“Cuthbert, I—Lydia Morgan—belong to you in life, and in death. No matter how many lifetimes pass, this love will never fade!”

“Cuthbert, go! In this life, we couldn’t stay brothers to the end. May the next life give us another chance... Hahaha!”

“No… Lydia! Bram!”

Boom!

The stone gate slammed down, sealing everything away. In an instant, the world turned pitch-black.

…

“Where is this? I’m alive…?”

“I’ve been reborn…”

Cuthbert's head felt like splitting open. Then, a torrent of unfamiliar memories washed over him.

In his past life, he was the supreme Pill Emperor, the ruler of the Great Qin Empire in the Divine Desolation Continent.

Seeking a way to ascend to godhood, he entered the Forbidden Land of the Gods—Valley of Buried Deities—with Lydia Morgan, his beloved companion, and Bram Thompson, the brother he trusted most.

They barely made it to the Hall of Fallen Gods, bodies covered in blood and wounds.

Then came the ambush—over a dozen Emperor-rank powerhouses struck all at once. It was the mightiest lineup on the continent.

At his peak, Cuthbert wouldn't have feared them. And he’d had the Sunset Godbow, a weapon of destruction.

But by then, he was too worn down. The bow wasn’t even with him—it was in Bram’s hands.

Bram, who rose to Emperor through war, a brother Cuthbert treated like kin, had charged ahead with that bow all along.

The last thing Cuthbert saw was his brother and the woman he loved throwing themselves into the fray like madmen. Blood gushed. That image was seared into his dying mind.

But he still didn’t make it. Outside, the enemies had set up the Heaven-Slaying Array. Cuthbert—already gravely wounded—was torn apart the moment he set foot outside.

He died. And now, he opened his eyes in the body of a sixteen-year-old.

Also named Cuthbert.

As memories merged, Cuthbert froze.

The records said the Pill Emperor of Great Qin fell six hundred years ago.

But the empire didn’t fall. Instead, a new Empress rose—Lydia Morgan.

The very Lydia who once vowed to live and die for him.

And Bram? He took the Sunset Godbow and renamed himself the Sunset War God, building the War God Temple atop Sunset Peak.

That peak had once been Cuthbert’s private training grounds.

The official history wrote that six hundred years ago, four imperial generals betrayed the nation and murdered the Pill Emperor. The empire nearly collapsed.

Lydia, claiming to be the fallen Emperor’s beloved, rose in arms. With the help of the Sunset War God, she struck down the four generals. They fled. The empire was preserved.

And so, Lydia Morgan was crowned Empress.To prevent the rebels from making a comeback, the people of Da Qin begged the Sunset War God to guard Sunset Peak.

Over time, under Lydia Morgan and Bram Thompson’s lead, Da Qin stabilized. The common folk lived in peace, talents flourished, and the empire’s strength soared.

Crack!

Cuthbert Collins slammed his fist on the desk beside the bed. The surface split instantly. Blood soaked his hand, but he didn’t care. He gritted his teeth and growled, “Lydia Morgan... Bram Thompson... you…”

“Haha... hahahaha…”

Cuthbert threw his head back and laughed like a madman. Of course he knew it was all a setup—a trap that cost him his life.

As the Pill Emperor, his alchemy was unmatched. The world feared him. Lydia and Bram arranged this farce, dragging in other Emperor-level powerhouses to play along.

Those people were only too willing. They’d wanted him dead for ages.

His alchemy alone was terrifying enough. With the Sunset Bow in hand, he became a real threat.

The Four Great Generals of Qin—all Emperor-level powerhouses—were trained by him with his pills. Loyal to the core. No way they’d betray him.

They weren’t just subordinates. They were his disciples.

They must’ve sensed something weird about his death and rebelled to avenge him. What did they get for it? Branded traitors by that venomous Lydia, and brutally beaten by Bram.

“Good. Real good. What a fine ‘brother.’ What a lovely ‘confidante.’”

“‘My man in life, my ghost in death’—what a load of crap.”

“‘Brothers forever’—damn joke.”

Back then, Lydia was just a no-name orphan he rescued.

Bram? A coal miner he pulled out from the dust.

He gave them pills, taught them cultivation techniques, treated Lydia as a soulmate, Bram as a blood brother.

In the end, they left him with no corpse, shattered and betrayed.

“Heaven didn’t forsake me. I, Cuthbert Collins, live again. What’s mine, I’ll take back. What’s owed, you’ll repay in blood.” His eyes blazed with hatred.

The Pill Emperor lives. And that snake dares call herself Empress?

The Pill Emperor lives. That damned miner dares call himself a god?

“Let go of me… I won’t marry him…”

“You scum! Let go of Miss!”

“Still resisting? Beat them! Hahaha!”

Suddenly—

Angry shouts and the sound of fists and kicks jolted Cuthbert awake. He dashed to the window, looked out and saw the courtyard in chaos.

A girl—petite, pure, devastatingly beautiful—was being dragged away, crying her heart out.

Beside her, an old woman lay on the ground. A middle-aged man was being swarmed and beaten by five or six thugs.

It was a goddamn public kidnapping!That girl—she was Eva Page.

No, more precisely, she was the sister of this body.

“Well, since I’ve taken over your body, I’ll handle this mess for you.”

Cuthbert Collins didn’t waste time. Immediately, he channeled the alchemy techniques from his former life. The body was weak—pathetically so.

Thankfully, a lingering medicinal power stirred within. Drawing upon it, he shattered the blockages in his meridians and broke through to Body Tempering Stage One in a flash.

He didn’t feel any deep affection toward the girl, but as someone who once ruled as an emperor, he never left debts unpaid.

The thug leading this raid—Brandon Hunt—was only at Body Tempering Stage Two.

Take down the leader, the rest would crumble.

With Cuthbert’s skills, Stage One was enough to kill Stage Two.

"Stop!"

His voice cracked like thunder. He stepped out of the room, his presence carrying a faint trace of dragon’s majesty.

The scene froze. All eyes swung his way.

“Well, if it isn’t the famous trash of the Collins family... Ahem, Young Master Cuthbert! You’re really breathing again?”

Sneered Brandon—sharp-faced, yellow-eyed, the picture of a toady with too much confidence.

He was the top bootlicker of Damien McCoy’s crowd—and the one leading today’s show of force.

“Cuthbert!”

Eva’s face lit up, then crumpled into a flood of tears. Breaking free when no one was looking, she dashed into his arms.

Her voice stirred something deep in his soul, and before he even realized, he opened his arms and caught her.

“It’s the young master!”

“He’s really awake!”

“Sir Thomas and Lady Collins must be watching from the heavens—he’s truly come back!”

Martha Lane and Ignatius Brooks sobbed from the floor.

“What's going on?”

Memories flashed in—he remembered their names now.

“You were poisoned by a wild herb,” Brandon piped up before they could speak. “My young master spared no expense—gave you a Heartguard Pill. Naturally, as gratitude, Miss Eva agreed to marry into the McCoy family—as a concubine. We’re here to take her.”

Take her? Trash. This wasn’t a rescue—it was robbery in broad daylight.

Cuthbert’s gut twisted at the words. He looked down at the girl in his arms—tear-streaked face, trembling shoulders.

He remembered how he’d given everything for Lydia Morgan and Bram Thompson in his past life—only to be left in pieces.

Now Eva had traded herself away for his life?

“Hahaha... The heavens haven’t forsaken me after all!”

His blood surged hot in his veins, and a mad laugh burst from his chest.

A moment ago, he felt nothing.

Now? He’d protect her with everything he had.

His eyes locked onto Brandon’s.

Trying to steal someone from the Alchemy Emperor?

You're begging to die.