Mu Yanxin stared blankly as he took out from his wristband a figurine of a zither-playing fairy in a flowing white dress, her beauty so breathtaking, as if she could make fish sink and geese fall.
Even though it appeared to be just a lifelike sculpture, Mu Yanxin found himself somewhat entranced.
He answered.
“Master, this is the Wanshou House’s 1/6 Qingzhao Palace Lu Yue Fairy Super Saint Edition Figurine that you purchased three months ago,” the female voice of the terminal ring replied honestly.
“I bought this?” Mu Yanxin was startled for a moment, then quickly realized the terminal ring must be referring to the original owner of this body. The question was, why did he buy such a thing?
“Is she the Sect Ancestor of my Sect?” Mu Yanxin didn’t understand what a ‘figurine’ was, but he knew that some Sect disciples carried statues of their Sect Ancestors for protection at crucial times.
Since this Lu Yue from Qingzhao Palace was called a ‘Fairy,’ she must be a figure of high status and power. Did that mean the original owner of this body was a disciple of Qingzhao Palace?
“No, Master, you do not yet have the qualifications to join a Sect. Lu Yue Fairy is your favorite idol; you have attended several of her music gatherings.” The female voice of the terminal ring spoke.
“Idol? You even went to her performances?” Mu Yanxin was puzzled. He ignored for now the terminal ring’s comment that he wasn’t even qualified to join a Sect.
In his understanding, a twelfth-level Qi Refining cultivator could easily join any mid or small Sect. And this ‘idol’—did it mean she was a songstress?
Back in Magnificent Truth Sect, he had some status as a Nascent Soul cultivator and had seen songstress performances at every Sect banquet, often accompanied by a troupe of dancers. Was it really necessary to specially attend a music gathering just for a song?
“Yes, Lu Yue Fairy’s cultivation in the Music Path is profound, mastering both zither and song. She is a national idol of Qingxu Kingdom.”
“Listening to her melodies can briefly increase comprehension and improve cultivation. Your parents also highly approved of you attending Lu Yue Fairy’s concerts.” The terminal ring responded.
“Music Path? It can even enhance cultivation?” Mu Yanxin was stunned again. He’d heard of some cultivators using zithers as instruments, using music to cast illusions or attacks, but he’d never heard of merely listening to music enhancing comprehension.
“The Music Path is the Way of melody, the collective term for cultivation in song, dance, zither, poetry, and so on.”
“An expert in the Music Path like Lu Yue Fairy, who has touched upon the Great Way, can use music to resonate with the Way itself, allowing listeners to reach enlightenment.” The terminal ring explained.
Just by listening to music, listeners could be enlightened—such methods were unheard of by Mu Yanxin. Yet the terminal ring’s tone didn’t sound like it was lying.
He was once again certain that this world was vastly different from Donghua Prefecture, and so many things here seemed fantastical to him.
Mu Yanxin also basically confirmed that this terminal ring truly lacked advanced intelligence.
Although it could answer everything fluently, if it had real independent thought, his barrage of questions just now would have been enough to make it realize its master had been replaced, even by someone not from this world.
Yet the terminal ring only answered questions honestly.
At the same time, a sense of crisis welled up in his heart. If the people of this world, or more specifically those of Qingxu Kingdom as mentioned by the terminal ring, discovered he was an outsider, who knew if they would capture and study or interrogate him?
After all, the Cultivation Realm was cold and cruel. Now, he was merely a little Qi Refining shrimp—any bigshot who took a dislike to him could crush him on a whim. His top priority now was to hide the secret that he was from another world.
If only he could recall the original owner’s memories and identity. Mu Yanxin tried hard to recover those shattered fragments in his mind, but all he got was another wave of intense pain in his head.
Fortunately, even through the headache, he managed to recover a few memories. In those intermittent scenes, he seemed to be wandering in this garbage pit, drawn by a ray of light.
After digging open a hole blocked by trash, he crawled into the cave, and at its end, he saw an old man collapsed on the ground.
The elder had the air of an immortal, wearing ornate Daoist robes, his skin like jade and faintly glowing—a figure who was extraordinary at a glance.
The memory ended there. Mu Yanxin could easily tell that the cave from his memories was exactly where he had just climbed out, the surrounding trash arranged the same, even the marks left by the original owner digging through were still present.
Mu Yanxin was certain—he had not seen any old man when he woke up. The cave had only him inside. To make sure, Mu Yanxin crawled back in, confirming there was nothing but garbage inside—nowhere for anyone to hide.
Yet the original owner’s memory didn’t feel fake. It was already fragmented and intermittent, so there was no need for any trickery, right?
In that moment, countless possibilities flashed through Mu Yanxin’s mind: perhaps the old man woke up, knocked out the original owner, and left; perhaps the old man was actually a dead high-level cultivator who seized the opportunity to possess the original owner; or maybe the old man was just an illusion, never real at all.
But Mu Yanxin rejected all those guesses—none explained why he had inexplicably come from his own world to replace the original owner, or what the true relationship between himself and the old man was.
He tried to dig deeper into his memories, but every attempt brought him splitting headaches, and no matter how much he forced himself, he couldn’t recall anything, including the original owner’s identity.
Since memory couldn’t help him, Mu Yanxin could only keep searching through the terminal ring, hoping to learn something about the original owner’s identity.
The thing that caught his curiosity the most was the private area. The first thing he saw there were several more statues of stunningly beautiful female cultivators.
Except they were all dressed extremely provocatively, some not dressed at all, and all posed in ways that, while seemingly elegant and fairy-like, were in reality extremely shameful.
“Wait! What the heck are these?!” Mu Yanxin’s divine sense was so shocked it bounced right out of the terminal ring.
Magnificent Truth Sect had always been upright and righteous, and he had never been obsessed with women, let alone seen anything this provocative.
“These are premium removable fairy figurines produced by Mixiang Pavilion, modeled after the Top Ten High-Stage Female Cultivators in history. But you haven’t collected them all yet.” The terminal ring explained honestly.
Just hearing the name Mixiang Pavilion, Mu Yanxin could tell it wasn’t any upright Sect. The original owner of this body, buying such things, must not have been any decent person either.
Was he like those Sect of Harmony cultivators, practicing dual cultivation techniques?
Mu Yanxin suppressed his embarrassment and once again sent his divine sense into the private space. This time, he pulled out a book—or rather, a booklet, but the material was very different from books in his original world; the pages were all stiff and hard.
On the cover was a very cute girl in palace attire, with words like Hundred Beauties of Qingxu Kingdom Ranking, latest Chick Phoenix Ranking, idol group Han Yue Ji photo collection, and other phrases he couldn’t make sense of at all.
“And what’s this?” Mu Yanxin had to ask the terminal ring again. He only flipped a few pages before his face turned red with embarrassment and he couldn’t keep reading.
“This is the Elegant Gentlemen Series Magazine produced by Lingyue Palace. You subscribe to every issue, though your parents strongly disapprove,” the terminal ring replied, ever obedient.