Chapter 1: Lingyuan

Qin Chang Ge stood with a slight smile, hands clasped behind her back, looking down at the women lying motionless in the darkness below.

Behind her, a Ghost Emissary with an expression of barely contained anger glared hatefully at Qin Chang Ge’s back, baring his teeth and grimacing. Yet when she casually turned her head slightly, he was so frightened that he immediately straightened up and assumed a respectful posture.

His expression changed faster than flipping through a book.

Secretly wiping away sweat, the Ghost Emissary was on the verge of collapse with resentment. Why did it have to be his shift today? Even if it was his shift, why did he have to pass by the entrance of Yama Hall? Even if he had to pass by Yama Hall, why did this female demon have to see him? Even if she saw him, why did she have to be in a mood where Yama had convinced her to be willing to reincarnate!

And so, he had the supreme honor, the incomparable glory, the heart-wrenching pain, and the terrifying fear of being grabbed by the beaming Yama to escort this young mistress to the mortal world.

As he tearfully followed Qin Chang Ge, from the corner of his eye he caught sight of the judges clapping in celebration, excitedly saying they were going to find those things called fireworks in the mortal world to express their heartfelt congratulations, and to dispel the recent bad luck.

The plague god was finally leaving!

The Ghost Emissary wiped away more sweat… The plague god, oh no, Qin Chang Ge, Miss Qin, the mortal incarnation of Lingyuan Shangxian, sister of the Nine Heavens Emperor, was said to be a cold-blooded and cunning figure even in the celestial realm. Aside from the Heavenly Emperor, very few people didn’t walk around walls to avoid her.

When she grew bored of the Heavenly Court, she arbitrarily decided to descend to the mortal world for tribulation. This was also a common affair among immortals, so descending was descending. The Heavenly Emperor specifically instructed Siming Xingjun to arrange a wealthy and leisurely fate for the Shangxian, letting her spend several decades in the mortal world living in comfort and luxury, which would have been fine.

However, on the night when Siming Xingjun was creating the destiny, he ate too many newly produced peaches from the Immortal Hill Peach Grove, got indigestion and diarrhea. His precious son, who had read too many transmigration fantasy alternate history novels and developed an infinite interest in writing because of it, ran over and with a grand flourish of his brush, forcibly changed an ordinary noble woman’s fate into an alternate history transmigration novel that was the pinnacle of melodrama, including content such as love and revenge, murder, scheming, traps, palace intrigue, conquering the world, war, martial arts world, conspiracies, handsome men, beautiful women, spies and counter-spies, pouncing and being pounced upon…

And he forcibly made Lingyuan Shangxian transmigrate from ancient times to modern times, from modern times to ancient times, several times over…

Who said that you get used to transmigrating after doing it repeatedly?

Drag them out and beat them to death with clubs!

The Ghost Emissary ground his teeth…

The direct evil consequence of Siming’s wayward son changing the destiny scroll was that it caused suffering for the underworld. Every time the Shangxian died from transmigrating and returned to the underworld to wait for another transmigration, she would vent all her anger at being toyed with by that brat from the Siming family directly on the Ten Courts of Yama. For drinking, she demanded French Evian mineral water from the mortal world; for eating, she wanted dried immortal peaches from the Queen Mother’s Yaochi. After going through great hardships to gather these things, she would lose interest again, stuff them in sacks, and order little demons to carry them to the Bridge of Helplessness, saying it was Yama’s gift to Meng Po for making soup, to try new varieties of Evian peach-flavored Meng Po soup, and if it tasted good, they might as well apply for a patent.

As a result, during that period, the departed souls who drank the new product had confused memories of their past lives. Some mistakenly believed they could see the past and future, taking up very promising careers as charlatans and shamans, which led to an increase in innocent wrongful deaths and overcrowding in the underworld. Others couldn’t forget their past wealth and adopted very promising suicide methods like jumping into wells, hanging, cutting wrists, and taking poison, and came back again.

The little demons responsible for registration worked day and night overtime, breaking one hundred wolf-hair brushes, breaking their ten-inch beautiful ghost claws that they had painstakingly grown long, writing until they were in tears and crying out in suffering. Finally unable to endure it, they raised flags and queued up in front of Yama Hall for a sit-in protest, demanding raises, vacations, improved welfare benefits for ghost workers, preferential treatment for ghosts, and work-life balance…

The Ten Courts of Yama sat on their thrones with trembling fingers… How outrageous! No way to seek help!

Poor Yamarajas, with three thousand zhang of white hair, all from worry… Several were directly at risk of going bald in their prime years.

Fortunately, this was the last transmigration. This time, returning to ancient times once more to settle past life grudges, when jade hairpins bloom and oleander flowers wither, in palace halls and golden thrones blood flows like snow, amid laughter and dust all voices fade to silence.

…

Qin Chang Ge smiled and turned back: “These palace maids are all fated to die?”

The Ghost Emissary quickly snapped back to attention and respectfully flipped through the destiny scroll: “Yes, these palace maids are all from Concubine Rou’s palace. Concubine Rou, in competing for favor, inadvertently committed a taboo and angered the Emperor. In her rage, Concubine Rou ordered all the palace maids who were present at the time to be severely beaten, then locked them in a dark room. Now, they are all on their last breath and will soon die completely.”

Qin Chang Ge looked at the Ghost Emissary with a half-smile: “The one who will die completely seems to be you, Ghost Emissary.”

Uh…

Looking at Qin Chang Ge with grievance, the Ghost Emissary felt uneasy… Did the Shangxian seem to be in a bad mood? When Lingyuan gets angry, the consequences are severe!

After thinking for a moment, he moved closer, “That… Shangxian…”

“Mm?”

“This humble emissary has some things… I wonder if the Shangxian would be interested in taking a look?”

“Oh?” Qin Chang Ge bent down to look at a palace maid, asking casually, “Is it exciting? Is it useful? Don’t waste my time with things that aren’t exciting or useful.”

…

Sighing and holding back tears, the Ghost Emissary simply said nothing more and swiped with his ghost claw.

The scene before them suddenly changed.

Towering high walls, fluttering battle banners, weapons like forests, ten thousand troops ready for battle.

An atmosphere of rigid, heavy tension.

Yet a single rider came galloping, crossing the sea of people.

The red horse was colored like fire, rushing like wind through the ten thousand troops. The white-robed woman on horseback had her cloak flying, standing straight as a nail on the horse’s back. From a distance, she looked like a goddess descending to earth on a celestial steed under sunlight.

Approaching the battle formation, she reached out and drew back a crimson longbow with the sound of the string, arrow like a shooting star.

No lightning flash, yet swifter than lightning.

Whoosh! On the high city wall tower, a man in brocade robes and iron armor had blood flowers burst between his eyebrows and fell silently.

Cries of alarm were drowned in the thunderous cheering of ten thousand troops. Below the city, iron armor surged like waves, cheering as they advanced, instantly sweeping across the yellow earth.

Only the woman remained in place on horseback, allowing the black army’s tide to roll past her sides. Her figure was delicate yet unmovable as a mountain, her gaze calm yet faintly desolate.

After a long while, she slowly raised her hand toward the yellow dragon banner flying alone above the city tower and smiled.

“Boys, which of you can bring me that banner tonight for the marshal to wipe her boots with?”

With a roar, the black iron-armored tide became even more surging and fierce, like wild beasts breaking free from their cages, bringing up bloody storms wherever they passed.

…

Qin Chang Ge glanced at it and smiled, “I think I know about this one.”

The implication being: you’d better give me something meaningful, you know my time is very precious.

Whimper… The Ghost Emissary wiped his sweat: “Shangxian… there’s a connection, there’s a connection…”

Another swipe.

Golden silk gauze curtains, drunken sleep among mandarin ducks, spring breeze over ten li of sandalwood fragrance.

Behind the poorly concealed misty gauze curtains, vaguely a woman’s curvaceous form without a stitch of clothing, occasionally flashes of snow-white fragrant tender skin.

And a man’s voice, heavy breathing, young bronzed skin lustrous and clean, glowing with the full-bodied color unique to those with long-trained robust physiques.

“Darling… you’re so wonderful…”

The woman’s delicate laughter was like singing orioles, like golden orioles, like jade pearls falling on jade plates, each sound crisp, each sound enchanting.

“Wonderful… how so?”

“Wonderful in every way…” The man seemed to caress her somewhere, causing the woman to giggle, asking coyly: “Better than her?”

A moment of silence. After a long while, the man’s voice was muffled and heavy, as if burying his head in some soft jade warmth, “She… who is she?”

…

Qin Chang Ge glanced at it with disdain.

“This footage has too low resolution.”

The implication being: she couldn’t even see clearly who it was, and he still had the nerve to show it?

The Ghost Emissary stamped his feet and gritted his teeth.

Provocation could be tolerated, but contempt could not!

Another swipe.

Purple palace chambers, jade screens meandering, behind the screen on a couch, two people playing chess.

Crystal chess board, white jade and black agate serving as black and white pieces.

The purple-robed woman on the left moved her slender finger slightly, and with a sharp sound, said hatefully: “Treason.”

The man on the right laughed gently, wearing splendid brocade robes with more charm than any woman could possess. His peach blossom eyes sparkled with captivating light. The black piece gleamed darkly, held between his jade-like fingertips, yet far inferior to the unfathomable depth of his gaze.

“That’s no street performer, that’s the founding Empress of our Xiliang. Would anyone believe that the founder of a nation commits treason?”

“Then what do you say?”

The man flicked his fingertip slightly, and the black piece shot forth with a dark gleam, firmly embedding itself on the chess board.

“Rather than betraying the country, better to betray love.”

…

Qin Chang Ge narrowed her eyes, silently watching the pair of man and woman. After a long while, she smiled.

“That these two would have such secret plotting, truly the world is full of wonders…”

Turning to stare at the Ghost Emissary: “I hear that memories from the underworld won’t be brought into the mortal world. Since I’ll forget even after seeing them, then why show me these things?”

The Ghost Emissary pulled out a handkerchief, trembling as he wiped sweat… This, this, how should I put it? Should I directly tell you that we think you’re too lazy, and having transmigrated once in the modern world, you’ve probably forgotten the grievances from your past life in Xiliang and might not be willing to put effort into revenge? What if you disregard heavenly fate and make things unmanageable?

Seeing these things might stir up this young mistress’s indignation and resentment, carrying that resentful energy into reincarnation to overturn the chess game anew, so things can be concluded early and she can return to the Heavenly Court?

Fortunately, Qin Chang Ge didn’t pursue the matter, only saying lazily: “Don’t waste your mental energy. Though I’m lazy, I also don’t like being bullied. What’s owed to me, I’ll naturally take back.”

She smiled slightly, saying softly: “Live well, all of you, don’t die too early…”

The Ghost Emissary’s ghost claw trembled.

Qin Chang Ge had already strolled forward.

Slowly walking around the palace maids in a circle, her gently smiling face showed no trace of compassion. Naturally, the word compassion didn’t exist in Qin Chang Ge’s dictionary. If someone asked her about it, she would definitely ask very innocently: what is compassion? Can you eat it? Can you use it?

These several decades of tribulation in the mortal realm, with all their ups and downs, treacherous waves and clouds, life-and-death moments, kindness and betrayal, had given her trials and tempering that were countless times more thrilling and cruel than the simple, leisurely thousand-year-a-day life in the immortal realm. Those brocade splendors, poetry and wine gatherings, orchid and musk fragrances, bells and drums reaching the clouds from her past life… those moaning souls, drifting blood, innocent lives, fierce faces… she had already come, passed through, seen, and seen too much.

Even though during tribulation she forgot her immortal identity and was merely a mortal, this ten-zhang world of soft red floating glamour could no longer blind the clear eyes of one reborn.

Still smiling slightly, Qin Chang Ge pointed casually: “Then let it be her.”

The Ghost Emissary leaned over to look and was dumbfounded.

“Shangxian, you, you, you, how did you choose this particular one?”

“Hmm? Is this body not good?” Qin Chang Ge narrowed her eyes, carefully examining the frail woman, only fifteen or sixteen years old, pale and weak, with a slender figure, light eyebrows like smoke and mist, and eyelashes fine and dense as silk. Very good.

Though not comparable to her true form or the peerless beauty of her past life in this imperial dynasty, it was still quite good. At the very least, she found her pleasing to the eye.

“Shangxian… there’s nothing wrong with this palace maid herself, it’s just that her hometown is in Yunzhou. The Shangxian must still remember, the birthplace of your previous incarnation, Empress Ruiyi of the Xiliang Dynasty.”

Qin Chang Ge raised an eyebrow: “Yunzhou.”

“Yes, ever since Empress Ruiyi’s death, the Empress Dowager issued an edict that women from Yunzhou who enter the palace shall be slaves for life and may never be granted the rank of consort.”

“Oh?” Qin Chang Ge sneered: “Is that so?”

“Shangxian,” the Ghost Emissary, thinking Qin Chang Ge was wavering, eagerly recommended: “Choose this one instead. This one has a better background and more beautiful appearance. Shangxian, you’re reincarnating this time to settle old scores. If you cannot become a consort in this palace, how will you have the power for revenge? If you fail in this lifetime, you may not be able to return to the Heavenly Court in time…”

As if remembering something, the Ghost Emissary added: “Shangxian, to ensure you focus wholeheartedly on your tribulation, after reincarnation, the memories you retain will only be from the two lifetimes you experienced in the mortal world. As for your memories from the underworld and your immortal identity, they will all be erased at the moment of reincarnation. Ah, what I just showed you will be arranged for you to know when necessary… so you need to choose a better body… Shangxian, Shangxian?”

Qin Chang Ge withdrew her careful gaze from examining the woman and turned back blankly: “Ah?”

The Ghost Emissary sweated profusely… After saying so much, she wasn’t listening at all… How depressing…

“Shangxian… have you decided which one to switch to?”

“Oh, no need to switch. This Shangxian feels she matches my magnetic field very well.”

Smiling as she turned back, Qin Chang Ge explained: “In my modern lifetime, my teacher told me that magnetic fields are things that can be used to explain many supernatural phenomena that are difficult to clarify scientifically.”

…

Looking up to heaven with a long sigh, the Ghost Emissary wept like rain… The most painful thing since becoming a ghost was encountering Qin Chang Ge after she had transmigrated!