Mortal To Immortal (Book 1)
MTI 002 - White Sky

Yao Han's eyes opened slowly, twitching several times to adjust the light that hit his eyes. He then realized he was in a lying position and the thing he saw was a blue sky with some small clouds moving slowly. The clouds are golden in color.

His forehead shriveled, then because he felt something was strange, he changed his position to sit. Yao Han's eyes widened and his breathing briefly came to a halt as he looked at the extremely unfamiliar surrounding place and was never in his shadow though.

"Where am I? What is this place?"

As far as Yao Han's eyes looked, there was only vast water. Yao Han let out a slow scream realizing he was sitting on a very clear water.

"Can I sit on the water? Miraculous.." murmured Yao Han.

Yao Han's delight wasn't long as his heart was pounding, his face was anxious because he didn't know where he was right now. Wanting to scream for help and wishing there was someone, but other than her there was no one or anything there.

"Oh... What is this place? How am I supposed to get back?" Yao Han scratched his head in frustration and wanted to cry.

"Calm down, young man."

Yao Han felt his heart pausing for a moment, he vigilantly turned around to look at the owner of the voice that shocked him.

About five steps away from him was a white man. Starting from his hair, eyebrows, mustache, long beard, and clothes. His face looked like a man in his thirties, as well as displaying a friendly face and a warm smile.

"I'm sorry if I startled you. Come closer, I won't hurt you."

Yao Han hesitated a little, but seeing the man's innate nature, he approached. The all-white man sat on a jade chair and there was a round jade table in front of him.

When Yao Han was already one step in front of the jade table, the man flicked his hand then appeared an exact same jade chair as the one he was sitting on.

'Woah, great! This uncle must be a witch!'

"Unlike you think, I'm not a witch."

"Eh?" Yao Han looked at the man in awe, 'This uncle turns out to be able to read minds as well.'

"Why don't you just sit down so we can talk more freely?"

Yao Han nodded and sat down. Then cupped his hands and bowed a little.

"Uncle, my name is Yao Han. Forgive my previous defiance."

Yao Han's polite demeanor was indeed thanks to the teachings from Grandma Yue who taught him to always be respectful to older people. In addition, it was also due to the strange aura emanated from the man that made him look dignified.

The man chuckled, "I didn't think of such a small thing. No need to introduce myself, I already know your name. Exactly I knew about you from birth until we met this time."

Yao Han scratched his cheek, looking at the man a little awkwardly, "Then can I find out Uncle's name?"

"I used to be called Bai Tian. You can call me Uncle Bai. To be more familiar, I'll call you Han'er."

'White sky? A name that matched Uncle's appearance perfectly, Yao Han's inner being momentarily forgot that this man named Bai Tian was able to read his thoughts, "Alright, Uncle Bai."

Bai Tian nodded slowly, not commenting on Yao Han's heart content towards his name.

"May I know who Uncle Bai really is?"

"Who am I is not important because I am not the main character in this story."

"Sorry, Uncle, I don't understand what Uncle is saying."

"We met because of the fate of the heavens you have and I'm here to give you a little guidance."

Bai Tian's words made Yao Han flustered.

Bai Tian laughed softly, "Alright, I spoke too suddenly. You are confused because you are in a very foreign place. It's because of an incident that happened to you, do you remember?"

"Hm, as I recall earlier I was by the river, meditating."

Bai Tian nodded slowly, "Right. So you don't know what happened after that. I'll show you something, just watch it."

Bai Tian swung his right hand, two meters from the side both sets of water formed something. A big mirror. Yao Han was not surprised anymore by what Bai Tian was doing, regarding the man as a saint.

The mirror showed something very clearly. Yao Han was stunned when he saw himself in the mirror.

"Oh, it's me-!" Yao Han exclaimed softly.

"Yes, it was you who was meditating at the moment before the incident that befell you and made you meet me. Keep watching, I hope you're not surprised later."

Yao Han was curious about Bai Tian's words, so he looked back at the mirror in silence.

Yao Han's premonition became uneasy the longer he looked at himself in the mirror. Sure enough, the next incident was even very surprising. He saw himself being struck by golden lightning and his body drifting into the river. The stone he always sat on while meditating by the river became dust.

His mind was suddenly blank, his face was pale, and his heart was racing. Yao Han dissolved into a void of thought and did not realize that the magic huge mirror had turned into water again.

Bai Tian silently watched Yao Han and deliberately did not reprimand him, waiting for Yao Han to come to his senses by himself.

"P-Uncle, that means... have I.... died? I died in lightning? Then this place...is this the afterlife?" Yao Han asked softly and slightly stammered. His eyes were still a little blank and his face was still pale.

"You're wrong about you being dead. If you're dead, this isn't the place you're headed to."

"Then what place is this?"

"This is the transitional realm, the realm between life and death."

Yao Han was silent for a moment to think, then he came to a conclusion.

"So I'm not dead? Maybe I'm dying or something?"

"Simplistically so. You who are currently in front of me are spirit or some sort of consciousness, while your physical body is somewhere on land you live."

On one side Yao Han was happy not to die, on the other he was worried about his physical body. How severe was the wound his body had from the lightning strike?

"No need to worry about your physical body, there is someone who finds, carries, even takes care of it."

Yao Han did not doubt Bai Tian's words, then he exhaled a sigh of relief. He should thank whoever the good guy is.

"The appearance of gold lightning is naturally rare and carries a special sign. In your case, that golden lightning is a good sign."

"What's so good about being struck by lightning, Uncle?" Yao Han felt that something was wrong with Bai Tian's mind.

"Maybe you'll think I'm crazy or something, but that golden lightning is the sky's reward for your hope."

Note:

The word 'Yao' in Yao Han's name means medicine. The name of the clan is inspired by the names of the characters Yao Lao (Immortal Destiny) and Yao Chen (Battle Through The Heaven).

Uncle Ling whose full name was Ling Tian in the previous version, I changed it to Bai Tian. 'Bai' means white, 'Tian' means sky. Bai Tian means White Sky, referring to his unique all-white appearance.