Chapter 3: A Horrific Death and Rebirth

Zhuang Huaijin panicked. He struck Lu Lanxi hard in the chest, sending her slamming into the cold wall. A mouthful of blood sprayed from the corner of her mouth, and her severed, blood-soaked ear rolled to Zhuang Huaijin’s feet.

"You bitch! You’re courting death!"

Seeing his own mangled ear at his feet, Zhuang Huaijin exploded with rage, his face twisting into a hideous mask. He clutched his ear tightly, grimacing in pain as blood trickled through his fingers onto the back of his hand, while his other hand balled into a ferocious fist.

"Zhuang Huaijin, are you even human? I am already at death's door, yet you still want to tear out my heart and lungs? With such a wicked, venomous heart, are you not afraid of being struck down by divine lightning?"

Zhuang Huaijin gritted his teeth and snarled, "You are nothing more than a dog raised by the Ministry of Rites; I can do whatever I please with you! Even the heavens wouldn't dare utter a word! If I tell you to scream, you scream; if I find you noisy, you will never open your mouth again! You are far too clamorous right now!"

"It is my own blindness that led me here. Do as you wish—kill me or carve me up. If you are a man, make it quick and spare me the nonsense!"

"Guards! By order of the Princess Consort of Yuan, disembowel Lu Lanxi. Extract her heart and lungs to serve as medicine for the Princess's estate. Then gouge out her eyes, cut out her tongue, tear off her ears, sever her limbs, turn her into a human swine, and throw her into the mass grave to feed the dogs."

Lu Lanxi shook her head in disbelief. She could not fathom that Zhuang Huaijin could be so cruel. Then, she began to laugh in a low, chilling tone that made one’s skin crawl. As she laughed, she tilted her head back and wailed at the sky:

"You are not worthy of being human, you beast! I curse you—you shall never grow old with Lu Wanhe for all eternity!"

When the sharp, cold dagger sliced through Lu Lanxi’s abdomen, she could not help but let out a wretched cry.

"Ah..."

After that final, desperate, agonizing scream, Lu Lanxi fell silent.

She was in excruciating pain, her body trembling. Being vivisected alive was agony, but she knew that the more she screamed, the more Zhuang Huaijin would revel in it. She refused to give him that satisfaction.

Silent tears of blood streamed down her face. As she looked at Zhuang Huaijin, her eyes no longer held affection, but a sea of overwhelming hatred.

Hatred—she felt such profound hatred, such bitter resentment.

Zhuang Huaijin, Lu Wanhe—you are not fit to be human! I, Lu Lanxi, am willing to become a vengeful ghost, to descend into the eighteenth layer of hell, just to grind your bones to dust! I will make you beg for death in vain! I will make everyone who harmed me pay back a thousandfold!

As her soul drifted away, she saw, through a hazy fog, a man in white snow-robes cradling her mangled corpse, kneeling in the mass grave and sobbing uncontrollably.

A flicker of confusion crossed Lu Lanxi’s eyes. It was him. They had barely shared a connection, yet in the end, it was he who came to collect her remains.

Looking at her gruesome corpse, he showed no fear. Instead, he stroked her cold, terrifying face, weeping as he muttered, "Little mute, I arrived too late. I am sorry."

Lu Lanxi was stunned, as if waking from a lifetime of misery. She whispered to herself: If there is an afterlife, for the sake of you collecting my body, I would rather betray the world than betray you.

In a trance, she saw another figure in flowing white. Thin fingers gestured as a voice chanted: "Divinities above, Buddhas protect. I, the ninth-generation saintess of the Youlan Murong clan, Murong Xingluo, offer my life as a curse, my flesh and blood as a sacrifice, and my three souls and seven spirits as a tether. Protect her return to the mortal realm. May there be no more reincarnation, and may all she encounters be kind souls..."

Lu Lanxi furrowed her brows. She felt her blood boiling like scalding water, her body rattling, and her entire being floating weightlessly in the air...

Her consciousness gradually blurred, and that figure slowly vanished.

A blood feud, an irreconcilable grudge!

...

My head hurts!
My chest feels stifled!
Anger, pain, grievance, resentment, hatred, disgust...

Beneath a red bridal veil as vibrant as blood, Lu Lanxi felt she could not breathe, her heart aching as if pierced by knives.

"On such a joyous day, why are you standing there like a fool? Why haven't you begun the ceremony?"

A coarse, rough voice reached Lu Lanxi’s ears. Before she could collect her thoughts, she looked down at her hands in a daze.

Her hands were perfectly intact!

She clenched her fists and flexed her feet, realizing all her limbs were still attached!

But she had clearly died a thorough death.
Her tendons severed, her internal energy gone, her face disfigured, her blood drained, her eyes gouged, her tongue pulled, her ears cut...
Disemboweled, heart and lungs removed, hands and feet chopped off...

How could she possibly still be alive?

"Miss, Miss..."

A familiar voice sounded beside her; her maid, Bai Zhi, gently tugged at her sleeve.

"Are you going to perform the ceremony or not? If not, go back to the Ministry of Rites!"

A sharp, shrill voice pierced her ears—irksome and grating.

A moment later, she realized with a start: she had been reborn.

She was back on the very day she was to marry Zhuang Huaijin.

Standing across from her was not a man, but a rooster tied with red silk.

The heavens had not cut off all paths; they had truly left her a way out.

She, Lu Lanxi, had returned!

The events of her past life flashed before her eyes.
She had once believed that submission would bring peace.
Little did she know, submission only emboldened her enemies.
In this life, she would live well and make those beasts pay their blood debts!

Lu Lanxi tore off the red veil in front of everyone, revealing her peerless, breathtaking face. She threw the veil to the ground as if it were filth, stomping on it twice, and glared with bloodshot eyes at the rooster, whose beak had been tied shut.

"What are you doing? A concubine's daughter is still a concubine's daughter! You haven't even entered the bridal chamber, how dare you lift the veil yourself? Put it back on! You are a disgrace!"

The matron beside her stared at Lu Lanxi with undisguised contempt. Lu Lanxi remembered clearly that in her past life, on this very day, she had been so heartbroken by this humiliating ceremony that she nearly fainted, yet because she loved Zhuang Huaijin, she had compromised.

"Is this how the Ministry of Rites raises its daughters? Truly, she knows nothing of propriety."

The Madame of the Marquis of Dongyang, sitting in the seat of honor, slammed the table and pointed at her in fury.

"My Lady, do not be angry. She would have had to lift the veil eventually; we couldn't let the rooster lift it for her, could we? Let this old servant go and give her a lesson."

Before the matron could reach her, Lu Lanxi drew a defensive dagger from her robes without hesitation. She stepped forward, bent down, grabbed the bewildered rooster, and with one swift motion, slit its throat. Blood began to drip from the rooster’s neck onto the floor.

"Ahhh! Blood! It’s blood! On such a joyous day, this is an ill omen!"

The guests, who had been watching for amusement, were now thrown into chaos.

"Lu Lanxi, why did you kill it?"