Chapter One: Returned

Lu Qingfei had once traversed into the cultivation world, only to return again. However, who could possibly explain why her entire sect had come back with her?

It was utterly absurd.

It is one thing for a person to experience transmigration. But for so many to cross over together—wasn’t that going too far?

**

Lingxiao Mountain, Celestial Apex Sect.

The night was still and silent, a waning moon hung high in the sky.

Lu Qingfei sat upon a perilous, jagged boulder, letting her hastily tied ink-black hair flutter in the wind.

For a long time, a wandering vengeful ghost circled the lonely mountain, wailing in her ear. Realizing Lu Qingfei paid it no heed, it suddenly lunged, sharp claws shooting straight for her throat.

It was ferocious, eager beyond restraint.

But just as it was within reach, the young woman blinked, and in a heartbeat, a yellow talisman inscribed with red characters appeared at her fingertips.

All the ghost saw was a slender, pale hand flash before its eyes—and then, it was utterly immobilized!

The other wandering spirits lurking in the shadows, watching for amusement, were stunned. They had all thought this girl would be powerless to resist, but now, horror crept into their hearts.

Catching the local ghost tyrant with such ease—who was this girl?

Her aura was so ordinary, clearly not a celestial master. Where had she come from?

Unknown and unheard of, she filled the ghost with dread and fury.

A pitiful wail escaped it.

Lu Qingfei’s face remained calm and indifferent. At the sound, she gazed at the ghost, her jet-black pupils reflecting the cold moonlight with a sheen like polished obsidian.

“Consumed by karma, weighed down by grievous sins.”

It must be destroyed.

With practiced ease, Lu Qingfei reached out and gripped the ghost’s throat, her fingers tightening.

In the darkness, a wisp of black smoke suddenly dispersed.

Lu Qingfei withdrew her hand gracefully, then turned her head toward the wild spirits hiding behind the nearby trees.

In an instant, the wild ghosts scattered in terror.

Ten years ago, Lu Qingfei had transmigrated into the cultivation world, becoming the youngest disciple of the Celestial Apex Sect.

She cultivated diligently for a decade, until one day the demon race swept down in full force…

And in that desperate moment—she returned.

But she hadn’t expected that the entire Celestial Apex Sect would return with her!

The Demon Emperor had led tens of thousands of monsters in a surprise assault, catching the Celestial Apex Sect completely off guard.

The sect suffered devastating losses; almost no one survived.

As Lu Qingfei stood at death’s door, the Heavenly Dao struck with a thunderous bolt, enshrouding the entire sect.

Clearly, its target was the Celestial Apex Sect.

At that critical moment, the sect leader and three senior brothers expended all their cultivation to cast the remaining disciples out of the sect’s boundaries, thus protecting them.

Two blinding flashes of golden light.

When they next opened their eyes, the Celestial Apex Sect had followed Lu Qingfei back to where it all began—

Modern China, in the twenty-first century.

Remembering this, Lu Qingfei rose, gliding lightly down from the boulder to seek her master.

The lamps along the path were dim—the main reason being they couldn’t afford the electricity bill.

The darkness was real, and so was the poverty.

Navigating by touch, Lu Qingfei made her way to a place with some light, raised her hand, and knocked on the door.

“Master.”

“Come in.”

Lu Qingfei entered. Her sect leader sat inside, clad in a coarse black robe, delightedly cradling a cup of bubble tea—without the pearls.

“Your second senior brother brought this for me after his day of laboring down the mountain,” the sect leader said, stroking his beard with a broad smile. “Delicious! Too bad your third brother doesn’t get any.”

After crossing over, her master and the three senior brothers had lost all their cultivation, becoming ordinary mortals.

The eldest brother, Xie Yunjie, had inexplicably turned grey-haired overnight, defying all biological logic.

Their master, meanwhile, trembled before this strange new world.

As for the other two brothers, they were gravely injured; being alive was already a blessing.

If they wanted to return to the cultivation world, they had to cultivate anew.

Cultivation required spiritual veins and spirit stones. As for spiritual veins… After that cataclysmic battle, the sect’s spiritual veins were so depleted that now they could hardly sustain any cultivation at all.

Spirit stones, in this world, were equivalent to money or positive human energy.

They were utterly destitute, struggling even for food—let alone having any surplus for cultivation.

Their most urgent concern was survival; spiritual veins would have to wait.

Second brother Zhong Qin went down the mountain to work as a laborer whenever he could, scraping together whatever he could for the household.

Lu Qingfei had returned at the same point in time she’d left—freshly graduated and unemployed.

By rights, she should also go down the mountain to look for work, but third brother Yan Guilai was gravely wounded, clinging to life, and could only be tended by the last remnants of her spiritual techniques.

Lu Qingfei had sealed Yan Guilai’s soul within his body using a soul-consolidation talisman, but during transmigration, a fragment of his soul had drifted away—impossible to call back.

She would have to hunt it down herself.

But in such a vast world, with billions of people, and only a sesame seed’s worth of cultivation left—how long would that take?

Lu Qingfei sat gracefully in the chair opposite her master.

“Master, I’ll go down the mountain tomorrow to look for work, and I’ll take some talisman papers to sell.”

“Going down is good. If you wish—” The sect leader nodded, then caught her last words, startled and alarmed. “Talisman papers? What kind?!”

Lu Qingfei glanced at the electric bulb from the 1990s, its orange light casting her fair face in a warm glow.

“Evil-warding talismans.”

Her master looked as if struck by lightning, his beard quivering. “With your current cultivation, you can only draw three talismans a month—and you used them all for warding off evil? That’s a waste!”

“Master, I’ve already finished them.”

Her master calmed himself, then extended his palm. “Give one to your master.”

“No.”

His mouth twitched.

They say a disciple is like a daughter, a little cotton-padded jacket to warm the heart. Why did his feel so drafty?

Lingxiao Mountain’s spiritual energy was nearly exhausted; staying like this was no solution.

If they didn’t earn money soon, they’d be living on nothing but wind.

The next morning, Lu Qingfei first made a trip to the Sutra Pavilion.

The Celestial Apex Sect had been a major power in the cultivation world, their scriptures and treasures abundant. But after the battle, all that remained was scrap metal.

In the three months since their return, Lu Qingfei had sold off nearly everything that could be pawned.

A little junior sister from the cultivation world, selling scrap in the modern age—wasn’t that another legend in itself?

With a sigh, Lu Qingfei rummaged through the Sutra Pavilion for a while, then emerged hugging a battered jar.

She made her way down the spotlessly clean stairs, swept daily by her eldest brother, and looked up to see Xie Yunjie carrying a pole, two buckets of water balanced on his shoulders.

Xie Yunjie, as the senior disciple of the Celestial Apex Sect, had been famed as the most eligible bachelor in the cultivation world—his brows like brushstrokes, his demeanor aloof and unapproachable, a chilling majesty emanating from him.

Yet now, this once-glorious scion had been forced to bow to reality for the sake of a meal.

At that moment, Lu Qingfei saw in him the makings of a devoted husband, and sighed inwardly.

—Another unbelievable rumor from the cultivation world.

Xie Yunjie watched her sternly. “Junior sister, where are you going?”

“Eldest brother,” Lu Qingfei flashed a bright smile, “I’m heading down to look for work, and to visit second brother.”

His eyes were cold as a deep, unfathomable pool. “Be careful on the road.”

“I will.”

He gazed at her receding figure, his emotionless eyes growing even icier.

To be inexplicably sent to the modern world, stripped of all cultivation—Xie Yunjie harbored his doubts about Lu Qingfei. He even suspected she’d been possessed by a demon, no longer the gentle, obedient sister he once knew.

But as the eldest brother, he maintained his dignity, keeping his suspicions hidden in the shadows.

Lu Qingfei understood—and thought to herself that he could crawl around in those shadows as much as he liked.