This God-Awful Immortal Realm [GL] - Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Not the First to Cross Over

Ling Xiyao let out a snort. “Just keep playing the mystic.” Although she said that, in reality, she was filled with a sense of curiosity and anticipation, staring wide-eyed to see how the pillow would change. After all, with the incident of her turning into a rabbit just now, even if she could make a pillow grow larger now, it wasn’t that shocking anymore. Originally, she had resolutely refused to believe she had crossed over—yes, because she refused to believe it.

Ling Xiyao remained silent, thinking to herself: D*mn, if I’ve really crossed over, what the hell am I going to do! She didn’t think crossing over would be as great as it was written in novels. Those novels were meant for wish fulfillment; if she really crossed over, there would be no computers to play, no TV to watch, no cars or trains to ride, and no phones to send messages. If she wanted to read at night, there would be no electric lights, and even snacks would probably be scarce. Sweet potatoes, potatoes, corn, chili peppers, and pumpkins—these things didn’t appear until the late Ming Dynasty.

If this godforsaken place she crossed into had nothing, what was she supposed to do! She wouldn’t even know what to do when her period came every month! Although her earlier words were a joking remark, if she really had crossed over, she would rather let the lady in front of her send her to the world of Harry Potter. At least the time there was roughly equivalent to the 1970s or 80s, which was closer to the modern era and easier to adapt to; even as a Muggle, at worst she could just go back to the Muggle world.

So I must not jinx it (!), I haven’t crossed over, I definitely haven’t! I must be dreaming; everything before my eyes is a deceptive illusion! I just need to close my eyes and open them again, and everything will return to normal! (Ling Xiyao stared wide-eyed like Garfield.)

And so, she watched helplessly as the pillow grew larger right before her eyes, until it was about three times its original size before finally stopping.

She cautiously extended a finger and gave it a light poke. Seeing that the pillow didn’t explode or leak air, she reached out with both hands to stroke and knead it. She found that the texture hadn’t changed at all; only the volume had increased. However, unlike normal expansion which makes the contents thinner, it had actually increased in weight.

The woman spread her hands. “See, now you should believe me. If you still don’t…” She suddenly grabbed Ling Xiyao’s arm, hauled her off the bed, pushed open the door, and pointed outside somewhat excitedly, saying, “Then see for yourself!”

Ling Xiyao was startled and nearly tripped. “Hey, hey! What are you doing! Don’t be so reckless, take it easy!” Fortunately, the woman reached out to steady her. She cautiously poked her head out to look; outside was a landscape shrouded in swirling clouds and mist, exactly like the Heavenly Palace seen in the TV series Journey to the West. But that was an effect made with dry ice, where flaws could easily be spotted. Now—where was there even a trace of land here? She squatted down again and reached out to feel beneath the house; she couldn’t feel any part connected to the earth! Heavens, were they really floating in the sky? She was terrified by her own conclusion and let out her second scream of the day: “Ah—help!—”

“Look!” The woman pointed at something not far away. Ling Xiyao followed the direction of her finger and spotted a man dressed in blue robes, with a cloud beneath his feet, drifting slowly through the air while looking around as if searching for something.

“Oh, it’s that guy. He’s always leaving things behind; he probably lost something again and doesn’t know where it is. Ignore him.” The woman behind her seemed to ignore Ling Xiyao’s presence as she muttered to herself.

Riding! On! The! Clouds!

Ling Xiyao finally forced herself to accept the fact: she had not only truly crossed over, but she had crossed over into the Immortal Realm. After all, if some production crew had set up such a massive spectacle just to perform for her alone, what would be the point? To scam her out of her money? She was a poor student; what money did she have for them to steal? Were they just bored with nothing better to do? She didn’t think anyone in this world was so bored as to play a prank on her this way. Talent scouting? She had never heard of picking someone out of a tornado to cast them as an actress… Besides, looking at the current situation, saying it was talent scouting would be a complete non sequitur.

It was like a quote from a novel she had read before: If a scammer built a faster-than-light aircraft just to swindle you out of a few hundred bucks, the cost would be a bit too high.

So the final conclusion was: She, Ling Xiyao, because of a tornado—had crossed over to the Immortal Realm.

Fine then… Hey! The legendary “crossing over”! D&mn it, she actually really crossed over! Such a cliché thing as crossing over actually happened to her today! Out of over six billion people in the world, why on earth was she the one picked to cross over! And it’s the Immortal Realm, for f***’s sake! Immortal… Flips table!

So, after crossing over, one could manufacture glass, smelt steel, set up printing, make soap, produce gunpowder, cast cannons, invent the compass, silver mirrors, bicycles… oh, wait. She shook her head; that was the trope of male-protagonist novels. And the trope for male leads involved opening countless “cheats” and emitting an aura of supreme dominance—she probably wouldn’t have such good luck. Furthermore, after inventing a bunch of things, the next step would likely be collecting a harem… Hey, Ling Xiyao, where are your thoughts going! You’re a girl yourself, what kind of harem are you going to collect! she mentally complained.

What if it were the trope of a female-protagonist novel? She could cross over as the world’s number one beauty, or a genius, or a woman with both beauty and talent—someone so stunning she could topple cities and captivate everyone. She’d make all men fall for her, including the Emperor, the General, the Martial Arts Alliance Leader, the top assassin, and maybe a cousin. No matter how many women they had before, or if they had never been moved by a woman, the moment they saw her, they would all be hopelessly in love with her alone… Just thinking about it was so freaking cringey. Hadn’t those kinds of stories been “out” for years… Plus, the female leads in those stories usually had to start from a brothel. She had landed in the Immortal Realm and didn’t want to go play some “Truth or Dare” there.

Forget it, she’d rather honestly stick to inventing things and be an ancient inventor. Although “farming” novels inevitably involved “Golden Fingers,” they weren’t as cringey and at least had some limits. If it had to be the male lead’s trope, so be it; she’d accept it. Or perhaps she could take the female inventor route, like food, perfume, or skincare products. Although she knew almost nothing about those things, she was a “Transmigrated Girl,” and with the Law of Invincibility and the Protagonist’s Halo (wait, how did she know she was the protagonist?), there was always a way.

The problem was—she actually wasn’t the first one to cross over… In that instant, the countless wild fantasies that had popped up vanished like soap bubbles in the sunlight—oh, soap had probably already been invented by the lady in front of her. With her here first, Ling Xiyao probably couldn’t come up with anything new now. So, as expected, was she destined to be a miserable supporting character? Actually, as long as she wasn’t a villain or a tragic figure, being a supporting character wasn’t so bad; she could just treat the protagonist’s experiences as a novel to watch for fun.

Moreover, even without considering the fact that she wasn’t the first transmigrated girl, since she had crossed into the Immortal Realm, it was bound to be different from an ordinary transmigration. Those novel tropes might not even apply. The Immortal Realm had its own magic; they might not necessarily care for the little tricks of a transmigrated girl. Ling Xiyao rolled her eyes, searching her brain desperately for any “Transmigration + Xianxia” novels she had read, but after thinking for a long time, she realized she really didn’t have much of an impression of them. Could this be “regretting having too few books when it’s time to use them” in a certain sense…

“You… you really crossed over too?” She finally gave up her mental search and turned back to ask the woman.

The woman uncrossed her arms, nodded slightly, and sighed. “By my count, I’ve been here for about three or four years. But your luck is a bit better than mine; I was a soul transmigration.”

Ling Xiyao asked curiously, “Why do you say my luck is better? Is there something wrong with soul transmigration?”

“It’s nothing much, really. It’s just that in the early stages of crossing over, because my soul was originally a mortal’s and I crossed into an immortal’s body, it was a bit difficult to adapt at first.”

“Understood. Like installing a Windows 98 system onto a 2GHz computer?”

“Uh… it’s roughly the same, as long as you get the idea. But you won’t have that problem now. By the way, what’s your name?”

“My name is Ling Xiyao. And yours?” Ling Xiyao generously extended her hand and gripped the woman’s hand firmly. Shaking hands with an immortal dressed in ancient clothing was… uh, a strange feeling, but it was quite fresh, Ling Xiyao thought. Duh! The whole thing is fresh! Have you ever been swept up by a tornado and crossed over before?

“My original surname was Xiao, and the immortal whose body I took over was named Yunji, so everyone calls me Xiao Yunji now. It doesn’t really matter; a name is just a ‘sockpuppet’ anyway.” Xiao Yunji smiled slightly and pointed to a nearby table and two chairs. “Let’s sit down and keep chatting.”

Ling Xiyao climbed off the bed, straightened her clothes, and sat at the table. “Sister Xiao… thank you so much for saving me.” She gripped Xiao Yunji’s hand again and said gratefully, “That tornado was absolutely terrifying!” She wasn’t exaggerating on this point; after all, in that situation, anyone would have thought they were certainly dead. To think she was still alive and completely uninjured was a huge stroke of luck. She felt incredibly fortunate—a “blessing in disguise”—and temporarily forgot the trouble of not having modern conveniences after crossing over.

“It’s fine, just call me Yunji. As for ‘Sister,’ I might not actually be older than you,” Xiao Yunji replied.

“That won’t do. Sister Xiao is a senior in the world of crossing over, after all!”

“Alright then,” Xiao Yunji didn’t insist further. “Do you want to hear the truth about that tornado you encountered?”

Ling Xiyao’s eyes widened. “What? The truth? Of course I want to hear it! Tell me!”

“I can, but don’t get angry after you hear it.”

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