At first, there was a blinding scream of light, a feeling of disembodiment, then utter darkness, accompanied by pain that emanated deeply from within.
Lang Yuzhu abruptly raised his head, gasping for air heavily, as though he were hyperventilating.
'No, I am hyperventilating!
'I need... I need to calm down.'
Countless, disjointed thoughts on how and why this was happening scrambled through his mind, making his already anxious mind all the more restless. He blamed himself for his anxiety, but as the seconds passed, the headache he felt was so intense it was as though a mighty hand was mish-mashing his brain with its fingers, toying with it.
Amidst the stitching and ripping feeling coming from his head, Lang Yuzhu felt it, the more blinding pain. Unlike the debilitating headache, this pain focused and concentrated on his chest, giving off a deeply pierced feeling, particularly from where his heart should be.
Still breathing heavily, Lang Yuzhu looked down at his slender hand, which held a… a bloodied knife.
Screaming out an expletive, he threw the knife out of his hands and fell back in fright, kicking the small wooden table right in front of him and tipping the open ink bottle and paper scroll over.
His palms instantly soaked as they touched the cold floor, but with something warm. He slowly raised his hand, taking in the darkened image of the thick, dark red substance rolling down his palm.
Lang Yuzhu took measured breaths.
'Wh—Why is there blood around me?!' he thought in fear, but then quickly realized the question of whose was it was more important at the moment.
Feeling the pain in his chest gradually recede, Lang Yuzhu frantically checked his thick garments and was dumbfounded to find a deep, bloodied stab wound in the left part of his chest, and was even more stunned to see it gently suck in the blood on his clothes and the floor.
This answered his question of who the owner of the blood was. It was his!
As he fearfully and silently watched all the blood recede into his chest with not a single drop left on his garment or the floor, he witnessed the flesh around the deep wound wriggle disturbingly. And just a second later, the wound was gone, completely covered by his pale flesh.
Lang Yuzhu slowly raised his clean hand to his chest and traced the closed stab wound with his fingers.
Badump!
Lang Yuzhu let out a sudden groan and gripped his chest. His heart just beat properly for the first time, and he was lucid enough to feel it. His heavy gasps for air lessened as his heart and lungs now worked properly.
He had been at death's door, and he didn't even realize it until now!
Apprehensive that his life was only saved by some unknown force, Lang Yuzhu wished to know what on earth was truly happening. Logically speaking, he first had to start from knowing where he was, so he scanned the area.
With the light of dawn brightening up every corner, Lang Yuzhu saw that he was sitting in the middle of a vast and empty hall with old yellow-painted walls.
The only thing apart from him and the short table with the poured ink and scroll was far north of the hall. It was a large artifact made of precious metals and stones at the center of the north wall.
Lang Yuzhu studied the adorned artifact — an eight-spoked wheel connected by a curling serpent biting its tail, with the yin-yang symbol serving as its center hub.
Lang Yuzhu scrunched his eyebrows, a troubled expression soon dawning upon his face.
'I've never encountered such a symbol before. This should be the Wheel of Law, but its rim is the Ouroboros symbol and the center hub is… What could this mean?'
Deep in thought, Lang Yuzhu looked up to the ceiling, a grand glass dome that seemed to touch the heavens. He remained staring at the beautiful view of the serene, boundless blue sky for a few seconds, as thick white clouds journeyed past the earth.
At the sight, Lang Yuzhu's anxious mind calmed down.
The debilitating headache he felt was gone, and his thoughts were flowing smoothly. It seemed his mind had finally stitched itself back together without ripping.
And as it did, he finally recognized a more encompassing feeling, a feeling of immense discomfort emanating from the depths of his soul.
Lang Yuzhu retched forward and unsteadily grabbed his head.
'This is uncomfortable... so uncomfortable. Everything is… everything is wrong!'
He could feel it, his body being lighter than normal, his breathing flowing smoothly and unhurriedly like before, and his upper body and limbs not being the proper "lengths." The truth was evident from the beginning, but more so now: the body he was in wasn't his.
'And also, my name isn't Lang Yuzhu!'
That much he knew for sure. In his memories, he went by another name, a rather common name, but he couldn't just remember what it was.
His recollection of things so far was clear. As an avid reader and researcher, mostly interested in religious texts, ancient civilizations, mythology, and folklore across various cultures, he had been exploring the world for quite a few months now. It was a research-type vacation where he tasted delicacies, experienced local practices, and visited places with historical significance.
Before the current predicament, he remembered he was last exploring an abandoned temple shrine, where he encountered a ferocious monkey-looking statue with a yellow paper talisman on its banded forehead. He had thought it rude that someone had tried to vandalize the stone monkey statue, so he tore off the talisman.
Lang Yuzhu slowly and chillingly voiced, "And now, here I am."
Noting his voice now possessed a deep and soothing quality, he unconsciously touched his throat, skimming through his memories for his original name.
However, no matter how much he tried for the life of him, all he could remember was the name—Lang Yuzhu.
His original name was obscured in places he had written it down, voices that mentioned it or called out to him were silenced, and recollection of it from any other means was practically impossible. In other words, he was now nameless.
As he tried to make sense of the situation, he noticed he recalled things about another life too. Of course, it was that of the original Lang Yuzhu.
Lang Yuzhu grew up within the walls of a grand tower with a group of people with shared ancestry and beliefs, who also never once left the confines of the tower.
They were all avid scholars and librarians by profession, whose primary jobs were to clean and tend to the books of the grand tower—no, library. It was a library.
At age 15, despite struggling with studying and examinations, the Great Sage chose Lang Yuzhu to fill the vacant position among the Seven Disciples left by an elderly lady who had fallen ill and resigned.
Ten years later, the Library chose him from among the other Seven Disciples to be the successor of the aged and dying Great Sage. After the latter's passing, Lang Yuzhu performed the necessary rituals and went through the rites, receiving the Five Numinous Treasures, and fully assumed his role as the Great Sage a few days ago.
But today, just some minutes prior, the newly ingrained Great Sage committed suicide in the most painful manner!
The original Lang Yuzhu stabbed his heart with his knife and then removed it, letting his blood flow out and pool on the floor.
"And now I'm in his body," Lang Yuzhu said, having decided to face the facts and think about the how, the why, and the possibility of returning home as soon as possible.
His remembrance of the original Lang Yuzhu's life didn't shine a light on why he suddenly did this to himself.
"This is all so scary. Could this be an internet prank of some sort? I could've been drugged and…" Lang Yuzhu thought out loud before dismissing the speculation. It was stupid. Everything so far was obviously real.
'Or could this be some futuristic technology I haven't heard about? A hyper-realistic simulated experience like the one in the Matrix movie?' Lang Yuzhu was normally fond of developing on and entertaining only stupider ideas, as regular stupid was never enough.
So far, the disembodied feeling of being in a foreign body had gradually lessened, but it still lingered.
Letting out a long sigh, he muttered under his breath, "Ah, dammit. I want to smoke."
The nameless scholar had a lot to think about, but first, he had to leave this place. He carefully took the cleaned knife and hid it within his garments, arming himself for any unfortunate circumstances.
Standing up awkwardly as he wasn't used to these long, weird legs, he scanned his surroundings properly and fixed his eyes on the door directly to his left, just about 10 meters away in this wide hall.
His body felt weak, most likely because of the immense blood loss and the fact that he was still used to this physique. So, for starters, he had to find something to eat.
As Lang Yuzhu staggeringly walked towards the door, there was a light rap on it, followed by a female voice announcing, "Master, His Majesty, Emperor Tianzi of the Golden Dynasty awaits your presence."
'...What?'