Chapter 1: Arrival (Revised)

Xu Weishu pushed open the vermilion-colored small door and stumbled out, facing a scene of bustling marketplace life.

She looked up almost greedily, watching with satisfaction as several young children played and frolicked, pedestrians hurried past, and street vendors carrying shoulder poles shouted loudly, as she took a deep breath.

"Eh?"

An old fortune teller, holding a white canvas sign inscribed with the words *The Number One Divine Diviner of the Heavenly Sect*, suddenly paused. He walked over and scrutinized Xu Weishu from head to toe for a long while, stroked his beard, and shook his head. "No, no. Little lady, you are a person of great fortune; you shouldn't be here. This place is shrouded in ill luck. A disaster involving the seizure of property and the extermination of your clan is not far off; it will implicate you."

Xu Weishu froze. She turned her head to look at the side door behind her, frowning as she murmured, "It indeed doesn't seem like a very auspicious place. It's a pity my divination studies weren't very good."

The little maidservant by her side was dumbstruck. Seeing her mistress turning into a follower of charlatans, she could no longer restrain herself. Ignoring the issue of insubordination, she glared angrily at the fraud outside, hugged her mistress's arm, gently supported her as they returned, and slammed the door shut firmly.

The fortune-telling 'fraud' outside didn't seem to mind. He paused briefly before going to look for other customers.

It wasn't until she had helped her mistress sit down on the stone stool in the small courtyard that the little maid, Baoqin, finally felt at ease.

"Little lady, come, have a bowl of steamed egg custard. It's been half the day already, and you haven't put anything in your mouth." Baoqin held a bowl of egg custard, blowing on it carefully.

She always felt that her little lady's face actually possessed a hint of dazedness.

Sinful, truly sinful.

Baoqin cursed herself inwardly. That day, the little lady had lost her breath, and the household had already begun preparing funeral arrangements, only for her to come back to life. That was already a great stroke of luck; becoming a bit dazed was harmless, not to mention... her mistress had become even more beautiful.

Her 'mistress,' however, had no interest in peeking into Baoqin's little thoughts.

She was very happy.

Although she had come from the Guixu to a strange mortal realm, borrowing the body of this high-born lady, Xu Weishu, who had committed suicide by poison, she was still joyful.

From this moment on, she would never again have to stay alone in the land of Guixu, guarding the waters of the myriad rivers, unable to leave for eternity.

The world praised her, saying that although Jiuwei possessed a broken female body, she had alone guarded the Gate of Guixu for over thirty years, repelling nearly ten million demons.

The Celestial Emperor praised her for her heroic spirit and fragrant reputation, which would be known for ten thousand years.

Over the past thirty years, the Demon Lord had issued forty-five execution orders, wishing nothing more than to skin her and pick her bones.

But who among them knew that Jiuwei herself wasn't particularly willing?

She was originally just an ordinary medical student from the 21st century—timid and prone to crying. Although she studied medicine, she actually had a slight fear of blood. The bravest thing she had ever done was to run a few extra steps toward a fire scene to save people, only to be struck in the head by a falling beam. When she opened her eyes again, she was one of the twenty chosen baby girls of Guixu.

From then on, there was no freedom.

Before she was eighteen, her greatest wish was simply to be able to walk out of Guixu and see the outside world during her lifetime.

Now, that wish had arguably been fulfilled, though not during her previous life.

This was the Great Yin Dynasty; the people here did not practice immortality cultivation.

It should be said that there were those who wished to cultivate, and there was a state religion, but they were all legends. At least, no immortals were seen in the world. It was wonderful; she hated those so-called gods and demons who fought and caused trouble all day without a shred of celestial grace. Such peace in the world was a great blessing for all under heaven!

The egg custard in the bowl was very tender.

The wind was bone-chillingly cold.

She was now Xu Weishu.

Her head throbbed painfully. She raised her hand to press against the space between her eyebrows, dragging out a pitch-black shadow. Watching the blackness dissipate and the shimmering white light fly away with the wind, her complex memories compressed and hid themselves deep within her mind, her spirit finally eased slightly. With a thought, she closed her eyes, and in an instant, a palm-sized jade bi appeared in her chest!

This jade bi had been a gift from an old friend, 'Zixu.' It was heard to be a peerless treasure of the Kaihuang Dynasty, possessing the miraculous power to reverse time, space, life, and death, but everyone treated it as mere legend. Now it seemed the legends were not without basis.

At this moment, the jade bi was no longer as brilliant as when it was first seen; it was a dead gray, with only a faint glimmer of white light at the bottom.

The current situation should have been caused by the jade bi. The original Xu Weishu did not seem to be of the current age; she seemed to have been in her thirties. She didn't know what had gone wrong, but upon returning to this moment, unfortunately, the soul was fragile. Only the obsession could return, and even the body had collapsed because it could not withstand the energy.

If not for the jade bi reshaping the body, the person known as Xu Weishu would likely no longer exist.

Fortunately, as the energy vanished, it left her with a relatively perfect body that could be used temporarily. However, if she did not recover quickly, she feared this body would still struggle to sustain her soul.

She had heard Zixu say that the restoration of the jade bi seemed to require great merit?

Xu Weishu calmed herself. Her body was intensely sore. She exhaled, telling herself not to rush; take it slow, and a way will appear when the time comes.

Lowering her head, she saw a pair of girl's hands—slender, long fingers and delicate skin. They were very much like her old hands; it must be the work of the jade bi's reshaping. After all, in her memories, that Xu Weishu had been extremely dissatisfied with her skin from childhood to adulthood.

Her body would gradually become more different from the original owner's. Fortunately, she was young; one could explain it away with the saying that "girls change significantly as they reach eighteen."

She silently closed her eyes, organizing the complex imprints in her mind.

There was only boundless resentment.

The original owner had indeed reversed time and space. In these memories, there was displacement, a life of hardship, the humiliation of a husband, and the mockery of concubines, all of which filled her life without a single color of sunshine.

The sensation of being hit by intrusive thoughts was not pleasant. The memories were fragmented and incomplete, and it was impossible to view them all at once. Setting aside the future for a moment, she organized what she needed to know right now.

The original owner's identity was extremely troublesome; she was the legitimate daughter of the former Duke of Ying in the Great Yin Dynasty.

Just three months ago, this girl's father had gone to the State of Qi to receive the Crown Prince, who was being held as a hostage. On the way back, they were ambushed. Her father died saving the Crown Prince, and her mother committed suicide by hanging.

The position of Duke of Ying was inherited by her second uncle.

Originally, since her father had died loyally for the country and her mother had died following him, as their daughter, she should have lived well to honor her parents. Furthermore, the imperial court would not leave the daughter of a meritorious official without a place to belong.

She should have lived well, but unfortunately, the reality was quite different.

The Crown Prince, whom her father—the former Duke of Ying, Xu Jinglan—had died to save, did not become the Emperor of Great Yan. Instead, he was suspected by his imperial father, who stripped him of his position. The Third Prince was now showing signs of rising to power.

The current Emperor seemed to believe that the former Duke of Ying—Xu Weishu's brilliantly talented father—had intentionally assisted the Crown Prince in a rebellion, and thus could not help but be filled with hatred toward him. Naturally, the Emperor would not pay attention to the small matter of her family's uncles and aunts bullying a defenseless young woman.

Overnight, the once-favored daughter of heaven became even more wretched than a plucked phoenix.

Afterward, her childhood sweetheart and fiancé, Zhuo You, also broke off the engagement.

Xu Weishu shook her head and laughed to herself, not being intimidated by the original owner's tragic fate. She had been lucky enough to be reborn twice; what was there to fear?

However, the changes in her body in the near future would likely be significant. The current Duke's manor was not a suitable place for recuperation; it would be best to use the excuse of building a hut to observe mourning and retreat to the mountains.

Moreover, regardless of the reason, since she had taken over another's daughter's body, she should at least pray and chant sutras for the family of three to show her sincerity.

As for whether she should save the Duke of Ying's manor... it wasn't that she hadn't thought about it, but she was truly powerless. In her memories, the Duke's manor had been seized because it was implicated in the 'Prince Qi Rebellion Case.' It had been ten years since Prince Qi's rebellion, and the evidence was held in the Emperor's hands. Could a mere orphaned girl like her change the Emperor's mind?