"Why did you ask for me?" Ren asked, his tone serious and cold.
He hated feeling cornered. Hated being left in the dark. And that was exactly what the woman sitting in the middle of the room was doing with her veil. Acting all mysterious.
Without saying a word, she got up and walked up to him, her hands gracefully held in her front to add more elegance.
In the hand hidden at his back, a fire blade quietly appeared, ready to defend and attack if needed.
Unexpectedly, the girl went down on both knees and kowtowed with the veil lantern still on her head. "Liuyue pays homage to Master. I am late, please punish me."
Ren backed against the door, a surge of uneasiness and a sense of distant familiarity tingling his senses. "Who the hell are you? Is this some scam business? Do you expect me to give you money for this act?"
A sniffle came from the female still kowtowed. "It's good to hear your voice again after all this time. I'm glad I've found you."
"Hey! Could you talk about things that make sense? Why are you bowing and crying in front of me?"
She raised her head to sit on her knees before taking off the veil and placing it next to her.
Beautiful black eyes that were a little swollen, long eyelashes, a pair of pink lips, a small face, fair skin...she looked above average if Ren was to give a score, but that was it. There was no lust or attraction towards her. Not when his heart still carried with it wounds from his last life. Even his fiancee had abandoned him. Love was fickle, unreliable, and unneeded.
"My name is Yang Guifei from the Yang clan in Xiayang City. I'm the fourth daughter and the eighth child of the city Lord."
"Sounds like you have a great background. So why are you trying to scam me?"
"You're still cautious as ever, Master... Liuyue is the name you gave me, or will give me. You sent me here, to find you."
The dagger vanished as he brought his hand to massage the bridge of his nose, overwhelmed by the nonsense he was receiving. "If there's nothing else, I'd like to leave now. Have a great evening, Liuyue."
"Wait!" She squealed and he stopped.
"What is it?"
"'This is fucking nuts'," she spoke up with little confidence lowering her eyes to Ren's feet. "You, you told me to say this to you because you wouldn't believe a stranger. Please, Master, I am your disciple, but in the future."
His brows furrowed and his brain hurt. The words were effective enough to have his attention, but a long way from gaining even a slice of his trust.
In the end, he accepted her tea invitation and sat opposite her, the window near them ushering in the radiant evening light and warmth with some wind as well.
He stared at the cup of tea before him suspiciously and Liuyue noticed. She giggled. "Master's vigilance started this early," she remarked before rolling up her left sleeve to show him a marking like a tattoo of a dragon curling around a sword.
"What is this?"
"An eternal rune of loyalty towards you, Master. All your disciples had them. With this-" she covered up her wrist and placed her hand back on her thigh, "-I'd die if I dare think of harming you."
He tapped the table nervously, evaluating her words to search for something he didn't know.
"Why did 'I' send you here? If I am that powerful, shouldn't I be living somewhere peaceful? If it was really me, then, something must have happened."
Liuyue's face contorted in confusion and sadness, her gaze moving to look outside. "I cannot remember. I have been trying to for the last two years why or what happened, but every time I focus on my memories, my head starts to hurt, and I lose consciousness.
"I asked my uncle to examine me and he said that I have a seal in my memories. It's a family secret for now while they are trying to find a way to unseal them.
"But knowing your personality, Master, only you would have done such a thing."
Unconscious, Ren found himself taking a sip of the tea. Only after swallowing did his wariness kick in, although a little too late.
It's sweet, he thought, his eyes widening slightly staring at the cup and then at the girl. "The tea is good."
Liuyue smiled, tearing up. "I remember you always said that the tea in this world was butter. You really are my Master."
"Why are you crying again?"
She looked away to dry her tears using the sleeves of her dress and smiled facing him again. "My heart is at peace that I can see you again. You don't look too different from when we parted, Master."
Even though he hid it deep enough, Ren couldn't deny that his curiosity was piqued. And knowing himself, he must have sent her here with an important message, if at all her story was true.
"Did I give you any information or message to bring back to me?"
Liuyue nodded and brought her slender hands in sight. She started moving them around gracefully, swaying her wrist as she enacted a hand seal. Once it was done, words in English appeared, floating between the two and above the table.
"You asked me to deliver this only to you."
"How many lives do you think you've lived? Too many to count. Yet they end up all the same, why? Because we keep making the same mistakes, Clay. We were brought here by another future self who was dying, yet I still failed in the end. I have sent you everything you need to achieve our ultimate goal. Do not lose sight, and do not get distracted because you're the last life we have. The last chance we have. If you fail, we cease to exist in all five worlds without a chance to correct our mistakes.
"Knowing my past self, I'm aware that telling you what has happened to me will make the journey ahead unexciting. Then I bid you farewell, younger me. Find our disciples as early as you can. They all bear our sect's insignia like the one of Liuyue, our favorite and most loyal of all our followers."
The message vaporized as soon as Ren finished reading it, leaving him with a heavy feeling in his heart.
What could have happened in the future that he had to find himself twice? Not counting those other times he had done this and wasn't aware of.
He placed his hand on his lips and bit his webbing, his thoughts scattered all over.
And if his future self knew that Han would die, why didn't he stop it?
'Wait! She just said it's taken her two years to find me.'
He eyed Liuyue with a strand of anger wrapping around his heart. So his future self did want to save Han but this little girl had to lose her way and find him now?
"What do you remember?"
"I...I... You sealed too many memories, Master. I only have fragments of our time together but no recollection of the major events."
"And the sect, what was it called?"
"Dragon Sect, Master."
'It was so obvious dammit!'
"Okay. So where is this supposed sect supposed to be?"
She shook her head. "I don't remember. The only memory I have of it is the-"
"An adventure it is," he cut her short, disinterested in the past, or the future. He'd go out there and find the right place based on his instincts.
###########
After spending the night in the village, they set off early the next morning and Ren experienced his first carriage ride. It was nothing like riding a car. There was something charming about feeling the little bumps along the road and breathing the cold morning wind that woke all his senses.
He had spent a good part of the night thinking about the events of the day and only slept when he made his final decision, which was to grow even stronger and acquire unique techniques. But first, he needed to visit a library and learn about his innate ability, the Void.
Since he had been reincarnated with it after another future self sent him here, it might indicate that it was his to begin with and this wasn't a game as he had thought.
Earth still existed out there, maybe in another solar system or projection, but it did. And so did the other three worlds he was yet to explore.
"Here, Master." Liuyue offered Ren a small wooden food box.
"What is this?" He asked receiving it.
"Moon cakes. They were your favorite. You loved them left in the moonlight all night long than fresh ones. I still don't know why."
'Because my original body is a damn ginseng.'