It rained continuously for three days without stopping.
Every morning, there was a fog so thick that heaven and earth were indistinct from each other, except for the mountains silhouetted like ghosts in mourning.
Those were the days when Shen Liuxue learned to breathe again, not as an empress, but as a servant.
The girl whose body she now inhabited had lived a small, miserable life. Her name had been Lian, a menial worker in the Qingyang Sect's outer quarters. Her memories came in fragments: carrying water, scrubbing floors until her fingers bled, bowing to disciples who never remembered her face.
It was humbling, and infuriating.
On the third morning, Liuxue woke to the clang of a bell. A sharp voice followed from outside.
"Lian! The hall floors won't clean themselves! Get up!
Liuxue slowly sat up. Her body still felt strange, too light, too young. The calluses on her hands were shallow, and her strength pitiful. She sighed, even in another life, and fate still chose mockery.
[Mission Reminder: Reclaim Your Name – 0% Complete.]
The mechanical tone of the system still echoed in her mind-calm and merciless.
"I noticed," she muttered. "I am still alive, aren't I?"
[Correction: You are reborn. Survival is temporary. Completion of missions ensures stability of soul-thread]
"Stability of what?" she asked, but the voice had already faded.
She donned a patched grey robe, tied her hair up with a strip of torn cloth, and went out.
This was not the Qingyang Sect she had remembered from the histories. In her time, it had been one of the seven great sects with a stronghold of light cultivation, where the scholars and cultivators could walk among clouds. Now, the walls were cracked, and moss ate into the stones, the air thick with the scent of decay.
Even time forgets glory, she thought.
A dozen servants were already at work in the courtyard, their legs muddy, faces hidden by similar dull robes. Liuxue joined them with a bucket, working with slow but steady movements.
It was strange, doing such lowly labor after centuries as an empress. And yet, there was a dark satisfaction within it, too-into the quiet repetition, into the solitude. For the first time in lifetimes, no one demanded her perfection.
Still, she could feel eyes on her looking at her every move.
From the steps of the eastern pavilion, a young woman watched, her expression sharp as glass. Her robe was white trimmed with blue coloured disciple's uniform.
"That's her," a whisper behind Liuxue said. "The one who fainted last week and still got her rations doubled."
"She must have seduced someone from the inner court," another voice muttered.
Liuxue ignored them. Gossip was the same in every era, it's a disease of the weak.
The disciple came down the stairs, stopping a few feet away. "You are Lian, yes?
Liuxue straightened up. "Yes, Senior Sister."
The girl's eyes narrowed. "You're lucky Elder Mo asked me to check on you. Next time, don't pretend to be sick. We don't need a dead weight here."
Liuxue bowed slightly. " I understood."
As the disciple turned away, Liuxue's fingers twitched with the urge to strike her down. The arrogance was familiar ,it was the same kind her courtiers once wore when they believed her powerless.
Revenge was not a blade to swing blindly; it was a poison that waited, and she had learnt to be patient.
That night, after the rain finally subsided, Liuxue sat down in her small quarters before the flickering oil lamp.
She stared at her hands: small, fragile, but faint light shimmered beneath the skin, like threads of gold waiting to awaken.
[ Host readiness: 12%.]
[Spiritual Root awakening sequence available:Should I Proceed ?]
She hesitated. "What happens if I fail?"
[System Response: Soul disintegration probability – 92%: Should I Proceed?]
Her heart skipped. She took a deep breath. "Proceed."
The air seemed to grow heavy. A sudden chill filled the room, leaning against her skin until her breath turned to frost.
A single lotus of golden light bloomed over her chest, its petals unfolding in slow motion. Pain then followed, deep and raw and electric; it tore through every nerve.
Memories rushed in, not hers but ancient, of stars that rose and fell, of a blade piercing her heart, of Yun Zhao's face as he turned away.
She screamed silently.
And when the pain was over, she found herself on the floor, shaking, her body covered in cold sweat. The lotus faded, leaving a faint glow in her veins.
[Spiritual Root Awakening Complete.]
[Type: Celestial Shadow Root.]
[Potential Level: Undefined.]
Undefined? That word chilled her more than failure.
"System," she whispered, "what does that mean?
[Error: Classification unavailable.]
[Host anomaly detected.]
[Warning: Entity signal reappearing.]
For an instant, the world around her flickered, like a candle about to die.
Then she heard it again-the whisper.
"The heavens are not what they seem…"
Liuxue froze. The voice was male this time, calm, distant, and heartbreakingly familiar.
"Yun Zhao?" she whispered.
And again she saw no one, the silence of the space was still as it always was, with only the faint echo of thunder outside.
Her pulse quickened. But what if his soul still existed in this timeline ? Was he alive, reborn, or something else ?
[New Mission: Find the source of the anomalous signal.]
[Location Hint: Within Qingyang Sect.]
She clenched her fingers. So, he was here, in this era; maybe as a disciple, a master, or even the masked stranger she had seen that morning.
If fate wanted to tie their souls together again, she would not run.
She gazed out at the pale moon hanging above the mountain peaks. Its light spilled across the broken roofs and crumbling walls, touching everything but her shadow.
"I will find you," she murmured, her tone cold and steady. "And this time, you will remember me."
Far beyond the servant quarters, inside the sealed main hall of the Qingyang Sect, a masked man stood before an ancient mirror.
Cracks ran across its surface like spiderwebs, glowing faintly with celestial light.
In the reflection, his eyes behind silver burned with recognition.
"She has awakened," he said quietly.
"So the cycle begins again." He touched the mirror, and the glass rippled. [Synchronization complete.]
[Phase Two: Convergence initiated.] Outside, Liuxue felt a chill run down her spine, though she couldn't say why. The night around her had changed, the air seemed heavier now, as if the heavens themselves were watching.
And deep inside the mountain, something ancient started to stir.