At the heart of the Qinxia Kingdom, a young woman in white robes kneeled on the ground toward a man behind a thin gauze.

"Father, I have fulfilled your mission and befriended that dragon of extreme yin." She said, her tone indicating her overwhelming respect.

"Scholars, is she right?" The king asked, not directly replying to her.

This time, a thin man stepped up from the group, bowing deeply before replying, "Yes, Your Majesty. The fluctuations in our kingdom's fate had stabilised, but I'm afraid that the dragon's fate had increased."

"As long as the dragon is a friend, it's no matter." The king said nonchalantly before turning back to his daughter, Yao Niang.

"You have done well." Yao Niang's tense shoulders relaxed, but before she could say anything, the king spoke: "Why had you gone to Flower City?"

"I have heard that the flower festival had been reinstated and was afraid people may blaspheme her to get to me."

Who was 'her' went unsaid in this room, and the king's brows were knitted.

He released his overwhelming pressure and unleashed it onto Yao Niang, injuring her and causing her to vomit a mouthful of blood.

"Your Majesty!"

"Father!"

"Do you think I'm so easy to fool?" He harrumphed, killing intent evident on him, "You're hundreds of years too young to play such games with me."

"F-father, i-i-it's true," Yao Niang forced out, having extreme difficulty speaking.

"Your Majesty, Her Highness doesn't lie. You should believe her!"

The king's personal attendant shouted out. He was the only person who could talk to the king like that in the entire kingdom. Although he was not a fan of the princess and believed that she should learn her place, she was their most talented junior. The kingdom's pride. She could not die so easily. Even if the king wanted to kill her, it had to be an international spectacle that could move many hearts. Killing her now was nothing more than throwing away a valuable card.

The king thought along the same lines as the attendant and retrieved his pressure, "You may leave." He said.

Yao Niang got up from the ground, her legs shaking as various wounds in her body bled out.

She bowed in his direction, and as she was about to leave, the thin man called out, "Your Majesty, Her Highness had done a great favour for our kingdom and stabilised its fate. Shouldn't she be rewarded?"

Yao Niang stopped and waited for the king's words, but she did not hold much hope.

"As a citizen of my kingdom and its princess, it's only right of her to do as such. There's no need for her to be rewarded."

The thin scholar left a lasting gaze on her and sighed on the inside. The princess was a true prodigy, who deserved much better, but regretfully, she was not born a man.

Yao Niang's gaze darkened, but due to her lowered head, no one noticed anything. If there was a silver lining here, it would be that none of her brothers' factions was here to see this scene; otherwise, it would be the end of her.

"I have one piece of advice for you," the king spoke, "Don't be too greedy."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

As soon as she left the hall, Yao Niang crushed a talisman and was instantly teleported to her courtyard. This way, no one could see her current dispirited state.

"Your highness! Are you okay?" Mo Luli, her maid, cried out, supporting her. In the entire princess's quarters, she was the only other person who lived here.

"It's just some light injuries. I should recover in a week."

"Princess..." Mo Luli's eyes reddened. In her eyes, the princess had suffered so much for her kingdom, and although she did not know why she had ended up like this, it was not hard to deduce it was the king's actions. No one else in the kingdom would treat her this way.

"Do you think I was in the wrong?"

"Of course not, princess! You always do your very best and deserve nothing less." Mo Luli's eyes teared up as she spoke, incapable of continuing another word.

"Then it has to be as she said. I'm just weak." Unlike the crying Mo Luli, Yao Niang had a peaceful smile on her face. She recalled Xue Yueliang's words to Lei Jian and then her words toward her. She had a point. For her entire life, she had followed the rules, worked her best and was nowhere near the crown than she had been in the past.

"Who said that?" Mo Luli asked, but the princess did not answer, returning a question: "Mo Luli, do you trust me?"

"With all my heart." Mo Luli said without hesitation, her eyes showing the determination to walk across bridges of fire for her.

She could be trusted, for now. Yao Niang thought, Then it was time for her to build her own faction.

She would not allow anyone take what she had worked so hard for.

"There, there. There's no need to cry. At least now I see things clearly." She had never comforted her maid before, and her unexpected kindness only made her cry harder.

"Liang'er, why did you leave?" Yao Ming asked, a cheeky smile on his face. Xue Yueliang shivered and replied, "Master, I'd prefer it if you didn't call me like that."

This form of address was overly affectionate in her eyes. "Why not," he wailed, "If I knew those types of people appealed to you, I would have acted this way much sooner."

"You're a great master with centuries of knowledge and experience. You have no need to rely on such methods. Your natural charisma is what made me accept you as a teacher."

"Don't flatter yourself. It was me who accepted you as a disciple." He harrumphed, then added devilishly, "Liang'er."

Xue Yueliang's lips twitched, as it was not that long ago that she had become his disciple, and it was clearly him who begged her. Besides, how could she twist that in his favour? Should he say he had great eyesight or a ghost's memories were better than hers? Regretfully, that form of address had a lot of power over her.

"You're right, master." She conceded, "Being accepted as your disciple was the best thing that happened to me in this life."

"Even better than reincarnating?" He asked doubtfully. "By the way, how did you manage to reincarnate?"

He had witnessed her previous world, and everyone who lived there was just a mortal with no knowledge of cultivation. There was no way she could reincarnate without outsider help, but he did not notice anything off in her memories.

"I don't know. I just happened to recall my previous life a few years ago." She lied.

"Did you wake up just to bother me?" She asked, changing the subject.

She was not sure how good her master was at reading people, but she felt that she could never share her experience in the netherworld with anyone. Perhaps, it was the warning of karma or her own intuition, but she did not dare share this.

"There's something interesting in these mountains," he began mysteriously.

"There's no need to act so mysteriously. This place was left behind by a previous king, of course, it's interesting. Every second you continue babbling is a second wasted," she urged.

She had wanted to leave the mountains but was now forced to stop.

"What if I say it might be of great use to you." He smiled, not bickering over her disrespectful attitude.

"Then I'd say where and how useful?"

"What if it's useful for me?" Xue Yueliang frowned at this question, "Then go get it yourself."

She was angry her previous words were being doubted but considering her nature, it was not undeserved.

"Naturally, my response wouldn't change. Helping you is helping me, and I had already promised to help you recover your strength."

"Good disciple!" He exclaimed, happy with her response. "There are strong soul fluctuations in the western area of these mountains. Although I'm not sure, maybe there's something there that could help me."

"Let's hope so." Xue Yueliang stretched, ready to head out.

She walked at a steady pace westward, cutting any beasts that had gotten in her way without much resistance. Though she liked training her abilities by fighting multiple types of beasts, she was not in the mood. If she did not want to be easy prey for birds and other flying beasts, then she would have flown over to where her master had pointed out.

While walking forward, she observed the sleeping Hei Yu in her mind and was happy at his increasing aura. Her Hei Yu would soon be breaking through to the midlevel stages of the Foundation Establishment Realm, giving her another reliable trump card.

"Why're you so happy with such a weak toy?" Her master asked.

He knew Xue Yueliang and knew she would never cherish useless things, but from what he saw, Hei Yu was not that powerful. At the very most, he was only slightly more powerful than a beast at his cultivation level, and it did not live up to what he thought it would be.

"Hei Yu is amazing." Xue Yueliang smiled, still delighted at his eminent breakthrough. "

He is only a weapon and can fight easily without me wielding him and is still more powerful than most beings at its level."

"He's a weapon?"

"Yes, with him, my fighting strength increases."

"What sort of weapon is he then?"

Yao Ming doubted her words but did not easily refute them. It was not every day people had intelligent life artefacts with the body of a beast. As much as he hated to admit it, he did not know much.

"You'll know once the time is right." She laughed, counting this as payback.

Yao Ming felt cheated but kept his thoughts to himself, sealing himself off again. In this state, he would only be barely aware of his surroundings and would only wake up when he felt danger or opportunity. Although this would not increase his lifespan, Xue Yueliang reasoned it was for the best because this way, at the very least, he could conserve his energy.

The mountains her master pointed out were far off from her current standing. Due to the natural difficulty of crossing this terrain, it would take her four months to get there. Xue Yueliang sighed. Travelling alone was deafening, and her solitary footsteps made her feel down, but thinking about how it was only a matter of time before Hei Yu woke up, she forcefully cheered herself up.

"Arghh!" Just as she was feeling bored, Xue Yueliang heard an unfamiliar voice cry out. Quietly heading over to that location, she noticed two groups facing off. On one side, there was a young woman and four men beside her, appearing like her bodyguards. Opposing them was a group of five men who clearly looked and acted like bandits, and although she could not confirm their identities, it was not hard to guess.

The four guards held up their swords, and the oldest of them, an older man with greying hair and hollow temples, spoke up: "Do you dare raise your swords against the Zhong Clan?"

Oh? The Zhong Clan? Xue Yueliang thought, her eyes sparkling. She did not expect to meet someone from there so quickly.

"A clan of servants dares to act so arrogantly?" One of the bandits snorted, clear disdain in his eyes. He did not believe anyone would avenge useless servants and was intent on killing them.

"You know," the leading bandit smiled sinisterly. "I was planning on killing you off easily, but after you threatened me..." He let his words trail off, his meaning clear.

"Don't think we're afraid of you." The opposing side snorted, they truly did not understand where they got this gall from. Though the Zhong Clan was subordinate to the Qin Clan, they were in no way weak and avenging them would be a piece of cake.

Of course, they did not wish to die, so being avenged was off the table for them. They had to kill these fools. Xue Yueliang retrieved a pack of melon seeds she had received from Li Hua as a parting gift. She wished to watch this sight as she did not know when something so entertaining would pop up in front of her again. For all she knew, this could be the last time she would see other people for a long while as only madmen would travel as far as she had planned to.