My Little Ghost

Volume 1.2.3 — The Transmigration

Thinking about the Cultivation History subject as his basis of knowledge for this world, Bai Bing Wen is at least aware that the world he’s been sent to is really the ancient version of the world he came from. Distorting the time and space realm might be his only way to get back, but for now, he needs to focus on how to do that without being sent to a different timeline or a different realm. He needs to get to know this world a little better to make use of the resources he can gather and all of that would start by interrogating his first acquaintance a bit more.

“How did you get into the Imperial Harem?” Bai Bing Wen absently asks.

“The truth is...” Ji Feng Huang flattens the creases of the blanket on his lap, taking a few seconds before speaking again. “I was supposed to seduce the Crown Prince using the lady’s disguise. But coming here, I found out that His Highness’s preferences... are different from normal.”

“Preferences?”

“He wouldn’t like me.”

“Why not? You’re talented and beautiful. What’s not to like?”

Ji Feng Huang frowns a little, cheeks getting red. “I have always been disguised as a lady since I came here.”

“Okay. And? Whether it be in that form or this, you would have been able to catch the Crown Prince’s eyes.”

“I meant he wouldn’t be seduced by women, so no matter how beautiful I make myself look like...”

“Why?”

Ji Feng Huang takes a bit more time than necessary before answering, “Can't you tell by looking into his memories? He likes men.”

Bai Bing Wen raises an eyebrow. “Then why did you not approach him in your true form after realizing that?”

Ji Feng Huang gapes at him. “It’s... I’m... I have never seen such romance allowed before. It would have been a huge scandal in our empire.”

“Why? The Crown Prince had been with multiple men without a care in the world.”

“Two men can’t be together. Two people of the same cultivating core cannot be together.”

Bai Bing Wen realizes that there are more problems in ancient times than just tribulations and levels of cultivation. He’s never heard of two people not being able to be together just because they’re both men. “Where I’m from, it’s... not unusual.”

“Well, in here, and even where I am from... only a man and a woman can marry. Otherwise, how are they going to keep their bloodline running if they can’t produce children?”

This reminds Bai Bing Wen of the modern world where despite the lack of spiritual energy, the freedom to choose your lover is not as conservative a decision as it is in this world. Where he’s from, marriage between two people who cannot conceive an heir is considered a work of kindness because they usually are the ones who parent homeless, coreless children. Only married couples can have children to avoid having bastard kids and the harem system has long been abandoned in ancient times. When a married person catches their lover with another, they have the right to punish them as they wish. Only those who are in consensual polyamorous relationships with no legal marriage involved can have multiple partners.

Although he’s never considered being in a relationship before, he knows for certain that when the time comes that he’s going to be in one, he doesn’t want to be bothered by conditions like in the ancient world just to follow the norm.

The norm has always bored him, anyway.

“Instead of getting the Crown Prince’s eyes on me, I accidentally attracted the Emperor during a night hunt when I saved his life,” Ji Feng Huang goes on. “He was trying to catch a fierce ghost and he didn’t realize there would be more than five of them. So I helped him in hopes of getting noticed by the Crown Prince who was by his side at that time, but the Crown Prince only gave me a polite bow and turned back. Later that night, I caught him playing around with two men in a liquor house. It was... shocking.”

Bai Bing Wen crosses his arms over his chest with a grimace. He can see this scene in the Crown Prince’s memories but he refuses to get into the details because he cannot tolerate the Crown Prince’s choices of entertainment. He’s not so innocent himself but seeing other people doing things like this from another person’s point of view is making him sick.

“Then how are we supposed to get married if that’s the case?”

Ji Feng Huang’s eyes light up at the idea of Bai Bing Wen’s consideration. “There’s an exception to the rule here in Central Empire which I found out recently after observing the Crown Prince. If a man is a mage cultivator, then he can marry another man from a different empire. Because all men outside the Central Empire who can cultivate are martial cultivators. They can only allow a mage cultivator and a martial cultivator to marry. The essence of a mage cultivator combined with the blood of a martial cultivator can conceive a child.”

Bai Bing Wen didn’t think that the rules of marriage in the ancient world can become as complex as this. In the modern world, when they have the resources, it doesn’t matter whether they marry a man or a woman. The most powerful families only choose to marry their children to another powerful family for the sake of influence. But they are not as deliberate as the people here in the ancient world. Love, for example, should be an equal right of anyone willing to pursue it.

“Wait. You mentioned earlier that you were supposed to marry the Crown Prince. How is that possible when you have not even talked to him once?”

“Well... Attracting the Emperor did not come without advantages. Being the Emperor’s favorite Imperial Consort also gave me a huge influence on his decision making. I lightly mentioned in passing that I have a younger distant nephew who might interest the Crown Prince’s tastes after knowing his preferences.”

“And this distant nephew... meant you were already paving the way for your true form to enter the Crown Prince’s Imperial Harem?”

“The Crown Prince isn’t married to anyone yet. He has the choice to make me the head of his harem.”

The grimace on Bai Bing Wen’s face deepens. “You’re alright with the idea of a harem?”

Ji Feng Huang nonchalantly shrugs. “I’m not but it is the Crown Prince’s right. And practically every head of sects and houses have the right to form a harem. I have no power to stop the Crown Prince from building his own harem if I’m the one who’s going to be married into his empire. He can’t marry me in mine since it’s against the customs of my empire so my only choice is to live here.”

“Or, just don’t get married at all. Why do you even want the Crown Prince to marry you? This crap marriage system is making me not want to get married in this world.”

With a little pout, Ji Feng Huang says, “But you are the Crown Prince now and you said you will marry me.”

Bai Bing Wen blinks confusedly. “I said that? When?”

“You agreed to one condition,” Ji Feng Huang insists.

“Or I can just knock you out once more and I’ll be off to somewhere you will never see me again.”

Ji Feng Huang warily moves a bit away, almost falling out of the bed.

In time, Bai Bing Wen moves his protective array to make sure that the boy is safe. “Be careful. I don’t want you breaking your skull in my presence.”

“It’s okay. You can even let the imperial guards harm me. You won’t have anything to do with me, anyway,” Ji Feng Huang mumbles, looking down on his lap.

So the concept of blackmailing is unfamiliar but guilt-tripping is a bit common. Great.

Clearing his throat, Bai Bing Wen stands up to his feet to walk around the room. A few thin sheets of cut clothes surround him in the air, acting as his temporary protective talismans. “Tell me more about this world,” he says, checking the windows and their intricate frames. He doesn’t dare open any of these carelessly in fear of getting sucked into a portal entrapment or something.

“What do you want to know?”

“Everything,” Bai Bing Wen answers, touching the top of the bronze mirror. His index finger traces the detailed carvings of a chimerical beast sculpted on top of it. Staring, he realizes it’s a qilin. Why is there a qilin on the Crown Prince’s mirror? He turns to face Ji Feng Huang and walks back to the chair beside the bed. “Start with the thing that you mentioned earlier. You said something about two people of the same cultivating core. What does that mean?”

Bai Bing Wen has figured out five essential facts about this world just by simply talking to Ji Feng Huang.

First, the marriage system sucks.

Second, the discrimination against weaker cultivators is as vast as the stupidly chaotic harems where consorts, concubines, and other ladies kill each other just to get the most comfortable post in the harem system.

Third, Central Empire is the only realm where immortality can be cultivated and is considered as the most sacred.

Fourth, each of the four great empires has a special signature they are known for. The Eastern Empire of the Azure Dragon for their brevity and wit, the Southern Empire of the Vermilion Bird for their generosity and kindness, the Western Empire of the White Tiger for their discipline and righteousness, and the Northern Empire of the Black Tortoise for their fearlessness and bravery.

And, yes. In this world, surprising as it may be, the four mythical creatures actually appear once in a while.

Lastly, and probably where most of Bai Bing Wen’s epiphany is concentrated, there is a difference between Martial Cultivation and Mage Cultivation.

In this world, martial cultivators are classified by nine different levels with nine different lights, almost similar to how cultivation level, in general, is classified in the modern world. On the other hand, mage cultivators are identified only by three different levels—transparent as the mediocre ones, translucent as the learned ones, and opaque as the powerful ones. By birth, mage cultivators already bear the potential of their power without having to start their cultivation practice. It is therefore impossible for martial cultivators to kill or damage the dantians of mage cultivators who have not cultivated yet because their mage bloodline is their natural protection against killing intent.

Mage Cultivation relies on the cultivator’s potential at birth while Martial Cultivation relies on both potential at birth and hard work.

A pure mage dantian that has never practiced cultivation yet can detect charms, evil magic, and formations. Dantians of mage cultivators radiate protection from evil and continuously dispel illusions or magic spells. But as soon as they start their cultivation practice, their dantians become vulnerable because they need to open their meridians to allow passage for more power, which naturally happens by the time they reach the age of maturity. They shed the natural layer of protection to form a stronger one. As soon as they reach their peaks, they become masters of formations, spells, charms, and arrays. 

A mage cultivator doesn’t need to cultivate tirelessly to reach their potential because they naturally reach their peak after forming consented contracts with beasts according to their number of colors. Transparent mages can have only one color, translucent mages can have two to five colors, and opaque mages can have six to nine colors.

The cultivation path for a practitioner relies on the bloodline of the cultivator. Only the Central Empire can have male mages since the Qilin Royal Beast is known for its blessing of immortality and rise of power, which can only be given by mages. Everyone born in the Central Empire’s pure Qilin Royal Beast bloodline is considered the most powerful mages in the entire cultivation world.

But even in this empire, Martial Cultivation for female practitioners is considered scandalous. And throughout the entire cultivation world outside the realm of the Central Empire, Mage Cultivation for male practitioners is considered an abomination. Therefore, male children who are born with a mage’s dantian would be sent to the Central Empire’s Qilin River for purification. They are not allowed to travel outside the realm of the Central Empire and are not allowed to cultivate until they are blessed with the Qilin’s blood to become a disciple of this empire.

“That is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. I didn’t think people in this world would be that conservative,” Bai Bing Wen remarks, placing one arm under his head as he comfortably lies on his back in his bed. He’s now getting a bit more comfortable being around the shorter boy, seeing he’s just as innocent as his older brother. He plays with the blue jade hairpin with one hand, throwing it in the air and catching it repeatedly with graceful movements.

Ji Feng Huang can only stare at his face in awe while minimizing his existence right next to him, hugging his knees. “What is it like in your world, Young Master?”

Humming, Bai Bing Wen pauses on his actions and thinks more about his world. For some reasons, he thinks it’s important that he gives Ji Feng Huang a good impression about his world and he starts with the things that would probably sound better being said in a place like this.

“There’s no definite difference between mages and martial artists because we practice what we want,” he starts. “Regardless of the cultivator’s gender or bloodline, as long they don’t intentionally harm the innocent ones, then there’s no problem. They can practice magic, train martial arts, and at some point, some cultivation masters who have gone through soul calming cultivation are given legal rights to master dark arts so that we know how to fight it when pure evil practitioners attack us.”

“It sounds like a wonderful world,” Ji Feng Huang mumbles absently, looking forlorn.

“Why? Did you want to practice mage cultivation or something? You can do it on my watch, I won’t snitch.”

“It’s more complicated than that, Your Highness.”

“Un-complicate it for me again. What is that you find wonderful in there that you can’t find here? If you ask me, you’re lucky enough that you have an abundant supply of spiritual energy in this world. Where I’m from, you have to come from the most influential clans in order for you to get access to realms where spiritual energy is a lot. Otherwise, rogue cultivators would find it difficult to cultivate without connections.”

“Your world has low spiritual energy?”

“Yes.”

“But... how did you become so powerful?”

“I’m not that powerful. I am simply resourceful. Even my cultivation in here is lower than how it was in my world.” Bai Bing Wen turns to face Ji Feng Huang. “If you grew up in a world where your only source of spiritual energy most of the time is your magic core right here,” he starts saying as he carefully places his palm on Ji Feng Huang’s abdomen, “...you, too, would develop survival instincts especially when anyone with enough power can steal this core just because of your potential.”

The boy flinches a bit before he relaxes, seeing that Bai Bing Wen is not infusing his spiritual power into his body. “Where you came from, is it normal to just casually initiate physical contact with anyone?”

Bai Bing Wen smiles his dimpled smile again before removing his hand. “Not exactly. But we’re not as conservative as the people here.”

*****

Essence: Spiritual matter with colors that represent the color of the cultivator’s core

Blood Vow: The color of a cultivator’s blood would turn to the same color as their core when doing a blood vow ceremony

Ghost: Fierce Ghosts—are those that practiced dark arts before death, or  those who had so much resentment before death / Calm Ghosts—are wandering spirits of the dead who only observe the surrounding, or souls that got separated from a body and can’t go back