Chapter 1

    "Miss, Miss!"

    "Please wake up quickly, Miss! Hurry!" A woman's anxious and hoarse voice entered the ears of Ruo Lan, not only that but her rough hands also tried to shake Ruo Lan until she felt dizzy.

    Ruo Lan slowly opened her eyes in confusion, but before she could speak, she was pulled and dragged along as if she were a kite with a broken string.

    "Miss, the Hu Li bandits are bullying the young master and the master again. We need to hide in the garden quickly, Miss. If they come this way, we are doomed," the voice was more anxious and trembling, making it heart-wrenching.

    Ruo Lan, who was pulled to run, was still dazed and confused. It took her a while to realize that she was no longer in a small rental room in the heart of the capital but struggling to survive in a bizarre and peculiar world. Although she had somewhat come to terms with her situation, she still wished that the events unfolding before her were just a vivid nightmare.

    Three days ago, she woke up in the body of Ruo Lan, the daughter of a disabled former general in the Yue Region. General Shen used to be a significant general of the Yue Region, a valiant man on the battlefield, protecting many people. However, after being injured on the battlefield, he was pressured by the Ming family to leave and disown his family name, living a life like a wild beast outside the city walls.

    "Miss, the Hu Li bandits have spiritual power. The master might lose all the potatoes he managed to gather yesterday," said the woman as they reached a mound of earth, hiding behind it while she whispered shakily.

    This place could hardly be called a garden; it was more like a patch of dry, brown-black earth and stones, devoid of any trees or grass.

    This strange world had many rules that made Ruo Lan feel that life here was harder than in her original world because it was so arid. Plants couldn't grow on the soil without spiritual power, and if the soil lacked spiritual power, plants had to be nourished by human spiritual power instead. Therefore, this was a limitation on food for humans. Without plants, there would be no food, and without food, how could humans survive?

    In the Yue Region, only a few areas had enough spiritual power to cultivate crops, but those areas were exceedingly scarce. Most of the land with spiritual power was occupied by various powers within the Region. The little that remained was desperately fought over by starving people. If lucky, one might dig up a small yam to sustain life, like yesterday when Ruo Lan was fortunate to find a large sweet potato.

    Yet, the world wasn't entirely cruel. In the Yue Region, there were several mountains with dense spiritual power. However, these places were inhabited by demonic beasts. If humans wanted to compete for food there and weren't strong enough, they would become food for the demonic beasts instead. Hence, entering the forest was only for those with strong fists.

    In the Yue Region, few people had enough spiritual power, and even fewer had enough to venture deep into the forest, making it a heartbreakingly rare occurrence. If lucky, one might kill a demonic beast and obtain its spirit core and valuable items from the forest. But if unlucky, it was akin to throwing one's life away in the forest. Thus, entering the forest was a dangerous endeavor that ordinary people couldn't undertake, only managing to forage around the forest edges for vegetables or tubers to survive.

    Before General Shen was injured, he was one of the few people who could venture deep into the forest. Now, however, he had become a worthless person.

    Ruo Lan sighed heavily, pinched her arm hard, and then had to take a deep breath when it hurt. Why couldn't she wake up from this?

    "Miss, let's hide behind this rock for now. We can go out and check once the Hu Li bandits have left," Ruo Lan was pulled to hide behind a large boulder.

    However, in her heart, she still wanted to go out and help the father and brother of this body's owner. Yet, she was just a weak woman, without even a trace of spiritual power in her body, how could she fight against the Hu Li bandits? Instead of being of any help, she would only be a burden, or worse, she could be captured and sold into a brothel.

    The Hu Li bandits were local thugs living outside the city walls, a small influential group that banded together to bully the defenseless villagers. In the past, such low-spiritual-power Hu Li bandits would not have been a match for General Shen. But now, in these fallen times, even street thugs could stand tall above them.

    All Ruo Lan could do was feel pity for herself. She wanted to return to her original world, but how could she do it?

    Ruo Lan crouched behind a boulder, her ears perked to the tumultuous noise coming from the front of the house, her heart heavy with dismay.

    Just then, the bright sky above, where the sunlight was scorching, suddenly clouded over with dark clouds. Ruo Lan paused and looked up at the sky, puzzled. Before she could do anything, a loud "Bang!" rang through her ears.

    Instantly, her ears rang, and the ground shook as if the whole world was collapsing in front of her. Her entire body went numb; in a breath's time, Ruo Lan felt an enormous amount of electrical current passing through her body. Her limbs ached and numbed, time seemed to freeze for a moment, and then a sudden burning pain flared in her chest, her breath almost slipping away.

    Was she about to return to her original world? That would be great. That was all she could think before consciousness slipped away from her.

    Ruo Lan did not know how long she had been unconscious, but now she felt as if her body was falling apart, aching in every pore. What had happened to this body?

    "Miss, are you awake? Have some water," she was propped up to sit by the person who had called her "Miss" earlier and was offered a cup of cool water to her lips. Ruo Lan reluctantly gulped down the water to refresh herself before revisiting the events that had occurred earlier.

    She had transmigrated into the body of Ruo Lan, the daughter of a now-disabled former general, living in a house outside the capital's city walls. Yesterday, she had gone to the forest edge to find food to sustain her disabled father's life and was fortunate to find a sweet potato. However, thugs invaded their home, she ran to hide at the back of the house but was nearly killed by a lightning strike. Why hadn't she died? She would have returned to her original world, not having to live in this bizarre world, unsure of when she might starve to death.

    "Miss, how are you feeling? You suddenly fainted from the heat yesterday. I was so worried."

    "Heatstroke?" Ruo Lan turned sharply to look at the thin maid. She had indeed been struck by lightning yesterday, but why was it considered heatstroke?

    "Yes, Miss. You must have been very tired, hadn't eaten anything, so you fainted. Please bear with it a little longer, Miss. I will go to the forest edge for a while, maybe I'll be lucky to find a potato. The government will distribute food again in one more day. Just hang on a little longer," the maid kept talking, but Ruo Lan was hardly listening. She had been struck by lightning, not hallucinating from hunger.

    "Go ahead, I want to rest alone for a while," she dismissed, wanting to be alone with her thoughts for a while.

    "Yes, Miss. Rest well. I will go outside now."

    Ruo Lan watched the maid's slender figure disappear from sight before turning to examine her own body. It was thin, dried out, and completely devoid of spiritual power.

    "Eh?" Moments later, she exclaimed in surprise. How could there be a flow of spiritual energy within her body? Originally, after she had come to inhabit this body, she had studied the mysterious energy known as spiritual power. This power only manifested in certain individuals, often inherited if ancestors possessed spiritual power, allowing descendants to also harness it. Thus, individuals with spiritual power usually received it through bloodline inheritance, enabling influential groups to pass down their power through generations.

    Both General Shen and Young Master Shen once had spiritual power. However, after General Shen was injured, and Young Master Shen was expelled from the Ming family, they attacked Young Master Shen to the extent that his body could no longer contain spiritual power, rendering him ordinary among the ordinary.

    Ruo Lan, on the other hand, was born without any spiritual power. Yet, now, her body could feel the spiritual power present in nature, faint but unmistakably spiritual power.

    Could this be due to yesterday's lightning incident?

    Just then, her abdomen suddenly felt a burning sensation, and her fingertips and toes numbed. When she focused her mind to inspect, she discovered something foreign within her empty spirit—a smooth, white pearl the size of a pinky fingertip, surrounded by wildly swirling energy. This energy was not the spiritual power she sensed from nature but seemed to be a deeper, more profound force.

    Ruo Lan tried to explore the novelty within her body. As she moved her hand through the air, she found that the air where her hand passed momentarily manifested a dense cluster of spiritual energy. On inspecting her spirit again, she saw the pearl briefly radiate a silvery light before returning to calm.

    "What is this?" Did the pearl release spiritual power?

    Panic fluttered in Ruo Lan's heart. What now? How was the pearl used? After releasing spiritual power, would the energy within this strange pearl be depleted? If not, does that mean she could use unlimited spiritual power? How could something so fortunate happen?

    Ruo Lan looked at the two thin figures lying side by side on an old wooden bed, with a maid wiping their bodies. Who else could it be but Mei Zhu, the maid who dragged Ruo Lan to hide yesterday?

    This household was so poor that only one servant remained. Mei Zhu was the only loyal servant who continued to serve the Shen family loyally after General Shen was expelled from the Ming clan. After the expulsion, almost all servants and followers left, leaving Mei Zhu as the sole servant. Soldiers under General Shen's command scattered, struggling to survive elsewhere.

    Such situations did not surprise Ruo Lan much. Human nature is self-preserving. Who would willingly sink with a disabled master, without any allowance, and risk starvation? They have their strength, families to feed, and it's better to live their lives than follow a disabled master into further decline.

    But Mei Zhu was the anomaly. A young maid who could have left to find a hardworking husband for a better life chose to stay, caring for the disabled master and the ordinary-bodied young master and mistress without any reward. On cold days, there was not enough thick blanket to cover her body, and food depended on government donations, barely enough to survive, her body growing thinner by the day, uncertain when starvation would end her life.

    "Ah, Miss, you're up? I've just finished wiping the master and the young master. The Hu Li bandits really went too far this time; both the master and the young master are bruised all over. They've just fallen asleep," Mei Zhu explained upon seeing Ruo Lan.

    "Was it the work of the Ming family again?"

    Mei Zhu's face fell before she nodded in agreement. "It must have been."

    Although the Hu Li bandits were local thugs often causing trouble outside the city walls, they rarely targeted beggars, the poor, or the disabled, usually ambushing hunters or groups that had acquired valuable items from the forest. However, frequently targeting the disabled General Shen and the weak-bodied Young Master Shen, if not on orders from the Ming family, what else could it be?

    Someone in the Ming family must still bear a grudge and wish to eliminate General Shen from sight. Exile outside the city walls was not enough; they aimed to erase his existence. If not for the laws of the land, how could the disabled general and his sickly son have survived till now?

    Thinking this, Ruo Lan felt a surge of compassion. Even though she was not their real daughter and sister, seeing their battered bodies evoked deep sympathy. Thus, she decided to take care of them in place of this body's original owner.

    "You go rest. I will take care of Father," she told Mei Zhu.

    "Miss, you've just gotten better. Rest a while longer. Let me take care of the master and the young master. Leave it to me," Mei Zhu insisted.

    Ruo Lan shook her head. "At this point, is there still a distinction between master and servant? You're the only one who didn't leave us. You're like family to us. You've managed the household duties alone without any help. Go rest for a bit, look at yourself, you're so thin you're almost skeletal."

    Mei Zhu's eyes widened in shock at those words. "Miss, don't say such things. A master is a master, and a servant is a servant. If it weren't for the master taking me in that year, how would I have survived? I would have frozen to death in the north. When the master, the young master, and the mistress are in trouble, it's my duty to help, not to leave," she explained with a stern face as if she would swear an oath of loyalty if Ruo Lan said it again.

    "Alright, alright, I'll stay and watch over Father and elder Brother for a while," she waved Mei Zhu away.

    "Yes, Miss, then I'll excuse myself," Mei Zhu said, satisfied, and took the bowl of water away.

    Ruo Lan sighed deeply. This woman's determination and loyalty were indeed full. She chose hardship over disloyalty.

    Glancing again at the two figures on the bed, General Shen's body was disabled, with damaged bones and tendons, and his lower body was paralyzed, unable to walk or contain spiritual power, making him effectively useless in the eyes of others.

    Young Master Shen, weakened from the abuse, also couldn't contain spiritual power and would never be able to practice it again in his lifetime, let alone follow in his father's footsteps as a soldier. Merely surviving without starving in this world would be considered fortunate.

    Considering the future prospects of those she hoped to rely on, Ruo Lan could only sigh deeply. Healing General Shen and Young Master Shen was not impossible, but the path was extremely difficult. Physicians capable of treating bodies that couldn't contain spiritual power, allowing them to practice it again, were beyond reach. Even the emperor would struggle to summon such a physician for treatment, not to mention the enormous cost involved. How could the poor like her afford it?

    Never mind that for now. The important thing at the moment was that she now possessed spiritual power, and a strange energy had appeared in her spirit realm. She needed to study and understand it more. Perhaps, this was a special gift compensated to her by the heavens.