When Gui Yin first opened his eyes, he already knew that something was off.
He tentatively lulled his head to the side, immediately making eye contact with a pair of teary, round eyes that belonged to a child who couldn’t possibly be older than six. Beside this child was another who seemed to be just a bit older, at eleven, and another who was around thirteen. The three children were watching him apprehensively as if they feared he would never wake.
Gui Yin’s drowsiness was immediately washed away. He sat abruptly, with the cautiousness one might have towards an approaching bear, and stared blankly at the three children.
The children were wearing stylized hanfu, typical of modern xianxia productions, while he was wearing plain inner robes, ones that those from ancient times would wear to sleep. His mind began to reel.
The style of clothing…the hair…the architecture…
Had he…transmigrated?
As Gui Yin fell into his own thoughts, the shock of seeing Gui Yin wake up finally passed.
The young child sniffled loudly as fat tears began to roll down her chubby cheeks. With a full-bodied sob, she threw herself into Gui Yin’s arms.
“Shizun!”
The ground trembling shriek made Gui Yin stagger. He managed to catch the child, but panic took a hold of him and he momentarily lost his composure.
“You—” Gui Yin’s words got stuck in his throat. He held the squirming child and forced out, “Why are you crying? Don’t cry.”
The young child stilled upon hearing those words of reassurance. Just as Gui Yin thought he managed to comfort her, the little girl bawled even louder and drilled herself further into Gui Yin’s arms.
Gui Yin looked helplessly at the lump in his arms and then dragged his attention up to the two quieter children. He had hopes that they could help, but when he saw their reddened eyes, he finally realized what kind of situation he was in.
The second youngest child rubbed at her eyes. She sniffled, much softer than the first, and looked at him with fear that had long faded into relief.
“S-Shizun, we…we thought you wouldn’t ever wake up again…” the little girl muttered
Gui Yin opened and closed his mouth weakly. His jerk-reaction was to declare that he wasn’t their shizun. However, after a quick calculation, he realized that saying such a thing would be a death sentence. In the modern world, if your father woke up from a coma and said he wasn’t your father, you would think to send him to a mental hospital. In this world, if your shizun woke up and told you that he wasn’t your shizun, you would think he was possessed by the world’s dumbest ghost, wouldn’t you?
And, well, if Gui Yin said he didn’t feel guilty, he would be lying.
Then…forget it! Wasn’t it just a few children? It wasn’t like he never took care of children before!
With a sigh, Gui Yin resigned to his fate. He opened his arms and beckoned the second child over. His gaze hesitantly drifted to the boy who remained. The thirteen-year-old appeared calm. Gui Yin didn’t know what he had been through, but it was clear that he was already quite good at masking his emotions. But however good he was, he was still a child. Although his expression betrayed nothing, the hands at his side trembled like leaves.
Gui Yin smiled helplessly. The hand that had just come to rest on the top of the older girl’s back was raised again. He stretched it out to the boy.
“Come here.”
The boy’s eyes widened. He hesitated despite the obvious expectation in his eyes. As he stepped forward, a warm hand encompassed the back of his head and gave him a few soft caresses. The boy’s cheeks slowly reddened, but he still obediently lowered his head. A soft smile graced his lips as the anxiety he had felt for the past few days faded away.
Gui Yin let out an internal sigh of relief as the children all began to calm down.
The two little girls comfortably wiggled their way into Gui Yin’s soft bed. One remained stubbornly on his lap while the other stayed a polite distance away.
Seeing this, the boy’s softened expression became stern again.
“What are you two doing? Shizun is still recovering—you two get off the bed, right now,” the boy commanded.
The two girls glanced at the older boy and then back to Gui Yin. Their faces were full of reluctance.
Gui Yin looked at the boy helplessly. “It’s fine, just let them stay like this.”
“What if Shizun’s wounds open up again?” the boy asked, his gaze still on the girls.
The two girls paled. They scrambled to leave but were easily held back by Gui Yin.
“I’m fine,” Gui Yin said calmly. “You say I’m injured, but I don’t feel any injury, so I must have completely healed already.”
“Must have…” the boy hesitated. His brows furrowed as he looked at Gui Yin skeptically. “Shizun, what do you mean by that?”
The boy’s sharp, Gui Yin noted.
“Could you call for a physician please?” Gui Yin said. He shifted so that he could more comfortably lean back on the bed. A gentle smile graced his lips. “I want to make sure I haven’t missed anything.”
The boy’s gaze grew sharp. He glanced at the two girls for a moment before bowing and quickly rushing out.
After the boy left, the youngest girl let out a relieved sigh.
“After Shizun came back injured, Da-shixiong has become even sterner! Shizun, you don’t know how we’ve suffered,” the youngest girl whined. “Da-shixiong won’t even let us have one more piece of candy than we usually have!”
The oldest girl said nothing, but her silence was like an agreement that spurned the younger girl further.
“And whenever we’re cultivating, he watches us like a hawk. It’s not like we’re going to slack off. Why does he have to be so scary for?” the youngest girl pouted.
Gui Yin listened to the little girl ramble and tattle with a bit of amusement.
Although he was rarely in contact with children nowadays, he still had a fondness for them. Though, he found that as he grew older, it became more difficult to talk to them. Luckily, since these two girls were too busy talking amongst themselves, Gui Yin didn’t have to entertain them. It was better for him—someone who had yet to figure out what in the world was happening.
About ten minutes passed before the boy returned. With him was a man dressed in light blue robes. His hair was held up into half-bun while the remainder of it cascaded down his back. He had a box at his side, similar to the type of medicinal boxes doctors of Ancient China carried around with them. When the man arrived, he carried a worried expression. When he saw the way Gui Yin looked at him vacantly, his face paled.
“Linghuo, could you take your martial sisters out while I take a look at your Shizun?”
The young boy, Linghuo, nodded firmly.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
The two girls were reluctant to part with their shizun, but when they saw the serious look on the other man’s face, they quickly followed their martial brother out.
“Shizun, we’ll visit you again later!” the youngest girl called out
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Gui Yin nodded along with what the man was saying. Miraculously, he found that he actually understood what drought ghost, Fire Weed, and Ice Poison all meant. Could it be that he inherited the original body’s knowledge but not his memories?
After the man finished speaking, he glanced at Gui Yin hesitantly. “Gui-shixiong…”
“Hm?”
“Do you…remember anything?”
A light smile crossed Gui Yin’s handsome face, but this smile didn’t bring the other man other comfort. Instead, it brought on an awful premonition.
“Not at all.”
The quick admittance made the doctor’s head spin. He let out a trembling gasp and held his head.
This man has quite the faint heart for a doctor, Gui Yin noted.
“Oh god. Oh goodness,” the man held his head in his hands. “This isn’t good. I—I had a suspicion this would be a side-effect, but I didn’t think it would actually—I thought with your caliber of cultivation it wouldn’t have—well, I suppose that was stupid of me! You were so injured from that attack—of course, you—”
“Please calm down,” Gui Yin said. He lightly cleared his throat. “Um. First of all, could you…tell me what your name is? And where I am? And I suppose…who I am?”
“You don’t even remember who you are?” the man’s eyes nearly popped out of his head.
“I know my name is Gui—” a set of two characters suddenly appeared in his mind. He quickly modified what he was going to say. “Gui Yin, given name Qīnlè. But other than that, I don’t remember anything.”
“Oh…Sect Master-shixiong is going to kill me,” the man squeaked.
Gui Yin watched the man in amusement. “It’s not that serious, is it?”
“Lord Immortal Nínglán, you’re fortunate enough to forget about how scary our Sect Master-shixiong gets when he—” the man’s voice stopped abruptly. The look in his eyes turned a tiny bit resentful. “Forget it. You wouldn’t understand even if you did have your memories. Sect Master-shixiong has always treated you the best.”
Although Gui Yin wasn’t the original goods, he couldn’t help but feel a bit awkward. Was the Sect Master’s favoritism that blatant?
But wait. Gui Yin’s mind traveled back to the other’s term of address.
“Ninglan? Is that me?”
The man looked as if his death was in sight. “Yes. Yes, others call you Lord Immortal Ninglan or Elder Ninglan. My name is Yè Liǔxīng. I’m the peak lord of Zi Cao Peak.”
“Is Zi Cao Peak a medicinal peak?” Gui Yin asked.
Ye Liuxing glanced at Gui Yin. The desolate look in his eyes deepened. He sighed, seemingly having completely given up. “It is. Our Yunjing Pavilion is comprised of four peaks—yours is the Shuangye Peak. Shuangye Peak—”
“Teaches musical cultivation.”
Ye Liuxing’s head abruptly snapped up. He stared at Gui Yin with wide eyes. “You remember?”
Gui Yin smiled. “I seem to.”
In fact, he already had his suspicions when he heard the words “Lord Immortal Ninglan”. After listening to Ye Liuxing talk a bit longer, he gradually remembered why “Yunjing Pavilion”, “Lord Immortal Ninglan”, and “Shuangye Peak” all sounded so familiar.
It was because these were the few places and the only person that appeared in Miss Shen’s new outline.
The story outline had only labeled characters “Girl A” or “Guy B” and mentioned that they were (potential) protagonists and disciples under Lord Immortal Ninglan in Yunjing Pavilion’s Shuangye Peak. This point had been marked as important, as Lord Immortal Ninglan’s disappearance would later spurn on a series of tragic events.
As for who the protagonist really was, what the rest of the world was like, and even what Lord Immortal Ninglan was like was unclear. None of it had been written.
“There’s three of them,” Gui Yin mumbled under his breath.
Ye Liuxing stared at Gui Yin. “Three of them? Three of who?”
Gui Yin offered a sheepish smile. “Those three children. They are my disciples, right?”
Ye Liuxing patted his chest. “Good brother, you do remember some things! Do you remember their names?”
Gui Yin shook his head. “I’m afraid I don’t even remember how they came to be under my tutorship.”
Ye Liuxing let out a sigh. “That’s fine. You can slowly remember everything, alright? I’ll tell you first. The youngest girl is named Shàn Yù. She’s actually Elder Shan’s granddaughter. Because you owed Elder Shan a favor, you agreed to take her in just last year, before your trip. Your relationship with her is quite one-sided. She clings to you all the time because you’re good looking, but you’ve always been a bit cold, so as not to give her any hope.”
Gui Yin lightly touched his face. “Children shouldn’t be making judgments based on looks.”
The words were blurted out before he could really think about them. Ye Liuxing laughed.
“That’s exactly what said when that silly girl told you why she wanted to be your disciple.”
Gui Yin chuckled, but he didn’t say anything else. He and this Lord Immortal Ninglan were just similar enough.
“The oldest girl is named Qín Sīyí,” Ye Liuxing said. “She’s not as energetic as Shan Yu, but she’s diligent. She’s a good shijie—you often tell me this whenever I ask how your disciples are doing. She came to the sect through regular testing. She’s been here since she was six. She is now eleven.”
Gui Yin nodded. It seemed that, in this world, children were allowed to enter sects earlier than in other stories.
“Now, your eldest and head disciple is that serious looking boy, named Linghuo,” Ye Liuxing said. He frowned slightly. “Honestly, I don’t know him well since he’s so quiet with strangers, but his affinity for cultivation is very high. He joined when he was seven and he’s already broken through Foundation Building. He’s thirteen now.”
A thirteen-year-old who has nearly crossed the border of Foundation Building was indeed impressive. However, until he was a teenager, he would have to take his cultivation slowly. Otherwise, if he formed a golden core so young, his appearance would remain at this age.
“Whenever you talk about him, you’re always complaining that he needs to have more fun. Just recently, you lectured him about being too strict on his shimei. Before you left, he was still angry with you,” Ye Liuxing explained. “He seems to be fine now. He must have been scared that you wouldn’t make it.”
“How did Linghuo end up joining Shuangye Peak?”
Ye Liuxing glanced at him hesitantly. “Well, you found him.”
“I found him?”
“Yes. You were part of a team that was sent to help detoxify a village that had been taken over by ghost cultivators. Amongst the corpses and rubble, you found one child. His parents were gone and he had no other family; his soul has also been contaminated by ghostly qi. In the beginning, you were reluctant to accept a disciple, but after helping and caring for him for so long, he refused to leave your side, so you decided to take him in,” Ye Liuxing explained. He smiled. “Just six years ago you still hated the idea of having disciples, now look at you—you have three little children.”
Gui Yin appeared a bit helpless. “I do wonder what was going through my head at that time.”
Ye Liuxing shook his head. “A moment of soft-heartedness, I suppose. Oh, there’s one more thing about Linghuo that you should know.”
“Please, tell me.”
“Not only is he your head disciple, but you’ve also adopted him. He’s officially surnamed ‘Gui’.”
Gui Yin’s eyes widened. “Surnamed Gui?”
“Mn.”
Gui Yin took a moment to compose himself.
How great. He was a twenty-nine-year-old man who had a son who was already thirteen. If his parents back in his original world found out, wouldn’t they be happy? They would definitely stop bothering him about finding a woman at that point.
“…Gui-shixiong?”
“Hm?”
“Why do you have such a weird smile on your face? Are you that shocked that you have a son? In fact, it’s nothing to worry about. You two have a normal teacher and student relationship. Even—”
“It’s not that,” Gui Yin put on a worried expression. “I’m just a bit upset because I don’t remember so much. I feel a bit bad for the three of them.”
The word “soft-hearted” was basically etched into Gui Yin’s forehead at this point. Ye Liuxing breathed a sigh of relief. He was grateful this man wasn’t throwing a fit over Ye Liuxing’s negligence and causing him to lose his memory.
“As long as it’s just that,” Ye Liuxing said. He stood. “From how I see it, I think you’ve only forgotten people and places. Things like common knowledge should still be intact. And you shouldn’t worry too much. The amnesia reaction from the Fire Weed is usually temporary. I’m sure once you spend more time awake and you see more people, you’ll find yourself remembering them.”
“I see,” Gui Yin compliantly breathed a sigh of relief. He smiled at Ye Liuxing. “Thank you, Ye-shidi.”
“Goodness, no need to be so polite! I won’t be used to it!” Ye Liuxing waved his hand.
Ye Liuxing lingered by Gui Yin’s bedside as his expression slowly turned back to a desolate one. “Well, I will have to report this situation to Sect Master-shixiong. Don’t be surprised if you receive a few guests later.”
He patted Gui Yin’s shoulder. “If I am still alive after this, I will come back to visit you.”
Gui Yin laughed. He heartlessly pushed Ye Liuxing’s hand away. “Stop being so dramatic. You’ll be fine.”
Ye Liuxing looked at his reaction and felt his anxious heart calm down a little further. Gui Qinle was still the same Gui Qinle.
After dallying around for a while longer, Ye Liuxing finally left Shuangye Peak.
Gui Yin was once again left alone to sort through his thoughts.
If his guesses were correct, then he must really have ended up in Miss Shen’s new story. But will things play out like Miss Shen’s usual storylines? Or should he just completely discard the fact that this was supposed to be a novel?
In most cases of fantastical transmigration, the story was already written. There were key points to follow or at least key characters one had to be wary of. This one was odd in the fact that Miss Shen’s idea hadn’t even been fully developed yet, yet this world had filled in its “gaps”.
Naturally, Gui Yin, as someone who was from a world without magic of any sort, first thought that it was a dream. But the longer he sat here and the longer he had listened to Ye Liuxing, the more he realized this was reality. The moistness from Shan Yu’s tears were too real. The warmth Gui Yin felt when he had touched the back of Linghuo’s head still lingered in his mind, and the way Ye Liuxing had hemmed and hawed was just too natural.
So, was it really transmigration? But why him? And why into a supposedly unfinished world?
Gui Yin hesitated for a moment before standing. He slipped into the socks and shoes at his bedside and walked over to the vanity not too far away.
He picked up the mirror, which was clearer, like the mirrors of the modern age, and looked at his reflection.
Lord Immortal Ninglan, Gui Qinle, was the spitting image of himself, Gui Yin.
He set the mirror back down.
Could it be that Miss Shen had based this character off of himself and by some strange twist of fate he had been brought over? Or was it just the novel’s world borrowing his appearance for this character?
And what had been the trigger? Could he go back?
As he was immersed in his thoughts, a soft knock sounded three times. When Gui Yin hadn’t answered, the door was lightly knocked again.
Gui Yin glanced towards the door and left the inner room. He paused for a moment as he passed the clothing rack and decided, for decency’s sake, to wear the light jacket which hung from it. He spared another moment to take a ribbon from the vanity to tie his hair back, just to look slightly more presentable. After all, it wasn’t good manners to appear so unkempt in front of others.
The walk from the inner room to the door was longer than the length of his entire apartment back in his original world. By the time he made it to the door, he had already composed himself.
He pushed the door open.
Guī Línghuǒ jumped at the sudden movement. When he saw that Gui Yin was up and moving around, he immediately frowned.
“Shizun has only just woken up. You shouldn’t be moving around. If there is anything you need, just call on this disciple or Qin-shimei.”
Gui Yin looked the serious child up and down and smiled. “But your Ye-shishu already said that I’m okay. Are you saying I shouldn’t listen to him?”
Gui Linghuo pursed his lips. “Ye-shishu overestimates how strong Shizun is. Just because Shizun is okay now, doesn’t mean that the recovery period is over.”
“Is that so?” Gui Yin raised a brow, not bothering to hide his amusement.
Seeing the boy’s angry face made Gui Yin want to tease him. However, when he thought about how he was an intruder in this boy’s family, he decided to hold himself back.
In fact, when Gui Linghuo saw the mischievous glimmer in his teacher’s eyes, he was already ready to argue back. Yet, against his predictions, Gui Yin conceded and returned to his room.
Gui Linghuo followed him in with the medicine and set it down at the tea table where Gui Yin had seated himself.
Gui Yin glanced at the child. “Did your Ye-shishu talk to you about my condition?”
Gui Linghuo shook his head. “He just said your injuries had healed, but he told me to continue giving you medicine. He also said you might have something to say to me when I came to drop it off.”
Despite how unreliable Ye Liuxing seemed, it turned out he still had a bit of common sense to him.
“Sit down,” Gui Yin lightly patted the stool beside him.
Gui Linghuo sat down immediately upon command. He looked at Gui Yin carefully. “Shishu said that you were okay.”
“And he didn’t lie to you. Physically, I’m quite healthy. I could probably go down the mountain at this moment to fight,” Gui Yin bluffed.
Gui Linghuo’s expression darkened. “Sect Master didn’t tell you to accept another mission right away, right? He—”
“Linghuo,” Gui Yin interrupted him. “Is this the tone you use to speak about your elders?”
Gui Linghuo immediately stopped talking. He lowered his head, but his irritation was easily seen.
This child was a good kid, Gui Yin finally concluded. He smiled and rubbed the back of the boy’s head. “It’s not that. Although I’m physically healthy, it seems the medicine had a bit of a side effect.”
Gui Linghuo’s head snapped up. His eyes were wide with worry. “What side effect? Is it your cultivation? Will your cultivation be affected?”
“It’s not my cultivation. In fact, it…” Gui Yin’s voice trailed off. At first, he wanted to say that it wasn’t a big deal, but when he thought about the way the two little girls reacted and how the boy in front of him was so worried, his conscience didn’t allow him to say such a heartless thing. So, he smiled. “Your Ye-shishu said that I should be able to recover from it eventually.”
“What…what is it?”
“I have amnesia,” Gui Yin said. He observed the boy’s expression before continuing. “Things about cultivation, I still remember it instinctively, but things like places and people…”
Gui Yin shook his head.
The hands at Gui Linghuo’s knees tightened into a fist. “So…so you don’t remember me or Qin-shimei and Shan-shimei?”
Gui Yin nodded.
Gui Linghuo’s jaw tightened.
“But I asked your Ye-shishu. Is it true that we’re all quite close?” Gui Yin asked, his voice softening. “It’s okay if we’re not. I just want to make sure it’s true.”
Gui Linghuo lowered his gaze. The hands on his knees slowly relaxed. Gui Yin could see the hesitation in his eyes as he spoke. “We’re…close. Shizun treats us all very kindly. The shimei especially like you.”
“And you?”
“I will always be grateful to you,” Gui Linghuo said sincerely.
The boy had told a lie—Gui Yin saw through this with one look. Most of what he said was the truth, but as for them being “close”…it seemed like even the boy didn’t fully believe it.
The room fell silent for a moment. Gui Yin remained quiet as he let Gui Linghuo gather his thoughts. The boy’s expression flickered through a few emotions before he looked up at Gui Yin again.
“This disciple will stay by Shizun’s side during this period then,” Gui Linghuo said determinedly.
Gui Yin raised a brow. “Why is that?”
“The world is dangerous. Shizun, you are Lord Immortal Ninglan—if people outside of Ye-shishu, Jiu-shigu, and Sect Master find out about your situation, they may try to take advantage of you!”
Although this was true, Gui Yin couldn’t help but smile. “Was I a person that others could walk all over?”
“Of course not! Shizun, you’re ranked one of the most respectable Lord Immortals on this continent,” Gui Linghuo said. “However, it’s because you’re so welcomed that people would want to take advantage of you. In the state that you’re in…in the state that you’re in, it would be easy for anyone to lie to you!”
Gui Linghuo’s words were reasonable and Gui Yin agreed.
“But how much about me do you know?”
Gui Linghuo froze. His face flushed and he shifted uncomfortably.
He spoke well now, but in the end, he was still just a thirteen-year-old boy. He could be Lord Immortal Ninglan’s most trusted aide when he was at home, but outside, the honorable man had a life of his own that he would most likely not disclose to a child. Whether Lord Immortal Ninglan truly was as saintly, kind, and naïve as Ye Liuxing and Gui Linghuo currently portrayed him as was something Gui Yin would only know with time.
Gui Yin looked back at the child in front of him. Even though he didn’t know much about this boy, in this odd place away from home, it was rather heartwarming to find someone who cared so much about him. He couldn’t ever recall a time in his own world when someone so passionately declared that they would help him, much less protect him.
Gui Yin reached out and rubbed the top of the boy’s head. “Thank you, Huo’er.”
Gui Yin noted the way Gui Linguo stiffened under his touch. He was about to pull away when the boy’s eyes flickered towards Gui Yin, his cheeks gradually reddening. A small smile spread across his face as he shyly lowered his head again.
“It’s this disciple’s duty, Shizun,” Gui Linghuo said softly. “You saved me after all.”
I. Love. This.
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!
That was so adorable at the end. Thanks for the chapter!
thanks for reading!
ough my heart!! i wanna pet Gui Linghuo’s head too!!!!!
my first thought to Gui Yin waking up to three kids was, “oh forget about sleep, i dont think he is gonna get rest anytime soon” akxbskxbsj
i am ver curious about the transmigration itself too… i’m having difficulty finding the words for my thoughts on it, but i may find the words as i keep reading
hehe this transmigration will be very interesting. Thanks for reading!
Once, twice, three times a papa…hahahahaha! Omg! Heh… that’s soooo much kiddos. Thanks for the translation 👧🧒👦👀🤣🤣🤣
Hahaha! Just realized you’re the writer! Wicked start to transmigration!! 🤣❤️
The way he admitted to not remembering anything to the doctor😭😭😭😭
Aww my heart is melting this is so cute, head pat
Thanks for the chapter >w<
Awwwww QAQ!!!! Stay close with your son!! Take care of him!! QAQ
the little wolf pup has ideas already.
The kids are cute 🥰