Book 1 Chapter 6: The Other Side of the World
It has already been two days, going three soon. By Jinghua''s calculation, the snow ferret should be waking up today.
Jinghua has been doing nothing but going through a routine of waking up in the morning, making breakfast - which was eaten so fast that she had to give out half of her portion - then changing the bandages on the ferret, watching how Mi Ling trains the other boys, making lunches, watching the training for a bit before going inside the tent to reread the letters from brother Yingteng and sister Suyi - yes, she keeps all the letters after everyone else read it - then change the bandages again before taking a bath in the river near them. After that, Jinghua would make dinner.
This was her routine for the past two days. However, since all the boys eat like pigs that have a pitless hole, Jinghua didn''t make a lot of different kinds of dishes but instead makes a lot of food that is less varied. In the morning, there are buns with porridges, for lunch, it would be meat and vegetable soup with rice, then for dinner, it would be buns with two dishes of vegetables that are either stirred fried in sauces or soup alongside herbal tea.
As for the snow ferret, Jinghua didn''t make anything for him. There was no need to.
She would either be doing one thing or the other when she wasn''t busy with cooking, training her internal martial arts, or making clothes for the bird and herself. What? Jinghua has always been someone that animals like. It''s just that when she''s in her work mood, the animals were too afraid of her to come near her. She hasn''t been in her work mood for more than two months already. Thus, her aura was now as peaceful as ever.
Since Jinghua knew that beasts like the ferret, who cultivate immortality, don''t get hungry easily so she didn''t make anything for the snow ferret.
All in all, the meal plan has all the requirements for a balanced meal for the boys. They were very happy so they didn''t complain much even when Mi Ling harassed them to the ground at the end of the day.
It was on the morning of the third day when the snow ferret woke up. Tengyu just happens to be on his break inside Jinghua''s tent when the snow ferret wakes up.
When Qingshan (who was there as her guards- even if she doesn''t need it) got inside the tent, the snow ferret was looking around the tent with a curiosity that shines in his eyes. There’s an odd sense of animalistic innocent within the snow ferret’s eyes, causing his curiosity to look very honest but also upstanding due to his temperament.
"You finally wake up," Jinghua said monotonously. Completely ignored the looks that her brothers sent her way. She didn’t see that Qingshan had told Tengyu to leave and Mi Ling had already come inside the tent.
Silence reigns in the tent. No one speaks aside from Jinghua. The ferret wasn''t tense like she had expected it to be but he was still looking at Jinghua with wild eyes that speak of curiosity and integrity.
Jinghua has years of experience controlling her intentions, she wouldn''t make the mistake of letting the ferret read her that easily.
Every one of her actions will always be on guard, but not enough to make her body language stand out. There are a lot of people in the Assassin guilds and the underworld that are sensitive towards intentions. Just by being near them, an assassin will lose more than 50% chances of attacking them. This was why the Silence Walker group emphasized training the assassins in their intentions of concealment and seekers'' ways. It was like hide-and-seek with nothing but intuition with a hint of guessing and a play of silence war. There was no bloodlust, no ill intents, no signs of anything that signal an upcoming fight or such.
Thus, truly a silent way of assassinating someone.
Tao Jinghua just happens to be the best at them since she could sense more than anyone else due to her past blindness and her sensitivity towards others intentions.
Which was why the ferret was now looking at her with a curiosity that he shouldn''t have toward humans, who had long ago known as their hunters. The snow ferret wasn''t a special beast or spiritual beast for that matter. However, those that are born with two tails, like him, and naturally born blue eyes have special sensitivity towards danger. That was how he had survived this long after all.
As one of the most sensitive spiritual beasts, the snow ferret on the bed wasn''t one that is known to be stupid. He could sense the amount of hostility and guardedness from the boys behind the girl. However, what made the snow ferret''s brain confused was why there was no fear, hostility, guardedness, or any other expecting emotions from the girl. There wasn''t even kindness. Only a hint of curiosity. This means that this human girl wasn''t someone who would care if the man behind her decided that he wanted the snow ferret''s life.
"My name is Xue Qi." The snow ferret begins, speaking with a somewhat scratchy voice. He knew that his life wasn''t in his hand but rather in the human girl''s hand.
"Xue Qi. From the Snow Queen Ferret''s Bloodline?" Qingshan jerked as his expression turned sour and even more alert than before.
"Big brother, calm down. First of all, what is this Snow Queen Ferret bloodline?" Tao Jinghua asked, completely ignoring the snow ferret as she looked at her brother''s expression. The older Tao expression calms down within seconds as he looks at his sister with a stern look.
"Hua''er, the Snow Queen Ferret''s bloodline is one of the ancient beast bloodlines that have archaic blood in their veins. Having archaic blood means that they will be very strong in all senses due to their connection with said bloodline. Like, enhanced senses, speeds, strengths, and all. That is not all, having an archaic bloodline means that you have higher chances of entering into one of the spiritual immortal beasts, which aren''t that much different from a human immortal practitioner." Qingshan said.
How in the world did you guys know this? Jinghua wanted to ask but then she knew that she had only started living in this world not long ago so it is natural that she wouldn''t know things like that. Besides, as a girl from a pottery family, it was already weird that she was interested in things like that.
"Oh." She answered. Completely do not know what to say. She turned back to the snow ferret.
"And?" Jinghua asked. Qingshan looks at his sister. Normally, when people heard that beast has an archaic bloodline, there would be either greed, fear, or praise. However, Jinghua''s reaction was far too indifferent. Qingshan doesn''t know whether he should cry or laugh at his sister''s temperament toward the spiritual beast''s bloodline. His little sister sure was too much of an introvert, not even knowing that she draws more attention that way.
She doesn''t know that just one flick of a finger from a beast that had an archaic bloodline was more than enough to obliviate their small Xichang Town. That''s how strong the archaic beast was. They are more than enough to be on par with human immortal practitioners.
"..." The snow ferret was the same as Qingshan toward Jinghua''s attitude toward him. Since he was still injured, Xue Qi didn''t know if he should be glad that the human girl didn''t care or should he be ashamed that a mere human girl didn''t care about his bloodline. Still, he didn''t do anything. His instinct tells him that the most dangerous being in this room wasn''t the human boys behind the human girl but rather the non-threatening human girl herself. She doesn''t even smell of blood. Yet, his instinct wasn’t getting any quieter. In fact, it''s still soaring its head at him to be careful of this human girl.
Xue Qi doesn''t understand why someone like this human girl can make his instinct shriek at him, telling him to not have any idea otherwise, he will die a very painful and humiliated death. He doesn''t understand but Xue Qi has always trusted his instinct. It was how he had survived till now.
"Human girl, have you heard of Abyss Beast?" Xue Qi asked quietly with a solemn look in his eyes.
Abyss Beast? Jinghua blinks in confusion. She then turns toward her brothers, only to see them both pale in fear as they flinch.
"Ab-aby..." Qingshan was so shocked that he couldn''t even say the name right. There was fear, utterly fear and nothing else, in Qingshan''s eyes.
Jinghua''s eyes narrowed slightly under her hair. Seeing that her so-called brothers weren''t going to respond any time soon, Jinghua turned toward the ferret beast called Xue Qi.
"..." Xue Qi looked at the human girl and he was speechless for the second time today. There was no smell of fear from the human girl even when he mentioned Abyss Beast.
"What is Abyss Beast?" Jinghua asked the ferret on her bed without batting an eye.
"Abyss Beast is a Demonic Beast from another realm. They are what you humans would call Plaque Beast since they spread all kinds of miasma illnesses around. Do you recall that the ferret from the other night wasn''t in their right mind? Their eyes were red, right?" The Snow Ferret Xue Qi asked as he looked at the human girl. He knew instinctively that he must''ve slept for more than a day since his injuries are nearly healed now. Although the wounds are healing, his internal injuries are still not yet treated. That could only mean that this human girl doesn''t have any Dao Pills on her - or that she doesn''t care if he died.
Yet, clearly, his wound had already healed more than halfway so the last suspicions were crossed out.
"..." Jinghua didn''t need to answer him since he already knew the answer.
"When an Abyss Beast is near, one of the effects that it has on humans and animals was exactly that. They lost their minds and their body turned into a puppet for the Abyss Beast. I didn''t get controlled because my mind was far too strong for a low-level Abyss Beast to control. As a result, the Abyss Beast sends my own kin to chase after me. " Xue Qi stopped talking once he mentioned the death of his kinsman. He knew that they were all dead now.
Better yet, he was happy that a human killed them instead of letting them continue to be controlled by the Abyss Beast.
While Xue Qi was reminiscing about his kinsman, Tao Qingshan came back to his senses.
"Hua''er, we have to notify the government in Xue Chengsi about this! If this involved the Abyss Beast then we normal people can never hope to go against them. They will have to notify one of the Immortal Sect to come to take care of it." Qingshan''s pale face speaks out how much the very idea of an Abyss Beast scared him. Jinghua didn''t know why he was so scared of it but she didn''t ask since it wasn''t her place nor was it her business.
"Hmm." She nodded.
"If you are going to the human government then take me with you. With me as proof, they will believe you more." Xue Qi didn''t forget to warn them. After all, this was concerning the Abyss Beast.
"Right. Since it''s still midday, we can leave in a couple of hours. Hua''er, go prepare something for him to eat. We will leave in a bit." Qingshan said as he left the tent. He needed to talk to his older brother, Mi Ling, and tell him what they learned
"What do you eat?" Jinghua asked the ferret.
"..." The snow ferret looks at the human girl with a somewhat complex expression. He didn''t really need to eat but he can use some drinks. However, seeing the indifferent attitude of the girl, Xue Qi changes his mind.
"Do you have any low-grade spiritual fresh vegetables? Like Tricabbage or Spirit Wheat is fine." He answered with somewhat of a weak voice. Since his internal injuries aren''t getting better, he should eat things that have spiritual energy for faster recovery.
"Yes, sure," Jinghua answered as she took out a whole Tri Cabbage from her universe bag along with a small knife. She also takes out a plate and a couple of small fruits that Qingshan found in the forest. These fruits aren’t spiritual fruits but they do taste pretty good and thus she didn’t hesitate at all as she placed some of it into the plates. Then, She cuts the Tri Cabbage into bite-sized chunks and also places them on the plate alongside with the fruits before handing it to the ferret.
Jinghua watched as the snow ferret slowly got up into a sitting position before accepting the plate. Jinghua takes out a spare chopstick and hands it to the beast. She wanted to give the ferret a fork instead but seeing how his behavior was, she changed her mind. He should still be able to handle a pair of chopsticks just fine at this point.
Accepting the chopstick with a small thank you, the ferret didn''t wait for Jinghua to tell him to eat.
Jinghua didn''t care either but seeing the speed that the ferret eats, she knew that he would choke without water so she takes out a small porcelain cup that she made and pours some water into it. She handed the snow ferret a cup of water.
While the snow ferret was eating, Jinghua started to collect her stuff into her universe bag, leaving only the tent and the bed that the ferret was still sleeping and eating on. Everything else was moved into her bag. While she was collecting her things, Mingyu came inside to collect her too. In a flash, everything was neatly collected into their own universe bags.
Yes, both Mingyu and Tengyu had their own universe bags too. It didn''t take an hour for them to collect everything, including the ashes from the campfire along with the charcoal.
As they were riding on the back of the Nine-Wings Bird, the ferret started to tell more details about where the Abyss Beasts came from.
It seems like each high mountain peak on this continent has a door that leads to the other side of the world, where the Abyss realm resides. Those doors don''t have an accurate time for the opening. Xue Qi said that he only knew that it took between 10 years to 20 years for a door to open once. It seems like this year, it was at the 12 years limit.
In this part of the continent, the Southern, it seems like only ''Mind'' Abyss Beast can come through. In the past thousands of years, there haven''t been any records that show other kinds of Abyss Beast coming through.
Whenever a Mind Abyss Beast came there, all the animals and beasts within the enclosed ten miles of that mountain peak always lost their mind. When that happens, occasionally, a number of small villages were wiped out when the news wasn''t passed to the government fast enough.
Which was why Qingshan was rushing all of them to hurry up.
As the Nine-Wings Bird flies toward Xue Chengsi''s Traveling Agency landing spots, one of the mount attendees came toward the bird, causing the Nine-Wings Bird to give loud cries of protest.
Jinghua has to pat the bird a couple of times to show that they will be back for the bird to calm down.
This causes the mount attendee to be very surprised as he leads the bird toward the designated spot.
Tao Mi Ling leads Tao Jinghua and Tao Qingshan along with the kids toward an inn before he and the ferret left for the governor''s office.
The inn that Jinghua and they are staying in was called Snow Pavillion Inn. It was one of the mid-class inns in Xue Chengsi. However, the price was within the acceptable range for an inn this large.
Their rooms were on the second floor, from room number 7 to room 10. Jinghua got her own room while the boys were partners for each room. Qingshan''s room was next to her, Tengyu and Mingyu shared a room, Mi Ling, and Chenyu shared a room. The last one was shared between the other brothers that are older than Mingyu and Tengyu, Baiyu and Honghui.
All three rooms cost 6 Lead coins for two days and two nights. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are included for a limited amount so the cost was just right.
For a city of this size, 6 Lead coins are just right. Not too greedy but not stupid either. There was enough profit but not greedily enough to cause grief from other customers.
Which explains why Mi Ling would know about this Inn since he had come here for business before with their father to sell some porcelain wares.
For an Inn in a city this large, Jinghua knew right away that the owner of this inn was probably somewhat rich or powerful. In fact, they might have a connection with large sects or groups. Which explains why the inn was this large yet strangely wasn''t that expensive.
It wasn''t that the owner doesn''t have greed, but it wasn''t because of kindness either. Which can only mean that this inn has another job, a night job, perhaps? Maybe an Intel inn? Or an intermediate inn?
Inside Jinghua''s room, there was a wooden bed with a thin layer of wool blanket on top. To the side was a wooden desk that has a basic black block of what should be Ink block, the kinds that are formed into blocks. The first time that Jinghua saw this in the former Jinghua''s memories, Jinghua knew right away that this world doesn''t have fountain pens.
That''s right. This world''s definition of writing is using a writing brush. This world was truly an ancient world settling world.
Jinghua had wondered if it would affect her so-called "Heaven Karma" if she used her knowledge from the 25th century of the modern earth in this world?
That was one of her worries. She''s a martial artist from China after all. She had already known about martial arts'' heavenly karma. Even when she''s an assassin, she has always believed in karma. Jinghua might never have any guilt about killing anyone but Jinghua had always believed in her karma.
Over the 25 years of her life as an assassin, she had killed more than a million people. She was killed during wartime between some countries and China, she would kill when she was hired, and she would kill when she treated someone as her enemies.Stolen novel; please report.
However, despite all the money that Jinghua got from her ''jobs'' all over her life, she didn''t use much for herself. Being someone who believes in karma, all the money that she got was used as a donation to places and locations that need it. For example, nearly 20 percent of all of her earnings were sent to orphans'' houses, another 20 percent were sent for war funds for her country, not to develop wars, but for the ex-soldiers who are incapable of working. 10 percent of her earnings were sent toward places like Africa to buy food, water, medicines, and education materials for the children there.
If you think that the money that she earned wasn''t that much then you are sorely mistaken. She wasn''t the deadliest assassin of her time for nothing. The people that she killed were all those that have too much money, too much money that wasn’t made naturally.
People who smuggled drugs and all the illegal things that involve the night world are people on her list of targets.
Naturally, she never sought them out herself until she was hired. Or when they feared her too much and sent people after her. That happened a lot before.
When she was hired to kill people that aren''t on her list, Jinghua would do research on them first to make sure that she won''t regret killing them later on. Jinghua''s requirements to be on her kill list are pretty damn high. She doesn''t kill people who haven''t done anything immoral and she doesn’t kill innocent people, either.
There was that one time when she nearly killed someone who was acting as a double but she didn''t in the end because her instinct tells her that the guy wasn''t her target.
The instinct of a killer was very highly keen. Don''t underestimate it. Her confidentiality as a killer wasn''t something that can be threatened by greed.
It wasn''t like all her money was made from killing either.
Jinghua was -is- a very good painter, among other occupations. It was good enough that Professors from Arts colleges and Professional Painters would call her a genius. Millionaires would buy her painting for millions of dollars.
Just one of her smallest canvas paintings, the 8 by 10 inches ones, cost more than 10 thousand. Jinghua was one of the youngest painters of her time. She specializes in a lot of techniques so her painting usually has at least two to three techniques in paintings.
The last painting that she did was of the American city, New York City, Manhattan on a large canvas of 24 inches by 32 inches. It was sold for 120.7 million US dollars. It wasn''t that expensive compared to older paintings but it was very expensive for someone young like Jinghua, especially during that age.
Her most expensive painting was of her painting the natural disaster in the year 2170 when a tsunami hit South Korea and killed three million people.
It was expensive enough that the Chinese Government put a tracking device on it. Jinghua forgot who brought it but she clearly remembers that it was sold for more than 180 million British Pound in an Auction held in Scotland.
More than 80 percent of that earnings was sent toward the aid for that disaster.
That was nine years before that event took place. The event that leads her to be placed in the World’s Assassin the first place list.
Now, back to the topic as to why she would think that her karma might be affected if she spread her knowledge of the 25th century here. First of all, those ideas aren''t hers and it doesn''t belong to her. Secondly, this world clearly wasn''t Earth. The laws of the world aren''t something that should be affected by other world''s investments. Lastly, Jinghua doesn''t know what would happen if she used the knowledge from another world in this world.
If she was the only one that will be affected by the knowledge that she has then she''s fine with using it, like making the fine wine that was currently being fermented in her room at home. Since she was the only one that will be drinking it. It doesn''t affect anyone else.
However, other things, like a more advanced technique that involves a lot of people, Jinghua won''t do it.
Making fountain pens might be/ probably okay since it wasn''t that high in terms of technique and technology. Making the inks too.
This world''s Ink was made nearly the same way as in her former life so there was no worry there.
The only difference lies in what kind of ink Jinghua would like to use and for what reason. The ink that normal people used for writing were the ones that were formed from the saps of a tree called the Dark Blood tree.
Just one drop of the essences from it was enough to make a 12 by 12 by 4 cubic meters block of ink. This small cubic ink block would be enough to last a family of literature for a couple of tens of years with no problem.
The royal family in this nation controls the flow of the ink so it wasn''t very expensive and even commoners can afford it.
The block of ink in this room was provided by the Inn so it is about 3 by 1 by 1 cubic inch long. It has signs of being used for a while now so it wasn''t new.
The ink in this world wasn''t that expensive, however, the parchment paper sure was.
There were a lot of kinds of parchment papers in this world. The first and cheapest are for writing, it costs 550 copper coins per yard of paper. One yard of paper in this world was measured differently from Earth’s paper milling counts. People called it a yard but that’s only the length. It doesn’t count the width. The width of a roll of paper wasn’t just one yard. It was three yards. And thus, a yard of the paper roll was really 36 inches by 108 inches long.
Each paper roll can literally be made into 300 pages of paper if cut cleanly and clearly by 12 times.
That was pretty damn expensive in this world. With 550 copper coins, a family of 10 can buy a month’s worth of Rice- since 100 kilograms of rice was 200 copper coins and would still have enough left over to buy other resources for the family. The price for rice in this world was pretty damn cheap after all. And this is normal rice, not spirit rice.
One kilogram of rice cost 2 copper coins. A normal household of two adults can work for 50 copper coins per day and thus be able to buy enough rice to feed a family with no problem. However, for spirit rice, one mere kilogram cost 30 Lead coins so it was pretty damn expensive for normal households to buy.
The Tao household never buys any Spirit Rice. What we did buy was Tricabbage, a low-level vegetable that looks like three cabbage pieces together and has a little bit of spiritual Qi inside. Asides from Tricabbage, we also have other low-level spirits (Ling) vegetables like Mo Kai Lan (Black Chinese broccoli), Purple Snow Pea, Water Spinach, Lily Watercress, Bamboo Rice, Sunflower Rice, and Water Crested Rice.
Most of the list above vegetable look-alike like the vegetable from earth but just a little bit larger and longer or wider. However, for the two last ones, Jinghua had only seen them once when it was for a new years event. She didn''t see it personally but rather from the memories of the former Jinghua.
Sunflower Rice looks like Wild Rice on Earth but a bit rounder and larger while the Water Crested Rice looks even weirder. Water Crested Rice looks more like Rye and is light blue. Rye looks nutty but Water Crested Rice looks very... water-ly. It tastes a lot like Taro mixed with rice and honey with a bit of walnut flavor.
Truth be told, the ones that were the most expressive and had the most impression on Jinghua are the Water Crested Rice and the Bamboo Rice. Bamboo rice tastes like rice mixed with watermelon, zucchini, and cucumber mixed together. It was truly weird. However, both of them have a low mild sweet taste to them so they might not be good to make wines with. She never tried it before but she does wonder about the taste of wines that would be made from these low-rank spiritual grains.
This world was too weird and too much like... for a better lack of word, a fantasy world from a certain anime. Jinghua didn''t know if this is what she should call this world.
This world has a lot of differences comparing it to the world Earth that she knows. It was just like how the dialects in Northern Chinese are different from Southern China. No, that''s not a very good comparison. Well, maybe.
Is it like Wheat versus Rice? No, it was more like comparing the traditional wedding customs of the South of China to the North of China. Arg, the damn Tea Ceremony was a pain in the ass. Luckily, Jinghua lives in the Northern part of China so she doesn''t have to do the damn tea ceremony. At her wedding, she didn''t have to go through the tea ceremony and just did it in western-style instead.
Okay, enough stereotypes.
The point was, they have the same principles but this world was more independent. There was more... opportunity in this world compared to her former world. One thing, there is Immortal cultivation!!!
Like those Xianxia, xuanhuan, and fantasy novels, webtoon, manga, manhua, and manhwa that she had read before back on Earth!
Jinghua doesn''t know about this world enough to judge it in such ways but from what she knows so far, she can safely say that this world was very non-traditional. So it can’t be a wuxia world. Or just a pure xianxia world since there are too many mysteries about this world.
So far, there were only two traditions that Jinghua noticed. First, this world''s marriage system is the exact same one as ancient China. That man can have multiple wives. Secondly, you can not marry your ''first'' line cousin. Which means that if she or his father and your father are brothers then you better not marry her/him.
Anyway, to both traditions, Jinghua said bullshit.
First of all, Jinghua has been engaged already so let''s clarify that first.
She did allow her fiance to marry someone else too. It''s fine with Jinghua that the old Jinghua allows her fiance to marry someone else. After all, in this world, you need your first wife''s permission to take another wife or concubine into your household. So, by now, Tang Beifeng, her so- so-called fiance, already has three other wives besides her. No, they are only engaged and weren''t married yet so you can''t call her his fully legal wife yet either.
From the former Jinghua''s memories, she was never in love with Tang Beifeng before so she naturally allows him to have another wife. Just a couple of weeks ago, Tang Beifeng had come over to ask- her for permission to marry another girl. Jinghua naturally didn''t care too since she doesn''t have any feelings for the man. She met both wives that the former Jinghua allowed into the Tang family and the new wife too.
The two other wives were both very upset that Jinghua allowed the man to marry another girl. Jinghua didn''t care since, regardless of the number of wives he has, she will always be the First Wife, the Madame. Which means that in terms of power in the house, she has the say, even when she''s still just a fiance.
Jinghua was like that toward Beifeng but if she had truly fallen in love with Beifeng then there was no fucking way will she allow him another wife unless he divorces her first. The Jinghua from before was a natural introvert so she didn''t really care. However, the Jinghua now was different.
Tao Jinghua does not like to share her heart.
Even when she had almost married back on Earth, she had never cared if her soon-to-be-called husband cheated on her or married someone else since her heart wasn''t with him in the first place.
What? Oh. That''s right. Jinghua knew that the man was cheating on her all along. She just doesn''t care because the one that she loves wasn''t even him. This was why Shiny was so against her marrying that man since he knew that she doesn''t love him with her heart. He knew that she was just looking for a peaceful, normal life. Something that she didn''t have to get married to have in the first place.
Jinghua was hoping that on that day, ''he'' would come and stop the wedding but that is impossible. Why? Because the dead don''t come back to life.
That''s right. The man that has her heart had already left the world of the living for a year before her wedding day. He died a natural death so even if she wanted to get revenge, there was no target for it. So, all she can do with all the sadness and tortured emotions were to grind it down into her own willpower. Shiny was so mad at her that she didn''t even cry when ''he'' had died. Shiny nearly blows up ''his'' tomb because of that too.
Let''s not talk about ''him'', the memories are still too fresh for her liking. Even if she doesn''t cry, her very heart has been crying out all these times with no signs of stopping anytime soon.
Anyway, where was she? Ah right. About karma. No, wait, she was talking about the traditions in this world, right? Yeah. That''s right.
As for the second tradition that forbade marriage with the First line of Relatives, this one, Jinghua doesn''t have a good look or feeling toward it.
At the end of the 25th century of Earth, China had already long ago passed the Same-Sex Marriage law for over a hundred years already. Even Korea and Japan had already long passed their way before China did. Tao Jinghua grows up learning, studying, and playing with kids whose parents are dead because of natural causes. Their parents and maybe even hers, if she even knows who it was, were in same-sex marriage.
If same-sex can marry in the 25th Century, what makes you think that marriage between the First line of a relative cannot marry each other? Of course, they can!!!
After all, aside from the emotional love toward one another, marriage is about two people becoming family, right? How is that any different from a Relative in the first line of blood relationship marrying each other?
The 25th Century of Earth doesn''t give a shit ass about that. In fact, because of the Same-Sex Marriage law that was passed in the 22nd Century in China, the marriage and divorce rate in China went down by a whole 40 percent. This helps China in more than one way. It wasn''t just China that was effective because of that Law either.
When America passed its Laws for same-sex marriage in the 21st century, within a little 20 years, the marriage rate and divorce rate are so low that it affected the European and the Southern American part of the world a lot. Male-Female marriage was still the majority in America but more than 40 percents are now Same-Sex. Even the current President of the United States of America has a partner who is a Male.
Huh? You asked if religion will affect this?
Dude, please, there is no way that people who are Christian will go for it. This is why in the 25th century, the people that still have a belief in the so-called God were now nearly non-existent. True, they exist but it is like 10 percent of what it used to be. For sure, there was no Christian church in China. Instead, a new church called [Neo of Christ] has been rising ever since the 23rd Century. If the old religion was still standing in the 22nd century then there is no way that they would have agreed to use the newfound energy.
Anyway, that''s that. It has nothing to do with Jinghua. She wasn''t discriminating against Same-sex marriage, however, she''s a woman through and through so she had never found herself checking out the same team before. And she wasn''t going to now. However, if she ever did, she wouldn''t be that surprised since Jinghua herself knew in her heart that she wasn''t that narrow-minded. Jinghua was pretty damn open-minded towards this kind of thing.
This is why Jinghua didn''t really agree with the second tradition, not for herself but certainly, she wasn''t going to go against her mindset.
As Jinghua started to think about the things that she learned about this world and its laws so far, Jinghua didn''t notice that there was something moving inside her body and soul. Had she noticed it, she would have remembered the black pearl that she had swallowed.
After all, it was that very pearl that was now moving and acting very active inside her body.
[Somewhere else far-far away]
A being in clear white clothes sitting in a golden chair filled with magnificent aura and strength suddenly opened his piercing golden eyes.
The man has long white hair and two sigmas over his forehead. One of them was of the moon while the other looked like the sun. His clothes were white but if you look at them carefully, you will notice that the clothes have both the shape of the two sigmas blended in them.
In the background of the man was a large stars system of what Jinghua would call a galaxy. Billions of stars shine in the background as the man blinks his clearly golden eyes that were full of stars, suns, moons, and the very universe.
In front of the man are two rows of men and women of all ages and races. There was one that looked like a fox since he had 12 tails behind him. There was also another one that looks very fierce and strong that has his tail shown behind him in a shadow. It looks like the tail of a snake but clearly, the spike on the end gives away the answer. It is the tail of a dragon.
Next to the dragon-man was a male in a bright red robe that had fire flicking on and off his clothes. This man has two sharp eyes and long red fingernails along with barely visible wings behind him. He was a fire phoenix without a doubt. Besides the Phoenix man, there were also five other men that had shadows of some other kinds of beasts.
Be it a tiger, unicorns, a three-legged bird, or some animal that didn''t look like an animal but a rather mutated animal, there were various kinds. Strong and magnificent in their own ways. One thing for sure, all those beings are so beautiful and pretty that they all look ethereal.
As the man in the golden chair opened his eyes, every one of the men and women in front of him kneels down respectively.
"Your Majesty." They all greeted with their most respects and heads bowed. Even the other beastly-like men who looked very uncomfortable kneeling down in their forms were still respectfully bowing their heads. Yes, heads. It has three heads instead of just one head.
The man on the throne smiled softly as his eyes closed and two small yet bright red tears fell down his cheek. This is his blood tears. The very tears that were said to be able to either bring a whole world into a time of prosperity or a time of warpath. Toward destruction or toward creation.
One of the men clearly smelled the tears and called out shockingly.
"Your Majesty!" He kneels deeply down in fright. This man has two pointing ears on his head and his eyes are light green with a dash of red inside. Behind him were long-silver tails that are pure divine powers. He was the dragon of the First Dragon Line. A Silver-Blood Dragon of Divinity.
"It''s fine, Long Taiyang. Stand down," The deep voice from the man sitting on the throne was so powerful that all of the beings in the same room bowed their heads again. All of those beings are powerful beasts that have already gained heaven''s will and power. Two of them are dragons from ancient times, the other also fire phoenixes, tigers, tortoises, snakes, foxes, and other beasts. All of them had reached a stage where everything that they were made out of Divinity energies.
Yet, the one being that was more powerful than they all combined was the man who was sitting on the golden throne. He was a human through and through. Or so it seems.
"Your Majesty, may this little dragon ask what is wrong, your highness?" Another dragon-man asked, who was quite worried that their Emperor had to summon them and cried while looking at the mortal world.
What is going on? Did something big happen in the Mortal World? The only thing that was worth knowing about was the doors of the Abyss opening, but that is it. For divine immortals like themselves, the Abyss wasn''t that threatening or dangerous. In fact, two of the Abyss''s Kings are also currently kneeling down toward the Emperor in front of them. Both Abyss Kings have shadows that flick in the background, revealing their true forms in the darkness.
Yet, those two beings of Kings don''t have an ounce of menace or ill intention in their being to harm the man on the throne.
"It has been far too long. So long that I nearly lost count of the number of times in this realm." The man on the throne said sadly as his eyes glittered with red tears full of stars.
"Your Majesty..." The women beasts in the room look sadly at the man on the throne.
"It has been more than 18 billion years. In the mortal world, more than trillions of years have already passed by. Finally, "Mother" has finally come back to this plane of existence." The man on the throne''s tears drops from his eyes into the talisman on his lap. The talisman burst out in fired and vanished into nothingness.
"Your Majesty?" All the beasts'' men and women in the room look up at the man with eyes filled with hope, anticipation, and a few tears in their eyes.
"It has been a long long time since her soul vanished from this plane of existence. When Mother had used a part of her soul to create this universe, hadn''t it been because of that damn [Demon], her soul would still be in this world. Yet, because of him, Mother''s soul vanished from here for more than 18 billion years already. Even her Billion Stars Pearl wasn''t in this realm anymore." The man closed his eyes and clenched his teeth when he was talking about the demon but when he talks about the Billion Stars Pearl, his voice sounds half frustrated and half hopeful.
"Your Majesty, that Demon that you speak of is your Father, is he not?" All the beasts in the room can''t understand why their Emperor would be so mad at his own Father. After all, without his Father, the emperor himself and this very realm would cease to exist.
"That moron might be ''our'' Father but that doesn''t mean that I have to like him." The emperor seems to sulk as his eyes narrow dangerously. Holy and divine powers gush out from his very presence, causing the beasts in the room to feel suffocated and exhausted since their spirits aren''t strong enough to withstand this person’s pure divine power. They all are very powerful and very archaic beasts in their own races but they all can''t even withstand the power that this man accidentally lets out when his mood wasn''t good.
All the beasts, men, and women, exchange looks. They don''t know if they should smile in fondness or should they sigh out loud in exaggeration due to this person’s behavior.
However, they still happily watched as their Emperor closed his eyes again and smiled softly. Just what was the Emperor seeing that made him so happy?
All the beasts'' men and women looked confused for a while before a wave from their Emperor dismissed them all.
All the beasts looked at each other and left without a sound.
They had to make plans for when Her Holiness truly came back. They have to prepare presents, gifts, and things for her!
Every one of them was so excited that their ‘tails’ fickle behind them without caring about their images.
__________ To be Continue __________