Early that morning, just waking up, Qu Duyue, still half-asleep, immediately pulled her phone from under her pillow. She opened Weibo and searched for the hot topic #WhiteDragonKingAppearsOverPacific#. Clicking on it, she found a short video, only 10 seconds long. In the blurry footage, a long white shadow could vaguely be seen coiling through the clouds.
The video was filmed by a tourist traveling from Huaxia to America. As the plane crossed the Pacific, this person was filming the sea of clouds and happened to capture this scene.
Unfortunately, after only a few brief seconds, the long white streak sank into the sea of clouds below and vanished.
Qu Duyue had seen this news last night before going to bed. At that time, it was at the bottom of the hot search rankings. After a night of "hard work," it had climbed into the top 10, and the comments had exploded.
“Divine dragon revealed, good luck for the second half of the year!”
“This garbage news is worth five cents at most, no more.”
“The Pacific Ocean has a fish, its name is dragon. A big dragon that can't be stewed in one pot.”
“Must be some xianxia drama about to be released, trying to create hype beforehand, right?”
The comments largely leaned towards it being a special effect, but Qu Duyue knew the video wasn't fake. The unidentified object was indeed a creature, but it wasn't a dragon; it was a Snow Jiao.
Jiao resemble dragons but have a much lower bloodline. However, they are very rare on Earth, where spiritual energy is also becoming increasingly scarce.
The reason Qu Duyue knew this was because she wasn't an ordinary person. She was a cultivator.
In Huaxia, the number of cultivators was neither too many nor too few. They were extraordinary individuals who lived in harmony with ordinary people, and if they interfered with the lives of ordinary people, they would be severely punished. For example, with this Snow Jiao hot topic, more than half of the cultivators could recognize it, but no one dared to post the "scientific truth" in the comments. Otherwise, one moment they'd be commenting, the next they'd be "invited for tea" by the Special Department.
The Special Department, full name the Special Incident Investigation Department, was the unit Qu Duyue worked for, specializing in handling supernatural events and managing all "extraordinary individuals" in Huaxia.
Three years ago, Qu Duyue got into big trouble while on a mission. She was currently suspended indefinitely. Otherwise, she wouldn't be idly scrolling through Weibo like this.
“Ding—!”
Qu Duyue was focused on reading the comments when her phone rang. The screen displayed "Antique."
She pressed the answer button: “Director Qu!”
Qu Song, her second elder brother, was also the Director of the Special Department. He was her direct superior, born at the end of the Song Dynasty, a true antique, nearly 800 years old.
“Just woke up?” The voice on the other end revealed dissatisfaction. Without waiting for Qu Duyue to reply, he continued, “Come to headquarters.”
“Are the results of my punishment out?”
“Come here first, then we'll talk.”
“Alright, Director!”
Hanging up the phone, Qu Duyue quickly got out of bed, washed her face, brushed her hair, and bolted straight out the door.
The Qu family home was located in the suburbs. It was a large, self-built three-story villa, big enough to house their entire family.
The Qu family was a cultivation family. Qu Duyue's parents had six children. The eldest son, born during the Tang Dynasty, was named Qu Tang. The second son, born during the Song Dynasty, was called Qu Song. And so, Qu Duyue's five elder brothers were named Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing, in order of their birth during those respective dynasties.
One couldn't really blame her father for giving her such a casual name, as this was a tradition of the Khuc family; her father's name was Khuc Xuan Thu. According to this tradition, her name should have been Khuc Hoa Ha, but as the sole female descendant in the eighth generation of the Khuc family, this small exception wasn't considered too much.
— —
In the Special Department's meeting room, senior officials sat around the table, their faces clouded with worry.
“Minister Khuc.” Khuc Duyet entered and stood still, looking at the handsome man in a dark blue Zhongshan suit, who was seated at the head of the table.
Tapping a fountain pen against the table, Khuc Tong asked, “Have you seen the video?”
Khuc Duyet knew he was referring to the snow jiao, and she nodded.
“A Duyet, look at this.” Secretary Bach stepped forward, holding a palm-sized jade box. Inside was a piece that looked like an ice crystal—it was a scale from the snow jiao.
Upon seeing it, Khuc Duyet’s expression shifted slightly. The spiritual energy concentration reached level seven; it wasn't an Earth creature. This snow jiao came from the Three Thousand Worlds… an ancient cultivation world!
The addition of the word “ancient” meant that world had no technology, only cold weapons and magic, similar to the worlds described in classic xianxia novels, where cultivators and demons roamed everywhere.
“After watching the video on Weibo, we immediately deployed surveillance satellites.” Secretary Bach held a remote control and pressed play.
Khuc Duyet looked at the screen on the meeting room wall. Above the calm sea, a massive centipede-shaped rift suddenly appeared, and the snow jiao emerged from within it.
This must have been some kind of high-level magic capable of tearing through the void. But what surprised Khuc Duyet was that a very handsome man in ancient attire was standing on the snow jiao’s head. In his hand, he held an egg the size of a ball, and with a flick of his wrist, the egg dropped into the Pacific Ocean.
“Realizing the gravity of the situation, Minister Khuc went to the scene overnight and searched for the egg.” Secretary Bach pointed to the wooden box on the conference table.
It was a box made from thousand-year-old lightning-struck wood, capable of suppressing evil spirits.
Khuc Duyet looked at her Second Brother: “Minister, what is this egg?”
“We don’t know yet. Later, we’ll invite a few ‘experts’ to study it.” Khuc Tong looked back at her with a meaningful look, “There are many possibilities regarding this matter. Perhaps it’s just trash disposal, or perhaps it’s an omen of invasion. But one thing is certain: this egg is extremely dangerous. If it had been retrieved ten days or half a month later, more than half of the Pacific Ocean’s creatures would have perished. This is no trivial matter.”
Khuc Duyet immediately understood that her temporary suspension was over; she had a new mission: to infiltrate that ancient cultivation world and investigate this matter. Her spirits brightened: “When can I depart?”
Khuc Tong: “Immediately! The helicopter is waiting on the building’s rooftop.”
Khuc Duyet rubbed her hands together eagerly, then turned and left.
Although the intruder had left immediately, the torn void would need some time to fully recover. Because it was accidentally photographed by tourists and discovered in time, the Special Department had a secret method to trace back to the other side of the rift and send someone through. And because the width of the rift had narrowed significantly, the cultivation level required for someone to pass through couldn’t be too high. This person also needed extremely strong survival skills coupled with extensive investigative experience.
Looking across the entire Special Department, there was no candidate more suitable than Khuc Duyet.
“Wait a moment,” Khúc Tống called her back. “That rift can accommodate two cultivators at the Spirit Sea realm. You take him with you.”
Khúc Duyệt looked in the direction the pen was pointing. In that corner, a young man was sitting, looking like a refined, fair-skinned student.
Seeing Khúc Duyệt assessing him, he stood up and walked over to her, gracefully and politely extending his hand: “Senior Sister Khúc, hello. I am Jiang Shianwei. You can call me Xiao Wei from now on.”
“Hello,” Khúc Duyệt shook his hand and caught the scent of medicinal herbs, accumulated over time. Ah, a pill refiner.
“Director, you know I always work alone. I don’t need help.” Khúc Duyệt secretly pouted, not wanting any additional burdens.
“He’s not going along to help you,” Khúc Tống said indifferently. “He’s responsible for supervision. Because there are no witnesses, you always have all sorts of excuses. Listen carefully. If you mess up again this time, just wait until you get back to face the tribunal for abnormals.”
Khúc Duyệt: “……” Are you really my brother?
She turned around sullenly.
“A-Yue,” Khúc Tống called her back.
Khúc Duyệt turned her head: “Does the Director have any other instructions?”
Khúc Tống hesitated, then lowered his voice: “Be careful with everything.”
She pursed her lips and smiled, revealing deep, sweet dimples, and made a ‘victory’ gesture.
— —
Khúc Duyệt led Jiang Shianwei out of the meeting room and took the elevator straight to the rooftop helipad.
The two sat in the back seats. The helicopter took off, and Khúc Duyệt took an eye mask from her storage bracelet and put it on, then leaned back to rest.
The helicopter flew at normal speed while still within national territory. Once it entered the Pacific Ocean, its speed was comparable to a missile.
When they saw they were nearing their destination, Jiang Shianwei quietly asked: “Sister Khúc, do we need to change into robes?”
“Not yet,” Khúc Duyệt stretched. “But your short hair won’t do. You’ll be mistaken for a demon. In ancient worlds, the Human race believes hair is the essence of a person and cannot be cut.”
“It seems Senior Sister often travels to other worlds.” Jiang Shianwei took out a vitality pill and swallowed it. His short hair suddenly grew long, like flourishing seaweed, thick and jet-black. In an instant, he transformed into a handsome man straight out of a comic book.
“Oh, right, Director Khúc was just joking. I don’t have any mission to supervise you… I’m not even from the Special Department.”
“I know.”
Khúc Duyệt knew perfectly well that this was a rich young master who had paid to travel to another world, and she was his bodyguard. Even if Khúc Tống sent someone to supervise her, he wouldn’t send the weakest among the cultivators, a pill refiner.
His surname is Jiang, so he must be a young master from the Medicine God Valley.
When the Special Department investigated cross-border cases, many cultivation clans always wanted to pay to send their children along for training, but they were all refused. However, Medicine God Valley was different; they ranked among the top 10 wealthiest abnormals globally.
Khúc Duyệt couldn’t help but ask: “How much did your Medicine God Valley promise Director Khúc?”
Jiang Shianwei showed a hint of embarrassment: “Ten years of free pills for the Special Department. If I return safely and without incident, then another fifty years.”
Khúc Duyệt was slightly surprised. No wonder Second Brother agreed. Everyone knew that Medicine God Valley’s pills were hard to come by. This is investing their core capital. Are they planning to groom him as an heir?
“Rest assured, you’ll return safely.” Qu Duyue pulled down her blindfold, looking at him seriously. “First and foremost, you must be obedient and listen to me. We’ll be gone for two or three months at the fastest, two or three years at the slowest, and if our luck is bad, it could be several decades. Furthermore, we’ll have no way to contact our families there. If you want to return, you can only rely on me. Understand?”
Jiang Tiandui smiled: “I have no experience, so of course I’ll listen to everything Sister Qu says.”
Qu Duyue smiled and removed her blindfold: “Then everything will be fine.”
The smile on Jiang Tiandui’s face gradually faded. Outwardly, he appeared polite, but inwardly, he was seething with frustration. He didn’t understand. If he wanted to train in another realm, his clan possessed magic artifacts capable of tearing through the void. Why did they have to spend a fortune begging the Special Department, only for him to play the role of a little brother?
What truly baffled him was that his grandfather, a man who always looked down on others, had repeatedly instructed him hundreds of times to obediently follow Qu Duyue and learn from her.
In terms of age, Qu Duyue was only three years older than him.
In terms of cultivation, both were at the Consciousness Sea realm, with neither superior to the other.
In terms of family background, although her father was Qu Chunqiu, a master comparable to his grandfather, the Qu family did not accept disciples and relied solely on bloodline inheritance. Their overall strength and accumulated wealth were far inferior to their Medicine God Valley.
What skills could he possibly learn from Qu Duyue?
However, in response to his defiance, Elder Jiang merely glared and said: “You brat, you know nothing about the Qu family and this Qu Duyue.”
The helicopter’s speed sharply decreased; Qu Duyue knew they had arrived.
After it stopped, she looked down to investigate. On the sea surface, four ships were docked, all belonging to the Special Department. In the center of the four ships was a vortex more than ten meters in diameter. It was the rift left by the previous tearing open of space, currently being prevented from closing and forcibly kept open.
“Hurry, the rift is about to close!” Someone on the deck of one of the ships waved at Qu Duyue.
“You’ve all worked hard, senior brothers!” Qu Duyue also waved her arm. Then she whistled, and a fluorescent rope shot out from her storage ring. She tied one end around her own wrist and the other around Jiang Tiandui’s. As she tied it, she explained: “This is normally used to capture criminals, but now we’re using it to prevent us from being separated when we pass through the spatial rift.”
Jiang Tiandui nodded, glancing at the vortex below. One side of the vortex was the sea, the other an ancient, unknown world of cultivation. He couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy.
“Don’t be scared, just think of it as traveling abroad.” After securing the fluorescent rope, Qu Duyue patted his shoulder reassuringly, then immediately pushed Jiang Tiandui out of the helicopter cabin and jumped down after him.
In the context of this story, the author sometimes uses "tu dao" and sometimes "tu xian" to generally refer to the study of the Dao and the cultivation of magical/immortal arts. Those who study and cultivate are called *tu dao zhe*. *Tu xian* / *tu dao zhe* are categorized by their specialties, such as: *dan tu* (pill cultivators), *yue tu* (music cultivators), *jian tu* (sword cultivators), *dan yao shi* (alchemists), *zhu jian shi* (sword smiths), and so on.
*Shijie*: This is how Jiang Shandui addresses Qu Yue, consistent with the original work. Even in modern times, *tu dao zhe* in Huaxia refer to each other as *shixiong* (senior brother), *shijie* (senior sister), *shimei* (junior sister), and so forth.