Chapter 1 The Return of the Imperial Advisor
At the foot of Broken Soul Ridge, Lu Yao's soul was sealed for a thousand years.
The decaying vermilion coffin, eroded by the passage of time, finally loosened slightly, cracking open a crack.
The soul that had been trapped for a thousand years suddenly trembled, and Lu Yao was startled awake from her slumber, as if the burning pain from severing her immortal bones still lingered on her body.
Her spirit, like a kite with a broken string, drifted into the sky, looking down at the jagged peaks below.
The painful memories of being betrayed, murdered, and having his soul extracted and suppressed surged into his mind in an instant.
A thousand years ago, Lu Yao, the Imperial Preceptor, sacrificed himself by kneeling on the Rain Prayer Platform, breaking through thirty-six blue bricks, exchanging the cost of his immortal bones for the sweet rain that nourished the world.
After the natural disaster ended, she was extremely weak on her way back to the capital. She was tricked by the Seventh Prince Xiao Yuanxiu, and her biological father Lu Xuan used the Broken Immortal Hairpin to pierce her dantian and used a vicious curse connected by blood to suppress her under the Broken Soul Ridge.
Their reason for killing her was simple: Xiao Yuanxiu wanted to inherit the throne, but the Imperial Advisor Lu Yao said that the Ninth Prince was the best candidate.
As for Lu Xuan, Xiao Yuanxiu promised him a hereditary title and also pledged to make a daughter of the Lu family his empress, guaranteeing the Lu family's continued wealth and prosperity.
Lu Yao was an obstacle for them, even though she had just saved the world.
Nine human-shaped stone tablets on the mountainside of Broken Soul Ridge form the Big Dipper Array, with bronze chains extending from their bases, piercing through the mountain and connecting to an underground coffin, ensuring she would never be reborn.
She once wished she could tear them to pieces.
But now, a thousand years have passed.
Those enemies, Xiao Yuanxiu, Lu Xuan, and others, their physical bodies have long since turned into dust of history, leaving not even ashes.
Only her soul endured a thousand years of suffering under the Soul-Suppressing Bell.
Thinking of this, Lu Yao's hatred gradually turned into melancholy.
In a daze, the soul was drawn by an inexplicable force and drifted toward the brightly lit modern city.
The steel box whizzed past on the flat road.
Lu Yao observed them curiously for a long time before confirming that these objects, like the carriages of her time, had wheels and were used for transportation and travel, only they were much faster than she could have imagined.
As Lu Yao marveled at the changes over the past thousand years, she drifted into a tall, square, gray-white building.
A lone person sat by the open window of the building.
The moment that face came into view, Lu Yao shuddered.
That was her face.
His dark almond-shaped eyes were lowered, and his once insightful gaze was now unfocused and lifeless.
The slight downward curve of her eyes was exactly the same, and the cinnabar mole was still in the same place, standing out against her pale skin.
Even the natural downward curve of their lips is exactly the same.
She had gazed at this face in the bronze mirror countless times.
"this……"
She was still a spirit, while the woman inside the window who looked exactly like her was a living person.
However, the face that should have looked exactly like hers now appeared sickly and withered.
The veins beneath his skin spread like a spider web, his lips were so pale they were almost invisible, and his whole being was like a lamp about to burn out, so faint that it was almost impossible to see the light.
Only a wisp of broken spirit remained in this body.
The two souls and seven spirits have vanished without a trace.
No wonder... no wonder this person's eyes were empty and his expression was blank, like a shell whose soul had been taken away.
Lu Yao stared intently at that face, memories surging within her.
A thousand years ago, at the last moment when she was suppressed by the nine Soul-Suppressing Steles, she exhausted all her cultivation and forcibly tore her soul apart, sending a wisp of her soul into reincarnation.
That was the last glimmer of hope she had left for herself.
But later, she completely lost contact with that wisp of soul and could not find any trace of it again.
Until this moment.
Until she drifted here and saw it with her own eyes—
Her remaining soul, in this unfamiliar era, became another person.
A... mentally challenged child whose soul is incomplete.
Deep within his consciousness, the remnant soul that had been dormant for a thousand years suddenly trembled, emitting a faint yet rapid resonance.
This is in response to this reunion that transcends time and space.
Lu Yao's lips curled up slightly, revealing a long-lost smile.
She slowly closed her eyes, allowing herself to merge with the remaining soul within that body.
After a thousand years of separation, they have finally achieved a happy ending.
In the air of the 21st century, Lu Yao reopened the eyes that had once glimpsed the secrets of heaven.
In an instant, his previously empty and dull gaze became sharp as a sword drawn from its sheath, revealing its full power.
His eyes, as if a galaxy were flowing within them, were deep and bright.
However, this body has suffered from long-term torment, with sunken cheeks and a pale complexion, making it difficult to recover in the short term.
At the same time, memories belonging to this life surged forth like a flood breaking through a dam—
It turns out that this body, containing only a wisp of spirit, was born into the illustrious Lu family.
Lu Jianhong and Xie Yutong are a perfect couple. One comes from a family with a financial background, and the other comes from a prestigious academic family. Their lives are so smooth that they are the envy of many.
When Xie Yutong became pregnant, the couple searched through countless books of poetry and finally chose the character "窈" (yao) as her name—"窈窕淑女，君子好逑" (Yao tiao shu nu, jun zi hao qiu), expressing their endless expectations for their precious daughter.
However, fate played the cruelest joke on them.
There was no baby crying, no instinctive sucking, and not even pain stimuli elicited the slightest response.
"Severe autism accompanied by intellectual disability."
The doctor's diagnosis was like a verdict, and Lu Jianhong and Xie Yutong felt as if they had been nailed to a pillar of shame.
They cannot accept this!
How could the union of two elites produce such a flawed product?
For the first three years, they frantically took their daughter to seek medical treatment from one doctor to another.
But Lu Yao remained like a delicate doll, never laughing or making a fuss.
This mentally challenged daughter is like an ugly scar on their otherwise perfect life.
They weren't seeking medical help for their daughter; they were struggling with their own shattered dignity.
Xie Yutong began to instinctively avoid contact with her daughter.
At Lu Jianhong's business banquet, when his colleagues boasted about their own child prodigies, he could only awkwardly change the subject.
One morning, Xie Yutong dry heaved in the bathroom.
The two red lines on the pregnancy test became their lifeline.
This time, in order to avoid a repeat of the tragedy, Xie Yutong devoted all her energy to nurturing her pregnancy.
Lu Yao, on the other hand, was sent to her maternal grandmother's house.
Firstly, Xie Yutong and Lu Jianhong simply didn't have the energy to take care of her; secondly, they always felt that it was unlucky for Lu Yao to stay at home, fearing it would affect the fetus in her womb.
Lu Yao's maternal grandmother was a talented woman from a scholarly family.
She was of a peaceful nature. Her relationship with Lu Yao's maternal grandfather broke down early in her life, and they had been separated for many years. She lived a secluded life in the quiet and elegant Jinglanshan, leading a pastoral life and not caring about worldly affairs.
Faced with the arrival of this simple-minded granddaughter, the grandmother simply sighed softly and treated her like a kitten or puppy that didn't understand human nature, taking meticulous care of her.
Ten months later, Xie Yutong gave birth to her second daughter, named Kang Ning.
This time, all they hoped for was that the child could live a healthy and peaceful life.
Fortunately, Lu Kangning was a healthy child, born with exquisite features, like a lovely little angel.
She is clever and quick-witted. She can call out "Dad" and "Mom" in a sweet, childlike voice. She can act cute and run into her parents' arms. These simple actions can make Lu Jianhong and Xie Yutong cry tears of joy.
Since then, Lu Jianhong and Xie Yutong seemed to have tacitly forgotten Lu Yao's existence and never mentioned taking her home again.
Lu Yao spent her peaceful childhood in the countryside under her grandmother's care.
Life here is peaceful and simple. Although she is mentally challenged and doesn't understand the ways of the world, she enjoys this environment.
Until she was seventeen, a year ago, her maternal grandmother passed away.
Lu Jianhong and Xie Yutong were then forced to confront the fact that they had an older daughter who needed to be taken care of.
But over the years, they have regarded Lu Kangning as their only precious daughter, and the acquaintances around them all thought that Lu Kangning was the only daughter of the Lu family. The current situation is really awkward.
After some discussion, Lu Yao was secretly sent to this mental hospital.
Here, she became the quietest patient.
They don't make a fuss, they don't make demands, they just sit by the window day after day, staring blankly into the distance.
Until that soul from a thousand years ago awakens and returns.
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