Chapter 1: The Dual-Bodied Prodigy and the Icy Campus Belle

The morning bells of the Starry Sky Academy of Magic chimed softly, their echoes drifting languidly with the clouds.

Students ambled in twos and threes, their footsteps tracing patterns of light and shadow as they made their way to classrooms, their lively chatter rebounding off the ornate archways before scattering into a cascade of soft echoes.

Amidst the bustling crowd, a slender figure moved with unhurried grace.

The girl’s silver-white hair, like crushed moonlight, swayed with an almost indolent rhythm as she walked, while the fitted waist of her dark blue uniform elegantly sculpted her soft, youthful silhouette.

Her skin possessed the flawless beauty of jade, her lips a delicate mist of pale pink, yet it was her eyes that stood out most strikingly.

Their pupils, as deep as the night sky, held a profound serenity that seemed at odds with her tender age, imparting a maturity far exceeding that of her contemporaries.

“Look quickly! It’s Senior Su Liyue!” someone whispered, unable to suppress their excitement.

“Even the tips of her hair seem to shimmer today…”

“They say she single-handedly deciphered a high-tier spell yesterday? Even the dean himself couldn’t stop singing her praises!”

The hushed whispers drifted towards her like dandelion seeds on the wind. Su Liyue merely lowered her long eyelashes, a faint yet perfectly composed curve gracing her lips.

As the Starry Sky Academy’s universally acknowledged top genius and campus belle, such intense scrutiny had long since become an unremarkable part of her daily life.

The boys’ gazes were filled with undisguised admiration, while the girls’ eyes flitted between envy and nascent jealousy.

Some subtly attempted to imitate her elegant posture, only to self-consciously retract their efforts moments later.

Unbeknownst to anyone, within this body that commanded such widespread attention, lay a secret even she hadn’t fully grasped: she was not the complete ‘Su Liyue’.

As the library’s heavy wooden door swung gently inward, a solitary ginkgo leaf drifted down to settle upon the window seat.

The instant Su Liyue settled into her seat, an invisible shroud of icy mist seemed to coalesce around her, prompting the nearby students to instinctively and silently distance themselves.

She opened the gilded-cover tome, titled ‘Advanced Elemental Magic’, and the pentagram emblazoned upon its central page suddenly pulsed with a soft luminescence, brightening and dimming as if drawing breath.

“Wind, fire, water, earth, spirit…”

In this world, only individuals who successfully passed the rigorous magic aptitude test were granted entry into a magic academy.

A genius such as herself, possessing an affinity for all elemental attributes, was an extraordinary rarity, perhaps seen only once in a century.

Yet, beneath the brilliance of this unparalleled talent, lay a secret known to no one.

Just as Su Liyue’s focus deepened into the pages, an unexpected voice abruptly shattered her concentration.

With an undeniable flicker of displeasure, she lifted her gaze.

“Goddess Liyue, t-this is my humble token of affection!”

Before her stood a trembling junior boy, extending a pink letter. Yet, the instant his gaze met hers, the edges of the envelope visibly ‘crackled’ with frost, solidifying into ice.

The boy recoiled in alarm, and the envelope fluttered to the ground with a soft ‘thud’.

“Noise is prohibited in the library.” Su Liyue’s voice was as glacial as the frost itself; she didn’t even spare the fallen letter a single glance.

‘It seems there are still too many people here for my liking!’

Snapping her book shut, Su Liyue rose swiftly, affording the boy not even a moment to react before she turned and departed.

Her hair, as she turned, swept into an elegant arc, leaving the boy utterly transfixed, rooted to the spot.

This entire scene unfolded, fully observed by the girls passing by.

“Again? That’s the third one this week, isn’t it?”

“Truly the Iceberg Goddess. Even her rejections are impossibly cool.”

“They say in her three years here, the love letters she’s turned down could fill an entire storeroom.”

The hushed murmurs abruptly ceased as Su Liyue drew nearer. The girls hastily parted, clearing a path as if fearing to be touched by her chilling aura.

Su Liyue was accustomed to such reactions; indeed, she seemed utterly unconcerned by them.

She quickened her pace towards the library’s secluded depths, and only after confirming her solitude did her frigid demeanor instantly dissipate.

“Phew, maintaining that aloof facade is utterly exhausting.” Ye Xingchen, the consciousness inhabiting and controlling this body, let out a long, weary sigh.

His mind then drifted, beginning to recall the events that had unfolded over the past years.

***

Seventeen years prior, he had been a cultivator on Earth, an extraordinary and peerless expert who had transcended the mortal realm.

Yet, an unforeseen accident had hurled him into this magical world, his soul inexplicably splitting and transmigrating into two separate newborn infants.

Who could have ever imagined that these two infants would be precisely one male and one female: Su Liyue, the girl, and Ye Xingchen, the boy?

In the initial days of his rebirth, Ye Xingchen found himself profoundly disoriented and struggled immensely with the simultaneous control of two distinct bodies.

One comforting realization, however, was that both families shared an excellent relationship and lived in close proximity.

This meant he wouldn’t have to contend with the inconvenience of attempting simultaneous control over vast distances.

Nevertheless, the simultaneous manipulation of two bodies presented a formidable challenge for Ye Xingchen at that time.

It felt akin to attempting to draw a perfect circle with one hand while simultaneously sketching a square with the other—a profound disjunction where his physical movements simply couldn’t keep pace with his mental commands.

He vividly recalled a particular memory from his fifth birthday celebration, where a tiny Su Liyue sat primly, almost rigidly, in the very center of the opulent banquet hall.

Her pink princess gown cascaded in delicate layers, and her silver-white hair had been meticulously woven into intricate braids.

Across from her, Ye Xingchen, clad in a miniature suit, found himself locked in an intense, wide-eyed stare with his counterpart.

“Yueyue, dear, do feed Xingchen some cake,” Madam Su urged, her smile beaming as she gently nudged her daughter’s small hand.

‘Inside, Ye Xingchen’s spirit was utterly crumbling.’

‘Stop making my body do things like this!’

Yet, under the collective gaze of every guest, he could only watch helplessly as ‘he’—his own female body—scooped up a dollop of cream with a spoon, then shakily brought it towards ‘his’—his male body’s—mouth.

“Ah—” A collective gasp rippled through the hall, and all eyes converged upon the two children.

Ye Xingchen, gritting his teeth, forced his mouth open. However, due to his divided attention in controlling both bodies, Su Liyue’s hand suddenly jolted, and the entire slice of cake ‘splatted’ squarely onto Ye Xingchen’s face.

In the profound silence that followed, little Liyue suddenly burst into a wail.

In truth, it was Ye Xingchen’s own overwhelming shame and indignation that had inadvertently caused his female body to lose control.

The adults, however, erupted into peals of laughter.

“Just look at these two children; their bond is simply adorable!”

***

Such farcical scenes continued for a full two years.

By the age of seven, Ye Xingchen had finally mastered the intricate art of simultaneously controlling both bodies.

Yet, a new nightmare swiftly descended. To his utter shock, he discovered that the elders of both families, in a bid to consolidate their power and ward off external influences, had sealed a child betrothal for them shortly after their birth.

He vividly recalled the moment they first received this news; both Ye Xingchen and Su Liyue simultaneously felt their entire world crumble.

The sheer melodrama of the situation was so cliché it bordered on ‘German Orthopedics’ (TL Note: A Chinese internet slang term referring to highly inappropriate or taboo relationships, often incestuous, akin to the dark humor found in jokes about ‘German orthopedic’ scenarios).

While Su Liyue’s body had been a beauty since childhood, it was, after all, his own body!

Had it been another person entirely, he might have at least considered whether to simply make do.

Even a tyrannical princess could have eventually led to a dramatic ‘thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river; never scorn a youth in poverty’ comeback story.

But now, the intended partner was himself. Aside from resigning himself to his own body, every other option was glaringly unsuitable.

He certainly couldn’t ‘divorce’ himself, or worse, allow his female body to be claimed by another, only to suffer the profound disgust of it all. If that ever happened, he’d undoubtedly carve that person up and feed them to the dogs!

And so, under Ye Xingchen’s simultaneous control, the two children ate, lived, cultivated, and played together, growing up in apparent happiness.

To outsiders, the childhood sweethearts appeared to share an exceptionally deep bond from a very young age.

Both sets of parents, witnessing the inseparable closeness of the young pair, felt nothing but immense satisfaction and relief.

Yet, this veneer of domestic bliss only sent shivers down Ye Xingchen’s spine. The mere thought of potentially having to ‘self-pleasure’  in the future always caused a subtle, involuntary ache in his ‘chrysanthemum’ (TL Note: A slang term for the anus, used here for comedic effect).

This particular anxiety, however, did not plague Ye Xingchen for long.

One day, while he was meditating at home as was his custom, Ye Xingchen was astonished to discover that his male body not only retained his Saint-tier cultivation but also that the Qimen Dunjia art had begun to circulate within him, a presence he had inexplicably failed to detect until then.

(TL Note: Qimen Dunjia art is an ancient Chinese metaphysical system, here referring to a powerful cultivation technique)

Conversely, the situation with Su Liyue’s female body was precisely the opposite of his male form. Despite possessing an extremely acute sensitivity to energy, her body contained no spiritual power whatsoever.

It seemed she was inherently unsuited for cultivating spiritual energy, showing no reaction to any of the five elements—Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth—within her.

It was as if she embodied an imbalance of Yin and Yang, an incomplete Taiji point, radiating a pervasive sense of incongruity.

Yet, the initial astonishment at this resurgence of power quickly gave way to a profound sense of calm.

After all, he had only recently arrived in this world, and his understanding of its intricacies, let alone the true capabilities of its most powerful individuals, remained utterly blank.

His many years of experience had taught him that the unknown was often the most terrifying.

Consequently, before he could thoroughly comprehend his current circumstances, it would be prudent not to casually expose his true strength as a cultivator, lest he invite unnecessary complications.

Furthermore, despite regaining his cultivation, having only recently been reborn, he had yet to skillfully master the simultaneous control of two bodies.

His command over spiritual power was also far from precise. Should he inadvertently make a mistake and unleash a catastrophe, the consequences would be dire.

He recalled a winter when he was seven. He had inadvertently discovered that his male body could draw upon spiritual energy, and that very night, he secretly experimented in the back mountains.

Due to his lack of precise control, he accidentally unleashed a small palm thunderbolt that cleaved through more than half of the bell tower.

This startled both families, who were sound asleep at the time, leading them to believe there was an external invasion. They all scrambled out of bed in the middle of the night, fully prepared for battle.

Fortunately, his young age at the time prevented suspicion, and he was lucky enough not to cause any casualties.

Although the incident led the families to strengthen their night patrols, making it much harder for him to sneak out again.

It was precisely from that point onward that Ye Xingchen began to place even greater emphasis on the precise control of his spiritual power.

Therefore, in addition to his daily practice of controlling both bodies, Ye Xingchen also deliberately suppressed his spiritual energy, making himself appear no different from an ordinary person, thus avoiding any unnecessary suspicion.

Time flowed by swiftly.

Su Liyue and Ye Xingchen reached the age of thirteen. Perhaps due to their unique cultivation, both successfully awakened their magical talents.

The female body, Su Liyue, even possessed a rare, once-in-a-millennium affinity for all elemental attributes.

Later, under their families’ arrangements, both were sent to study at the renowned local Starry Sky Academy of Magic.

At the very least, this preposterous engagement granted Ye Xingchen and Su Liyue a much-needed reprieve.

***

However, time proved fleeting. Returning to the present, three years had already passed since their enrollment, and both were now sixteen.

According to their parents’ arrangements, they had at most two more years—until their graduation—at which point their families intended to directly arrange their wedding, celebrating a double blessing.

But all that was still in the distant future, and certainly not Ye Xingchen’s immediate concern.

His current focus lay in discovering a way back home.

Though he possessed spatial-temporal power as a Saint-tier expert, he lacked the precise coordinates and specific distance to Earth. Acting rashly might only invite unnecessary trouble.

Consequently, he frequently immersed himself in the library, diligently studying the knowledge of this world and seeking a viable method for his return.

By virtue of possessing two bodies, Ye Xingchen could not only have Su Liyue simultaneously study different subjects,

But he also astonishingly found that combining his male body’s comprehension and logical thinking abilities with his female body’s acute perception and magical talent exponentially boosted their learning efficiency, making them vastly superior to ordinary individuals.

However, every gain comes with a loss. Aside from mental power, Ye Xingchen’s male body had almost no affinity for the other four magical elements.

His own research revealed that this might be connected to the five elemental forces—Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth—contained within his Qimen Dunjia cultivation method. Just as Su Liyue, though a genius with all-attribute affinity, could not sense spiritual power, it seemed these two types of energy could not coexist within a single body.

Nevertheless, this was of no great importance to him.

After all, for a cultivator who intended to combine cultivation with magic, if the two energies could coexist within the body, that would be ideal. If they could not and instead caused conflict, it would only lead to greater trouble.

Therefore, besides understanding the common knowledge of this world, his male body dedicated most of its time to studying the control of time and space, as well as the research of alchemy.