Light.

What?

Where did light come from?

It was supposed to be dark.

Yu ZiYuan didn't know. It had been years. How many, she didn't know. To her it felt like nothing. She didn't know time. She didn't need to. There was no point in it.

The light was really bright. Yu ZiYuan felt annoyed. It was her nature. She squinted her shut eyes a bit and opened them.

Huh?

A ceiling?

Where did this come from?

Where was she?

How in the world did she end up here?

When did she do something as immoral as taking someone else's body? She didn't do anything like that.

'I didn't take someone else's body. Did someone summon me somewhere?'

Yu ZiYuan didn't know if she was alive or dead at first. But upon feeling a few injuries on her bodies, she felt that she was alive.

Sigh.

'What happened? Didn't I die at the massacre of Lotus Pier? Where am I? How am I even here? Did someone summon me back to the living world?'

Turns out, yes. Someone did summon her back to earth.

Yu ZiYuan tried to feel the golden core of the person to check if the owner of this body was a cultivator or not.

Turns out that yes, the actual owner of the body was a cultivator, not a strong one, but at least there was a golden core.

Yu ZiYuan sighed. She didn't know what to think of this situation. She needed to assess what was going on, how and why exactly she was summoned here?

She didn't have to search much longer as she found a note.

It was that of the original owner of the body.

According to the note, Yu ZiYuan found out quite a bit of information.

First and foremost, this woman, no, girl, was just a 16 year old. Her name was Xiao MingYu. And...well...she is a bullied disciple.

Sigh.

What has the world come to? Now people even bully disciples of a sect? Why?

It seems that her mother is dead, and her father is abusive of her, thus she doesn't get any defence of her behalf from either side of being bullied. The bullies didn't let her stay at Koi tower, thus she was forced to live in her house. Her father drinks all the time and lives life astray. She earned a bit money by doing a job at a restaurant and that is how things had been going up until the day she suicided.

She didn't have a place to run away to. So she didn't know what to do. Except this.

Bringing up another soul to take revenge on her behalf. And as she was a female, she really couldn't bring herself to summon a male cultivator. And thus as a strong female cultivator, the former Madam of the Jiang sect ended up here in the body of a girl who barely has a golden core.

Sigh. Yu ZiYuan needed to first meditate and activate this golden core more.

But that could come a bit later. It seems that the girl was actually a disciple of the Jin sect.

...Why does every problem revolve around that sect?

Well, it seems Xiao MingYu was thoughtful enough to right the names of the people who bullied her so that Yu ZiYuan could get revenge on her behalf. And the first thing that came in Yu ZiYuan's mind was
'Am I worth a second chance?'

It was her last dying wish in her previous life to have a second chance. Now that she had it, she felt guilty beyond reason.

Nevertheless, she had to fulfill the revenge. She saw strange cuts in her body and none of them were normal. Yu ZiYuan figured out these were to draw the blood array to summon her, and they couldn't heal with her core.

'This is probably related to the revenge. This array is truly strange. I didn't know it existed. Maybe someone invented it after I died.'

For someone who had been summoned back from the dead, Yu ZiYuan was pretty calm. She went to wash her face in the basin. And looked at the mirror.

A beautiful girl appeared it the reflection. She had bright blue eyes, and pale skin. She looked sickly though, but that was only due to malnutrition.

'This girl...must have been poor. Damn. How messed up was her life at such a young age?'

In any case, she washed up her hands and removed any sign of the array being drawn. Then she wore some clean clothes, and as the confident of a woman she was, she strode out of the room. Her aura was still as regal as it was before her death. And even though her appearance changed, her experience and skills did not. So what if she just had a small core? She could still cultivate and become stronger.

As she strode to the living room, she saw 'her' imprudent father, drinking away alcohol. He looked like a boorish man, having beard and not cut his hair for so long.

It was very apparent why Xiao MingYu hated her father.

Yu ZiYuan had noticed burn marks and scars on her body, and as a result, she got even more annoyed at this man. She was a failure of a parent herself, and that guilt made her even more angry.

Seems like there were parents even worse than herself and her husband.

Yu ZiYuan's face was now not of that of the fierce woman that she was before her rebirth, but of a very delicate and petite little girl. Therefore, it was very easy to underestimate her.

The boorish man looked towards her glaring at him and he spat out, "The fuck you looking at?"

Yu ZiYuan smirked, "You. Who else is in the room?"

The boorish man immediately stood, "What? Are you feeling too courageous today? Didn't I just discipline you a while ago?" he was drunk and his words came out sluggish.

Yu ZiYuan snorted, "So physical beating is discipline to you. How about I discipline you now, then? Because you have done nothing but drinking these days."

The man's fingers now turned crooked as if it to fist them, his face turned red in anger, he shouted,"Looks like the last time wasn't enough."

The man was angry, but Yu ZiYuan was even angrier. How can a father be like this? Treating his own daughter like that?

Oh. She was not one to speak. She was just as much of a failure of parent, yes she didn't realise it before but that doesn't make anything any better.

Her children suffered their whole childhood because of her petty pride. Yu ZiYuan took a deep breath and gulped down the knot that formed in her throat.

She looked a bit off guard as she looked downcast, so the man thought she was afraid of him. He laughed loud, "Afraid now after all the big talk? Too late!"

With that he raised his hand to slap her, but alas.

Yu ZiYuan gripped that hand and tightly shifted it behind his back, breaking the man's hand in the process. The man shouted in extreme pain, then fell to the ground.

He looked at her with hateful eyes, "You-you- insolent girl! I gave birth to you!"

Yu ZiYuan snorted, "That's the only thing you ever did for me." with that she stepped on the man's face, hard. Yu ZiYuan's current body was not strong, but she knew how to use spiritual energy. So obviously it increased her strength enough to bruise this man who seemed to not have any fighting skills.

She then looked at the kitchen and smirked, "You know what? Fuck this. Today is the day I will peel your skin, draw your veins and drink your blood." She stepped on his hands while saying that.

The man screamed in pain, "Let me go!"

Yu ZiYuan said mockingly, "In your dreams." then she bent down, bringing her face a bit closer to this alcoholic motherfucker, "You reek of alcohol. Seriously. But no worries, you won't anymore. You will soon turn into rotten flesh. So you will reek of something else." with that she smiled creepily.

Yu ZiYuan was surprised with herself. She was cruel before, but it wasn't the sadistic cruel. She was fierce and had a temper. This time, she was just sadistic and creepy with her approach.

She liked it.

She made a mental note to use this technique more often.

The man was caught off guard and was feeling freaked out, "You, you, you- stay away from me. Don't come closer!"

Yu ZiYuan hastily went into the kitchen and to her delight found a knife, sharp enough to cut skin but not sharp enough to kill someone in one go.

Perfect.

She took the knife and caressed it on her fingers, she didn't know why she was enjoying this.

It was not the mentality of a healthy mind, but she was clearly enjoying beating this person.

Maybe because she really couldn't bear such a horrible person being a parent. She was a failure of a parent herself, and she didn't want children to suffer under horrible parents like her children did.

Guilt was a scary weapon.

This was obviously not her own father, so it was easier for her to not have any sympathy at all. She was sure even Xiao MingYu didn't have any left for him.

The next moment, she leapt out of the kitchen with excited steps, only to see the man trying to escape.

"OH HELL NO YOU DON'T!" With a shout Yu ZiYuan thrusted the knife into his back, twisting it.

The knife was not that sharp, so she had to twist it several times for it to be able to penetrate the heart, so it was extremely painful for the man.

He kept screaming and crying for help, but right afterwards, Yu ZiYuan twisted the knife out again and cut his tongue.

Blood kept flowing out of his body, dying it crimson. There was gore, but Yu ZiYuan liked it.

She grinned as she watched the blood pour of out the man's body, "See what I am capable of? It was your mistake to treat me the way you did. Treat mother the way you did."

Painful gasps of breath could be heard from the man. Pitiful whimpers escaped his mouth, as he could not beg, because he had no tongue. It was clear that even breathing was painful for him.

The man's eyes showed one last emotion of fear before he took his last painful breath.

Dead.

Yu ZiYuan sighed.

There was a lot of blood so she had to clean them.

As for the body, she was going to have to bury it out because otherwise he might return as a fierce corpse. There was already a high chance of him returning as one.

Yu ZiYuan cleaned out the blood and buried the body properly, though she didn't want to do the latter as he didn't really deserve a burial, but she had to do it for her own sake. Or trouble might come later.

By the time everything was done it was nighttime. Yu ZiYuan pondered over what to do now. She stepped out of the house's area and looked around, instantly recognising the area of Lanling. The area was rather remote at nighttime.

Yu ZiYuan had come to Lanling countless times in her previous life, as the then Madam Jin was her sworn sister.

She suddenly pondered to herself, 'How long has it been since I died?'

And just like that, she was lost again in a question.

She wondered if she could roam around the world, but the point is she had a weak golden core in this body, and she didn't have a weapon either.

At that time she heard a commotion.

"Wei Qianbei! We got it. It's the last Yao." Came the voice of a bright young man, his voice sounded light and his excitement was very much audible.

Yu ZiYuan could care less about it. What her attention fixed at was the name being called.

Wei Qianbei.

There was only one person she knew with the surname Wei.

Wei WuXian.

Suddenly her breathing hitched.

Wei WuXian.

She had uttered that name countless times, mostly in anger and disdain.

Wei WuXian.

He was the child of Wei ChangZe and CangSe SanRen, the child who's father was the sworn brother of her husband, but she chose to think that he was brought back to the Jiang Sect because Jiang FengMian still loved his mother.

Wei WuXian.

He was the ever so talented head disciple of the Jiang Sect, and her own son's martial brother, can even be considered his own brother.

Wei WuXian.

A boy who had faced so much pain in his life.

All because of her.

Yu ZiYuan's throat clogged up. She really, really wanted to just go and hug him, repeatedly saying, "Wei Ying, I am so sorry, I was wrong to treat you, treat you three the way I did. Please forgive me. I am sorry, sweet child. I was a horrible woman, I was a horrible mother."

It wouldn't hurt more than the hurt she was feeling right now even if an awl was struck into her heart and the broken flesh and veins had been pulled out.

Realisation hit her even more horribly than the last time.

Maybe it was because now she was not in the middle of the battle or maybe it was because her mindset had changed after staying dead for years.

She didn't know.

The pain of knowing that those little children suffered because of her then insensitive and hate-filled heart was so much, so very much.

She hoped that the child, that her children had not lived miserable lives.

In order to check on them, she followed the sound of the voice. Upon reaching the owner of the voice, she was stunned.

It was actually a Gusu Lan sect's disciple, moreover an actual Lan by blood, judging by the cloud patterns on the headband worn by the disciple.

Yu ZiYuan suddenly felt a bit blank. That cheerful voice belonged to a Lan? She had a hard time believing it. The world was indeed full of wonders.

Additionally, with the cheerful Lan was another genuine Lan who spoke in a soft voice, "Wei Qianbei, we have already taken care of the Yao. You can rest assured."

Now this is how a Lan is usually like. Soft spoken, quiet, elegant and mature speaking.

Beside the Lans though, there was another boy who was a little younger, who had a vermilion mark in the middle of his forehead, signifying that he was a Jin by blood.

Yu ZiYuan stilled looking at that boy. For whatever reason that boy seemed to remind her very much of Jiang YanLi.

Speaking of Jiang YanLi, Yu ZiYuan wondered how she was. Maybe this was actually her son. With that thought she suddenly felt very delighted.

Finally her eyes rested on the man they were calling Wei Qianbei. She looked at the person who she thought was Wei WuXian.

But...that person didn't quite look like Wei WuXian. Yes there were facial similarities of about 60%, but Wei WuXian's body was lean and slim, even slimmer than it was when he was 15.

It didn't make any sense. The face changing was explainable, because obviously people's faces change as they grow up. Even so, this was a bit too much of a change of face. And don't even mention his whole structure.

Wei WuXian, when she saw him last time, was a growing man and was already very tall. He was around 183 inches at that time. Right now he didn't look more than 180! Granted, it was not short, but that was not the point. How can the height of a human regress?

Yu ZiYuan was starting to have doubts if it was Wei WuXian or someone else.

'Is this his son or something? That's a possibility. Wei WuXian was a known flirt in the YunMeng Jiang sect. It would not be surprising at all for him to marry and have kids. It was very normal even if he hadn't been a flirt.

Just as she was pondering, the said 'Wei Qianbei' suddenly turned towards the bushes she was spying on from and yelled, "Who's there?"

The other boys also noticed her presence, looking at the bushes.

Yu ZiYuan sighed. There was no point in hiding anymore. She came out of the bushes with a meek appearance.

Her body was that of a girl who was still a teenager. So she naturally didn't look to be threatening. All four of them relaxed seeing who it was.

Wei WuXian smiled and asked, "Guniang, what were you doing, hiding in the bush?"

Yu ZiYuan gulped. She didn't know how to reply through the knot of her throat. She softly replied, "The Yao...I was scared of it."

Wei WuXian spoke with a gentle tone, "We have eradicated the Yaos here. Do not worry Guniang. We can escort you. Where are you from?"

Yu ZiYuan almost said Meishan by mistake. But she controlled her tongue and spoke, "I live nearby, but today my father died, and...I have nowhere to go...I cannot really go back. I need to find a new place to stay. Here I cannot do anything to earn a living."

Lan JingYi spoke, "Earn a living? Hey, at this age you should be learning. Look, we are. Hey I have an idea-"

Jin Ling spoke, annoyed, "Keep that idea to yourself."

Yu ZiYuan's mouth twitched, this behaviour was really similar to Jin ZiXuan's.

He really was proving to be their son more and more. Yu ZiYuan sighed.

Lan JingYi retorted, "Did I ask for your crusty, rusty, dusty opinion? No. So keep your mouth shut Young Mistress."

Jin Ling raged, "What did you say?"

Lan JingYi ignored him, "So what I was saying is, why don't you join the Lan sect?"

Yu ZiYuan choked.

She didn't know what to think of it. Xiao MingYu, the person who's body she was occupying now was already a disciple at the Jin sect.

So she meekly replied, "I am already a disciple at the Jin sect."

Jin Ling's eyes widened, "Really? Well then that's one thing." Suddenly he looked smugly at Lan JingYi.

Yu ZiYuan had the urge to facepalm.

Young people are as lively as ever.

Wei WuXian laughed, "Well then that's good Guniang. You can live in Koi tower."

"...The bullies...they won't let me." Yu ZiYuan decided to act out like Xiao MingYu to gain their favour. She couldn't deal with all the bullies right now. Her core was still weak and needed to she stronger for her to fight on her own. It would have been one thing if she had one person to fight, but it was clearly a whole group. And her status was not high at all at the moment. So she needed back up.

Jin Ling's eyes darkened, "There has been bullying going on in my sect?"

Yu ZiYuan looked at him with a deep gaze. She thought, 'His sect? That confirms it. He really is A-Li's son.'

She bowed, "Young Master Jin. I am honoured to have met you. And...well there have been some bullies who...are not letting me stay at Koi tower but I didn't know how to deal with the situation as...I am just a nobody."

Jin Ling straitened her up, "I will help you. I suppose we need some changes in the sect. Please do not be worried Guniang. I am sorry that you had to face something like bullying in the Jin sect. Me and my uncle will look into this."

Yu ZiYuan couldn't help asking, "Sect Leader Jiang too?"

Jin Ling nodded. He might be a brat, but his heart was in the right place.

The fact that he called 'Sect Leader Jiang' his uncle, made any doubt that Yu ZiYuan had about this boy being her grandson vanished.

Because obviously her son was the only heir to the sect. Sect Leader Jiang had to mean Jiang Cheng. And that meant that this was Jiang Cheng's nephew, meaning Jiang YanLi and Jin ZiXuan's son.

On the other hand, Yu ZiYuan also noticed Wei WuXian stiffening at the mention of Jiang Cheng. She frowned internally.

She had seen him stiffening countless times in front herself, so she knew that he felt uneasy or tense about the topic or the person.

But why? Why would he feel uneasy or tense about Jiang Cheng?

_______________________

Note: Calathea symbolises rebirth.