The Escape (Part-1)
A few hours earlier;
The sun had barely begun to climb over the eastern peaks of Mount Wudang when Alex stirred from his sleep.
The delicate knock on the chamber door came twice before a familiar soft voice followed, "Young Master, it's already the late hour of Mao. Time to wake up."
The voice belonged to Roulan, the ever-dutiful personal maid assigned to him by the Li Clan.
Alex groaned and blinked slowly, pushing himself up from the soft bedding.
His hair was tousled, face was still marked by the creases of sleep.
The golden morning light filtering through the ornate lattice windows washed across the chamber's crimson curtains and embroidered silk hangings.
Roulan entered gracefully, bowing slightly as she approached. "The wedding begins in the hours of wu, Young Master. You have to start preparing for the wedding right away," she reminded with practiced courtesy.
"Yeah… I know," Alex murmured, rubbing his eyes as he slowly sat up on the edge of the bed.
His back slouched, and a sigh escaped his lips, long, tired, and tinged with sarcasm.
As Roulan gave another bow and turned to heat the bathing water, Alex muttered under his breath, "One day after transmigrating, I'm marrying a beauty who hates my existence, and I'm entering the family where, except for my father-in-law, everyone is quite interested in beating me up." He laughed dryly. "What a stupid life. If only this Alex had died a few days earlier, back at the Qin Clan Manor instead of in the world, or if only I had woken up there rather than in this room, maybe I would've found an opportunity to escape this mess. After all, I had a few people over there who loved Qin Wei."
"And here…" He rose slowly to his feet, rolling his shoulders, still stiff from yesterday's spiritual awakening. "Not only am I surrounded by people who don't like me… I'm too weak to even resist a maid." He sighed, massaging his temple. "Ugh. This damn fate of mine. Anyway, let's…"
But before he could finish insulting his own fate, a faint shimmer flickered before his eyes.
DING!
A holographic screen blinked into existence midair.
EMERGENCY MISSION TRIGGERED!
Title: Escape the Wedding
Objective: Exit the Li Clan Estate and descend Wudang Mountain
Time Limit: 06:00:00
Reward: +10 Talent Points, +Wood Element Affinity
Alex's pupils shrank. He blinked and read it again; his jaw tightened.
"Escape the wedding…?" he muttered in disbelief, eyes narrowing. "And get ten talent points and wood element for it?"
The screen hovered silently.
Just then, Roulan's voice called gently from the bathing room. "The water's ready, Young Master."
She walked back into the room calmly as faint steam followed her.
The flame energy still lingered around her fingers, a sign that she had personally heated the water with her fire element affinity.
"I will send the service maids in," she added politely.
Alex snapped out of his daze, stiffening slightly. "No!" he blurted.
Roulan blinked in confusion.
He coughed lightly, then tried to correct his tone. "I mean… there's no need. I'll bathe by myself today."
Her brow raised slightly. After all, this is a notorious playboy who is famous for being a lecher. Why was he refusing service maids to bathe him? But she said nothing of it. "As you wish, Young Master. Your wedding robes and ceremonial attire will be delivered shortly."
Alex nodded, trying to calm his racing thoughts as she gave a respectful bow and exited the chamber.
The moment the door closed behind her, he collapsed into the nearby chair and stared at the floating mission screen.
"Ten talent points… and a wood element," he whispered. "Now that changes everything…"
"Aria, now, admit yourself. You definitely want me to escape this marriage, don't you?"
*Ding!
[As I have mentioned before, host, each choice has a different destiny.]
"Then that means running away has a better destiny, right?"
At that, the system stayed silent.
Alex didn't push the matter either.
He stood up quickly and mumbled. "Open, Character Interface.
He navigated the system's functions by scrolling down, finally stopping at Library.
He clicked on it.
The 3D virtual tome opened with pages.
"But how do I get out?" His voice was grim. "Under the eyes of the Li Clan? No way I can walk out the front gate… teleportation is the only way."
"Aria, can you recommend a perfect skill needed to escape?" he asked.
The system responded immediately, but not with positive news.
*Ding!
[None can do, host. Your destiny must be chosen with your own hands.]
"Ugh... you ruthless system... fine, I'll look for a way on my own. Who needs your help? Hmpf..."
He quickly tapped into Energy techniques, muttering as he flipped the pages. "Come on, come on… I need something fast, clean, short-range, even D-grade… no, that's too basic…"
Yet, what greeted him was exactly what he feared.
Flash Step: 5000 credits
Void Blink: 9000 credits
Heavenly Gate Hop: 20,000 credits
Shadow Bridge: 15,000 credits
Lightning Sovereign Seal: 11.7 million credits
Every teleportation or space-bending technique cost more than he had. Far more. The cheapest was five times his entire budget.
His heart sank, frustration burning low in his gut.
And then, a flicker of a thought appeared in his head.
"Wait a minute..."
He blinked, then slowly looked up at the hovering tome again, eyes sharpening. "Shadow Bridge Technique was from the novel I haven't published. That means... I can use the ones from the latest one I didn't get to publish back in my past life," he whispered, realization dawning in his tone.
*Ding!
[I believe I mentioned you could use the powers from your 25 fictional works. And you only published 24 novels. Isn't that obvious, host?]
"Shut up. Who asked you... I don't need running commentaries. If you can't help me, then don't speak and irritate me," Alex snapped at this system. The latter stayed silent.
As Alex thought about it, a skill appeared in his head to escape this wedding.
His fingers moved with renewed vigor, flipping through page after page of locked techniques, each one encoded with details only he would recognize. "Where is it… where is it…" he mumbled, eyes scanning desperately.
Ten minutes passed. Then twenty.
And then, click.
A page shimmered open with a faint hum.
Alex's heart leapt.
Ripple Drift
Rank: C
Credits: 800
Effect: The user activates a temporary ripple in space and drifts up to 20 li (~10km) in a chosen direction. Cannot pass through the rank-10 or above space barriers. Cooldown: 400 minutes.
Alex stared at the entry, the text glowing softly with confirmation that it could be purchased.
He grinned, wide and wild.
"I made this…" he breathed. "I made this for a minor villain who escaped every time just before getting caught by my main protagonist. Little did I expect that this was going to help me earn the wood element."
His finger hovered over the purchase button for only a heartbeat.
Click.
[–800 credits]
A new notification appeared:
*Ding!
[You have learned the Ripple Drift Technique. It has been added to your Skill Interface.]
Alex exhaled deeply and leaned back, heart still racing. "Perfect."
Now, he had the tool. All that remained was execution.
He turned his gaze toward the window, where banners and red streamers fluttered in the rising sun.
Below, the estate buzzed with wedding excitement. Courtyards were being swept, red lanterns hung on eaves, ceremonial silk sashes unrolled across stone steps.
"Let's see…" he murmured, pacing now. "I have maybe five and a half hours left. The estate will be on high alert two hours before the wedding. My best chance is within the next hour."
He cracked his knuckles.
"I need to time it perfectly… location, direction, destination…"
The Ripple Drift technique allowed him to choose a direction but not fine-tune the exact landing point.
Still, it was far enough to get beyond the Li Clan's detection array. He just needed to pick a direction where no patrols would be stationed and time the activation right.
His eyes flickered as he activated his Heaven's Eye.
"Let's get out of this place," he said under his breath, a smirk forming once more.