When she opened her eyes again, the world was bathed in a glaring hue of red. Red curtains, red sheets, a pair of burning red candles, joyous red characters pasted prominently on the windows and doors. Gu Qingxi furrowed her brows slightly, lowering her gaze to inspect her attire.
A phoenix crown and a wedding veil?
The bridal chamber?
Hadn't she died? Why was she in a wedding room, dressed as a bride?
“How does it feel? The bridal chamber, the groom is vital as ever, he could sate you just enough before you shrivel up. Are you excited?” A malicious female voice whispered into her ear.
The following moment, her face was enveloped by a bone-chilling cold. Lifting her gaze slightly, there was a girl with a distorted smile holding onto a dagger gleaming with deadly chill, pressing it next to Gu Qingxi's face. Her eyes were filled with malevolence, yet there was an air of depraved pleasure.
What was going on?
Gu Qingxi made the startling discovery that she was unable to move her body.
Was she drugged?
The bridal night, the drugged bride, a mad woman brandishing a dagger— none of this was a good sign.
Before she could ponder further, an agonizing headache hit her, and a flood of unfamiliar memories washed over her.
Then she finally understood what was happening. She had indeed died, but she was alive again. She had reincarnated as a girl with the same name as her. But, this girl was pitiful.
The girl brandishing the dagger was called Gu Wenlian, Gu Qingxi's older sister. Gu Qingxi's mother passed away under peculiar circumstances when she was young, and the head of the Gu family remarried, to Gu Wenlian's mother. The head of Gu family treated Gu Wenlian, his step-daughter, as his own, yet increasingly harsh towards his own daughter Gu Qingxi.
Gu Qingxi's life took a downturn, not only did she lose all resources for cultivation, even her daily necessities were pointedly inferior compared to a servant's. Gu Wenlian often bullied and humiliated her. Gu Qingxi, once a pampered young miss, had fallen to being a pitiable figure whom everyone could bully, her wounds never had the chance to heal.
The family head's hostility towards Gu Qingxi grew, he would curse at, berate and sometimes even physically abuse her. His blatant hatred further empowered Gu Wenlian and the other members of the family to torment Gu Qingxi unabashedly.
The bride that was supposed to get married today should have been Gu Wenlian. This was because her qualifications were somewhat higher than Gu Qingxue's. Therefore, a sect elder had initially set his sights on Gu Wenlian. However, it wasn't to make her his Dao companion, but rather his cultivation vessel. The decline of the Gu family, and the stagnation of their Patriarch's cultivation, caused him to agree without any hesitation. He offered his beloved daughter to the elder to be his cultivation furnace.
When Gu Qingxue thought about this, she snorted in her heart. Cultivation vessels were despicable, a method of absorbing others' cultivation for one's own benefit, a practice that was utterly disgraceful. The righteous elder was clearly aware of this, so he masked it with a sham wedding ceremony.
Engaging in nefarious deeds while preserving appearances — this very phrase epitomized such people.
However, what the elder and the Gu family Patriarch hadn't anticipated was that the audacious Gu Wenlian had kidnapped Gu Qingxue to stand in her stead. Gu Qingxue was often subjected to Gu Wenlian's humiliations and torments, and Gu Wenlian believed that even if the sect elder discovered the switch of brides, he wouldn't object too much due to Gu Qingxue’s beauty, despite her inferior cultivation.
"Gu Qingxue, you waste! Go die! I'm the only true young lady of the Gu family!" Gu Wenlian lowered her head, getting close to Gu Qingxue's ear, speaking word by word. The term 'young lady' was forever Gu Wenlian's heartache. Gu Qingxue's mother was the legitimate wife, and her mother was the concubine. As long as Gu Qingxue was alive, she would be the real young lady of the Gu family, even if she was powerless.
Gu Qingxue didn't panic. Instead, she calmly sorted out relevant information from her memories.
"Young Miss, you're awake." Just then, an old and hoarse voice echoed in Gu Qingxue's mind, its tone laced with profound sorrow.
"Who are you? Where are you?" A sudden disembodied voice out of nowhere startled Gu Qingxue. But judging from Gu Wenlian's demeanor, she wasn't aware of it, indicating only Gu Qingxue could hear it.
"Who I am doesn't matter. I'm in your bracelet. Right now, you only need to know that your priority is to free yourself, or else you'd be in danger," the aged voice continued.
Bracelet?! Glancing down at her wrist, the simple yet elegant bracelet she had worn since childhood remained. It had been transported with her? Could her reincarnation be related to this bracelet? Gu Qingxue had an intuition about this.
The bracelet was a family heirloom passed down by the Gu family. The Gu family was complex, the number one family within the mystic field. Post-apocalypse, Gu Qingxue unintentionally dripped blood onto her bracelet, and she found out it stored objects once it recognized her as its master. However, she'd later sacrificed herself to save a group of national talents from advanced zombies.
Then she woke up as a different Gu Qingxue.
However, the bracelet could only hold non-living items. As for the voice that had just spoken, who was it and how did they end up in her bracelet?
"Young Miss, escape quickly or you'll only be waiting for death." The old voice seemed to sound more urgent.
"I can't move. It must be a basic restrictive spell," Gu Qingxue frowned slightly. After sorting out useful bits of memory, she had noticed she hadn't been drugged, but was restricted by a simple binding spell. But she remained calm. The spiritual energy in this world is so dense! As long as she circulated a bit of her spiritual power, she could break free.
"This is easy!" the aged voice was full of confidence.
Without uttering another word, Gu Qingxi began furiously absorbing spiritual power. She had understood long ago that she could only rely on herself. From her memory, she knew this world was one where cultivation was reality! No wonder the spiritual power was so dense, it was worlds apart from the sparse spiritual energy of the apocalypse.
Her exchange with the voice was but for a brief moment. Gu Wenlian was still hurling insults and ridiculing Gu Qingxi: "You waste, Gu Qingxi, you better prepare to enjoy your wedding night."
Gu Qingxi maintained her composure, feeling that she could now break free from her constraints. However, at that moment, a surge of heat flowed from the bracelet on her wrist, spreading throughout her body. An immediate light feeling enveloped her body, and with a slight movement of her fingers, the constraints had vanished!
Did the person in the bracelet help her? Gu Qingxi glanced at the bracelet on her wrist without letting any emotions show.
"Do you know?" Gu Qingxi finally spoke, her voice soft.
"Know what?" Gu Wenlian was taken aback.
Without replying, Gu Qingxi merely wore a silent smile. Her breathtakingly beautiful face bloomed with an entrancing smile, like a beguiling flower from the other shore, leaving one entirely captivated.