Li Dai woke up in pain. Vaguely, she heard a woman letting out heart-wrenching screams, calling out for her daughter over and over. The sound made Li Dai deeply uncomfortable, as if a hand were gripping her heart.
"Stop beating her! Please, stop!"
The cries echoed ceaselessly in her ears. The sharp, burning agony all over her body finally cleared Li Dai's mind. She opened her eyes, feeling as though she were still trapped in a dream, only to see a whistling whip cutting through the air straight toward her face.
Li Dai gasped. Taking in the sight of the attacker—a teenage girl—she couldn't help cursing internally. What kind of deep-seated hatred could a child this small possibly have that she wanted to disfigure someone?
Li Dai had no time to overthink, nor did she care who the girl was hurling insults at with every breath. Summoning every ounce of strength in her body, she threw herself into a roll and narrowly dodged the whip.
*Crack!* The whip struck the ground, leaving a deep gouge and kicking up a cloud of dust.
Only after dodging did Li Dai feel the tearing agony across her entire body. Her clothes were shredded with whip marks and soaked in blood—she was in a truly miserable state.
To her utter shock, she also discovered that her curvaceous, perfect twenty-year-old figure was gone, replaced by a scrawny, withered bean-sprout of a body.
Li Dai drew a sharp breath. She had simply fallen asleep in her own soft, cozy bed at home—how had everything changed?!
Seeing Li Dai dodge, Li Yue'er grew even angrier. Her pretty face contorted into a ferocious snarl. "Little bitch, you dare dodge!" This was the little bastard her father had fathered with another woman, the one her mother had kept hidden away. Even though her father didn't even know she existed, that woman had still lost her father's favor under her mother's schemes. Yet Li Yue'er remained furious. She ought to be her father's only child; why should some worthless little pest pop out of nowhere to hurt her mother's eyes? Her mother said this brat's mother was a vixen who had once nearly made her father abandon them. Naturally, the vixen's daughter was just a little vixen herself. Couldn't you see how those big eyes in that sickly, yellow face were as seductive as a fox's? She was going to ruin that face.
Who knows where Li Yue'er saw anything seductive in a seven-year-old bean-sprout, but her blows grew even more vicious. Earlier, her mother had said keeping them alive might prove useful in the future, which was why they had been allowed to scrape by. But now, seeing the stubborn, cold defiance in those large, pitch-black eyes of the little vixen made her anger flare up all the more. For the first time, she channeled spiritual energy into her whip. She was going to beat them to death.
"No—!"
At this sight, Xue Lihua felt her eyes split with grief and rage. With a mortal's body, she lunged forward and threw herself over Li Dai, pressing down on the heavily wounded girl and causing her to cough up mouthfuls of blood before passing out cold.
Just as that fatal blow fell, threatening Xue Lihua's life, something hidden around her neck shattered, forming a massive halo of light that rebounded Li Yue'er's attack right back at her.
Li Yue'er let out a shriek as the whip rebounded against her, leaving a mark across her body.
Xue Lihua's face flashed with shock. She smiled bitterly and touched the object around her neck. This was a treasure her father had given her. Regrettably, she had eloped for the sake of love, recklessly following Li Ce. She had returned home with him full of joy, only to fall straight from heaven into hell. For the sake of his clan, Li Ce had long since married a woman from the Jin Family. She had wanted to leave in bitter anguish, but because she lacked cultivation and could not practice spiritual arts, she was imprisoned. When she raised a fuss with Li Ce, the Jin Family woman generously offered to let her become Li Ce's concubine.
As a proud daughter of the Xue Clan, how could she ever stoop to being a concubine, even if she couldn't cultivate? Yet she could not leave. Li Ce grew annoyed by the constant uproar, grew cold toward her, and handed her over to the "magnanimous and kind" Jin Family matriarch to be disciplined. And so she was locked away—locked away for ten years.
During that time, she tried again and again to end her life. The Jin Family matriarch constantly humiliated and tormented her. Then, by a twist of fate, the Jin Family matriarch, unwilling to be neglected, drugged Li Ce while he was in pain and distress. Li Ce, half-mad, broke away from the Jin Family matriarch, found Xue Lihua, and possessed her—though he never realized it afterward. She had wanted to die once and for all, only to discover she was pregnant. After giving birth to her daughter, she had a fatal weakness. The Jin Family matriarch seized control of her daughter's life, and whatever ability she once had to fight back or endure humiliation was gone. She could only grit her teeth and bear it.
Ten years had passed. Li Ce no longer mattered; she only wanted her daughter to live. Even though Li Ce trusted the Jin Family matriarch and ignored them entirely, she could only drag out a living, allowing herself and her daughter to be bullied, enduring and enduring with no end in sight. She missed her father. How she longed for her powerful father to rescue her and her daughter from this sea of suffering. Yet her past actions must have broken her father's heart; after her elopement with Li Ce, her father would never come looking for her again.
At this thought, Xue Lihua wept bitterly.
Now, there was nothing more she could do. Li Yue'er had murderous intent toward them. If she wanted to leave, she had to send her precious daughter away. Her daughter should not have to bear the consequences of her own mistakes.
With these thoughts, Xue Lihua threw caution to the wind. She glared at Li Yue'er with a fierce look of mutual destruction. Li Yue'er, after all, was just a teenage girl; she was terrified by that fierce expression. Seeing that Li Dai was breathing more than she was taking in, Li Yue'er glared venomously at them and turned to leave.
She was in too much pain and needed to tend to her rebound injuries first. She could deal with this mother and daughter later; letting them cause her to scar would not be worth it.
When Li Dai woke up again, it was already the middle of the night. She was awakened by the woman's soft sobbing. She was still in agonizing pain all over. Seeing her wake up, the woman stopped crying and pulled Li Dai into a tight embrace.
Li Dai was still somewhat dazed, unsure of what time or day it was.
Only after digesting the lingering memories in the little girl's mind did she realize she had transmigrated, landing inside the body of a seven-year-old bean-sprout named Li Dai—sharing the exact same name as her.
"My treasure, Mother's precious girl, you must live! You must get away from here!"
As if sensing something, Li Dai looked at the woman. Even her haggard complexion could not conceal her peerless beauty. This was the mother of this body. Li Dai still remembered this voice from when she was being whipped. Now, sensing something amiss and fearing for her life, was the woman trying to send her away? Li Dai's emotions were complex. Even though she was not the original owner, she felt immense respect for such maternal love. It reminded her of her own mother, who loved her just as much. If she suddenly vanished, her mother would be devastated—she would surely die of grief.
Thinking of this, Li Dai sank into profound depression and instinctively hugged the woman in front of her. "We'll go together."
The woman's gaze flickered. She stroked Li Dai's head and whispered softly, "All right."