Soul Refining 1 Living The Fantasy

It was past nightfall in QingLan City when continuous, earth shattering sounds of lightning striking land dragged the citizens out of their residences. Men and women alike rushed onto the streets in a frenzy, some visibly alarmed while others senselessly followed the ma.s.ses, still in a daze.

"What's going on?!"

"Look! There's a thunderstorm wreaking havoc right above the Hei Hua forest!"

The crowd was in an uproar. The Hei Hua forest was known to all for bringing about an abundance of extremely pure, magical herbs and beasts every year. Whatever grew in those woods would be considered a treasure amongst treasures. Watching a thunder strike those good lands, and such a ferocious one at that! Whose hearts would not ache?!

Yet the time it takes for an incense stick to burn hasn't even pa.s.sed...if this is just the beginning, how bad will it get later on?

QingLan City's residents lifted their heads in unison, gazing at the tempest from afar in worry and contempt. Just as the next person was about to speak up...

PANG!

Everyone's vision turned white for a brief moment, and the deafening sound emitted by the thunderbolt left them shivering all over. Some covered their eyes while others covered their ears, and the more unfortunate ones fell directly to the ground and pa.s.sed out.

"A heavenly tribulation?!"

These two spoken words caused a terrible chain reaction. Upon regaining their senses, the previously thick skinned residents tuck their tails and completely disregarded their surroundings as they hurriedly left the streets to seek shelter in their homes once again, no longer daring to set foot outside. The situation reversed in the blink of an eye.

An old, white-haired man clothed in blue robes sneered as he quietly observed the situation from above, standing on his palace's balcony. Accompanying him was a middle aged man in blue clad armor and three guards kneeling by his side.

"City Lord, is this really a heavenly tribulation?"

The middle aged man paused shortly before continuing, "I've heard that heavenly tribulations are supposed to be much less...fierce. Could the citizens be mistaken?"

The city lord's eyes narrowed, but he didn't answer.

"Bi Shi, take 20 of your best men to Hei Hua forest once the thunder has subsided and report on the situation. Inform the neighboring countries while you're at it."

"Understood!"

Bi Shi left immediately, taking the three present guards with him. Only the City Lord remained, not taking his eyes off the spectacle playing out in front of him, and frowned.

Meanwhile, in Hei Hua forest.

…

A fair skinned youth sat on the dry gra.s.s motionlessly, confusion written all over his face.

Huh? Huh!?

How'd I end up in a forest?

Wasn't I in my dorm just now?!

The young man jumped to his feet before scanning his surroundings carefully, yet to no avail; nothing besides the nature's vague outlines could be discerned as it was nighttime, with the occasional lightning bolts being his only source of light to rely on. Unable to make heads or tails of his current situation, the youth decided to search for a cave to seek shelter in before taking further action.

1 minute...

3 minutes...

The feature of the forest had become more and more unfamiliar with every step he took. It hasn't been until 1 hour pa.s.sed that, after avoiding lightning bolts left and right, the poor man finally found a relatively s.p.a.cious dwelling at the border of the woodlands.

"Haaah! I'm beat!"

Covered in scratches from top to bottom, he let himself fall back onto the cold ground, arms spread out and eyes closed. Only after a few minutes did his eyes open again.

Something's not right.

My name is Tao Fuyuan. I'm a 21 year old university student, majoring in herbalism and culinary arts. As an herbalist, I'm certain that I've seen and experimented on almost every plant existing on and under the surface of this planet, yet…

The plants I encountered on my way to this cave were all unknown to me!

Some were glowing, others were longer than my entire arm...forget the thunder, am I living on the moon now?!

Bachelor's degree? Sorry, I don't know her!

In the midst of his mental collapse, Tao Fuyuan got up and took a glance outside his cave. A fiery red, glowing herb was growing right next to a huge tree trunk not far away from his current 'dwelling place'. It very much resembled a flower, just that he didn't pick it up earlier because...

"Is it poisonous…?"

…

Tao Fuyuan shrugged his shoulders and got to his feet before stepping out of the cave again. Although he seems to have exited the storm's main area of target long ago, those rumbling noises can still be heard from afar. He broke into a cold sweat as he was walking, thinking about how one of those could have easily wiped him off the face of this planet on his way to the cave. Thankfully he managed to avoid them all.

Being fit pays off!

He approached a nearby tree and picked up a few fallen leaves, as well as inflammable wood, before returning to his dwellings and lighting a fire. Majority of the leaves were used to create an underlayment for him to inspect the mysterious herb on. He picked up some of the leftover leaves, as well as a sharp edged stone before leaving again, heading straight for the herb. After reaching his destination, he began loosening up the soil around the herb using the sharp edged stone and placed a leaf on both palms of his hands, using them as a safety cover in case the roots were poisonous, and pulled the plant out in its entirety before hurrying back to the cave.

Tao Fuyuan put the plant down ever so carefully before sitting down in front of it, examining it from top to bottom.

The herb's leaves and roots are fiery red in color, whereas the stems are green. The leaves give off a strong glow, as well as a very soothing, flowery fragrance.

Tao Fuyuan gulped, his eyes shining.

A miraculous discovery!

The storm gradually began to die down. Tao Fuyuan, who had been inspecting his lucky fund for hours on end without realizing it, rubbed his temples and put the herb aside before exiting his cave once again, hoping to find a river to drink from.

However, his mind was still in great turmoil.

Glowing flowers? Raging storms and lightning bolts raining from the sky like snow?

I feel like I was sent to another world ah!

It didn't take the youth long to find what he was looking for as his train of thought went from north to west. He hurried towards the nearby water stream and knelt down upon arriving in front of it, when…
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"AHHH!"

Tao Fuyuan let out a horrified cry and fell back, touching his face in disbelief.

"Why do I look like this?!"

Tao Fuyuan felt like he was going crazy. First the herb, now this? Am I hallucinating?!

He let out a deep breath before stepping towards the river once again, carefully gazing at the person shown on the water surface's reflection.

A tall and fair, slender youth of approximately 18 years with long, ink black hair could be seen on the mirror image. Peach colored eyes and long lashes, a slim nose and slightly plump lips, a face beautiful beyond compare!

Tao Fuyuan's lips twitched.

"Why do I look so feminine?!"

As a well-trained and fit 20th century youth, Tao Fuyuan fell to his knees. A nightmare!

Just as he was contemplating over what might have happened during the time he was asleep, a flash of insight struck him.

"...transmigration?"

His dorm mate had a br.i.m.m.i.n.g pa.s.sion for eastern fantasy novels and would often spent his entire month's allowances on these kinds of books from the bookstore across the street. Everyone thought he was a diehard cultivation chuunibyou and would instinctively avoid him, except for Tao Fuyuan, so the lonely chuunibyou would often tell him about the novels he'd been reading. Henceforth, that was the first thing that came to his mind. However much Tao Fuyuan wanted to disregard that option, anything else just didn't make sense to him. How else could one suddenly change their appearance and end up in a foreign land overnight?

He sighed.

Previously, he had always considered "transmigration" and "reincarnation" to be mere fantasies, nothing but idiotic ideologies. Now it actually happened?

To me, at that?

But how could a living person transmigrate?!

…

I went to morning cla.s.ses as I usually would when one of my longtime mutuals invited me, amongst many others, to an afternoon dinner party. I attended but left shortly after because I wasn't feeling so well, returned to my dorm and laid down to take a nap…

But there wasn't anything nothing wrong with that, was there?

Another flash of insight struck him.

"Pufferfish!"

He jumped to his feet.

They had given us pufferfish and other seafood to eat. Pufferfish, however, is highly toxic if not prepared properly! It's unlikely since the pufferfishes were prepared by an experienced chef, but accidents do happen...so maybe that's what occurred?

I ate two servings...

...

Did I actually die?

Did I actually transmigrate?!

The dumbstruck youth made a 囧 face. Deep down, he swore to never eat pufferfish again.

A bustling sound coming from the bushes behind him yanked him back to reality.