Xue Yunxue managed to leave the Forbidden Forest safely.
Inside her storage space were numerous monster soul cores—harvested from the weak creatures she had encountered along the way. Most of them were low-level mutants, easily killed, their soul cores still shimmering faintly with traces of living energy. She had also collected various magical items from the forest which—according to Moa—could be exchanged for a decent amount of money. With these in hand, she no longer had to worry about survival in the immediate future.
She had even gathered several edible fruits from the forest. Although Moa suggested hunting instead, the truth was that she had no idea how to cook. With her current lack of memory, she doubted she could even tell salt from sugar.
Her destination was a small settlement not far from the forest's boundary. She planned to trade some of her belongings for money.
The moment her foot crossed the village gate, the atmosphere around her subtly changed.
The place was fairly large—more like a small town than a village. The population was dense, and its economic activity surprisingly developed. As Yunxue walked in, countless eyes turned toward her. Their gazes were filled with confusion, hesitation… and even undisguised disgust, for reasons she could not understand.
Whispers rose, faint at first, then gradually clearer.
"Is that… the cruel princess?"
"Didn't the cruel princess die long ago?"
"Probably just someone who looks like her," another voice scoffed. "Look at her appearance. She's filthy and plain. Her aura is weak—her level must be low. I heard the Cruel Princess was above level fifty."
"Princess Hu Shui always dressed strangely and acted oddly. Compared to her, this woman actually looks quite normal."
Yunxue's steps slowed.
The cruel princess?
The title echoed in her mind. Yet she felt no memory resonating with it—no recollection of cruelty, no pleasure in hurting others. What she felt was only emptiness… and a growing determination to become stronger.
Had she really been someone like that?Or were they mistaking her for someone else entirely?
Inside her mind, Moa fell silent for a moment before speaking.
"I doubt it," Moa said calmly, with quiet certainty. "I don't think you're the princess they're talking about. This is most likely a misunderstanding."
Yunxue listened closely.
"The Immortal Peach Tree would never help someone with a cruel heart," Moa continued. "It grants blessings only to those it deems worthy. If your heart were truly dark, you wouldn't even be able to approach the forest's core—let alone receive a healing peach from it."
Those words soothed her, though they didn't completely erase her doubts.
Yunxue took a slow breath and straightened her posture as she continued forward.
Whoever she had been in the past, whatever title the world once placed upon her—she would uncover the truth herself.
And if a misunderstanding had truly stripped everything from her…
Then the one responsible would one day be forced to answer for it.
From the whispers circulating among the townspeople, Yunxue gradually pieced together the image of the figure known as Princess Hu Shui.
The name was widely known—not admired, but feared.
Princess Hu Shui was infamous for her cruelty and lack of compassion. She delighted in tormenting the weak, even slaves who had no means to resist. Her viciousness was no mere rumor; many claimed to have seen her cold gaze and mocking smile firsthand—expressions that crushed dignity without mercy.
But it hadn't always been that way.
Hu Shui's change began when she was sixteen. She had joined a military expedition to the borderlands to suppress rebels. In the chaos of battle, she was captured.
For ten full days, Princess Hu Shui remained in enemy hands.
No one knew what happened during her captivity.
The only thing known was this: she was rescued by her savage husbands—five powerful beings from different races, bound to her through marriage.
Yet the girl who returned from the battlefield was no longer the same Hu Shui.
She had changed completely. Her eyes became wild, her emotions unstable, her temperament drastically altered. She grew crueler, more impulsive, bordering on madness, as if she had lost control of herself. The palace she once lived in turned into a place of fear, and those who had once been close to her began to distance themselves.
Her savage husbands were filled with disappointment and suppressed rage after the incident. One by one, they chose to leave her behind, harboring deep resentment. Each retreated into isolation, severing ties with the palace and dedicating themselves to cultivation and self-strengthening—far away from the place that had become a source of pain.
Not long after their departure, shocking news spread through the palace.
A princess who had long been missing was finally found.
Her name was Hu Lian—beautiful, elegant, gentle. Her arrival was like a ray of light illuminating the gloomy palace. In a short time, she won the hearts of the king, the queen, and the people. Her smile was soothing, her words soft, her presence the perfect opposite of Hu Shui.
From that moment on, Hu Shui's name sank deeper into the shadows.
The last rumors claimed that Princess Hu Shui had fallen gravely ill. She lost her sanity, her body weakened day by day, until she eventually died alone.
Her funeral was held with great splendor—lavish rituals and grandeur, as if to seal away a dark chapter of the kingdom's history.
Yet one detail did not escape notice.
Not a single one of her five savage husbands attended the ceremony.
As if… even in death, Princess Hu Shui had been abandoned.
After listening carefully to the story, Xue Yunxue chose not to draw conclusions too hastily.
Although the tale of Princess Hu Shui sounded suspicious, she considered that it might all be coincidence. In the Beast World, women were far fewer than men, so it wasn't unusual for a woman to have multiple husbands—five or even ten. That similarity alone proved nothing.
For now, Yunxue decided to focus on something more tangible.
She exchanged the magical items she had obtained from the Forbidden Forest. With Moa's assistance—knowing each artifact's value and function—the transactions went far more smoothly than she expected. Items she had acquired with little effort turned out to be extremely valuable, leaving her pockets heavy with coins.
A sense of security slowly took root.
At the very least, she no longer had to worry about starvation or sleeping without a proper bed.
That was when Moa's cheerful voice rang out in her mind.
"My dear, I've detected something interesting," it said excitedly. "I scanned the entire village, and in an old well at the far end… there's a magical object."
Yunxue stopped walking.
"A magical object?" she asked with interest. "What kind? Can it make a lot of money?"
"This artifact can increase your spiritual energy," Moa explained enthusiastically. "By absorbing its power, your leveling speed will skyrocket. It will also significantly enhance your physical strength."
Moa paused, then added confidently,"After killing those weak mutants, your current level is five. If you absorb the energy from that object, you could jump straight to level fifteen."
Yunxue's eyes gleamed.
An opportunity like this was far too precious to ignore.
Without hesitation, she decided to stay in the village a few more days. She rented a cheap, simple inn room—just enough to rest and recover without drawing attention.
Her plan was clear.
She would take the artifact at night, when the village was asleep and suspicion lay dormant.
Beneath her calm exterior, Yunxue's resolve hardened.
Her path to power…had just accelerated.
That night, Xue Yunxue slowly shed her human form.
Under the faint moonlight, her true shape emerged—a jet-black fox, its fur swallowing the darkness of night, with a white-tipped tail standing out starkly like a mark of fate. A cold aura flowed around her, calm yet dangerous. Her appearance was utterly ordinary, bordering on ugly, and her body was small—barely larger than a real fox. Normally, when beast-humans transformed, their animal forms were far larger than ordinary beasts.
"Wow… your true form is really something," Moa commented lightly. "A bit… ugly, I'd say."
Yunxue snorted softly.
She hadn't expected her beast form to be this unsightly either.
As with all who returned to their true form, clothes became useless. To be safe, she stored everything in her storage space. Then, moving lightly and soundlessly, she melted into the night. Her pitch-black body made her nearly invisible, like a living shadow gliding through the trees.
She followed the direction Moa indicated.
Soon, they reached a spot north of the village, about ten kilometers from the inn. She climbed a low hill and stopped before a remote cave, precisely where Moa sensed the energy source. The air was heavy, oppressive. A crooked, weathered warning sign stood before the cave entrance:
HIGH RADIATION AREA — Residual contamination from past wars.
"Don't worry," Moa said confidently. "I've protected your body. You won't be affected by radiation—let alone turn into a savage mutant."
The place was silent. Too silent.
An eerie, ominous presence seeped from within the cave, as if the darkness itself were breathing. Without hesitation, Yunxue entered.
Inside, the cave was dark and damp. The walls glistened with moisture, stalactites hanging like massive fangs. In the center, hidden within the shadows, stood an ancient well.
Thick, dark, malevolent energy poured from it, black mist shrouding its surface.
Yunxue stopped at the edge, her instincts screaming danger. Doubt crept in—should I go closer?
"This well is sealed with a dark curse," Moa said calmly. Then its tone turned casual. "But seals like this mean nothing to me. Watch closely, my dear."
Moa began chanting.
The ground trembled softly. From cracks in the stone, glowing vine-like leaves burst forth, rapidly spreading and coiling around the well. The vines writhed as if alive, absorbing and devouring the malignant energy swirling in the air, until the dark aura slowly faded.
"What is that?" Yunxue asked, unable to hide her shock.
"Oh, those are tendrils from the Immortal Peach Tree," Moa replied casually. "The Forbidden Forest isn't too far from here. I merely borrowed a bit of energy from the main tree to neutralize the darkness."
Yunxue watched with shining eyes.
"Amazing…"
Moa chuckled.
"Yes, but don't get your hopes too high. If we were across the sea or on another continent entirely, the main tree wouldn't be able to help us at all."
Even in a place filled with lingering darkness, Xue Yunxue felt grateful.
She returned to her human form, dim light wrapping her body as the black fur vanished. She then put on her clothes from the storage space.
With steady breaths, Yunxue began descending into the old well. Her hands tightly grasped the Immortal Peach Tree's tendrils lining the walls—cold yet firm, as if supporting her with their own living will. The well was incredibly deep, nearly a hundred meters, and its water source had long since dried up.
"There it is," Moa said excitedly. "I can feel it."
Soon, Yunxue's feet touched the bottom.
The space below was far larger than the well's mouth above—a hidden cavity, more like an ancient water tunnel carved by time, its end unseen. The air was heavy, but no longer deadly.
At the center lay a small chest, no bigger than a thick book.
Yunxue released the vines and leapt down gracefully, landing lightly on the damp ground. She approached the chest with care and opened it with both hands.
A soft light spilled out.
Inside was a glowing crystal—clear, pulsing with living energy. The moment Yunxue touched it, a surge of foreign power flooded her body.
Her blood vibrated. Energy rushed through her veins and spiritual meridians, as if her body were being reforged from within.
"Excellent!" Moa exclaimed joyfully. "Your level has skyrocketed. Your spiritual power has risen by ten levels, and your physical strength has increased by five percent!"
Yunxue clenched her fist. She could feel the difference—her breathing steadier, her body lighter, the energy within her surging with strength.
"Truly… miraculous," Xue Yunxue murmured.
"Wait," Moa said seriously. "I still sense another energy source. There's another artifact here, though its energy is extremely weak."
Yunxue frowned. With her enhanced perception, she felt it too—a faint, nearly hidden pulse, but undeniably real.
"Yes… I feel it as well."
She focused her senses, following the subtle vibration.
"There!" she exclaimed.
In the corner of the cavity, half-buried under dust and moss, lay a flat object with a dull frame—a mirror.
Moa cried out in excitement.
"This is… the Soul-Seer Mirror."
"The Soul-Seer Mirror?" Yunxue looked at it curiously. "What does it do?"
Moa paused, choosing its words carefully.
"This artifact can reveal who you were before reincarnation," it said slowly. "But its energy is almost depleted. I believe… it can only be used once."
It hesitated, then asked gently,"Do you truly wish to try it?"
Yunxue fell silent.
In truth, she wanted more to know who she was now—why she was in this world, why this body felt so unfamiliar. Yet learning about her past… might not be entirely bad.
At last, she nodded.
She lifted the mirror and aimed it at her face.
In the next instant—blinding light exploded.
Her consciousness was pulled away. Her body felt weightless as the world vanished. When her vision returned, she stood in an endless space of pure white light.
Then… the scene changed.
She saw her childhood in an orphanage, sleeping crowded together. The vision jumped to her school years—faces of classmates she vaguely remembered. Then a vast city appeared before her: towering buildings piercing the sky, streets filled with vehicles, people walking by with cheerful faces.
She saw herself—laughing with friends, joking without care.
They were all human.
Not beast-humans like those in this world.
Suddenly—the sky tore apart.
A colossal beam of light split the heavens, followed by a rain of meteors the size of houses, smashing into the earth without mercy. Explosion after explosion shook the city. Fire and destruction consumed everything.
Screams. Panic. Death.
Yunxue watched her own body thrown aside, burned in raging flames. As her final breath escaped, her soul left her body—shooting upward like a streak of light, piercing the sky, racing through the cosmos.
Until finally… it fell.
It fell into a silent, majestic place—beneath the Peach Tree of Life.
There, the ancient tree caught her soul, wrapping it in warm energy, preserving its flame from extinction. The soul slept within the tree of life… for nearly ten thousand years.
Until one day—
A mad beast-woman, little more than a walking corpse, stumbled beneath the tree. Her body was riddled with wounds, her life on the brink of extinction.
Seeing this, the Immortal Peach Tree made a decision. It dropped a healing peach into the dying woman's hand. She bit into half of it and collapsed, as if dead—no trace of life left within the beast-human body.
The tree then injected the long-sleeping human soul into that body.
The body awakened—but the soul remained asleep, having slumbered far too long to awaken immediately.
The light faded.
Yunxue staggered as her consciousness returned to the bottom of the well. She gasped for breath and collapsed, her head throbbing as if struck by a massive stone. Fragments of memories from her past life slowly surfaced.
Now she understood.
She hadn't merely lost her memories.
She was a human soul from a world destroyed ten thousand years ago, reborn into the body of a beast-woman once branded mad and cruel.
Xue Yunxue remembered.
She was not from this world. She remembered her past life.
And Xue Yunxue—was her true name from that former life.
Her destiny…was far more complicated than she had ever imagined.