The Deskmate Said She Transmigrated

Zhou You's wonderful day ended in the morning. Today was the last day of summer vacation. School started tomorrow, and with it the miserable third year of high school, so Zhou You cherished this day all the more. He planned to spend the whole of it in bed. Unfortunately, before the plan had even begun, urgent knocking interrupted it. Knock, knock! Knock, knock, knock! "Zhou You, it's me! Open up!" Zhou You got out of bed through a string of yawns and opened the door in a foul mood. The summer heat slammed into his face and jolted him a little more awake. Outside stood a pretty, lovely girl. Sweat traced her cheeks. A backpack hung from her shoulders, and her clothes were plain and proper, bright with youth and energy. It was Chu Xiaoyao, whom Zhou You had known since junior high, and who was now his deskmate. "Xiaoyao? What are you doing here so early?" Zhou You was still irritable, already ready to shut the door and see her off. At the sight of him, Chu Xiaoyao grew so excited she hardly knew what to do with herself. She clutched the door. "Zhou You, you can't possibly imagine what I've been through!" She paused, then said with grave seriousness, "I transmigrated!" As if he hadn't quite heard, Zhou You went on yawning, let out a flat "oh," and showed no particular change of expression at all. "All right. Got it." Then he moved to close the door on her. "If there's nothing else, I'm going back to sleep. Bye." Seeing that he still looked half asleep, Chu Xiaoyao hurriedly shoved the door open and ducked into the air-conditioned room. The door shut with a bang. She planted both hands on Zhou You's shoulders and stressed, solemn and earnest, "Zhou You, I transmigrated!" Zhou You brushed her hands off in distaste. Knowing there would be no getting back to sleep today, he sighed in resignation. "I'm not deaf." "Why aren't you excited at all?" Chu Xiaoyao couldn't understand it. His reaction was nothing like what she had expected. Transmigration! How thrilling! By all rights, shouldn't Zhou You have asked her everything—why she had transmigrated, where she had gone, what she had been through, and how she had come back? Zhou You, still wearing the dead-fish eyes of someone not awake, did not answer her directly. He began counting off her rich experiences on his fingers. "In the first year of junior high, you said you were the strongest superpowered person in history, raised from childhood by a mysterious organization. You couldn't stand the organization's cruel experiments, so you fled, hid your name, and lived your life at school." "I said I wanted to see a superpower. You said superpowers had a limited number of uses and couldn't be used unless it was a critical moment." "In the second year of junior high, you said a world-destroying black dragon was sealed inside you. You were always covering your eyes and arms because its power was leaking out and you were suppressing it." "I said I wanted to see what the dragon looked like. You said it was asleep inside the seal and must not be disturbed. If it woke, it would destroy the world." "In the third year of junior high, you said you were the sole heir of the Jiuli, that you had received the legacy of the ancient demon god Chiyou, and that you were destined to wipe out the descendants of Yan and Huang and make an enemy of the world." "I asked where the legacy was. You said we were all common folk of the Li, so Chiyou would only have been stirring up infighting, and you didn't take the legacy." The more Zhou You talked, the more awake he became. Sleepiness was gone. Veins stood out on his forehead from anger. What infuriated him most was that Chu Xiaoyao had actually fooled him. He had thought every word was true, and day after day he had lived in dread right alongside her, afraid the mysterious organization would come to the door, afraid the black dragon would break its seal. It was simply an embarrassing stretch of the past he couldn't bear to look back on. He took a mouthful of cold water to press down his temper and poured Chu Xiaoyao a glass while he was at it. "Go on, then. What's this transmigration about this time?" Seeing that Zhou You had finally asked the question that mattered, Chu Xiaoyao returned to the excitement she'd had when she first came in. She was radiant, confidence showing between her brows, as if she had gone back to that dazzling world of immortal cultivation. "That was ten thousand years ago... oh, no. For you, it happened yesterday." "I accidentally touched a spacetime tunnel, and my soul carelessly transmigrated to a world where people could practice immortal cultivation. It was called the Hongmeng Continent." "The person I possessed was also named Chu Xiaoyao, a concubine-born daughter of a local prominent clan." "People there could draw spiritual qi into their bodies—guiding qi into the body—and thereby strengthen themselves and master all sorts of incredible powers. That was called immortal cultivation." "Cultivators could overturn mountains and seas, reverse the sun and moon, and turn heaven and earth upside down. Stronger ones grasped the laws and lorded over all the heavens and myriad worlds!" "But the Hongmeng Continent was still a world full of danger. Immortal dynasties and sects stood everywhere, their legacies enduring unshaken for ten million years. Class was rigid. Demonic cultivators were cruel beyond humanity and refined all living beings. Fierce beasts of mountain and sea roamed the Great Wilderness and invaded the human race from time to time. The methods of immortal cultivation were held by the great powers, and to seek immortal cultivation was as hard as ascending to heaven." At this, Chu Xiaoyao remembered what her clan had put her through just after she transmigrated. A flash of anger crossed her face, but it vanished almost at once. Her voice gradually rose, her eyes shining. "Fortunately, my luck was extraordinary, and fortuitous encounters never ceased. I fought the heaven-favored, destroyed demonic sects, swept the Hongmeng Continent, and killed until no one in the world dared make an enemy of me. I founded the Carefree Sect, held heaven and earth in my sole grasp, and lived carefree in the mortal world!" Chu Xiaoyao's bearing climbed and climbed. At last she stood, hands clasped behind her back, and looked at Zhou You with burning eyes, full of supreme presence and pride. "In the end I attained the seat of Immortal Emperor. My imperial title was the Carefree Empress!" Clap. Clap. Clap. Zhou You applauded, insincere and perfunctory. But right after that, Chu Xiaoyao's supreme presence vanished. She slumped, her voice sank, and her mood swung from one extreme to the other. "Perhaps I was too arrogant, and forgot that the Hongmeng Continent was full of treachery." "I was betrayed by my disciples and my friends. While I was in closed-door cultivation, they joined forces to scheme against me. I burned with rage and fought to the death, but the prepared had plotted against the unprepared. They had too many contingencies ready, and in the end I perished." Chu Xiaoyao smiled bitterly, bleak and mocking herself. She had been too naive. "I cultivated for ten thousand years. However many times I survived by a hair, I lived through them all. I never imagined that after I reached the very peak, I would end like this." "Friends made on the Hongmeng Continent really can't be trusted. You're the reliable one. Zhou You, you're the friend I trust most!" "Now that is pleasant to hear." Zhou You nodded. After listening to Chu Xiaoyao tell stories for so long, he had finally heard one honest sentence, and he was even slightly moved. She often let her imagination run wild and talked nonsense, but she had always kept him in mind. He hadn't known her all this time for nothing. Seeing that she had moved him, Chu Xiaoyao stopped holding back. "School starts tomorrow. Could you let me copy your summer homework?" Zhou You was silent for a moment, then pointed at the door. The meaning was clear: Chu Xiaoyao was invited to leave. Everything before that had been nonsense. She had only come, with summer nearly over, to copy homework. "Don't be like that. You were the first person I came to find after I transmigrated back." The Carefree Empress lowered herself, trying to salvage the friendship. Seeing that Zhou You stayed silent, Chu Xiaoyao sighed helplessly and explained. Copying the homework was something she had no choice about. "Do you think I don't want to do the homework? I really do have my difficulties." "For you, second year of high school was only a little while ago. But I spent ten thousand years on the Hongmeng Continent. Second year was something from ten thousand years ago. I've forgotten everything I learned at school. Even if I wanted to do the homework, I couldn't." Zhou You nodded on instinct and was about to agree with her, then caught himself. "That's not right. Didn't you only transmigrate yesterday? Summer vacation has been this long, and school starts tomorrow. So you've just been playing around the whole time?" After a moment of silence, Chu Xiaoyao went on trying to salvage the friendship. "Zhou You, you're the friend I trust most..." Helpless, Zhou You pointed at the stack of homework on the desk and hurried to send her off. "Get lost, get lost. The homework's over there. Copy it yourself." At the sight of that homework, Chu Xiaoyao looked as if she had obtained the supreme treasure of the immortal path, and she thanked Zhou You a thousand times over. She soon displayed extraordinary talent. Her pen flew, and she wrote at flying speed. Homework that had taken Zhou You an entire summer, Chu Xiaoyao finished in less than a day. The difference was plain! The summer homework also included three essays of eight hundred characters each. Those, Chu Xiaoyao had no need to copy. Zhou You glanced over her essays. Archaic classical phrasing crowded the page, one obscure word after another. She seemed to be writing about her immortal cultivation on the Hongmeng Continent. He thought to himself that she was clearly betting the Chinese teacher wouldn't read them. "Whew, done!" Chu Xiaoyao tossed down her pen and clapped, letting out a long breath, as if a weight had lifted. On the last day of summer vacation, she had finally finished the homework. Right at the limit. "Come, Zhou You. This master will teach you how to practice immortal cultivation!" Chu Xiaoyao meant to repay kindness with kindness and pass him a secret art of cultivation. This was, after all, the Carefree Empress transmitting her methods—precious beyond measure. On the Hongmeng Continent, countless cultivators had ruined their families begging her to teach them, and she had not spared them so much as a glance. Zhou You rolled his eyes at her, treated the nonsense as if he hadn't heard it, and pointed toward the door. "I'm not feeding you. Out." "I really can teach you immortal cultivation," Chu Xiaoyao said seriously. Zhou You wasn't falling for it. Or rather, having been tricked by her too many times, he knew how to poke a hole in the lie. "Show me a spell or two." Chu Xiaoyao looked troubled. "That... won't really work. After all, I haven't started cultivating yet." "Right now it's as if two little people are fighting in my head. One is the Carefree Empress of the Hongmeng Continent, and the other is the student Chu Xiaoyao. The Carefree Empress has ten thousand years behind her, so she has the upper hand and could easily become the dominant personality. But I would rather the student's personality take the lead." "If I cultivate rashly, my spiritual altar could easily become unstable. So I need to sort through my memories and suppress the Carefree Empress's personality. Until then, I can't cultivate." Chu Xiaoyao's explanation was reasonable and well founded. Zhou You did not believe a word of it. "It's true—don't tell me you don't believe me. What kind of relationship do we have? Would I lie to you?" Chu Xiaoyao said with utter conviction. Zhou You let out a dry laugh. What kind of relationship did they have? From junior high until now, she had latched onto him alone and done nothing but lie. She had spun a great heap of stories, and not once had he seen any real ability. Only a ghost would believe her. "Let me show you the peerless cultivation method that let me roam the Hongmeng Continent unchecked." Chu Xiaoyao dug through her backpack and pulled out a book that looked rather familiar to Zhou You. His expression turned odd. "This is... the Dao De Jing?" Familiar hardly covered it. Chu Xiaoyao had bought this very book with money she borrowed from him. The two of them had been browsing a book stall. Chu Xiaoyao had wanted this Dao De Jing, but she had no money, so Zhou You lent her the money. In return, she did a full month of classroom duty in his place. "That's right. It is the Dao De Jing. Bet you didn't expect it. Our world's Dao De Jing is actually a top-tier cultivation method on the Hongmeng Continent!" "I said it before. The Hongmeng Continent has a rigid hierarchy, and cultivating is as hard as ascending to heaven. Right after I transmigrated, my stepmother and my legitimate elder sister targeted me and suppressed me at every turn. My father was away on campaign year after year and rarely managed household affairs. Luckily, I discovered that the Dao De Jing was actually a cultivation method. Only then did I start cultivating and strike back, one by one!" Recalling the thrill of putting her stepmother and legitimate elder sister in their place after she began cultivating, Chu Xiaoyao still remembered it as if it were yesterday, even after ten thousand years. "Come. Listen while I transmit the method." Giving Zhou You no chance to refuse, Chu Xiaoyao forced the transmission on him. "The Dao that can be spoken is not the eternal Dao..." "Spiritual qi has neither form nor substance..." "You must sense the spiritual qi..." Chu Xiaoyao's clear voice echoed through the room. Her tone was lively, her words crisp. Just listening to her was a pleasure. At first, out of respect, Zhou You still tried to listen seriously. Gradually he seemed to grow bored. Drowsiness came over him. He couldn't help closing his eyes and dozing. The lecture grew hazy, yet it imprinted itself on his mind, and he only half understood the Dao De Jing. Zhou You found himself in a rather mysterious state, impossible to put into words. It was as if he had slipped free of the bonds of heaven and earth and was floating in the air. Something poured into his body, numb and tingling, and it was also like a pair of large hands massaging him. His body relaxed completely. It felt extraordinarily good. At some point Chu Xiaoyao's lecture stopped. Zhou You gradually came out of his doze and opened his eyes in confusion. Was she finished? His head happened to be lowered, and he discovered that he was, somehow, sitting cross-legged above the bed, hovering ever so slightly, only a few centimeters off it! "How am I flying?!" Zhou You cried out. Steady as he was, he would never have imagined that he would open his eyes and truly be floating in the air! Even if it was only a few centimeters off the bed, he was still flying! "Am I really practicing immortal cultivation?!" This completely overturned Zhou You's common sense. His shock could not have been greater. Chu Xiaoyao really had been transmitting the Way to him, teaching him how to practice immortal cultivation! Chu Xiaoyao was even more shocked than Zhou You. How could he actually be cultivating?