"Miss, where does it hurt? Hurry and tell Yun'er...
What should we do? The head of the clan isn't here, and Concubine Fang certainly won't let anyone send for a physician.
What should we do? What are we going to do?" Hearing her young miss cry out in pain, Xi Yun'er felt as if her heart were breaking. She only hated herself for not being strong enough to protect her miss every time she was bullied.
She truly failed the trust of the master and the clan head!
"Who... who are you? Where is this?
Ah, my head... it hurts so much!" Lan Qinghuan opened her eyes to see a strange, crude room and a familiar yet somewhat unfamiliar little maid whose face was covered in bruises and stained with tears and snot.
The maid's genuine worry did not look fake at all. Lan Qinghuan tried hard to remember who she was, but a splitting headache forced her back into unconsciousness.
She remembered walking onto the Zhuxian Stage to accept her punishment. There had been utter emptiness and darkness there. Even with her supreme willpower, her soul had plunged into slumber in a single instant.
She desperately reminded herself not to fall asleep, forcing herself to recall the happy times spent with Di Lianzhe.
She missed him, telling herself over and over, Lan Qinghuan, you must wake up. Di Lianzhe is waiting for you; you must walk down the Zhuxian Stage alive.
Then Rulai would grant you both reincarnation, and from then on it would be just the two of you for a lifetime.
Yet she had dreamed a terrible dream, and upon waking had seen this somewhat familiar young girl.
She was Xi Yun'er! Scene after scene flashed before her eyes. Her head hurt so terribly—what on earth was this overwhelming flood of information pouring in?
"Lan Qinghuan, you useless trash who cannot even cultivate, you brought the death of your own birth mother the moment you were born, you are nothing but a jinx and a freak..."
"Lan Qinghuan, you shameless, foolish girl, a disheveled old maid like you actually harbors delusional thoughts of marrying our genius Third Prince.
Stop coming out to shame our Lan Clan, or the next punishment you get won't be like this..."
A group of fifteen or sixteen-year-old girls dressed in ostentatious, colorful finery surrounded and beat the master and servant crouching in the corner. The little maid shielding the outside was Xi Yun'er, whom she vaguely recognized.
"Little bitch, so rebellious and unfilial, what kind of spell did you cast on your uncle to make him protect you at every turn?
Are you still not going to talk? Someone, force the love potion meticulously concocted by Daoist Jia down our eldest miss's throat."
The aristocratic woman in purple, with her sharp and vicious words, her brutal and crude servants, and the desperate, unwilling struggle.
She remembered. She was Lan Qinghuan, but she was no longer the invincible Martial God of the Nine Heavens Mysterious Realm.
This was not the Nine Heavens, but the Fengxu Continent. She had grown up in the Fengxu Kingdom's illustrious Lan Clan, the eldest miss who held only an empty title.
This Lan Qinghuan's soul had slowly withered after Concubine Fang had her forced to drink the potion, and now she, the Martial God Lan Qinghuan, had seized this body.
A wisp of lingering, resentful consciousness from the former Lan Qinghuan remained in her mind, begging her to exact revenge, find her father, and live a good life.
Her great-great-great-grandfather had been a sworn brother to the founding emperor of the Fengxu Kingdom; together they carved out the realm and were enfeoffed as nobles and ministers. However, years of decadent living had caused the Di family to gradually decline in this world where martial prowess reigned supreme.
It was her father who brought the Lan Clan back to its current glory because he was the strongest martial artist on the Fengxu Continent.
Her father, Lan Zeren, had been obsessed with martial arts since childhood, with both literary and martial talents that inspired envy. He should have been the grand head of the Lan Clan, but ten years ago, her father went to the Misty Forest at Baiming Mountain to find a heavenly treasure to suppress her spiritual energy, and vanished without a trace.
Right, she was a freak. The moment she was born she could speak and walk, and that night the sound of phoenixes echoing across the Fengxu Continent never ceased. A shimmering golden phoenix shadow followed her—such a natural anomaly was initially thought to be an auspicious omen, but the moment her mother picked her up, she turned to golden powder and vanished.
No one in the entire Fengxu Kingdom was unaware that Lan Qinghuan possessed supernatural anomalies at birth, making her a jinx who brought disaster to those close to her. Thus, she had no friends growing up, and only Xi Yun'er remained steadfast by her side.
Before the age of five, she was blessed with extraordinary talent, and her cultivation far surpassed her peers by a wide margin. At just five years old, she had already reached the Ninth Layer of Qi Condensation, making her even more monstrously gifted than martial prodigies like her father.
Because of her genius, the Fengxu royal family betrothed her to the Third Prince, who was five years her senior and similarly renowned as a prodigy.
Yet for some reason, shortly after the betrothal, she fell ill. Her cultivation began to regress, and her spiritual energy leaked uncontrollably. Though her father searched far and wide for famous physicians, there was no cure.
Ten years ago, her father's friend Han Yufeng, the number one alchemist in the world, traveled here and told her father that in the Misty Forest of Baiming Mountain within the Yunxi Kingdom, there grew a heavenly treasure called Purple English Grass, which could cure her spiritual energy leakage and even strengthen her foundation to reach new heights.
Her father entrusted her and the position of clan head to her uncle and had never been heard from since.
Her uncle treated her as his own flesh and blood, showering her with genuine affection, but it was precisely this doting that made her a target for the hidden malicious schemes of her concubine stepmothers and younger sisters.
When had Lan Qinghuan ever suffered such bullying? If she did not exact revenge for this, would she still be the Martial God Lan Qinghuan?
Yet, living like this, could she still be considered to have walked down the Zhuxian Stage alive?
Would Rulai keep his promise and let Lianzhe come find her?
What should she do? Without seeing Di Lianzhe, how could she argue with Rulai?
No, she had to cultivate back to the Martial God realm and return to the Nine Heavens Mysterious Realm to settle accounts with Rulai.
"Miss, you're awake! Fortunately, the first thing the clan head did upon returning was to come check on you, otherwise Yun'er truly wouldn't have known what to do.
There is something Miss will be very happy to hear. Word has come from the palace that in three days, the Third Prince will come to the residence to present betrothal gifts!
A month from now, once the Prince Xuan Manor is completed, Miss will be the Princess Consort. Let's see who dares to bully Miss then..." Seeing Lan Qinghuan wake up, Xi Yun'er hurriedly helped her sit up and shared this monumental good news.
The clan head had been summoned into the palace early yesterday morning and had not returned all night. Meanwhile, Miss had been forcibly dragged into Fangxia Courtyard by Concubine Fang's people. Out of her mind with worry, Yun'er had wanted to use her Fourth Layer of Qi Condensation cultivation to forcefully break into Fangxia Courtyard and rescue Miss.
Never had she expected that several martial experts would suddenly appear in Concubine Fang's courtyard. Instead of getting in, she ended up battered and bruised.
Fortunately, Miss returned shortly after, and the stone weighing on her heart finally settled.
Yet by evening, Miss developed a high fever, alternating between shivering with cold and burning with heat, while muttering nonsense.
Miss's health was already poor, and Concubine Fang hated nothing more than seeing Miss get better. How could she possibly let anyone out to fetch a physician for Miss?
Fortunately, the clan head had just returned. Not only did he invite a physician to cure Miss's illness, but he also brought back such wonderful news. Heaven truly had mercy—Miss could finally leave this ghost of a place!
Everyone else called Miss foolish, but Xi Yun'er believed Miss had the kindest heart in the entire world.
If Miss hadn't saved her fifteen years ago, she would have long since perished in a sea of flames, let alone been treated like a sister by Miss.
Xi Yun'er was still lost in memories of the past when a loud, incredulous question startled her.
"What? Feng Jingxuan wants to marry me? Is he out of his mind?!"
Judging from Lan Qinghuan's memories, this Third Prince, renowned across the Fengxu Continent, was the last person who could possibly like her.
He had always avoided her like the plague—why on earth would he suddenly have the whim to marry her now?