The silk robe was itchy.
It clung to Noah River's back like a desperate ex, making him sweat under the palace lights as two guards led him down a marble corridor polished so hard he could see his warped reflection.
His boots squeaked. His stomach growled. And his gut instincts were practically slapping him across the face.
Something was off.
But he pushed the thought aside. Because for the first time in two years, he wasn't dragging firewood across the dirt, wasn't being cursed out by alchemy shop clerks, and wasn't sleeping under a leaky roof held together with spit and hope.
For once, he wasn't "Hey, you there!" or "Trash-boy." Today, he had been addressed as "Honored Guest."
For the first time in this world, people were bowing to him.
And maybe that meant something.
Maybe this was it... His moment... His breakthrough...
And it felt good.
Noah tried to act like he belonged. Kept his chin up. Didn't gawk too hard at the glowing lamps or the ivory columns engraved with dancing dragons.
"This way," one of the guards said. "Before the ceremony, His Radiance ordered you be shown your new quarters."
"Quarters?" Noah echoed, trying to sound casual.
They led him through a smaller side hall, past silk curtains and incense burners shaped like phoenixes.
A servant girl pushed open a sliding panel, revealing a suite so luxurious Noah briefly considered crying.
His mouth fell open.
The room had an actual bed. Not straw. Not a floor mat. A bed with cushions, silk sheets, and a blanket that looked warm enough to make him forget all his trauma.
There was a jade basin for washing. Lanterns that floated. A plate of fresh fruit.
Fresh!
"There must be a mistake," he muttered. "This is... a king's room."
"No mistake," the guard replied. "This is where you'll reside after receiving your appointment. Your salary will begin immediately."
"Salary?"
"Ten gold jades per week," said the servant, bowing slightly. "With an additional five for residence stipends. And meals are provided."
Noah did the math.
He'd spent two years chopping wood and saving every copper coin, and he still didn't have enough to pay a proper cultivator to look for Ava. But with this kind of pay...
He could finally start looking.
He could find her.
He could leave this place and—
"His Radiance awaits," said the second guard. "This way."
---
(( Two Years Ago ))
One second, Noah been on a school trip, walking side by side with Ava.
The next, he and his girlfriend, Ava, were falling through a glowing tear in the sky, surrounded by shrieking light and a sound like cracking bones wrapped in thunder.
When he woke up, she was gone.
He landed in a forest full of screaming birds and trees with eyes. Almost immediately, he got bitten by something that looked like a squirrel and hissed like a cat.
He'd wandered for days, dodging talking wolves and floating swords before stumbling into Verdant Flame City.
He told people he was from another world.
They laughed.
He said he needed help finding someone.
They laughed harder.
He learned fast: No qi = no power. No power = no respect. No respect = no chance.
Cultivators could split mountains and fly across continents. He could barely carry a bundle of firewood without spraining something.
Every time he tried to leave the city in order to find Ava, he always almost lost his life.
The world outside of civilized cultivation cities like this was immensely dangerous for an ordinary person.
He became a woodcutter. Worked twelve hours a day, got paid in coppers, and slept in a rat-ridden shack where the roof leaked more than it covered.
But he never stopped saving.
Every spare coin went into a hidden pouch under the floorboards. A tiny fortune he hoped would one day be enough to hire someone to track Ava down. Assuming she was alive. Assuming she hadn't forgotten him. Assuming she hadn't become someone else entirely.
Then one day, while delivering firewood to an alchemy shop near the Upper Ring, someone screamed.
A hooded figure lunged from the shadows with a dagger raised, headed straight for a young noble surrounded by unattentive guards.
Noah didn't mean to get involved.
He'd just tripped. Fell right into the assassin's path.
They both went tumbling down an inclined slope and the dagger ended up in the chest of the assassin who was probably just a petty thief.
When the assassin didn't get up again, the noble girl (or boy, still unclear — they wore a lot of sparkly silk) looked at Noah with wide, tearful eyes and the guards assumed the obvious:
He had saved a royal.
---
'Maybe,' he thought as he stepped into the throne room, 'my luck's turning.'
The throne room was enormous, filled with gold-lined banners and ministers in robes so long they trailed behind them like cloaks.
At the far end sat King Huo Tianlei, sprawled on his throne like a man who thought humility was a disease.
The king raised a jeweled goblet.
"Honored Guest," he boomed, "For your courage and loyalty in saving a descendant of my divine bloodline, the palace shall reward you."
Noah bowed while suppressing a grin.
"We have prepared for you a role of immense trust," the king continued, "within the Inner Quarters."
Noah looked around. The ministers were all smiling now. Wide. Too wide.
"You shall serve..."
*A drumbeat sounded.*
"...as a Grade Four Palace Eunuch!"
Noah blinked. "Uh?"
Laughter broke out as flower petals were thrown in congratulations.
"Wait—" Noah raised a hand. "A what now?"
"Palace Eunuch," the minister to his left confirmed while unrolling a scroll. "To be processed and dedicated today, as decreed!"
Noah just stood there.
Then he took one slow, horrified step back.
"No," he said flatly. "No. No, no, I didn't sign up for this."
"The role cannot be refused. The earlier the snip, the faster you can begin your role." the king voiced gently. "Guards."
"Hell no!"
Noah turned around and bolted as fast as his legs could carry him.
What followed would later be known as: The Great Eunuch Chase.
Noah tore through the palace like a man possessed. Robes flying. Hair undone. Slippers gone. He screamed all the way down the corridor.
"HE'S ESCAPING!"
"I STILL NEED MY BALLS!"
He leapt over a koi pond. Knocked over a serving tray. Startled a spirit beast chained near a pavilion. Courtiers dove out of the way. One old minister dropped his monocle.
Noah kept running but they were catching up.
Unexpectedly, someone walked out of a nearby door.
A tall man in black robes with a strange jade mask.
He stepped through an archway and shut the door behind him....
*But not completely.*
The door bounced open slightly.
Noah didn't think twice.
He dove toward it.
In the next instant, he landed in a dimly lit room full of eerie jade cylinders, glowing with sigils.
Shelves lined with alchemical jars and half-living organs suspended in silver fluid could be spotted all around.
A soft chime filled the air.
In the far corner, something throbbed.
Noah had no time to question it.
He grabbed the nearest object off a pedestal which happened to be a black container with zigzagged runes and a faint mist swirling inside.
It buzzed like it was alive.
Then he turned to face the guards pouring in behind him.
"Back OFF!" he shouted while raising it like a bomb. "I have… I have this thing! And I'll use it!"
They froze.
The guards looked at the container and their faces changed.
Pure terror.
Eyes wide.
One of them actually screamed, "He's holding the Withergrin Seal!"
They began fleeing.
Noah blinked. "Wait, seriously?"
He waved it again. "You guys are scared of this?"
One guard tripped over himself trying to flee. The other yanked the door shut behind him and shouted, "SEAL THE WING! SOUND THE ALARM!"
Noah frowned. "Huh. That actually worked?"
He turned back toward the pedestal wanting to place the container back.
However, cracks suddenly began to appear on the surface of the container.
A low hissing sound rang out in the next moment...
Black mist began to pour out....
However, this wasn't just a regular mist... It was a corruption that clung to the air like mold and hatred, spreading like a living thing.
Noah stared at it with a confused look half expecting some kind of reaction but nothing happened.
He was breathing and moving fine.
Then the first alarm bell rang.
Followed by screaming and fire.
And then, the walls beginning to shake.
Outside the chamber, chaos erupted as the mist snaked its way into the palace vents, into the gardens, the training halls, the kitchens, the cultivator chambers...
Noah blinked. "...I'm sure that's fine."
This was the moment the world changed...