Xiao Yun was admiring the stars. They looked like glowing diamonds in the inky night sky. It would have been even better if he wasn't about to burn to death in this forest fire.
What happened was that Xiao Yun had gone out on a camping trip to unwind from the stress that school had been giving him.
He grouped up with a camping group so he wouldn't have to spend the trip alone in the wilderness. He met a guy who was the same age as him, Zhang Wei. Zhang Wei looked like a generic rich, arrogant pretty boy—and yup, he was right.
They started fighting immediately over who got what spot to camp in and what the right way to fix a tent was. Words eventually turned into fists, and they started a fistfight. Then the fistfight turned dirty—kicking each other below the waist, throwing dirt into each other's faces—anything and everything to kick each other.
They had to be pulled apart by the other campers, like two kindergartners. The fight ended with Xiao Yun giving Zhang Wei an impromptu nose job, and Zhang Wei giving him black eyeshadow on both eyes. Later, when Xiao Yun thought about it, he realized how childish and dumb it was to break somebody's nose over something so small. He wasn't usually like that.
Xiao Yun returned to his tent, which was still lopsided, still seething.
"That prince thinks he can get anything he wants with a snap of his fingers," Xiao Yun mumbled, his rage not yet subsided.
It was time to close up the tents and head to dreamland, though Xiao Yun couldn't sleep. It was always like this—when he tried to sleep, his brain and eyes couldn't turn off. So, he did school work until he knocked out from exhaustion. But now, he had nothing else to do. There was no reception, and he hadn't brought any books with him. So, he took some sleeping pills he'd gotten from the doctor to help him sleep and calm down a little bit.
Xiao Yun woke up to chaos. The smoky scent infiltrated his nose along with the sounds of screaming. He rushed out to see what had happened. The only thing he saw was a blazing red fire everywhere, scorching the earth, with people running, nearly trampling each other. It was coming closer and closer to him.
"EVERYONE RUN! FOREST FIRE!" the group leader yelled.
People were sprinting to get out of the fiery hell. The forest cleared out until it was only Xiao Yun and the blazing flames left. Xiao Yun couldn't run fast enough before the fire engulfed him. He couldn't find an escape, and reinforcements wouldn't come until later because they had camped so far into the wilderness. The only thing Xiao Yun could do was sit down and hope for the best
Xiao Yun felt like a trapped beast as he sat down, waiting for the inevitable. He thought, "Am I going to die like this? I always wondered what dying would feel like, but now, in the face of it… I'm scared. I don't want to die."He felt hopeless, and tears came out flowing down his face.Before he could think anymore, he passed out from the lack of oxygen before he could feel any pain.
When Xiao Yun came to, his first thought was:
'Am I in the afterlife?'
He didn't want to open his eyes, fearing what he would see, but then he accepted it and opened them.
Xiao Yun got up and looked around. When he looked into a mirror, he was startled by the face staring back at him. It looked exactly like him, except for long, dark hair that reached his waist.
"I'M ALIVE!!" Xiao Yun shouted, not caring if anyone was around. He never wanted to experience anything like that ever again. Tears of happiness fell from his eyes, after a while of happiness he gathered himself up.
He took in his new surroundings. He was in an ancient Chinese-style physician clinic, with herbs stored in cabinets and some greenery for decoration. There was also an odd-looking cauldron that was about four feet long.
'Is this for witchcraft? Where am I?'
You couldn't blame Xiao Yun for thinking this way. In the modern world, cauldrons were often depicted in stories with witches mixing evil potions, and he wasn't one for reading fantasy novels about mages.
Suddenly, the door opened. A handsome man walked in, looking Xiao Yun up and down.
"Probationary disciple Xiao Yun finally woke up after your tussle with the other disciple. You brats are really getting bold these days, fighting as soon as you get accepted. You guys are lucky you didn't get kicked out."
As the elder started scolding Xiao Yun, he was so confused but received a lot of information from the elder.
One, he was a mage disciple of the Ling Wu Sect.
Two, he had the same appearance, age, and name—and he is still an orphan. It was nice to see that one thing hadn't changed.
Three, he had apparently given a disciple who came to the sect at the same time as him a broken nose, and the guy gave him two black eyes. Why did that sound familiar?
"Rest for a little while, then go to the disciple dormitory. Your dormitory number is #. If you want food, you can either make it yourself or head to the cafeteria. Your first test starts after a month. Make sure to prepare."
The elder sighed and said his goodbyes to Xiao Yun, saying he had business to attend to. After a bit of a mental breakdown, Xiao Yun started to accept it.
When he finally went out and packed up everything that was supposed to be his, he realized the elder never told him where the disciple dormitory was—only his room number.
Xiao Yun fought with himself for a bit before walking up to a random disciple and asking, "Where's the dormitory?"
The disciple smiled. "Ah, you must be new! I'm also new, so we can find the dormitory together. I have a map, and now a comrade in my suffering."
Xiao Yun thought this guy was very lively with an upbeat attitude. Maybe he could try to befriend him. As they navigated the dormitory, they started chatting.
The disciple's name was Le Xing, a fitting name indeed. He was also a probationary mage disciple, just like Xiao Yun.
"Xiao Yun, how do you think you're going to do in the first lesson? You might not know, but this isn't just a little test. This is a test for our aptitudes and control. Those lacking will get kicked out. I'm so super anxious and excited at the same time!"
Xiao Yun felt his brain get struck by lightning from this info dump. He didn't know how to use spiritual energy! How was he going to pass!?
Also, where would he go if he got kicked out? He'd been an orphan for two lives, for God's sake. He had to stay in the sect because he still didn't know what the world was like.
Can the higher powers give him a break? Xiao Yun wailed mentally but kept a calm appearance.
"We just have to give it our best," Xiao Yun reassured Le Xing, acting calm, while a war waged inside him.
"Thanks. All we can do now is practice and hope for the best."
They finally reached the dormitories, which were made of sturdy wooden buildings. They had a modern system with numbers on the doors. Xiao Yun and Le Xing looked at their assigned dorm numbers.
"Ah, our dorms are close together, so we can meet each other again!" Le Xing said joyfully. He must have been happy to make a friend in the sect for the first time.
'Brother, that might not happen if I get kicked out,'Xiao Yun thought.
Xiao Yun and Le Xing said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. When Xiao Yun opened his dorm room, he saw a sparsely decorated room, mostly made of wood, except for the thin, dirty-looking mattress.
Now, Xiao Yun wasn't a germaphobe, but even he thought this room was very dirty—dust and mold everywhere. He went out to ask for a bucket and a broom, found a well, got some water, and went back to his room to start sweeping and wiping everything down. After he was finished, he was so exhausted that the only thing he could do was sit at the table.
When he thought about his predicament again, he banged his head on the table so hard he probably almost gave himself a concussion. When he looked up, there was a window next to the table. Someone had just seen him bang his head on the table and held eye contact with him for a straight two minutes before Xiao Yun got up and banged the window closed. He had wanted to dig a hole and crawl into it after.
Today had been too much for him—too many unpredictable things had happened. He took off the long robe he was wearing, leaving only an inner shirt and pants. He didn't even need sleeping pills; he knocked out the moment the pillow touched his head because of exhaustion.
The next morning, every disciple was woken up by the sound of a drum. It was so loud that some disciples started cursing at it.
When Xiao Yun first heard the drum, he fell face-first onto the floor. When he looked around, he sighed. "So, it really wasn't a dream." He looked in the mirror and saw a red bulge on his forehead. 'How many concussions am I going to give myself? I'm embarrassing,' Xiao Yun thought sorrowfully.
He got up, took way too long to get those confusing clothes on, put some of his hair into a bun with a green tie, and left some down because he had too much hair and he didn't want it getting into his face then went out.
When he went out and saw the disciples walking in a direction he followed them.
As Xiao Yun was following the crowd, he saw Le Xing walking toward him.
"Hello, Xiao Yun. Good to see you!"
"Hello, Le Xing. Good morning."
When Le Xing heard Xiao Yun say that, he looked visibly confused.
"…What does 'good morning' mean?"
'Shit!'Xiao Yun realized that this world was very different from the modern world, so he couldn't speak in the modern tongue. He had to find an excuse.
He didn't want people finding out he wasn't the real owner of this body. Even if he hadn't done it, who would believe him? They'd probably think he was an evil spirit.
"Oh, it's something from my hometown. Whenever you wake up, you say 'good morning,' and when you're about to sleep, you say 'good night,'" Xiao Yun explained. He'd feel guilty if that wasn't the truth.
"Okay, so 'good morning,' Xiao Yun," Le Xing tried to imitate him, hoping to make him feel comfortable.
Xiao yun smiled at this imitation
Before he could say anything else, they arrived at a platform.
"SILENCE!" a man's resounding voice boomed into everyone's eardrums. He had shown that he was not a weak person with that single word.
"We're starting the introduction this is not a fishmarket so everyone shut it and sit!"