My Little Ghost

Volume 1.2.2 — The Transmigration

“Wait. You mean, you really are the Emperor’s consort?”

Scowling, the boy meets up with Bai Bing Wen’s surprised eyes. “It’s complicated.”

“Un-complicate it.”

“I entered the imperial harem not long ago using a different identity. His Majesty, the Emperor, has not seen my true face yet.”

“What? Why did you enter the imperial harem? You look like you’re not even of legal age yet.”

“It is my turn to ask.”

Bai Bing Wen almost rolls his eyes. The wavelength of this boy’s mind reminds him so much of his older brother’s. “Okay. Good point.”

“What did you do to the Crown Prince?” the boy asks, this time sounding more confused than suspicious.

“I told you. I have no idea what happened to him. I don’t even know why I’m here or how I would get back to where I came from.”

“Where did you come from?”

“It’s my turn to ask, little ghost.”

“I am not a ghost. I am a martial cultivator and I have not died.”

The light on the hairpin suddenly glows. “Either you’re actually a ghost, or you’re not a cultivator. Which is which?”

“Or your weapon is defective.”

Without even dimming, the hairpin stays glowing in golden light and Bai Bing Wen stares nonchalantly at the boy. “You don’t even believe that it is defective because you know something about what you said is not true. What is it, little ghost?”

“I am not a ghost.”

At this, the light has gone off. Bai Bing Wen waves a dismissive hand. “Don’t take it too literally. It’s just an expression. Teleportation from one place to another, without the use of arrays, formations, and talismans, is technically only possible if you’re a ghost.”

“But I am not. I was using my martial skill.”

“What martial skill? I have not heard of something like that in my martial arts training.”

The boy gives him a look of confusion. “You are openly telling me that you are practicing martial arts even though you are a mage?”

Bai Bing Wen can only mirror the dumbfounded look on the boy’s face. “What’s wrong with that?”

The boy turns his whole body to face him, still with a confused look. “Mages are prohibited from practicing martial arts. Everyone knows that.”

Gaping, Bai Bing Wen chuckles in disbelief. “Where I’m from, everyone is allowed to practice martial arts for defensive measures.”

The boy stares intently at the pin as if waiting for it to glow brightly. “Is this sorcery reliable? Why is it not working?”

Bai Bing Wen chuckles again. “Stop calling it sorcery. I like carrots,” he says randomly, making the jade hairpin glow a bright golden color. “I’m kidding. I hate carrots.” At this, the hairpin dims instantly.

“This Young Master in front of me is an impostor with evil intentions.”

When the hairpin doesn’t light up, the boy disappointedly and warily looks up at Bai Bing Wen.

This time, Bai Bing Wen actually rolls his eyes. “The lies and truths are always subjective. This charmed hairpin will only tell you that your statement is true if you also believe what you’re saying is true.” Bai Bing Wen leans in closer to the boy’s face who could only stare back at him with wide eyes. When his cheeks have gone red, Bai Bing Wen tells him in a soft, gentle voice, “Try again.”

The boy clears his throat and declares in a firm voice, “This Young Master in front of me is good-looking.” His face turns redder when the hairpin doesn’t light up. “No, he’s not. He’s not good-looking at all,” he adds in a defensive tone, making the hairpin light up brightly.

Bai Bing Wen snorts. “Thank you. I find you quite easy on the eyes, too,” he tells the boy, smiling his dimpled smile. The light dims again, indicating his subjective truth. The boy is, in all honesty, actually beautiful.

The boy picks up the charmed hairpin and throws it to the foot of the bed, hitting the left post. “It’s a defective weapon. We can talk without it as long as you vow to be honest.” He fixes his robes and his hair, glancing at Bai Bing Wen before focusing his eyes completely on anywhere but him.

“You know, that defective weapon is more for me than for you so I don’t understand why I’m the one who needs to make a vow. I have only answered you with honesty from the beginning and it’s up to you whether you take my honesty as truth or not.”

“Where did you come from?” the boy asks, this time, without looking.

After a few seconds of internal debate, Bai Bing Wen finally answers, “The future world.”

The boy’s glassy blue eyes look up at him in disbelief. “How is that possible?”

“Right now, little ghost, I am asking the same question myself.”

“How do you even know you came from the future and not from a different world? And how do you know that your world is the future and not mine? As far as I know, everything in here is as developed as they can be.”

“Because, these attention-seeking bracelets and thick layers of robes scream ancient.”

“You’re not even wearing decent clothes and your storage is the latest model.”

“I know that, but where I’m from, our storages come in the form of barely noticeable rings and their storage capacities are five times bigger. And people can even wear clothes thinner and shorter than this, and everything will be fine.”

“What a scandal!”

“It’s because this culture you’re in is the peak of conservative era. We talk about this world in our history subjects. Cultivation History, World History, Cardinal Empires of the Ancient World, these are just some sample subjects. The robes, the imperial system, the abundant spiritual energy—where I’m from, all these things belong in the ancient world.”

At this, the boy can only look at him with an even more confused expression.

“If you’re willing to help me figure out what’s going on and get back to where I came from, I’m willing to help you keep your identity a secret. So long as you do not plan to harm anyone innocent, I can be your accomplice if you can compromise to my request.”

The boy shows him another conflicted expression before he asks in an accusing tone, “Why should I help you?”

“Why not?”

“Why would you trust me to help you?”

“It’s easier than having to get rid of you for knowing my secret and looking for another way to find out what’s going on. This way, at least we both benefit from our common secrets.”

“I don’t need you to help me. I have been managing well on my own,” the boy stubbornly tells him.

“Okay. Whatever helps you sleep at night.” Bai Bing Wen stands up from his seat, sitting on the bed instead, right next to the boy who’s now moving as far away from him as space allows him. “But if my tongue slips accidentally and I tell some people about the impostor who sneaked into the Imperial Harem, you must not blame me.”

The boy instantly moves a bit closer and frantically holds Bai Bing Wen’s arm. “Don’t! Please. Okay, I’m willing to help.”

Bai Bing Wen touches the hands gripping his arm. “Okay. Then we have a deal. First off, I want to see how it’s like outside this eye-poking golden room.”

This is way too easy for him. Do people in the ancient world really cannot grasp the concept of blackmailing?

He prepares himself to stand up again, in an attempt to look for more clues outside the Crown Prince’s room, but the boy pulls him back.

“Under one condition.”

Staring, Bai Bing Wen raises an eyebrow. “You are in no position to demand—”

“Just one!”

Bai Bing Wen sighs exasperatedly. “What condition?”

The boy clears his throat and reluctantly lets go. “You have to marry me. In my true form. During the ceremony.”

Bai Bing Wen takes a few seconds to absorb what he just heard before he lets out a burst of boisterous laughter. “Excuse me?!”

Skin turning red due to embarrassment, the boy looks away then picks on invisible specks of dirt on his lap. “I know it sounds scandalous but the future of my royal blood is at stake. I was supposed to marry the true Crown Prince, anyway.”

“You can’t lie to me about this. This is the first time that the Crown Prince is seeing you.”

“How can you be so sure when you’ve been holding my essence and my jade hairpin in your hands?”

Bai Bing Wen’s smile slowly fades as he hears this. “Did you just say this is your spiritual essence?” He lifts the amulet necklace in his hand and shows it to the boy. “This one? This is yours?”

The boy nods with a small pout. “But I have no idea how you got that,” he mumbles, staring at the amulet. He touches the amulet and the blue clouds inside are now stirring wildly as they glow. “This necklace... where did you get this, Young Master?”

“Call me Bai Bing Wen and I’ll tell you.”

“Bai... Bing... Wen.”

Bai Bing Wen places the red jade hairpin from earlier into the boy’s hand. Strangely, this hairpin also possesses a hint of the same essence. “This amulet was given to my brother as a gift from my uncle. For some reasons, it looked really dead when my brother gave it to me. But after I touched it, the unfamiliar essence inside turned gold. That all happened when I was in my world before I was knocked out unconscious and unwarrantedly sent here. Only now, when I woke up in here, did I see that it has turned blue.”

The boy looks on in awe as Bai Bing Wen focuses all of his essences to his eyes, making them glow in golden color. Specks of gold surround the upper part of his face, making him look ethereal. As Bai Bing Wen stares at the amulet, the boy can only absently stare at his eyes in wonder.

“And you are?”

Innocent eyes blink up at Bai Bing Wen as if asking him to repeat his question.

“I mean, what’s your name?”

The boy pouts a bit more, probably thinking whether he should tell the beautiful stranger in front of him of his name or not. In the end, he sighs and says, “I am called Ji Feng Huang.”

More flashes of memories flood Bai Bing Wen’s head, but all of them of his own from the modern world. He thinks back to the time when his uncle told him to take care of the Qilin’s most prized possession after borrowing the potion of blessing, up until the time when his parents called him to deliver the news about the attack on one of the immortals. He remembers a name being mentioned; he remembers that powerful immortal in white robes with a hair of gradient white to blue, asking him where he kept the phoenix hidden. He remembers the immortal telling him of the essence they sensed somewhere on his neck, and that can only be none other than the essence swirling inside the amulet.

Suddenly, so many things are starting to make sense, but more questions arise.

Where did his Uncle Hao Ran get the amulet from? Why did it only come to the surface at that exact time? What did the powerful immortal want from Ji Feng Huang? Why were they looking for him in the modern world?

And most importantly, why were they asking Bai Bing Wen about him?

With more and more questions swarming him, the only thing he manages to ask the boy is, “Where are you from, little ghostie?”

Ji Feng Huang gives the hairpin back to Bai Bing Wen. “I left this here to dispel evil spirits, Young Master. You should keep it.” The color of the jade hairpin changes from red with golden linings to blue with silver strings and beads. It resembles the style of the hairpin on the boy’s head, only with a different design. From an ordinary hairpin, Bai Bing Wen considers this as the most exquisite-looking one now. “This is its true form and can now be used to its full potential.”

“Ah, so even the hairpin is an impostor,” he lightly answers. He wonders why he can’t sense the same essence on the amulet and the hairpin from the owner himself. “Thank you.”

Ji Feng Huang gestures a small bow. “It is my honor, Your Highness.” He looks up to meet Bai Bing Wen’s eyes and finally says, “I am from the Eastern Empire.”

“Ji Feng Huang of the Eastern Empire...” Bai Bing Wen says slowly as if trying to test out the name with his own lips. “What brings you here in the Central Empire, little ghostie?”

“I told you. I’ve been trying to get closer to the Crown Prince.”

“Why did you never try to talk to the Crown Prince before, if that’s the case?”

“Maybe where you’re from, it’s okay to approach just about anyone. But in here, you can’t just talk to anyone without going through so much, if the person you want to get close to is a member of the imperial family. A Crown Prince, no less.”

Bai Bing Wen examines the hairpin. “Are you saying it’s easier to trespass the Emperor’s palace?”

“That’s not what I’m saying,” Ji Feng Huang embarrassedly clarifies. “Before finding my way here, there are no clues on what the Crown Prince would be like once I see him in person. Outside the Central Empire’s realm, no one knows exactly what’s going on here because of the Central Empire’s oath to seclusion. No one is allowed to go outside, and anyone who’s had the liberty to get a glimpse of the inside is either already staying here or vowed to never speak of it to other people. Only the royals of the other empires get to have a pass to get in here and still be allowed to go out because this is where they are supposed to get their blessing of immortality. And even then, they will be swearing an oath to keep the customs of the Central Empire to themselves.”

At this, Bai Bing Wen remembers the lessons he had about Cultivation History during his first grade. About the Four Celestial Ancestors, of how the most powerful empires would send their descendants to cultivate immortality, and how tribulations work. Unfortunately, he’s never had hands-on experience in these things. Everything he knows is knowledge based on books and their first-grade teachers and seeing this world with his own eyes tells him that there’s so much more to it than just legendary stories.