A Demon’s Paradise - Volume 1 Chapter 5 I'm Not Ugly Yay
In an inn a few streets over from the auction house there was a man.
This man was tall and tan, with handsome features and eyes that seemed to see into your soul, he was good looking enough for one to take notice, but not enough for one to go up and talk to him. The newcomer was wearing a black robe with a full pouch at his waist, filled to the brim with gold coins.
He requested for a quiet room with a good view. He payed, and was led to a large room that met all his standards.
After locking the door and telling the maids to not disturb him, he sat down in front of the mirror and sighed.
He massaged his face a little, and tugged at the skin behind his ears.
It fell off.
The skin on his face thickened into a mask, and separated from his body, lightening into a surgical white with the features of a fox outlined in red. The skin on his hands paled to a sickly white, spreading to the rest of his body and yellowish-grey bruises becoming apparent. His tall stature shrunk as his Adam’s Apple disappeared and the previously tight fitting robe went loose, falling past his shoulders.
The tanned man was Xia Moyin using the Killer Lizard skin mask.
She’d booked it as fast as she could from that auction, stealing some poor nobleman’s purse on her way to pay for the inn. She was tired, and hurting, but she still didn’t go to bed. She still didn’t know what she looked like.
Mirrors were very scarce in the far north, scarcer than food, and if someone could find one, they were made of bronze and were more of a fuzzy outline than an clear reflection.
Suppressing her curiosity and ignoring the mirror in front of her, she closed her eyes, diving into the memories of the previous Xia Moyin. She still had no idea what sort of world she had been dropped into, and since she had extra time it was the perfect time to look into it.
The people in this world knew how to make mirrors similar to the ones on modern earth, but were still way behind them in terms of technological advances. Instead of phones, they trained flying spirit beasts to carry messages. They did have indoor plumbing, thank goodness, but didn’t have cars. They either rode in carriages or walked most of the time.
Laws weren’t enforced, and any sort of justice system didn’t exist. ‘Countries’ were just a bunch of private armies that agreed to work together. Whomever had the biggest army or had the strongest cultivator was named the emperor. The only thing that kept people loyal to whatever power they pledged themselves to was either blackmail, a slave contract, or so-called ‘filial piety’.
Despite the lack of a stable government, the people were very centered on ‘virtues’. They had no problem with people committing suicide or killing each other, but had a conniption if a girl lost her v.i.r.g.i.nity before she married. They cared about their appearances so much that many would commit suicide if they got embarrassed too much.
The phrase ‘respect your elders’ was taken oftentimes to the extreme and many people were ridiculed and shunned by others if they ‘talked back’ or stood up for themselves.
Most of the women of this world were obsessed with their appearance, going to great lengths to look ‘virtuous’ and imitating what they considered the ultimate beauty.
The children of nobles were mostly pampered from young, always getting what they wanted and never being denied anything, sculpting them into selfish, conceited people who didn’t know the definition of the word ‘no’ or how to take a loss in stride. Very few people were like the ones of the modern world, independent and strong, with thick skin that could take an insult without breaking down into tears like a child.
The males were mostly seen more as tools for war than actual people or treated like stud horses. Polygamy was widely accepted as the norm for men, and almost every married man had at least two wives and three concubines. A man was looked at weirdly if he only had one wife with no concubines and women were seen as having impossible standards if she wanted a man who would marry only her.
Men were presumed to become cultivators or craftsmen, and women were told to either pursue a life of scholarly pursuits or settle down in a harem somewhere to be used as a baby-making machine.
Nobles were expected to have some sort of cultivation, whether they were male or female, but men were encouraged to devote their lives to it while women were told not to do so.
The only thing that trumped physical power was money. This world did have a form of central currency, made of bronze, silver, and gold. 10 bronze coins were equal to 1 silver coin, and 100 silver coins were equal to 1 gold coin. A family living in the slums could survive for a month off of 5 silvers. A wealthy family living in a large city could spend hundreds of gold coins per month.
This place was generally one that favored the strong and kicked the weak, a dog eat dog world, where social standing and raw power ruled.
‘Xia Moyin must have been a character to survive in this sort of world with no parents’
Most six year olds were constantly under their parents wings, still naive of the world, while Xia Moyin was kicked out of her house and sent to a foreign place to, at least in the mind of her so-called ‘father’, die. There, most of the a.d.u.l.ts starved or froze to death, much less a little kid who was still learning how to not cry at every little thing.
Xia Moyin opened her eyes, climbing out of her inner world and humming a tune, trying to calm herself.
There was something about kids, whether they were toddlers or teenagers, that always made her want to defend them. Throughout her entire life, she had rarely ever physically hurt a child, and when she did it was something small, like a paper-cut.
She might scare them to death, or yell at them, but she never harmed them. She always saw red whenever she had seen someone else hit or cut a kid without reason, or because they couldn’t keep their temper. She could watch a kid cry about something, fuss, or yell, but never get hurt when they didn’t deserve it.
After a short break to control her emotions, she turned, finally looking into the mirror. Her head tilted and broke into a wide smile as she studied herself, surprised at her reflection.
‘I’m not ugly! Yay!’
Ignoring the bruises and ghastly pale complexion, she wasn’t ugly at all.
She had high cheekbones and naturally curved brows that would make most Instagram models envious. Her lips were plump and full, though a bit pale, and she had long, dark eyelashes that would never need mascara.
Her hair, which had been up in a bun this entire time, was so long that it went near mid-thigh and was just the right amount of curl and wave to imitate that of a fictional character that you would find in a comic or anime.
Despite having barely enough food to live, the previous Xia Moyin took care of her hair. There were cosmetics that rivaled that of modern earth, and the girl who previously inhabited this body had no problems with stealing them off of wasteful rich people in-between scrounging for food. Her hair was washed at regular intervals and was properly moisturized when she couldn’t find clean water.
Her left eye was steely gray, the color of storm clouds. Her right eye was covered in a dark bruise, nearly swollen shut, so she couldn’t see if it was the same color.
Her teeth were a dazzling white and her skin was clear and soft, though dirty, not a trace of preteen acne.
She couldn’t see whether she looked more like her mother or her father. Her memories of her parents were fuzzy, her mother dying early after they were sent to the north, and the prime minister rarely ever going to see his daughter when she was at the manor. She hoped she looked nothing like her father, or that she wasn’t related to him at all, but she would only find out if she met him, which was not going to happen any time soon.
She slipped off the Moon Silk Robe, studying her new body. There were bruises and scratches all over her body, centered on her neck, arms, and ribs, as if she had gotten into a fistfight with a baseball bat. There were even clear hand prints on her arms where someone had grabbed her arm too hard.
Xia Moyin touched them lightly, making sure there were no broken bones. There weren’t any, but the bruises would probably take the entire night to heal, even with the help of the Moon Silk robe.
She looked down at her chest and sighed mournfully.
‘Flat as a board.’
Ignoring her crushed hopes, she threw away the rags that she was still wearing and walked into the bathroom.
Indoor plumbing didn’t work the same as it did in modern earth, though they did have some similarities. Instead of pipes bringing in water from a outside source, they used beast cores.
Beast cores were found in spirit beasts and were where all of their power was centered. Low level beast cores were mostly used for daily needs but the really rare ones could be used to aid in cultivation.
They gave off whatever element the spirit beast they were in had, and in the terms of the bathroom, there were two, one with water, and one with fire. The fire one was used to heat the water just like the heaters from earth while the one with a water attribute was used like a faucet.
There was an additional beast core underneath the drain to absorb the used water. It was empty, all the spirit power sucked out of it, and was being restocked by the water and fire spirit power.
Xia Moyin drew a bath, making sure it was the right temperature before slowly stepping into it. She leaned over to the side, picking up the soap and washcloth before gritting her teeth and sitting down in the water.
Immediately, her bruises shrieked in pain, screaming at her to get out, but she just closed her eyes and hummed to distract herself from the hurt.
Only after a long while did the pain subside enough for her to be able to move, the warm water working wonders. She opened her eyes and started washing herself, getting up close and personal with this body that she now inhabited, and just how bad the previous Xia Moyin had it.
Her body was covered in dirt and grime, caked on after three days of running from the people who came to take her back to the manor. Dried blood, both hers and that of the two guards she’d fought, was attached like a second skin, requiring extra scrubbing to finally come off.
She was so dirty that halfway through, Xia Moyin had to drain the bath and refill it with fresh water so she could scrub off all the dirt, and then she had to do it a third time near the end so she could clean her hair and make sure she didn’t miss anything.
When she was about to get out of the bath, put on some clothing, and go to bed, she discovered something that made her stop. Her previously blank face stiffened, her eyebrows shooting up, eyes going wide and her lips parting into a surprised expression that was rarely seen on her face.
