HTCYH Ch 1

Chapter 1: The Dodder Spirit Tu Si

 

Tu Si felt as though he had been thrown into a leather ball, one being tossed and smacked around in a child’s hands. His vision went black, his head spun, and he curled up with his tendrils, hugging his knees and wrapping himself into a cocoon, waiting for the spinning to stop. Only once his body had mostly recovered did Tu Si retract his tendrils.

 

Looking around, Tu Si realized he was sitting on an intricately carved canopy bed. The bedposts and frame were adorned with peach blossom carvings, and semi-transparent curtains faintly revealed traces of candlelight. The surroundings were silent and oppressive. Though there was no wind, the gauzy drapes swayed gently, and the heavy fragrance of peach blossoms in the air made it difficult for Tu Si to breathe.

 

Lifting the curtain and stepping down from the bed, he saw that the doors and windows of the room were tightly shut, sealed without any gaps.

 

Tu Si located the only source of light in the room—it was a faint red candle burning on the dressing table next to the foot of the bed.

 

The candle had already burned down significantly, with a thick pool of wax gathered beneath it. Besides the candle, many other items were arranged on the dressing table.

 

Tu Si walked over and picked up a bronze mirror propped on a wooden stand. His face appeared in the mirror, blurred and distorted.

 

Then, slowly, a line of text began to appear in the mirror: The gods show mercy to the bride who died tragically in a ghost marriage, granting her a blessing. May cultivators aid the bride in her revenge and ascension.

 

After reading this line, Tu Si let out a cold laugh. “Ascension, is it? What would someone like me, a dodder spirit, become after ascending—just another spiritual plant in one of your divine bonsai pots! Do immortals need… aphrodisiacs too?”

 

(Fun fact: Dodder, scientific name Cuscuta chinensis, is a plant from the Convolvulaceae family. Its dried, mature seeds are known for nourishing the liver and kidneys, stabilizing essence and urine, preventing miscarriage, improving eyesight, and stopping diarrhea.)

 

That’s right—Tu Si was a dodder plant that had gained sentience. Not long ago, after a series of brutal battles, he had seized a fragment of a highly spiritual skeleton, besting a horde of creatures both plant and animal. Though he emerged barely victorious, the reward was great. He was planning to remain together with his skeleton elder brother.

 

But unexpectedly, the painstakingly assembled bones vanished just like matching blocks in a game—upon completion, they simply disappeared. In their place, a black smartphone appeared at the very spot where the remains had been. The phone looked out of place in the depths of the forest, but fortunately, since gaining a human form, Tu Si had frequently visited human society to study them, so he was not unfamiliar with such devices.

 

Humans were clever, intelligent, and advanced—distinct from most lifeforms in the world. Their society had taught Tu Si many things, enabling someone as weak as he to skillfully manipulate others, using them to survive and thrive in the cruel wilderness.

 

Tu Si picked up the phone and swiped to unlock it. It had no password or fingerprint lock, no background image—just a completely black screen, except for an obvious red-eyed icon in the upper-right corner. The app was named Ascension.

 

Tu Si tapped it open and saw the main interface display:

 

Lucky one, congratulations on being noticed by the gods. You have a chance to ascend and become divine. Opportunity and danger go hand in hand—may you leap like a carp over the dragon gate and become a true dragon.

 

Cultivator Name: Tu Si

Ascension Level: Beginner Qi Refinement

Foundation Building Experience Required: (0/200)

 

Game Completion Reward: +500 Ascension Experience, +20 Points, Skeleton Fragment

 

Game Items: None

Points Store: Locked. Will unlock after completing the first game.

 

Tapping the bottom of the screen revealed the game interface:

 

Game Title: Marriage

Summary: Ten years to share a boat, a hundred years to share a pillow. Experience an immersive wedding—may your match be blessed and fated.

 

Difficulty: ★★★

Danger Level: ★★★

Mortality Rate: 60%

 

Game Rules: In the world of cultivation, strength reigns supreme. Cultivators care little for conventions. Whether demonic, monstrous, or righteous, all who ascend become true cultivators.

 

Would you like to enter the game?

 

Tu Si casually browsed the app and paused when his gaze landed on the words Skeleton Fragment listed among the game rewards. His brows knit slightly, a rare moment of seriousness passing across his face. He reached up and touched the pendant at his neck.

 

It was a golden-yellow necklace braided from Tu Si’s own tendrils. The pendant was a small finger bone—smooth and polished from years of handling, clearly treasured. This little pinky bone was one of the skeleton fragments. It had been with Tu Si the longest, and it was also the very bone from which Tu Si had sprouted. Nourished by its spiritual energy, he had developed intelligence, and ever since then, Tu Si’s entire life had been devoted to finding the bone’s original owner and recovering the rest of the remains.

 

He didn’t know why he had to do this. But somehow, the task of collecting the bones felt like his sole purpose in life. Each fragment’s retrieval was a desperate, life-or-death struggle.

 

At last, Tu Si had completed the collection. He thought he had fulfilled his mission and could rest eternally with the remains beneath the earth.

 

But then the bones vanished, the phone appeared, and the game began. To obtain more fragments, he now had to clear games. It was as if all of Tu Si’s efforts had been wiped away—his progress erased. He had to start over from zero.

 

Would he enter the game? Tu Si had no choice. Even if the bones vanished a hundred times and he was forced into an endless cycle within the game, he had to enter it.

 

Tu Si sometimes questioned and doubted himself. Perhaps this was the price of having human thoughts. He would wonder why he worked so hard to find the remains, only to realize—he was born to do this. Asking himself why he had to collect the bones was like asking a seed why it sprouts, a sunflower why it blooms, or a peach tree why it bears fruit.

 

So Tu Si couldn’t care—nor could he afford to care—whether this was some conspiracy or manipulation. He clicked Enter Game without hesitation.

 

The memory ended. Tu Si idly fiddled with the bronze mirror in his hands. Just then, new lines of text appeared on its surface. As he slid his fingers across the mirror, the characters moved with him, just like navigating the interface of the Ascension app within the bronze mirror’s shell.

 

Tu Si quickly searched himself but realized the phone hadn’t been brought into the game. Neither had his usual dagger tucked at his waist, nor his hairpin. The only thing still with him was the necklace around his neck, which brought him some comfort.

 

Not dwelling on it further, Tu Si continued to explore the contents shown in the bronze mirror and tapped on the task tab. It displayed:

 

Mission 1: A Stranger in a Strange Room—Begin by exploring your room thoroughly.

 

Tu Si put down the mirror and began to carefully examine the furnishings and objects on the tables.

 

After a brief search, he found that this was clearly a standard young woman’s boudoir. A canopy bed, a dressing table, a small tea table with a teapot and vase containing peach branches. The peach blossoms on the branches were fresh and vibrant, likely just recently cut. The dressing table was filled with cosmetics—lip balm, powder, eyebrow pigment, fragrant salve, and so on.

 

Tu Si tried each item one by one, putting on a complete and delicate makeup look. He then picked up an intricately carved wooden comb and began to play with it.

 

Tracing the peach blossom carvings on the comb, Tu Si tilted his head to admire it, brought it to his nose to sniff, then began combing his hair. The comb glided through his smooth golden hair, bringing a cooling sensation that felt quite pleasant and soothing. As he combed, peach blossom petals began falling from his hair—first a few scattered ones, then more and more, until they covered his entire body.

 

Tu Si admired the pink blossoms covering him for a few seconds before extending his tendrils to absorb them all.

 

Just then, he caught a glimpse of something strange in the mirror. The reflection of himself had picked up the eyebrow pigment and dotted a spot above the corner of his mouth. Tu Si leaned in to get a better look, but the reflected image no longer did anything strange. Only the black spot on the corner of his mouth confirmed that what he’d seen hadn’t been an illusion.

 

Tu Si rubbed at the spot repeatedly, but it wouldn’t come off. His grip on the mirror tightened, and he began poking at its surface with his tendrils. His once-pristine, beautiful face now marred by this blemish—he wanted to strangle the grotesque version of himself in the mirror. Slamming the mirror back onto the table, he was about to tear off this ugly face and mold a new one when—

 

He noticed a piece of xuan paper bearing a peach blossom tucked beneath the mirror’s wooden stand. Tu Si pulled it out and saw the following written in red rouge: With this mole, whatever I say becomes truth.

 

Tu Si stared at the paper and, after a moment’s thought, recited, “With this mole, whatever I say becomes truth. My face is clean and smooth, without any mole!”

 

As soon as the words left his mouth, the xuan paper spontaneously combusted and vanished. Looking back into the mirror, Tu Si found the black spot was gone. His face now looked even more fair and radiant, as if freshly washed—his makeup was completely gone as well.

 

Then another line of text appeared on the mirror:

 

Item Obtained: Mole-dotting Pen

Mole-dotting Pen: The matchmaker’s mouth is a liar’s trick, but you are an ‘honest’ matchmaker whose every word comes true.

 

Tu Si held the mole-dotting pen, a hint of an unreadable smile flashing in his eyes. This so-called “god” did seem to know his past—it even used such tempting items to lure him. But this actually reassured Tu Si. After all, if this god could only observe appearances and not read his heart, then it wasn’t so terrifying after all.

 

Just as Tu Si was examining the mirror and the eyebrow pigment carefully, the door suddenly opened. A smiling boy stood at the doorway holding a tray.

 

The child had pink blush painted on both cheeks, a red dot between his brows, and a stiffly upturned smile. His eyes stared unblinking at Tu Si, giving him goosebumps.

 

Looking down at the mirror, Tu Si saw the task list update:

 

Mission 1: A Stranger in a Strange Room—Begin by exploring your room thoroughly. (Complete)

Mission 2: Attend the Ceremony—The auspicious day has arrived, the banquet is prepared. How could you miss it?

 

Looking at the boy again, Tu Si saw that the tray he carried bore a red invitation.

 

Opening it, the invitation read:

 

Peach blossoms bloom brightly, the home awaits harmony. The red leaves have long carried affection—at last, the destined pair shall meet. On this blessed day, joy is doubled.

 

Chen Family Courtyard

Seventh Month, Fifteenth Day of the Jiazi Year

Witness: Tu Si

 

Once Tu Si finished reading the invitation and closed it, the boy turned, raised his arm, and gestured politely.

 

Then, enunciating each word, he said, “Hon-or-ed guest, this way please.”

 

Tu Si followed, and the boy began leading the way. However, his movements were extremely stiff. His knees didn’t bend, just like a puppet—a child’s toy manipulated by invisible hands, its feet being lifted and placed down mechanically.

 

Stepping out of the room, Tu Si found himself in one of the side chambers of a traditional courtyard. Red satin flowers were strung along the eaves, and red brocade carpeted the ground. But the courtyard was filled with white funeral paper money fluttering through the air, white flags swaying in the wind. In the center stood a massive peach tree, adorned with red silk. The blossoms were in full bloom—petals mingled with paper money, eerie and beautiful.

 

Tu Si thought to take a look around the courtyard. Just as his foot stepped off the raised threshold—

 

The boy suddenly reappeared in front of him, blocking his way. He raised an arm and pointed north, mechanically saying, “Hon-or-ed guest, this way please.”

 

Tu Si planted a foot on the boy’s chest. The child didn’t budge. Tu Si raised a brow and attempted to step over him into the courtyard. At that moment, the boy grabbed a corner of Tu Si’s robe, and a powerful electric current surged through his body.

 

Tu Si, being a plant, was naturally insulated and didn’t fear electricity—but this told him one thing clearly: In this game, ordinary players must follow the tasks. Disobedience equals death.

 

So Tu Si didn’t test it further. He retracted his foot and let the boy lead him across the red carpet, through the courtyard, into the main hall.

 

Inside, people were already gathered, arguing noisily.

 

As Tu Si entered the hall, he saw a long altar table at the front, with two spirit tablets placed atop it. On either side below the altar were eight high-backed chairs. Behind the altar, white silk flowers were draped over a folding screen, and the entire room was decorated in white satin. Yet the walls and chair backs were plastered with bright red “double happiness” characters.

 

Six people had already taken their seats. Closest to the right side of the altar was a burly man with a brutal face, full of muscle and menace. Next to him sat a yellow-haired youth with a monkey face, styled like a punk rocker. Then a greasy-faced, lecherous fat man who was currently groping the thigh of a skinny, dark girl in jeans and a white T-shirt. The girl had her head lowered, nervously clutching her shirt hem, trembling in what seemed to be fear or humiliation.

 

On the left sat a man and woman in military uniforms. The woman had short, sharp hair and a disdainful expression. Her uniform was worn neatly, giving her a cool, aloof look, though her crossed legs and arms folded over her chest lent her a somewhat laid-back air.

 

The man beside her wore a gentle smile, hands resting properly on his knees. His shirt and jacket were perfectly pressed, not a wrinkle in sight. He appeared cultured and refined, but to Tu Si, he exuded an uncanny chill—an unsettling mix of gentleness and danger in one person.

 

As soon as the six saw Tu Si brought in, they fell silent and all turned to look at him. The female officer’s eyes flickered with surprise and admiration. She raised a brow and nudged the man beside her with her elbow. He remained expressionless but gave Tu Si a polite, courteous nod in greeting.

 

“Well, well, a newcomer? Need big brother to protect you?” The burly man spoke up. The moment he laid eyes on Tu Si, his gaze lit up. Grinning lasciviously, he stood and walked over to Tu Si.

 

As he spoke, he reached out to touch Tu Si’s face.

 

“Scram!” Tu Si, disgusted by the man’s greasy, lecherous expression, took a step back and slapped the hand away.

 

Only then did the burly man realize Tu Si was half a head taller than him—and he had an obvious Adam’s apple. The man swore viciously, “F***, you’re a f***ing fake ladyboy freak. Disgusting!”