Chương 2: Goddess of a Wife!

"Umm… ouch!" Xiao Xuan groaned, rubbing the stubborn sleep from his eyes while sprawled out on the bed. His consciousness was slowly floating back to reality. It felt exactly like another lazy Sunday morning back in his apartment. Instinctively, he threw his arms out wide to perform his usual morning stretch. Crack. A spasm of agony shot down his spine.

"Gah!" Xiao Xuan's eyes snapped open. The last lingering remnants of his sleep were instantly incinerated by the pain. As his blurry vision struggled to focus, his view was immediately blocked by a massive silhouette looming less than a foot over him. It was an old man. He had long white hair, a majestic beard that cascaded all the way down to his chest, and thick eyebrows that were currently twitching with surprise as he stared down at him.

It took Xiao Xuan a few solid seconds of blinking like an idiot to process the absurdity of his view. There was no logical universe in which a cheap Chinese Santa Claus should be greeting him first thing in the morning. Just as that realization struck, a horrific stench assaulted his nose.

"Eww!" Xiao Xuan's nose immediately scrunched up. It was a pungent odor like that of a gross cocktail of crushed grass, bitter medicine, and something that smelled like swamp mud. Where the hell am I? Xiao Xuan whipped his head left and right. This wasn't his messy, cramped apartment. Instead, he was lying inside a grand chamber that was decorated with red wooden walls, high ceilings, and hanging lanterns that swayed gently in the draft. He glanced down at his own chest, and his stomach turned.

He wasn't wearing a shirt, and his upper body was slathered in a green paste that felt cold and gelatinous against his bare skin. He scrambled backward against the headboard, throwing his right hand down over his pants to shield what remained of his 'dignity,' while thrusting his left arm forward to push the creep out of his personal space.

"What the hell are you doing to me, old man?! Where am I?!" But making such an aggressive move with a freshly fried body was a terrible mistake. The second his muscles tensed, a tearing pain ripped through his chest and arms. The breath caught in his throat. His strength vanished into thin air. His hands fell back onto the bed with a dull thud. This time, his body refused to cooperate. He lay there pinned to the mattress, wheezing heavily under the thick goo. The old man didn't even flinch at the outburst.

He merely looked down at Xiao Xuan's writhing body with surprise. Placing his hands behind his back, the elder turned his head toward a young girl dressed in a traditional maid's tunic who was standing quietly in the shadows of the corner.

"Inform the Master," the old man commanded. The maid bowed and vanished from the room like a literal ghost.

"The lightning!" Xiao Xuan blurted out, recovering the memory of his last moments on Earth. The images of that purple laser beam flashing from the swirling dark clouds filled his mind, sending a shiver down his spine.

"That's right," the old man remarked, adjusting his silk sleeves with a smug smile. He looked down on Xiao Xuan.

"You were struck by lightning. A majestic purple lightning, unlike anything this realm has ever seen. It is a miracle that your organs didn't instantly turn to ash."

"Even the Clan Leader and the Young Lady couldn't escape its residual effects while trying to protect your useless self. You were out for a whole week, hanging on the edge of life and death." The old man brushed his beard.

"And it is only my divine alchemy prowess that has kept you from crossing the gates of the underworld." His chest puffed out.

"Still, you have sustained some high-degree burns, but fret not, my medicine will heal them in no time. You should be on your knees thanking me." The original Xiao Xuan of this world had died the exact instant the lightning hit, only to be seamlessly replaced by the current Xiao Xuan from Earth. But the doctor didn't know a single thing about soul transmigration; he naturally assumed his medical experiment had worked. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent.

Report any appearances on Amazon. What the doctor did know, however, was that he intended to charge quite the premium for 'bringing him back to life'. But Xiao Xuan barely heard a word of the old man's arrogant lecturing. Struck by purple lightning? … Waking up in a grand, traditional room? … An arrogant doctor wearing ancient robes? As a veteran who had translated over three hundred web novels, he had only one logical conclusion. Transmigration. He took a deliberate look around the environment.

The bed beneath him was surprisingly fluffy and warm, and the sheets felt as smooth as silk against his skin. The walls were painted a rich crimson and decorated with intricate wooden carvings. Is this really happening? Or is this just a lucid dream? A wave of shock hit him, followed closely by a pang of sadness. If this was real, how was he even supposed to react? Should he be crying for his simple life, his family, and his beloved gaming laptop back on Earth?

Or should he be celebrating his escape from the mundane routine? It was one thing to sit comfortably in his room and read a story about transmigrating into a brutal cultivation world where humans were slaughtered like ants, where kindness was a myth, and where treachery and selfishness were the default settings of society. It was a whole different ballgame to actually live in it. This wasn't a fantasy game anymore; it was real life. How was a normal person from modern Earth ever supposed to survive here?

There was only one answer: a cheat code! A spark of uncontrollable excitement ignited in his chest, overriding his physical pain and pushing his anxiety aside. After all, he wasn't one to brood over the past for long; his easy-going personality gave him a nudge to accept the present and explore what the future held. The possibilities of experiencing beautiful things like cultivation, taming sacred beasts, and exploring the magical nature thrilled him. His eyes gleamed under the lantern light. Ding!

He waited for the familiar system notification to chime inside his head. Hey system! You can come out now. Talk to me, buddy… system?! Nothing happened. Xiao Xuan frowned, a prickle of disappointment poking at his chest. Well, fine. Maybe a system was not his designated cheat code. There were plenty of other options that protagonists received. He was probably like them, destined to inherit a hidden ancient family legacy, a rare inner beast core, or some kind of legendary cultivation affinity.

A powerful grandfather residing inside a ring was also highly possible. He quickly checked his fingers, but they were empty. What if…? He clamped down on that thought, refusing to entertain the possibility. But what if he didn't possess any cheat code at all? What would he do then? What was the point of transmigrating into a brutal cultivation world without a golden finger? You'd be dead in less than an hour!

He seriously wanted to contact the Bureau of Transmigration right now and give the officers in charge an earful. A young woman his age stepped gracefully into the room. The doctor put on a big, proud smile as he stepped forward to greet her. Xiao Xuan instinctively turned his head to look at the visitor.

"Welcome, Young Lady…" Badum. The moment their eyes met, Xiao Xuan's heart skipped a beat. His mind went blank. He forgot about his pain, he forgot about his missing system, he even forgot to breathe. The old man's voice faded into the background. Without even realizing it, he miraculously found the strength to push himself up from the pillows, sitting upright on the bed. His eyes shone with a new lease on life. She's beautiful… His gaze was hopelessly locked onto the young woman.

He was from modern Earth, a world where beauty standards had evolved through centuries of techniques, makeup, and advanced plastic surgery, and yet, absolutely no one could compare with the woman standing before him. Her eyebrows were currently scrunched in clear annoyance in response to his nonstop, shameless glaring. But the dreaming Xiao Xuan failed to notice her irritation. He was lost in her round black eyes. Although they were cold, something deep within them seemed to call out directly to his soul. Badum.

Good heavens! I'm in love! Slowly zooming out of his hyper-focus on her eyes, he took in her entire face. Her flawless, snow-white skin. Her pink lips, her cute nose and the perfect symmetry of her features, A striking red half-moon mark stamped elegantly on her forehead that added to her mystical allure. Her long, midnight-black hair flowed gracefully behind her, tied into a high ponytail, save for two thin strands of bangs that framed her face beautifully.

She wore a pristine white and blue robe, adorned with intricate silver linings and masterfully embroidered patterns. She looked like an elegant ice princess. She possessed an elegant, regal demeanor that would calm anyone down, leaving them instantly mesmerized by her beauty. Only, the gentleness of her face was currently doused in a pinch of annoyance, which in Xiao Xuan's eyes was irresistibly adorable. Hey, heavens! I will forgive you about the missing system! Just get me a single date with her!

"I would be committing a sin if I failed to tell you that you are gorgeous," Xiao Xuan blurted out.

"Are you single? Be honest, because I would love to take you out to dinner." The woman's annoyance briefly cracked, replaced by surprise, before being overwritten by an even heavier wave of irritation. She crossed her arms, looking down at him.

"Did the lightning cause you to lose your memory, Xiao Xuan? Don't you remember that we are already married?" Married??! Badum. Just a few seconds ago, he was begging the heavens for a mere shot at a date, and the heavens were apparently so incredibly kind that they had already skipped the line and made him her husband?! He was speechless. He had never even had a girlfriend back on Earth, and now, he was miraculously the husband of this goddess of a wife!

A barrage of vague, fragmented images of himself flashed through his mind. No wait—it wasn't him in the images, the person only looked like him. As the foreign memories invaded his mind, a jarring realization gripped his heart. He didn't know this woman, he didn't know this world, and he didn't even know who he had become now. To survive as a husband to this goddess in this dangerous foreign land, he needed to know: who exactly was the original Xiao Xuan?