Rebirth of the Empress

The night was vast and dark.

Standing beneath a tree, Ye Shu toyed with the blood pill in his hand while casually changing into the unlucky fellow’s clothes. He tucked the identity token away and muttered to himself, “Whoever invented the blood-refining pill and soul-searching technique—wasn’t he a genius?”

He used to think these things were evil.

But now that he was using them himself, he realized just how convenient they were. They saved him the trouble of interrogation and even helped boost his cultivation—killing two birds with one stone.

What?

You’re worried the target’s soul might have restrictions?

Well, Ye Shu didn’t need any core secrets anyway. He skipped all of the Mo clan’s techniques and divine abilities—just needed some everyday life intelligence. Nothing too precise.

After all, this world was just a massive makeshift stage.

Like life itself—you muddle through, and that’s good enough.

The Mo clansman he had refined was named “Mo Shisan,” a member of a collateral branch of the Mo family. Unremarkable, orphaned, and only at the Nascent Soul cultivation level—he was about as ordinary as ordinary got within the Mo clan.

But outside the clan, it was a different story.

Within the Mo family, you could call Mo Shisan a nobody, but out in the Central Region, backed by the Mo clan—one of the Eight Great Hidden Families—he commanded respect! Disciples of major powers had to show him a measure of courtesy.

That was how Mo Shisan had managed to forcefully marry a widow with a child.

“Well, at least I did one good deed.”

Ye Shu swallowed the blood pill. The tiny figure on his left shoulder trembled slightly, and the blood-colored lotus platform solidified a bit more. Once he had digested the memories, he turned and swaggered toward the group of Mo disciples.

“Old Thirteen, what took you so long?”

“Don’t tell me you got so scared you crapped your pants? Hahaha!” A few Mo disciples exchanged glances and burst into laughter.

“Piss off! Your old man here is well-endowed and knows how to use it!”

Mimicking Old Thirteen’s tone, Ye Shu cursed back at them, his cold gaze sweeping over their heads.

Since cultivating the Postnatal Merit Method, he could see the luck, karma, and merit above each person’s head. This group had thin luck but heavy karma—clearly habitual bullies and oppressors. Every last one of them deserved death.

“Very good, very good.”

Ye Shu laughed inwardly as he put on a facade with them.

He had been worried about how to maintain his disguise before them.

No need now.

Once he followed them back to the Mo clan, he’d find a chance to refine all of them!

“It’s not me who’s harming you—it’s the Mo clan. By killing you, I gain merit to slay more evil men. Isn’t that helping you burn off your sins?” Ye Shu thought silently, while keeping a awkward, sheepish grin on his face.

The others, still celebrating their survival today.

Had no idea that the road home ahead was the last stretch of their lives they’d ever experience.

When they returned to the Mo clan branch, they found they weren’t the only deserters. Others had fled in all directions and come back to the clan. Only the guardian and a few disciples who’d gotten close had died—most had just been terrified out of their wits.

Seeing this, the branch elder didn’t punish them too harshly.

After all, misjudging the enemy’s strength and causing heavy losses was more his fault. So he just gave them a verbal scolding and let them go.

“Alright, alright, go rest now.”

The disciples sighed with relief and scattered.

Following the directions in his memory, Ye Shu slowly made his way toward Mo Shisan’s residence.

The courtyard wasn’t big, decorated with lanterns and streamers.

But there weren’t many people inside. The wedding banquet had long ended, leaving only a mess and a few servants cleaning up. The original owner had no parents, so Ye Shu didn’t have to bother with any “family.”

He entered the house and headed straight for the bridal chamber.

On the way, he changed out of his clothes and put on the bright red wedding robe Liu Ruyi had sewn for him.

A marriage, after all, should look like one.

The bridal chamber was awash in red. The wedding candles still burned, casting a warm glow across the room. A woman in a red wedding gown sat by the bed, head lowered, her face obscured.

Hearing the door open, her hands, folded on her lap, tightened slightly.

Ye Shu searched his memory for information about this woman—Jiang Xin. The daughter of a minor family in the Central Region, she had become pregnant out of wedlock at eighteen. Before anyone knew it, she suddenly gave birth to a baby girl. The Jiang family was furious but couldn’t find a trace of the man responsible—as if the child had appeared out of thin air.

The Jiangs had no choice but to swallow their pride and accept it.

Later, Mo Shisan passed through the Jiang family, saw Jiang Xin’s exceptional beauty, and used the Mo clan’s name to force the Jiangs to marry her to him.

The Jiangs, too afraid to offend the Mo clan, had no choice but to agree.

A very cliché story.

Too bad Mo Shisan never got to taste this beautiful young widow’s charms before Ye Shu intercepted him and took his place.

Now, she was his gain.

Ye Shu walked up to Jiang Xin, reached out, and gently lifted the red veil.

Beneath it was a face that stunned heaven and man.

Eyebrows like paintings, lips like flames, skin like congealed fat—she lowered her head, her eyelashes fluttering like a butterfly’s. The woman slowly raised her head, revealing a pair of eyes clear as water.

Nothing short of breathtaking!

Even Ye Shu was taken aback for a moment.

No wonder Mo Shisan had gone to such lengths to force marry this woman, even though she had a child.

Unexpectedly, Jiang Xin didn’t act like the heroines in novels—she didn’t cry or plead, nor did she swear to die rather than submit. Instead, she gazed at him calmly, as if she had accepted her fate.

While Ye Shu was observing Jiang Xin,

Jiang Xin was observing him as well.

She coldly looked at the man who had lifted her veil, sneering inwardly.

This lust-driven fool had no idea who he was messing with!

The woman sitting before him in her red wedding gown was none other than the Nine Nether Empress of the ancient era—Jiang Yue!

Due to a catastrophe, she had been forced into reincarnation, taking residence in the womb of the Jiang family matriarch to be reborn. In this life, she was called Jiang Xin, but she had long awakened her past life’s memories. In secret, she cultivated, waiting only for the right moment to ascend to her former peak.

And this fool Mo Shisan dared to force marry her!

If she weren’t indebted to the Jiang family’s karma—fearing that killing Mo Shisan would anger the Mo clan, causing them to purge the Jiang family, whose strongest was only at the Divine Transformation realm—she would have already smacked that insolent idiot to death!

“Kid, enjoy it while you can!”

Jiang Xin sneered to herself, “You’re the first man across all history to make me, the Nine Nether Demoness, put on a wedding gown!”

As the former Nine Nether Empress,

She had at least thirty thousand ways to kill Mo Shisan. The only reason she hadn’t acted was that she didn’t want to stir up trouble. And now, with no one around and Mo Shisan just returned, tired both physically and mentally—this was the perfect moment to strike!

Though her current cultivation was only at the Nascent Soul realm,

She had countless secret techniques at her fingertips. In her previous life, she had specialized in soul arts. Compared to hers, the Mo clan’s soul techniques were as crude as children’s games.

She would utterly annihilate the soul of the man before her.

Then, using a secret technique, he refined Mo Shisan's body into a puppet. Under his identity, he could safely continue cultivating within the Mo clan, one by one turning everyone in the Mo family into puppets! Finally, he would ascend to immortality!

"Heh heh..."

Lost in his thoughts, Jiang Xin couldn't help but curl the corners of her mouth into a cruel smile, staring coldly at Ye Shu before her.

This brat had no idea what kind of existence he had provoked for the Mo clan!

From Ye Shu's perspective, it was a completely different story. He looked at the woman before him, who wasn't afraid at all but instead started giggling foolishly, and felt something was off.

Was this chick perhaps an idiot?

Forced into marriage, she neither cried nor made a fuss—instead, she could still laugh?

Could it be that those two were actually truly in love?

Ye Shu muttered to himself in confusion, turned around, and walked toward the table to fetch the nuptial wine from its surface.

Just as he turned his head!

Behind him, Jiang Xin suddenly struck. Her once clear eyes turned into an eerie purple, and in her pupils, it was as if two flames from the Nine Nether were blazing.

Two streaks of purple light shot out from her eyes, viciously surging toward the back of Ye Shu's head, aiming for the Sea of Consciousness.