Over the Eastern Sea, the sea breeze blew gently as the waves rose and fell.
A single-masted boat rode the wind and waves toward the mainland.
A breathtakingly pretty girl of fifteen or sixteen, dressed in flowing white robes with her hair bound by a golden ring, stood steadily atop the crossbeam of the mast. Facing the sea breeze, she held the mast with one hand, planted the other on her slim waist, and gazed eagerly ahead.
When the coastline came faintly into view, her eyes curved into crescents and her lips lifted into a smile as she declared boldly to herself:
"Mainland, Huang Rong is here! Hmph, this time I'm going to play outside for at least half a year... No, a whole year! I won't go home for an entire year. Let's see if Father gets worried!"
The girl was named Huang Rong, the daughter of the Master of Peach Blossom Island, the "forbidden ground" of the Eastern Sea that local fishermen spoke of with dread.
She had just had a huge fight with her father not long ago and was currently running away from home.
At that moment.
As Huang Rong watched the ever-nearing shore with great anticipation and imagined the carefree thrill of roaming the martial world alone, she suddenly saw a figure fall from above. With a loud thud, the person smashed into the sea directly in front of her boat.
"Huh, jumping into the sea to commit suicide? Who could be so foolish?"
Huang Rong had been lost in her daydreams. Seeing someone suddenly fall into the water, she instinctively assumed she had encountered someone seeking death. But once she came back to herself, she immediately sensed that something was wrong.
Although this place was not far from shore, there was not even a reef breaking the surface around her boat, much less a cliff. There were no other vessels, either.
So where exactly had that "suicidal" fellow fallen from?
Huang Rong blinked and lifted her lovely face in confusion. Above her was a clear blue sky dotted with white clouds...
Uh, white clouds, blue sky... the heavens?
Had that person fallen from the sky?
Huang Rong's eyes lit up as though she had discovered something extraordinary. She immediately sprang lightly into the air, drifting gracefully from the mast to the bow like a weightless white cloud. Bending down, she grabbed a long bamboo pole and extended it toward where the person had fallen.
The person had not sunk after hitting the water. He was currently flailing desperately on the surface. Judging by the spray flying everywhere, he clearly had no desire to die.
So when the bamboo pole reached him, he immediately stretched out both hands and clung to it for dear life.
Seeing him seize the pole, Huang Rong smiled faintly. Without seeming to exert any strength, she merely flicked the bamboo pole upward, and he burst from the surface with a splash.
Then Huang Rong shook the pole like a spear. It bent downward first, then snapped violently back up.
The rebounding force traveled through the pole into the man's hands. His fingers went numb, forcing him to release his grip. His body instantly soared into the air, tracing an arc as he flailed over Huang Rong's head before crashing onto the deck with a thump.
As an experienced transmigrator who had already reincarnated once and lived a second life, Lu Chen had never expected his first physical transmigration to come so suddenly—and so pathetically.
He had closed his eyes and opened them again, only to find himself high above the sea. Before he could even process what was happening, he began falling uncontrollably. He did not even have time to shout, "Fuck!" before plunging straight into the seawater.
His swimming skills were mediocre at best. He could barely paddle around in a swimming pool. Now that he had fallen into a sea where waves rose three feet high even without wind, if he did not want to die, it seemed his only option was to abandon this transmigration and return.
But if he did that, he would fail to leave enough "marks" in this world. The next time, he would no longer be able to find this world and transmigrate here again. And after wasting this opportunity, who knew how long he would have to wait for another transmigration?
So Lu Chen did not want to give up so easily.
Besides, before falling into the sea, he had seen a small boat not far from him.
Thus, he decided to struggle a little longer. He used all his strength to thrash about on the surface, sending up great sprays of water in hopes of catching the attention of whoever was aboard and receiving help.
Heaven did not disappoint those who persevered. As he desperately slapped at the water, a life-saving bamboo pole truly appeared before him.
That was how Lu Chen got aboard the boat.
It was just that the manner in which he boarded was far from pleasant.
The person who saved him seemed to possess astonishing strength. With one sweep of the bamboo pole, she had sent him flying onto the boat. When he landed, he nearly felt as though his entire body had been shattered.
As he hissed in pain, rubbed his aching waist, and struggled to sit up, a slender figure standing with her back to the setting sun appeared before him.
Lu Chen narrowed his eyes and took a moment to adjust to the light. Only then did he see clearly that the person who had sent him flying aboard with a bamboo pole was, astonishingly, a delicate-looking and charming young girl.
The girl already possessed picturesque features and peerless beauty. Now, her white robes and black hair danced lightly in the sea breeze, while the setting sun behind her outlined her in gold and crimson, making her resemble a young celestial maiden riding the wind through the void, draped in the evening clouds.
Then.
Lu Chen heard this celestial maiden ask in a crisp, sweet voice filled with curiosity:
"Are you an immortal?"
An immortal?
If I were an immortal, would I be this miserable?
Lu Chen did not know whether to laugh or cry.
"I'm not. I'm merely an ordinary person unlucky enough to fall into the water. I must thank you, miss, for saving me..."
"An ordinary person?"
The girl looked utterly unconvinced.
"Can ordinary people fall from the sky?"
"Well..."
After thinking for a moment, Lu Chen said in a negotiating tone:
"If I said a tornado swept me into the sky, and that the wind happened to disperse as I passed over your boat... would you believe me?"
The corners of the girl's lips rose, and her delicate brows lifted as though she had uncovered the truth.
"You can ride the wind, yet you still say you aren't an immortal?"
"..."
So that was another way to interpret his explanation?
Lu Chen was speechless.
"Fine, I've read plenty of legendary storybooks too. I know immortals always like to conceal their identities when traveling the mortal world. Some even disguise themselves as beggars, so pretending to be a drowning man is hardly unusual."
The girl smiled and winked at him, giving him a look that said she understood everything.
"Don't worry. I won't tell anyone that you fell from the sky. This will be our secret. But..."
She drew out the last word, her bright, lively eyes fixed on Lu Chen as she waited for him to take the bait.
Lu Chen obligingly continued:
"But what?"
"But you have to tell me how to get to the Immortal Realm. Or when you return, can you take me there for a visit?"
"Huh?"
"What's the problem?"
"This..."
The girl did not look easy to fool.
More importantly, Lu Chen truly could not explain how he had fallen from the sky. Since he could return at any time anyway, he simply chose to indirectly admit some of the truth.
"The place I come from really can't be called an Immortal Realm..."
He had already lived a second life. The world that was now considered his Main World possessed many incredible supernatural mysteries compared with Earth in his previous life, but it truly had nothing to do with an "Immortal Realm."
However, the girl, who had long concluded that he came from beyond the heavens, did not care about such details. Seeing him finally admit it, she immediately stared at him with sparkling eyes. "Tell me everything!"
"Before that, shouldn't we introduce ourselves first? My name is Lu Chen. Lu as in land, Chen as in steady. May I know your name, miss?"
Although she was eager to learn about the "Immortal Realm," introductions were only proper. The girl immediately smiled brightly and answered in a clear voice:
"My name is Huang Rong. Rong as in hibiscus."
Huang Rong?
That name!
Looking at the girl's peerless beauty, recalling how easily she had sent him flying onto the boat with a bamboo pole, and taking in his current surroundings, Lu Chen's heart jolted as he asked:
"Miss Huang, was the technique you used to pull me aboard with that bamboo pole martial arts?"
Huang Rong smiled sweetly.
"Just a little trick. It isn't any profound skill, not worth mentioning."
Not a profound skill?
It was still martial arts!
Could this beautiful, fairy-like girl sailing alone across the sea really be the treasured daughter of the Master of Peach Blossom Island, Huang Yaoshi the Eastern Heretic?
He had actually transmigrated into the Condor Heroes World...
And this perfectly suited Lu Chen's needs!
He needed to find a world with extraordinary martial arts so he could accumulate the resources for growth that he could not find in the Main World!
What martial arts in the Condor Heroes World would suit him?
There were truly quite a few!
The Daughter of the Eastern Heretic before him should possess martial arts he needed!
As excitement filled him and his thoughts raced wildly, Huang Rong extended a pale, soft little hand and waved it in front of his face.
"What are you staring blankly for? I'm waiting for you to tell me about the Immortal Realm."
Lu Chen came back to his senses, suppressed his excitement, cleared his throat, and prepared to speak, only to realize he did not know where to begin.
Huang Rong looked at Lu Chen's short hair, which made him resemble a monk who had returned to secular life, and his strange clothing—ironclad proof to her that his origins were extraordinary. She patiently prompted him:
"Start with the food, clothing, shelter, and travel of people in the Immortal Realm. What do you normally eat? Do you feed on wind and dew and abstain from food? Or do you feast on dragon liver and phoenix marrow, divine fungi and precious herbs? Besides riding clouds and commanding the wind, do you travel on dragons, phoenixes, and giant roc birds? And also, and also..."
Seeing Huang Rong fire off questions like an endlessly curious child, Lu Chen quickly raised a hand to stop her.
"Miss Huang, don't rush. I already told you, the place I come from isn't really an Immortal Realm. We don't feed on wind and dew, nor do we have dragon liver and phoenix marrow to eat. Our food isn't much different from yours. At most, we have more varieties of ingredients, richer seasonings, and more ways of cooking. Travel is worth talking about, though we don't have dragons, phoenixes, or giant roc birds to ride either..."
Lu Chen began telling Huang Rong about cars, trains, ships, airplanes, and other means of transportation.
To him, these were the most ordinary vehicles imaginable. To Huang Rong, however, they sounded incomparably miraculous.
Steel automobiles that needed no oxen or horses to pull them, yet could travel on their own for hundreds of li in a single shichen.
Trains that could likewise travel hundreds of li in a shichen, carrying thousands of passengers at once or hauling tens of millions of jin of cargo.
Steel ships that could sail as steadily as if on flat ground through storms at sea, requiring neither wind nor currents for power and carrying hundreds of millions of jin of freight.
And "airplanes" that could carry hundreds of people into the clouds, ride the wind, and travel ten thousand li in a day...
With transportation that sounded like pure fantasy—unbelievable and even impossible to imagine—yet was available for anyone to ride, how could Lu Chen's world be anything but an "Immortal Realm"?
As for whether Lu Chen was telling the truth...
She had watched him fall from the sky with her own eyes. How could it possibly be false?
In any case, Huang Rong absolutely trusted her own eyes.
For a moment, her beautiful eyes shone with wonder. Her original plan to travel the martial world alone on the mainland was instantly replaced by the desire to visit the Immortal Realm.
She wanted to go to the Immortal Realm.
She wanted so badly to visit the Immortal Realm!
Then she could return and show off to Father, making him jealous with all those wondrous contraptions!
Before you continue