By the time, more spectators had arrived Zhi Yan had already swiftly removed the servant girl's outer layer and wrapped herself in it.

"YOU!" Zhi Yan turned around to see a matronly woman dressed extravagantly in an assortment of colors pointing at her with a fan. As soon as they made eye contact, the color drained from the woman's face. "Zhi Yan?"

"Madam Zhi, please calm down. It isn't good for your health," murmured a servant next to her to which the woman closed her eyes and took a deep breath in. Madam Zhi, huh?

"Greetings Madam Zhi," She said calmly in contrast to Madam Zhi whose color had still not returned entirely to her face. Zhi Yan looked down at the servant girl still slumped on the ground at her feet. "It appears I have surprised her so much after getting up from my nap. I apologize for the commotion Madam Zhi."

This seemed to help the woman recover from her initial shock. "N-nap, you say?"

Zhi Yan nodded. "By the well. Though I don't remember much prior to it. It appears I am still quite tired, so I ask that Madam Zhi excuse me for my leave." She smiled at the three accompanying servants next to the woman. "Who will escort me to my room?"

Not one servant responded either only looking down or at Madam Zhi. The woman herself had an indiscernible look on her face as she looked at Zhi Yan. Zhi Yan stared back with a sleepy calmness that seemed to only anger the woman. "...A-Lei, take the young miss to her room." She finally bit out.

A short scrawny servant immediately straightened up and gestured for Zhi Yan to follow him. Zhi Yan bowed her head at Madam Zhi before leisurely breezing past the woman, not missing how the woman's hand clenched onto the fan in her as if about to break it.

******

Finally, the two turned a corner and entered a small dilapidated courtyard. Leaves lay strewn all across the stone tiles, an old bamboo broom sat leaning against a stone table and a small seat. She noted that there were chips in the stone walls and missing tiles from the eaves hanging above the doorway. "This is the young miss's residence," A-Lei said clearing his throat.

They stood standing looking at one another, awkwardly on A-Lei's half with Zhi Yan's eyes slowly raking over him, judging him. "Are you not going to open the door for me?"

"Ah, right! Of course, of course! Here you are." The inside was even worse. There was barely even any furniture, except a bed, a rickety wooden chair, and a desk. Even the cobwebs that littered every nook and cranny were covered in a fine layer of dust. Walking over to the bed, Zhi Yan could see discolored patches sewn on the cloth on the thin bedspreads.

A-Lei watched on nervously from the corner of his eye. He had never truly interacted with the Young Miss before but he had heard the rumors. Rumors were that Zhi Yan was a spineless timid mouse that had no qi, no talent, and thus no use. An unfortunate product of Master Zhi's first marriage. Before, A-Lei assumed the rumors to be true as she kept mostly to her residence quietly agreeing with everything said about her. But now it seemed that the Zhi Mansion gossip had missed some key pieces of context. Her silence was neither timid nor obedient rather a sort of detached aloofness. And despite her appearance, she held a serene calmness about her that exuded confidence.

"Why is my room not cleaned?" Zhi Yan had sat down on the bed and was inspecting something in between her fingertips. "Who was supposed to clean it?"

"A-Lei does not know." A-Lei internally cringed. It wasn't his fault, he was only supposed to bring her over! "But if the Young Miss needs, I can send someone over t-"

"No need." Her voice albeit quiet and slow was clear in the way it cut through the silence. "I just want to know. Curiosity, that's all."

"A-Lei can go look and report back this afternoon?"

Zhi Yan hummed now occupied with the patches on the blanket. "Bring the afternoon tea as well."

A-Lei nodded before bowing bidding her farewell. He sighed in his heart; he had a feeling that the manor was about to get a lot more interesting.

******

As soon as Zhi Yan heard the yard door close, she stood up and walked over to the cracked mirror sitting on the desk. An apathetic face stared back at her. The color had returned to her cheeks though from the way her now dried hair hung in front of her face, she could see some truth in the ghost accusation. She had phoenix-shaped eyes and a round little mouth that sat daintily upon her face giving her a languid sort of look when she gazed at herself. In terms of stature, she was of average height similar to how she was in her original body. Interestingly enough, even her name was the same. The only main difference was the numerous amount of scars and callouses that littered her hands and arms compared to her previous lack of any because of...qi.

She flicked two fingers in a quick swiping motion at a leaf on the windowsill. The leaf lay on the windowsill, unaffected. Then she tried the tiny comb on the desk. Nothing. Flexing at her hands, she could only feel hairs and whispers circulating within her meridians. That's right, if I had any substantial amount of qi it wouldn't have been so hard to get out of that disgusting well.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

After trying a couple more times with several different objects around the room though she would deny it affecting her in any way, Zhi Yan finally sat down again, drained. It felt odd like her body was empty, void of something that should have been there. Yet, she reminded herself, many people lived like this. Zhi Yan debated whether or not to restart her cultivation journey but after pacing about the room, threw away the idea. After all, the mortal experience was not defined by qi.

Satisfied with her conclusion, she stood up once more and pushed open the doors to the yard. She absentmindedly waved her hand at the broom and unsurprisingly nothing happened, reminding Zhi Yan of her current situation. Undeterred she walked over to the broom in the corner and began sweeping.

Right as she finished, a loud clanking came from the bronze door knockers and A-Lei stepped through the doors. A look of surprise adorned his face seeing Zhi Yan sitting outside. "Young Miss, I have your afternoon tea and your answers..." He trailed off, his statement turning to more of a question as he looked around the now cleanly swept courtyard.

Zhi Yan waved a hand, lazily urging the man to continue as she rested her head on her chin.

"Well," The shorter man said setting the tray down on the table. "To answer the Young Miss's question your servants are Qiu Rong and Pan Li."

At the two names, a sharp stab of pain flared up in her chest before dissipating just as quickly. Huh. She took a sip of the tea, commenting it was barely lukewarm at best to which A-Lei visibly cringed. "And where are they?"

He looked down, and a bead of sweat dripped down his neck. "I..."

She tilted her head before taking another sip. There was something about her gaze that unsettled him. It was blank, devoid of all emotion yet he could feel it as if peeling him apart like a tangerine. No, it was more invasive. He felt like she was looking down upon a specimen that she was about to skin. "...This servant ventures that they might be at Young Master Zhi's residence."

Zhi Yan was quiet, staring at the piles of leaves swept to the sides of the yard, thinking. "Leave me be."

As soon as he shut the door, she closed her eyes concentrating on following the flicker of qi that had flared up before. She felt her slowly surroundings fade away as Zhi Yan allowed herself to be pulled away by the streams of energy. When she opened her eyes again, she was in a plain filled with white flowers with a figure kneeling in the distance. The culprit.

Taking her time, she walked closer until she was standing in front of the figure. The figure on the ground looked up with a look of surprise, and then realization appeared on their face. It was Zhi Yan, the original body's soul. "I have passed on, haven't I?"

Zhi Yan nodded, disinterestedly. "Well?"

"Well?" The girl parroted, confused.

"What do you want? Revenge? Fame? Love?"

"No." She looked down at her hands, almost in an ashamed manner. "I-I couldn't possibly want anything."

The muscle above Zhi Yan's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. Weak yet, cowardly. "No. You do. You barely have any qi, yet you use the remaining drop of it to pull me here."

Embarrassed, the mortal Zhi Yan twisted her clothes in her hands. Finally, she whispered more to herself, "I've always wanted a quiet and more comfortable life. I don't want to be bothered by them ever again."

Zhi Yan's eyes flickered about the space surrounding the girl as tendrils of white smoke left her body. But it was not the white smoke that caught her eye. Ropes of thorny red smoke coiled around the girl and she watched as the girl unknowingly clawed at her throat as if trying to relieve herself. Pity she had so little qi born into such an unfortunate circumstance. Mortals were really their own biggest downfall. "I can see remnants of resentful energy on you. It traps you."

The girl let out a sharp laugh, a sad and pained one. "I'd be a fool not to hate them."

"Do you not want to kill them?"

"What could you do with a body lacking in qi? Remember, Immortal Zhi Yan you are a mortal now."

The twitch above her eyebrow was back. "Revenge is the safest way to dispel resentful energy. Is that your true wish, mortal?"

A wry laugh. "I guess I'm only human after all. But revenge isn't the best way, is it?"

"No. Though for you and your soul," Zhi Yan stepped forward and pressed her pointer finger on her forehead. In a burst of white light, the girl shattered into a thousand tiny little shards like pieces of a ceramic vase before a gust of wind swept her away. "Forgetting is."

Now it was only her in the field. Humming she looked around the field of flowers, ignoring the biting pain that slowly crept its way around her body like the tendrils of smoke.

"I will fulfill your wish. May Old Lady Meng take care of you." Zhi Yan whispered into the wind. And then with a wave of her robes, she herself disappeared in a flash of light.

******

Later that night on the other side of the Zhi Manor, a teacup shattered against the wall.

"THOSE USELESS SAVAGES COULD NOT EVEN GET RID ONE GIRL! ONE STUPID AND WEAK GIRL!" screamed Madam Zhi. She was a scary sight to behold, her face white with the rage that she had to suppress the whole entire day.

"M-Madam, Madam Zhi please calm down." cried one of her main attendants flinched as the woman sent a comb flying at the nearest servant girl. Most of the servants cowered in fear by the wall.

"I want this matter handled before the trials and Kong-er's birthday. So find me the girl. Am I clear?" The woman spat out. Immediately, the guards and the rest of the servants nodded and hurriedly dismissed themselves from the room.

"Madam Zhi, you need not worry." murmured an elderly servant named Rong Mei in her ear. She was one of Madam Zhi's servants that she had brought over when she married into the Zhi family. "What could that weak girl do anyway?"

Madam Zhi sat down with a huff, chest still heaving up and down from her previous outburst. "I can't help but worry. I don't even know how she got out of that well." Groaning, she rubbed her temple and sipped on the tea handed to her. Rong Mei had sat down next to her and was massaging her shoulders.

After a second, her voice harsh and cold echoed in the now-empty room. "No, I've made it this far."

******

"MADAM ZHI! MADAM ZHI!"

"What is it?" The woman had angrily slammed her parlor doors open startling the two guards who immediately took a step back and bowed. "Spit it out!"

"Reporting to Madam Zhi, the girl she's..." They looked at each other nervously. One of them bit the bullet. "She's gone."