Xiao Hong found herself in a strange space. No matter which way she turned, all she found was an endless expanse of red.
But unlike what one might expect, she was not wary at all despite suddenly appearing in a strange, unknown place! Her eyes shone with the unholy glee of a goblin who'd just discovered the helpless, pure saintess - erm - discovered a gold mine!
Why, you ask? Because she finally got what she desired the most: a golden finger!
"Hahahahahaha~!" She threw her head back and let out an unrestrained belly laugh! "As expected! How could a transmigrator as awesome as me not have some special ability? It's simply impossible. It's the basic right of a transmigrator!"
She planted her hands on her hips, nose poised to pierce the Heavens, "Senior Brother Mo? Young Master Peng? Hah! All of you should wash your heads; for the mighty foot of Xiao Hong, Supreme Overlord of the Crimson Void, is incoming! Ahahahahahaha - ah?!" Just as she was gloating, stomping imaginary Young Masters, pieces of information magically surfaced in her mind.
Instantly, her laughter was choked.
Her face contorted as if she'd just bitten into a supposedly sweet fruit only for it to turn out especially sour!
"What the fuck do you mean I need to pay with my Cultivation Base to use it?!" She flailed wildly at the uncaring red expanse, her indignant shout echoing across the void. "That's not a golden finger, that's a gold medal-winning display of extortion!"
Silence. Utter silence.
Once again, she was ignored by the powers that be. Whatever they may be.
"Goddammit! Don't let me get my hands on whoever designed my cheat, I'll teach him a thing or two! Damned bastard see if I don't shove that rusted spike up…" She unleashed a volley of curses so vivid, they could only be described as boundless Nine-colored Divine Obscenities! The Dao of Profanity trembled with every syllable that flew out of her mouth!
The thought of sacrificing even a small portion of her Cultivation Base was unimaginable. In a world where a single strand of Qi could separate life and death, losing Cultivation was trading away one's lifeline.
"Ugh," she finally deflated, "Fine. Whatever. I'll make do with it. Somehow." Though it'd probably involve significant amounts of whining.
After a few more choice critiques about the cheat creator's non-vertebrate preferences for their chosen partners, she calmed down and studied the exact effects of her ability.
In exchange for her Cultivation Base, she could produce a sort of energy. And this "Cultivation Base" not only included her Qi, but also the physical refinement of her body! It didn't damage her Cultivation Base - it only made it like she had never cultivated in the first place.
Anyway, by consuming this shimmering energy, she could enter this space. Then, what were the effects of this space?
To put it simply, this was a sandbox simulator. She could simulate stuff in here without affecting reality. The catch? The fidelity depended entirely on her knowledge. Simulating herself? She could do that flawlessly since she had direct access to that information. Anything else? Unless she knew it down to its exact molecular structure, it would never be perfect.
Another ability of this space was time dilation. For a modest additional fee of that shimmering energy, of course.
She could also heighten her ability to process and internalise information. In a nutshell, she could be a bona fide genius here… If she kept shovelling Cultivation Base into the furnace.
"Fucking micro-transactions!" She spat.
Kicking at the non-existent ground, she launched into a furious rant, "What's next? Loot boxes for rare meridians? Premium Spirit Stone subscriptions? Battle passes for Dao Comprehension?!"
It was only after a long while that she managed to calm down.
"It sounds incredibly powerful, but," Xiao Hong's brows scrunched together, "sacrificing my Cultivation Base for it… I don't know if it's worth it." Her subpar talent made it more of a liability than an asset.
"But," a glint flashed in her eyes, "this also gives me a fighting chance!"
She took a deep breath and whispered to herself, "Let's give this thing a whirl, shall we?"
***
Basic Spirit Sense training was straightforward - most cultivators mastered it within a month using the Sect's free exercises. This access to training resources was one of the reasons Xiao Hong decided to stick with the Sect.
She inhaled, releasing her Spirit Sense in a five-meter pulse. The real challenge was retracting it. Straining, she fumbled, nearly losing control before finally dragging it back, exhausted. This was the first exercise taught by the Sect: to flexibly open and close the metaphorical eyelids on your Spirit Sense.
As Xiao Hong did so, a strange thought bubbled up to the front of her mind. It's like spitting out a mouthful of water. She scratched the side of her chin. And pulling it back is like… slurping noodles? Her expression wavered somewhere between intrigued and mortified. She felt it was undignified for Spirit Sense to be… spat out.
'Those Web Novel addicts in my previous world would probably club me over the head if they saw Spirit Sense used like this, right?' She shuddered. She wouldn't be surprised if the native Cultivators of this world chased and put her down like a heretic - even she thought it was blasphemous!
Still, this was her personal space, right? No one would know. And any potentially harmful idea would not harm her true self.
Gathering up her Soul Power, she puffed her metaphorical cheeks, imagining them bulging with a vast reservoir of Soul Power. And after 'holding' it for a while, her figurative 'cheeks' started to hurt, and a strong urge to spit took hold of her. So she did exactly that: "Ptui~!"
To her shock, Spirit Sense exploded outward in a single, effortless gush. It spread so fast and so smoothly, it left her jaw hanging like some mutated zombie. It was simply unbelievable! All she could do was stand there, blinking - until her brain kicked her back to reality. "...Well. That was... efficient."
Expression turning stranger still, Xiao Hong decided that she might as well try out the other strange idea.
She pictured the world as a massive bowl of ramen, her Spirit Sense as springy noodles, and her Soul Gate as chopsticks. A tantalising aroma filled her nostrils. Her mouth watered involuntarily.
So she stabbed in her chopsticks, pulled out a bunch of noodles and… "Slurp~~!"
No sooner had she produced that awkward sound than her Spirit Sense turned into noodle-like tendrils that were swiftly 'slurped' back into her Soul Gate with minimal fuss. All that struggle, all that effort seemed to be nothing more than a lie.
Xiao Hong: "..."
Her mouth twitched. Then twitched again. After a long silence, she stared up, "Oh, Heavens above~, I think I just brutally violated the dignity of Spirit Sense."
After coming to terms with this… unique method of training Spirit Sense, she practised another exercise: the staggered retrieval, where one pulls back their Spirit Sense bit by bit - it was supposed to train the ability to control the amount of Soul Power one put into their Spirit Sense.
Except this damned space gave her the idea of thinking of it like… soup.
Imagine that! Here was a superpower that could potentially control the very Laws of the World… equated to soup of all things.
'What a strange ability!' The corner of her mouth twitched. Would her thinking grow crooked if she used it too much?
What she didn't realise was that the space did not direct her thoughts at all. It only amplified her thoughts, her creativity, and her bizarre ideas. Slurping, sipping, sniffing or spitting - it was all because of her crooked thought processes.
In other words, the strange ideas popped up because her brain was wired weirdly! Don't blame the innocent cheat! It was just doing its job, alright?!
***
"Gyaaaah!" The moment Xiao Hong was kicked back to reality, a white-hot agony lanced through her right eye, like someone had stabbed a knife into it. Both hands flew to her face, clamping over the eye as if she could physically hold the pain inside. She curled into a fetal position, whimpering curses against the cheat, the heavens, ramen, and the general unfairness of existence.
Slowly, like lava receding, the blinding agony subsided, leaving behind a dull, confused throb.
"Urgh, what the hell was that?" She let out another groan.
She struggled to a seated position before cautiously pulling her hand away. She stared at her blurry fingers, now painted red.
Panic, cold and sharp, sliced through the residual pain. She scrambled to her feet, vision blurry from unshed tears of pain and alarm, and stumbled towards the mirror in the corner of her room.
"There seems to be no difference…?" She blinked and rubbed her eyes before turning back to the mirror.
Nope. Nothing new.
A relieved breath escaped her lips - the Jade Beauty's perfect peepers were intact and beautiful as ever.
Suddenly, a strange awareness surged into her mind.
"Huh," She rubbed her eyes again. "So, what now, I have eye powers?"
Indeed! The source of her special ability to access the strange space was a Doujutsu (eye power)!
"No wonder," she stared at the orbs of pure red reflected in the mirror. "These eyes look way too awesome to be mere decoration."
After gazing at the mirror for a while longer, she suddenly grinned. Covering her right eye, she struck out a dramatic pose. With her voice pitched dramatically low, she intoned, "Beware, mere mortals! This right eye of mine seals the Crimson Divine Flames of the Primordial Chaos Demon God - one blink and the very Heavens themselves will be incinerated!"
A heavy silence followed her declaration, so awkward that even the furniture felt second-hand embarrassment. The squirrel outside, peeking from its hole, chittered derisively. It stuffed two nuts into its mouth and jumped outside the courtyard - it'd had enough of this mentally ill neighbour!
Xiao Hong's face heated up. She couldn't help it! It was practically universal law that one must channel their inner chuuni if they had eye powers!
After shrugging off the feelings of embarrassment, she concentrated on her gains.
With the help of the strange red space, her control over her Soul Power had grown by leaps and bounds, and she was sure that very few could surpass her achievements in Soul Power control - at least in the Second Stage: Earthen Origin.
However, the drawback was that her progress stayed in that strange red space. No matter what she achieved there, she could not carry it over to her real body.
But Xiao Hong wasn't too disappointed. Instead, the corner of her lips curved upwards into a smile. She mused out loud, "Even if I don't have the same expertise as in the red space, I still recall the experiences vividly - it shouldn't take more than a day or two to catch up to the same level in reality."
The difference was staggering - she had spent nearly a few weeks inside the strange space to gain a similar level of control!
Her eyes hardened with determination. "I must exploit this ability to its fullest!" With such a special ability under her belt - even if it was costly to use - she had gained the ability to carve out a place for herself in this world!
"That said, I should name this ability; calling it 'the strange red space' is quite distasteful for an ability as powerful as this."
She stroked her jaw thoughtfully as she murmured to herself, "How about 'Heavenly Palace of Profound Enlightenment'? Just 'Enlightenment Palace' for short. And the Energy required to fuel it can be called Enlightenment Energy."
She nodded, satisfied.