Reaching the riverside, Su Zhuyi stripped off her tattered clothes and entered the water. The moment she entered, the thick layer of filth on her body turned the clear river water black.

Su Zhuyi: “…”

Though she was a demoness despised by all, she was also a peerless beauty who outshone all others. Otherwise, how could she have deceived so many men? She had been beautiful for over a thousand years. Suddenly returning to childhood and seeing herself so dirty—her hair tangled like a bird’s nest, her fingers unable to penetrate the knots when inserted, greasy and rancid to the point of making her shudder—she felt as if insects were crawling in her heart. At this moment, Su Zhuyi’s mood was truly indescribably sour.

She washed for a full hour before cleaning off the filth from her body. Though her body was clean, her hair had rarely been tended to and was infested with lice. Su Zhuyi looked around, picked up a thin stone, and ground it down. Using the water surface as a mirror, she cut her hair. When only an inch remained, she saw scars on her scalp and simply shaved herself completely bald. This way, the lice were finally cleaned out, too.

Her clothes had been drying on the stone slab and were about dry now. After putting on the ragged robe, she found a shady spot to sit and rest, crossing her legs and sensing the spiritual energy within her body.

Su Zhuyi had excellent cultivation aptitude and high talent. Children from prestigious families were fed pills and soaked in medicinal herbs from childhood to nourish their meridians. Around age six, when their meridians stabilized, they could begin cultivating techniques to absorb heaven and earth spiritual energy, widen meridians, improve cultivation, open the consciousness sea, form golden cores, and so on. Everyone understood that cultivation should not start too late or too early—no earlier than six years old, no later than twenty.

Starting too early meant the meridians weren’t fully developed yet. Rashly introducing spiritual energy into immature meridians would damage them. In her previous life, Su Zhuyi had read extensively and found a meridian-moistening technique specifically for use when meridians were still undeveloped in youth. Having caught her breath, she recalled the technique completely, then slowly closed her eyes, relaxed her entire body, and tried to enter the unity of heaven and man meditation posture. Sitting quietly on the bluestone, seeking spiritual energy between heaven and earth, drawing spiritual energy into her body to nourish her meridians…

Usually, she could easily enter meditation upon closing her eyes, but this time…

Her stomach rumbled incessantly. Inside, her stomach felt like a fire was burning, about to burn through her stomach walls.

Having avoided eating for years, she had forgotten what hunger felt like. She had also thought that, as a great figure who had cultivated for a thousand years, why would she need to concern herself with eating and defecating? Who knew this hunger was unbearable—she couldn’t even enter meditation.

Su Zhuyi looked around and found a bitter thistle grass in the stone crevices. This grass contained weak spiritual energy, but because of its bitter taste and the tongue numbness it caused after consumption, many people considered it poisonous grass, so no one picked it. Su Zhuyi pulled up several stalks of grass and slowly chewed and swallowed them, then walked to the small river, staring wide-eyed at the small fish occasionally showing shadows in the water.

After cultivators practiced, they would open their consciousness sea and gradually strengthen their primordial spirit power. Eventually, the primordial spirit could become substantial and attack others.

Those with high cultivation and strong primordial spirits could casually glance at you, press down with primordial spirit pressure like a thunderbolt striking your mind or a mountain pressing on your head, killing directly without moving a hand.

Su Zhuyi called this “staring someone to death.” When she killed those very weak, low-level cultivators before, just one look could take a life.

However, now…

She stared until her eyes ached, but the fish still swam happily in the water.

This made no sense! She had over a thousand years of memories, the Zhuxin Curse truly existed, and though her primordial spirit was indeed weakened, she could still see her dantian consciousness sea existed. How could she not even kill a fish?

Because her body was too weak, if her primordial spirit were too strong, her body definitely couldn’t bear it and would likely cause her to explode and die. Since the Liuguang Mirror brought her back, it naturally wouldn’t let her die directly. Her primordial spirit power must also be sealed, only unlocking step by step as her cultivation improves.

Besides this, Su Zhuyi couldn’t think of any other reason.

She resignedly went to sharpen a pointed tree branch and stood by the water, spearing fish. Fortunately, her years of killing experience remained—her hand-eye coordination wasn’t bad. After practicing for about a quarter hour, she successfully speared a fish. Su Zhuyi was too lazy to cook it over the fire and ate the fish raw. Only after eating her fill did she begin sitting in meditation, circulating the meridian-moistening technique.

Closing her eyes to rest her spirit, comprehending heaven and earth spiritual energy, drawing qi into her body, nourishing her physical meridians…

However, Changning Village was located in the barren northwestern lands. Though it had mountains and water, it had no spiritual veins or spiritual springs. Therefore, despite long meditation, she only drew in the faintest wisps of spiritual energy. After circulating it once, she felt no change at all, but her stomach was hungry again.

Su Zhuyi felt somewhat troubled. If she had been reborn at an older age, it would be much more convenient. Now her body was too weak with no abilities. Wanting to cultivate, she couldn’t find resources. She had a wealth of cultivation techniques, but couldn’t find the slightest resources to support her practice.

She was too weak now—even spearing a fish to eat was tiring.

Changning Village was also barren. The villagers rarely practiced cultivation and were all ordinary mortals. The village chief was Su Qingxun’s father, a servant of the Su family in Yongan Town. Because Su Xiang’s ancestors had performed meritorious service, they were granted the Su surname. Later generations declined, so they were sent to guard Changning Village.

Su Zhuyi had been driven out by the Su family. She was constantly bullied in town, so she avoided people and walked alone, eventually reaching Changning Village. The villagers here also knew her identity and avoided her like the plague. They never gave her even leftover food, and they even set dogs on her to drive her away.

Su Zhuyi sat on the bluestone and sighed. How tough was her life? A small girl child had been tormented like this without dying—no wonder she could wreak havoc in the cultivation world for a thousand years when grown.

The only person in Changning Village who understood some cultivation was Su Xiang, but his little bit of practice barely counted as entry-level. He practiced only the most basic body techniques—just harder fists, a more robust build than ordinary people, and better martial arts skills. Nothing more. If Su Zhuyi wanted to cultivate, staying in Changning Village definitely wouldn’t work. There was too little spiritual energy for any real cultivation.

But if she went to Yongan Town now, she would be driven away. What should she do? Going to other places meant long journeys with too many wild beasts in the forests. With her current abilities, forcing her way through dense forests would be delivering meat…

Before rebirth, she wanted to be reborn. After rebirth…

Su Zhuyi stood up and sighed to the heavens: “Bah, why the hell is life so difficult!”

While cursing, she speared another fish with her wooden stick. After filling her stomach, her thinking became somewhat sharper. Su Zhuyi suddenly thought—since Changning Village was so impoverished and wretched, why had Xueluo Sect cultivators come to this remote mountain corner in the first place?

You must know, among the cultivators who came from Xueluo Sect was an elder with profound cultivation. If they simply wanted to destroy Changning Village and select disciples, there was no need to send an elder. Any random disciple could easily massacre the village.

She supported her chin with her left hand and rubbed her temple with her right, sitting on the bluestone deep in thought. What exactly was near Changning Village? What major events happened in the Xueluo Sect afterward? Too many memories were blurred, like covered in mist. She sat in the center of the fog, unable to see a way out in any direction, appearing somewhat lost.

Xueluo Sect was originally a second-rate sect in the demonic path without many notorious, fierce characters. However, after Su Zhuyi, the Xueluo Sect trained many disciples with high cultivation and ruthless methods. This group later became Xueluo Sect’s new blood, eventually elevating Xueluo Sect into a first-rate sect.

For a sect’s development and growth, cultivation techniques were one thing, but the most important was cultivation resources.

When Su Zhuyi cultivated initially, the Xueluo Sect provided quite abundant resources. But if they always had such capability, they wouldn’t have remained second-rate before. Cultivation resources were originally ordinary, then suddenly increased dramatically. After increasing, they didn’t hoard them but used them all on disciples, training large numbers of Blood Asuras and greatly improving the sect’s strength…

She held the fish spear, absentmindedly poking the ground. Northwestern barren lands, Changning Village…

She suddenly remembered a fragment of unofficial history she had seen before. One section mentioned that five thousand years ago, a ruthless demonic cultivator named Ji Wuxin fell in love with a female disciple from a famous righteous sect. When he abducted her and was discovered, it drew the sect’s mighty ones to surround and intercept him. However, the demonic cultivator’s methods were brilliant. He not only broke through the encirclement but also escaped northwest with that female disciple. From then on, both disappeared without a trace.

Ji Wuxin was a great demon head of that time with many magical treasures and presumably no shortage of spirit stones. Having killed so many people, his storage bags must have been packed full.

That female disciple from the famous righteous sect, being able to draw the sect’s mighty ones into action, definitely had a high status and position. She couldn’t be poor either. If these two died, their remains would certainly be extremely rich.

Could Ji Wuxin be related to the Xueluo Sect? Did Xueluo Sect come to Changning Village and find Ji Wuxin’s remains, causing their sect’s strength to surge afterward?

The more Su Zhuyi thought about it, the more possible it seemed. She decided to first explore Changning Village thoroughly. Perhaps she would discover the old demon’s remains, and then her reign as king would be just around the corner!

At this time, the sky gradually darkened. Su Zhuyi slowly walked from the small river behind the village toward the village. Living at the village’s end was a hunter who kept three or four hunting dogs. He lived there to guard the village against wild beasts from the mountains attacking villagers.

The hunter wasn’t home. Only an old dog was tied up in the fenced yard at his door. Presumably, he had taken the other hunting dogs up the mountain. Su Zhuyi remembered that old dog. Every time she entered or left the village, it would chase and bite her. Later, she found a broken wooden bucket and would hide inside it and slowly move past whenever she passed here. The old dog was quite clever in its age—it never left the fence. As long as she passed the fence, it wouldn’t chase.

In her previous life, besides being called the Heart-Eating Demoness, Su Zhuyi had another nickname: The Dog’s Woe.

She was someone who repaid every grievance. Being severely bitten by dogs as a child, she killed dogs when she grew up. She killed every dog she saw, didn’t spare wolves that looked like dogs, and even badgers suffered under her hand. Back then, there was a small beast-taming sect in the cultivation world. Newly initiated disciples would usually catch a spirit dog to contract as a spirit beast. She found it displeasing and secretly destroyed that entire small sect. When she did this, her reputation wasn’t yet prominent, so when Qin Jianglan came to settle accounts with her, he missed this incident.

She stood outside the fence, restraining her breath and concentrating her spirit. The tiny bit of spiritual energy in her body slowly flowed into the fish spear in her hand. Then she squinted slightly and hurled the fish spear forcefully. The dog kicked its hind legs, didn’t even whimper, and died instantly. Su Zhuyi’s spiritual energy was completely drained, leaving her weak all over. She didn’t even retrieve the fish spear, went around the fence wall into the village, snuck to a neighboring household, and stole two eggs, eating them raw as usual.

Returning to her youth, the first step of revenge: stealing chickens and killing dogs…

While slurping egg white, Su Zhuyi silently despised herself.

Then she thought—if Ji Wuxin escaped to Changning Village, where would he have died?

The villagers of Changning Village all slept early. Now that it was dark, the streets were empty. Su Zhuyi stood at the village entrance, looking out, feeling that everything was gray and misty with no spiritual energy anywhere. It didn’t look like a place where any great treasure was buried.

Demonic path, demonic path…

Since it was a great demon head’s remains, perhaps it required a blood sacrifice to activate, which was why Xueluo Sect massacred the village? Su Zhuyi looked at the crooked-necked tree at the village entrance, feeling quite worried. If it truly was a demonic path inheritance requiring blood sacrifice, Su Zhuyi wouldn’t have any psychological burden. What worried her wasn’t killing people, but how she could massacre the village.

With her current state, killing one dog exhausted all her strength. Still wanting to massacre the village for blood sacrifice in a short time was too difficult, wasn’t it?

All beginnings are difficult—the ancients truly didn’t deceive me!