Yueqing 1

When Wen Qiushui opened her eyes again, she found herself locked in a dungeon, her hands bound by iron chains. For a moment, she almost thought she had returned to the Kunlun Summit, where her life and death had been beyond her control.

She moved her hands. Aside from being chained up, there was nothing else wrong. Though the place never saw the light of day, it was well suited to sorting through this body's memories.

This body was named Yueqing, a person Wen Qiushui remembered. Back when she was Yi Wenjun, she had heard of the things Yueqing had done. Not only had Yueqing schemed to force Ye Dingzhi into becoming a devil, she had also played a part in Baili Dongjun's lifelong decline.

And when Wen Qiushui had just sorted through the body's memories, all she could find were thoughts of restoring the nation. Yueqing had always longed for her glorious former status as a princess of a nation.

She was locked in the dungeon now because she had schemed against Ye Dingzhi. After he became sect master of Beyond the Heavens, he had merely locked her up for Baili Dongjun's sake.

Yueqing had spent her time in the dungeon in a daze. She did not know how long had passed, only that it had been a long time. Now, there were only three people who mattered much to her: her father, her elder sister, and Ye Dingzhi.

Yet Yueqing's father had given more of his affection to her elder sister. When Yueqing had brought Ye Dingzhi to find him, her father had paid no attention to Yueqing, who had traveled everywhere for his sake. Instead, he had treated her sister kindly when she arrived later and urged him to let go.

But her father was dead, and with death, all things came to an end.

As for her elder sister, for the sake of one Baili Dongjun, she had so casually abandoned the people of their Northern Que, along with Yueqing herself.

Her sister was always saying that war was wrong, but for all her travels, she had accomplished nothing. She had neither found a way for the people of Northern Que to live and work in peace without war, nor had she been sincere in the effort to rescue their father, outwardly agreeing while secretly opposing it. In the end, apart from staying by Baili Dongjun's side, Yueqing had seen her do nothing to benefit Northern Que.

And though her sister knew full well that Yueqing had been locked up, had she never thought to come and rescue her? Yueqing no longer knew whether she loved or hated her sister.

As for Ye Dingzhi, Yueqing hated him for indirectly causing her father's death, but she also knew that he was a pitiful man who had been schemed against. She hated him for locking her in this place that never saw the light of day, but she also knew that her own schemes were part of the reason he had come to this point.

More pitiful still, during the days she had followed Ye Dingzhi, Yueqing had fallen in love with this man of peerless talent and a tragic past. Yet for the great cause of Northern Que, Yueqing would not give up her schemes, even for the man she loved.

After sorting through Yueqing's memories, Wen Qiushui thought her truly pitiful. She had spent her whole life immersed in the old days when her family and nation still existed.

She thought no more about it and began considering what to do now.

When she had died as Yi Wenjun in her previous life, she had lived for more than a hundred years and cultivated the Heavenly Devil Instruction to the great completion of its third layer. After Yi Wenjun's death, the essence of all her cultivation had also become nourishment for the Chaos Pearl.

After a hundred years of being nourished by energy and all of Yi Wenjun's cultivation, however, the Chaos Pearl had merely grown a little larger inside.

Now that she had become Yueqing, whose own cultivation was very weak, she would have to cultivate the Heavenly Devil Instruction before doing anything else. Yueqing looked at her surroundings with some distaste, but endured them. After all, she had been through worse.

So Yueqing put everything else out of her mind and devoted herself to cultivation. Because of Baili Dongjun and Yueyao, Ye Dingzhi would not kill her, and as long as she stayed alive, there would always be a chance for her to turn things around.

The dungeon guards found it somewhat strange. Before, the second young lady had cursed and grumbled every day, unable to help herself, but recently she had fallen quiet. She had also been dutifully finishing every meal sent in to her.

But they thought little of it, assuming that the second young lady knew there was no one she could turn to for help and had given up on her own. After all, she had already been locked up for a year. The sect master paid her no attention, and even the eldest young lady had not been seen coming to rescue her.

A person abandoned by everyone was not worth much of their concern.

Two years passed like this, with Yueqing quietly cultivating on her own the whole time. Now, there were no longer even any guards outside the dungeon. Everyone was busy with the invasion of Northern Li.

Yueqing finally broke through to the third layer of the Heavenly Devil Instruction, reaching the Unfettered Heaven Realm.

The people outside gradually forgot about Yueqing, and no one noticed that the dungeon where she was imprisoned had taken on an entirely different appearance.

After Wen Qiushui became Yueqing, she had used a dagger stored in the Chaos Pearl to cut through the iron chains binding her. The guard who brought her meals only left them at the cell door, and the dungeon was dim, so he would not notice anything unusual about her.

As time slowly passed, the guards outside gradually left. Yueqing had used poison to control the maid who brought her meals, and she had also used items collected in the previous world and stored in the Chaos Pearl to furnish her dungeon properly.

It was not that she did not want to leave. But without breaking through to the Unfettered Heaven Realm, venturing out rashly would only be more dangerous.

And now, the time for her to leave had finally come.

By the time Yueqing walked out of the dungeon, Ye Dingzhi had already left with most of the experts. Though events had unfolded differently from Yi Wenjun's lifetime, Ye Dingzhi was now desperately in love with Yi Wenjun, and she had even borne him a child. By coincidence, the child was named Ye Anshi.

But from what Yueqing knew of Northern Li, there was an eighty percent chance that Ye Dingzhi would not return from this trip.

Yueqing strolled leisurely toward Langyue Blessed Land, feeding poison to everyone who stood in her way. Whatever their reasons, those who had stood by unmoved while Yueqing was imprisoned were all traitors to the former princess of Northern Que. Now that Yueqing was the strongest and strength made right, those people would naturally have to swallow the bitter fruit of their actions.

After Yueqing had made her way through all of Beyond the Heavens, she finally took her seat on the sect master's throne. She had fed poison to every guard kneeling on the ground.

Yueqing had no plans to make any major moves. She was waiting for Northern Li and Beyond the Heavens to leave each other badly wounded; then it would be time for her to take over Ye Dingzhi's forces.

For now, she would first have those good-for-nothings properly repair Langyue Blessed Land. It would be her residence from then on.

Time passed quickly. Because she had cultivated it once before, she made rapid progress through the third layer of the Heavenly Devil Instruction, and soon broke through to Half-Step Divine Wandering.

When word came back that Ye Dingzhi was dead, that Beyond the Heavens and Northern Li had made a twelve-year pact sealing the borders, and that Ye Anshi had remained in Northern Li as a hostage, Yueqing knew that the time had come for her to take over all the forces of Beyond the Heavens.

Thus, when the White-Haired Immortal and the Purple-Robed Marquis returned with the surviving members of Beyond the Heavens, they found Yueqing sitting upright on the throne, surrounded by guards and waiting for them to arrive.