“Lil Mingzie come down for breakfast!” I hear through my door while getting ready for my big day. I rush to get my graduation clothes on, combing my hair into the semi-messy combover that I default to before heading downstairs.

“David don’t forget your parking pass when you come down” My father says from the bottom of the stairs, causing me to pat my shirt down and pull out a piece of paper. Got it right here dad!

It is always interesting being Chinese American. My Parents agreed to giving me an American name, but my Chinese mother wanted me to keep my heritage alive, so I have a “Chinese name” which she prefers to call me, which was always funny to me, Don’t Chinese people get English names, not the other way around? Oh well, Mom always wishes I used my Chinese name, Zhou Mingzie, around others more, but when it’s annoying to explain to people “No, in China the Family name goes first” to every person, I tend to settle with my actual birth name, David Zhou.

I walk into the kitchen to my parents fussing over cameras, because parents, especially Chinese mothers, can never get enough pictures of their kids.

“Mom, I thought we said we weren’t going overboard with pictures for my high school graduation”, I complain out loud.” A hundred or so pictures aren’t overboard Lil Mingzie”, she innocently replies, without even the slightest bit of empathy for her son. “Why can’t you be more filial like a good Chinese son” she continues, as if not liking taking pictures makes me unfilial.

“When have I ever not been filial mom? I’m going to school to get a government job because that’s what a good Chinese son does” I reply annoyingly, before grabbing a bowl of Chinese rice porridge, which she loves making because it is also called Zhou. While the dish can be plain at times, my mom knows how to mix it up enough to make that a rare occurrence. Today she made some Chinese churros to go along with it and added some cinnamon to the porridge, making this a breakfast I couldn’t miss.

After finishing up breakfast I check my pockets to realize I left my phone upstairs. I get up, putting my bowl away after washing it and start to head up stairs when it starts storming. “Looks like there’s a heavenly tribulation heading my way” I chuckle to myself as I head upstairs, “Am I about to ascend to heaven and become Immortal”

Grabbing my phone as I walk into my room, I see the brightest flash of light through my bedroom window at the same time as the loudest rumble I’ve ever heard echoes all around me. I turn to look outside my window “woah was the lightning right outside the house” stumbling on some dirty clothes, when out of nowhere a Jade archway appears right in front of me.

Without a chance move out of the way, I pass between the arches, immediately everything around me changes, changing from a bedroom to rolling hills with a forest off to my right. “What just happened?” I exclaim as I look around and notice the completely foreign environment. I notice some smoke off in the distance and decide that I may as well head in that direction. Along the way I notice how despite feeling a similar temperature as back home, none of the trees look similar, and I spot deep in the forest what looks like a boar with golden tusks. As I get closer to the smoke, I finally get a look at where it is coming from, seeing what looks like a small fishing village.

“Woah those houses definitely look Chinese” noticing a couple walled in courtyards in the village. “I know Mom was saying we should take a trip to China, but I don’t think this is the China she knew”, a middle-aged man being spotted carrying a spear with jade tipped spear and what appears as a three tailed fox following besides him.

“Come Foreigner, the Matriarch foretold of your arrival and is awaiting your arrival” the man bluntly stated before turning around and beginning to walk back into the village.

“Woah dude, I don’t even know where I am, much less why that fox has three tails, so I’m not sure if I should be following some stranger and his freaky fox” I warily reply while holding my palms out in front of me.

In a flash, the man appears in front of me, glaring at me before picking me up and walking into the village, “foreigner I have no time to deal with some who hasn’t bothered to cultivate their Qi, much less why the Matriarch would want to deal with you”. Pointing back to the fox “also that is not a freaky fox as you call it, but a three tailed fox spirit, while nothing like the spirit beasts in the cities, it is fairly admirable out here in this village”.

We arrive at the gate of the larger of the two compounds, the guards at the gate swiftly letting us through at the sight of my “kidnapper”, not stopping to even acknowledge me, we head into one of the side paths where an older woman was having tea underneath a pagoda. “Bao Bao set him down, we aren’t some faceless clan” the woman rebukes my captor before telling him to leave us.

“But Matriarch, he could harm, I must stay by your side” he calmly says back while not moving from his spot at her side. “This young man is no threat to me, you would’ve taken any weapons he would’ve had, and it’s not like I’m some useless woman, my Paths give me some defensive abilities, much less my cultivation is at the Spirit realm, so he couldn’t even bruise me” she says as she waves him off.

She repositions herself to look at me “Now young man, I know you may have many questions about where you are or some of the things I have been saying, but let me answer the most important things first”. She pauses for a second to take a sip from her tea, “This is not the world you are from, and many fundamental things about this world are different from yours. My Path allows me glimpses into the future and the wider world, and you will understand what I mean when you wake up”.

“Wake up? But I am wide aw-“I try to say before I feel a presence constrict around me before all I see is black.

[Path of Knowledge attained]

[Path of Knowledge Rank 1]

[Technique: Perfect Recall learned]