I stood next to the sect leader, Jiutian Xuan. The ten elders of the sect were gathered again. Huan Ping was the last to arrive and after he had apologized for his tardiness.

"I have gathered you here for a matter of some importance." Jiutian Xuan said. She motioned for me to step forward.

I nodded my thanks and held up the Assignment paper for Yujing village. "I was given this assignment by elder Chan. The attendant who gave it to me said as much. It's an imperial request." Several of the elders walked forward and peer at it frowns upon their faces.

"Why him?" Asked Elder Song. "An Imperial request should have been assigned to an elder." His glare turned to Chan.

Before Chan could make an excuse, I answered for him. "Because he saw an opportunity to kill me." All eyes were on me then on Chan.

My beloved elder Chyou made a sound of disgust. "Again? How did he try it this time?"

"This assignment talks about a demon beast attacking the village. There was no demon beast. But there was a Dragon."

The hall filled with voices as everyone tried to speak over the other. It was all incoherent. Jiutian slapped her hands, sending a sonic boom that silenced everyone. "Continue." She commanded.

I bowed respectfully to her and continued. "I engaged in combat with the Dragon and took out one eye." The elders murmured in astonishment and approval. Hurting a Dragon was not an easy feat even for a sect elder.

"How did you survive?" Elder Chan asked as he pointed a finger at me. "You claim to have fought a Dragon but you're too weak to have honestly fought one and lived. You're obviously lying."

I held up a paper. "This paper was written by the head of the guard who sent the request to the Emperor who, intern made the request of us. He swears that he told the Emperor about the Dragon. The paper is signed by those who witnessed him write the letter. Does anyone want to venture why the Emperor would leave something like this out?"

"He wouldn't." Elder Fa said, crossing his arms. "The Emperor would never leave something like that out." He looked meaningfully at elder Chan. "But the head of the Assignment Hall writes all assignments, including what is and isn't said."

All eyes turned to elder Chan. Elder Chan wasn't well-liked. In my time here, I'd learned he was an arrogant man who liked to play favorites among the sect members and even among the other elders. He was tolerated only for the fact no one else wanted to be in charge of the Assignment Hall. Even in this world, no one wanted an office job.

I cleared my throat to focus their attention back on me. "To answer elder Chan's question, I survived because another Dragon saved me. The Dragon who attacked the village was a youngster. A disobedient youngster and was whisked away for his actions. I'm sure punishment is in order for him."

"Then all that's left is to punish elder Chan." Huan Ping said. "Two attempts on a sect member's life. Elder Chan, you've gone too far."

"Actually," I interrupted. "If you'll allow it I'd like you to not punish him," I said to the sect leader.

She raised an eyebrow at me. "Oh? Why is that?"

"If not for his petty vindictive actions, I wouldn't have gotten this," I held up the Dragon whistle for all to see. "The Dragon who saved me was impressed with me and offered me this token. I now have a Dragon's favor. So I thank elder Chan for his actions this time." I bowed low, hands clasped in gratitude.

Elder Chan was stricken. He looked like he was having a stroke. Maybe he was with how much his face was twitching. Finally, after some time, life just seemed to drain out of him. He bowed back and slowly shuffled out of the hall. He looked like a broken man. Yes! I finally broke the bastard. Hopefully, this would be the last of his antics. I didn't want to go round three with him.

After elder Chan left the remaining elders offered their congratulation on my survival and acquisition of a Dragon whistle. I thanked them in return. After the other elders had left, Jiutian Xuan placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Are you sure you don't want me to punish him?" She asked me.

I nodded my head. "I'm sure. If he tries something again, do what you want. But this time I want him to stew in the fact his meddling helped me rather than hurt me."

She chuckled. "A little psychological warfare? Very well. I can see the merits of such an approach."

I smiled and bowed. Thanking her for her understanding. Huan and Chyou were waiting for me. After assuring them I was fine, I invited them to join me at my house. Both were eager to see a residence from another world.

The moment we crossed the threshold of the gate, the two of them turned into children. Eyes wide and jaws slack, they took everything in. My mom's meditation garden was famous in their neighborhood back home. Now it would probably be famous here in this world too.

I let the two of them wander about the garden before taking them on a tour of the house. I started with the family dojo. They were impressed with the space and took their time looking over the more foreign weapons. Next was the living room, the modern toilets, which I had to explain and once I had both were clearly envious. The sect had hot baths that came from hot springs located in the mountains. Every sect residence had an outhouse that was pristine compared to what I had read about outhouses in ancient Asia and Europe.

The tour ended with my kitchen, where my women were gathered. The girls were giggling and outright laughing. I noticed the open bag of sugar and the cups of half-full coffee on the table. Oh no, sugar rush.

I clapped my hands, to get their attention. "I see you found the coffee and sugar."

"Alastair!" Jiao said loudly, and all but hopped up out of her chair and came at me with a cup of coffee. She held the cup under my nose. "This dark tea is incredible."

"Coffee." I corrected and took the cup from her. "I think you've all had enough."

Jiao pouted cutely and pressed her body to mine. "Please let me have some more." She batted her eyelashes at me. "I'll make it worth your while."

I stopped at that. I suppose it was wrong of me to consider her proposition. But she had a talented mouth and hands. Maybe I could finally use this to negotiate some proper sex from my wife. I mentally slapped myself. I gave her the cup. "Behave yourself. I'll be out in the garden." I motioned to Huan and Chyou to follow. "I'm sorry about that."

Both had a wide smiles on their face. "You have a lovely family. I'm so glad to see Liu Fang having such a good time and I've never heard LI Mei laugh. It was such a lovely sound." Chyou looked back at the house, still smiling.

Having shown them the house, they bid me a good day before passing through the spirit gate to go home. Still hearing the ruckus from inside the house, I walked over to my meditating stone. I sat down and closed my eyes. Before my encounter with the Dragon, I was going to try my hand at Soul Wandering. Now was as good a time as any.

I breathed in and out, letting my mind clear of thoughts. I focused on my breathing and the steady beat of my heart. Focusing on my inner QI and my spirit. I focused on removing the strands of energy to bind my spirit to my body.

It was a long, tedious task. But eventually, the bonds were cut, and I felt my consciousness leave my body and float away.

I stood in a field of white. Well, everything was white. A vast plain of white. No trees, no sound, just an expanse of nothingness. My body was transparent, but it still felt like I had mass. I walked forward since there was nothing else to do.

After walking for a few minutes, I noticed something. A door, a very familiar door. It was glass, with a handle in the shape of a globe. Stenciled on the glass was a globe with the words Global Cuisine under the globe.

"What the hell?" I pulled the door open and stood on the first floor of my restaurant. There was something good cooking in the kitchen. I followed the smell till I saw a woman standing in my kitchen cooking something. The woman turned, and I saw Leandra standing there. She smiled and waved. "Ivy you're here."

I pointed a finger at her menacingly. "You." She squeaked as I chased her around the kitchen for a few minutes before giving up. "You owe me an apology."

Leandra pouted, but clasped her hand and bowed in apology. "I'm sorry I took you from your world and left you in mine without direction."

I nodded my head, accepting her apology. "And I thank you for bringing me to your world. I'm happy. But you owe me some proper answers and, at the very least, an instruction manual. If not for the Yin Yang sect, I might not have as much control over my powers as I do."

She nodded her head. "I know I do. That's why I'm here." She labeled beef stew into a bowl for me. "Here, eat this while I talk." Sitting at the counter, I spooned up some of the stew. It was perfect. "You make a wonderful stew." I grudgingly admitted.

She preened. "Thank you. I should probably start at the beginning. You are my hero. I brought you and your family home to this world. Your home is self-sufficient and can still connect to your world's internet. "

My eyes widened, and I held up my hand. "Hold on. Can I get Netflix?"

She rolled her eyes. "Yes, you can. Seeing as you're in another world, it's free, too."

Oh, hell yeah. Movie night. We were going to pop some popcorn and watch some movies. I had HBO max too. Maybe I'd put on GOT and see how the girls would react to that.

Leandra snapped her finger in front of my face, getting my attention. "Focus." She chided me. "As my hero, you have some standard powers and special ones I granted you. Your cultivation will progress faster than anyone else. Keep up your current pace and you might become an immortal soon. That comes naturally with all heroes. "

I held up a hand to stop her. "How many heroes are there?" I asked her.

"Three. You and two others. My former heroes never ascended. They focused too much on trying to build little empires. Since I have you here. Why have you trained so much?"

"I have things to protect. If I become immortal, I can watch over the five mountains alliance and complete the mission you gave me. Bringing innovation and commerce to this world will take several lifetimes. If I'm immortal, I can protect those I care for and complete my task."

She nodded. "Good. Keep yourself grounded. Be careful when using your power. Even a simple spell will be twice as strong. Your strength doubles with each stage of your breakthrough. I saw your fight with the Dragon. If you had tried harder, you could have done more than just take an eye."

I filed the information away for later. "It would have been nice to know that before."

She nodded her head and rolled her eyes. "Yes, yes, stop interrupting, boy. Now aside from your powers and cultivation speed. I have given you some abilities. When making deals with people, you'll have a higher success rate than others. The more deals you make and the better you get at persuading people, the stronger this power will get till you can convince anyone to do anything. You're welcome."

Now it was my turn to roll my eyes. Such a power could be useful in the future.

"The second power I have given you lets you learn any craft with ease. I brought you here to innovate and inspire innovation. You can't very well do that if you can even whittle a twig."

I nodded. She had a point. There were all kinds of things I could bring to this world. But it would be far simpler for me to make them myself rather than try to get someone else to do it for me. "Anything else?"

"Yes, once a day you can send me a prayer. As long as it's not too outlandish, I'll grant it for you." She said.

I rested my chin on my fist. "You're trying to make me like you. Aren't you?"

"Is it working?" She asked in a stage whisper.

I nodded. "Yeah. I'll admit you're not what I expected. As deities go, I suppose you're acceptable."

She smirked. "I'll take it. Now, if you run into the other heroes, try to get along with them. Especially the god of wars hero. Whoever that lout brought here is sure to bring chaos."

I nodded my head. "I'm sure we'll get along just fine. Can I come back here and ask you questions from time to time?"

She smiled at me. "Let's do it how mortals do in your world. We can have Sunday brunch here."

I chuckled. "Sounds good."

She smiled again. "Then it's a date. Now you need to go back. This is your first time. If you wander too long your soul might not find its way back to your body."

She tapped my forehead, and I was sucked out of the kitchen in a whirl of motion. Everything around me was a blur. I opened my eyes with a gasp, my soul back in its body. I took several deep breaths to center myself. That was one hell of a ride. But I'd keep her warning in mind when soul wandering in the future. Wouldn't want to get lost for eternity.

The sound of laughter carried to my ears from inside the house. Since everyone was in a good mood, I'd take them into the living room and introduce them to the TV.