Fated Empress
Heaven rumbles and weeps for three days as it mourns the death of Xie Mo. Rivers were flooded and crops were destroyed. Many mortals hired cultivators to attempt mitigation.
Good and Evil must be balanced. When there is an excess of one side, heaven's intervention and blessing come into play.
That's where the talents or fated will of Dao comes from. Death will be predestined. However, Wang Ji is an outsider, a man who has experienced death. With his cheats, fated death cannot overwhelm him.
For now, fate deployed another "killer" for Wang Ji's predestined death.
10 years ago, the sky was tremored on a rainy day. A young girl runs through a forest while being chased by a group of assassins.
She couldn't see where she was going, the immense rain clouded her vision and fog cloaks the atmosphere.
But she kept running...until she hit something and tripped.
"Where is she?!"
"Useless, you can't even find a single child!"
"You are one to talk! Fuck!"
The girl disappeared.
Or at least to the outside, it seemed to be the case.
Her family have ordered her death after realising that her physique and talent outweigh her brothers tremendously. Fear that she may attempt to take the position of Patriarch, they sent her to death. After all, it is a common stereotype that women cannot be the head of an organisation. It is a disgrace.
In reality, she fell through an inescapable prison array.
"Oh my? A lost child?"
"That physique...the prison array is ineffective against her."
"What shall we do? She looks injured."
...
"Let's take her in. I am not planning to die with my martial arts." Says an elderly lady.
Her name is Duan Meirong, blessed by the four auspicious beasts that bestowed her the Guardian physique and extreme talent.
She stayed and trained under 4 imprisoned martial experts in the Transcendent realm, learning many things as time is slowed by ten folds in the array.
One exceptional skill she obtained is medicine. Her masters have been poisoned and crippled for a thousand years, barely surviving by finding and learning about different herbs, solutions, or materials to create a temporary suppressor.
"Meirong, it's been '100 years' since you've become our disciple, yet only 10 years have passed. We have taught you everything and you have mastered each of them. There is no longer any reason for you to stay." Says an elderly.
"Master..." Meirong mumbles.
...
"Remember, use your power for good. As long as no one stands up against evil, evil will always prevail. You must be the beacon of light that guides the road of darkness." Says another elderly man.
Meirong clenches her fist. "This disciple understands." She goes down into a kowtow. "Thank you very much..."
"We are not asking you to release us. Truth be told, we are criminals. That's why we are here." The elderly say.
Meirong widens her eye.
"So we are sincerely speaking from experience...Revenge is good. But you need to consider your future, what will happen after your revenge? Child, I hope you take care of yourself."
...
Meirong tears up with her head still stuck to the ground, embarrassed to show her pathetic side to the elders. She has never cried during the hundred years of training, fueled by her rage for revenge. This is the first time she cried...
With every step, the weight increases. Looking back, it was incredibly comfortable to live here after she adapted to it. Many memories were made.
But now, all that safety will be nothing but a dream, the Murim is a dangerous place.
Meirong takes a deep breath as she walks through the forest, beyond her, is a translucent piece of wall that leads to the outside world.
An urge to gaze back itches her. But no. She must fulfil her destiny. This is what she has been working so hard for.
A push and she walks through the wall in one piece.
...
The sunlight feels ancient. The area inside the prison array was surrounded by humid mist around the clock.
And it is...
Noisy.
Her sharp senses pick up everything, it will take some time for her to adapt.
Meirong tries to pick up a twig off the ground, but it disintegrates when she slightly squeezes the scrawny material between her fingers.
...
It took her 6 attempts to successfully retract enough strength to grasp the twig up.
Many things in the prison array are strengthened and she is not comfortable with such a vulnerable environment.
In the array, she has accumulated 500 years' worth of Qi and reached body cultivation of Viscera strengthening stage 6 and Nascent Soul stage 1. Her physique and talent aid and enhanced her cultivation progress.
For an ordinary practitioner, 500 years' worth of Qi, can at best, only bring them to the peak of Core Formation.
Meirong truly is a chosen genius from heaven, what would happen if she used Ji Qiang's cultivation technique "Against Heaven"? A monster would be born.
One swing down with the twig, thunder strikes and rips apart the nature in the path of her attack even when the sky is clear.
The arts of thunder.
She confirmed that her strength remains intact and decided to visit the nearest city, Zun Xin, in the country of Juhong.
Juhong is a big country far away from Tiansu despite being on the same continent, Kunlai. Meirong should not meet Wang Ji yet if destiny plays out as scripted.
Although Meirong has no sense of direction, it feels nostalgic to walk a "certain" path as her instincts guide her.
The cooling breeze blows by signifying the start of Autumn.
The unusual jagged rocks and crook forest paths seem to be endless. The path forces Meirong to reminisce the fading vague memories of her life before it was changed.
That's right, she was abandoned by her family and she ran through the same path as a young child.
A sight of buildings appears. Meirong enters the lively city, vendors are littered everywhere. Children are seen running cheerfully. There is one spot that lots of people avoid, the shop where a group of martial artists gathered.
However, one young girl unknowingly runs in and bumps into a practitioner, she trembles. "S-Sorry..."
The practitioner glares at her in disgust and squats. "Who is your irresponsible family to leave their child running around?" The man asks.
"N-No...I sneaked out..."
The man sighs and draws his sword.
"Eek!" The girl screech in fright as she falls to the floor.
The man glares at the girl and swings his sword down, Meirong swoops in the nick of time to grab the blade.
?!
"What? Who are you?!"
It's returning. The memories of her childhood.
This city is governed by the Duan family, a selfish greedy family that survives at the expense of others. Yet they have a very good reputation as their city continuously grows. Their evil deeds were hidden by another organisation.
A deep sense of guilt materializes within Meirong, she remembered some ignorant remarks and actions she made in the past.
"..."
The man tries to pry his blade away, his sword shivers and cracks slightly appear.
!!
...
"W-What...do you want?" He says.
Meirong shatters the sword and punches his face. Mysteriously, He wasn't ejected backwards and staggered. Meirong strikes his nape at a ridiculous speed after her knuckles touch his nose, creating a near-zero resultant force.
The man falls unconscious on the floor as his accomplices stare in horror. "No-"
Meirong kicks a pile of rocks on the floor, each rock hitting the face of the martial artists and knocking all of their features into a messy blood lump.
The child stares at Meirong in awe and gratefulness. "Big sister...umm...Thank you."
Meirong smiles.
She walks to the 4 unconscious targets and pulls all of them by their collar. They are wearing a black robe with a yellow headband, only one organisation wears this, the Duan family's practitioners.
Decided to pay her family a visit, Meirong walks out of the city to a residence on the outskirts while dragging 5 "bodies".
The guards at the entrance of a tall wall widen their eyes upon seeing the 5 bodies.
"Stop-"
All of them were knocked out in an instant with a strike to their nape.
Meirong lifts her left hand and sweeps it across the wall, slicing it into two.
!!!!!!!!!
"Who's there!"
Several rocks and twigs ejects out of the dust in the aftermath, piercing most practitioners.
"What is this commotion!" A moderately old man with the looks of a 40's bearded man bursts from the building and shouts.
Behind him is a moderately old woman with wrinkles and a few men, ranging from the age of 21 to 24.
A silhouette darkens in the clearing dust and reveals Meirong.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Everyone's jaw drops, they cannot believe their eyes.
How is she still alive? They all thought.
Meirong smiles. "Yes, I am well and alive, father and mother," she says as if she read their mind.