Volume 1, Chapter 1 – First Arrival in Another World

Shi Nan felt his mind was a complete haze. His whole body was dazed and muddled, as if he were locked in a boundless dark dream, unable to move.

He didn’t know how long had passed before Shi Nan slowly regained his senses. He could feel his four limbs again, and with some struggle, he slowly pried his eyes open.

His gaze was unfocused, without the slightest hint of clarity. Only after a long while did a glimmer of spirit finally return to Shi Nan’s eyes.

“Where… is this…”

Shi Nan only felt that his body was incomparably weak. Even lifting a hand was exhausting. All he could do was move his eyes with great effort, taking in his current situation.

It was a room that was neither too big nor too small. In Shi Nan’s eyes, the decor was rather old-fashioned. The furnishings were very simple: a desk, a chair, and a wardrobe standing against the wall.

Beside the wardrobe stood a mirror nearly as tall as a person, facing directly toward where Shi Nan was lying.

Seeing the reflection in the mirror, Shi Nan’s eyes suddenly widened.

The mirror showed an antique-looking large bed, and on that bed lay a young man of about twenty. The young man’s features were handsome and androgynous, his hair disheveled, his face full of shock.

“That’s… me?”

Shi Nan’s heart gave a jolt. He struggled to prop himself up into a sitting position and stared blankly at his own hands.

These hands were pale and delicate, with long, slender fingers, like bamboo shoots breaking through the earth after rain—worlds apart from his original pair of rough hands.

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It was just a class reunion. Because his old classmates wouldn’t stop pushing drinks on him, he’d had a few extra cups. How did he wake up and end up here?

Before Shi Nan could think too deeply about his current situation, a massive stream of information surged into his mind. It came too fast, swelling his head until it felt like it would split. He couldn’t help but shut his eyes and suck in a sharp breath.

This torrent of information was a jumble of fragmented memories. Shi Nan began sorting through them with great difficulty.

“Lingyang Realm… human race… Chengtian Domain… Tenglong City… Shi Lan… legitimate eldest son of the Shi family… born with a crippled body?!”

After sorting out just a small portion of the memories, Shi Nan couldn’t be bothered to continue. He opened his eyes in excitement, brilliant light flashing in them.

“People transmigrate every year, and it’s finally my turn this year. Heaven, you don’t treat me badly!”

Eldest son of a great clan, born with a crippled body—he’d seen and heard of at least hundreds of transmigration openings like this. Next should be the golden finger arriving, then he’d face setback after setback, grow braver with each defeat, and ultimately climb to the peak of life!

Thinking of this, Shi Nan stared eagerly at the tightly closed door.

According to the usual pattern, next there should be a charming little maid, devoted to him and obedient in all things, or perhaps a childhood sweetheart raised together with him, or most importantly, a genius younger sister who wasn’t related by blood, pushing the door open and throwing herself at him in excitement.

Shi Nan stared at the door for a long time, until his eyes began to ache a little, yet the door stayed as still as ever.

Maybe it’s because I haven’t made any noise, so no one outside heard anything.

Shi Nan nodded inwardly. His gaze drifted around the room as he wondered how to make some noise and get someone to come in.

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Unfortunately, the furnishings in the room were far too simple. There wasn’t even a decorative vase or anything of the sort.

After hesitating for a moment, Shi Nan, with some difficulty, began shifting his body, trying to get out of bed and make a commotion.

However, this body was simply too weak. Shi Nan had only just scooted to the edge of the bed, and before his legs could even touch the ground, his body went limp and he rolled right off.

“Thud—”

Shi Nan crashed onto the wooden floor with a muffled bang.

Sprawled on the ground, his face scrunched up into a ball, Shi Nan nearly had the breath knocked out of him. This bed was way too high—had to be close to a full meter.

After quite a while, still no one came in.

Feeling a bit disappointed, Shi Nan caught his breath and once more began sorting through the memories in his head.

After what felt like ages, Shi Nan opened his eyes again, and the very first thing he did was roll over, point his middle finger at the sky, and fire off a full twenty-four-hit “quality combo.”

Shi Nan—or rather, it should be Shi Lan now—the light that had been flashing in her eyes earlier dimmed away, leaving them dull and lifeless.

That grand dream she’d had of following in the footsteps of transmigrator seniors, overturning heaven and earth in this foreign world, roaming free and unrestrained for a lifetime, and building a massive crystal-palace-style harem had already popped like a bubble, turning into a complete joke.

Right now, Shi Lan’s heart held only one thought: she wanted to go home.

After digesting the memories left behind by the body’s original owner, Shi Lan felt utterly burned out inside.

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This was the Lingyang Realm, heaven round and earth square, stretching for who knew how many tens of millions of miles. An ordinary person could search for a lifetime and never reach its boundaries.

Within the Lingyang Realm, humans, demons, and devils split the world three ways. The human race occupied the vast land of Shenzhou, the demon race dominated the endless Demon Domain, and the devil race entrenched itself in the boundless Devil Pits. At the borders where the three races met, frictions flared constantly, with wars great and small breaking out without end.

Here, there were martial experts whose Dao touched the divine, who could burn mountains and boil seas, crush peaks and sever ranges with a flip of their hand, and some who could even ascend the nine heavens to pluck stars and seize the moon.

All this was unquestionably beyond anything she’d ever known.

As for the fact that Shi Lan was actually female—in this entire Lingyang Realm, aside from herself, only her birth mother, Su Lanyue, knew. Not even her “cheap” father, Shi Tianlu, had any idea.

As head of the Shi clan of Tenglong, Shi Tianlu’s strength was such that he had the whole of Tenglong City beneath his feet.

In his youth, Shi Tianlu had never considered the matter of heirs. Only when he’d passed fifty and already stood at the very peak of Tenglong City did he begin to worry about continuing his bloodline.

For that, Shi Tianlu took seven or eight wives and concubines. Su Lanyue was one of them.

However, a martial expert’s vital essence was condensed into one, making it hard to leave descendants. Conception was exceedingly difficult.

In the blink of an eye, Shi Tianlu was nearing sixty, and he inevitably grew anxious. Thus he made a promise: whoever bore the Shi family’s legitimate eldest son would become the Shi family’s main wife.

The difference in status between a common concubine and the main wife of a great clan was immeasurable.

For the sake of that promise, the inner courtyard was like the Eight Immortals crossing the sea, each showing their own powers. Countless folk remedies and secret techniques were brought out.

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Very quickly, there was movement in the inner courtyard. Two women became pregnant at almost the same time, one of them being Su Lanyue.

Su Lanyue was determined to seize the position of main wife of the Shi family. Not only did she procure medicine to induce labor, but to be safe, she also secretly had someone find a newborn baby boy.

After giving birth to Shi Lan, Su Lanyue used that infant boy to stage a full “cat swapped for the crown prince” drama, barely managing to fool Shi Tianlu and successfully securing the position of the Shi family’s main wife.

The very first thing Shi Tianlu did when he picked up the child was test its aptitude for cultivation. In the Lingyang Realm, where strength reigned supreme, power was the foundation of everything.

That infant boy’s cultivation aptitude was abysmal—a textbook case of being born with a crippled body, destined to remain a mortal for life.

Upon learning this, Shi Tianlu, in a foul mood, didn’t even bother giving the child a name before leaving in a hurry.

Later on, in order to keep her position as main wife, yet unwilling to be separated from her own flesh and blood, Su Lanyue had no choice but to let Shi Lan live disguised as a boy. And that disguise had lasted for nearly twenty years.

After digesting all this information, Shi Lan felt as though an invisible hand were gripping her throat, making it hard to breathe.

She didn’t dare imagine what would happen if Shi Tianlu ever learned the truth. And having transmigrated into a woman with no ability to protect herself, how was she supposed to survive in this might-makes-right Lingyang Realm?

No wonder she’d made such a huge racket, yelling for so long, yet not a single person had come in. Around this room, let alone relatives, there wasn’t even a single maid or servant.

The secret of Shi Lan being female was tied almost directly to her and Su Lanyue’s very lives, so of course there could be no outsiders by her side.

A secret known by outsiders was no longer a secret.