12 Forgotten Waters Sect

Li Meirong had transmigrated to a different world.

On her first day in this new world, she had been sold to a brothel and was nearly raped by a brute of a man, who was promptly murdered right on top of her. Then, in some cruel form of irony, she was drugged with an aphrodisiac and ended up doing such shameful things with the killer! She couldn't help the wave of shame that flooded her innards, blooming in her stomach like a rotten tulip. And, worst of all, she'd been so eager for it too! 

Li Meirong fervently wished she couldn't remember, but she did. Why couldn't she have been afflicted with a convenient case of amnesia and dismiss the whole thing?

On her second day in this foreign land, she woke up in a forest that was straight out of a fairytale. 'How did I get here?' she asked herself over and over again. 'And where is that man? Had I hallucinated the whole thing?' 

Sitting up on the mossy forest floor, she shouted, "One way or another, I need to get out of here!" 

At least she wasn't in the brothel anymore. Whether that whole episode was just a vividly bad dream or not, she decided she would focus on figuring out her current whereabouts.

In her previous life, Li Meirong had never had any grand dreams or aspirations. She had no particularly great achievements to speak of and only ever wanted to live peacefully, to be simply one in the crowd. Get a stable job, find a good man, settle down, and make her family proud. That's all she ever wanted out of life. But now all of that was lost. She had no one here, nothing. To make matters worse, she stood out like a sore thumb here. 

She felt weak, no - she was weak. Useless.

But, no matter what, she refused to be put in a position where she could be sold or tossed around again. Thinking about the man with the glowing eyes, she wondered if what they did could be counted as a one night stand. Li Meirong assumed she would most likely never see him again. The bitter taste of disappointment tainted her thoughts as the expression on her face fell into a dejected frown. 

Li Meirong figured that if the events of last night were real, then he'd apparently fulfilled his promise and smuggled her out of that whorehouse. 

She was free… for now, at least.

She sighed at this fact and stood up, gathering her long dress in her hands. She picked a random direction and started walking. Seeing no point in dwelling on the past, she had to move on and find a place to stay before nightfall.

Making her way through the forest, she soon found a foot-beaten path through the trees and bushes. There were small wooden signs posted along the path. All directed her north, so she followed them with no other means of direction. The further she walked, the more the atmosphere around her changed. It was morning, yet there were so many dark shadows and greying bushes on the path. Little fireflies fluttered about, some even circled her as she hiked along. She reached out her hand to touch one and felt a stab of pain. 

"It bit me!" her voice echoed through the distant hills.

Frightened, she hurriedly jogged away from the swarm of glowing fireflies. The forest grew darker still. The trees got denser, branches heavy with leaves and creeping vines that twisted around the damp tree trunks all the way down to the forest bed. Paying closer attention to her surroundings, Li Meirong began to realize the vines were actually unearthed roots of the hanging trees. They moved subtly like snakes coiling in the sand.

Her heart began to race when her eyes were suddenly caught by something glowing through the shrubs on the side of the path. Many pairs of beady eyes blinked at her through the dense cover of shrubbery. Terrified, she ran up the path as fast as her legs could carry her. The more she looked around, the more afraid she became, certain that at any moment something was going to pounce out at her from the darkness.

Panting and covered in a cold sweat, she found herself safely at the end of the path. In front of her was a large clearing. Li Meirong slowed her pace to a walk and saw a crowd of people in its center, apparently lining up for something. Almost jumping with joy, she hurried across the flat earth to join them. Judging by their attire, the majority of the people in the queue appeared quite wealthy, although there were a few dressed in rags as well. Most of the people in the crowd were very young, looking as though they were in their early teens. Parents were also in the crowd, holding their toddlers and children while standing in line.

At the end of the queue sat a woman, perched atop a large boulder with her shoulders back and her legs crossed in a lotus position. She was strikingly beautiful, with youthful features and a glaringly bright aura. Her eyes were dark and piercing. Behind the woman was a vast and empty abyss, only the blue-grey skies and fluffy clouds could be seen floating overhead. If a person were to walk out to this void, they would surely fall to their doom.

As Li Meirong crossed the clearing, she took in the peculiar scene, watching curiously as the distinguished woman gazed solemnly upon the crowd. 

The beautiful woman was clothed in a light blue robe, her waist adorned with a white sash. She appeared to be giving instructions to all the participants regarding their destination. In front of the boulder she sat on was a large metal bowl filled with water.

Each time a person reached the front of the line they would dip their left hand into the water. Sometimes, the water glowed brightly in different colors, and other times it had a singular dim glow. The people who placed their hand in the water and received no shimmer whatsoever were instructed to leave the clearing and never return.

The devastation of the rejected participants was painfully obvious. When the water didn't glow for a little girl who had reached the head of the line, she immediately burst into tears, as though the earth had just collapsed from underneath her. The wailing girl's mother quickly grabbed the child and urged her to move aside. 

In the far distance, men and women with distinguished bearings and wearing the same set of light blue clothes gazed at the occurrence with unmasked disdain.

There was no place for weaklings here. Not in this land.

The line was so long that Li Meirong was sure that by the time she reached the front, nighttime would arrive. Despite this, everyone still stood patiently. Not a single person left before they had the opportunity to place their hand inside the bowl. Since Li Meirong had nowhere else to go and her curiosity was piqued, she figured that she might as well stick around and give it a shot.

The chatter of the participants in front of her soon reached her ears. They were three cheerful and excited teenagers, two boys and a girl. Their plump cheeks and innocent smiles gave the impression of spoiled noble children.

"The Forgotten Waters sect only recruits disciples once every fifty years. This is such a lucky event for us! If we get accepted, not only will we have the opportunity to become inhumanly strong and elevate our households, but we could also obtain immortality if we manage to join the inner ranks!" the girl in front excitedly squealed, but her expression quickly changed to alarm as she uttered her next sentence. "But... if I don't get accepted…"

The boy in the middle was all smiles as he patted her head gently. "I'm sure you will be accepted, Little Qianqian. After all, we've been practicing martial arts and honing our internal strength since infancy."

Li Meirong remembered the dramas she used to watch on TV before she died and how most of them dealt with bickering women in harems, crumbling empires, and dirty politics. She had also come across a show that had to do with cultivating spiritual essence referred to as qi. After overhearing the kids in front of her, she deduced that this event was actually a test to get accepted into a sect. She couldn't remember the name of the show, but that hardly mattered now. Similar to the show she vaguely remembered watching, if you were accepted, you ended up gaining magical, superhuman powers.

'Practicing immortality? Becoming stronger? It sounds too good to be true…'

In this world, there were no laws to protect an individual's personal rights. Her soul had transmigrated into the body of a discarded, punished maid. If she didn't become stronger, the odds of her finding herself in the same situation as the previous owner of this body was disturbingly high. Li Meirong wondered if she could become the type of person who could raise her strength and eventually become powerful enough to live a carefree life without any hassle. With this newfound thought in mind, she tapped the shoulder of the boy who was standing in the middle of the trio.

The group turned towards Li Meirong, regarding her with perplexed eyes.