Rebirth

The prison was dim and windowless; no one knew what year it was.

A brazier holding iron brands gave off a faint green glow, illuminating the torture instruments filling the room—and Anli.

She was tied to an iron cross, both hands straining to pull free of the chains.

The chains clattered as she yanked them. Her wrists had been ground to the bone, yet she pressed her lips tight and pulled herself free inch by inch.

Old and new scars crisscrossed her face, leaving scarcely a patch of unbroken flesh.

Meng Shiwan had carved the fresh scars only moments ago.

Earlier, Meng Shiwan had come here in a phoenix-embroidered wedding gown traced with flowing gold, condescending to visit her before using a dull blade to grind against her finger bones.

"Sister, today the Crown Prince and I are getting married. Are you happy for me?"

"Ah~ I forgot. The Crown Prince is Sister's fiancé. Sister must be heartbroken, then~"

"But who can Sister talk to when she is sad? Father and our three brothers are busy with my wedding preparations. Ah~ I forgot again—even if they were not busy, they would not listen to another word from you."

"Because they... despise, loathe, and detest you!"

Meng Anli had long since gone numb to such words.

Her eldest brother had already severed the tendons in her hands and feet. They ached constantly; the pain in her fingertips was nothing at all.

Meng Shiwan had not gotten the reaction she wanted.

Humiliated and enraged, she had slashed Anli's face again and again.

Meng Anli's brows furrowed with pain, but she gritted her teeth and did not make a sound.

"Your bones are quite hard. The Crown Prince has recently acquired a Treasure Bottle specially made to dissolve hard bones like yours. Let the man you loved most melt you away."

At that thought, Meng Anli put more force into her hands.

Today was their wedding day. It was the perfect chance to escape.

The sound of bones cracking rang out, and Meng Anli suddenly felt her right wrist loosen.

She turned her head in delight. Great!

Broken bones were nothing. As long as her hand came free, that was enough.

Using her right hand, she slowly pulled out her left, then began working on the shackles around her feet.

Only after nearly grinding away half her heel did she finally remove the foot chains.

Meng Anli rose to flee, only to see the Crown Prince and her third brother watching her with leisurely composure.

Who knew how long they had been watching?

The Crown Prince's eyes and brows were full of mockery and disgust. "You are so ruthless even to yourself. You truly are insane. No wonder Wanwan accidentally wandered in and was frightened unconscious."

Her third brother was both fawning and furious. "We have been too merciful. We will kill her today."

He kicked her hard in the chest, sending Anli crashing into the iron cross.

Meng Anli spat out a mouthful of blood and fell to the ground.

The Crown Prince casually flicked his sleeve, sweeping her into the nearby brazier.

The flames caught her clothes the instant they touched them.

Crying out in agony, Meng Anli rolled across the floor to extinguish the fire.

The two men merely watched with cold disgust.

Meng Anli wanted to kill them all, but she was nothing more than a cripple now.

She crawled to their feet, tears and snot streaming down her face. "I never did anything to harm Meng Shiwan. It was Meng Shiwan..."

"Shut up!"

The Crown Prince raised a hand and flung her onto the rack of torture instruments. "Wanwan is clever as ice and snow, kind and charitable, with ideas unlike anyone else..."

The instruments pierced her back, leaving it covered in wounds. The pain made it difficult even to breathe.

She knew she was doomed to die today, so she opened her mouth and cursed them viciously.

"You pack of fools cannot tell right from wrong. May you die without a good end! Meng Shiwan will die without a good end too!"

"You dare curse Wanwan? You are the one who will die without a good end."

Her third brother flung a throwing knife, shredding Anli's tongue to pieces.

Pain swept from the root of her tongue through her entire body in an instant. Her vision darkened in waves, her ears roared, and bloody froth mixed with the stench of blood surged into her mouth and nose, making her vomit blood in great gulps.

Meng Anli hated them to the marrow. She raised her head and stared at them without blinking.

As long as her soul did not perish today, then one day, even if she fell into the Ghost Path or the Demon Path, she would make them repay their blood debt in blood!

The Crown Prince was furious. Raising his hand, he summoned the Jade Bottle and captured her inside.

The instant she fell in, ten thousand swords pierced her heart. Then a sea of fire engulfed her, fire poison invading her five viscera and six bowels. It felt as though hundreds and thousands of hands had each seized a tiny patch of flesh and torn with all their strength at once.

They tore both her body and soul into fragments.

"Ahhh!"

Meng Anli cried out as she regained consciousness, her body trembling uncontrollably.

She wrapped her arms around herself and curled into a ball, only to feel the cold around her grow sharper and sharper.

Meng Anli realized something was wrong. Her soul had just been torn apart—how was she still whole?

How could she still feel anything?

She raised her eyes.

Snowflakes fell into the boundless sea and were swallowed in an instant.

This was... the North Sea?

Meng Anli sprang to her feet, but a stiff, stabbing pain shot through her knees, and she collapsed back down.

She lowered her head blankly and saw the bloodstains on her abdomen.

Her eyes flew wide open. Not only had she come back from the dead—she had returned to the past?

She had returned to the time when her second brother had dug out her inner core and she had come to the North Sea to seek Huan Dan Grass!

"Heaven has eyes! Heaven has eyes! Hahahaha..."

Meng Anli threw back her head and laughed. Snowflakes mingled with her tears as they fell.

The bitter wind lashed her face until it hurt.

Yet she was happier than she had ever been. After so many years in that dark prison, she had not felt the world's vibrant life for so long.

She rose and danced and shouted amid the snow.

"Presumptuous."

The emotionless voice pressed down upon Meng Anli, forcing her to fall to the ground.

She looked up instinctively. Five-colored auspicious clouds lit up the gray sky.

She hurriedly lowered her head and knelt. One who possessed such radiance could only be a deity.

The light drew closer and closer. She curled herself into a ball, trying her best to make herself as inconspicuous as possible.

She prayed that this Great Deity would be magnanimous enough to forgive her earlier loss of decorum in her overwhelming joy.

But the light vanished before her.

"Who are you?"

The voice was as clear as spring water, so pleasant that Meng Anli could not help looking up.

Then wave after wave of dizziness struck her.

The face before her was simply too beautiful—cool and detached, with black eyes like the North Sea itself, containing all things yet impossible to fathom.

Though his entire being carried the otherworldly air of one who looked down upon all living things, he held a little lion in his left hand and absentmindedly scratched it with his right.

The little lion narrowed his eyes in comfort.

It added a trace of unexpected warmth to him.

"Presumptuous!" The black-clad, cold-faced man beside him rebuked Anli in displeasure.

Meng Anli hurriedly kowtowed. "Meng Anli of Chongwu Mountain, here to seek Huan Dan Grass."

"Chongwu Mountain..." The deity repeated softly. When he spoke again, his tone had turned abruptly cold. "Yuan Tuo."

Though his voice was not loud, Meng Anli's heart pounded like a drum, and cold sweat broke out all over her.

A black shadow burst from the North Sea and swiftly transformed into the form of a black-clad youth.

It was Yuan Tuo, the chief deity of the North Sea.

Yuan Tuo knelt not far from Meng Anli. "Welcome home, Master."

The deity asked indifferently, "What is going on?"

Meng Anli secretly lifted her head, meeting Yuan Tuo's gaze.

Yuan Tuo slapped his forehead. "You are Meng Anli? You came for Huan Dan Grass? I was busy these past few days and forgot. Here, take it."

Meng Anli was just about to accept it.

The deity asked again, "Is Huan Dan Grass simply given away for free?"

Yuan Tuo looked at him in confusion.

Meng Anli followed suit and looked over as well.

As Yun Jing's thin lips parted, he set the rule. "She must endure three moves from you."

"Me?" Yuan Tuo pointed at himself, then at Meng Anli. "She does not even have an inner core. You want her to last three moves against me?"

His finger paused. "You cannot defeat her?"

"I am afraid I will kill her!"

The deity asked Anli, "Do you dare take three of his moves?"

Meng Anli answered without hesitation, "I dare!"

If she was fortunate enough to survive, she would obtain Huan Dan Grass, regrow her inner core, cultivate well, and take revenge.

If she died, her soul could still cultivate.

Even if she fell into the Ghost Path or the Demon Path, she would seek revenge against the Meng family and the Crown Prince.