When thinking about your own death, you would probably imagine a pleasant ending.

  Maybe you would see yourself saving someone from a burning building, finally becoming the hero you’ve always craved to be. Or perhaps you’d prefer to live a full life then pass away peacefully in your sleep.

  Honestly, I’d be fine with either option, even if the latter was a little boring.

  Unfortunately, I never got the chance to make a choice.

  It all started with the walk to morning college classes; I stood waiting for the traffic lights to turn red like the law-abiding citizen that I was.

  Well, that was until I felt a hard shove and the next thing I know, I hear the screech of brakes and someone yelling “Oh shit!” before everything went black.

  Yeah, an unfulfilling way to go, I know.

  They say when you die, your past memories flash before your eyes, or that you’ll see a light at the end of the tunnel, or if you’re really lucky — a choir of angels.

  Well, I can’t say I experienced any of that.

  Instead, I floated in the void — a place where there was no sight, no sound, and no sensation.

  Just as I began to come to terms with my new existence, or lack of, something changed.

  It started as a gentle tug on what I assumed was my soul, and then everything began to spin, or maybe I was the one actually spinning. I wasn’t sure, it was kind of hard to tell when you’re just a disembodied consciousness.

  And then, I was breathing again.

  It should have been something to celebrate, but why did it feel like inhaling fire. Pain coursed through my lungs as they expanded. My body tingled as though it was the victim of a lightning strike.

  My face was pressed against something warm and gritty. I could taste it on my lips.

  Wait, was that dirt?

  “Young man!” someone called out as hands gripped my shoulders and gently turned me around. “Young Ke Yin.”

  Oh, it must be the paramedic.

  At least, that is what I thought until I opened my eyes to find myself staring at…an impossibly blue sky?

  Where were the skyscrapers? Where was the concrete? Where were the cars?

  An elderly man leaned over me, a worried expression on his wrinkly face. His clothing was…unusual. He wore elaborate red robes and a worn staff lay on the ground next to him. Behind him, I noticed two younger men in much simpler robes, they were hovering anxiously as though I would disappear at any moment.

  “Master, he was dead—" the one with long hair that reached his shoulders started.

  “He is alive now,” the old man interrupted, pressing a gentle hand to my forehead. “And that is what matters.”

  Dead? That didn’t sound good.

  I tried to sit up, I had to find out what was going on. The old man released a sigh seeing my struggle, with one hand and one pull, he lifted me to my feet. Before I could marvel at the feat, that’s when I noticed it. My hands. They weren’t my hands. They were paler, smaller, with fingers longer and more elegant than my usual stubby digits. They even had a strange, almost luminous quality to them.

  “What…” My voice came out different, younger, smoother but that wasn’t the worst of it.

  What. The. Hell.

  The words came out in a language that was in no way like English, yet I understood it perfectly.

  “What happened?” I finally managed, the words rolling smoothly off my tongue.

  “We do not know,” the elderly man — Old Man Han, a name that suddenly came to the forefront of my mind — answered. “One moment you were talking about how excited you were to leave the village and join an Immortal Sect then the next second, you collapsed. Do you have any enemies, boy? Anyone that wouldn’t want you joining an Immortal Sect?”

  Village? Enemies? Immortal Sect?

  As expected, my brain, or whatever brain I was currently using, short-circuited.

  You know the feeling when you wake up after a night out and for a split second you can’t remember where you are? That feeling of terror? Yeah, how about multiplying that by about a thousand.

  A different body, different language, possibly a different world if this Immortal Sect was to be believed.

  Either I was having the mother of all out-of-body experiences, or the universe had a twisted sense of humour.

  “Okay, Kane,” I told myself internally. “Don’t panic. Assess the situation.”

  Firstly, I died.

  That was certain, unless I was currently in the ICU having an extremely vivid hallucination brought on by massive head trauma.

  Secondly, I was now in someone else’s body.

  Thirdly, I was surrounded by people who were dressed perfectly for a low-budget wuxia drama.

  Then like water seeping through cracks in a dam, memories that were definitely not mine began to flow in.

  This body belonged to, or had belonged to, a young man named Ke Yin. The only son of a tailor from a small town called Floating Reed Village. An ‘Immortal Master’ had discovered his exceptional spiritual sensitivity and decided to recruit him. A rare honour for any villager.

  To me, Old Man Han didn’t fit the description of ‘Immortal Master’, it was more likely he was merely a sect scout.

  However, given the feats that he had demonstrated in the village square such as punching a hole through a tree, to a villager like Ke Yin, the old man may as well have been a god.

  But what was more important than any of that was what happened to the original.

  The young villager had been healthy and from Kane could tell had no enemies in the village. Floating Reed Village was one of them small communities where everyone got along and worked together. But I knew very well that outer appearances could be deceiving. Could it have been poison? Or did the young Ke Yin have some rare medical condition that randomly caused his heart to give out?

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  I didn’t know, all I knew was that despite the ‘Immortal Master’ filling him with pills, the young Ke Yin had died, and I had found myself occupying the driver’s seat.

  “We should reach the outer gates of the sect by nightfall,” Old Man Han announced, interrupting my existential crisis before it could fully begin. “Young man, you still remember the basic courtesies we discussed?”

  Basic courtesies? What was he—

  A barrage of memories struck me.

  Bow when meeting a senior disciple. Address them as ‘Senior Brother’ or ‘Senior Sister.’

  Bow three times when meeting an elder. Never look directly at them unless given explicit permission to speak.

  If you want to live a long life, stay out of the business of others and know when to keep your mouth shut.

  “Yes, Immortal Master,” I replied immediately, silently committing the rules to memory.

  The last thing I needed was to offend someone in a world where one slap could break my neck.

  My first life ended prematurely; I would rather not risk the same occurring to this one…

  ***

  For the next several hours, we walked in silence. Each step brought us closer to increasingly steep terrain. As mountains appeared in the distance, the air grew thinner, and I found myself needing to take deeper breaths.

  “The peaks of the sacred mountains of our sect are said to reach the heavens themselves,” Old Man Han said, noticing my struggle. “What stands before us is merely the mortal face of the Azure Peak Sect. Its true glory is hidden from mortal eyes, they can only be witnessed when one ascends to the higher realms.”

  I nodded enthusiastically, trying my best to look appropriately awed whilst wondering what the hell that actually meant.

  My reaction seemed to please him as he released a grunt of approval.

  By the time we reached what the old master classed as outer gates, the sun had begun to set. Calling them gates was a gross understatement. They were fortified walls that stood at least a hundred feet tall.

  Two figures, wearing robes similar to my companions, stood guard.

  As we approached, Old Man Han and his followers gave a deep bow. I quickly followed in tow.

  “Young Han,” one of them said, “how was the search?”

  Calling the old man ‘Young Han’ almost made me do a double-take, however, it made sense if this really was some sort of wuxia or xianxia world.

  After all, beings in such worlds could live hundreds or even thousands of years while maintaining a youthful appearance.

  “Not as fruitful as last year,” Old Man Han sighed. “From all the villages we visited, we were only able to find one suitable candidate.”

  The guards nodded and made some kind of combined gesture with their hands causing the massive gates to swing open.

  Either those gates had some incredibly well-oiled hinges, or my suspicions about this world were more accurate than I would have liked.

  What awaited us beyond the gates were a sprawling complex of buildings. Gravity seemed to have no say here as some of these buildings perched impossibly on cliffs. Every building had one thing in common, the same distinctive blue-gray stone, a colour fitting the sect’s name.

  “Welcome, to the Azure Peak Sect”, Old Man Han smiled, “welcome to your new home.”

  Home.

  The word struck something deep inside me, causing everything that I had tried my best not to think about to come crashing back.

  My death, my family, my friends, my entire world.

  Gone.

  “Young Ke Yin?” Old Man Han’s voice brought me back to reality. “Is everything okay?”

  It was then that I realized that I was standing still, my body trembling.

  “Yeah, I’m okay,” I managed to say. “It’s…it’s just overwhelming, that’s all.”

  That wasn’t exactly a lie.

  “It is a natural reaction for someone of your background,” the old man’s voice softened. “Take a few moments to compose yourself, it wouldn’t do well to register as a recruit in this state, others will see you as easy…prey.”

  Prey? Well, that didn’t sound reassuring.

  Nevertheless, I took a deep breath to force down the panic that had almost overwhelmed me.

  An existential crisis could wait for later, preferably in private, but right now, I needed to focus on survival.

  This was a strange world with strange rules, and it was clear that showing weakness here was a very bad idea.

  ***

  The Outer Disciple Quarter turned out to be a cluster of simple buildings near the base of one of the smaller peaks. There was a rush of disciples moving in and out of buildings, some carried scrolls, others carried strange devices that I couldn’t identify, yet they all displayed frantic expressions as though fighting against time.

  We made our way through the crowd until we arrived in front of a building marked with the character for “Registration”.

  Old Man Han and I stepped inside while his two disciples waited outside.

  We were met with an elderly woman sitting behind a desk that was covered in what looked like jade tablets.

  “Name?” she asked in a bored tone, not bothering to look up.

  I glanced at the elder beside me, who gave me an encouraging nod.

  “Ke…Ke Yin,” I answered.

  “From?”

  “Floating Reed Village.”

  After finishing writing on a scroll, the old woman finally looked up. “Dormitory Three, Cell Ten,” she murmured, handing me a jade tablet. “This is your identification token. Whatever you do, don’t lose it, unless you’d like to have your soul searched to prove you’re not some imposter.”

  “O-Okay.”

  My face paled as I clutched the tablet tightly to my chest. Having my soul searched would be an easy ticket to a quick death, or worse.

  “The quartermaster will provide your robes and basic cultivation materials. The Entrance Exam is at dawn in the square for the new recruits. Do not be late.”

  More memories filtered in; Old Man Han had explained that I had to pass some sort of test before I could officially become an outer disciple.

  “This is where we part ways, young one,” Old Man Han said. “From this moment, you are on your own. The path to the heavens is long and lonely, only the most diligent travel far on it. I have high hopes for you, don’t disappoint me.”

  “Thank you for your guidance, Immortal Master,” I bowed, remembering the proper etiquette.

  The old man’s face reddened slightly at the title before he turned and left without a word.

  And just like that, for the first time in this strange world, I was alone.

  ***

  The quartermaster turned out to be a gruff man with a missing arm. Without a word, he took one glance at my identification token and began pulling items from below the desk. I was handed three sets of gray robes, the color of an outer disciple, a pair of sandals, basic writing materials, and what looked like crystals.

  Everything disappeared into a simple cloth bag that was thrown at me.

  “Ten low-grade spirit stones,” he growled. “The sect only provides ten spirit stones for outer disciples, if you pass your Entrance Exam, then come here at the beginning of every month to receive your share. Protect them well.”

  Before I could ask any questions, the man dismissed me with a wave and flopped back down on his chair with his back towards me. I held back a sigh as I made my way to Dormitory Three, stopping multiple times to ask directions from some helpful outer disciples.

  Using the word ‘cell’ to describe my new home was quite fitting.

  It was a small room with a quarter bed, a desk, and a shelf.

  Unlike prison cells, this room at least had a window. It overlooked one of the many courtyards present in the outer sect. I saw other new disciples moving into their own cells, but almost all of them were accompanied by family members. And from my observation, none of them seemed to be villagers, it seemed that most recruits were members of clans, who apparently received special permission to see their children off - a farewell party of sorts.

  With my background as a villager, I had no such privilege, but I wasn’t resentful. No, I was grateful. I wasn’t comfortable watching this body’s parent say goodbye to someone who was no longer their son but an imposter wearing his face.

  Sitting down on my bed, I finally got the opportunity to process everything that had happened.

  I had died - that much was clear.

  And somehow, I had possessed the body of another person who had conveniently died at the same time.

  But what was most unbelievable was that I appeared to be in some sort of magical martial arts sect in a world that followed rules that were unlike my own.

  “Okay,” I told myself internally. Even though I was now by myself, I wasn’t sure who could be eavesdropping. “I can handle this. I just need to take it one step at a time.”

  Back on Earth, I had read my fair share of cultivation novels. Everything that happened thus far was enough to convince me that yes, I had been isekaid into a xianxia world. But as helpful as my knowledge could be, I knew better than to make assumptions.

  Each story, each author, had their own take on what cultivation meant.

  In some, the cultivation system was quite basic, just breathing techniques and meditation. In others, practitioners had to devour demons or make shady deals with ancient spirits. I definitely preferred the former to the latter…

  After a few minutes of contemplation, I finally had a plan.

  Step one: don’t draw attention to myself.

  In a world like this, staying under the radar was the best way to live a long life.

  Step two: figure out what “cultivation” means in this world.

  Step three: learn everything I can about this new world.

  Step four: find out how the original actually died.

  Step five…well, I’d figure that out if I lived long enough.