"That sounds like... a terrible thing to ascend to, to have nothing else left of you." And here he thought PIDW Ascension was sort of shitty.
"I, there is-- an indicator, of sorts? Last time it displayed anything like what it does now, the person to whom it is connected was in another plane from me. I do not think where I came from would be... findable by conventional methods."
He pauses. Should he just go whole hog here? The system can't punish him for it if it's offline. "...Have you ever heard of 'transmigration' or 'isekai'?"
"Isekai... isn't that one of the immersia genres the kids like these days?" Oh, he's asking the wrong person. "Sorry, but I think I've only heard it in passing. I've never actually watched one." He'd ask Yanqing, but he doesn't think his ward would know either. He takes life so seriously Jing Yuan had a hard time getting him to relax enough to see his friends, let alone watch a great deal of immersia.
He is going to reserve his comments on Shang Qinghua's thoughts about Aeons for now. It's... pretty blasphemous, but sometimes Jing Yuan has had similar ideas. The Ten Lords Commission wouldn't like to hear that, so he keeps them to himself.
Hm. Well. At least it exists, he guesses. He's started this train, so he might as well keep going. "Isekai was a popular fictional trope in stories in my original world as well. Fictional. Stories where a person dies, and wakes up born anew into a world of fantasy." He pauses, frowns. "There was no cultivation, no magic, no gods, nothing supernatural, not in that world, it was all purely a thing of fiction. And then I died. And I woke up in the world of a book I had-- read." Good save, Airplane. "It's in that book where I was reborn into the role of Peak Lord of An Ding. I strongly suspect that this, your Xianzhou Luofu, is a different world entirely from either of those."
It all sounds impossible to Jing Yuan, but he also doesn't see any signs of deception in the tale that Shang Qinghua is telling. Well, almost none. He hesitates before saying he'd read the book, which seems like such a tiny thing to lie about as to be almost pointless. Interesting.
"Just so I'm understanding the order of events - you are originally from a world there is nothing supernatural, but when you died - I am sorry to hear that - you reincarnated into the world where you became Peak Lord of An Ding. And then you came here by falling into a portal - you did not have to die again?" He hopes not. Dying more than once seems like it would be terribly unfair.
"I, er, literally tripped and fell through a portal, yeah." Because that's not embarrassing. Though it's not as bad as how he died, so... could be worse. "But portals to other worlds aren't unheard of, in the book; m-- the ice demon king can create shadow portals, and the demon emperor has a sword that can cut portals through space that he's gone to other realities through before, and there are naturally occurring rifts to the Endless Abyss. But, um, no, I didn't die again. And I didn't wake up in the body of one of your citizens, I'm still... being Shang Qinghua. I've got all my stuff with me and everything. And my cultivation still works."
"So that sounds like an entirely different mechanism than your first, what did you call it, transmigration?" Jing Yuan muses. "I'll have the Divination Commission go through the records to see if there are previous anomalies like this, if they're not doing that already. Perhaps we've had previous visitors from your world." It's a strange idea, like something out of, well, a book or immersia, but he seems to have the walking, talking, boba-drinking proof of it in front of him. "And in the mean time, what to tell them..."
It's his opinion that Shang Qinghua is as close to harmless as it's possible for a cultivator to be, but he doubts Fu Xuan will be so sanguine, let alone the Ten Lords Commission. No, they definitely don't need to know about this - there's no sin being committed, just a strange event and to him that's more in line with the Divination Commission's purview. He can't imagine Shang Qinghua, who was made so nervous by him, of all people, handling the methods of the Ten Lords well.
And... ah. Generals are generally held to some kind of command structure, aren't they? Has he just made a horrible mistake? Should he definitely have not said that part about his cultivation working? At least he didn't say he was immortal. He sips his tea, anxiously. Maybe he should try the seal to summon his king? He was just so caught up in exploring... but a man with a spiritual presence like that would almost certainly be able to sense it, and then there would be questions that he really does not want to answer.
Jing Yuan sips his boba, deep in thought - the solemn expression on his face at odds with the rather silly looking straw he's sucking on. Eventually he puts the cup down with a nod. "We're going to need to tell someone that you're here or I'll be accused of concealing important information if it comes to light. My choice would be Chief Diviner Fu Xuan - I have her loyalty, and she has my trust, not to mention she's the one who told me about the incident in the first place. Her Commission will also be the best one to explore the prospect of returning you to your home." He isn't sure whether that's a priority for Shang Qinghua or not, but they should at least try. "While we work on that, you'll be my guest on the Luofu and we can tell the Chief Diviner you're under my supervision, which will hopefully satisfy any qualms she has about danger you might pose."
It isn't a foolproof plan, but it is at least the basics of a plan. It depends on Fu Xuan cooperating, of course, which is the weak point, but... he's sure he can convince her.
"...Thank you?" That seems like the only thing he can possibly say. The man is definitely putting himself out for him. Like he finds Shang Qinghua's inherent sleaze somehow trustworthy. "I, ah, this one will trust the honorable General's judgment in this matter, and thanks him for his forbearance?"
"I'm glad to hear it, but there's no need to thank me. At least until we see how this all works out." Honestly, he finds Shang Qinghua... adorable? Adorably old-fashioned, at least. "By the way, I haven't heard people speaking like that to each other in real life since I was a child. It really is all right to speak less formally, no one's going to think you're being discourteous. If you keep it up, they'll think you're even older than me."
Right. Okay. He can be casual. “You’re still putting yourself out on my behalf,” he points out. “You just met me.” Feels weird to talk normally to someone other than Cucumber-bro. “Man, I haven’t habitually talked informally in decades.” He’s curious how long ago ‘since I was a child’ is, but asking someone’s age is rude. And the man did say his people are immortal, so like any cultivator, he could be very old indeed. “Um. Thank you for the boba tea, too. Haven’t had one since I died.”
"You're a guest of the Xianzhou Luofu, no matter how involuntarily. It's our duty to ensure you're taken care of. Under the circumstances it seems I'm best suited to carry that out, so really, thanks are unneeded." This is a very polite conversation despite Jing Yuan insisting there's no need to be formal. It's fine, he's old and allowed to be a hypocrite occasionally.
"But you are very welcome for the boba tea. There's also a startaro variety, which... well, I can't recommend it but Diviner Fu is quite fond of it. I'll have to bring her a cup to sweeten her mood when we head over there." After all he's going to be very late for their meeting and bringing her a problem, he can imagine she's going to be a little irritable.
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"I, there is-- an indicator, of sorts? Last time it displayed anything like what it does now, the person to whom it is connected was in another plane from me. I do not think where I came from would be... findable by conventional methods."
He pauses. Should he just go whole hog here? The system can't punish him for it if it's offline. "...Have you ever heard of 'transmigration' or 'isekai'?"
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He is going to reserve his comments on Shang Qinghua's thoughts about Aeons for now. It's... pretty blasphemous, but sometimes Jing Yuan has had similar ideas. The Ten Lords Commission wouldn't like to hear that, so he keeps them to himself.
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"Just so I'm understanding the order of events - you are originally from a world there is nothing supernatural, but when you died - I am sorry to hear that - you reincarnated into the world where you became Peak Lord of An Ding. And then you came here by falling into a portal - you did not have to die again?" He hopes not. Dying more than once seems like it would be terribly unfair.
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It's his opinion that Shang Qinghua is as close to harmless as it's possible for a cultivator to be, but he doubts Fu Xuan will be so sanguine, let alone the Ten Lords Commission. No, they definitely don't need to know about this - there's no sin being committed, just a strange event and to him that's more in line with the Divination Commission's purview. He can't imagine Shang Qinghua, who was made so nervous by him, of all people, handling the methods of the Ten Lords well.
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And... ah. Generals are generally held to some kind of command structure, aren't they? Has he just made a horrible mistake? Should he definitely have not said that part about his cultivation working? At least he didn't say he was immortal. He sips his tea, anxiously. Maybe he should try the seal to summon his king? He was just so caught up in exploring... but a man with a spiritual presence like that would almost certainly be able to sense it, and then there would be questions that he really does not want to answer.
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It isn't a foolproof plan, but it is at least the basics of a plan. It depends on Fu Xuan cooperating, of course, which is the weak point, but... he's sure he can convince her.
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"But you are very welcome for the boba tea. There's also a startaro variety, which... well, I can't recommend it but Diviner Fu is quite fond of it. I'll have to bring her a cup to sweeten her mood when we head over there." After all he's going to be very late for their meeting and bringing her a problem, he can imagine she's going to be a little irritable.