Pain... so much pain. That was the only sensation Chu Qinghuang could feel. Through a blur, she seemed to hear voices.
"What do we do now that we haven't found the item? If we go back like this, the Eldest Miss will surely be furious."
"We've searched the entire Chu Estate—even the secret chamber, the Treasure Pavilion, and the ancestral hall—and found nothing. It’s not even clear if the item actually exists. Let’s head back and report. Because of Prince Duan, the Eldest Miss already detests this Chu girl. Even if we didn't find the item, surely she won’t be too hard on us, considering we’ve already killed her."
"Fine then. Toss this wench over and let's get back to report."
Hearing this, Chu Qinghuang tried to open her eyes, but a sharp, stabbing pain surged through her brain. Countless memories that did not belong to her flooded in. As the information poured forth, Chu Qinghuang grew increasingly shocked. She had arrived from the future in a place called the Yeling Continent, a world of cultivation where strength was everything. Furthermore, this body shared the same name as her own. She was the Eldest Miss of the Chu family in Aoyun State, betrothed to Prince Duan of the royal family since birth, waiting only for her eighteenth birthday to marry. Yet, this Chu Qinghuang had died just two months before that milestone.
Because she could not cultivate, the Eldest Miss had always felt inferior. Though breathtakingly beautiful, she constantly wore a veil. Prince Duan had always been polite to her, treating her like a younger sister with no deeper affection; in fact, he was often very close to Chu Nanxi of the Chu family.
Just then, Chu Qinghuang felt someone lifting her. She remembered them talking about tossing her off somewhere. Where? As her body swayed, she turned her head slightly, squinting through a narrow slit in her eyes. It was night; the surroundings were pitch black, filled with trees. The path beneath their feet was uneven—were they on a mountain? Were they going to throw her off a cliff?
Chu Qinghuang felt the severe injuries racking her body and her lack of strength. To survive, she had to act decisively. She kicked the man behind her, rotated her body to break free from the man in front, and snatched the sword from his waist in one swift motion. With a single slash, she severed his throat. The man holding her feet had just regained his balance when he saw his companion fall dead. He stared at Chu Qinghuang in shock. Hadn't she just died? How was she alive? And how had she managed to kill 'Big Bull'? It was common knowledge throughout the Main City that Chu Qinghuang could not cultivate. To see her best a warrior at the Innate Stage 2 was like seeing a ghost.
Chu Qinghuang stood up, forcing herself to hold steady, and curled her lip at the man. From her inherited memories, she knew the people of this world were cultivators—which meant this man possessed magical abilities. She wanted to rush forward and finish him, but her strength gave out, and she collapsed to the ground.
Watching her fall, the man waited a moment to confirm she couldn't get back up. He approached with a leering grin. "Miss Chu, weren't you quite fierce just a moment ago? Why can't you get up now? Hahaha! A delicate little miss from a noble family, indeed. Since you're not dead yet, why don't you keep me company for a while? Hahaha... let’s have some fun before you die. Hahaha..."
As the man reached for her, Chu Qinghuang offered a faint, icy smile. The moment his hand touched her, she grabbed his arm and twisted it back, snatching the sword with her left hand and pinning it against his throat. "Never let your guard down until the very last moment, you know? If you want 'fun,' go find it in the underworld."
The tip of the sword struck the ground as blood dripped from the blade. The man crashed to the earth, his eyes wide in terror. Perhaps, until his dying breath, he never understood how two men had been defeated by a Chu Qinghuang who supposedly possessed no Spiritual Power.
Once both men were dead, Chu Qinghuang lost all strength and sank to her knees. She used the sword to steady herself, refusing to collapse completely. She looked at the two corpses. Though exhausted, she knew she couldn't stay. After resting for the time it takes to brew a pot of tea, she used the sword as a crutch and began making her way down the mountain.
She frowned at the various wounds on her body. Most were manageable, but the sword slash on her abdomen was severe; she needed medicine quickly. She searched her person and sighed—besides her clothes and a silver hairpin in her hair, she had nothing. Finally, at the foot of the mountain, she spotted a pavilion. She tore a strip of fabric from her skirt to bandage her wounds as best she could and rested in the pavilion for the night, having reached her absolute limit.
The next morning, Chu Qinghuang opened her eyes. Feeling somewhat restored, she followed the route in her memories toward the city. Luckily, the mountain wasn't far from the Main City, or she might never have made it.
Looking down at her blood-stained, filthy clothes, she knew she couldn't return looking like this. Passing a farmhouse, she traded her silver hairpin for a set of rough cloth garments, burned her old clothes, and entered the city.
She headed straight for the Chu Estate, but upon arriving, she found the main gates shut tight. Frowning, she pushed them open. Inside, there was a deathly silence. She looked up at the sky; at this hour, the servants should have been sweeping, yet not a soul was to be seen.
She moved toward the front hall, and before she even reached it, the heavy stench of blood hit her. Pushing open the courtyard gate, her eyes widened in horror. The vast courtyard was littered with corpses, each one killed by a single, clean strike. What kind of vendetta was this, to exterminate an entire family?
She walked into the yard, seeing the master of the Chu family—the father of the original "Chu Qinghuang"—as well as her mother and the various elders of the clan, all familiar faces from her memories. Chu Qinghuang took a deep breath to steady her emotions and headed toward the Treasure Pavilion to find medicinal supplies.
Outside the pavilion, she sighed at the sight of the ransacked interior. She stepped inside and found medicine in the corner of a shelf. She tore another strip of fabric from her skirt, gritted her teeth as she peeled away the bandages that had stuck to her wounds, and applied the medicine before wrapping them up as best she could.