Getting into such a state?
"What… what do you want from me?"
"Ugh… Uwaaah…"
The me in front of me shed tears.
His mouth moved clumsily, unable to form proper words.
"Run… away…?"
"Urgh! Urghhh!"
"Is that it…?"
The me nodded frantically.
Run away?
Why?
In this space, I'm supposed to—
Shiver!
In that instant, a chill ran down my spine.
Something was coming down from above.
Even though I should be invincible in this space, unaffected by anything, that belief was starting to crack.
Tremble tremble tremble tremble.
My body shook uncontrollably, refusing to move.
I couldn't take a single step.
Right now, as something drew closer by the second, an overwhelming sense of terror crawled up my body in real-time.
"Urgh! Urghhh!!"
I could feel the me flailing his arms desperately, trying to say something, but I couldn't understand what it meant.
And then, that something reached the final door.
The moment the last door opened—
Whoosh!
"Huh…! Haa…! Haa…!"
"Are you alright? Your face turned so pale I touched you—did I do something wrong?"
The Heavenly Demon's face appeared before me.
My body was still trembling.
…
…
"Have you calmed down?"
"Y-Yes, I have. I must've shown you an unsightly side of myself."
"No matter. Reading the will of the heavens isn't an easy task, I'm sure. There's no need to apologize."
I placed a hand over my still-pounding heart, trying to steady my breathing.
And then, I heard words that turned my mind blank.
"So, did you see what my husband looks like?"
"Ah…"
My mouth fell open dumbly, and my mind went completely white, devoid of thought.
The image of myself, imprisoned in that basement, flashed before my eyes.
Now that I thought about it, while all four of those children resembled the Heavenly Demon, they also bore traces of me.
"Ahh…"
In that moment, when no thoughts came to mind, my mouth moved on instinct before my brain could catch up.
"He was tall and handsome, a striking man. He had long white hair, and his body seemed well-trained in martial arts, with firm muscles."
I described an appearance completely unlike my own.
"Hmm… White hair, you say… Someone from the North Sea Ice Palace, perhaps?"
"N-No, I only described his appearance!"
Sorry, Ice Palace.
I've got to survive first.
I swear I didn't mean to do this.
…
…
After that, the Heavenly Demon must've noticed my poor condition, because she let me leave quickly.
And as I later found out, this was the moment my life truly started to spiral out of control.
It's been ten years since I transmigrated into this damn martial world.
"…Hey, Master. Can't you wash your own undergarments?"
"Too bothersome."
"Ha…"
I was toiling away under an eccentric master.
To an outsider, it might seem enviable.
After all, having a master whose beauty could rival the phrase "a face that could topple a kingdom" and getting the chance to handle such a woman's undergarments isn't an opportunity that comes often.
But that's only exciting for a day or two.
"Master… I'm a man too, you know. Don't you have even the slightest sense of modesty as a woman?"
"Hooh, so you see this master as a woman, do you?"
"That's not what I meant…"
Sure, she's beautiful, but there's nothing else about her that feels feminine.
She can't cook properly on her own, can't do laundry, has an eccentric personality, and won't even get up when the sun's high in the sky…
After ten years of seeing this, even a love spanning a thousand years would cool off.
Splash splash.
"Forget it. I feel like I've said this over a hundred times by now—what's the point of bringing it up again? You're not going to listen anyway, right?"
"You know me well."
Am I her disciple or her housekeeper?
Sure, in this world, it's common for disciples to tend to their masters, but even so, there's a limit. How can she be this defenseless?
At least she kept her promise not to let me go hungry, but the toll it's taken on me is too great.
Glance.
A Central Plains-style outfit blending red and white.
Voluminous golden hair, shimmering brilliantly as it caught the sunlight streaming onto the porch.
A figure that could outshine even the most stunning Western women I'd seen on a monitor in my past life.
'My standards have gotten needlessly high.'
After ten years of looking at her, I'm worried about my future.
Most women probably won't even catch my eye anymore.
"By the way, Master, I have a question."
"What is it?"
"When can I leave this mountain?"
It's been a whole ten years.
Enough time for rivers and mountains to change once over.
I'm already in my twenties since transmigrating—shouldn't I head out into the martial world soon?
"Don't even think about it! It seems you still don't realize how terrifying the outside world is!"
"I know it's dangerous, but…"
Even though I barely read martial arts novels before transmigrating, I know it's not your average world out there.
A single wrong move in a quarrel could cost you your head.
Even if you're not involved, you could get caught up in a fight between martial artists and end up crippled.
I know it's a brutal place, but—
"I can't live in these mountains forever, can I?"
Living like this is no fun.
If I were training martial arts in the mountains, I could endure it with the hope of a glorious life waiting for me outside.
But with something vague like fortune-telling, I don't have that kind of patience.
There's no sense of accomplishment.
What's the point of fortune-telling in the mountains?
At best, I can figure out what kind of meat I'll eat tomorrow.
"…Do you hate this mountain that much?"
"It's not that I hate it, but it's boring and dull. Life just doesn't feel exciting."
Coming from a modern Earth where I could enjoy global entertainment through the internet, this mountain life was boredom incarnate.
"I'd rather risk the dangers and enjoy life in the martial world than grow old and die in these mountains. I want to meet people, drink, travel, and taste the delicious food of the secular world."
"…Wait just three more years. After that, I'll take you out into the world."
"Didn't you say that last time and then drag us back up here after three days?"
"Tsk… To think that obedient little thing I first brought here has grown up so much."
That day passed quietly as usual, but my longing for the outside world kept growing stronger.
…
…
One day, my master made a sudden declaration.
"I'm going into secluded training."
"…Huh?"
Secluded training.
Locking the door, isolating yourself from the outside world, and focusing solely on cultivation while surviving on grain pills.
And now my master was saying she'd do it out of nowhere.
"All of a sudden?"
"It's about time."
"Uh… for how long?"
"At most, three years. At the shortest, around thirty months."
Two and a half to three years.
That's a pretty long time.
"…What about me?"
"You'll wait, of course. You're my disciple."
Wait three years alone?
In this mountain with nothing?
"…"
I've got crops growing, so I won't starve, but without Master here, I won't even have meat.
Live on weeds for three years?
I'm not some ascetic monk.
This doesn't make any—
'…Wait a second.'
Isn't this—
A chance to escape?
"I earnestly pray you'll reach the realm you desire and will await your return."
I immediately prostrated myself.
"Please don't worry about me at all and focus solely on your training. I'm in my twenties now—living alone is no big deal."
"Why do you look so happy about it?"
"How could I not rejoice as your disciple when you're on the verge of achieving what you've longed for?"
"…You don't have any ulterior motives, do you?"
"Haha, where would I go leaving you behind, Master? I'm not some ungrateful wretch who'd betray the benefactor who's fed and raised me for ten years. And you know I couldn't even scratch your precious body, right?"
My master was an odd person.
She took me in because she found my distorted mind, energy, and body intriguing, and I thought she might teach me martial arts. But instead, she taught me fortune-telling—using the energy of the heavens to glimpse its records.
Following the will of heaven or defying it—somewhere in between, a kind of sorcery.
"Put nicely, it's receiving the energy of the heavens; put harshly, it's daring to peek at heaven's records. Truly a form of sorcery."
It's nice to call it seeing the future, but honestly, it's not a great skill for surviving in this land of iron and blood.
I can't see my own future, and I don't have a way to deal with even an armed commoner.
After begging and pleading, I learned to use a few talismans, but they're not much help.
I can make talismans to ward off misfortune or bring luck, but I can't do fancy stuff like folding the earth or summoning wind like proper Taoists.
The only thing I can use to protect myself right now is… maybe something that reduces stamina consumption when running?