Prologue

Grey clouds enveloped the entire sky. Thunder rumbled deafeningly and rain relentlessly pelted the earth. 

The traveler’s legs squelched through the mud. The mud splattered on the traveler’s clothing and the cold seeping through the bones wasn’t very pleasant either. Staying outside in this weather was asking to get sick.

Luckily, there was an inn up ahead on the path. The traveler wasn’t going to be stranded outside in a storm, thank the Heavens.

The traveler pushed open the inn’s doors and stepped inside. 

There was only a single man, presumably the inn owner, standing behind a desk at the front. The other inn occupants must’ve taken shelter from the storm in their rooms. 

The inn owner, resting his cheek in his hand, grumbled to himself. “Damn storm is so noisy. Can’t get any peace or quie-Oh! A guest!” His face brightened and he approached the traveler. “Greetings, young sir!”

The inn owner did not realize that the traveler was, in fact, a woman dressed in men's clothing. Just as the crossdressing traveler intended.

The inn owner opened his guest check-in booklet, his writing brush ready. “What is your name, young sir?”

“Pan Wukun.” She made sure her voice wasn’t too high-pitched, but not unnaturally deep either. Somewhere in the middle, where she could comfortably speak as close to her regular speaking voice as possible. Just as she’d practiced for years.

The mud from Pan Wukun’s clothes splattered on the floor. Rainwater dripped from her clothes. She gave the inn owner an apologetic look.

The inn owner gave her a dismissive wave. “Oh don’t worry about that! My workers will clean that up later! And I’ll be sure to have them bring you a fresh pile of clothes and launder your dirtied ones! Allow me to show you to your room, Pan Wukun!”

Pan Wukun winced as the mud and rainwater from her clothes dripped onto the staircase they walked on. The inn owner continued walking as if he didn’t hear his precious inn stairs being dirtied. The placid smile remained on his face, but Pan Wukun could see his eye slightly twitching. He wouldn’t be too upset about the mess, as long as Pan Wukun had the coin to pay her dues, of course.

Once they arrived at her room, Pan Wukun tipped her straw hat and handed the inn owner her coins for payment. He thanked her graciously, then left.

A moment later, three inn workers arrived with the promised clean clothes, a laundry basket, and a cup of hot tea on a tray.

Once Pan Wukun was left alone, she dried herself off with a cloth towel and changed out of her dirtied robe, pants, and boots. She placed her dirty clothes in the basket outside her door for the workers to wash later.

After putting down her pack and sword, Pan Wukun sat at the miniature round dining table in the corner of her room. She lay her straw hat on the table and loosened up, sinking into her chair with a sigh. She sipped the hot tea, its warmth spreading through her body. It was a pleasant moment of reprieve.

Raindrops hit the roof, almost rhythmically. The thunder was muffled now that she was inside.

Come to think of it. It was stormy that night too, wasn’t it? 

The night she got stranded here.

Stranded in a different world from her own. A world that was supposed to belong in a fictional xianxia novel.