Chapter 2

White Shirt

Gu Yanfei felt a sweetness in her throat and vomited a mouthful of blood. Her forehead was already covered in sweat that trickled down her temples.

She wiped the blood from her mouth with her sleeve and muttered to herself, “Without spiritual energy… my hands are really tied.”

Every world has its own laws. If she was in the Bright Spirit Realm, saving a mortal would be as easy as blowing off dust for her. However, the spiritual energy in this world was too weak. Her hands and feet were bound by the laws of Heaven’s Will, and she could not use many methods.

In this world, the living dead were against the laws of Heaven’s Will. She had to pay a certain price for it.

Juan Bi slowly opened her eyes. Her gaze was unfocused until the moment she met Gu Yanfei’s eyes. Her eyes suddenly widened and she called out weakly, “Lady…”

Juan Bi tried to raise her right hand, but Gu Yanfei grabbed it to stop her.

“I’m here.” Gu Yanfei subtly checked Juan Bi’s pulse again and said in relief, “You’ll be fine.”

Gu Yanfei smiled, her blood-stained cherry lips as red as peony flowers.

From Juan Bi’s angle, she could not see Gu Yanfei’s swollen and bleeding left forehead. She could only see the uninjured right half of her face.

Her hair was dyed black, her lips were red, and her skin was fairer than snow.

The young girl in her prime was as beautiful as a lotus flower. She was so beautiful that one could not help but want to pile the most gorgeous words on her.

Her smile was devastatingly beautiful, enough to cause the downfall of a city.

Juan Bi was stunned and smiled foolishly. She vaguely felt that this quiet and reserved Second Lady seemed to have changed.

A cool wind suddenly blew, fluttering the tattered curtains and scattering the talisman dust that had been on Juan Bi’s temples. In the blink of an eye, it dissipated, leaving only a faint burning smell in the air.

The tip of Juan Bi’s nose twitched. Just as she was about to say something, Gu Yanfei said, “Juan Bi, we have to leave this place quickly.”

Gu Yanfei held her cold hand firmly, her eyes as firm as a rock.

In her previous life, everyone else had died. She had been lucky to survive, but she had also fainted from the violent impact. The last memories she had of this carriage were of blood and corpses.

She had a high fever and was in a daze. When she woke up, she was already in Danyang City.

The events of the day had become a lifelong nightmare.

Fortunately—

She was not the same person she had been in her previous life.

“You’re right, My Lady. It’s too dangerous here. We have to leave quickly!” Juan Bi nodded without hesitation.

She packed a bag as quickly as possible, feeling more or less uneasy. Today, she had followed the Second Lady to Daxing Temple in the western suburbs to offer incense. She did not expect to encounter a landslide on the way back. This area was too remote and she did not see anyone for a few miles…

“Squeak…”

Gu Yanfei pushed open the shaky door on the carriage and got out.

Outside the carriage, dust flew into the air, forming a thick gray fog. Rocks of all sizes could be seen everywhere. There was also some scattered gravel that rolled down from time to time from high above the cliff. It was a scene of devastation.

The air was thick with the stench of blood, lingering and nauseating.

The horse pulling the wagon was dead. So were the coachman and the old female servant. Their bodies lay beside the wagon. The ground was stained with pools of blood, leaving little room for them to land their feet.

Looking at this tragic scene, Gu Yanfei’s eyes gradually darkened like a bottomless pool. She bent down and personally closed the eyes of the coachman and the old female servant who had died with their eyes opened. She silently chanted the Rebirth Mantra.

A few lives were lost because of Fang Mingfeng’s selfishness!

And this was only the beginning…

Some memories that had become a little blurry in two lifetimes gradually surfaced in her mind. Gu Yanfei’s eyes gradually turned cold. Under the setting sun, the corners of her eyes were slightly red, as if they were dyed with blood.

The elegant and beautiful girl was a stark contrast to the devastation around her.

Gu Yanfei had just finished chanting the Rebirth Mantra when Juan Bi, who had packed her bag, alighted from the carriage.

She gasped at the sight of the coachman and the old female servant who had died so tragically. For the first time, she felt the fragility of human life.

“My Lady…” Juan Bi leaned towards Gu Yanfei uneasily, her face pale.

Gu Yanfei secretly calculated the direction with her fingers in her sleeve, then pointed in the direction of the setting sun. “Let’s go that way.”

According to the hexagram, West was the lucky direction.

Juan Bi quickly put a cloak on Gu Yanfei and supported her as they traveled to the west. As the ground was full of gravel and the road was bumpy, the master and servant walked very slowly.

The mountain breeze blew, and the cold wind blew Gu Yanfei’s cloak, making it flutter.

The sun was setting in the west. Red-gold light poured over the mountains.

After the time it took to brew a cup of tea, they managed to circle out of the stone-strewn valley. When Juan Bi turned back, she could no longer see the carriage behind them.

Gu Yanfei stopped and quietly touched her abdomen. She felt a faint pain in her abdomen and an indescribable discomfort. She thought to herself, ‘Could it be that she had suffered some internal injuries?’

Should she find some herbs nearby…

As she thought this, she heard a young man’s high-pitched voice not far ahead.

“I was really right. Something fell down the hill. It must have been a carriage.”

“Xiao Shi, maybe a rock slipped.” Then, another steady male voice sounded. “If the carriage fell from such a height, I’m afraid it would be disastrous.”

The sound of hooves approached as the two of them spoke, mixed with the sound of wheels and horse bells.

Soon, a plain green carriage entered Gu Yanfei and Juan Bi’s field of vision. It slowly rode over, the horse bell on the horse’s neck tinkling.

The driver was a plain-looking young man in his early 20s. Beside him was a dark-skinned young man who looked 13 or 14 years old.

The two of them also saw Gu Yanfei and her servant. The carriage stopped 20 feet away.

“What are you two girls doing here?” The young man called Xiao Shi had a rough voice as he sized up Gu Yanfei curiously.

“My carriage accidentally encountered a landslide and fell from the cliff over there. Only my maidservant and I were lucky enough to survive. The others…” As she spoke, Gu Yanfei pointed in the direction she came from and sighed faintly.

“Miss, you’re really lucky,” Xiao Shi exclaimed. He gave the young man beside him a smug look, as if boasting of being right about a carriage having fallen down the mountain.

...

“Grumble…”

A strange sound suddenly sounded. This sound was especially loud at the bottom of the quiet cliff.

The other three looked at Gu Yanfei in unison.

Gu Yanfei was speechless.

‘This sound? Could it be…’ Her expression was startled and strangely novel.

In the next moment, an unfamiliar male voice came from the carriage. It was cold and pleasant.

“I have some food here. If you don’t mind, have some to fill your stomach.”

The young man’s voice was neither fast nor slow. It was like the strings of an ancient zither being plucked by a zither player, or a clear stream flowing over.

As he spoke, Xiao Shi opened the door of the carriage. A leaf happened to be blown into the carriage by the mountain breeze. It spun slowly and landed on a short boot embroidered with silver cloud patterns.

In the carriage sat a young master who had yet to be crowned.

His eyes were like stars and his nose was high. His lips were red and his black hair was as black as ink.

...

His exquisite facial features and angular lines formed a handsome face, making him beautiful, elegant, and extraordinary.

He wore a frost-white cloak trimmed with white fox fur. His figure was slightly thin, as if he would collapse if the wind blew.