Black Feather Society

"You killed me as soon as you found me!!!"

"…"

"…"

The sudden accusation that came out of the blue, left the two men off guard. They were not expecting the conversation to turn that way.

Yu Huang put up his hands in surrender. Not ready to be accused faulty.

"Hey! Young lady… Although we are desperate, we would never kill an innocent life. We had not hands on what happened. Besides, life of a missing soul that is not our system is not under our jurisdiction. We can't do anything to you."

The Governor of the Heaven may have had hands in multiple tragedies. But they were clearly off this one.

Li Ning looked at Yin Shen. The man did not say anything but nodded to what his companion said. She could only sigh.

'So… I was meant to die tonight anyway…'

It was depressing thinking about it. She wondered if her body had been carried into the sea. If anyone would find out that she was missing. And if there would be a funeral for her.

But she quickly pushed those thoughts aside. Her life… was all in the past now. She had more important things to discuss at the moment.

"So… I am two third of my soul. Born into the world in which I was not meant to be. And life three despairful lives… What else did I miss?"

"I think you got all of them." Yu Huang nodded.

"What about the rest of my soul? The remaining one third."

"It has been reincarnated in your original world."

"How's her life there?" Li Ning could not help but feel curious about the other part of hers.

"You'll know it soon." Yin Shen replied.

"Huh?? What do you mean?"

"We are here to take you back to Lan Xing. Once you get there, your souls would reunite and become one. Like it is supposed to be." Yu Huang informed the true motive of their meeting.

But the subject of the plan had her worries.

"Then… Won't I disappear?"

"Not Necessarily." Yin Shen dismissed her worries. "Like he said. You would become one. The Li Ning there and the Li Ning here, both are the you. Just separated for a while. So, neither you nor the one there will disappear."

"…"

Li Ning nodded without a word. Before she had another question.

"What type of world is Lan Xing?"

"You should ask that question to him? He's from there." Yu Huang nodded his head to Yin Shen.

The Shadow Lord closed his eyes without saying anything. Li Ning watched his action but soon was scared to almost death… if that was still possible. The shadow under Yin Shen moved. Becoming larger and larger. It did not give Li Ning even a second to make noise before it fully enveloped her, pulling her into the darkness. Instinctively, the girl cover her shield her head with her hands, closing her eyes tight.

"You can open your eyes now."

Hearing the voice, Li Ning opened her eyes and was blown away by the sight in front of her. She was floating in the air, looking down at what she could call the most beautiful scenery she had ever scene in her life.

The greens of the nature were more vibrant, unharmed by human activities. And the colorful petals of the flowers blooming at the slope of the hills added to the beauty. If there was anything that disturbed Li Ning, it would be the fact that she was seeing the leaves and the branches move to the rhythm set by the wind. But she herself did not feel the gaze of it, reminding her that what she was seeing was an image and that she was not present there.

Before she could fully breath in the beauty of the image, she was shown another image. An image of the lively city. People from different backgrounds, rich and poor, nobles and commoner come to the market to sell and buy their needs and desires…

Li Ning had seen many historical dramas. But none she had seen could depict the beauty and authenticity of the real ancient time. The scene that was before her was unlike those that were shown in those drama.

"It's so beautiful…" She whispered to herself.

"Indeed… It is." Yin Shen agreed as he himself dived into the pool of nostalgia.

"Wait!! Huh???"

Suddenly, Li Ning pulled Yin Shen's sleeve as she pointed at the figures who seemed to be moving in an unscientific way.

"What's that?"

"Oh!... They're cultivators." Yin Shen said as if he was stating a matter of fact.

"…"

'WTF' Li Ning was screaming in her head.

"Cultivators?... So… There are immortals in this world… Like deities and demons? And dragons?" She questioned.

"There used to be. Before the division of the world in to the three realms, there used to be immortals, fighting against the demons and the deities. But after the world has been split into three parts, the deities and demons could only enter the mortal realm through a medium which is usually their worshipers."

"What about the dragons?"

"There shouldn't be any in the mortal realm now…"

Li Ning did not know whether she should be excited or be scared. 'The world I'm supposed to be born into is an ancient, pre historic xianxia1 world!!!! If I'm supposed to survive in this world then…'

"You don't need to worry about surviving in this world. I'll teach you everything you have to know before you are sent here." Yin Shen seemed to have seen the worries in her eyes. "You'll be more powerful than any cultivator of the same age as yourself when I'm done with you."

'Why does it sound like he'll be giving me a hell of tortures?'  Li Ning couldn't shake of the weird feeling. Oh! Only if she knew how on point, she was.

"Have you seen enough? Shall we go back?" Yin Shen suggested to which Li Ning readily agreed.

The next thing she knew, she was back in the all-white space once again, with Yu Huang patiently waiting for her. He looked at her and asked her,

"So… Are you ready to go to Lan Xing now?"

"I am. But there a condition?"

"A condition?"

"What? Do you expect me to just follow your arrangement like that? Excuse me. Let's not forget that I had to live three lives filled with miseries because of your negligence. So… I demand my rightful compensation."

"…"

The speechless Heaven's Governor looked at his companion only for the Shadow Lord to shrug his shoulder with an expression that said 'Not my problem.'

"A compensation you say…" Yu Huang stoked his beardless chin. "What do you want?"

"I want to be able to have access to modern items."

"???"

"Human! Do you know that this is defying the law of nature? How you it is possible for you to have access to modern item in that world?"

"I don't care what type of magic you pull off. This is the compensation I demand. I wouldn't have been known the pleasure of this thing if you guys hadn't made an error to begin with. Now you can't just ask me to leave all these pleasure behind and go to a backward world to play with mud."

"But those this can disrupt flow of nature in Lan Xing. The technology of earth is too advance. What if a gadget that you mindlessly brought out bring harm to the people around you."

"Hey! What even could I bring out that would cause the harm to people?"

"Have you not seen God Must Be Crazy1? A single empty bottle of Coca Cola brought disturbance to the innocent tribesmen. How do expect that nothing of this shorts would not happen because of you?"

"Does God watch movies too?" Li Ning was once again left speechless.

"That's not the point!"

The girl really understood what the god was saying. But she was stubborn and determined to get what she desired. It was the least she could demand in exchange for all the sufferings she had to go through.

"I give you, my word. I would not ask for things that would… disrupt the flow of nature in Lan Xing." Li Ning promised. "All I desire are the modern foods, beauty products, arts products,…" She continued naming all the products she wanted to have access to. "It's not like I'm going to bring out guns and grenades to start a war or something. Besides… This is a xianxia fantasy world. I'm sure it has weapons more dangerous than guns and grenades."

"She's making a point." Yin Shen agreed with her only to get a glare from Yu Huang.

'You are not helping with that.' The eyes were screaming

Not that Yin Shen cared anyway.

"Huhh…." The Governor of the Heaven sighed. At this moment he wanted to forget his identity as a god and curse out loud. "Do you swear that you will not cause troubles with these things?"

Li Ning made the three finger salute sign and promised, "I just want to live a more comfortable life there. I promise not to cause harm with whatever I use there."

"Okay." Yu Huang finally agree after she gave him her word.

He then brought out a translucent chip and gave it Li Ning. The girl observed the small chip.

"That is an artificial system from an advance world. It has been connected to earth and Lan Xing. I've also added the restriction. As for how it works, you should figure out how it works. I am not_"

Before he could finish, the chip was absorbed into Li Ning. The girl felt a slight burning pain in her head followed by a throbbing ache. But the pain passed away soon and when she opened her eyes, she saw a screen before her.

[INTERSTELLAR EXCHANGE SYTEM ACTIVATING…]

[INTERSTELLAR EXCHANGE STYLEM ACTIVATED]

[BINDING TO THE HOST_ LI NING]

[BINDING COMPLETED]

Li Ning saw the portal change with many slots to choose from. Food, beverage, beauty products, and many more. She entered the food section and selected a chip. But when she was about to exchange it, she saw the biggest problem.

[BALANCE: 0]

Sighing, she left the problem for later to figure out.

"So… As you got your demanded compensation, can we proceed to send you to Lan Xing."

"We are going there now?" Li Ning asked before she turned to Yin Shen. "Didn't you say that you'd teach me everything? Make me supper powerful or something?"

"We'll do that when we get there." The Shadow Lord replied.

"Oh!... Then let's go."

Yin Shen and Yu Huang shared a look before the man in black nodded. For Li Ning, it was as if she was blinded by a flashing light. The only thing she saw was brightness and then nothing at once. And the next thing she notice, she was in front of an ancient looking structure. A tower.

It had a plaque that was written in beautiful font of traditional Chinese.

"Tower of Shadow"