I Was Paralyzed

The maid said nothing, leaving Su Mu unable to glean even a little information. He could only let her lead him into a room.

She was not exactly imprisoning him. There was not even a guard outside the door, as though she had simply dumped him here without a care.

They probably thought someone as weak as him, weaker than even a three-year-old, could be kept firmly under their thumb without taking any precautions.

Even Su Mu himself saw nothing wrong with that assessment. After all, he really had no way of escaping this place. With neither the people nor the place familiar to him, he was better off staying put and sparing himself physical suffering.

Besides, according to them, he did not have long to live. His only option now was to stay here and see whether they could save his little life.

"How strange. Why did the eldest princess spare that man? His soul form was so feeble, and he didn't look like some mighty expert. What use was there in keeping him?"

"Perhaps she thought something was odd. Even if someone disrupted the ritual, it still shouldn't have summoned such a weak soul form. After all, the hundred million-plus Spirit Stones spent on it were real enough."

As the ministers dispersed, some who were leaving together began discussing the matter in whispers.

There really was something a little off about this affair.

The ritual this time had originally been intended to summon, through a sacrifice, an auspicious beast capable of gathering the nation's fortune. With that beast present, it could deter the spirits within and beyond Great Liang, while also helping the eldest princess weaken the might of her heavenly tribulation.

But some people had still learned of it, then broken in and disrupted the ritual.

And so they had summoned this soul form instead, leaving everyone bitterly disappointed.

"Alas, let's set this matter aside for now. What matters most is keeping a closer watch on the lands within Great Liang. I'm afraid we won't be able to conceal what happened. There will likely be plenty of trouble ahead."

Another old man let out a long sigh, shook his head, and left first.

The plan had been perfectly sound: use those hundred million-plus Spirit Stones and other offerings to summon an auspicious beast. As long as it succeeded, it would at least have guaranteed Great Liang a hundred years free of worry. Who could have known someone would somehow sabotage it?

Su Mu knew nothing of what was happening outside. After calming down in the room, he examined his surroundings.

The room was built of wood and closely resembled ancient Huaxia architecture. After looking around without spotting anything particularly different, Su Mu withdrew his gaze.

There was a window to one side. When Su Mu walked over and looked up, bright moonlight spilled down from the night sky, casting a grayish-white wash through the window.

That moon...

Su Mu raised his head and stared blankly at the moon in the night sky, a trace of inexplicable shock in his eyes.

It was entirely because the moon in the night sky was simply too large, as though he could reach out and touch it. And when Su Mu looked closely, he actually made out a moving figure on that moon!

What was that? Chang'e?

Su Mu's mouth fell open. But when he looked more closely, the figure on the moon disappeared.

Just... what kind of place was this?

Su Mu sat down in a daze and surveyed the night sky overhead. He did not know many constellations and could only search for the Big Dipper and the Morning Star.

He found the Big Dipper. Its shape seemed to have changed a little, and its seven stars were considerably brighter than they were on Earth.

As for the Morning Star, Su Mu could not find it, perhaps because dawn had not yet begun to break.

Or perhaps, with a different position, it would appear at dusk. It was also possible that this world had no Morning Star.

A jumble of feelings churned in Su Mu's heart. He felt at a loss in these unfamiliar surroundings and worried about the state of his body.

Only in the latter half of the night did Su Mu drowsily close his eyes to rest.

Perhaps because he was a soul form, Su Mu had not felt cold.

But after sleeping for an unknown length of time, Su Mu felt a little cold in his dreams and instinctively opened his eyes.

When Su Mu saw his surroundings clearly, he froze.

"I'm back? Was everything before just a dream?"

Around him were his familiar computer and desk. Before transmigrating, Su Mu had been drafting a proposal at his computer, only to somehow end up in another world.

What exactly was going on? Had it been a dream, or had it really happened, and he had simply come back?

Su Mu was somewhat at a loss. Although he had been a soul form earlier, he had felt the pain with perfect clarity. It had not felt like a dream at all!

What exactly was going on?

For a time, Su Mu could not make sense of what had happened to him.

After sitting in a daze and thinking for a long while, Su Mu made to get up and wash his face to calm himself down.

But the next moment, Su Mu's face grew pale, because he discovered that he could not move!

What on earth was happening? Why was he running into every bizarre thing imaginable?

Su Mu's face flushed red as he forced himself to stand. Finally, ten minutes later, he staggered to his feet, at last gaining a little control over his body.

"Could it be that because part of my soul is missing, I can't even control my body properly now?"

Su Mu looked rather grim. After turning it over in his mind, he remembered that someone earlier had said his soul form was incomplete.

That probably meant part of his soul was in the other world, while the other part was here.

It took enormous effort just to stand up. This was probably the reason.

If that was the case, didn't it mean everything that had happened before was real?

And the portion of his soul form in the other world probably would not last much longer before perishing. Once that portion perished, would it affect him here too and cause him to die outright?

Su Mu's legs gave way, and he sank back into his chair, his expression anxious.

The situation was far more serious than he had imagined. His body had already been severely affected, nearly leaving him completely paralyzed.

What was he supposed to do now? That soul form didn't seem able to return! He didn't even know how he had been summoned there. How could coming back now be so simple?

Now Su Mu had absolutely no idea what to do.

Sitting in his chair, Su Mu thought through the night. He also managed to pick up his phone and search online for all kinds of knowledge about souls.

But no matter how much he searched, he found nothing useful.

There was talk of three hun souls and seven po souls, of becoming an idiot after losing them, or becoming more prone to seeing ghosts.

None of it matched his current situation, and he had not seen anything unclean around him either.

When it was broad daylight, Su Mu expended considerable effort getting up, drew the curtains, and glanced outside. The sun was somewhat dazzling, but he felt nothing particularly unusual. It seemed he could still bask in sunlight and was unaffected in that respect.

The auspicious beast they spent over a hundred million Spirit Stones to summon here was something along the lines of a qilin. The extremely powerful kind.

Also, plenty of people have been criticizing this book, saying it lacks logic and so on. Actually, the author can explain all those criticisms, but there's no need. People tend to have a strong desire to win.

Once the author explains, the reader who raised the objection is bound to be unhappy, as though they've lost, and will definitely argue back.

The author writes books to make a little money too, and wants nothing more than for all you esteemed readers to come and enjoy yourselves. Getting into disputes with you would be far too unwise, so the author will simply not respond to any of your objections.