Chapter 1 - Transmigration, Meeting Twenty One (I)

1 – Transmigration, Meeting Twenty One (I)

With a plop, Xue Qilin fell flat on his face.

He thought that he would end up half-crippled from the fall. In reality, however, only his nose hurt a little.

“Old fart, just you wait!” After he got up, Xue Qilin immediately cursed.

However…

“Huh?”

There were countless swords in front of him.

In front of him was a small hill filled with numerous swords.

The swords were of different style. The only commonality was that they were all Chinese swords, and had been weathered for a long time.

Bleak, desolate, but more so stifling.

This feeling that resembled being wrapped in a big net was smothering.

It forced him to take his eyes off the sword hill and look around.

This space was centered around the sword hill, and it was about the size of two football fields.

It should be the bottom of a narrow, ring-shaped valley with virtually vertical cliffs visible on all sides.

At the base of the cliff on the left side of the sword hill was a small wooden hut. The wooden hut was surrounded by several fruit trees of unknown species and farmland, which appeared to not have been tended to for a long time as it was overgrown with weeds.

“It looks like I really transmigrated. That was easy.” Xue Qilin withdrew his gaze, and then remembered something.

“Right, I almost forgot!” During the time they were together, apart from teaching Xue Qilin some martial arts, Qi Guiyuan also taught him his cultivation method.

But Qi Guiyuan claimed that you had to go to the other side to use this cultivation method.

At that time, Xue Qilin didn’t understand what he meant with the other side, but now it seems that it was a reference to this world.

Next, according to the method Qi Guiyuan taught him, Xue Qilin operated the true qi in his body and guided it to circulate along specific qi passageways. There was an indistinct pattern to the path his true qi took.

Once a cycle was completed, his true qi automatically moved onto the second cycle without any prompts from Xue Qilin. So this is the so-called cultivation?

Meanwhile, a strange change took place.

As if echoing the cycle of true qi, his body shone with white light, and then quickly shrunk.

Although this change lasted for only a moment, but following it, the ground seemed to be much closer.

That was to say, he got shorter, and not by just a little bit.

“What’s…”

Before the words “going on” could escape his lips, he noticed an abnormality.

… his voice had changed.

Although his voice hadn’t been very deep, but at least you could tell that it was male. By no means was it ringing and high-pitched.

Could my ears have been damaged in the fall?

In order to confirm whether he had heard wrong, he coughed twice and cleared his throat: “Ah-ah-ah. Test, test. Do, re, mi, fa, so, la. 1, 2, 3…”

No matter how he tried, the voice he heard was still female, and that of a child to boot.

Why did my voice turn female? Xue Qilin blinked his eyes, stunned.

Rather than being surprised, it would be more accurate to say that he didn’t know how to react.

Xue Qilin cautiously opened his hands in front of his eyes. The fingers that met his eyes were delicate and slander, and the skin was fair, looking nothing like his hands.

Next, his gaze fell on his body.

The body was incredibly small, with the originally well-fitting T-shirt hanging loosely. The collar was incredibly wide and slid to the side, revealing a smooth and plump shoulder. The T-shirt looked more like a lose dress than anything else. As for the pants, unable to hang on, they long since dropped to the ground. Instead, half of his thigh was covered by the hem of the T-shirt.

He looked just like a little girl in a big T-shirt. Little feet that looked like they were carved out of jade stood on the ground.

There was a breeze, and strands of hair were blown onto his face.

Looking sideways, Xue Qilin could see beautiful black hair cascading like a waterfall straight down to his chest.

I couldn’t…

A thought popped up in his mind, as everything he saw was trying to convey him something.

Xue Qilin suddenly raised his head and looked around. Finally, his gaze fell on a place next to the lonely hut.

There was a small lake. He ran to the lake.

Perhaps he was running too fast, but he lost his balance a few times and almost fell.

The lake was clear and transparent like a mirror.

He stuck out his head with trepidation. His long black hair drooped down, with the tips lightly touching the surface of the water.

“Is this me…?” Big amber eyes, small and delicate nose, fine cherry lips, pearl-white teeth between the lips – an exquisite, little face was reflected in the water.

Xue Qilin pinched his face. The smooth and elastic feeling prompted him to touch his face some more.

How could I have become a cute loli?! A tempestuous storm rose up in Xue Qilin’s heart, but then he thought of something.

Although I somehow look like a loli, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that I became female!

At this thought, Xue Qilin looked at his hand.

Do I make sure?

But…

He struggled for nearly fifteen minutes before he reached out with his hand toward his chest.

Hand trembling, he groped his chest for a moment.

There were two small hills above an almost flat plain. Although they were just slight bulges, but the elastic feeling told him the answer for his question.

I really have…!

But it still is too soon to make the final judgement, perhaps I’m a trap [1]!

Xue Qilin swallowed. Then, without demure, raised his hand and touched his crotch.

“I don’t have it.”

Completely bereft.

In other words, he turned into a woman through and through, and a loli to boot.

Xue Qilin looked up, feeling like weeping. He breathed and then shouted at the top of his voice: “Qi Guiyuan, you old geezer…”

Hold on, this change seems to have occurred after I started circulating true qi. Is that the reason?

Xue Qilin didn’t hesitate to force the flow of true qi to a stop.

He suddenly felt dizzy and nauseous and felt like someone has gripped at his throat. His entire body was out of sorts.

It was an awful feeling.

However, Xue Qilin had no time to investigated whether this feeling stemmed from the termination of circulation of true qi or not because his eye level was sharply rising. He reverted back to his original form.

“What’s going on…” When Xue Qilin shifted his attention away from the action of “suppressing the flow of true qi”, his true qi began to flow automatically again.

As expected, he returned to the loli form.

“Is this some kind of joke… At most, other characters have to turn into a loli when fighting, but as for me? I have to be a loli full time!”

Stopping true qi that automatically circulated through the qi passageways was like stopping breathing. Although it wasn’t impossible, but it would bring about an awful feeling and could not be sustained for long.

Who’d be fine with feeling awful?

Xue Qilin felt distressed. Why am I so unlucky?

He – no, it should be she. She sat there by the lake with her arms around her knees, sighing deeply.

However, when she sighed for the third time, she had a realization.

Compared to the ordinary and mediocre male face that couldn’t be any more ordinary and mediocre, isn’t this adorable loli face more pleasant? Besides, for someone who has never been married and basically has not experienced the joy of being a man, swapping genders doesn’t seem like a big deal, right? Maybe being a woman is more enjoyable, let alone an extremely adorable loli!

Of course, Xue Qilin would never admit that the loli part in “transforming into a loli” was the primary point of focus.

In short, with the optimistic attitude of “might as well make the best of it”, Xue Qilin simply accepted the fact that she had become a loli. Well, it was very simple, so simple that she could take it in stride.

Anyhow, what do I do now? She was suddenly at a loss. Although Qi Guiyuan entrusted her with helping his great-granddaughter, but she didn’t know how to find her.

More importantly, she didn’t know where she was.

Looking at the narrow entrance to the valley not far away, Xue Qilin thought that she should leave this desolate place first.

Before that, however, she felt like she had to find some clothes first.

After all, she could not run around in the faintly discernible boxer shorts.

*

The Merak Palace was located in the Merak Mountain.

The Merak Mountain was a slightly dangerous, nameless mountain located in the vicinity of the Luoyang City until the ancestor of Merak Palace established a sect here. Over the years, the Merak Palace grew into one of the Five Great Sects of the world, and people came to give the nameless mountain the name of the Merak Palace.

There were five main peaks in the Merak Mountain, which were respectively the East, South, West, North, and Middle Peaks. Among them, the Middle Peak occupied the most extensive area, and it was the location where the main body of the Merak Palace was located.

The main hall of the Merak Palace was located in the center of the Middle Peak, and its architectural style had a pre-Qin period flair – simple yet stately.

At present, most of the key figures of the Merak Palace gathered in the main hall.

“Elders, what do you think of the Heavenly Sword Gate’s invitation?” Sitting in the seat of honor, a young lady in a red dress put down the letter in her hands and asked.

She was Qi Qiqi, the Palace Master of the Merak Palace.

The one to answer the young lady was Ye Zhen, the Vice-palace Master of the Merak Palace, who sat on her left. He put down his tea cup and uttered in a cold voice: “The Heavenly Sword Gate wants to test the waters.”

“Uncle Teacher Ye is right.” Sitting on the leftmost, seventh Elder Luo Qing nodded her head and chimed in: “The Heavenly Sword Gate has long since been coveting a seat in the Five Great Sects. Previously, when they had no strong experts, they didn’t dare to act so high and mighty. But now that they have a Heaven Realm expert, things have changed.”

“Oh? So since the Merak Palace is the only one of the Five Great Sects with a single Heaven Realm expert, it can be said that we’re the ones to bear the brunt?” Propping her head with one hand and playing with a lock of hair with another, Xia Xue ridiculed: “What else can be said, we have to attend the gathering, Palace Master. If we go, then as a show of strength, they’ll treat us to a magnificent ceremony, and it we don’t, they’ll claim that we aren’t giving them face, which they then can later use as a pretext to challenge us.”

“What intolerable bullies.” The white-haired Attendant Elder Liu Chengzong snorted.

Xia Xue glance at the other party and spoke unhurriedly: “Who told us to rely on the remaining prestige of our ancestor to keep our place among the Five Great Sects.”

Mocked by Xia Xue, Liu Chengzong frowned and asked gravely: “Elder Xia, you’re still in the mood to to make sarcastic remarks?”

“Hey, I’m just telling it as it is.”

Looking at the two quarreling people, Qi Qiqi frowned and was about to step in, when…

“All right, stop quarreling.” Smiling wryly, the Law Enforcement Elder Yang Yuening took the lead to mediate.

“Hey, it wasn’t me who started.” After saying that, Xia Xue turned silent. Liu Chengzong stared at her.

Qi Qiqi gave Yang Yuening a nod of gratitude before saying: “Let’s forget about the intentions of the Heavenly Sword Gate for now. Since the other party sent an invitation to the Merak Mountain, it stands to reason that we give them a reply, either affirmative or negative.”

“Palace Master is right.” Yang Yuening nodded his head in agreement.

“So, do we agree? What do you think, Elders?”

As soon as Qi Qiqi finished speaking, Liu Chengzong immediately responded: “We have to go. If we don’t agree to send someone to attend, others will think that we’re an easy target to bully.”

“What for, to be humiliated?” Xia Xue uttered sarcastically.

“That’s better than putting our tail between our legs.”

Xia Xue seemed to be enervated with Liu Chengzong today as she rudely countered: “Palace Master, it seems that Elder Liu would like to be slapped in the face by others. How about we send Elder Liu to attend the gathering?”

Liu Chengzong got up in anger and stared at Xia Xue fiercely: “You…”

Showing no mercy, Xia Xue pressed on: “You what? Haven’t I called you by name? It seems that Elder Liu lost his manners!”

Ye Zhen, who kept his eyes closed after his initial reply, suddenly opened his eyes, slapped the table, and shouted: “Enough!”

Xia Xue pouted and said no more, and Liu Chengzong sat down while staring at the young lady.

A heap of loose sand! Qi Qiqi sighed, then looked at Ye Zhen with her enchanting eyes: “Vice-palace Master, what do you think?”

“We have to attend this banquet, but how we go about it is another matter, Palace Master.”

Qi Qiqi nodded in approval.

Everyone could tell that the Heavenly Sword Gate wanted to test the waters, and the one to bear the brunt of it was the Merak Palace.

If they didn’t agree to send anyone, the Merak Palace would become a laughing stock. For one of the Five Great Sects to step back in the face of provocation from the Heavenly Sword Gate was shameful.

They had to agree to go, but whom to sent was the crux of the matter.

In recent years, the rapidly growing Heavenly Sword Gate has played a very important role in the Demimonde [2], second only to the Five Great Sects. As such, it stood to reason that the Merak Palace should send an Elder with considerable strength. At present, in the Merak Palace, only Ye Zhen had the same cultivation base as the Heavenly Sword Gate’s Gate Master, who was a Heaven Realm expert. But he had to stay in the Merak Palace as a form of deterrence. As such, he could not leave, nor would he consent to it. However, the cultivation base of the rest of the Elders was only at Earth Realm. With such a cultivation base, they could not contend with the Heavenly Sword Gate’s Gate Master, and as things stood, the other party would definitely give the Merak Palace a show of strength. Since this was the case, they could not send an Elder with too high of a status. Most suitable would be an Elder in name with no authority.

In this case, the pool of candidates to choose from was very limited, with one being Xia Xue and the other Luo Qing.

Xia Xue could be basically eliminated. After all, her temperament spoke for itself. In that case, it could only be Luo Qing. She was the seventh Elder of the sect, her rank the lowest, yet her cultivation base was among the highest, approaching Heaven Realm. Moreover, she had a mild disposition, and handled things appropriately. Qi Qiqi couldn’t find a more suitable person.

“Elder Luo, I want you to go on behalf of the Merak Palace. What do you think?”

Sitting on the leftmost, the young lady in a green dress looked like she had anticipated this as she nodded.

Just as she was about to speak up in assent…

“Palace Master, the Sword, the Sword Mound!” A female disciple suddenly burst into the main hall.

When she heard the words “Sword Mound”, Qi Qiqi suddenly stood up: “What’s up with the Sword Mound?”

The female disciple took a deep breath to calm herself: “There’s activity in the Sword Mound! It seems that someone has trespassed on the Sword Mound!”

Her words have just fallen, when Qi Qiqi took to motion.

The Merak Palace’s Palace Master turned into a blazing phantom as she rushed toward the Sword Mound.

[1] – Trap, a Japanese term for ladyboys

[2] – Demimonde, section of society operating independently of mainstream society, out of reach of the law