Chapter 1

At midnight, a crescent moon hung obliquely in the sky, a few stars twinkling on and off. At the foot of the mountain, a cold pond reflected the stars and the moon, and the occasional chirping of cicadas made the surroundings even more tranquil and serene.

A convoy slowly passed along the mountain path, the wheels rolling and breaking the silence of the moonlit night.

This convoy seemed different from ordinary convoys, mainly because the guards appeared to be all women.

The curtain of a car window was lifted, revealing a young girl with a tender yet beautiful face. Her bright, large eyes stared curiously at the pond for a moment before she suddenly asked, "Master, Master, is that the Ding Pond?"

Her voice was as clear as a nightingale's, and it startled the roosting birds, which fluttered up into the air.

Beside the girl was a young woman with a light veil covering her face. She had been leaning back with her eyes closed, but upon hearing the girl's question, she opened her eyes slightly, glanced out the window with a dazed look, and sighed, "That's the Ding Pond."

The girl asked curiously, "Isn't it said to be a sacred pond, always guarded? There's not even a ghost in sight."

"Sacred pond? Just a story," the young woman replied with a mocking smile. "It was once guarded because the pond was formed when a ding (ancient Chinese tripod) fell, and the water carried the spiritual energy that overflowed from the ding. Bathing in the pond was beneficial for cultivation, so it was monopolized by the royal family. Over a thousand years have passed, and the spiritual energy has dissipated, making it just an ordinary pond. The royal family no longer has the interest to maintain it, and it has been abandoned for nearly a hundred years."

The girl seemed somewhat unwilling, "Really, there's no spiritual energy left at all?"

"None," the young woman glanced at her and said with a laugh, "You just want to take a bath, don't you?"

Her thoughts exposed, the girl smiled mischievously, "Master understands me. We've been traveling for a whole day and night, and I feel sticky..."

The young woman, not in a good mood, said, "Your cultivation is already free from dust. Where did you get sticky from?"

The girl's eyes twinkled, and her smile took on a seductive quality as she leaned against her master, "I'm just feeling sticky from thinking about men..."

The girl was only thirteen or fourteen, still retaining a childlike innocence, but in that moment, her demeanor shifted, revealing a dangerous allure that should not belong to her age. Her words were also far from what a normal girl her age should say. However, the young woman only laughed, not at all angry, and said, "Alright, you just love cleanliness. Hmm... take a short break, and I'll go with you."

If an outsider saw them, they would know these two were not from a proper household.

The convoy stopped, and the female guards dispersed, subtly controlling all the paths leading to the pond. The master held the girl's hand, and the two stepped out of the car barefoot. Under the moonlight, their clothes fluttered, and their slender, beautiful figures gracefully walked on the moonlit path, creating a dreamlike beauty.

The light veil fell onto the grass, and two exquisite, lustrous bodies slowly entered the pond. Even though the day's journey had not tired them, the coolness of the pond water still made them sigh in comfort.

"Master..." The girl gently caressed her arm and said softly, "The nine dings have stabilized the world for a thousand years. Can our goal really be achieved?"

"The dings are just objects. If they were truly so stable, there wouldn't be the current situation where major sects have become too powerful to control," the young woman replied calmly, lifting her veil to wash it in the water, revealing a face of stunning beauty.

In fact, the so-called master was still young, her jade-like face looking no more than twenty-six or twenty-seven, but she had a maturity that her disciple lacked. Having experienced the trials of blood and fire in the martial world and bearing the responsibility of managing a sect, she was from a demonic sect, and her aura of heroism, nobility, mystery, and seduction were perfectly blended, forming a unique presence.

The girl looked at her with envy, "Master, you are so beautiful. Many men must have gone crazy for you in the past, right?"

"Ha ha... men are all scoundrels. They only go crazy for what they can't get. So Chan, remember, emotions are just toys. You can play with them, but don't take them seriously, or you'll be the one to go crazy."

The girl, though clever, was still too young to fully understand.

"Besides, seducing men is something others can do for us. You and I bear the weight of the sect, so we don't need to do such things ourselves." The young woman smiled and touched her disciple's smooth chest, continuing, "Whoever looks at you, I'll gouge out their eyes. That's what you should do."

As she spoke, she suddenly sensed something and looked up at the sky.

About ten zhang (about 30 meters) in the air, the air distorted strangely, followed by a loud thunder and a strong wind. In the midst of the thunder, a hole appeared, and a figure suddenly dropped out of it.

The moment the figure appeared, the wind and thunder vanished, as if it had all been a strange illusion.

The master and the girl stared in shock as the figure screamed and fell from the sky, about to hit the water. Just before impact, the figure seemed to see someone by the pond, eyes brightening, and shouted, "Help!" before splashing into the water and sinking with a gurgle.

The master and the girl looked at each other, staring at each other's exposed, white chests for a while, then turned their gaze to where the figure had fallen, their eyes filled with a fierce light.

Where the figure had fallen, only ripples remained, bubbling up.

******

Xue Mu was the operations manager of a music agency in the country, known for launching a failed girl group. Although most people hadn't heard of this failed group, Xue Mu was somewhat famous in the industry, considered a pioneer in the wave of idol manufacturing. He had a good income, and his life was quite comfortable, often playing with外围女 (women on the periphery) and young girls with star dreams.

In his free time, Xue Mu enjoyed collecting antiques. Today, he had found a small bronze piece, no bigger than a fingernail, and spent the whole night studying it without much success. He accidentally cut his hand, and "whoosh," he disappeared from his home.

Having read many novels in his spare time, he was familiar with the concept of time travel. Since he found himself in a strange, remote area in the sky, Xue Mu knew he had encountered an inexplicable time travel.

Heaven help him, he had never expected this. He had just about managed to get close to a young celebrity, and now he was thrown into this...

He also realized that time travel had no fixed coordinates. With good luck, one might appear in a beautiful woman's bed, but with bad luck, one might end up in a septic tank and drown. In his case, appearing in the sky, he wasn't sure if it was good or bad luck, but at least the water below would prevent him from falling to his death.

As these thoughts raced through his mind, he reached the water's surface. Only then did he notice two women by the pond, seemingly bathing.

Before he could see what they looked like, Xue Mu only had time to shout, "Help!" before he hit the water with a heavy splash. The impact was like being hit by a heavy hammer, shaking his internal organs and causing him to spit out a mouthful of blood, and he immediately passed out.

If no one had saved him, he would have drowned.

The woman by the pond slapped the water, and a jet of water shot up, lifting him out of the pond. The water then gently carried him to the two women, a display of incredible skill.

"Strange, such a strong toxic aura..." The two women, originally planning to gouge out an eye, frowned as Xue Mu approached, closing their pores with their inner energy.

This man emitted a strange toxic aura that even they, with their extensive knowledge of poisons from the demonic sect, could not identify.

The girl, Chan, stared at Xue Mu's short hair and murmured, "He's a monk? Could he have been poisoned by a new poison developed by a fellow practitioner?"

The young woman placed her hand on Xue Mu's wrist and carefully examined him, her eyes widening in surprise, "Strange..."

"What is it, Master?"

"This man's body is filled with at least a thousand types of toxins, from his skin to his organs and even his vital points. Many of these are highly contagious, unheard of... In other words, if he were to enter a city, he would be a source of plague, turning a hundred miles into a dead zone within days."

Chan was stunned, "But he's still alive?"

"Even Zhao Daxia, who eats poison for a living, would have died long ago if he were poisoned like this. Yet this man is not only alive but also healthy, just injured from the impact."

Chan, recalling his strange appearance, felt uneasy, "Could this man be more powerful than Zhao Daxia? But how could such a powerful person be injured by falling into a pond?"

The young woman withdrew her hand from Xue Mu's wrist, her eyes filled with incomprehension, "That's the strangest part... He has no cultivation at all, he's just an ordinary person!"