Holy Spirit Empire, Huo Luo City.
"No, don't, Father, please, don't do this—— Ah!!"
In the Gu family shrine, the dreadful scream of a girl resonated in everyone's ears.
Gu Qingxuan was pressed to the ground by two robust men, one of whom took out a short blade and forcefully ripped a bone-deep wound on her back. Blood gushed out instantaneously, pooling beneath her.
She writhed in pain, her consciousness fading, yet in the shrine, her father, mother, sister, and her fiancé watched her with cold, indifferent faces.
Relentlessly, the man reached into her flesh looking for the spiritual bone hidden inside her. The whole extraction process felt like torture. Eventually, when the spiritual bone was cruelly torn out, she fainted from the unbearable pain.
In the shrine, when everyone saw the spiritual bone extracted from Gu Qingxuan, radiating a brilliant red glow, they failed to hide the greediness on their faces.
The patriarch of the Gu family tremblingly took the spiritual bone, turning to a young girl leaning against a handsome young man, Gu Siyue, and said affectionately, "My dear Yue, with your sister's spiritual bone, you can not only restart your cultivation but also acquire a better talent for practice. Please, do not let us down."
Gu Siyue, with a weakly radiant smile replied, "I will surely practice hard from now on, living up to Father's hopes for acquiring this new spiritual bone for me."
Pleased by Gu Siyue's words, the patriarch of the Gu family laughed out loud, "Father knows you are a good, respectful child."
At this moment, the handsome youth next to Gu Siyue, Fang Yanyun disdainfully glanced at the unconscious Gu Qingxuan on the ground and asked, "Gu patriarch, what do you plan to do with this venomous woman?"
Seeing Fang Yanyun showing no mercy towards his former fiancée, the patron sighed in relief and stated firmly, "For someone who can harm a sibling, she cannot stay within our Gu family! From today, take away Gu Qingxuan's family name, and banish her from our family! From now on, she has nothing to do with the Gu family!"
Gu Siyue lowered her gaze, skillfully hiding the triumph in her eyes.
Gu Qingxuan was dragged out like a dead dog, thrown into a carriage, and taken to the city outskirts to be discarded at the city gate.
The crowd from Huo Luo City who heard the news started throwing rotten eggs and spoiled vegetables at Gu Qingxuan while hurling insults:
"It was her who caused Miss Gu Siyue to lose her Spirit Bone. I can't believe such an evil person exists in this world, even her own sister, she didn't spare!"
"Evil woman, redeem yourself with the rest of your life. Do not come back here again!"
"The likes of you, with a wicked heart, will face retribution from heaven!"
"Evil woman! Ungrateful wretch! Get out of Hualuo City!"
...
By the time Gu Qingxian came to her senses, it was already late at night. Thick accumulated snow mixed with grime covered her, and as she struggled to get up, she saw a beautiful girl in brocade walking up to her.
It was her sister, Gu Siyue.
Hatred immediately erupted from her eyes, but she is too weak now. Only her faint breathing proved she was still alive. Every part of her body was screaming in pain.
Gu Siyue looked down at Gu Qingxian from a high position. Seeing her awake, a wicked smile hooked up at her lips, no longer portraying the tender figure at the temple.
"Sis, you're awake. You taught me to exterminate all loopholes when dealing with problems. I think that's quite logical. So sis, how about you die for me? You love me the most, right? Certainly, you can fulfill this little wish of mine?"
With reddened eyes blurred with hatred, Gu Qingxian glared at her sister. With every last bit of her strength, she shouted hysterically, "Ingrate! Even if I become an evil spirit, I won't let you go!"
Gu Siyue smiled gently, "Sure, I'll wait for you to come for my life."
She then turned away in disdain and ordered the servant following her, "Remove her limbs, turn her into a human swine, then throw her to the dogs."
"Yes!"
The servant accepted the order, dragging Gu Qingxian deep into the forest. Drawing his sword, he cut off her limbs, then skinned and butchered her. Fresh blood gushed down, staining the snowy ground red. The scent of blood drew a pack of wild dogs nearby. They excitedly pounced on Gu Qingxian's body, relishing their feast.
The look in Gu Qingxuan's anguished face was slowly dissipating.
At the last moment of life, a tear of intense resentment rolled down from the corner of her eye.
Upon hearing the news of Gu Qingxuan's death, Gu Simoon murmured, "Bad luck," and, she and her followers went around the city to return.
Gradually, her crew dwindled into the distance, leaving only the mutilated body in the forest.
It was then, from the pitch-black sky, a sacred and dazzling golden light pierced the long night, suddenly descending on Gu Qingxuan's mutilated corpse.
Bathing in the golden light, the brittle white bones gradually fleshed out, the missing limbs returned to the body, and the missing soul bone was replaced by a divine one, bit by bit altering the body.
Originally, the wild dogs feeding on the body, as the golden light appeared, fled in fear, only to perish in the next second in the golden glow.
When Qingxuan opened her eyes, the pain on her body immediately made her frown, and the voice overflowing from her throat was shattered and hoarse.
As she was about to get up to check on her body's condition, an immature voice rang out between heaven and earth.
"Hold on a bit. Your body was dismembered and chewed on by dogs. I'm trying to piece you back together. If you move about and I accidentally put your leg on your shoulder, don't blame me."
With a heavy breath, Qingxuan struggled to squeeze out from her throat, "If you mess up, I'll twist your head off!"
"..."
Under the cover of night, a young boy in a splendid white robe appeared. His black hair was slightly curled, and his delicate features were as beautiful as a porcelain doll. His eyes were peculiar and mysterious, with black sclera and blood-red irises.
He sat in mid-air, legs crossed, arms around his chest, looking down at Qingxuan rather displeasedly.
Ignoring him, Qingxuan shut her eyes and sorted out the jumbled memories in her mind.
The body was named Gu Qingxian, the second daughter of Gu family in Hualuo City. Due to her frail physique since childhood, she was raised in the mountains until two years ago when she was brought back. However, it was to marry off to a dying man on behalf of her younger sister, Gu Siyue, to ward off his misfortune. She was even deceived by her parents, who told her that the man was her betrothed; that their engagement had been arranged since their childhood.
Gu Qingxian believed without suspicion. She was adept at medical skills and managed to pull her fiancé back from the brink of death. When he woke, he expressed his profound gratitude to her and promised to marry her when she came of age.
Later, during the spirit bone test, Gu Qingxian showed the Emperor Spirit Bone, the power second only to the Divine Spirit Bone. She overshadowed her sister, who had been recognized as the greatest prodigy of Hualuo City, and consequently received her sister's jealousy. While maintaining a close sisterly relationship, her sister gave her a chronic poison that blocked her spiritual vein and halted her cultivation progress.
Therefore, her Emperor Spirit Bone had been called into question, and her recently acclaimed prodigy title derided as a joke. She was ostracized by her family and cursed by people. Even her fiancé was fickle in his affections and transferred his love onto her younger sister.
Not long ago, Gu Siyue destroyed her own spiritual bone and framed her sister for it. But due to Gu Qingxian's high cultivation talent, she gained the favor of the Gu clan located in the Imperial City and was soon heading there to become a direct disciple, a supreme honor. Consequently, her father ordered someone to extract her Emperor Spirit Bone and transplanted it into Gu Siyue.