By then, everything will be clear."
As soon as Liu Fan finished speaking, Du Fu also got excited and said, "Exactly! Fate always leaves an opportunity. Studying for a master's or doctorate can change our destiny!"
"A man should carry a three-foot sword and achieve great feats," Wang Jian said fiercely. His economic situation wasn't very good, and if he could seize this opportunity, he would secure his future. Plus, he had a younger brother and wouldn't allow his lineage to die out.
"I can't enjoy a five-calderon banquet in life or be cooked in five calderons in death."
Faced with Wang Jian's words, Liu and Du felt a bit embarrassed, but Liu Fan had courage!
They were all students, and who wouldn't wish for an opportunity like this in a school with such conditions, but in the end, there were worries and limitations.
While the three spoke enthusiastically, Shen Ming was utterly confused.
What are they doing? What's happening? Who am I, where am I, and what are they saying?
Scratching his head, Shen Ming felt the three weren't joking or talking in opposites. He felt something was not right. He was about to intervene and ask when someone else did.
Beside Shen Ming, a pair of young people were whispering softly when suddenly the boy said in surprise, "Wang Jian, Liu Fan, look at the news on Pingguin!"
Senior students, near the college entrance exam, don't have many people with mobile phones, so not many in the classroom know what's happened. This boy, named Liu Zian, usually has a loud voice, but this time, he fell silent. After he finished speaking, Shen Ming still hadn't reacted, but the students nearby were excited.
And Liu Zian suddenly felt a little embarrassed, surrounded by a group of people, and said with a flushed face, "It's true! It's authentic; the whole world is shocked! I didn't expect this disease to be so terrifying."
All he wanted to say was, 'Wait a minute, my God, you gave me the wrong script!'
...
Afterward, Shen Ming spent another two boring hours in class, then, after school, he went home with Liu Fan and Wang Jian, and each of them headed home. Following the familiar route in his memories, Shen Ming rode his bike for a full hour before returning home.
Shen Ming's home was an ancestral temple passed down from generation to generation, located on Jinji Hill on the outskirts of Quandu City. After walking along the mountain path for a long time, Shen Ming finally returned to his home, which was halfway up the mountain.
The last rays of the afternoon sun shone on the threshold, illuminating the courtyard. The courtyard walls were weathered, and the white paint had peeled off. The tiles in the courtyard were broken, and the buildings in the temple were also in disrepair. However, two pine trees growing in the courtyard were lush, and their branches formed a majestic canopy.
Despite the temple's dilapidated state, it still exuded a sense of antiquity. Upon entering the temple, Shen Ming felt a sense of tranquility and joy.
"This temple is extraordinary." Although Shen Ming now had no spiritual power, his perception remained sharp, and he intuitively felt that this temple was special.
"The atmosphere here is more comfortable... the concentration of spiritual energy is higher than outside. Hundreds of years ago, this place might have been a place of good fortune... but unfortunately, it's now in decline...
Grandfather died under suspicious circumstances... no, it can't be said that he's dead yet..."
Muttering to himself, Shen Ming entered a corner of the temple. According to his memories, he turned the four incense burners in the corner counterclockwise and lifted a floor tile, revealing a secret passage.
He walked through the passage, and after a few steps, a spacious space opened up. At the end of the passage was an underground cave of about fifteen square meters, an oil lamp still burned weakly. The dim light illuminated the only object in the cave, a cloud bed. A thin old man sat in a lotus position on the cloud bed.
The old man's eyes were closed, he was sweating profusely, and he seemed to be in a critical moment of his cultivation, constantly murmuring, "The primordial heaven leads to heaven, covering the change of heaven, I transform into a king. Covering... the change of heaven, I transform... into a king."
"Oh? Are there still cultivators with such a level of cultivation on Earth? It's a pity they were born in this late era... to be able to experience the mystery of the Dao Gate, but unfortunately, the lack of spiritual energy prevents the primordial spirit from escaping, and in the end, they will be trapped and die in the illusory realm."
He directed his gaze downward, and Shen Ming saw a fresh bloodstain on the ground, understanding to a great extent what had happened here before.
Grandfather, whose Dao mastery was profound, had disappeared many years ago when his primordial spirit entered the Dao Gate, never returning. The result was that his grandson found him near the end of his life and, with no other option, tried to pull him out of the illusory realm, but the primordial spirit was shattered by the illusory realm.
His nearly spiritless flesh and bones moved vaguely and inertly, acting on inertia until Shen Ming took him as his vessel in this life.
"Fate can be capricious." Shen Ming sighed.
At that moment, the old man suddenly stopped muttering to himself, a tear of blood fell from his eye. After holding on for decades, his primordial spirit was finally extinguished.
"Ah, if only you could endure one or two more years, your primordial spirit could have been freed from the illusory realm. But time waits for no one. However, I can use your body to carry out my plan."
Before reincarnating, Shen Ming left several plans for himself, allowing him to get ahead of the resurgence of spiritual energy and gain powerful abilities.
One of these plans involved an immortal spirit of a true immortal. In the past, while exploring the river of time, he accidentally discovered this extremely special immortal spirit. In the past, this spirit had been a true immortal, but something went wrong during its reincarnation, completely losing its memory.
By injecting this spirit into his body, he would gain a cultivator whose strength would rapidly increase, and its memories would be those Shen Ming implanted.
"It's a pity that when I reincarnated, the two worlds weren't connected, so I can't bring my magical treasures to Earth. Otherwise, I would definitely bring my Demon Slayer Sword and the Elixir of Creation." While waiting for the old man to recover, Shen Ming muttered to himself.
The immortal spirit slowly merged from the old man's forehead, and as the spirit faded away, the old man's body began to regain life. His heart could be heard beating, and blood flowed through his veins once more.
Suddenly, the old man opened his eyes, radiating a bright light that formed a three-foot golden light in front of his eyes. When the light dissipated, it left behind bright and lucid eyes.
"I've truly put you through a lot, Ming'er." To simplify matters and resolve the causes and consequences of his past life, Shen Ming established that the old man was his grandfather, largely maintaining the rest of his memories intact.
End of the dream, a strange absurdity.
...
She entered the kitchen and began preparing breakfast. This time, Hermione didn't order food from the Hogwarts kitchen but cooked herself.
The aroma of breakfast woke up Tom.
"My little troublemaker, it's time for breakfast!" Hermione approached Tom's bed holding a plate and fed him breakfast with a smile.
Hermione's cooking skills were only average: she used too much oil to fry the eggs and overcooked the bacon. But Tom was so hungry that he didn't mind and quickly devoured everything.
"It was delicious!" After devouring everything on the plate, Tom gave it a good rating.
"I'm glad you liked it." Hermione smiled as she looked at Tom. "Are you full now? Then it's time to go to class!"