I'm Ye Zhaoming, just a drifter with no connections or talent. My only gift is being hard to kill.
I came to the Xuantian Sect to learn a few skills and stand up for those who get bullied.
But then...
Xiang Nanzhi latched onto me. She's the eldest daughter of a cultivation clan, refining qi at three and establishing her foundation at seven, a genius among geniuses. She could have had a life of luxury, but instead she squeezes into a ruined temple with me every day and chews on dry rations.
When I ask what she wants, she says, full of confidence, "None of your business. It's fun."
Fine. I can't do anything about her.
Later, I rescued a nine-tailed fox on the verge of death. When it woke up, it wouldn't leave my side and was as obedient as could be. Then someone told me, "That fox you took in nearly scared a Moon Spirit Sect elder to death last night."
...Wait. You weren't like this when I rescued you.
Then Yan Qing showed up. He's a music cultivator from the Moon Spirit Sect, coughing every three steps, and insisting on teaching me the flute. Someone told me that every piece he plays costs him years of his life.
I told him to stop playing. He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and smiled. "I just want you to remember me a little longer."
My scalp prickled.
And then there's my master. A mighty cultivator at the Deification stage who never takes female disciples. At the apprenticeship ceremony, he glanced at me and said, "She stays."
That night, a few flowers appeared outside my window. They were the only kind I'd ever thought beautiful when I was wandering around as a child.
I stared at them for half the night, unable to make sense of it.
Xiang Nanzhi laughed at me. "Do you really not know, or are you pretending?"
I said I only knew one thing: I was going down the mountain. There were still many people waiting for me.
Xiang Nanzhi sighed.
In the end, Xiang Nanzhi made the decision for me. "She wants to save the world, so we'll go with her."
"And while we're at it, we'll save her, too."
