Year Taiwu 2, northern Great Xia, Yuyang County.
As the sun sank behind the western hills, countless rays of afterglow intertwined with the mist. Farmers returned home along country roads beneath the dusk, with cattle and sheep following them into their pens.
Inside a mud-brick house north of the city, a dark-skinned farmer, a little girl with a topknot, and a young man in plain white brocade sat around a battered wooden table, eagerly waiting for dinner.
The flame in the oil lamp on the table flickered wildly, making the dim room seem to sway along with it.
A moment later, a farm woman in a coarse linen skirt emerged from the night beyond the main hall. She tossed the earthenware dish and bamboo basket in her hands onto the table, then returned to the kitchen with a cold face.
"Young Master, dig in first."
The farmer pushed the dish and basket toward the young man, having already mastered the use of the word "dig in."
The dish held salted shredded radish, while the basket contained four wild-vegetable buns, each about the size of an egg. Yuyang County's land was barren, and this was what its people ate for all three meals every day, year in and year out.
The young man picked a bun from the basket. After studying it for a while, he asked, "Old Qiu, have you ever eaten meat?"
At those words, the little girl with the topknot suddenly grew interested. She looked at Old Qiu. "Dad, what is meat?"
"Something worse than a bun. One bite will make your stomach hurt all night."
"Hiss."
The little girl bared her teeth as though her stomach already hurt, her little face scrunched up tight.
The young man broke off half the bun in his hand and fed it to the little girl, then tore off another piece and stuffed it into his own mouth, chewing without a word.
His name was Ji You. He had once been an undergraduate philosophy student at Linchuan University. His hobbies included singing, dancing, rap, basketball, hiking, photography, rock climbing, and playing Honor of Kings like a demon. He was also witty and humorous.
But that had been over two years ago.
During the summer vacation of his freshman year, he had joined an expedition crossing the Yunling Mountains' uninhabited region. He had accidentally gotten lost in the mountains and ultimately walked into this world.
Then he had collapsed in a field ridge and been saved by farmers from Yuyang County.
After he woke up, everyone began calling him Young Master Ji.
Only later did Ji You learn that there was a wealthy landowning household in Yuyang County surnamed Ji. He looked exactly like the Ji Family's eldest young master, and even their names were identical.
It had taken him many days to accept that he had transmigrated, but he had possessed none of that "since I'm here, I might as well make the best of it" attitude. After leaving the Medical Hall, he had wandered the mountains for half a month straight, searching for the path by which he had come.
Then, at last, the heart he had kept suspended finally died.
Later, someone told him that the Ji Family was one of Yuyang County's most renowned landowning households. He had thought that, at the very least, he would never need to worry about food or clothing—a perfect opening hand.
Only afterward did he learn that it was a false win.
For the day before he arrived in this world, the Yuyang Ji Family had been punished for offending an immortal sect. Some members had died, while others had fled.
That was also why the people of Yuyang County had taken him for a Ji Family young master who had accidentally wandered into the mountains while fleeing.
Fortunately, Old Master Ji had not been a heinous and unscrupulous landlord. He had treated his servants fairly well, so for the past two years, Ji You, this counterfeit, had been living off the food and drink in the home of Old Qiu, the former Ji Family steward.
Old Qiu was a loyal servant of the Ji Family. It was said that Old Master Ji had picked him up from the roadside and taken him home when he was on the verge of starving to death.
So even though the family estate was gone, he still called Ji You Young Master in daily life.
But Old Qiu's wife disliked him greatly. After Old Qiu stopped serving as steward, he had begun farming too. Their harvest barely supported a family of three, and no one wanted an extra mouth to feed for no reason.
"In two days, the county will send people to collect taxes and offerings. Our family eats more than others, and we're still short by quite a bit."
"I'll go out tomorrow and borrow some. If I scrape some together, it should be enough."
Old Qiu chewed his bun and called out to his wife standing in the kitchen.
Every autumn equinox, the people of Great Xia had to hand over sixty percent of their harvests, to support the imperial court and support the immortals. Even now, when the people could barely survive, it had never been reduced by a single fraction. As a result, every winter saw corpses of the starved scattered across the land.
This was not a rare sight in Great Xia. If there truly was a commoner who did not starve to death, that would be the real strange tale.
Worse still, some elderly people who could no longer farm yet still needed food and drink were sent to the Elder Care Pavilion while still alive—a tomb for the living.
Li Shuping entered carrying a bowl of wild-vegetable soup. "Borrow? From where? In times like these, whose household has surplus grain?"
"I still have a reliable relative. I don't think he'll abandon us."
"Didn't you say you were a wild orphan, adopted by the Ji Family when you were eight? What relatives could you possibly have?"
"I still have an old father-in-law," Old Qiu muttered with his head lowered.
Li Shuping froze for a moment, then flew into a rage. "Ever since I married you, never mind that I barely got to enjoy any good days, now you want to borrow everything from my natal family?"
"When I was the Ji Family's steward, I did let you live well for a few days..."
Li Shuping saw Old Qiu reaching toward the bamboo basket and slapped his hand away. "Stop eating. Let Young Master eat. Young Master is still growing."
For all her sharp tongue, Madam Qiu truly had a heart as soft as tofu.
Ji You was somewhat moved and reached for the basket, only to hear Li Shuping's next words ring through the room. "Eat until you're sturdy, then join the spring plowing and pull the plow."
"How can you make Young Master work the fields?"
After crumbling up a bun, Li Shuping said, "The Ji Family is already gone. If he doesn't work the fields, what will he eat? You're the only one who still treats him as a young master. Otherwise, why would the old master's daughter have broken off her engagement with him?"
Young Master Ji had once had a betrothal arranged from childhood, to Fang Ruoyao, the County Magistrate's daughter.
However, on the third day after Ji You had been sent to the Medical Hall, a carriage arrived from the county office.
At that time, County Magistrate Fang Zhongzheng got out of the carriage with his daughter Fang Ruoyao and forced him to voluntarily sign the letter dissolving the engagement, intent on ending the marriage arrangement.
Ji You had still been lying in the Medical Hall, not yet recovered, when his fingerprint was pressed onto it.
But he had not felt any heartache. After all, she had been someone else's future wife.
Then, just a few days ago, news came from the county seat that Miss Fang had been selected by the Great Xia Sacred Sect's Celestial Academy and would travel to Shengjing to enter the Dao and cultivate immortality.
Qingyun World had always revered cultivators above all else. Even the imperial family had to show them considerable respect. Yet cultivating immortality was not something one could simply do because one wanted to.
Great Xia law stated that commoners could only engage in production and were forbidden from cultivating immortality in private. Those who did so faced execution, with punishment extending to three generations of their family.
Thus, Fang Ruoyao's chance to become an orthodox cultivator truly counted as ascending to heaven in a single step.
And so, after the news spread, Young Master Ji was mocked for a long time again.
But this was not Ji You's fault. It was because the original Young Master Ji had possessed a poor reputation.
Li Shuping brought up the Fang Family's young lady not to mock him deliberately, but to make Ji You and Old Qiu understand that the so-called Ji Family had long since changed beyond recognition, hoping to persuade him to face reality.
Ji You broke off some bun and fed it to Old Qiu's daughter. "Next autumn, I should make my fortune. When that time comes, I'll let Qiu Ru feast on fragrant food and spicy drink."
"I want to feast on fragrant food and spicy drink!"
Qiu Ru's eyes shone. Clutching the bun in her little hand, she took a fierce bite.
The little girl was five this year. The Ji Family had already fallen before she could remember anything, and she had never lived through any good days. Now, she could not even remember the taste of meat.
Li Shuping felt helpless. They can barely afford food now, and he's still dreaming of feasting on fragrant food and spicy drink. Young Master must be gravely ill beyond cure.
Yet even in bitter days, good things remained—like her silly little daughter.
When Qiu Ru had first been born, she had been frail and sickly, coughing every day. But over the past two years, she had suddenly improved greatly. Though their household lacked grain and could not afford meat or fish, her daughter had somehow grown sturdier and sturdier.
Doctor Chen from the county was considered a master healer for ten li around. Even he had clicked his tongue in wonder after examining her, firmly declaring that something about this was unusual.
But Old Qiu often told her that this was called good people receiving good recompense, telling her to treat the Ji Family young master better. Yet in these impoverished days, when would there be an end?
"I'm done eating."
Ji You suddenly spoke and stood up.
Old Qiu froze. "Young Master, why have you eaten so little? Keep digging in."
"Forget it. There's no surplus grain at home anyway. Save some for later."
At the hour of the pig, the night was deep. The moon hung above the willow branches, and lamps had gone out beneath its bright light. All was silent.
Ji You left Old Qiu's home and walked along the pitch-black road toward the city. At that moment, a crimson streak cut across the night sky like a bleeding wound, staining the night around it pink as well.
This was not some rare celestial phenomenon. It was said to have existed since ancient times and remained there to this day.
"Heaven's Demise... what does that mean?"
"Does it mean Heaven is already dead?"
Ji You recalled the string of syllables he had heard over the walkie-talkie on the day he transmigrated, unable to make heads or tails of them.
By then, he had arrived before a two-courtyard residence, so he pushed open the gate and entered.
He did not live in Old Qiu's home, but in the Ji Family's only remaining ancestral residence.
The residence was large, but everything valuable had been sold off by the Ji Family members during their flight. Now, only broken bricks and shattered tiles remained.
Ji You stepped into the second courtyard and suddenly saw a scholar in plain clothes sitting in a willow tree in the neighboring courtyard. His face was like polished jade, his sword-like brows slanting toward his temples. He had hung an oil lamp from a branch and held an old book as he read silently, framed together with the silver hook of the moon above.
But when the scholar in the neighboring courtyard saw someone arrive, he took down the oil lamp and leapt from the willow tree.
Ji You seemed long accustomed to this sight. He ignored it, turned around, returned to his room, lit a candle, shut the doors and windows tightly, and carefully drew the black curtains.
"Give me a cigarette."
He pulled open a drawer and, by the faint candlelight, took out an incense stick called Hua Xian Yin.
This incense soothed the mind and allowed one to enter meditation in an instant.
Ji You placed the incense stick in the burner, removed his boots, and sat atop the bed. Within a few breaths, a faint spiritual glow began to shimmer around his body.
Before you continue