In an unknown location within the Divine Realm, a woman covered in wounds was glaring hatefully at a dozen attackers. She wore a yellow dress and was achingly beautiful with a noble air. However, this beauty was marred by the blood which covered her dress and face. Bone-deep gashes riddled her body and her left leg was nowhere to be seen. Surrounding her were nine suns, each pouring terrifying flames into her battered body.

"Shan Xianzi, why do you keep struggling? Under the suppression of the Nine Sun's Rebirth Art you can't even escape us, let alone fight back. If you had ended it yourself I could have given your former husband a whole corpse."

The speaker was another woman, dressed in an enchanting red dress, showing off her perfectly proportioned body well. Next to her was a handsome and robust man in dragon robes. Occasionally, sword hymns would be emitted from his movement, each one carrying a world-destroying aura.

Shan Xianzi didn't waste her breath responding to her attackers, having figured everything out as soon as they appeared. The Divine Beasts had all long coveted the position of Lord of the Divine Beasts, which had been held by her Qilin Clan for eons. However, what truly caused her pain was the sight of her husband standing next to Hei Xuanmei, the seductive beauty.

Their marriage was not for political purposes, despite their standing among their respective clans. He was the prince of the Golden Dragons, while she was the Qilin Princess, and the two had a harmonious and happy marriage for nearly five hundred years.

Unfortunately, there were no eternal feelings, only eternal interests. The Dragon Clan had clearly joined with the Phoenix Clan, and his loyalties were available for all to see. If it weren't for his cooperation, she never would have fallen into this situation.

A hundred years ago, Shan Xianzi and Hei Xuanmei conducted a trade between their clans. The core inheritance of the Phoenix clan, the Nine Sun's Rebirth Art, for a core inheritance from the Qilin clan, the 81 Divine Lightning Scripture. Though both had removed a few vital portions, considering their cultivations, how could they not make up for the difference? Within 50 years, both clans had a working version of the other's art.

Ten years ago, Shan Xianzi began making preparations to use the Nine Sun's Rebirth Art. Her cultivation had reached its maximum height, but each Nirvanic Rebirth could still raise it slightly higher. If all went well, she could experience nine rebirths and break free from the Empyrean level to join the Eternal Heavens realm, becoming one of the true rulers of the Divine Realm.

After ten years of preparations, Shan Xianzi was ready for her nirvana. The only people she informed were the Qilin Grand Elder, the Qilin Emperor, and her husband, though none of them knew where she would undergo it. At least, that's what Shan Xianzi had thought; clearly, she had long been sold out by her own lover. Moreover, he was cleverer than she ever thought, being able to trace her through more than a hundred different teleportation formations, and breaking the nine-hundred ninety-nine formations she had protecting this place.

This situation couldn't continue. Hei Xuanmei was right, the Nine Sun's Rebirth Art took nearly all she had to resist, barely leaving her capable of defending herself. If she weren't suppressed in this way, Shan Xianzi had confidence she could defeat at least one of her attackers in an instant before fleeing! Every single one was weaker than her. Even Hei Xuanmei and her husband, Long Aotian, were only in the same realm as her: peak Empyreans. However, she felt she could fight them both at the same time if she truly wanted to, such was her strength.

As her mind raced, Shan Xianzi suddenly had a thought. Why resist the Nine Sun's Rebirth Art? Part of the process was naturally to die, otherwise how could she be reborn? Even as she thought of it, she instantly acted, channeling all of her energy into hastening the process of destruction and rebirth.

Hei Xuanmei immediately noticed something was wrong. All of a sudden, the heat coming off the nine suns was even enough to make those peak Empyreans uncomfortable.

"Stop her, she is trying to reincarnate!" As she spoke, Hei Xuanmei channeled her most destructive art. Black flames formed into the shape of a spear and pierced through Shan Xianzi's chest.

The other attackers paled at this attack. All of them thought to themselves: if they were to take this head-on, would they even be able to resist? However, none of them hesitated, each sending out a world-destroying strike. Long Aotian was particularly imposing, sending out a sword strike that could cut planets in half and rob stars of their brilliance.

All of these attacks were superimposed on Shan Xianzi. Her body was first pierced by Hei Xuanmei, then cut in half by Long Aotian, before being burned, frozen, and disintegrated by the others. Despite this though, the nine suns continued to pour down scorching heat, completing their duty.

Hei Xuanmei's face was ugly as she watched the soul that Shan Xianzi had protected against all of their attacks melt under the pressure of the nine suns. This was an unprecedented situation to the Phoenix Clan, and Hei Xuanmei didn't know whether or not the rebirth was successful. If it was... That wasn't a pleasant thought. Despite their rivalry, Hei Xuanmei deeply respected Shan Xianzi, and admitted that she was a true genius. And if she had a chance to rise again...

Pushing aside her nagging thoughts, Hei Xuanmei turned to the rest of the group. "Come, we only have a day to inflict as much damage as possible on the Qilin Clan. Madame Phoenix Empress told us that if we continue to attack past then, their Qilin Emperor and Qilin Grand Elder will be allowed to act. From the moment we ambushed Shan Xianzi, we only had this much time.

"And remember: she died to the Nine Sun's Rebirth Art. We were never here."

Nods of agreement came from the assembled attackers. While Long Aotian operated the formations Shan Xianzi had set up to return to the true Divine Realm, a metallic scent filled the air. They had bloody work to do with their remaining time.

***

Shan Xianzi slowly opened her eyes. In her last moments, the Nine Sun's Rebirth Art had succeeded, but her mortal body was destroyed. Rather than a full reincarnation, Shan Xianzi figured her soul must have reincarnated into a suitable body. Of course, if her soul could take it over, the body must have died...recently.

As Shan Xianzi felt her soul adapting to her body, the first thing he felt was intense pain. Pain that emanated from every portion of her new body. Fortunately, she quickly concluded the pain was not from burns, but from a fall. If she had to reincarnate into a body that had been burned to death, as a beautiful woman, where would she be able to cry?

Shan Xianzi quickly tried to peer into her situation, but felt like laughing a moment later. She had only just taken over from a dead person, how could she have spiritual qi? After having lived for over a thousand years with spiritual qi, it was more than a little jarring to be an ordinary mortal. Even when she lived a mortal life as training, her spiritual qi had only been sealed, not missing.

Unable to use the traditional method of inspecting her injuries, Shan Xianzi opted to use her eyes instead. Though the pain was intense, that was merely for mortals. As someone who had cultivated to the peak of the Empyrean realm, Shan Xianzi had not only been in countless fights and experienced all sorts of damage, she had her body and soul flayed piece by piece by tribulations. Comparing a few cracked bones to that torment... it was the difference between heaven and earth.

Indeed... her new arms seemed fine, but both of her legs were broken, as well as seven ribs and one of her shoulders. Overall, Shan Xianzi felt her situation could have been far worse. Not missing any limbs, and everything else could still heal. In fact, she was more interested in the state of her clothes.

Though Shan Xianzi was by no means familiar with mortal materials, she could tell that the remains of the dress she had on were quite extravagantly designed. It didn't take a genius to realize what had happened to the previous owner of the body. The young miss of a rich family was taken out while traveling due to some scheme or another, raped, and thrown in a nearby ravine.

Her new body no longer having its Primordial Yin was a problem for Shan Xianzi, but it wasn't too big of a deal. After all, it wasn't like only pure, unsullied, hypocritically virtuous fairies could advance. If that was the case, then wouldn't cultivators have died out long ago?

Other than her new body, there were several men dressed as guards at the bottom of the ravine as well. Shan Xianzi quickly scanned them for storage rings, but couldn't find anything. Though, in retrospect, even if they did have such a thing, it would have been stolen by the attackers before kicking their bodies down. Still, based on their equipment, Shan Xianzi determined they must have been mortals, which made her much happier.

If the guards were mortals, then the previous owner of this body would have been one as well. In that case, despite losing her virginity, she actually hadn't lost her Primordial Yin, because that contained the primordial essence of a woman's cultivation. It meant nothing without any qi. Furthermore, she wouldn't have to rebuild the body's meridians with her own cultivation technique, so she could cultivate with a clear mind.

Unfortunately, even with these favorable conditions, Shan Xianzi couldn't cultivate here. Surrounded by dead bodies, how could she form her foundation this way? It would be infested with their blood qi and resentment, not to mention their bodies would begin to rot, drawing maggots and flies. With such an environment, wouldn't she just puke to death?

Considering the state of her legs, Shan Xianzi opted to drag her body across the ground using her arms. However... she once again forgot something. The previous owner of this body was a pampered, rich, mortal girl. How could she have any strength? Each zhang she pulled her body through was beyond arduous for her frail body. Swiftly, her tattered dress turned into no more than scraps, and her body became covered in cuts and scrapes. (Note: 1 zhang is about 11 feet or 3.33 meters)

Arm by arm, Shan Xianzi slowly dragged herself to a small cave fifty zhang from the wreckage. If any lingering resentment or corpse qi reached her there, it would just be her bad luck. It was more important to establish her new foundation as soon as possible; there was a small stream in the middle of the ravine, but nothing to eat. Shan Xianzi's new body was still that of a mortal; that required food and drink to survive.

Ignoring the screams of protest from her body, Shan Xianzi forcefully dragged her legs into place so she could sit in the lotus position. When establishing a foundation, this was the best position, as well as for general cultivation. It compressed the meridians, and set one's center of body as the dantain.

Cultivating in the first realm, the Qi Master realm, had ten layers. Once one established a dantian for their spiritual qi, they entered the first layer, and truly became a cultivator. The next nine layers involved opening each of the Nine Primary Meridians. Connecting the nine to the dantain was the step that broke one through to the Qi Grandmaster stage, where they would have to open up the Three Major Meridians.

Even as a cultivation-obsessed princess, Shan Xianzi was completely familiar with the process. Advancing in the Empyrean realm involved strokes of enlightenment, which meant she had served many roles. During the 6th turn in that realm, she had spent fifty years as the Cultivation Master of a tiny sect on a minor world. During that time, she had helped nearly ten thousand disciples open their foundations; it could be said that thanks to that experience, Shan Xianzi was among the foremost scholars on the Qi Master realm.

Once Shan Xianzi pulled her ruined body into position, she took an incense stick's worth of time to calm her thoughts. The first major decision she had was to choose her cultivation method. Her Qilin Clan had many top-grade cultivation methods, but there were two problems with them: first, her new body would obviously not contain Qilin blood--that would be too much of a coincidence; second, those techniques could only take one as far as the 9th turn Empyrean realm, where she had been stuck before reincarnating.

Shan Xianzi did not want to waste her second life returning to the realm she was at before. The whole point of using the Nine Sun's Rebirth Art was to achieve greater things! A technique that couldn't be used to take her to the Eternal Heavens realm was pointless.

Fortunately, she did have such a technique... possibly. Despite being blindsided by her husband's betrayal, Shan Xianzi was still a nearly unrivaled heavenly genius, particularly when it came to cultivation. It was she who fixed the incomplete Nine Sun's Rebirth Art so that it could be used by her Qilin Clan. Thus, she naturally had a large number of self-created cultivation techniques, including two that could potentially take someone from foundation to the Eternal Heavens realm!

Between them, she was far more confident in the one that had been based on her clan's 81 Divine Lightning Scripture, her self-created Nine Heavens Lightning Art. The base of it was to cultivate nine tribulation lightning bolts in her body, then fuse them to reach the Eternal Heavens realm. Of course, it was only a theory, but compared to her other art that could reach that height, Shan Xianzi felt far more confident in it. Besides, the other one was named Azure Dragon Soars Through the Heavens, and was based on her ex-husband's cultivation technique--practicing it would leave a bitter taste in her mouth.

There was also another consideration. Within the lower world Shan Xianzi grew up in, she had left behind a certain inheritance. Most in the Divine Realm thought that she left behind the Qilin Mountain Sect, which was true, but that was only superficial techniques, only suitable for those at or below the Divine Sea realm. In fact, she had another secret inheritance, one which contained not just heaven-shaking cultivation techniques, but more importantly, she had left a hundred drops of her essence blood! This was essence blood from a Divine Beast at the 8th turn Empyrean realm; it could reforge her new body and make her a true Divine Beast again.

As pain wracked her body, Shan Xianzi decided to stop putting it off and just trust herself. If the cultivation technique was flawed, then it was flawed; it was more important to establish her foundation before her body weakened any more.

Taking a deep breath, Shan Xianzi began to recite the starting mantra of her new Art. It was impossible for a mortal to actively draw in the spiritual energy in the air, which is why the starting mantra of every cultivation technique was infused with the Heavenly Way, forcing that energy into the cultivator's body.

The spiritual energy in this gorge was not bad. Of course, this was only relative. When considering it was the territory of mortals, and it was remote, and the ravine did not have good feng shui, it was not bad. Compared to Shan Xianzi's old home however... Even a single blade of grass from there would have more energy than the entirety of this ravine.

However, the Art Shan Xianzi was now practicing was created by herself, a top Empyrean, and thus carried a nearly unparalleled understanding of the Heavenly Way. The spiritual energy within the ravine dried up in three breaths, coming thundering into her body. Instantly, blood began to leak from her orifices as her body was overstuffed with energy.

Calmly, she began to recite the first layer mantra of her Art. The energy in her body rapidly emptied, instead filling her dantian. Like a bottomless pit, it took all of the spiritual energy from the surrounding air and still cried out for more. Shan Xianzi wasn't worried though, as she could fill up her dantain later. For now, it was more important for her to reconnect her bones so that she could move properly.

Indeed, her foundation was established just like that. If a young Qi Master were to see it, their jaw would probably fall off. For many people, establishing a foundation took a full day of bitterly reciting their starting mantra, fighting off hunger, thirst, and tiredness to finally take the first tiny step on the road to cultivation, but Shan Xianzi did it in less time than it would take to drink a cup of tea.

However, she had a thousand years of cultivating experience. Doing something as simple as establishing a foundation was naturally as easy as turning her hand. When a normal cultivator establishes a foundation, the first thing they would do is take time to consider the new world around them, teeming with spiritual energy that they couldn't sense before. Meanwhile, Shan Xianzi dragged her broken body to lie down as flat as possible.

Spread-eagle on the ground of the cave, Shan Xianzi used the tiny amount of energy in her dantain to reconnect and fix any problems with her body. Of course, this was once again an astonishing ability. Normally, one could not forcefully reform themselves without a Qi Transforming cultivation, at least without the aid of pills or artifacts. But with Shan Xianzi's exquisite control over her qi, even a grain of sand could weigh the same as a mountain.

Within the Divine Realm, whether men or women were stronger was a constant source of debate. Men innately could store more energy within their dantains, and experienced fewer problems when encountering bottlenecks. On the other hand, women naturally had better control over their qi, and in a particular realm their qi tended to be more pure.

At lower levels of cultivation, and especially on lower worlds, this issue wasn't even in question; men were obviously stronger. Without proper teachers, the difference in control wasn't enough to bridge the gap of the amount of qi each one had. This was further exacerbated on lower worlds, where even the greatest masters were only at the Fusion Core realm; many of them didn't even know about the importance of qi control, and if they didn't know, then how could the tiny little cultivators in lower realms know?

In the Divine Realm there was more knowledge, more teachers, and higher cultivations. There was a common phrase used to describe the fights between men and women in the Divine Realm: at the peak of a realm, no man is a woman's match. At other times it came down to the person, but when it came to the peak of a realm, the difference in qi wouldn't be able to overcome the difference in skill.

Furthermore, women had a harder time breaking through bottlenecks, so at the peak of a realm, the chances were the woman had been there for longer. That meant they had used that level of strength for longer, and had a far better understanding for it.

What all this meant was Shan Xianzi knew how to use her qi to a nearly unrivaled level. Within the Divine Realm her control was at the peak, and once she reached the ninth turn in the Empyrean realm, she no longer had any opponents. To use a grain of sand as a mountain, a drop of water as an ocean, this was her true strength. Even the pathetic amount of spiritual qi in her dantain was used beyond what anyone else below the Eternal Heavens realm was capable of. To knit her broken bones back together, she used her qi like the tiniest thread, but it was no less indestructible because of its size.

Still, the process couldn't be rushed. It took half a day for Shan Xianzi to finally bring her body back into working order. Connecting her bones didn't take much effort, but repairing them was very time-consuming. Besides that, she also corrected a few other defects she found in her new body.

Finally able to stand up, Shan Xianzi felt a profound sense of freedom. Despite being schemed against by her own husband, she was still alive! For this second chance, naturally she would surpass her former self, and she would kill those that schemed against her Qilin Clan while she was at it! But how much time had passed since her death? Seconds? Years? Millennia? That caused some of her youthful passion to die down.

For now, what she could do is find some clothes and a peaceful place to begin refining the first bolt of her Nine Heavens Lightning Art.

Performing a quick bone age test on herself, Shan Xianzi found her new body to be around fourteen years old. It was rather pretty, with a rather excellent face. While it could never be ranked on the "Top Million Beauties of the Divine Realm" list that someone had made a hundred years ago, it certainly would attract gazes.

Speaking of which, Shan Xianzi had ranked 99th on that list. In truth, she didn't deserve such a rating, but as the Qilin Princess, the creator was afraid he would be killed if he ranked her any lower. Hei Xuanmei, her rival, was ranked 26th. That being said, the top 25 were all other-worldly fairies that were untainted by the mortal realm, pure and holy. Shan Xianzi hated women like that the most; she far preferred to interact with Hei Xuanmei.

Walking over to her former body's guards, Shan Xianzi found that the flies had been attracted, and the maggots had begun to do what they did. Even if she felt it was disgusting, she still picked up one of their guard's cloaks. Using a tiny wisp of her qi to kill anything on the cloak, she wrapped it around her nude form. The smell... there was nothing she could do there.

Stopping by the tiny stream to drink some water, Shan Xianzi began to look for a way to leave the ravine. Climbing could only be considered a last resort, as her current body would have great difficulty doing so. Unfortunately, after searching for a hundred zhang in each direction, she didn't find anything.

Gritting her teeth, Shan Xianzi began to climb. Wisps of spiritual qi sliced open the rock face as she went, creating footholds. Whenever she needed to climb another step, her qi would first focus on her fingertips, slicing into the well, then aid her non-existent muscles, and finally concentrate on her toes to make footholds, giving her a brief rest.

Calling it monotonous would be incorrect, as a single mistake would result in Shan Xianzi falling to her death. However, there were still benefits to the work. While her level of control couldn't go up anymore, climbing in this way allowed Shan Xianzi to fully acclimate to her new pathetic strength. Though she didn't mind the difference too much.

Only a fool would disparage the weak. The only people Shan Xianzi had no respect for were those that lost the will to continue, to grow stronger. Cultivation was like swimming against a river; the moment you stop, you are pushed backwards. Working on bottlenecks was equivalent to holding onto a rock so as not to lose your position. However, for those that lost their drive, they would never swim another zhang forward.

In an incense stick's worth of time, Shan Xianzi made it to the top of the ravine. In truth, it was barely a hundred zhang deep, yet she was still dripping with sweat after having made it to the top. Lying down, she began to pant heavily. However, throughout the whole process, she never once stopped circulating her cultivation Art. Enough drops of water form a river, and enough grains of sand form a desert, this was something Shan Xianzi understood well.

Other cultivators could only actively draw in spiritual energy while in meditation, but as with many things, Shan Xianzi was an exception to this.

At the top, Shan Xianzi found herself next to a small road. A rich scent of blood filled the air from the battle half a day ago. Taking a quick look at where the carriage tracks stopped, Shan Xianzi opted to go in the same direction her body's previous owner had been heading. If she returned to where she had been, she may be recognized.

As for this body's previous grievances... Shan Xianzi was content to let them go. There was no lingering resentment on the body when she took it over, meaning its owner had already lost all will. If she was recognized and taken action against again though, well, that was fine too. From the density of spiritual energy, Shan Xianzi believed this to be a lower world. As long as she could condense the initial stage of her first lightning bolt, she was confident that she would no longer have a match among the lower worlds. Ants at the Fusion Core realm couldn't use their qi to compensate for the difference in skill.

Shan Xianzi had to walk for a full day to find a suitable place to cultivate. After an hour, she had found the next village along the road, but her assailants would also probably pass through there. Instead, she opted to follow a small logging trail, eventually finding a tiny community at the foot of a mountain.

While walking, Shan Xianzi throttled herself a few times, leaving bruises that could have come from a large man's hands. Anyone with half a brain would realize what had happened, and that was exactly what Shan Xianzi wanted.

Upon arriving in the tiny settlement, Shan Xianzi used a few incense stick's worth of time to find a suitable target. On the edge of the community lived an old woman, and it appeared she was living alone. Against such a person, Shan Xianzi was ten parts confident in herself.

***

Hua Lin lived in her former husband's house at the edge of Green Mountain Village. No one called her Hua Lin anymore though; everyone just called her Granny. Granny herself didn't mind, because she had this name for ten years now, ever since her husband passed away. Now in her sixties, Granny was counting the days before she could follow her husband to the yellow river.

Despite being a widow, Granny still earned her keep in the village as a doctor and midwife. Even though fewer than a hundred people lived in the village, the young men didn't mind sending her some food for her services.

On this day, however, her peaceful life was changed for the first time since her husband died. Granny was sweeping some leaves off of her front porch when a young woman came stumbling up to her house. Frantically rushing forwards, Granny forgot to even drop her broom as she ran to the side of the woman.

The woman wore a thin cloak and nothing else, her legs completely exposed. Granny could see they were caked with dry blood, as were her arms. Once Granny got close, the woman seemed to lose all power, collapsing onto her. Thankfully, Granny was a woman from a mountain village, and far tougher than any pampered city girls, so she was able to catch the woman.

As she did, the woman, no, girl's, hood came off, revealing a face that couldn't be any more than fifteen years old... and bruise marks around the neck. Granny felt her blood run cold as her heart cried out in sympathy. If she were thirty years younger, she would have grabbed her husband's bow and looked for the brute that defiled a young girl like this!

Before Granny could say any soothing words, the girl lifted her head, making eye contact with Granny. A voice hoarse from exertion, sorrow, and thirst called out to her. "Help... please..."

At that point, Shan Xianzi fainted.