2 A Heaven's Bowl in the Void

Breathing in the cold air, Xi Chen felt a cold stream rush through his heart. As he swiftly climbed into his car and departed from the Dragon Observing Villa Complex that he had once lived for three years, the young man felt the biting cold of emotion.

Regret blazed through his veins as he had utterly failed his family, and hatred towards the Zhang Family as well as their eldest daughter, Zhang Liuxian. At the same time, he felt a breath of liberation, for he wouldn't have to linger around the same place that had mentally tormented him for three continuous years.

When he first met Zhang Liuxian, he had been successfully won over by her astonishing beauty and charm. Being a youngster in his first year of college, Xi Chen had been one of those ordinary students who fawned over the beautiful daughters of aristocratic families – but didn't dare to touch, much less breathe in their direction.

He was from a relatively poor village who had successfully passed the College Examination Test with flying colors to enroll at Jiangbei University as a passing favor, whilst Zhang Liuxian had been graciously invited in by the university's head dean himself. Their statuses were far different, for one was a villager's boy studying business, and the other was a princess of the modern world.

"How could we even get together in the first place – who could be that naïve?"

With all of the windows down, Xi Chen allowed for the cool night air to roughly tousle at his hair and clothes. The car blazed through the nearly emptied highway, its driver reveling in the lack of noisy drivers, as well as reminiscing in his memories.

Whether he wished to admit it or not – Xi Chen was one who held that insufferably naïve ideal. And whether fate wished to reward his dementia or throw him into a gaping maw of illusion, he encountered the Young Miss Zhang Liuxian on a raining summer evening of his final year at university.

Tears rained from the skies, and sparkling drops fluttered from the then attractive and charming young girl.

The gloomy skies deeply complemented her sullen countenance, and Xi Chen had surprisingly been able to present a favorable and somewhat lasting impression by giving her his umbrella and immediately leaving afterwards without asking to walk her back like the remainder of the male body of Jiangbei University. It was indeed favorable, for Zhang Liuxian had returned his umbrella the next day with a personal display of gratitude.

Since then, he had carefully watched from afar, relying upon his newfound "permission" to assist the young campus belle whenever she was in trouble. His mother had constantly alerted him to seize any opportunity to ease his future life whilst remaining within the higher ground of morals, thus he quickly took the chance when two years post-graduation, Zhang Liuxian knocked on his front door.

That day, her left hand held a folder containing a marriage contract with the Zhang Family, and the other a personal message from the Zhang Family's Patriarch.

The originally flourishing Zhang Corporation had unexpectedly taken a fatal blow from one of its competitors, causing the glorious empire to reach utter annihilation within a few days. The Zhang Family had somehow gotten wind of his senior year's thesis on an experimental model of business and marketing that could theoretically revive a dying corporation from its embers, and thus Zhang Liuxian was dispatched towards his down-trodden apartment.

The agreement called for him, the alleged founder of an experimental business model, to apply it to the Zhang Corporation and allow it to regain its authority within the marketing world. In exchange, the Zhang Family would betroth their eldest daughter, Zhang Liuxian, to him for his efforts.

It was an impossible certainty that a financial and social magnate as the Zhang Family would offer such unreasonably skewed terms towards a villager's boy – turned university graduate, but desperate circumstances had called for desperate measures. Combined with Xi Chen's personal troubles at the time, he had gladly accepted the terms with a smile on his countenance…

Screech!

The car came to an abrupt stop at the base of a large hill just away from the western outskirts of Jiangbei City, and Xi Chen climbed out of his car while rearranging his clothes. Locking his car, the young man began ascending the hill with its winding routes without hesitation.

"Mother, I've chanced upon a fantastic opportunity and took it for myself, just as you had wished. Alas, it was a pity, for I lost everything in exchange."

A foot clad in expensive clothing smashed through the brittle and dry branches scattered across the trail. In exchange, the splinters of the shattered branches slashed across the leather shoes and delicate cloth.

"Little Sister, Elder Brother has failed you. I've tried to gather as much funds for your treatment, and sought after suitable donors – but everything came to an end before I gathered the last piece."

The trees coursing with vitality raked at the luxurious suit and tie with an unfathomable apathy. Within moments, a carefully designed and constructed set of clothes had turned into rags.

"All of this… is because I tried to overstep my bounds, isn't it?"

Xi Chen stood at the top of the hill, his appearance no longer resembling the clear-cut image of a successful businessman. Instead, he seemed to have returned to his roots as someone originating from a peaceful village, though the scars and wounds were visible within his gaze.

He was infuriated towards his failures, as well as towards the world that had failed him. At the same time, he was insufferably exhausted.

"I've had enough."

The whisper finally invigorated all of his cells that had wallowed in continual sorrow and tension. His heart blazed with emotion, determination, as well as a flicker of boundless vitality.

"I've had enough!"

The man screamed towards the modern city of Jiangbei and its flickering lights of electricity contrasting against the night sky. At the same time, Xi Chen jumped from the top of the hill, and let his body fall into the incomprehensively deep ravine below.

As he fell with his eyes closed, the young man could see the silhouettes of his family smiling and waving…

-

"I'm not dead?"

A soft whisper echoed through an infinite void. There was no echo, but Xi Chen felt as though his words had permeated the entirety of the darkness around him. He couldn't see his body, nor could he feel anything. Scents and taste fled from his senses, but the young man knew that he existed, that he was present somewhere – even though he didn't know where.

"You have indeed perished."

A foreign voice echoed directly within Xi Chen's consciousness, and the intensity was sufficiently to cause him to nearly lapse into unconsciousness. Without knowing the reason why, Xi Chen felt his soul instinctively struggle to recollect itself, and the void gradually regained its fragile stability.

"Who are you!?"

Once the aftereffects of the intangible shockwave had departed from Xi Chen's soul, the young man shouted into the void. The infinite darkness quivered as gentle laughter escaped its reach.

"Who am I? Little mortal, do you really think you can withstand such information?" the foreign voice gently teased.

"Of course, if you wish to achieve completion and merge with the universe, you can simply tell me outright instead of trying to commit suicide by interpreting the heavens, ah…"

Mortal? Heavens?

Xi Chen's mind blanked for a few moments at the foreign yet recognizable words, and his heart instinctively quivered. The young man hesitated as he forcefully quelled the question from arising to his lips for the second time, instead adopting a different approach.

"Why am I here?"

"Excellent question – why are you here?" the void continued to rumble in its ambiguous voice.

"Why has a village's boy without talent, background, or superlative ability suddenly emerged in an unfamiliar, unreasonable environment after jumping to his death – why don't you think about it? Take your time to think, and why don't you amass your thoughts into a bowl?"

Was he being mocked?

Xi Chen's soul quivered as he felt the hint of giggling emerge from the crevices of the darkness. Accomplishing the impossible feat of shaking his head from side to side whilst lacking an actual physical body, the young man tried to think about why he was even there – just as the darkness wished.

Since the void had the intention of teasing him, surely it was aware of the answer…

The young man thought hard, and thought for what seemed to be an eternity. Just as he was about to finalize his decision and communicate with whoever – or whatever lay beyond the curtain of darkness, Xi Chen saw a wooden bowl emerge at the fringes of his consciousness.

He still couldn't see anything except for the darkness, but he knew that a wooden bowl had emerged from the void. He couldn't see its shape, but instinctively knew the exact dimensions, curvature, and structure of the bowl.

"Do you like it? Encompassing your entire sense of self into a bowl – doesn't it give you unlimited power, as though you are part of the heavens?"