“Smack!”
The barbed whip lashed across Aurora Lansdale's face, tearing open her fair skin. Blood welled instantly from the gash.
Atop the Sunset Peak, Seraphina Lansdale stood in snow-white robes, gripping the cruel whip in one hand. Her foot pressed down hard on Aurora’s battered face, grinding her into the gravel. Stones cut deep, scraping bone. “A worthless wreck like you doesn’t deserve that pretty face. Go die!”
Aurora’s body convulsed in pain. Her pale lips trembled. “No…”
Before the word was out, Seraphina gave her a ruthless kick, sending her plummeting off the cliff.
Night was deep, the wind ice-cold.
But the girl, who should’ve been a corpse, fluttered her lashes.
Freezing air stabbed at her skin—Aurora woke from the cold.
She opened her eyes. Around her was the bottom of the cliff, beside the icy pool.
Her mind felt like it exploded—fragments of memory pouring in all at once.
She—Aurora Lansdale—was the last disciple of the 22nd-century Mystic Sect. And she’d somehow landed in a world ruled by strength.
The original owner of this body had the same name and came from the prestigious Lansdale household, one of Eastern Feather Kingdom’s top four clans. But because she couldn’t cultivate since birth, they all called her a waste.
Still, she was once praised as the kingdom’s first beauty, and betrothed to the Eighth Prince.
Today was her birthday. Seraphina had invited her to Sunset Peak, claiming she had a special gift.
The gift turned out to be death.
The cold wind howled around her, stinging the open wound on her face.
Aurora clutched her aching chest, her voice low and steady. “Don’t worry. Since I now inhabit your body, your enemies are mine. Everything they took—I’ll make them pay back a hundredfold.”
“…Thank you.” The seething resentment deep inside slowly faded.
The night grew colder. Shivering, Aurora heard a gruesome crack as she reset the bones in her legs one by one.
Then she crawled up and moved toward a nearby cave.
Inside, the air was slightly warmer.
Blood soaked her ruined clothes, barely hanging on her.
Suddenly, a swirl of white mist caught her eye. Within it—a silhouette.
Teeth chattering, she stepped closer. “Who’s there?”
Her crisp voice echoed in the empty cave. She walked a few more steps and stopped.
“Tch. Hell of a looker.”
A man sat cross-legged, unmoving.
His eyes were shut, lashes long. Features sharp, with a kind of wicked allure.
Even sitting still, he gave off an aura that dared the heavens.
Not breathing. He probably got himself killed by a cultivation mishap.
Her gaze fell to his large purple robe. She swallowed—cold biting into her bones.
“Hey, handsome, fate brought us together. I’m freezing here, so I’ll borrow your cloak. If you don’t object, I’ll take that as a yes.” She tiptoed over, tugged his robe off, and wrapped it around her small frame.
Warm at last.
Just as she was about to leave, something beneath the man caught her eye—a giant disc.
It shimmered faintly, intricate lines crisscrossing its surface.
“A Life-Death Fate Disc?”
A disk formed by one's very essence—its light, the weaker the lifeline.
This one was blindingly bright. If not removed soon, the man would die.
And to undo it—he needed a living person’s blood.She had used this man's robe—couldn't just watch him die.
Staring at her own bloodstained fingers, Aurora Lansdale pressed directly onto the life disk at his chest.
As soon as blood touched the life disk, she felt a strange stone shoot out from it, rushing into her mind sea.
Before Aurora could even figure out what it was—
“Crack!” The life disk vanished!
…
At the same time, atop a distant peak under the night sky, two elders stood in silence.
The elder in white robes stared at the sudden celestial shift, voice heavy, “He’s out. The Three Realms and Nine Provinces… will fall in his hands.”
A golden star flared across the dark sky.
The elder in black was shocked. “His fate stone’s gone! Send someone—now! If the stone’s hit, he dies! Stop his return at all costs!”
…
The moment the fate disk disappeared, Zephyr Stormrider’s eyes twitched and suddenly snapped open.
Violet eyes locked onto Aurora’s blood-covered face.
His stone… had entered her?
He rose, step by step, closing in on her.
“Hey, beauty, what are you doing?” Aurora took a step back, her voice warily teasing, catching the killing intent in his gaze.
“Give it,” he said coldly.
“Give what?”
“My fate—”
Before he could finish, his tone turned fierce.
Aurora snapped, “Damn it! I just saved you, and you want to take my life? Ungrateful dog!”
Back pressed to the stone wall, no room left to retreat.
Zephyr was ready to strike.
Without a second thought, Aurora grabbed a rock and hurled it straight at his head.
Swift. Brutal. Precise.
“Thunk!”
Zephyr took a direct hit to the skull. “You—”
Before he finished, he crumpled to the ground.
Aurora exhaled hard, staring at his unconscious form. “Beauty, walk too proud, get smacked down.”
From behind, the stone wall groaned.
A crack split down the center.
She turned just in time to see eerie light spilling out.
Something hidden.
Without hesitation, she stepped through. The stone gate slammed shut behind her.
A narrow, dark path, a few meters long.
At the end—treasure cavern.
In one corner, a strange spiritual plant caught her eye.
“Nine Heavens Buddha Lotus,” she muttered, hurrying toward it—jackpot.
She’d read about this rare herb in ancient Mystics texts.
It could cleanse the body, rebuild the core.
This body’s Dantian had been shattered, meridians blocked. This was salvation.
If she was going to rise, she needed to learn to cultivate, get strong.
Only power would bring vengeance.
The lotus was ripe. Aurora picked it without delay and began absorbing its essence.
Hours later, she opened her eyes from meditation.
Her expression was radiant, spirit alight between her brows.
Shattered core—restored. Clogged meridians—cleared.
The gashes on her face healed as if rewinding time.
From her core surged invisible energy, flowing through her limbs—endless.
Like a dead old tree finally meeting the sun, bursting into wild growth.