Shenzhou, a village at the foot of Taixu Mountain—
"What's your name?"
"...Xing. Xing as in lucky."
"Where do you live?"
"I don't know."
"What about your parents?"
"I don't know. I can't remember anything except my name."
"This is troublesome." The village secretary scratched his head. The child had been found at Fuyun Temple, but when brought back and questioned, he turned out to have amnesia. He could only be sent to the relevant authorities. With that thought, the secretary took a business card printed with a golden "Destiny" emblem from his drawer. "Hello? Is this the Shenzhou branch of Destiny Orphanage?"
Xing hugged a chubby bird plushie, feeling uneasy. Not because he had really transmigrated, but because it seemed he was about to be sent to an orphanage.
I should've made myself a tall, mighty hunk. Seriously, what kind of transmigrator gets to set up their own character profile?
Grumbling inwardly, Xing squeezed the plushie in his hands. "This is a Crimson Kite, right? They really exist. Now I'm kind of looking forward to seeing HOMU."
As he admired the "immortal beast's" design, the boy was not especially worried about his future. He was the sort who accepted whatever came his way. Besides, rather than spending four years at an ordinary university and then living an ordinary life, wasn't adventuring and surviving in a new world a better choice? Sorry, Mom and Dad. Your son has failed you... Sis, the family's counting on you. Your big brother will miss you all in another world.
"Any strange markings on him? Yes, there's a strange pattern on the back of his right hand. It doesn't look like a tattoo. Mm, all right, all right. You'll come at three this afternoon? I'll keep a close eye on him." The village secretary hung up. The moment he turned around, he discovered that he was the only one left in the room. "Where did he go?!"
Xing squatted on the ground, staring wide-eyed at a fat white chicken. Calling it a chicken did not seem quite right, though, because it was simply too fat. "So it isn't just a legend. They really exist?" Xing reached out and caught the Crimson Kite that had been flapping against the village secretary's office window a minute ago. The little creature was extremely docile. When he held it in his arms, it showed no resistance at all. "So cute. It would definitely taste amazing as kung pao chicken."
"Ah, good thing you didn't run far. You child... Wait, what are you holding?" The village secretary, who had chased after him, saw the Crimson Kite in Xing's arms. His expression became rather strange. It did not look like a plushie.
Apparently startled, the Crimson Kite Bird fluttered its tiny wings and flew out of Xing's arms. It landed on the ground, then sped away on its little chicken feet. One had to wonder why such a fat creature could be so nimble. "Don't run!" Xing excitedly chased after it, failing to notice the village secretary collapsing to his knees behind him and muttering nonstop, "Heavens, an immortal beast has appeared in the world..."
The Travels of the Immortals of Shenzhou stated: "The Crimson Kite is the king among birds. Few in number and fierce in temperament, it cannot be raised by human hands. It once served beneath the Crimson Kite Immortal and was thus named the Crimson Kite."
The Diary of the Book of Cang Xuan stated: "Crimson Kite meat is delicious. After slaughtering and cleaning it, take the breast meat and cut it into small pieces. Add scallions, peanuts, dried chilies, Sichuan peppercorns, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, and minced scallion, ginger, and garlic. Cook carefully in a wok, and it becomes a peerless delicacy of the mortal world."
Xing chased after the Crimson Kite Bird, and before he knew it, he had run back into Taixu Mountain. "This guy runs so fast." Though Xing was only a child now, the boost from his stigmata made him no slower than an adult man, yet he still could not catch up to the Crimson Kite Bird.
"Stop right there!" Whether intentionally or not, Xing swung his right hand. The red markings lit up, and a golden chain suddenly emerged from his stigmata before shooting forward and binding the fleeing Crimson Kite Bird with perfect precision.
Xing stared blankly at the chain in his hand. How had he summoned it? "A stigmata ability? Awesome!" Holding the endlessly chirping Crimson Kite Bird in his palms, Xing kept poking its chubby belly. "Still gonna run?" He happily played with it while, in the grass some distance away, another Crimson Kite Bird trembled in fear.
"Another one? Don't run!"
Half an hour later...
"Strange. Why does it feel like they're deliberately leading me somewhere?" Xing had gotten lost in Taixu Mountain while chasing the Crimson Kite Birds, yet he silently continued following the one ahead of him. Every time he caught one, another would appear in front of him. Whenever he turned around, several Crimson Kite Birds would emerge behind him and forcibly drive him onward. As he walked, Fuyun Temple came into view. Once they arrived here, the Crimson Kites scattered as though they had completed their mission. Xing was somewhat puzzled, but did not think much of it.
"I was taken away right after arriving, so I never got the chance to visit the immortal's former residence." The boy excitedly stepped into Fuyun Temple. The ancestral hall carried the solemn air unique to historical relics. Really? Are we sure it wasn't renovated by later generations? Xing studied the statue. Sure enough, it was an image fabricated by Dan Zhu. Fu Hua was nowhere near that big.
At that moment, Fu Hua, far away at St. Freya Academy, suddenly sneezed.
As Xing looked on, a strange feeling rose within him, as if something were resonating with him. At some point, a Red Feather silently appeared before his eyes.
"Feather Crossing Dust? Why?" Xing reached out and touched the floating feather. The next second, a memory entered his mind.
Hua, look at the image I designed for you. Isn't it so much better than your barren figure? People will definitely remember you like this!
After a long while, Xing came back to his senses. "That was Fu Hua's memory just now. Why?" He looked at his hands. "Could it be because of Mortal Tribulation Difficult to Cross? But I can't sense its presence at all." The calls of Crimson Kite Birds came from behind him, interrupting his thoughts.
Following the Crimson Kite Birds, Xing came to a forest. A stone stele stood prominently among the trees. It seemed to have weathered the passage of time, and the writing upon it was already difficult to make out. Before long, another feather appeared before him.
A new memory gradually came to him as the feather merged into his body:
Ta-da! This is the masterpiece Cang Xuan and I made together: Armed Puppet Cang Xuan's Book. Impressive, right!?
Impressive.
Hey, can't you give a bigger reaction? Whatever, hurry up and say hello to her. From now on, she'll take care of you in our place~
For some reason, a tear rolled down Xing's cheek.
The memories continued flowing in:
Sorry. The energy supporting my activity is almost exhausted. Don't be so rigid in the future, you blockhead.
The immortal placed the inactive puppet into a box and set it in a pit dug in the ground. After covering it with soil, she erected a stone stele, then left behind a piece of Feather Crossing Dust to keep living creatures from disturbing it. (Crimson Kite Birds were unaffected.)
Recalling the sensation of the immortal using Feather Crossing Dust, Xing pressed his palms together. A large number of feathers surged from his body and gathered into a pair of strangely shaped pistols.
Although he had successfully summoned Mortal Tribulation Difficult to Cross, Xing was not happy. Who would've thought the first thing I'd do after transmigrating would be eating "filled candy"? Xing stared at the stone stele. He knew the Book of Cang Xuan slept beneath it.
After thinking for a moment, the boy forcefully pulled out the stone stele, then pulled the trigger of Mortal Tribulation Difficult to Cross at the entrance of the pit.
After a tremendous bang, Xing dangled dazedly from a tree, nearly killed by the recoil. Why did the Key of Consciousness have such terrifying physical destructive power?!
Xiao Shi: "Hehe~" (Mortal Tribulation Difficult to Cross had been a spur-of-the-moment creation by Xiao Shi.)
Fortunately, the immortal had buried it deeply, and the box was sturdy. Otherwise, the Book of Cang Xuan might have been blown apart as well. Once Xing recovered, he pulled the nearly ruined box from the deep pit. Opening it, he saw a ball. Yes, you read that right—a ball.
At that moment, Fu Hua, far away at St. Freya Academy, felt deeply uneasy, as though someone had blown up her old home.
"Where's my precious little ancestor? Why is it a ball?!" Xing was driven nearly insane, but Mortal Tribulation Difficult to Cross seemed to react to the ball. A stream of red light flowed from the pistols into it, and a strange mechanical voice sounded:
Pre-Era language: Energy charging. Insufficient energy. Automatically entering minimum configuration mode. Artificial intelligence shut down. Automatic defense system shut down...
Only a tiny portion of the Honkai Energy flowing from Mortal Tribulation Difficult to Cross entered the ball. After that, no matter how Xing fiddled with it, there was no response. Looking at the deformed Book of Cang Xuan, he felt an enormous headache. Could someone tell him how such a huge ball transformed into a bracelet?
He had only whimsically wanted to glimpse the Book of Cang Xuan's beauty, but now he felt he might be at risk of having his skull cracked open by an inch-force strike.
Xing pressed the Eight Trigrams pattern on the bracelet, but naturally, nothing happened. It did feel quite comfortable to wear. Xing patted the dust off his clothes and turned to leave. "Immortal above, this was an unintentional offense. Please forgive me..."
Fu Hua sneezed again in the distance.
The nearby Crimson Kite Birds seemed to have been scared off by the explosion, so Xing returned to Fuyun Temple and headed down the mountain path. He recognized this road.
"Could it be because I carry Mortal Tribulation Difficult to Cross's aura that they led me to Feather Crossing Dust? Or maybe they thought I looked like the immortal. After all, we both have white hair and red eyes." Xing let his imagination run wild, only to encounter another Feather Crossing Dust on the way back.
Chao Yu, remember this well. Taixu Sword Qi is divided into the five aggregates of Heart, Form, Intent, Soul, and Spirit...
He had gotten the cultivation method for Taixu Sword Qi for free.
"What even is all this? I don't understand any of it!" Xing was going crazy.
When Xing returned to the village, he nearly scared the village secretary, who had been sending people out to search for him, to death. But after learning that Xing had seen a flock of Crimson Kites, the man fainted on the spot. Ordinary people could go their entire lives without seeing even one, while this kid had seen a whole flock. Could he be the immortal's illegitimate son...?
Outside the village, an advanced reconnaissance vehicle sped in. "Honkai Energy anomaly zone reached. Beginning search mission."
Before you continue