A woman with long flowing hair looked out and over the balcony of her home. Her daughter sat with her flute in the garden outside, happily playing a child’s tune.

The woman took a sip of her herbal tea, smiling at the warmth of the sunny afternoon. She was young, her face showing no signs of ageing and her body lithe from a life of exercise. Her features were uncommonly beautiful and when she smiled at her daughter, it gave her a mischievous air. She wore a hanfu, a white and red dress with long flowing sleeves and a red sash tied around its waist.

She lifted her tea to take another sip, pausing when a feeling came over her. A slight echo traveled through the qi of the world as an ancient barrier started to break down.

The cup fell from her hand, shattering against the floor. She felt a calling that she never thought she would experience again.

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“Lady Lin, are you alright?” A female servant who had been standing nearby moved closer to her in worry.

She ignored the servant, instead her gaze finding her daughter again.

The boundaries were still too strong for her to travel through with her physical body, but she must answer the call that she hadn’t heard for a thousand years.

She called upon the qi of the land, infusing her spirit and a small piece of herself with it. Then her gaze landed on the flute that she had gifted her daughter, the flute that her daughter loved with all her heart.

She surrounded that flute with her power, her spirit, her qi and self. She would not leave her daughter completely alone in this world.

With a single tear flowing down her cheek, she separated her soul from her mortal form to follow a call a thousand years old.

The servant cried out as Lady Lin fell from her chair, collapsing to the ground. The little girl stopped her music at the sound, turning to look at where her mother should be watching her.