If I Could Become a Master

Before following Jiang Xiaorou back to what she called "home," Yi Yun found it hard to imagine that this "home" would turn out to be such a sight.

Originally, when Yi Yun had seen the swordsman riding the Giant Beast, he guessed that this otherworld might be full of experts who could soar through the sky and burrow into the earth. That would mean great clans everywhere, schools and sects flourishing, and Talented Individuals emerging in droves.

He had inexplicably crossed over. If he could somehow latch onto some great clan or major sect, then even if he had never trained in martial arts, had poor talent, or was merely a despised bastard or distant branch member, he could at least scrape by, with food and clothing not a worry.

But...

Seeing this dilapidated house before him, Yi Yun was truly at a loss.

Back on Earth, Yi Yun had visited remote villages and seen their houses, but compared to these few rooms, those were far from shabby enough.

This house was built from stones mixed with yellow mud. The home was utterly destitute—aside from a table, two stools, two old beds, and a stove, there was nothing else.

Jiang Xiaorou carried Yi Yun into the house. Along the way, Yi Yun wasn't used to being carried by a little girl and struggled to get down several times, but his body was too weak. After walking for a while, he grew exhausted, panting heavily, and had no choice but to let Jiang Xiaorou carry him again.

Thinking of himself, a grown man, being carried all the way by a little girl, Yi Yun felt a bit embarrassed.

"Yun'er, you must be hungry..." Jiang Xiaorou set Yi Yun down on a small wooden bed, wiped the sweat from her face, but her expression was full of joy—her brother had come back to life, and she was naturally happy.

Yi Yun looked at Jiang Xiaorou's back; her clothes were soaked with sweat, damp and steaming. Though he was thin and very light, the journey had still been a few miles. Jiang Xiaorou was only fourteen or fifteen, and she had to carry him for stretches along the way—how could that have been easy?

If it were a fifteen-year-old girl from Earth, let alone carrying him that far, even walking a few miles empty-handed would have worn her out.

"Mm... a... a little."

Yi Yun parted his dry lips. This was the first time he had spoken since crossing into this world. He had thought speaking this unfamiliar language would be awkward, but to his surprise, it came as naturally as Mandarin, as if it were his mother tongue too.

"I'll go make dinner." Jiang Xiaorou gave a sweet smile, carefully wiped the dirt from Yi Yun's face with her sleeve, pulled out a pillow for him to lean on, then grabbed a thin quilt and tucked him in gently. Her movements were quick and tender, leaving Yi Yun momentarily dazed.

This girl was not really his sister, yet she had carried him all the way here and cared for him so meticulously, stirring a warmth in his heart.

Jiang Xiaorou went to light the fire and cook. Yi Yun wanted to help, but she pressed him back onto the bed.

"You've just recovered from a serious illness. Don't catch a chill. Lie still, and your sister will be right back."

With that, Jiang Xiaorou picked up a light grain sack.

Fifteen minutes later, Jiang Xiaorou set the worn wooden table in front of the bed. On it were a large bowl of rice porridge, two unknown wild fruits, and a bowl of boiled wild greens.

Yi Yun had been starving for days, his stomach practically touching his back. Seeing this meal, he felt acid churning in his gut.

At that moment, Yi Yun craved a plate of Braised Pork, or roast chicken, roast duck, boiled fish—just thinking about the flavors made his stomach clench.

How could this fill him up when he was this hungry?

He opened his mouth and took a sip of the porridge. It wasn't too thin, but it couldn't compete with his completely empty stomach. The hot porridge went down, stimulating his intestines, and instead made him feel even hungrier.

After downing half the porridge in a few gulps and eating some of the boiled wild greens—which had not a trace of oil and were both astringent and bitter—even as hungry as he was, Yi Yun found them hard to swallow.

Such awful food—Yi Yun felt he couldn't eat anymore. Then he noticed Jiang Xiaorou was just watching him, not eating anything herself. He asked, puzzled, "Why aren't you eating?"

"I already ate, before I went to find you." Jiang Xiaorou's face was slightly pale, and she bit her lip as she spoke.

Yi Yun's heart sank. He remembered that when Jiang Xiaorou came to the graveyard, it was just before three in the afternoon. She had already eaten by then?

It suddenly dawned on him that even meals like this weren't always enough to go around.

What kind of world was this, with powerful martial artists riding Beasts, yet also poor people starving to death?

Yi Yun pushed the porridge aside, stood up, and went to look at the grain sack in the corner of the room. Sure enough, it was empty.

He immediately understood. On normal days, the porridge Jiang Xiaorou made was probably much thinner. Today, because he had just come back to life and was so weak, she had specially made it thicker to "nourish" him.

"I'm full. You eat." Yi Yun pushed the porridge back to Jiang Xiaorou. Partly, he couldn't stomach it, and partly, he couldn't let a girl save her food for him.

He sighed inwardly. He had been thinking about whether he could return to his world, and if not, finding a chance to train and become a strong warrior who could soar through the sky.

But now, even staying alive was a problem. He might starve to death before he could figure anything out.

"I'm not hungry." Jiang Xiaorou stubbornly pushed the bowl back. "Tomorrow is ration day. We'll get a piece of meat. I'll stew it for you, little brother."

Mentioning the rations, Jiang Xiaorou's pretty face flushed slightly, clearly looking forward to it.

Yi Yun fell silent. Back on Earth, he had thought everyone struggled, himself included. But compared to this otherworld, that kind of pressure was nothing. Not having enough to eat, facing the danger of starvation—that was true hardship.

The agony of hunger was truly unbearable.

Late at night, a gentle breeze blew. From the pond and the grass came the chorus of frogs and the pleasant chirping of crickets.

Yi Yun couldn't sleep. He leaned against the bed, bathed in moonlight, turning the mysterious Purple Crystal over and over in his hands.

He had crawled out of the collapsed mountain thanks to this Purple Crystal. This small crystal card was undoubtedly a treasure.

If he could figure it out, he might gain something.

This otherworld was perilous, but only for ordinary people. Thinking back to the middle-aged man riding the Giant Beast across the plains, how spirited and proud he was—compared to these suffering commoners, his status was like heaven and earth.

"If I could become a master, I'd be free and at ease. At least I wouldn't go hungry..."

Yi Yun rubbed his stomach. He had ended up giving some of the evening porridge to Jiang Xiaorou. He was at a growing age, and the porridge didn't digest well—he was already hungry again.

Just as Yi Yun felt the emptiness in his belly, the smooth, cool Purple Crystal in his hand sent another faint chill through him, as if...

Huh?

A flash of insight struck Yi Yun like a spring. He shot upright from the bed, his eyes fixed intently on the Purple Crystal in his hand, a look of surprise spreading across his face.

Yi Yun noticed that after staring at the Purple Crystal for a long time, extremely faint purple light spots had begun to appear around it—so faint that they were nearly invisible without careful scrutiny.

These light spots materialized out of thin air, drifted slowly into the Purple Crystal, and then vanished, seemingly absorbed by it. This process continued for who knows how long, and the faint glow of the Purple Crystal had grown noticeably brighter.

What was going on?

This discovery made Yi Yun's breathing quicken slightly.

As the Purple Crystal's light grew brighter, Yi Yun could clearly feel it growing colder. This peculiar chill traveled from his hands through his limbs and bones, as if his entire body had been bathed in a Spirit Spring, leaving him incredibly refreshed.

Yi Yun remembered this sensation. Whenever he had been exhausted and gasping for breath while digging the tunnel, he had felt this faint, elusive coolness, restoring some strength to his weary, **-ridden body.

Yi Yun understood that people live and work because the body's metabolism provides the energy needed for life activities.

Without food, there is no nutrition, and naturally no energy—so people starve to death.

Having survived days without food or water while working intensely, and having completed such a long tunnel, there must have been an energy supply. That cool, tingling sensation was likely the flow of life energy provided by the Purple Crystal.

Thinking back, when he first found the Purple Crystal in the cave, it had emitted a faint glow like a night pearl.

But after he crossed over into this other world, the Purple Crystal's light had dimmed—probably because it had consumed a great deal of energy.

Now, however, the light within the Purple Crystal was slowly being replenished and growing stronger. Was something supplying energy to the Purple Crystal?

Yi Yun observed carefully and found that those faint, minuscule light spots stretched in a continuous line all the way out the window. It seemed they came from... the starlight in the sky.

Starlight could replenish the Purple Crystal's energy?

Yi Yun thought for a moment, then jumped out of bed. He went to the stove, pulled out a still-burning piece of charcoal, and used it to light a bundle of dry grass. A yellow flame leaped up.

Carefully, Yi Yun placed the Purple Crystal over the fire to heat it.

His reasoning was simple: since the Purple Crystal could absorb energy from starlight, could it also absorb energy from its surroundings?

Fire was a form of energy. In Yi Yun's understanding, it should be more intense than starlight. If the Purple Crystal absorbed energy from the flames, wouldn't it be faster?

As for whether the fire might damage the Purple Crystal, that thought had never crossed Yi Yun's mind.

And yet...

No matter how much he burned the Purple Crystal with the fire, it showed no change at all. He couldn't even feel any heat from it.

The Purple Crystal seemed like a piece of ice that wouldn't melt—it remained cool to the touch the entire time, even after the charcoal and dry grass had burned out.

Yi Yun shook his head and had no choice but to abandon the experiment.

He decided to go outside. The starlight there was even more brilliant—perhaps it would allow the Purple Crystal to absorb more energy.

If the Purple Crystal absorbed its fill of energy, what changes might occur?

Yi Yun was very much looking forward to it!

Yi Yun quietly pushed open the door of the room and the courtyard gate, then carefully closed them again. He was afraid of waking his sister in the next room. But when he stepped out of the yard, he was momentarily stunned.

He saw, under the shadow of a tree not far away, a Green-Robed Maiden sitting on a small stool, carefully polishing an arrow in her hands.

The cold arrowhead reflected the chilly moonlight, casting a silver veil over the girl's delicate face. Around her, dozens of Fireflies danced, their flickering glow like spirits circling a goddess, beautiful to behold.

Jiang Xiaorou?

Yi Yun saw that beside Jiang Xiaorou, a bundle of arrows was neatly arranged. Each arrow had been meticulously crafted—the arrowheads sharp, the shafts gleaming with oil.

"What are these..."

Though Yi Yun knew nothing about cold weapons, he could tell that these arrows were no ordinary items.

"Yun'er, why did you come out? The night dew is heavy, and you've just recovered. Hurry back to bed." Jiang Xiaorou quickly stood up and tried to push Yi Yun back inside.

"Sis, why are there so many arrows?" Yi Yun was puzzled. Jiang Xiaorou didn't seem like someone who could draw a bow and shoot.

"These are for trading for grain tomorrow. It's always been like this..."

Jiang Xiaorou gave Yi Yun a strange look.

"Uh..." Yi Yun had no idea about any of this. Strangely enough, although he had crossed over into this world and could understand the language and writing, he knew absolutely nothing about "Yi Yun's" past life. All his memories were his own—not a single one added, not a single one missing.

It was rather like amnesia after a head injury. People with amnesia forget everything, but they don't forget language and writing.

Yi Yun had already prepared his explanation. "Sis, after dying this time, I've forgotten some things..."

"Forgotten?" Jiang Xiaorou was taken aback. Yi Yun had fallen off a cliff while gathering herbs, broken his bones, and after lying in bed for a while, had died from his injuries. Thinking back now, he might have hit his head in the fall.

At that thought, Jiang Xiaorou felt both heartache and worry.

"Yun'er, you..."

"I'm fine." Yi Yun quickly cut her off to spare her unnecessary worry. "Sister, tell me about this world. And that middle-aged man riding the Giant Beast—what's that all about? I've forgotten a lot of things..."