Advent of the Phoenix
Da Shun Dynasty, Tian Wu, Year 21
It was a clear moonlit night, and the stars were twinkling. A sudden strike of lightning shook the area, even the imperial palace’s roofs trembled ever so slightly. Despite the thunderclap, there was not a drop of rain.
Inside the palace, the supervisor of the Astronomy board quickly rushed to the Heavenly hall and prostrated before the Tian Wu emperor. “Your majesty, there have been movements in the heavens from the Northwest direction. The Phoenix has arrived.”
The Tian Wu emperor, holding his tea cup, trembled ever so slightly. “Northwest…” With his eyes half-opened, he sent the advisor back. “Thinking about it, Ming’er should be returning soon.”
…
Another lightning bolt struck from the clear sky towards a cave in the Northwestern region of Da Shun. It directly struck the corpse of a dead woman and knocked it up.
Amidst a pile of corpses, Feng Yu Heng struggled to raise her body to a seated position. Her consciousness is still a little shaky, but after a short period she was finally fully lucid. Upon opening her eyes, she is startled by the sight of countless corpses.
“Well shit!” She blinked her eyes and moved a skull that was on her leg. She took in her surroundings and contemplated, “Did I really die or not?”
She clearly remembered being on a helicopter that had exploded at an altitude where survival was not possible. As a high ranking medical officer in the military, she was able to maintain her consciousness at the moment of impact. She was certain that she had died.
Without a doubt, she had died. She had died then reincarnated.
On top of the pile of dead bodies, she stood up and stretched her arms and legs. In the next moment, a stream of memories flooded her mind. Her name was Feng Yu Heng, age 12, and daughter of the first wife of the late prime minister, Feng Jin Yuan. Three years ago, a family ancestor committed a crime and the family was exiled to a desolate land. Fearing the implications, the father quickly demoted her mother, Yao Shi, in favor of concubine Chen Shi.
As if that wasn’t enough, some bastard oracle came forth and said to Feng Yu Heng, “This child will lead an evil life. If she is allowed to continue to reside in this manor, then there will come a day when the Feng clan may become broken and scattered.”
Like that, with a wave of his hand, the patriarch sent Feng Yu Heng, Yao Shi, and the just turned three years old little brother, Feng Zi Rui off to a small remote northwest mountain village. There, they would need to fend for themselves.
“Holy crap!” She saw the entirety of the former life as though it were a movie. Feng Yu Heng then had a realization. “I’ve been transmigrated!”
Different era, different age1, different world, different appearance, the only similarity was the name.
“Don’t worry!” She dusted her hands and soothingly said, “Your misery and suffering, I have understood it all. Since I am here, I will not let those that have bullied you live happily. I will properly sort out these debts with the Feng Manor.
Suddenly, a soft sigh came through her mind. A girl’s voice floated to the surface of her mind and said one phrase, “Thank you.” Her mind shook slightly as something seemed to slowly drift away.
Feng Yu Heng chuckled. It seems like the previous owner of this body was very unwilling to die. Only after hearing her promise, was she willing to depart. However, for such a father to exist… To have such a family with so-called family ties, hating them is normal.
She had always been one to keep her promises. Since she had taken over this body, revenge was naturally a must.
Feng Yu Heng a
djusted her dress made with materials of poor quality then dusted it off. Using some bodies as steps, she climbed out of the mass grave. Before even having a chance to take in her surroundings, the sound of a human voice came along.
“Selling that girl to the Drunken Flower House2 in the prefecture capital can bring in 50 silver. So long as we can make this sale happen, forget marrying damn wretches. I’ll have enough to marry two young girls.”
“That’s optimistic! You dare to marry young ones! Even if I have to go to prison with you, I will make sure to report you to the governor!”
“Ok ok, I’ll stop gossiping. You damn woman sure have a lot to say!”
Feng Yu Heng furrowed her brows. The memories of the body’s original owner surfaced again- her mother was sick, so she had gone to a nearby mountain to pick medicinal herbs. She was ambushed and knocked unconscious. Before losing consciousness, she had looked back and had seen that the man who had struck her was Wang Shu Gen of the Wang family, head family of Cun Dong village.
She moved deftly towards the 8 o’clock position behind her and snuck closer to the approaching voices while hiding herself. She quickly took a look around. Seeing an area densely-populated by trees on a hill, she snuck behind them.
1: Physical age, not time period 2: Something like a brothel
Devilishly Handsome Man
Now was not the time to act rashly. Feng Yu Heng had never been over confident, especially since she had only just arrived in this world. Aside from the occasional memory stemming from the body’s original owner, she knew absolutely nothing. Furthermore, she was merely 12 years old and had a pitiful appearance, skinny arms and thin legs. She was not foolish enough to want to fight tooth and nail with two adults.
Just as she hid herself, she spotted the couple crept towards the pit full of corpses. Feng Yu Heng stared at them carefully and ascertained the opposition’s identity. They were indeed Wang Shu Gen and his horrid wife Xu Shi.
The two looked all over the pile of corpses and realized their merchandise was missing. Xu Shi anxiously said, “This isn’t right! This is definitely the place we left her body. Where is she?”
Wang Shu Gen stomped his feet. “She can’t have escaped right?”
“Impossible! That was enough medicine to keep her asleep for two days and two nights. How could she possibly wake up the same night?”
Wang Shu Gen became exasperated. “Then you tell me, where has she gone?”
Xu Shi also started getting frustrated. “What good will come out of shouting at me? After she was knocked unconscious, we both made sure to give her sleeping pills. You made sure of we did, so why is the blame solely on me?”
Wang Shu Gen was speechless and dejectedly lowered his head. Unwilling to give up, he struck a corpse. Following his lead, Xu Shi also began to get angry.
Having seen more of the original owner’s memories, Feng Yu Heng finally had an understanding of the situation.
It seems that the couple had knocked the body’s original owner out then had fed her sleeping pills. They hid her body in the mass grave pit, then returned in the dead of night so retrieve her body. From there they would carry her to the prefecture capital and sell her for money.
With this, Feng Yu Heng had a realization and felt her face. It seems that the original owner was pretty good looking.
She reached down and picked up a handful of pebbles. The corners of her lips turned up in a small smile. With a sudden snap of the fingers, a pebble found its mark and struck Xu Shi in the back of her head.
The sound of a woman’s enraged voice then resounded the area, “Ah!” Following immediately, she yelled, “Who was it? Who hit me?”
Wang Shu Gen stopped and looked back towards Xu Shi. “Where could there be people?”
“There is! There was someone that just hit my head.”
As they were talking, another pebble flew over and struck its target between Wang Shu Gen’s eyebrows.
“Ah!” He also let out a scream, but before his scream had finished, even more pain erupted all over his body.
The two people were scared witless. Their torch had fallen to the ground long ago quickly setting fire to the pile of bodies.
“Let’s go!” Wang Shu Gen recovered his wits and pulled on a sitting Xu Shi who was paralyzed by fear. Carrying her, he determinedly climbed out of the pit.
Unfortunately, as he reached the edge of the pit, his leg was struck by a jolt of pain, and he fell back down in to the pit. Xu Shi’s fat body was like a ball and rolled down in the pit where her clothes touched a flame and caught fire.
Wang Shu Gen’s situation was not much better. His clothes were burned to tatters, blood covered his leg and a chunk of skin was missing from the left side of his face.
Feng Yu Heng tossed out her last pebble and dusted her hands off. She was done meddling with the two who had finally struggled out of the pit.
It was only her first day, it would be best to avoid killing people. It would be inauspicious.
The two ran off far in to the distance while the fire continued to burn in the pit. Feng Yu Heng turned toward the grave, put her hands together, and bowed. “Dust to dust, soil to soil1, being cremated is better than being left to the elements.”
“Hng” The sound of a soft grunt suddenly carried from nearby behind her. This caused Feng Yu Heng’s hair to stand on end, as she had not noticed anyone else. Rather than scared, she felt wary to being the mantis that stalked a cicada unaware of the oriole behind it2.
Thinking of her previous life in the 21st century, she was a master of both Western and Chinese medicine. Starting from the age of 12, she had followed her grandfather around and mixed in with those at the barracks. She joined them in special training regardless of wind or rain. She never once backed down, and started showing signs of being many times more keen in detecting things than others. On top of that, she had a good martial arts foundation. She performed her first surgery at 18. At 25, she was already a high level medical officer in the Marine Corps. If she had not died at 28, then her achievements would have been even grander.
Not wanting to think of the past, Feng Yu Heng turned around and headed in the direction of the sound.
A man, rather, he was a young man at most. He appeared to be around 20 years old and was wearing a dark-purple brocade robe. His hair was long and neat, his features appeared to be sculpted, his eyes shone with a cold light, and his gaze was keen like a hunting falcon. Between his eyebrows was a small nail-sized purple lotus pattern. It gave his already handsome features a devilish charm.
However…
1: Chinese equivalent of ashes to ashes 2: Chinese idiom, pursuing a small gain while unaware of the danger luring behind