(Third person)
Inside an almost abandoned courtyard of one of 5 great clan families of Zian lies a wounded and malnourished girl on her bed. The room she is in looks even worse than the servant's rooms. The girl is 17 years old but looks like she is only 13 years old. Her skin is dry and unkept just like her long pink hair and turns up close her body looks like it has been continuously wiped by a whip. She is the third miss of the Wu family or what she is more normally called the trash of the Wu family. The lady wakes up slowly feeling pain through all of her body.
'Where am I, didént i die?'
She sits up and looks at her hands with a confused yet cold look.
'These hands are too small to be mine, and why am I wearing traditional Chinese clothes?'
She sees a broken mirror and slowly walks towards it to see her reflection and to her surprise, it is not her body.
"Um, miss what's your name?" A female voice asks and she looks in the direction that the voice came from. And she sees a girl who looks just like the body she is in now. The only difference is that she is slightly blue-translucent, just like a ghost.
"Should you not introduce yourself first?" She says cooley.
"Oh sorry, my name is Wu Su. I am the original owner of the body you are in."
" Do you know how or why?"
"... I... I dont, all I remember is being punished by the elder and slowly dying from the aftermath." She says shyly.
"Why were you punished?"
"My twin cousins brought me to play inside the treasure dungeons, I did not know that place was off-limits since I barely leave my courtyard. So he got really mad."
"So he killed you and I got reborn into your body?"
"Oh, he did not intend to kill me. I'm sure, grandfather is really caring. It is because I deserved to get whipped for making trouble."
"Are you an idiot, if he cared about you you would not have died, tell me did your cousins get the same punishment?"
"Of course not, my cousins are fifth-stage cultivators in the early stage, while I am a useless and uneducated cripple. It is obvious our punishment will be different because of rank."
'She really is stupid, so easily brainwashed maybe just too pure-hearted and naive?'
"Do you know why your soul is still here?"
"I don't, I'm sorry."
The girl looks at the soul in thought and later asks "Do you have an ungranted wish?"
"What?"
"Well, I did just steal your body and I hate being in dept so do you have a wish you want me to grant you to repay you?"
"Oh no, you don't have to."
"This matter is not up for discussion," she says with a cold yet emotionless glare.
"I see... I don't know what I want. All I can think of is that I want to repay my adopted brother Wu Zihe. He always comes to play with me whenever he can."
"Then it is a deal, I will repay him in your sted as repayment for now and when you know what it is that you want I will do that too. Now, let's shake on it."
"Shake?"
"Oh, so you don't do this here? don't worry, just give me your dominant hand and I will show you."
The soul of Wu Su does as she was told and then the girl in her body grabs it and they shake hands.
"My name is Zeiyrin and from now on I will do my best to live as you for now on."
She says with a smile that is not quite a smile.
"Now, tell me all the things you know. Don't skip out on any details."
"Yes." Wu Su says with a childish and upbeat smile.
(Zeiyrin pov)
2 hours later, the discussion was over and I caught on to a few important details.
The first is that it is reincarnated into a world that has the same setup as a xianxia novel.
So the world is not only magical in nature but it also follows the rule of survival of the fittest.
Then there is the Wu family. They are considered to be one of the six most powerful families in this country and as such, they prioritize talented people the most, and someone like Wu Su who has no talent in anything is considered an embarrassment to the family name and is bullied and treated worse than the lowest of servants. Only the adopted son of the elder treats her like a person. It does not help that she is an orphan since both her parents died before she turned five. It also seems that Wu Su's mentality is still that of a naive child and trusts everyone in her family even though they literally brought her near death's door at least once every other month. But things would not be as bad if she at least got basic education. Since she did not have any potential to cultivate they did not bother to teach her other things. For example to read and write. They did not even teach her any common sense. Unfortunately, that adopted brother of hers is too busy to teach her anything so he instead spoils and plays with her like a seven-year-old child whenever he has time. He also helps her to at least reduce the bullying when he can. Without him, she would probably be long-dead by now. So for now, the best course of action is to pretend to be dumb. Just like her clansmen perceive her to be. I also need to find a way to get stronger. Even though I probably can't cultivate since neither she nor I have what so-called a cultivation core. That is needed for cultivation. I doubt I will suddenly have one just because I crossed over to another world. So I just need to get stronger the usual way, with training my body. Let's see what happens and go with the flow.
Then suddenly someone walks in disregarding my privacy. That's when Wu Su disappears into thin air so that she doesn't get noticed.
The unwelcome guest is a beautiful girl with pure white skin. Long silky hair, that is colored in a slightly darker shade than Wu Su. And watery black eyes like an onyx.
She is dressed in the finest silks and is wearing golden hair accessories. The girl gives off the air of the typical rich and spoiled daughter of a powerful family. She is one of Wu Su's privileged cousins, Wu Mao. She is also one of the children that tricked Wu Su to play in the treasure dungeon. She looks at me with fury in her eyes before she throughs a tantrum.
"It's your fault, if you did not tell grandfather that I and my brother went with you I would not be forbidden to go to social gatherings for a month!"
She screams as she kicks down a table, destroying it in half. While I just watch her pretending not to know that she is in a bad mood. Just watch her with emotionless eyes.
'How the hell did this stupid brat get favored with her lousy personality?'
"Why are you just standing there saying nothing, did grandfather's punishment make you even more brain-damaged?"
She says with a triumphant yet furious smile.
"Ha, serves you right. But that is not enough to calm my anger."
She says like she is a goddess and that everyone should be under her feet. Then suddenly an idea struck her. "Come here let's play a game, then I will be generous enough to forgive you." She says as she drags me by my arm. She walks towards the broken table and puts the table on fire with her cultivation.
"Come now be good and jump into the fire, do not leave it until I say so otherwise, you will lose the game." She says with a smile that can trick every man that she is a precious angel that needs to be protected.
'Oh my, some are rather bold. I give her 8 out of 10 for cruelness. But while Wu Su may have done what you said without retaliating I on the other hand will not.'
"S... sister, won't I be hurt if I step into the flames?" I cry out like a scared kid.
"Don't worry it will only sting a little, you do want me to forgive you dont you?"
She says as if she is a kind mother scolding a child.
'Sister dont you grow tired of that fake smile of yours when you have shown me your true colors a while ago?'
"Bu... but I'm scared, I always get punished by the elder every time I play with you and your brother, I don't think he likes me playing with you."
I say continuing my act flawlessly but it seems that that line makes her patience run low.
"What, why are you afraid of grandfather? He is a kind and understanding man. He won't punish you for playing with me." She says as her smile starts to crack.
"He will sense I am disturbing you from practice, I heard the servants say that you are the apple of his eye. So he won't forgive anyone who holds you back."
It seems that the line of the apple of his eye makes her very happy as she starts to smile joyfully from hearing it almost forgetting what she was doing as she loosens her grip on me. But she soon starts to remember what she is doing.
"Hmph, I suppose you do know your place so I will lower the temperature a few degrees."
She says as she snaps her fingers with her free hand.
"Now be a good girl and do as I say, you won't be punished by following my orders."
She says but once she notices that I dI 't follow them she gets impatient and tries to drag me into the fire by force. That's when I seamlessly put my foot behind hers and at the same time she pressed the area between her fingers where there is a multitude of nerve endings. This makes her lose her grip on me while also making her fall into the fire.
(Third person)
That's when Wu Mao starts to scream in pain. She is in so much pain that she can't even move out of the fire. But not only that but what stunned her was the expression on Zeiyrin's face. She just looked at her with emotionless eyes and with a tiny smile on her face. It is the same look a child gave when looking at an old toy. It was really eerie for Wu Mao to witness. While of course, she won't die by her own fire but it can leave a great deal of damage. That's when a few people come running in after hearing the loud screams. One of them is Wu Mao's father Wu Qing. The other is a mid-ranked maid of the Wu Family and is Wu Mao's personal servant. The last person is Wu Hing Wu Mao's twin brother. When they see Wu Mao being burned to a crisp Wu Qing uses a water spell to put out the fire and orders the maid to carry her to the family's personal doctor.
Then he looks sternly at Wu Su and asks "Why was my daughter being burned alive in your sleeping quarters?"
"Burned alive?" Zeiyrin asks like she was a child who has not experienced the world.
"Do not test my patience, why was she inside the fire?" He asks with a cold glare.
'How predictable, blaming me before knowing what happened. It is stupidity or an excuse to get rid of an eyesore.'Zeiyrin thinks sarcastically.
"Cousin Wu Su made that fire so that we could play. She wanted me to go into the fire but I was scared that I would be punished by the elder again. That was when my cousin fell into the fire. It must really have tickled as she was screaming so much." Zeiyrin says with an innocent smile. That is when the two men stare at her stupidly before remembering that that girl really is stupid. There is no way she is capable of scheming against anyone. But if that fire was actually created with Su Mao's own cultivation it would really be an embarrassment. Not only to her but to the whole Wu family. That's when de decides to check the qi of the fire and as it turns out it was her who made that fire.
"Son, it is time to leave." He says sternly.
"What, are you just going to let that trash go? Sister was hurt in her residence."
Wu Hing says, agitated. "I will explain later once your sister is fully treated." He explains as they finally leave Zeiyrin alone.
(Zeiyrin pov)
'Finely those bastards left. Why can't they just leave Wu Su alone? It is not like they see her as any kind of threat. Though while I am possessing this body things can turn out differently I have no interest in going up the ladder in a family who only cares about themselves. Though I don't really have any experience with any kind of familial relationships, bad or good. Speaking of which, where did Wu Su go?'
'Oh well, she will show up once she is ready. For now, let's change clothes.'
I look through the room until I find an old-looking Chinese-style wardrobe. As I open it I only find four very used hanfu's. They look like it has been inherited by at least four generations before. They also have very dull colors, not what you would expect a rich young lady to be wearing. No, while the material is made of the finest silk its value has plummeted long ago to the point that only a slave would find it a luxury.
But they are better than the tattered dress I am wearing now.
I pick one at random and then start to undress in front of the mirror. That is when I notice that my birthmark looks like a big tattoo that looks like a magical array on my left shoulder. It looks unusual as it is like there are 8 magic arrays in one. I had the same birthmark in my previous life. Maybe Wu Su has the same birthmark or it transferred over to this body together with my soul.
"It is the latter." I can hear a demonic-like voice say inside my head.
"Who are you to be inside my head," I say harshly.
"Sorry to disappoint you but at the moment you are too weak to know my name." He says with a teasing voice.
"Then you can get out, I don't want any unpredictable variables to be around me," I say sternly. "Sorry to disappoint you kid but you and I are bound together for eternity. I have been with you since you were 2 years old in your original body. I was just in a deep sleep. I could only awaken now because, in the previous dimension, qi did not exist so that world could not sustain my consciousness ." He explains leaving things out.
"How can I trust that you mean no harm to me?" I say, Cooley.
"Simple, if you die I die. Because I chose your body as a host to heal me but I could only do that by synthesizing our souls. So if your soul dies I perish too."
'He dont seem to be lying.'
"If that's so then why does it seem that you are keeping things away from me?" I say as I put on my hanfu.
"Listen, kid, I won't tell you things until you're either strong enough or if the situation calls for it. Besides, didn't you want to get stronger? I can help you with it because it will benefit me as well." He says confidently.
"Speak."
"That thing on your shoulder is a seal that is divided into 8 parts. It locks away your ability to cultivate so even if the real owner of this body is a cripple of the cultivation world you on the other hand are not. I can help you unlock the first part of the seal now and later help you unlock the others once my true strength has been restored."
I nod accepting his offer.
"You might want to lay down in your bed, you might faint during the procedure."
He warns and I follow his words and just as he said I fainted but not before I felt a burning sensation all over my body.