A day in Yan City begins with the various food aromas wafting from the street outside the palace city.

Over the years, the number of food stalls, shops, and restaurants in Yan City has increased, and everyone takes pride in gaining Liao Tingyan’s favor.

Liao Tingyan, the city lord of Yan City and Demon Realm Master, is completely different from the previous Demon Master Sima Jiao. She doesn’t have an unpredictable temperament, nor is she irritable or quick to anger. In many situations, she is quite approachable.

Yet no one dares to underestimate this approachable Demon Master. As long as she possesses the Spirit Fire—the same one that once belonged to Sima Jiao and struck fear in people’s hearts—no one dares challenge her authority.

Moreover, in the years since Sima Jiao’s death, rumors have spread. For instance, regarding the former Demon Master Sima Jiao’s sudden and mysterious death, almost everyone believed that such an apex predator wouldn’t easily perish unless killed by someone closest to him. Thus, for a time, rumors circulated that Liao Tingyan had killed Sima Jiao to seize the Spirit Fire.

This rumor spread convincingly, especially since Liao Tingyan had skillfully used that fire to kill several rebellious demon generals with treacherous intentions, causing many in the Demon Realm to greatly fear her.

Such a ruthless woman with exceptional tactics, who supposedly used cunning to kill Sima Jiao and seize power, was not to be taken lightly.

Liao Tingyan, deemed the most calculating and cunning woman in the Demon Realm, was currently soaking in a pool to cool down, expressing with a despondent face that she was “going to die.”

Hong Luo passed through a tree-lined path, turned around a wall of flowers as tall as a person, and arrived at a semi-open-air spirit pool. Seeing Liao Tingyan soaking in the water, she approached, leaned on the jade railing, and called out to her: “Have you soaked enough today? Do you want breakfast?”

“Yes, yes, I want to eat. Wait for me to get out,” Liao Tingyan struggled to climb out of the pool, dragging her water-soaked long hair and nightgown, her face as pale as a water ghost.

She changed clothes behind a screen and combed her hair. While applying lipstick, she complained, “I’m fed up with this damned fire. It’s been hurting me all day again.”

Hong Luo sat to the side and sighed, “This is the price of possessing power.”

Liao Tingyan angrily slammed the dressing table, thinking of Sima Jiao who was now in some unknown corner of the world, which made her even more furious.

Back then, Sima Jiao had overused his bloodline Spirit Fire and recklessly merged with a new fire nurtured by the Shi clan, causing his body to collapse. Then, in a sudden inspiration, he turned himself into a candle, intending to burn his flesh and soul to refine the Spirit Fire and pass it to her.

Liao Tingyan was so angered at the time that her mind heated up, and she actively seized his power, then forcefully terminated the Spirit Fire transmission, and instead yanked his barely-burned soul back from the transferred Spirit Fire.

The fire transfer ultimately succeeded, but without Sima Jiao’s soul as a guide, it nearly killed Liao Tingyan. Although later it didn’t hurt every moment, it left a lingering condition: every month for a few days, Liao Tingyan would suffer from excruciating pain.

Except for not bleeding during this period, it was exactly like a standard menstrual cycle.

When she arrived in the cultivation world, she had finally become a female cultivator without menstrual periods, thinking that menstruation had permanently left her. Unexpectedly, Sima Jiao, that scoundrel, had created a new “menstrual period” for her.

Over these years, every month during these few days, Liao Tingyan would suffer excruciating pain—a burning sensation that only felt better when she soaked in water. Every time she floated in the water, she felt like a dead fish.

As for Sima Jiao’s soul, which she had impulsively and desperately retained, it had become somewhat fragile due to being used to refine the Spirit Fire by that scoundrel. Liao Tingyan had no choice but to immediately employ a soul-transferring rebirth method, selecting a suitable pregnant woman to send him for reincarnation.

When Sima Jiao had arranged for Hong Luo’s soul transfer and rebirth, Liao Tingyan had witnessed the entire process, so she knew what to do.

However, soul transfer rebirth had an issue. For success, it was best to transfer to a pregnant woman with blood relations. But almost all bloodlines of the Sima clan had been thoroughly wiped out by Sima Jiao himself.

The alternative, like with Hong Luo, was to select a fetus that could maximally integrate with his soul. Hong Luo could quickly find a suitable body because her soul wasn’t powerful, and there were many compatible people for her. But for Sima Jiao, it was different—even with damage, his soul wasn’t compatible with just any fetus.

Liao Tingyan couldn’t find a suitable pregnant woman for him. With no alternatives, she had to wrap his soul with a secret technique and send it out, allowing it to automatically seek a suitable pregnant woman and fetus.

Because of this, Liao Tingyan couldn’t locate Sima Jiao, not knowing which corner of the world he had incarnated in. And not knowing where the pregnant woman who bore him was, no one could administer the soul-returning pill before she gave birth. Without this external aid to back up memories, it was uncertain how much Sima Jiao would remember on his own.

Nearly seventeen years had passed, and Liao Tingyan had dispatched countless Demon Realm cultivators to search for Sima Jiao’s whereabouts. This was a massive undertaking, yet even after seventeen years, he remained unfounded. Those with a very diluted Sima clan bloodline from Gengchen Immortal Mansion were the first to be screened by Liao Tingyan.

Then came those talented children born into major sects, but combing through the Demon Realm and the cultivation world yielded no results. Her search net spread wider, yet there was still no news of Sima Jiao.

Hong Luo knew Liao Tingyan’s inner worries. Seeing her expression, she knew Liao Tingyan was thinking about Sima Jiao again.

“Why rush? It’s not like rushing will help. So many years have passed, he must have been born already. If he hasn’t been found, it means he doesn’t remember, or he’s too far away to return. Now we’re searching even the remote villages of distant mortal worlds, so we’ll likely find him soon,” Hong Luo comforted her as usual.

Their search scope had grown increasingly wide, progressing to the edges of the mortal world on the continent.

Previously, Liao Tingyan had dreamed that Sima Jiao had become a dark-faced farmer in a village—a farmer with dark skin, a robust build, speaking rustic endearments. She had also dreamed of Sima Jiao becoming a beggar, wandering everywhere, bullied by other beggars. With his temperament, he couldn’t tolerate it, getting into physical conflicts, and in anger, killing someone, ultimately being imprisoned and never seeing daylight again.

…If he truly was in such a state, how would she ever find this ancestor? That would be too miserable.

Liao Tingyan and Hong Luo, along with the black snake and snow spirit fox who had just returned from playing outside, went out for breakfast.

Although Sima Jiao was vexed, as he said before leaving, everything he left her was what she loved most. So in the years without him, her life continued peacefully, and she didn’t lack companionship. After all, all her troubles and discomforts were due to the historical problem named Sima Jiao.

When Liao Tingyan went for breakfast, she was warmly welcomed by all the food stall owners. Accustomed to their eager gazes, she casually chose an eatery she frequented. The selected owner proudly welcomed them in, while the others sighed or rallied themselves to try again the next day.

This was a scene that played out daily in Yan City.

As Liao Tingyan was halfway through her meal, a commotion suddenly arose outside, and a travel-worn demon cultivator sought her out, stopping at the eatery’s entrance.

“Demon Master, the Demon General searching in the Southern Continent has sent the latest news,” the cultivator excitedly approached Liao Tingyan and bowed.

“The Demon General says this is the incarnation of that person. Not only did the soul lamp you made respond, but coincidentally, he also has the same name as before, and his appearance is said to be similar!”

Upon hearing this, Liao Tingyan’s hand trembled, causing a crystal-clear soup dumpling with thin skin and plump filling to fall onto the table.

“Damn,” she couldn’t help cursing as she abruptly stood up. “Bring people, we’re leaving!”

The person was in the Hu Kingdom on the Southern Continent, where spiritual energy was scarce, and thus few cultivation sects were nearby. That area was almost entirely a mortal world, where cultivators had become legendary beings that ordinary people had never heard of.

How did that ancestor truly end up in such a remote place?

Liao Tingyan, too excited to consider anything else, set off immediately. Only when they had entered Hu Kingdom’s borders did she think to ask, “Where exactly is he, and what is his current identity?”

The messenger realized that the Demon General’s message hadn’t specified these details.

“Never mind,” Liao Tingyan waved her hand. “Let’s first find a nearby place to rest, then summon Demon General Qi for questioning.”

To avoid causing panic in Hu Kingdom, a realm of ordinary people, Liao Tingyan’s group disguised themselves as commoners, traveling in ordinary carriages, and entered the nearest prefecture city.

It happened to be the Duan Xia Festival in Hu Kingdom, and the entire Liyang Prefecture was very lively, with people even racing dragon boats on the river outside the city.

Liao Tingyan observed the crowd, seeing almost everyone holding mugwort, wearing calamus-like flowers on their heads, and wearing colorful strings on their wrists. She felt a sense of familiarity—it was just like the Dragon Boat Festival in her original world. She hadn’t seen people celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival in the cultivation world for many years, and couldn’t help but pause to look a bit longer.

After watching for a moment, she lowered the carriage curtain. Never mind, finding Sima Jiao was more urgent.

…

Inside a pleasure boat by the lake, Liyang Prefecture Governor Wei Xianyu, hunched over, cautiously addressed the person before him: “Your Majesty, there are so many people here, and with your precious self accompanied by only these few guards, you cannot linger. To prevent accidents, it’s best to return to rest at my residence soon.”

As he spoke, he kept stealing glances at His Majesty’s expression, fearing that his words might anger him.

Their king, named Sima Jiao, at the age of sixteen, was already known for his cruelty. If not for the late king leaving only this one heir, he would never have ascended the throne. No wonder several elderly ministers secretly sighed, saying this ruler had the appearance of a doomed nation’s ruler, destined to ruin the kingdom.

This Majesty disliked state affairs and had suffered from headaches since childhood, making him impatient with his tutors’ lectures. At twelve, he had killed one of his teachers with a sword, greatly criticized by court officials—but those who dared criticize him were all promptly executed.

Since ancient times, benevolent rulers were easily manipulated by court officials, while tyrants and despots like him, who acted on their own will and did as they pleased, caused more terror among court officials.