In the previous life, the Annan Army had seen its share of bizarre incidents, like the Sacrifice of the Valkyrie, the Rebellion of Li Zhaojiang, and the life of Xie Ruoxi... These three could be ranked as equally bizarre, with Xie Ruoxi's life even more so than the first two.
Who was Xie Ruoxi? Rumor had it she was "Rikoku's number one in cultivation talent," even surpassing Lord Master, dubbed "Rikoku's top cultivator," in pure natural aptitude for cultivation—though this claim was never officially acknowledged.
She wasn't part of the first cohort of cultivators, nor the second, or even the third; strictly speaking, she was actually from a non-official cultivator background. It wasn't until Li Minghu and Li Zhaojiang were long gone that Xie Ruoxi, due to an accident that revealed her existence, was discovered by the Annan Army and drafted as an official cultivator; you could say she started quite late in the game.