Chapter 1: Transmigration and Rebirth
Chapter 1: Transmigration and Rebirth
Recently, ancient styles were trending. Tourist spots with preserved ancient architecture were especially popular, with crowds of visitors rushing to see them. The antique street was packed with people. Even though few could actually tell a real antique from a fake, they still joined the fun, treating it as buying a piece of craftsmanship.
“Dad, Mom, hurry, there’s something interesting over there!” A little girl of about seven or eight years old held her parents’ hands, her face excited as she shouted curiously.
Around the street corner, a group of tourists had gathered. The girl’s parents were also drawn in and curiously walked over, picking up the little girl.
Through the gaps in the crowd, they could see a young man dressed in a Zhongshan suit sitting in the center. He looked very ordinary and was shaking a turtle shell with great seriousness.
It turned out to be a fortune teller. In modern society, not many people really believed in fortune-telling. It was just for fun in such an atmosphere.
On the table in front of the young man, there was nothing else, just a pen and a stack of blank paper. The table was covered with a white cloth. On the side facing the tourists were two lines of text. The first line read: “Fortune Telling and Character Reading.” However, the second line said: “Fate is fickle, nine out of ten readings miss the mark.”
The father holding the little girl laughed. “Honey, this fortune teller is quite honest. He actually wrote ‘nine out of ten readings miss the mark.’ He might as well not have written it.”
“Right, if they mostly miss, why tell fortunes at all?” the girl’s mother also chuckled in response.
A stranger nearby who heard this was displeased and interjected, “Don’t speak carelessly. This Mr. Yang is not ordinary. His divinations are incredibly accurate. He only sets up shop for one day each month and only receives ten clients. He charges only ten yuan per person and won’t take more than ten. Last month, a wealthy businessman from out of town offered one hundred thousand yuan for a reading, but Mr. Yang just shook his head and left.”
“He’s really that amazing?” The couple was incredulous and looked skeptical.
“Is this your first time visiting Dujiangyan? This Mr. Yang doesn’t rely on fortune-telling to make a living. I heard he specializes in interpreting divination sticks at a Taoist temple. He was adopted by an old Taoist priest as a child and grew up in the temple. His skills are remarkable,” the stranger praised.
“Mommy, can we go see? Please?” the little girl called out.
“Alright,” the young woman replied softly.
“Qian above, Li below, Heaven and Fire together. You ask about your future. Your future is bright, a destiny of wealth and honor. As long as you do not tread crooked paths, you will inevitably achieve great wealth and status,” Yang Tong said plainly.
The person sitting for the fortune-telling looked somewhat doubtful. “Really? Can you, Sir, perhaps divine my name?”
“Sorry, when I read fortunes, there is always only one question per person. Fate is fickle, nine out of ten readings miss the mark. Whether you believe it or not is not my concern,” Yang Tong said as he tidied his papers and pen without looking up. “Now, the last client for today.”
“Oh.” The person said nothing more, stood up, and left. Hearing this, many in the crowd also dispersed.
“Uncle, can you tell what my name is?” A young woman sat down holding the little girl, and the girl spoke. The young woman leaned lightly against the man behind her for support.
This couple was the family of three who had been conversing and asking questions earlier. They had accidentally squeezed in when the crowd parted.
Yang Tong looked up and glanced at them. An ordinary family of three. It was his first time having a child ask for a reading since he’d sat here. “Ten yuan.”
The child’s father handed it over. Ten yuan wasn’t much.
“That’s the question?” Yang Tong shook his head and sighed. Without waiting for a reply, he took the turtle shell and three Copper Coins from the table and began the divination.
The hexagram emerged quickly.
“Hmm, the surname Chen with the ear radical, and the given name Yue. So, little one, your name is Chen Yue,” Yang Tong said, a smile appearing on his face—though it was directed only at the little girl. He liked children because they were pure and innocent.
“Uncle is so amazing!” the little girl exclaimed in amazement.
The child’s parents were even more astounded. This was absolutely their first time visiting here. They had certainly never met this young man before, and they themselves were not from any wealthy or prominent family. Who would investigate them? Could this really have been divined?
“Wait, Sir, can we ask for another reading?” the couple surnamed Chen asked.
“No. Once missed, it’s missed. We’ll meet again another time,” Yang Tong said as he began to pack up his stall. He simply gathered the items on the table and put them away. The table and stool were borrowed and would be returned to their owner.
The nearby tourists were astonished. Was he really that accurate? And this counted as ‘nine out of ten readings miss the mark’?
Soon after, Yang Tong finished packing, slung his bag over his shoulder, and left.
The couple surnamed Chen exchanged a look and sighed. “We learned something today. There really are fortune tellers with such precise skills. If we’d known, we would have asked about our future too.” Having said that, they continued their stroll with their daughter, though how much enthusiasm for sightseeing they had left was unknown.
When Yang Tong left the antique street, it was still a bit before lunchtime. Today, he wasn’t in a hurry to return. After all, he wasn’t the only one at the temple who helped people interpret divination sticks; today was his day off.
Just right for lunch, Yang Tong walked leisurely to a small restaurant he often visited when coming down the mountain. He ordered one meat dish and one vegetable dish and ate slowly.
As he ate, he thought, “It’s been three years since Master passed away. I’ve almost mastered the Plum Blossom Divination Art, but I still lack some experience. I haven’t reached the realm where a mere pinch of the fingers reveals everything in the heart.”
After finishing the meal, Yang Tong planned to head back. Coming down once a month was just to enrich his skills in the art of divination.
Just as he was about to cross the street, he suddenly heard a somewhat familiar call from the opposite side. “Uncle! Uncle! I’m here!”
Yang Tong looked up. Wasn’t that the little girl Chen Yue from the earlier fortune-telling?
At that moment, the traffic light was red. The little girl quickly ran across.
Right then, a red sports car charged forward like a maddened wild horse, heading straight for Chen Yue.
“Watch out!” Without time to think, Yang Tong rushed over at top speed.
“Scre—” A piercing screech of brakes sounded.
“Ah—” a sharp scream followed. “Yueyue—!”
Yang Tong grabbed the little girl, his body only managing to turn halfway before a wave of intense pain struck. He was thrown uncontrollably through the air.
Yang Tong felt a flow of warmth leaving his body. Gradually, his strength faded away, as if being sucked out by something. Before losing consciousness, he faintly heard the crying of the little girl Chen Yue and the shouts of many people.
Blood flowed and quickly spread. The white bag was soon stained crimson.
No one noticed that one of the three Copper Coins used for divination in the bag seemed to thirstily absorb Yang Tong’s blood. The originally ordinary Copper Coin emitted faint, flickering purple light. The glow was weak yet very lively, hidden by the blood-red bag.
The once utterly unremarkable ordinary ancient coin began to change. The entire coin transformed into a noble purplish-red color, intricate patterns appearing on it, making it look incredibly mysterious. On closer inspection, the coin was not perfectly intact. On it were six abrupt, scar-like marks that disrupted the perfection of its original patterns.
The light lasted for about three hundred and sixty breaths. Immediately after, the purple coin vanished soundlessly from the bag.
The next day’s morning papers featured headlines like “Wealthy Heir Speeds Through Red Light, Fortune Teller Sacrifices Himself to Save Child” on their front pages.
…
In a dim, deep space, endless deep gray currents swirled like ocean tides, wave after wave, extremely turbulent.
A purplish-red streak of light cut through, forcefully moving against the current.
Battered by the gray currents, the purplish-red light flickered, sometimes bright, sometimes dim. Upon closer look, it was actually a purplish-red Copper Coin with a round shape and a square hole.
After an unknown length of time, a new, fainter scar appeared on the coin. Then a “big wave” struck, and the coin vanished without a trace.
…
On the Fengxuan Continent, in an ordinary small county town of the Royal Feather Kingdom, Yang Tong opened his eyes. “Huh? Where is this?” Memories flooded back. Yang Tong remembered the moment he rushed into the street to save someone. Before losing consciousness, he seemed to have heard the little girl’s voice, so he probably succeeded in saving her.
He tried to say something, but what came out was a baby’s wail, a sound with impressive piercing power. Yang Tong was completely stunned. He brought his hand before his eyes and looked. Why was this hand the tiny hand of an infant?
“Baby—” A spirited, short-haired young woman walked in and gently picked up Yang Tong. “Are you hungry? Here, Mommy will feed you.”
Yang Tong drank the breast milk. It wasn’t until the young woman placed him in a small crib that he finally processed what was happening.
“Did I… reincarnate?” Yang Tong looked around the room. It was very simple and rustic, without any modern feel. “No, this should be transmigration plus rebirth!”
Yang Tong secretly breathed a sigh of relief. In his previous life, he was an orphan who grew up in a Taoist temple. After his master passed away, he was all alone. On Earth, he had no attachments whatsoever, so Yang Tong had nothing to miss. But in this life, he was no longer an orphan; he had his own parents. This was a beautiful wish Yang Tong wouldn’t have dared to dream of in his past life.
Thinking and thinking, Yang Tong fell into a sweet sleep.
…
Time passed slowly. Yang Tong grew day by day, turning six years old in the blink of an eye. He didn’t act too exceptional and enjoyed his parents’ affection like a normal child.
He had also learned some things about this new home and this different world.
The family consisted only of his father, Yang Tong, his mother, Luo Xiaojuan, and himself. Whether by coincidence or not, his name was still Yang Tong.
From his parents, he learned that this was Luoyu County, within the Royal Feather Kingdom, one of hundreds of thousands of counties. The Royal Feather Kingdom was vast, with eighty first-tier cities, beneath which were three hundred second-tier cities, and below those, one thousand six hundred third-tier cities. Below the cities were varying numbers of counties. Each county covered a considerable area.
Luoyu County was a county under the jurisdiction of the third-tier city, Falling Star City. The county was the smallest administrative unit and human settlement. Below the county, there were no villages.