Chapter Forty-One: What? A Reverse Transmigration? Duan Miaoyin, Granddaughter of the Duan Clan of Dali

The swirling snowflakes laid a blanket of pristine white across the earth, momentarily masking the filth of the human world.

This was Crane City, located in the Northeast, experiencing its most extraordinary blizzard in a decade.

Yan Tian strolled through the streets on this powder-dusted morning. He deliberately refrained from using his protective internal energy to deflect the flakes, preferring to feel the bracing, bone-chilling sensation as the snow melted against his skin.

It was still early—barely past five o'clock. The heavy snowfall had kept most people indoors; aside from the diligent sanitation workers, the streets were essentially deserted.

Given Yan Tian’s indolent nature, he would normally have died before waking up this early. But today was different: it was the first day of the final exams at the Third Municipal High School. Although he had barely reviewed in over a month—having dedicated all his time to martial arts training ever since Gao Lan took charge of the Qiangsheng Group—he had to drag himself out of bed early to take the exams if he wanted to maintain his perennial standing as the fourth-to-last student in the grade.

Gao Lan and Sun Shangxiang were scheduled to take the exams today as well. However, after waking up and seeing the feathers of snow falling outside, the two girls had crawled back into bed, claiming they planned to arrive at school five minutes before the start of the test. Consequently, Yan Tian’s hope for a ride vanished, and he was forced to walk to school alone.

Gao Lan had once suggested buying Yan Tian a car, but he had refused. He always felt that a high school student driving a multi-million dollar sports car was too ostentatious and did not suit his low-profile character.

The snowy landscape was beautiful, especially the stretch of suburban road leading from his ancestral home to the city center, which the heavy snow had turned into a desert of pure white. Yan Tian did not use his light-body techniques; he simply walked slowly, admiring the scenery while reflecting on the past.

When was the last time he had seen such a blizzard?

It must have been eleven years ago. That year, his parents and grandfather were still alive, and Shi Kexin had not yet emigrated to North America with her parents. The two families had gathered in the Qin family’s ancestral home, drinking wine and admiring the snow, talking freely about the world—it had been such a joyous time.

It was precisely at that time that little Shi Kexin had promised Yan Tian that when she grew up, she would marry him and be his bride.

The adults from both families had laughed heartily at the innocent words of the children. Yan’s father, who was quite wealthy at the time, had even solemnly given Shi Kexin a pair of priceless jade bracelets as an engagement gift.

In the blink of an eye, the world had changed, and the vicissitudes of life felt like a dream. The little girl had grown into a young woman, and the vows of childhood had not been forgotten with the passage of time. He didn't know if those jade bracelets still existed, but that was no longer important. What mattered was that the people had not changed, and their hearts remained the same.

Walking and reminiscing, Yan Tian unconsciously reached the city and stepped onto an overpass at a crossroads. Though it was early and there were few vehicles, he still chose to follow traffic rules. Much like his current power—which allowed him to break some rules and set new ones of his own—he still felt no desire to appear too different from others.

For Yan Tian, the life he yearned for was like the familiar stranger he had met at the mall that day: living like an emperor with a "harem" in a modern society where monogamy was written into the law.

To live such a life, one didn't need to break too many rules or establish new ones.

The snow on the overpass was slightly thinner than on the ground, barely covering his ankles. The wind between the buildings constantly whipped away the falling powder, dancing with the snowflakes. Standing on the overpass, hand on the railing, Yan Tian suddenly felt a jolt in his heart.

He felt an intuitive sense that something incredible was about to happen. Exhaling a puff of white mist, Yan Tian looked up at the gloomy sky.

The clouds hung very low, especially the patch directly above him, which seemed ready to collapse onto the tall buildings surrounding the intersection. Staring intently at those low, heavy clouds, Yan Tian suddenly noticed a vortex appearing in the center, rotating slowly and eerily.

The gray vortex of clouds hovered directly above him, looking like a spiral tunnel. As it spun, the clouds forming the vortex began to protrude like a cone, the opening slowly and steadily approaching the ground.

Yan Tian narrowed his eyes. His superhuman vision pierced through the dense snow to see the vortex opening clearly.

The opening was a pitch-black abyss devoid of any luster, with wisps of blue electric sparks coiling around its rim. The bizarre scene looked like a supernatural cataclysm from a fantasy film, yet standing directly beneath it, Yan Tian felt not a shred of danger.

"Boom—!" A thunderclap suddenly rolled across the sky. The entire world seemed to tremble from the terrifying volume, and Yan Tian clearly heard the sound of glass shattering in the surrounding buildings.

"Interesting. A thunderstorm in winter—the first I've ever seen!" Yan Tian smiled to himself, his eyes fixed on the vortex, which now appeared to be only about two hundred meters from the ground.

Just as that thunderclap—which had no business occurring in winter—pealed, a burst of white light erupted from the pitch-black vortex. The light flashed, and along with it, a small cyan dot tumbled out.

Once the cyan dot fell, the anomalous clouds vanished as quickly as they had appeared, the sky returning to normal as if the spectacle had never occurred.

Yan Tian’s attention was entirely focused on the cyan speck.

Because the vortex had been directly overhead, the object was falling straight toward him. Based on its trajectory, if he didn't step aside, it would land with pinpoint accuracy on his head.

Was it coincidence or intentional? Yan Tian couldn't fathom it. He didn't know when he had offended the heavens to warrant having something dropped on him like this.

However, dodging was not in Yan Tian’s nature. He narrowed his eyes, staring at the growing cyan dot, and muttered, "God, grant me a top-tier beauty! The younger, the better." As if there truly were a deity listening, as the dot fell closer, Yan Tian’s vision cleared, and he realized the dot was actually...

In a split second, Yan Tian’s keen, radar-like Shura eyes saw the girl in cyan, now only fifty meters away!

Her figure was graceful, her features as delicate as a painting, pure as water. Her large, round eyes, with pupils like polished lacquer, revealed a mix of fear, confusion, and wonder.

And the cyan garment she wore… the more Yan Tian looked at it, the more it resembled a monk’s robe.

"Could she be a disciple of the Tathagata, cast down from the Western Heaven? Guanyin Bodhisattva?" Yan Tian intuitively felt this girl’s background was grand.

In an instant, the bald girl had fallen to within ten meters of his head.

Yan Tian lifted his hand slightly in a gesture of supporting the sky. Gentle true energy poured from his palm, and the air within a ten-meter radius instantly became as viscous as water; the girl’s descent slowed abruptly.

The girl’s face was full of astonishment, her wide eyes staring in disbelief at Yan Tian, who wore a smile reminiscent of the Buddha holding a flower.

He increased his true energy by another thirty percent. The girl’s powerful downward momentum was completely dissolved within the invisible sphere formed by his energy. She shifted from a rapid descent to a complete halt in mid-air, less than half a meter from him.

Yan Tian slowly moved his arm downward, rotating the girl from her upside-down position into a normal standing posture.

Gently placing her in front of him, Yan Tian withdrew his energy and tilted his head, observing the bald girl who was observing him with equal curiosity.

At barely five feet tall, she was certainly short, but judging by the youthfulness of her face, she couldn't be older than fourteen. She had room to grow.

Her chest was already slightly developed, suggesting limitless potential. The cyan robe was too loose to reveal her waist.

Her skin was top-tier, her features top-tier, her temperament top-tier in its purity, and her bald head was top-tier in its conspicuousness.

"A Bodhisattva wouldn't be this young," Yan Tian thought. He glanced at her bald head again, finding that while it was striking, it wasn't glaring. Far from detracting from her beauty, it