Rebirth

Yuan Ming slowly opened his eyes, and what he saw was a dilapidated temple - the moonlight poured into the temple, illuminating the broken pieces on the ground, the spider webs and dust all over the room, and the faint squeaking of mice.

A familiar feeling came over him. Just as Yuan Ming was about to move, he felt a sharp pain in his left ankle. Even this pain was so familiar.

Yuan Ming endured the pain and crawled to the moonlight. The silvery moonlight allowed her to see herself clearly. She was now in tattered clothes, disheveled, and covered in mud and muddy water. She was so dirty that she could not be recognized as a human. Yuan Ming's heart skipped a beat, and then she wailed in pain. This scene was so similar to the memory of exile she had buried deep in her heart, a nightmare that she would never be able to escape for the rest of her life.

On the way to exile, Yuan Ming was severely beaten by Yuan Zi's men. Before he was beaten to death, Yuan Ming seized the moment when the guard was careless and tried his best to jump from the prison car into the steep hillside, rolling from the mountainside to the bottom of the mountain. Thanks to his strong luck, Yuan Ming saved his life, but his ankle was dislocated and the pain was unbearable.

The sky was not kind and it began to rain heavily. Yuan Ming climbed into the dilapidated temple with extraordinary perseverance and then fainted.

After waking up, Yuan Ming found a group of beggars gathered around him. They looked at Yuan Ming and muttered, "Is this a woman?"

A beggar retorted: "Why, are you attracted to him? This man is covered in wounds and boils, and you are not afraid of getting sick and going to see the King of Hell."

Upon hearing this, the other beggars abandoned their thoughts and went to the side, where they built a fire and let the rats gnaw at Yuan Ming's flesh and blood. They laughed and chatted, throwing stones at him, as if bullying those weaker than themselves was a great pleasure. Before they left, they even spat at Yuan Ming and kicked him in anger, laughing heartily at his painful groans.

Yuan Ming didn't die in the end. She lay in a dark corner like a pile of rotting meat, until a girl in coarse clothes gently turned Yuan Ming's body over and applied medicine and acupuncture to her, muttering to herself: "One prick, and the pain will go away."

The girl's acupuncture technique was very steady, and just as she said, with one prick, the pain disappeared. The girl examined Yuan Ming's body and comforted him, "My master is a famous traveling doctor, and I've been studying medicine with him. Your wound looks serious at first glance, but in my opinion, it hasn't damaged the root cause yet. If you treat it soon, even the scar can be eliminated."

The little girl's name was Rulan, and she was adopted by a miraculous doctor who saved lives. After the doctor's death, Rulan traveled the world alone. As a woman with no way to protect herself, she spent most of her time wandering in the mountains, living a secluded life.

In her previous life, she passed by a dilapidated temple and saw Yuan Ming injured. She wanted to go forward to treat him, but the beggars came to the dilapidated temple to shelter from the rain. Rulan did not dare to show up, so she could only hide outside the dilapidated temple and wait for the beggars to leave.

At this point, Yuan Ming should have escaped the den of danger and gotten a chance to breathe. But fate did not allow Yuan Ming to have his wish come true. A sudden downpour caused a landslide, blocking Rulan's way home. The heavy rain also drove the beggars back. Rulan was unable to escape and died in agony after suffering torture.

Yuan Ming, with his wounds all over his body, turned a disaster into a blessing and was only severely beaten by the beggars. However, the tragic death of his savior made Yuan Ming extremely heartbroken, and tears silently wet his face.

Many years later, Yuan Ming, who became the empress, ordered the slaughter of all the beggars in this place, leaving no one alive.

…

After waking up, Yuan Ming could hear the sound of water droplets dripping on the leaves outside the temple. She propped herself up and looked around.

Although the moon was out, it was clear that the rain had only just stopped. Mixed in with the sound of raindrops were the chaotic clatter of footsteps. Just this alone brought a moment of clarity to Yuan Ming's chaotic mind. She was now certain that the strange and supernatural event had truly happened to her—she had been reborn.

After the intense pain, there was a furious murderous intent. Yuan Ming looked at his dislocated ankle, gritted his teeth, and with a click, it was successfully reset.

She stood up trembling, her skin torn and flesh ripped apart, pain radiating from every corner of her body into her head. Most people would have fainted from the pain by now, but Yuan Ming didn't make a sound. Pain had been with her for the rest of her life, so she could endure it more than most. After all, she had tasted death, so what else could she not endure?

Yuan Ming stared at the direction where the footsteps came from and picked up a longboard that was convenient for him from the ground.

In her past life, she often heard people say that an evil spirit lived in her heart and that her eyes were the embodiment of that evil spirit. This statement was biased, because if those people saw Yuan Ming's eyes at this moment, they would know that this was the true look of an evil spirit - without emotion, without warmth, only the desire to kill.

When the beggars from their previous lives entered the dilapidated temple, they immediately saw Yuan Ming, who looked like a ghost in the moonlight. The timid beggars cried out in fear, "There's a ghost!"

The brave beggar kicked the man who was making a fuss, pointed at Yuan Ming's face and said, "It's a woman. If it's a ghost, it's a female ghost. Maybe she's pretending. There are so many men like us, how can we be afraid of a woman?"

As soon as the words fell, Yuan Ming slammed the beggar to the ground with a wooden board, instantly knocking him unconscious. Yuan Ming didn't say a word, didn't even blink, but his hands moved cleanly and neatly. While the others were stunned, he hit the beggar several times, breaking several of his teeth.

The beggar, with blood all over his mouth, pulled out a rusty kitchen knife from his tattered clothes. He probably picked it up from a butcher who was killing pigs. However, his head was almost smashed by Yuan Ming, and he couldn't hold the kitchen knife at all. Instead, he handed Yuan Ming a handy weapon.

Yuan Ming quickly grabbed the kitchen knife and stabbed the fallen beggar. The beggar's blood sprayed onto Yuan Ming's face. Her pale skin and bright red blood made her look extremely charming.

Yuan Ming turned his head expressionlessly and looked at the other beggars. In an instant, the beggars scattered like birds and beasts, and those who did not react in time were slashed in the neck by Yuan Ming's knife.

On the first night of his rebirth, Yuan Ming killed his enemy and avenged Rulan.

When Yuan Ming regained consciousness from her frenzy, she found four or five disembodied heads at her feet, and she herself was covered in blood, as if she had waded through a pool of blood. Her numb senses returned as she regained consciousness, the pungent smell of blood flooding her nostrils, and the pain washed over her, making it difficult for her to hold the knife.

As the kitchen knife fell to the ground, a girl not far away accidentally made a sound and covered her mouth in fear, but Yuan Ming had already discovered her.

"I know you're there." Yuan Ming said weakly, "I won't hurt you."

Rulan then stuck her head out of the ruined temple and saw Yuan Ming covered in blood, and she exclaimed again.

Yuan Ming forced a smile, his eyes softening as he said, "Nice to meet you again..."

After saying this, Yuan Ming's body reached its limit and he fell to the ground without any warning, merging with the blood on the ground.

…

The sound of thunder woke Yuan Ming. Outside, a violent storm was raging, yet Yuan Ming felt a deep sense of peace, a tranquility she hadn't felt in eight hundred years. She clung to this feeling, as if all her suffering had finally come to an end.

Rulan walked into the dilapidated temple. She was wet all over, like a drowned rat. When she saw Yuan Ming wake up, she trembled slightly, as if she was a little afraid of Yuan Ming.

Yuan Ming's eyes moved slightly, and there was a gentleness in them that could drown someone, which was completely different from the look in her eyes when she was killing people. She called softly, "Come here."

Rulan approached reluctantly, but when she was five steps away from Yuan Ming, she dared not move forward any further.

Yuan Ming smiled and said, "Do you think I can hurt you now?"

Yuan Ming lay flat on the ground, her black hair spread all over the floor, her body covered in congealed blood. Her stunning face made her look both gorgeous and pitiful, like a white swan with broken wings.

Rulan bravely pointed at the head in the corner and said in a trembling voice, "You killed five people. Do you have any deep hatred with them?"

Yuan Ming answered frankly, "Yes, I wish I could cut their flesh and dig out their hearts to avenge the tragic death of my savior."

These beggars formed a large gang, often begging on the streets and occasionally robbing houses. It was said that a merchant's mansion was robbed of all its gold, silver, and jewelry, and the merchant's young daughter was also abducted. In this remote place, the government was far away and the merchant had no choice but to pay someone to find out where his daughter was.

After a long search, someone finally found the little girl, a decrepit creature, in a gathering place for beggars. No more than seven or eight years old, she was bright and lovely, with fair skin. But when she was found, her eyes were vacant, her clothes were tattered, and there was not a single spot on her body that was in good condition. The merchant wept bitterly and took his daughter home, but a few days later, the little girl passed away.

The beggars' notoriety spread, and the merchant considered revenge, but the barefoot feared the shod. Beggars were already miserable, gathering in groups of two or three, living in a muddle. If they had managed to break into the merchant's mansion and abduct his daughter, they would do it again. Furthermore, the beggars were numerous, and if they couldn't be completely eliminated, retaliation was inevitable. If the merchant wanted to continue living, he had no choice but to move his family away from this sad place.

Rulan is not a fool. She would not think that Yuan Ming is also an unforgivable person just because she saw Yuan Ming killing a bad guy. Otherwise, she would not have rescued Yuan Ming while she was unconscious.

But... the scene of Yuan Ming killing someone flashed through Rulan's mind, making her heart tremble.

Yuan Ming turned her body slightly, and the severe pain forced her to make a sound. Rulan, a kind-hearted doctor, rushed forward and gave Yuan Ming acupuncture to relieve the pain.

Rulan sighed, "Your injuries are severe, but they can be healed. However, the pain in your body is nothing compared to the pain in your heart. Your spirit fluctuates, sometimes weak and sometimes excited. Especially... when you were killing people, you were completely delirious, not even blinking. You were completely in a state of madness. This was extremely dangerous. If some beggars hadn't run away quickly, you would have continued your madness until your body couldn't bear it anymore and you died."

After saying this, she wiped the blood off Yuan Ming's face with a handkerchief and said after careful consideration, "If you trust me, take the prescription I give you. I can't guarantee a cure, but it will definitely provide relief."

Yuan Ming listened silently, knowing Rulan's point. Throughout Yuan Ming's career as a powerful tyrant, she would occasionally feel like a wandering soul abandoned by her body, floating in the air, watching her mad self on the throne, feeling unfamiliar.

Yuan Ming suddenly realized that during those years of lonely struggle, she had been ill. It was just that no one was willing to treat her at the time, and she herself didn't want to either. A broken heart in a broken body, wasn't that a perfect match?

But when this innocent-looking young doctor said he would save her, Yuan Ming's broken heart seemed to be mended. Yuan Ming had lived for most of her life, the beauty of her childhood had long since vanished, and could not be found, but the pain followed her like a shadow, unable to be shaken off.

Amidst the lightning and thunder outside the temple, Yuan Ming smiled brightly. She gently held Rulan's hand, as if saying to Rulan, or to herself: "It's great to live again..."