"Young master, please wake up"

A voice rings in Feng He's head. Unable to recognize it, he ignores it. He then feels a hand come and shake him lightly as if trying to wake up a small child.

"Please wake up. You'll be late if you don't."

"Late? Late for what?"

Feng He slowly opened his eyes, shifting to a young boy standing by the side of his bed.

"Young master, it's time to get up and meet with Master Huang Chao. He wishes to discuss the training of the disciples with you."

Feng He scrunched up his eyes, "Disciples? What is this kid talking about?"

Moving his hand to his eyes, Feng He sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. The clothing Feng he was wearing was that of ancient China. Feng He was not very versed in history and was unable to identify what era or dynasty it was from. Looking at the boy next to him, the boy was young, most likely 14 or 15 years old, and had a long ponytail with beautiful brown hair.

The young boy helped Feng He up, leading him over to a washbasin, and handed him a rag.

Feng he takes the rag delicately, thinking about what kind of world this is. "This world seems familiar in a way, but I can't quite put my finger on it."

Once Feng He finished washing his face-off, the disciple helped him get dressed in his clothes, a white undershirt with a black over robe with beautiful red flower designs crawling from the bottom to the top. The Over robe buttons over the front, going to a point towards his knees. The back split in two down the middle, reaching the back of his feet. His sleeves are cuffed, with golden buttons holding them together. White trousers were put on under the robe A belt is added at the very end, tying the whole outfit together.

The young boy moved to the corner of the room while Feng He was slipping on some black boots, grabbing a scabbard with a sword, "Here young master, your sword Bing Shandian."

Feng He took the sword delicately, fastening it to his side thinking about the sword's name. "The swords name is the same as Xue Lan's sword In "The Grandmaster of Unusual means solves a murder. Don't tell me..."

But before he could finish his thought, a loud scream rang through the building, causing Feng He and the disciple to jump. Both Feng He and the disciple ran towards where the scream came from.

Feng He thought hard about what was happening and started to piece more of the puzzle together, "This has to be a coincidence. There is no way I am in the novel."

Racing through the halls, Feng He sees many paintings in the style of ancient China hanging on the walls in between the red pillars. Many showed women gardening in grand greenhouses. The quality of the paintings meant the family he was with were likely wealthy.

They both rounded a corner and were met with two young maids running in the opposite direction.

One of the maid's faces lit up when she saw Feng He, "Young master! Young master! It's horrible! Master Huang Chao, he..." Her face immediately dropped thinking about what they had come across. Feng He could tell, whatever it was, it wasn't very nice.

"Girls, please calm down."

The two girls closed their eyes and took some deep breaths. When they both finally calmed down, Feng He continued.

"I need you two to take me where Master Huang Chao is. Don't worry, I'll keep you safe from whatever is there."

The maids nodded and began to walk back in the direction they came. They all came to a courtyard and began to cross over to the opposite building. It was small, most likely only holding one room. As they came closer to the door, the maids slowed before coming to a complete stop.

The smallest pointed to the building, shaking, "In there... Master, he..."

She didn't finish, on the verge of puking,

Feng He walked up the little set of stairs that lead up and came up to a set of large doors. Taking a deep breath, he pushed open the doors.

"Oh dear god, what the hell happened?"

In front of Feng He was a horrific scene. The little office was in shambles, with papers and books scattered around the floor. There where blood splatters all around the room, the heaviest of which leading up to a big desk in the middle. The desk was the most horrifying. A man sat behind it, or at lease, what was left of him. The blood seemed to be completely drained from the body. The eyes were not in their sockets either. They were hanging down from where they would usually sit in the head, now sitting by the mouth upside down. The hair was pulled in all directions with many spots not having any at all.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Feng He now understood why the girls were so terrified. The scene in front of him almost made him want to run away with his tail in between his legs. But, he also couldn't look away from it either. It as if he was in a trace at the sight.

Feng He's thoughts raced, "What has happened here? What could do something like this? It's like a vampire stormed in."

He turned to the girls and saw that they are about to run away again. Before they could, Feng He was determined to learn everything he could about what happened.

"Girls, I need to know what happened. Do you think you will be able to explain it to me?"

Feng he gave them a slight smile to try to reassure them. The maids turned to each other and nodded.

The smallest came forward and began to speak, "We both were coming to give Master Huang Chao his breakfast. He had said that he would be staying in his office overnight to prepare for the new disciples coming in from Zhenxing. He said to just bring his breakfast to his office. But when we got here, we saw a dark shadow run out of the room, leaving the door open. When I and Yin Dan reached it, we saw the state Master Huang Chao was in. We just ran and hoped that we would run into you or master Huang Bingwen."

"Huang Bingwen?!"

"What has happened here?!"

A young man, around his mid to late '20s, came rushing over to the little group in the middle of the courtyard.

"Xue Lan, what has happened? I heard a scream and made my way over here."

Feng He stared at Huang Bingwen for a bit. Huang Bingwen was tall, a fair bit taller than him, and had amazingly long, flowing hair. He was wearing a flowing robe reaching the floor in a beautiful shade of blue. A white flower pattern made it's way down, circling his whole body.

Feng He motioned to the girl that had spoken to him to come forward. As the girl began to explain it all again to Huang Bingwen, Feng He called out to HOPE.

"HOPE! Can you help me out a bit here?"

[How can I help you, Xue Lan?]

"Am I in the novel I last read? How is this possible?"

[This world was created to fulfill your deepest wishes, even wishes you have not consciously thought about.]

"But the novel? I had thought it would be something original. Like my own world that I could live in. I already know what happens throughout the novel."

[Though this world is that of the novels, as are the people, you can control how you act. You can control the way the story goes. This time around, not everything may be the same.]

"HOPE, you called me Xue Lan. Why?"

[That is your new name in this world. I believe you know the back story of this man.]

"Then, I probably should start referring to myself like that, shouldn't I?"

[It would be best. Now, you should pay more attention to the situation at hand.]

And just like that, HOPE left Xue Lan's mind. Xue Lan had no idea how to feel about the whole situation. It was very hard to think. He looked over and saw Huang Bingwen's face. It was twisted in pain as he turned his head to the office. Knowing how he would react, Xue Lan ran up next to him.

"Don't look. Come over here and sit down. You don't need to see it."

Xue Lan grabbed Huang Bingwen's arm to lead him over to a small bench, but Huang Bingwen shook him off and walked straight into the horrific sight. He stopped short of fully entering the room, in too much shock to process anything other than the state his father was in.

Huang Bingwen turned his head down, shaking slightly. Xue Lan knew he was crying. Xue Lan told the maids and the disciple to make their way to the others around the house and explain the situation and to tell everyone to avoid this area.

After making sure they had understood him, he walked over to Huang Bingwen's side.

"You can cry. No one is here to see you."

Huang Bingwen lifted his head and turned over to Xue Lan. Xue Lan offered him a small, reassuring smile. Not being able to hold it in any longer, Huang Bingwen began to sob uncontrollably turning completely around away from his father.

Xue Lan just nodded, knowing the pain of losing a close relative. He reached out and held his shoulder, telling him he was here for him without words. Huang Bingwen reach his hand up and held Xue Lan's hand, giving it a slight squeeze. After a while, he wiped his tears away and turned back to the office.

"We need to figure out what exactly happened here. It was obliviously the work of a cursed ghost, but was it a freak accident, or had someone planed this?"

Xue Lan nodded, agreeing, "Yes, we do need to investigate. If it was just an accident then we need to find the cursed ghost before it can hurt anyone else. But if it wasn't, then we need to know who sent it."

They both looked at each other for a split second before going in and inspect the whole office to see if there is a sign of what exactly happened. Xue Lan Started at the desk, not wanting Huang Bingwen to come close to Huang Chao's body. As he searched through the papers that laid on the desk, he found something of interest. One paper seemed to be a letter from Dai Huan, leader of the Shixing Huan sect. He had sent a letter to Huang Chao, saying that he would like to discuss a dispute over some land in the north.

"Huang Bingwen, come take a look at this."

Huang Bingwen takes the paper and skims over it, "I didn't know about this. Father never told me about any disputes over land in the north. This must be why he stayed overnight."

Xue Lan saw a hint of anger racing in Huang Bingwen's eyes. He knew that Huang Bingwen was having a hard time with the whole ordeal, so he just let him process it, not trying to rush him.

Huang Bingwen than began to mutter to himself, "The dispute in the north was between us and the Qintou Shi sect. Dai Huan must have wanted to help us out with it. Wait, don't tell me..."

Xue Lan knew exactly what Huang Bingwen was thinking. In the novel, the Qintou Shi sect was responsible for Huang Chao's death. Though now, with this being an actual world and not just a novel, Xue Lan didn't know if the events would play out the same.

Xue Lan decided that he should get a little outside help, "HOPE!"

[Yes, Xue Lan?]

"Is the person who killed Huang Chao here the same as the person in the novel?"

[I can not say. But, I can say not all is what it appears to be.]

"What the fuck does that mean?"

Xue Lan got no answer from HOPE. Sighing, he turned back to Huang Bingwen.

"Huang Bingwen, what do you think happened?"

"I think the Qintou Shi sect sent a cursed ghost to kill my father. We need to go up north and find the man that did this."

Xue Lan just nodded, ready to go along with whatever Huang Bingwen proposed. They walked out of the building and were met with a small bunch of disciples. There were 6 of them, all from Shaoqiu Yimu.

One who seemed to be the makeshift leader of the group walked forward and said, "Master Huang Bingwen, Master Xue Lan, We heard what happened and wish to help!"

The young man was very passionate about his words, but Xue Lan knew that Huang Bingwen would never allow it. In the novel, Huang Bingwen was a very kind man and never wanted to bring others into his problems. This mission was very dangerous, and Huang Bingwen would never ask the young disciples to help them.

"Your words are kind, but I can not let you come. It's too dangerous. I want you all to stay here and continue to learn cultivation. I will be putting Master Qin De in charge."

The disciple's face immediately fell, but he knew he could not argue with Huang Bingwen, "Yes, Master Huang Bingwen."

They all backed off and made their way back to the training grounds.

"Xue Lan, I need you to get ready and meet me at the gates. I will take care of everything else. We need to leave as soon as possible."

Xue Lan gives him a nod and hurries to his quarters to grab a few things. He searches around and finds a pouch of money. They will probably need this for inns or food. He also grabs a few talismans, not knowing what exactly what they will encounter during their journey. He makes sure that he has at least a few of every single one. After grabbing a few more supplies, he ran to meet Huang Bingwen.