Author's Note : The picture above is how I pictured Jiang after his .......... And without his.....I don't want to give anything away, You will understand later as you read , Also the artwork is not my creation, all credit goes to the artist - Thanks.

JIANG

I ran straight without rest and on the second day of my rebirth when the sun was high in the sky I finally reached the outskirts of the forest, ones I step out of the forest Yang province will be before me.

In my previous life I only arrived here at night, we were a bit slower than the present me because they had to carry me by carriage, I wanted to rest a bit, freshen up and then change cloths before heading out of the forest so I stopped running because I felt I could hear the flow of water up ahead,

I had picked some fruits I felt were edible while I was running through the forest so at least I had food and won't have to starve but when I perceived something fishy roasting close by, my leg led me towards it's direction .

I saw a man who sat by a fire, he was roasting some fishes that he had probably caught from the river, just the aroma coming from the fish made my stomach rumble, I didn't even realize that I had started to drool, he looked so out of place as he sat by the fire roasting fish, I felt like he shouldn't be doing such things, like it was beneath him but then again he had the kind of aura that made a person feel like anything he did would look beautiful even if it was the dirtiest of works,

This man couldn't be more than eighteen years old and by a tree not too far from him was a pitch black horse which I presumed was his, he had short dark hair, his armor was just as dark as his horse , a golden symbol was crested on the back area of his armor, just watching his back view made me understand he wasn't normal.

Although his back was facing me I still felt like he knew I was there.

(

I quickly put on the ice jewel veil and then walked towards him, I didn't want him to see my hideous face, I didn't have to put on the veil all this while because I didn't meet anyone in the forest as I was running through but since I planned to talk with him I had no choice I asked but i didn't really wait for permission before taking my sit, I was always myself with strangers but not with my family, I didn't need to act proper or try to please any stranger but it was different with my family, I always wanted to be accepted by them so if staying away was what they desired of me then I will do it without feeling hatred or regret, all I ever wanted was acceptance but in the end I didn't even get that.

the young lord said as he turned to face me, his golden eyes reflected on the golden crested symbol by his chest area, it was the same symbol I saw when I faced his back, "he is definitely noble" I muttered to myself and he just gave me a kind smile.

He was the kind of person that gave off a gentle and kind aura but also one can't help but feel that he isn't someone to be provoked I scratched at the back of my head while feeling embarrassed, I then searched through the small bag I took along with me when I left the guards and maids at Yue valley,

I poured out the fruits I had picked and he looked at me with an amused smile he asked seriously and I was dumbfounded " What do you mean? why will I want to do that?, Isn't this edible? " I was truly surprised when he said ""

"Really?" I just realised that there are a lot of things I still don't know about the cultivation world, he picked up a fish and then handed it over to me, I bowed my head in thanks and accepted it with my both hands in other to show my absolute gratitude and respect for this young Lord, I was right when I guessed he was a kind person, he took a fish for his self too and we started eating.

"Although the poison won't do much damage, they are harmful nevertheless" he said and I nodded in understanding, I secretly thanked my stars that after picking those fruits I didn't have time to eat them immediately , I was too busy thinking about escaping this forest so feeding was shoved to the back side of my mind.

"Young lord please what is your name?" I asked, he poured some sand on the fire and it went out then he walked over to the river to wash his hands, my eyes followed his every movement and when he was done he went over to his horse, untied it and mounted it " I said hastily, I wanted to know his name at least, he was the first person apart from my mother that offered me food without asking for anything first, I was truly

grateful, I felt touched.

he laughed as he galloped away but before he went too far I heard him say " Fang Mu, My name is Fang Mu" I smiled at his retreating figure, he was long gone so I didn't get to hear him say Fang Mu shook his head and then let the thought go.

Jiang will never get to know how lucky he was to survive alone in this forest, In his past life all he did during the Journey was sleep and wake up due to the extreme fatigue the journey caused him, he didn't get to experience the guards battling those beasts, at that time the guards were really angry that he was sleeping like a log of wood at a time like that but their luck wasn't too bad since the magical beast that attacked them weren't so strong.

For some reason Jiang slept deeply during the day than at night when his nightmares kept him awake and made sleep tortuous.

I stood up from the bank of the river and removed my ice jewel veil, then I put it into my tattered bag, for some reason I wanted to keep the bag where no one could see it except I wanted them to, I had this premonition that if it wasn't out of the way bad things might befall me, I felt like it was a big give away after all it was the only possession I stubbornly hung on to even when the Mistress of the Generals manor demanded I let it go, that bag was personally hand made by my mother so I couldn't bear to part with it.

I couldn't understand why I felt that the bag needed to be hidden, I just knew it had to,

As I was pondering how to hide the tattered bag it suddenly disappeared, I was so shocked that I fell butt first on the ground, I didn't have time to figure out what happened when a gush of wind hit me hard on the face, the wind carried with it the sand on the bank of the river,

Right now I was choking from the sand that entered my mouth, I tried to spit it all out and at the same time I also had to wipe the sand that was all over my face off since I couldn't see, I will take care of the rest part of my body when I can actually see,

During this brief period of time I didn't take note of my surroundings until I heard a deep voice speak " Have you seen this person" I tried to take a peek at my surrounding and what faced me the moment I did that was a paper poster of my very self, the only difference was that I was dressed in the robes I left the general's manor with, Yue Lei's overly flowing garment, my hair also had all the jades and ornaments I was putting on that day, my eyeballs when wide as I saw the paper poster and the sand that still hadn't been properly wipe off entered my eyes thereby causing a stinging sensation, my eyes went shut again as I wiped at it.

I guess the man felt I didn't see that person because I heard another voice speak, an oddly familiar voice, I was too scared to look up and prove my conjunctions right

"What of this boy, how you seen him" I raised my head again and this time the paper poster had an image of me without the veil, the ornaments or the robe, it was a picture of my ugly face, bent mouth, big nose, large tooth and almost none existent eyes, even I found myself hideous, those black snake like curved lines on my face just made me look more like a demon than a human, my whole body wasn't spared too.

I hated myself, I hated being born so ugly and without talent, at least now I have talent and I am not a trash anymore.

I raised my head to see the people before me and I almost fainted from fright, I was screaming sorrowfully in my head three of the four people before me where people I could never forget, that familiar voice was the metal user's voice, the person I suspect is my elder brother, the eldest son of the general's manor.

I wasn't concentrating because I was so scared, my head was spinning and I began to see the them in doubles, I wasn't going to go down this time without a fight was what I thought, I was about to start chanting my air elemental basic flight mode chant when a thought crossed my mind once I cleared my mind and started thinking straight I broke into a smile but only for an instance,

I said nervously,

"Useless trash" the earth elemental assassin spoke with disdain and I trembled slightly, I actually forgot at that moment that I wasn't trash anymore, I forgot totally that I was different from my former self.

the fire elemental assassin laughed wickedly.

the person I couldn't recognize said and then he started chanting, Immediately beneath him a gush of air began to form and expand until all four of them began to levitate, beneath their foot was solid air in the form of a cloud, "I murmured, "I never knew that, how is that even possible" at this moment I felt like my knowledge was really lacking.

I watched as they disappeared in the blink of an eye, it was like they were never even here, I decided to take a quick bath before leaving, my whole body felt sticky and sweaty and also I can check my appearance while doing that, I didn't want to believe such a hideous face could change but I couldn't explain them not recognizing me any other way,

I pulled my cloths and then thanked the heavens yet again that it was only my ugly face in the poster and not my whole body, if not they might have recognized the robe I was putting on, it was my only robe,

when I was completely nude I dived into the river, I made sure I was at the edge so that I won't be washed away by the current, when I raised my head from the depths of the water my once black hair had reverted back to its former white colour but as I looked closer I realized that it wasn't white but silver, my hair color changed and I wondered if it was due to my cultivation.

I was too busy taking at the colour of my once white hair that was now silver so I neglected to check my appearance, but when I eventually did I was rendered speechless, I frantically touched my face to confirm I wasn't seeing things or perhaps dreaming, a dream that was too close to reality.

My long wet silver hair cascaded on my shoulders, my once almost nonexistent tiny eyes where now sharp, bright and clear sometimes it looked normal but if you look closely you could see it had a bit of pink, I had long eyelashes and below my left eye was a tiny beautiful tear drop shaped mark, it was so tiny that I could hardly call it a mole, my lips were small and pink, I unconsciously bit my lower lip upon seeing them, it literally made a person want to bite and suck it and I was no exception, I am not boasting but my present look is the kind that people will say would cause the downfall of nations.

I didn't know whether to be happy or afraid, happy in the sense that I no longer looked hideous and afraid in the sense that they emperor would take a liking to my appearance and favor me, I was slender and my skin was soft and tender, if I put on a dress I could easily pass as a girl but what will happen if the emperor favors me and finds out I am indeed a man, won't he have my head

I would have chose not to go into the palace if I had another place to stay low and hide from the general but I don't, only the palace is my refuge, if I don't go then I will be hunted down and killed for sure, I know it wont be long before father orders them to use the jinx tracer to find me, with the jinx tracer I won't be able to hide from them even if my looks have changed because it traces people through their blood, father had me drop my blood on the tracer before leaving for the Yang province.

The jinx tracer is very expensive to buy and even more expensive to use since it consumes a lot of spirit mana stones, this spirit mana stones are the currency used in Tang Qin Shang dynasty, it can also be used to gather mana as well as as set up spirit arrays, this arrays are usually set up by formation elementals.

Although the jinx tracer isn't all powerful since some very powerful elementals can't prevent it from tracing them but I haven't reached that level yet, also they are some ancients site the jinx tracer can infiltrates.

I have to go to the palace but I must stay away from the emperor at all cost, my face will forever remain hidden inside a veil and when I have enough power I will escape, i didn't know then that the moment I would enter that palace my fate was sealed.

I came out of the water and then put on my cloths, I thought of my worn out bag and it appeared before me, I had long discovered it was in my space ring located in my core where mana resides, I now knew that I could store anything there if I willed it.

As I brought out the ice jewel veil I instantly knew it had undergone some transformation, the veil could now change colors and it could also change its shape, I even felt that as I grew stronger and my space ring evolve I could put the ice jade and make it undergo another transformation, a transformation that will give it the ability to disguise a person with almost no flaw, nothing is perfect in this world.

I willed ice jewel to change into the shape of a mask, I decided I won't wear Yue cloths until I reached the capital so a veil won't work with male garments, I dyed my hair black again with the substance gather gave me, I still don't know how father got this substance but I don't think it's something that will cause me any harm, his plan was to get rid of me by using the assassins and not by poisoning me to death although I am sure right about now, he regrets not doing that.

Once I was ready, I hurried along to Yang province.

the guard at the gate recording entries to the city asked without even looking up from his record book to see who he was talking to, I can't really blame him, he looked totally exhausted.

I said as I handed over Yue Lei's seal, anyone that sees the seal will know it's from the generals manor so I knew I won't have any problem passing through this gate.

With Yue Lei's identity, I wasn't an illegitimate son of the general's manor that no one knew existed, I was a true noble , the Eldest miss of the generals manor, The guard was momentary surprised but he quickly composed his self and said "Please proceed Mistress", I bowed slightly and that earned me another surprised look from him, I didn't understand why he was acting that way this time, what I didn't know is that it was extremely rare to see a noble from such a strong family like mine bow to a mere commoner guard, especially one that wasn't even strong.

Commoners could get a rise in status and even become nobles if they were extremely strong, after all in this world strength is what matters, with strength you will be respected but without strength even as a noble you are nothing but the general manor is different even if his child is a trash as long as they bear his name no one will dare slight them too bad he didn't acknowledge me, I was never given a name, Jiang was a name I had to pick for myself,

Most children from powerful families were usually arrogant and overbearing but I was different and this stunned the guard.

As I walked into Yang Province I felt nervous, overwhelmed and giddy inside, I wondered what the capital city held in stock for me.