Yu was a solitary traveler, a wandering soul drifting aimlessly amidst the endless river of time for tens of thousands of years. Though referred to as a soul, he was certainly not the remnant of some deceased human life. Yu himself was unclear about his own origins; he did not know if he was the essence condensed from the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, or perhaps the impromptu "masterpiece" of some nameless higher being. He only knew that from the very moment his spiritual consciousness awakened, he had existed in this ethereal form - invisible, shapeless, and formless - wandering freely through the mortal world.
In the primordial era, Yu had once looked down with arrogance upon the tiny creatures struggling for survival amidst the harshness of nature. Back then, humans were still clad in furs and dwelling in caves, their lives revolving solely around dark caverns and bloody hunts. Yu had once laughed indifferently, thinking: "Why is being human so miserable? It is far better to be a drifting cloud like myself, free and unburdened, that is truly the way."
However, the stars shifted and the world transformed, the wheels of history rolled on without pause. Yu witnessed brilliant civilizations rise from the ashes, saw eras of peace and prosperity replace times of chaos, and beheld the bustling, tapestry-like splendor of the mortal realm, thick with the smoke and fire of human existence. It was precisely that vibrant atmosphere, filled to the brim with joy, anger, love, and sorrow, that caused the mind of the eternal traveler to begin to waver. From the position of an outsider merely observing, he began to yearn to touch, to dissolve into that dazzling flow of life.
Cruel time never stopped for anyone. Countless dynasties flourished and then decayed, countless magnificent citadels were erected only to turn into ruins; only Yu remained isolated, the sole unchanging witness amidst the impermanence of all things.
Did Yu have a dream? Certainly. He yearned to live as an ordinary human. He had witnessed so many emperors holding the power of life and death in their hands, possessing the entire world, yet frantically seeking the arts of immortality. How ridiculous. In Yu's eyes, that endless existence was merely a sequence of dull and insipid days. To him, a brief human life of barely a hundred years - but one where he could cry, laugh, love, and grow old - was the most fascinating thing in existence.
But what a pity, Yu had no cycle of reincarnation. He could not die, nor could he be reborn. If Yu were to disappear one day, it would mean ceasing to exist entirely. No one would know such a soul had ever existed; unremembered and unmourned, no one would regret his loss.
How truly tragic...
While he was still lost in his dazed thoughts, Yu vaguely heard the scream of a young girl, followed by the slap-slap of footsteps getting closer, and finally, the heavy slam of a door.
"I told you I don't like him! Mom, you're being so unreasonable!" The young girl threw herself onto the bed, passing right through Yu's body, and buried her face in the pillow to complain.
Ah, this was the little landlady of the house where Yu was currently "squatting." In every era, Yu would find a few pleasing individuals and openly "squat" in their homes, watching them study, watching them work, and thereby learning a few prominent tricks of that age.
Take his name, for instance. Actually, Yu didn't have a name - well, who names a soul? It was just that during those thousands of years of wandering, Yu went from the East to the West, hearing everyone address each other by name.
So he gave himself a name: Yu.
In the languages of many Eastern cultures, "Yu" is homophonous with "fish" and "abundance." Yu felt he was like a fish in a vast ocean, swimming from one end to the other; moreover, he had an abundance of time.
Yu glanced at the wailing girl on the bed, lost interest, and floated around the room. This little brat had been reading novels exclusively of late, shutting herself indoors like a hermit, so her mother had accepted a matchmaking offer on her behalf. She was probably making a huge scene now just to spite her mother.
Yu didn't care. He was intending to fly outside to see if there was anything fun in the vicinity. Suddenly, he felt a sensation of being sucked in by something; the surroundings turned pitch black and then went dark abruptly.
In his stupor, Yu's consciousness flickered weakly like a lamp before the wind. He tried to open his eyes, but the response was only a thick, infinite, and suffocating darkness. The surrounding space seemed to be warping and twisting. Mixed, bizarre sounds echoed in his ears: the sound of ocean winds screaming wildly mingled with the roar of an engine that vibrated his very eardrums - a cold, metallic sound he had never heard in any era.
Yu panicked, realizing he was being dragged away violently by an invisible force. Amidst that chaotic mess of noise, a weak voice suddenly rang out, piercing the night. As a traveler throughout history, Yu prided himself on being fluent in all languages, from ancient characters carved on cliffs to the modern tongues of civilized humanity. Yet, this language stunned him. It carried a cadence that was both familiar and strange, like a variant that had undergone thousands of years of evolution, leaving him only able to roughly guess at its meaning.
"O Supreme Deity... I willingly sacrifice... this body..."
The words were broken and disjointed, whispered like the final breath of a dying man.
Before he could compose himself, the terrifying suction force suddenly exploded. It no longer wrapped gently around him as before but became violent, as if wanting to tear his soul into a hundred fragments.
"Aaa!!!"
Yu let out a bloodcurdling scream. Pain! Pain cutting to the very core! It felt as though every muscle fiber was being torn apart, every bone crushed and compressed together. What was this sensation? How could a formless, shapeless soul like him feel such authentic physical pain? Unless... he was being forced into a tight "frame"!