After the Immortal Disappeared

Chapter 1: Chapter 1: Karma is a Leopard

The mountain path was rugged, so he abandoned his horse and followed the trail of blood on the ground.

His prey, a lame Rock Sheep, had flashed into view on the mountainside before ducking into the dense forest.

Sunlight couldn’t pierce the dense woods, leaving deep shadows everywhere. Even though it was high noon, last night’s dew still clung to the myrtle berries. The ground was carpeted with leaves of every shape and size, beneath which gnarled old roots intertwined, ready to trip the unwary.

Tracking in these conditions was difficult, but he still spotted a few drops of fresh blood on a leaf and a small tuft of fur snagged on a tree trunk.

’Yes, this is the way.’

Rock Sheep did have a habit of climbing higher when threatened.

He scrambled upward, completely unaware that thirty feet ahead, a pair of eyes were locked onto him from the shadows of the trees.

Those eyes burned with astonishing fury and hatred.

After climbing over a large boulder on the ridge, he saw the Rock Sheep again, licking the wound on its leg. He was about to reach for the bow on his back when a shadow shot toward him from the corner of his eye, moving with the speed of light.

’That’s...?’

Before he could finish the thought, the creature was on him.

It was a massive leopard, rivaling a tiger in size. Its front paws were bigger than his head, and its fur was faded to the color of sand, as if it had been bleached.

The giant leopard opened its mouth, its foul breath washing over him. He instinctively threw up an arm to protect his vitals. A loud CRACK echoed as its teeth bit clean through his armored forearm; he couldn’t tell if the bone had fractured. The sheer force of the impact knocked him off his feet, and he went tumbling down the ridge.

The leopard, tangled up with him, tore and bit frantically. He screamed in agony, but it didn’t stop him from yanking a dagger from his belt with his free hand and plunging it into his attacker’s body over a dozen times.

The blade was sharp enough to cut through steel. Not only did it ravage the leopard’s innards, but the two stabs to its chest also sent blood gushing out, splattering all over his head and face.

All creatures have an instinct for survival. Any other beast, no matter how ferocious, would have fled by now.

But not this one.

It dragged him along, charging recklessly toward the cliff’s edge, leaving a trail of blood in its wake.

He stared into the leopard’s bloodshot eyes and realized it was mad.

Sand Leopards shouldn’t even be here. Where the hell did this goddamn thing come from?! It even roared at him in a human voice:

”The Divine Bone will never be yours!”

”Let go! Let go of me!” he shrieked, scared out of his mind. He stabbed the leopard’s neck three more times, struggling with every ounce of his strength.

’There’s no way I’ll survive the fall!’

But even these grievous wounds couldn’t stop the leopard’s charge. The next second, the ground gave way beneath them.

Man and beast, locked in a deadly embrace, plunged into the thousand-foot abyss.

Even in death, the leopard managed one last spiteful act, sinking its teeth into his neck.

With a soft SNAP, the protective pendant on his necklace exploded in a flash of red light and shattered.

In that instant, the last image seared into his vision was four bloody fangs.

* * *

”AAAH—!”

Hee Lingchuan shot upright with a scream, startling everyone around him.

The maidservant closest to him jumped back three steps in fright. A plain-looking man seemed to appear from thin air, instantly at his side and scanning the surroundings. ”Eldest Young Master?”

He was in an exquisite private room. Two folding screens depicted fantastic mountains and graceful rivers. In the center of the hall below was a stage, where performers stood in full costume. The audience members—more than two hundred of them—were cracking melon seeds, sipping tea, and chatting idly. Now, every single one of them was looking up at him.

That’s right. He was in a private box on the second floor. The faint, sweet scent of pear incense filled the air. On a silver platter to the side, grapes and melons glistened with droplets of water.

This was a theater, the Immortal-Plucking Platform, not the edge of a thousand-foot cliff. Hee Lingchuan came back to his senses and subconsciously touched his neck. ”I’m fine.”

There should have been four deep puncture wounds there, missing his carotid artery by a mere half-inch. But they had already healed, replaced by tender pink flesh. He had at least a dozen similar new scars all over his body.

A necklace still hung around his neck.

He clearly remembered the round, protective jade pendant shattering into eight pieces with a loud crack under the leopard’s immense power. Yet somehow, when he woke up, it was hanging around his neck, perfectly intact.

He didn’t know when he’d developed the habit, but he found himself fiddling with it whenever his hands were idle, as if it shared some inexplicable bond with him.

Another young master was in the private box with him, a man named Liu Baobao. Seeing that Hee Lingchuan had recovered, he snapped his fingers at a nearby attendant. The boy immediately moved to the railing and called down in a clear voice, ”The Eldest Young Master is awake! Continue!”

The operas popular in the Yuan Kingdom were known for being short and fast-paced. They valued novelty and innovation, often jumping straight into the action without long, drawn-out arias, which made them popular with the youth, who treated them like exciting stories. Today, the Immortal-Plucking Platform had prepared two new plays headlined by famous actors. But who would have guessed that shortly after the performance began, Young Master Hee in his upstairs box would fall asleep. The next scene was an intense martial arts sequence, and Liu Baobao, not wanting to disturb his pleasant dream, had called a halt to the show.

They had been waiting for over an hour, and the audience below was starting to grumble. Fortunately, the man of the hour had finally woken up.

Downstairs, the music of strings and flutes warbled to life once more, and a crisp, clear male voice sang, ”And so it was that the Xiluo Kingdom unleashed its National Guardian Beast, the Golden Bull, which proved to be invincible—”

Hee Lingchuan frowned.

’This play again?’

’This was the play that put me to sleep. And now they’re starting it over?’

Liu Baobao saw his expression and immediately smiled. ”Brother Chuan doesn’t like it?”

Hee Lingchuan replied slowly, ”It’s dragging.”

In truth, this was a special performance commissioned by Liu Baobao; he was the one footing the bill. He had even hand-picked the lead actors more than two months in advance. The Immortal-Plucking Platform had spent a small fortune to bring the entire troupe from the heartlands all the way to the backwater of Black Water City.

But the true VIP of the event was this sleepy-eyed young man, who then added, ”Next time, let’s find a different theater. Don’t pick one called ’Immortal-Plucking Platform.’ What are Immortals, peaches that you can just pluck whenever you feel like it?”

Liu Baobao chuckled. ”It was originally called the ’Star-Picking Platform,’ but the Master thought ’Immortal’ would be better for business. You know how it is—you name something for what you lack.”

Hee Lingchuan narrowed his eyes. ”Oh? So Black Water City is short on Immortals?”

”Not at all, not at all! Black Water City having Mr. Hee is more than enough!” Liu Baobao said hurriedly. ”And what good are Immortals, anyway? They’re just ethereal beings from legends, stuff you only read about in storybooks. Who really needs them?”

He quickly changed the subject. ”Shall we switch to your father’s play, *Blade-Settling Mountain*, then?”

”Fine.” ’They’ve already invoked my old man’s name. How can I say no?’

He leaned back, sinking into the soft couch with his eyes half-closed. The middle-aged man waved away the other attendants before asking in a low voice, ”The nightmares again?”

”Hmph.” He denied it with a sneer. ”No!”

Hee Lingchuan’s tone hardened, permitting no argument. ”How could it be? Uncle Hao, let’s watch the play.”

It was an unnecessary addition, but typical of his personality. Uncle Hao didn’t press the matter, simply closing his mouth and standing quietly to the side.

The lead actor’s performance was masterful, drawing cheers from the audience. Hee Lingchuan watched for a moment before his gaze drifted to the wisp of smoke curling up from the Incense Burner. Before he knew it, he was lost in a Trance.

Actually, he wasn’t Hee Lingchuan.

’The real Hee Lingchuan is probably gone for good.’

’I’m just a nobody from another world, an inexplicable replacement.’

’My daily life had been simple: an unremarkable job at an unremarkable company for an unremarkable salary. As a young man in my prime, I often felt a restless dissatisfaction. But no matter how much I ranted and raved in private, I had to put on a placid, agreeable face in public, always valuing harmony above all else.’

’Society has a way of beating you down until you become just another cog in the machine.’

’The economy was in a downturn, and my company was already three months behind on my salary. But I couldn’t just make a grand exit, yell ”I quit! You can all go to hell!” and walk out the door.’

’So how did I end up here?’

’It’s hard to say. I just remember pacing in front of a restaurant for a bit, before deciding to give my business to the little food stall on the corner instead. It was the middle of winter, and I figured they could use the support, having to work out in the freezing wind.’

’”Boss, one savory crepe, please. Extra scallions, extra sauce... no egg, no meat... that’s right, none of that.”’

’The words had barely left my mouth when I saw a car barreling toward a little girl on the side of the road. The driver panicked, and his foot hit the accelerator.’

’Tragedy was about to strike. Without a second thought, I did the bravest thing I’d ever done in my life:’

’I dashed forward and scooped up the little girl...’

’You think I got hit by the car? Nope, not at all.’

’I was completely unscathed. I handed the kid back to her parents, who came running up, and even gave her a little lecture to ”watch where you’re going next time.” Then I turned around.’

’I hadn’t taken two steps before a flowerpot fell from the sky and landed squarely on my head.’

’And just like that, I was sent here.’

’When I opened my eyes again, I was lying in a bed, my whole body aching. The room was filled with antique furniture. The people surrounding me had looks of joyous surprise on their faces. A handsome, middle-aged man had tears in his eyes as he spoke, his voice trembling with emotion, ”Lingchuan, you’re finally awake!”’

’I touched my head and realized I had become Hee Lingchuan, the Eldest Prince of Hee Chunhua, the Qiansong County Governor of Jinzhou in the Yuan Kingdom.’