"Servants! Just what are you doing!? Hurry and get the Fourth Miss cleaned up! Are you going to stand there until she fuses with the earth!?"
With Wei Xuan heralding a shrill cry of anger towards the people nearby, the servants quickly rushed forward to pick An Fei from the ground. Bowing respectfully to the anxious minister, they quickly ushered her into a secluded region of the Flowing Winds Residence, where a private bath lay waiting.
The male servants departing swiftly and closing the door, the maids stripped An Fei of her clothes, the latter slightly wincing when the cloth rubbed against her sore limbs. Alas, she could no longer care about such a thing as a greater problem awaited her attention.
Splash!
"AH!?"
They threw her in!
Not slowly dipping her into the water, but throwing her like a package!
And they dare leave!?
The girl shook her fist underwater as she saw the servants heave sighs of relief as they dusted their hands and carried the soiled clothes laying on the ground, closing the door shut as they left. Leaning against the wall of the bath, An Fei could hear several voices resonating from outside.
Pressing her ear against the stone surface, she discovered that the voices belonged to the maids earlier. One was domineering and bold, the other soft and submissive, as if belonging to a seductress.
"Do you…think we'll be caught?"
"Hmph! Don't even worry about that. That girl who's supposed to be the new Fourth Miss, is a complete idiot. I bet she won't even be capable of tattling to the minister!"
"But…she's still a Fourth Miss…"
"So what? Eldest Young Master was the one who gave us the order. Don't tell me, you think some addled Fourth Miss is superior to our Young Master?"
"…Sister Cuiwei is right. Let's hurry and finish our task then. Hopefully Master won't notice something wrong, all we need is three hours of time!"
"Then what are you standing there, saying nothing? Hurry, get the tools!"
Hearing the maids' discussion, An Fei silently scoffed. Only eight days in, and someone was out to drag her life down into a misery. Although, she couldn't help but frown as she looked down at her body.
Scrawny. Definitely unable to do any running. While she could humph and laugh at her own predicaments, she also was incapable from resolving them.
"Hah~"
Relaxing her body and slumping against the wall, An Fei groaned in comfort as the hot water slowly eased her muscles, gradually soaking away her exhaustion and leaving behind an inexplicable comfort. Leaving just her head above the water, she began to slowly survey the bathing house.
The entire building covering the bath was five meters wide and three meters wide; a bathing house intended for a sole person's use. The walls and ceiling seemed to be made of birch wood, the bathing tub's perimeter outlined with a smooth stone.
Lamps hung from each corner, producing a slightly dim lighting that eased the mood. When An Fei prodded the tub's bottom with her right foot, it also seemed to be of the same stone material. It was a pity however, that she could feel that the ground had a relatively moderate incline.
She, who was barely a hundred and fifty-five centimeters of height, would probably be only able to stand at the shallow fringe. Feeling relaxed enough, An Fei began to swing her arms, lightly stretching her limbs in the water.
They truly were useless at any physical activity.
Such was her evaluation at her own strength and endurance, for merely folding and unfolding her arms for three sets was more than capable of exhausting her reserves. However, she could only lay back and gaze at her own body in both admiration and sorrow.
Skin tone and texture like hers would have conjured up a massive storm in China if exposed to the public, with males flocking from all directions seeking to gobble her up. Alas, the fact that the body she was admiring was hers, also implied that An Fei wasn't in her familiar world.
Thinking back to her somewhat happier and joyful childhood days, a tear trickled down her cheek.
"Grandfather…"
Her soft voice called, her right arm reaching towards the sky. In the slightly hazy air, the humidity partially obscuring her vision, An Fei envisioned her grandfather standing before her, that same warm and loving smile on his aged face. She seemed to have returned to her memories, the young girl playing with the elder in the hospital, slowly growing in age per snapshot.
Until, memories of the water channel in the sewer system appeared in her haze, her own voice pounding against her mind. The shrill screams proclaiming her desire for revenge, the defaming cries that had remained locked within at that time, the courage of voicing them missing.
'Why did you curse me as well!? The only person I trusted, the only person who displayed love and care to me, why? That dammed mirror, couldn't you let someone else suffer from its devastation!?'
When she thought of her thoughts back then, guilt arose within An Fei as she broke down into muffled sobs, salty tears merging with the still pool of water.
"Grandfather…I…I disappointed you…I-I…I'm sorry-"
Bang! Click.
The sudden striking of metal on wood interrupting her cries, the sound of a padlock being attached following soon after. Jerking her head to gaze at the door, An Fei could hear the maid's voices once more.
"Let's go. Sister Wei has already set the southern edge of the bath on fire. If we don't leave now, we might get implicated as well!"
The sounds of fleeting footsteps echoed in the silent bathing house, An Fei's gaze continuing to remain on the door. A long moment later, she raised her hand to brush off the remaining tears on her face, her countenance returning to one of indifference.
"Fire?" she mused. "If it's simply a plain fire, then they must hope to smother me to death. But if it's one by oil, then that would be a problem…"
Poking her head over the tub's edge, she peered around the floor of the bathing house, only to return back in disappointment as she couldn't find any rags nearby. The servants had indeed performed their task with meticulousness and diligence!
Not even the smallest shred of fabric was anywhere! With a sigh, she submerged her body even further to rest just below her nose. Breathing in deeply, she was soon able to faintly detect the smell of charred wood, causing the girl to pout.
Her eyes scanning the entire bathhouse, she discovered that one of the corners was aflame. However, the damp wood delayed the flickering flames from expanding at a quick pace, yet An Fei's eyes narrowed at an odd feature of the fire.
The flames were the cheery orange that she remembered seeing, but instead a pale blue. Though the damp birch wood indeed persisted at keeping the flames at bay, the blue flames merely caught the stone floor on fire.
Streaks of fire blazed towards the bastion of water in the bathing tub like snakes slithering on the ground. Within mere moments, the bathtub was the only region not scorched by the flames in the entire bathing house.
Less than a meter away from the blue flames, An Fei could feel the scorching heat glance across her face, sending the girl recoiling with a pained hiss.
Turning around, she quickly swam towards the center of the pool of water, lying on her back as she struggled to keep afloat.
"A death of burning alive…doesn't seem very appealing," she mused with a light laugh as she gazed towards the ceiling. "Although…where will this take me next? Will…I be able to see grandfather again…?"
Suddenly, the girl snapped out of her daze, her right hand reaching towards her neck. Clenching the fingers into a fist and raising it above her eyes, she could dimly see a pendant clasped in her hand.
A pendant with a mirror of smooth cobalt, the surface of embossed platinum. Gazing at the object in surprise and wonder, she turned it to stare at the back, only to find small words etched onto the cobalt protective casing.
"The Courts of Tian Xia reside…the <Sanctum of Eternity> awaits…Heaven Colludes, the Divine Palace sunders…the Forefather…?"
As the girl numbly read, the soft voice barely audible amongst the roar of flames, everything changed. A brilliant glow exploded from the reflective surface of the mirror, causing An Fei to firmly shut her eyes.
After the time to brew a cup of tea had passed, she opened them to find a massive surprise.
The first attempt to claim her life has been cast! Will she survive?
No longer floating in the center of the bathing pool, An Fei found herself in a crystal throne room.
The walls, the floor, even the ceiling was made of a translucent, sky blue crystal that pulsed with a soft glow. The entire room was massive, and she estimated it to be thirty meters in width and height, and a hundred meters in length.
However, what irked her curiosity was that she couldn't find a single light source, yet the entire room was alight with a dim, comfortable golden glow.
No torches, no chandeliers, no braziers releasing light, nothing. Her gaze scanning the entire throne room, An Fei inadvertently looked downwards, her eyelashes fluttering in surprise.
"Oh…"
The ground was the source of the room's illumination. More specifically, the ground where her body lay slumped was awash with the soft golden light.
When An Fei reached out and tapped the crystal floor with her index finger, the sky blue crystal warmed to the touch, eliciting a soft sigh of comfort from the girl. As she continued staring at where her finger touched the ground, she found the frequency of the crystal's pulsing increase drastically, gradually transforming into the golden light.
Squeezing her eyes shut and shaking her head twice, An Fei slowly rose into an unstable standing position, opening her eyes only when she found herself sufficiently rooted to the ground.
Quietly grumbling to herself about her now deficient physical ability, she craned her neck as she properly surveyed the throne room, more particularly, the actual throne itself.
The throne was similarly of the sky blue crystal, and An Fei could only call it quite an uncomfortable chair from a single glance. Other than multiple inscriptions racing throughout the length of the seat and arms of the throne, she couldn't find anything relatively spectacular.
Raising her gaze upwards, she could see that the inscriptions extended towards the ceiling, crisscrossing across the entire roof of the throne room. The weird markings were similar to the circuit boards that she had seen inside computer chips in the previous world, branching out into subsidiary segments that continued the process. Only, what did they entail?
Tentatively walking over to the crystal seat, An Fei stroked the smooth surface, watching the crystal pulsate and transform into the golden light she had previously seen. It was just that this time, the girl was taken aback in surprise.
"Huh…a box?"
Right before the soft glow appeared before her eyes, the surface of the armrest split apart, revealing a wooden box held within. Reaching with both hands to extricate the box to inspect it, An Fei discovered that the box was of blackwood, intricate carvings of leaves decorating the sides.
"…my heart…"
For an unknown reason, An Fei could feel a bitter sourness filling her nose as she stared at the box, her heartbeat beginning to accelerate. Raising her right hand to the rectangular box's lid, she opened it with trembling fingers.
When the contents were finally revealed, she discovered her vision threatening to mist over.
Held within was a letter, and an aged book underneath.
Picking up the letter and unfolding the creased paper, the girl finally broke into tears upon seeing the familiar handwriting. The rigid brushstrokes, each emitting a dull straightforward character with a hidden elegance, were once again burned into her memory.
As she stared at the letter, An Fei could envision memories of her past, the sacred and happy times she cherished with her might.
"By the time you read…this…I will have long since perished," she read amongst choked sobs, her voice threatening to break.
"Xiang Yang has lived…a fulfilling life…one of eternal memories, sorrows…and joys. The <Sanctum of Eternity>…I…pass to you…Take good care of your health…and don't wallow…in sorrow. The heart of the <Eternal Sanctum>…is underneath."
Picking up the book, An Fei continued to read the letter, tears dripping onto the writing. As she read, the book held in her right hand seemed to become heavier, then lighter.
"<Eternal Sanctum>…is for those with a weak body…to repair the overabundance of Yin. To prepare for your arrival…I searched for a compatible…shell to house your soul, but…deficits couldn't be avoided. Practice the <Eternal Sanctum> well and live…my Fei'er…Xiang Yang's granddaughter…Signed, Protector Xiang…"
Carefully folding the letter and clutching it and the book to her chest, An Fei dropped to her knees as she sobbed.
As if responding to her cries, the pulsing within the crystals flickered and increased in intensity, as if reaching to comfort the grieving girl.
-
"Grandfather…"
Rubbing her now puffy eyes, An Fei slotted the letter back into the wooden box, keeping the book. Watching the box sink into the compartment within the right armrest, she dropped into a full bow, quietly sniffling as the separated sides of the armrest conjoined.
Sinking into the seat of the throne, she scrutinized the book in her hands, wondering what exactly was special about the book.
The book was thin, containing less than a hundred snow-white pages. The cover was a dull black and lacked a title, much less any embellishing features. Arranging her posture into a more comfortable one, she opened the book, reading the first page.
"The <Sanctum of Eternity> is an adjunct unit of the Fields of Asphodel…the owner manages the transfer of energy as per the Tianzun's requests. An eternal solace, an exile of paradise, the Sanctum houses all…time? The Executor of Elysium…argh!"
Shaking her head in frustration, An Fei jumped from the throne seat, tossing the book onto the ground. As it contacted the ground, the crystal pulsated at an irregular pace, resulting in a violet glow.
Noticing the irregularity, she carefully walked down the steps, picking up the overturned book and patting the cover. Inspecting to ensure the lack of damage, her gaze flitted across the words again, causing her to nearly bite her tongue from the bubbling frustration.
"What Field of Asphodel, what Tianzun? An eternal solace, an exile of paradise, isn't this practically nonsense!? You expect me to believe this mystical crap, that's almost the same as immortals truly existing! Such unscientific nonsense, don't tell me this is what grandfather…"
Her outburst trailing off, An Fei knit her brows as a thought crossed her mind. Inadvertently, her gaze trailed down towards her naked body, the breathtaking features reminding her once again.
"Supernatural phenomenon…this is just a prank, right? Please tell me this is simply a rotten joke…"
Her left hand curling into a fist as her arm shook in anger, fear, and trepidation, An Fei repeatedly told herself to calm down as she glared at the opened book in her hand. Ignoring the contents on the first page and directly skipping to the next, she began to read while deeply hoping not to be disappointed.
"The Sanctum operates in four stages: auxiliary, normal, accelerated, and critical stages. When not commanded, it will remain in the auxiliary configuration with minimal functions…? Visual or verbal invocation is required to switch between configurations…this has better not be another joke, right?"
Resist! Resist!
An Fei nibbled on her lower lip as she struggled to not succumb to her urge and throw the book onto the ground and stomp on it a few times. Staring at the crystalline ceiling and immersing herself in the warm, comfortable atmosphere of the throne room, she breathed deeply for a few moments until clarity trickled back.
After a few moments of intensive pondering, the girl's delicate mouth opened, the soft voice tinged with embarrassment as it resounded in the room.
"Enable…normal…configuration."
Rumble!
A harsh vibration reverberated in the throne room, knocking An Fei onto the ground. Groaning in pain while rubbing her sore body, she curled into a fetal position, her body lacking the ability to amply withstand the vibrations.
When the quaking had finally stopped, she furtively raised her head to survey the room.
She suddenly couldn't find it in herself to say anything anymore.
The throne room had changed, with several gates installed every few meters on each side of the walls. The gates were of a black metal, and An Fei could see obscure engravings of symbols above each gate.
With a heavy sigh, she crawled towards the book laying nearby, giving it an emphatic glance before picking it up. Holding the book close, she sat on the ground in a daze, wondering what to do next.
If the nonsense actually manifested a result, then she could only grit her teeth and bear with it.
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