That was a female voice… and, what's this about an imperial majesty?'
Lang Yuzhu held onto the knife in his garments and cautiously walked towards the traditional sliding door.
"Honorable Great Sage?" The female voice called out again, bearing a cold undertone and speaking rather flatly. "His Imperial Majesty has waited a long time now. I understand Honorable Great Sage can arrive when it pleases Him, however—"
Shhh…
The traditional door slid open, and Lang Yuzhu gazed upon the young beauty before him.
She looked to be in her early twenties, with pearly white skin, a slender face, and long black hair partly tied up with a silver hairpin shaped like a crescent moon.
"H-Honorable Great Sage!" She called out and immediately bent forward, bowing courteously.
Lang Yuzhu scanned her attire.
She was wearing a flowing dark blue and silver robe with patterns that looked like ice and wind. The sleeves are wide, and the high collar makes her seem distant and proud. A silver sash is tied around her waist, decorated with small jade ornaments. Her pale skin and sharp, cold, narrow black eyes make her look rather unapproachable.
'Their fashion is rather ancient and very traditional. I must be in the distant past. How did I get here?' Lang Yuzhu thought to himself. He stared at the young beauty, who was still bowing and facing the floor for an awkward amount of time.
'What's her name even… Dammit, I can't remember. Lang Yuzhu's memories are so jumbled up in my head,' Lang Yuzhu thought in resignation.
"Uh… You can stop bowing now," he said.
"Yes, Honorable Great Sage." She straightened her back and faced him, still bearing that cold expression. Though she seemed rather timid at the same time.
Lang Yuzhu sighed and asked, "Pardon me, but… what is your name?"
The young beauty's eyebrows folded slightly, but she answered regardless.
"This one's name is Xue Ling, Honorable Great Sage. His Imperial Majesty—"
"Can you not call me that?" Lang Yuzhu spoke with a slight frown but soon realized—of course, she would call him that—to everyone else in the Grand Celestial Library, their Great Sage was still hale and hearty.
Xue Ling was silent, but her cold eyes betrayed her confusion.
Lang Yuzhu sighed and began, "The original Great Sage is dead. I am from another place, possibly from the future. I have no idea how I ended up in his body, but I am not supposed to be here, and I know nothing about the imperial majesty of a golden dynasty."
Even in the original Lang Yuzhu's memories, he recalled nothing of the sort.
Xue Ling stared down at Lang Yuzhu coldly and said, "Honourable Great Sage, this is no time to be making up stories for me to laugh and be impressed…"
'Huh? For you to laugh and be impressed? Is this chick crazy?' Lang Yuzhu looked at Xue Ling silently. It was dumb to even think she would believe him. In fact, he was sure no one would, but he had to be honest… not because of his moral compass or anything, but simply because he didn't want to be the damn leader of an ancient, revered library with almost a thousand individuals under his care!
'I am not the leader type, not at all,' he begrudgingly thought.
Xue Ling locked her left arm with Lang Yuzhu's right arm and had him walk forward with her—before them was a spiral staircase heading down.
"But… but I'm not making it up…" Lang Yuzhu meekly said; his elbow was pressing against her ample bosom. She smelt sweet and delicate, like winter roses.
Xue Ling quickly looked into the hall and frowned.
Lang Yuzhu chuckled awkwardly. "Oh, that. I knocked the ink pot over when I saw my blood everywhere. Believe it or not, Xue Ling, your Great Sage stabbed himself in the heart and died."
Xue Ling fixed her frown, returning to that blank, cold expression.
"I will clean it up later. At this moment, His Imperial Majesty awaits your presence in the Pavilion Hall, Honourable Great Sage. You have to get changed."
"What's wrong with my current attire?" Lang Yuzhu looked down at his plain dark blue robes, wrapped feet, and flat shoes.
Xue Ling gave him the side eye.
"Honorable Great Sage, you do not plan on meeting His Imperial Majesty while wearing garments you have had on since you went to the Sky Temple yesterday, do you?"
Lang Yuzhu's eyes widened. 'Yeah, I was there for almost a day. The original Lang Yuzhu just kept on staring at the stars and sky before suddenly stabbing himself in the heart. Goddammit…'
"I am not the one who went there yesterday; I have told you already. And can you stop calling me that?" Lang Yuzhu spoke with a frown.
Cold and indifferent, Xue Ling countered, "I bear in mind that you wish to treat me differently as compared to my fellow disciples, Honourable Great Sage…"
'Huh?'
"...However, your image is that of a fair and just master."
'This chick really is delusional. She and Lang Yuzhu never even had that sort of relationship. In fact, the lad had never been with a woman!' Lang Yuzhu thought, but his arm kept against her ample bosom, making his expression change entirely. 'Ahem, not that I'm complaining though.'
"Just… just call me Master, then."
Xue Ling remained cold and gave a curt nod.
"As you wish, Master."
However, Lang Yuzhu could swear that he saw her face redden slightly.
He glanced at Xue Ling, appreciating her side frame. She was a pale beauty, but not as beautiful as he imagined those beauties in the fictional works he read.
'Wait, I didn't imagine any beauty from books. Lang Yuzhu did. But I did imagine cute catgirls. Heh…
'Sigh, I guess we aren't too different. He buried his head in books, and I did too. If I can't go back to the future because my real body is dead, that will mean I died a VIRGIN! Dammit, I hope I'm just asleep and someone finds my body and takes me to the hospital.'
Lang Yuzhu felt like crying. He was last in an abandoned temple, how many people were just going to wander in there?
Grrr~
Suddenly, his attention was brought to much more pressing matters.
"I am really hungry. Can you get me something to eat?"
Xue Ling shook her head.
"There will be a grand feast after you meet with His Imperial Majesty."
"What? So I should starve till then?"
"Yes, Master." Xue Ling stared ahead coldly.
'How long is this damn stairs, even?!'
Lang Yuzhu annoyedly asked, "Who is that guy, anyway? Why did he come to see the Great Sage?"
Xue Ling looked at him, a bit disappointed. "I am in no position to question your testing methods. However, Master, do you not believe that I am brighter than that?"
'What the… she thinks I'm trying to test her knowledge? Lady, I have no idea what is going on!' Lang Yuzhu gritted his teeth.
"Can you just answer?"
Xue Ling looked at Lang Yuzhu and began, "It is customary for the Four Emperors and many established dignitaries to seek out the presence of the new Great Sage. With every new Great Sage, immortals test your heart, emperors and leaders test your alliance, martial artists test your strength, monks and scholars test your wisdom and guidance… and demons test your guard, while the gods watch."
The corners of Lang Yuzhu's eyes twitched.
"You don't mean immortals, demons, and gods in the literal sense, right?"
Xue Ling quickly answered, "Of course I do."
Parts of the original Lang Yuzhu's memories fit more into one piece, and Lang Yuzhu remembered scrolls, tomes, and books the original had read about mystical beings and supernatural phenomena like warriors flying on swords, talking animals, gods, immortals, and demons.
Carefully, he concluded, 'This isn't the past. I am in an entirely different world.'
Lang Yuzhu recalled core details of this world from the original's memories and unconsciously muttered with widened eyes, "And, there is only one universal language?"
To Lang Yuzhu, that was the most surprising aspect of all this, considering this world had more creatures, cultures, and history.
Xue Ling coldly answered, "Naturally. Heaven's mandate is absolute. Having a different language for every species and race would have been such a disaster."
Lang Yuzhu laughed dryly. "Yes. It would."
He knew languages were naturally forming, so for a language to remain the same for thousands of years meant that the supernatural powers at play here were no joke. How could this explain the Great Sage's suicide and his unexpected transmigration? '
Lang Yuzhu had no idea.
Xue Ling and Lang Yuzhu got to an open-air stairway spaced properly at intervals, leading down to a building called the Eight-Floored Pagoda—where the Great Sage and his Seven Disciples resided.
At Lang Yuzhu's sides were a pair of stone statues of a qilin—a half-horse, half-dragon one-horned beast. It was the guardian spirit of the Grand Celestial Library.
Lang Yuzhu looked to his left and saw another open-air walkway leading to the central and tallest mountain. From the original's memories, he knew that was the way up the mountain leading to the Central Spirit Gate, where the original Lang Yuzhu passed the test of the Yellow Qilin and received the Rainbow Lotus Mark that controlled the other four Numinous Treasures.
Past the Eight-Floored Pagoda was the main courtyard that led up to a grand edifice built into the mountain—the Stone Palace.
Deeper in that palace, leading to the heart of the mountain, was the Grand Celestial Library—filled with an endless sea of scrolls and tomes housing knowledge of everything between the spectrum of existence and non-existence.
Lang Yuzhu felt his mouth water. The idea of an endless sea of knowledge sparked his fire for reading.
He paused and looked up yonder at the mighty, towering mountain that housed and protected so much and voiced in a subdued tone, recalling its name from the original's memories:
"Flower-Fruit Mountain…"
Xue Ling had halted and waited for Lang Yuzhu.
Looking at him stare at the mountain wistfully, she voiced, "You seem different today, Master."
Lang Yuzhu snapped out of his daze and continued forward.
"Exactly," he said, "I'm glad you noticed. It is simply because I am not the Great Sage."