“…What the hell? Where is this?”
What show girls? What palace maids?
Fu Lingxi felt a piercing pain; she felt terrible.
Pain, pain, pain—she was about to lose her breath!
“Wait… wasn’t I already dead?!”
Clutching her chest, Fu Lingxi murmured in confusion. She stared at the chaotic rescue scene before her, utterly at a loss.
It wasn’t her fault for being bewildered.
One second, she was dying a heroic death; the next, how did she end up on the set of a palace drama?
Lying flat on the ground was a woman in pink palace attire being desperately resuscitated. Her small face was a mess, showing signs of bruising and swelling…
“Oh ho, is this little girl going to die?”
Unconsciously, Fu Lingxi felt herself “walk” into the middle of the group of women.
“Wait, why do I feel like this woman’s face looks so familiar?!”
After muttering a few words, she looked around with a tense expression, and her face went pale.
She was dead.
Not a single “living person” could hear her voice.
…She wasn’t “walking” just now; her soul was “floating” over.
She had literally passed through the crowd!
Clearly, the female corpse that the Palace Ma’am was trying so hard to save was her!
Staring at that still-youthful face, it would be strange if it didn’t look familiar…
The moment she understood this “fact,” Fu Lingxi felt an overwhelming pain throughout her body. Though she was screaming in her mind, what actually escaped her lips was only a low moan.
“Auntie Su, Candidate Fu is responding!”
A young palace maid staring at Fu Lingxi’s face cried out in joy.
After her abdomen was forcefully pressed more than a dozen times, ‘Fu Lingxi’s’ body reacted reflexively, finally choking up a stomach full of lake water—
“Pfft—cough, cough!”
Fu Lingxi had never felt such pain!
It felt even more painful than when she first underwent marrow-cleansing and bone-refining!
It was as if her “soul” was being forced into a mold; fortunately, the “size” was a perfect fit…
Between being half-awake and half-unconscious, strange perceptions and unfamiliar memory fragments flooded her mind in massive waves.
Fu Lingxi’s soul came from another world—a world where modern technology and immortal cultivation coexisted, and where demons thrived.
She had possessed her memories since birth.
Born of an unknown father and abandoned by her biological mother in the back mountains of her clan’s territory, she was taken in by the Clan Leader, her grandfather, who had been passing by to gather spiritual herbs.
From then on, she had a grandfather and a name.
At the age of three, testing revealed she possessed a rare cultivation physique seen only once in a century.
From that moment, she became a precious treasure. The entire clan loved and pampered her.
It was the day the Fu Clan began its rise!
The entire family placed their hopes on her, wishing for her to use her special physique to reach the pinnacle of cultivation and become the Crown Princess of a high-level Immortal Empire.
Only then would the Fu Clan have hope of breaking into the upper realms of the cultivation world!
She was deeply grateful to her clansmen for their protection and nurturing, and to her grandfather for raising her.
She had spent her life studying and cultivating desperately just to fulfill their expectations…
However, she never expected that before she could fulfill those hopes, she would meet her Sect’s Eldest Senior Brother.
It was love at first sight.
Her Eldest Senior Brother was peerlessly handsome and a man of few words, like a “high-altitude flower” atop a snowy mountain.
She thought she was just a sucker for a handsome face.
But it turned out that not only was he stunning, but his strength was even more formidable! Otherwise, how could he have become the Eldest Senior Brother of the sect?
Subconsciously, the more she wanted to pull away and discard this sudden, deep infatuation, the deeper she fell… who could blame her when he was truly that outstanding?
Fortunately, before she reached the Nascent Soul stage and decided to confess, he had already entered a Dao-companion pact with their Junior Sister.
At least within the sect, no one knew she had once secretly loved him.
It truly was her destiny to suffer a tribulation because of the man she could never have.
Then, the apocalypse arrived suddenly.
Demons attained the Dao and launched a massive assault on human cities.
The Nine Provinces Spiritual Realm and the Imperial Lands were the primary targets of the demonic slaughter…
Upon hearing that the man she once deeply loved had died at the hands of a Demon Lord to save their Junior Sister, her heart shattered.
Eldest Senior Brother was dead!
She suddenly realized that her previous cowardice and hesitation had been utterly foolish.
In the face of peril, seeing that the Emperor of the Shanghua Kingdom was in mortal danger, she fought to the death to save him, all to secure the Emperor’s “life-saving gratitude” for her family!
Fu Lingxi died, having fulfilled her duty.
Fate was a joke; it allowed her to live again.
Oh, she had transmigrated into a book.
Since she had lived in a modern cultivation world with advanced technology, she naturally had access to novels, movies, and other entertainment.
The world she was reborn into was precisely the “palace intrigue and child-bearing” novel she had randomly clicked on the night before she died…
She had actually transmigrated into a female supporting character who was cannon foddered early in the story.
She had become a mortal girl!
Inside her body, there wasn’t a single trace of spiritual energy.
Naturally, her cultivation no longer existed.
The original owner of this body was a poor soul!
Due to her birth status, ever since she entered the Duke’s manor, she had been largely ignored by her father, the Duke.
Although her biological mother, Madam Chu, tried her best to protect her, she was only a “Virtuous Concubine” (Liangqie).
She had the will but lacked the power!
For Madam Chu to protect her two children and ensure they grew up safely under the endless schemes of the primary wife, Madam Qi, she had already exhausted herself…
Furthermore, in the Kingdom of Shangyi, the marriages of all concubine-born children had to be decided by both the primary wife and the father.
The original owner had entered the palace to take a desperate gamble, purely to escape the primary wife’s control!
Before Fu Lingxi could fully sort out the original owner’s situation—
She suddenly felt a sharp, exploding pain in her soul, causing her to snap her eyes open.
[Appendix: Harem Rankings and Titles]
The Emperor, Empress, Grand Empress Dowager (Retired Emperor), Empress Dowager, Crown Prince, and Crown Princess are all of “Transcendent Rank” and are not included in the nine-grade, eighteen-rank system.
Grand Imperial Concubines: Transcendent Rank, ranked as Primary First Grade.
Imperial Concubines (of the late Emperor): Transcendent Rank, ranked as Secondary First Grade.
Consorts (of the late Emperor): Transcendent Rank, ranked as Primary Second Grade. (The above are eligible for the Emperor’s filial support).
Consorts below the rank of Imperial Concubine who have no children are moved to the Imperial Temple to practice as tonsured nuns and pray for the Royal Family.
[The Emperor’s Harem Ranks (Total 126 positions)]
Primary 1st Grade: 1 Imperial Noble Consort (Huang Guifei)
Secondary 1st Grade: 2 Noble Consorts (Guifei)
Titles: [Chen, Li, Yi, Que, Zhuang]
Primary 2nd Grade: 3 Honored Consorts (Chizun Fei)
Secondary 2nd Grade: 6 Consorts (Chifei) (Cannot progress beyond this rank without a son)
Titles: [Xian, De, Shu, Hui, Chun, Xi, Yi, Ming, Zhen, Fu, Rui, Rong, Yi]
Note: Those of the rank of Consort and above are addressed as “Niangniang” and reside in the main hall of a palace. (Total 12 positions).
Primary 3rd Grade: 3 Noble Ladies (Guiyi)
Secondary 3rd Grade: 6 Ladies (Zhaoyi) [Shu, De, Wan, Xiu, Shun, Chong]
Primary 4th Grade: 3 Noble Concubines (Guipin)
Secondary 4th Grade: 6 Concubines (Chipin)
Titles: [Chun, Zhen, Rou, Ning, Mi, Liang, Min, Yi, Xian, Ling, Rong, Cheng, Hua, Xin, Xiang, Jin]
Note: Those of the rank of Concubine and above are addressed as “Master” (Zhuzi) and reside in the rear, side, or specialized halls [Yuan, Lou, Xuan, Ge, Guan, Wu]. (Total 18 positions).
Primary 5th Grade: 3 Jieyu [Father’s clan must be Vassal Kings]
Secondary 5th Grade: 6 Ronghua [Father’s clan must be Dukes]
Primary 6th Grade: 3 Noble Ladies (Guiji) [Father’s clan must be Marquises]
Secondary 6th Grade: 6 Ladies (Chiji) [Father’s clan must be Earls]
Titles: [Jing, Jing, Duan, He, Ping, Lan, An, Gong, Mu, Jin, Xiu, Qin, Ying, Xin]
Primary 7th Grade: 9 Noble People (Guiren) [Father’s clan must be Viscounts]
Secondary 7th Grade: 9 Beauties (Meiren) [Father must be a 1st-grade official]
Note: Those of the rank of Lady and above are addressed as “Chuer” and reside in the east or west side halls. (Total 36 positions).
Primary 8th Grade: 12 Talented Ladies (Cairen) [Father must be a 2nd-grade official]
Secondary 8th Grade: 12 Ladies of Treasure (Baolin) [Father must be a 3rd-grade official]
Primary 9th Grade: 18 Attendants (Changzai) [Father must be a 4th-grade official]
Secondary 9th Grade: 18 Chosen Maids (Xuanshi) [Father must be a 5th-grade official]
Imperial Maids (Yunu): Palace maids who have received favor but have no formal rank (receive the treatment of a ‘Chosen Maid’). Usually from the rank of Cai-nv or palace maids.
Note: Those of the rank of Imperial Maid and above are addressed as “Little Master” (Xiaozhu) and reside within the Chu-xiu or Chu-yuan Palaces. (Total 60 positions).
[Regarding Self-Appellations]
Consort rank (Niangniang): Chen-qie / Ben-fei | Ben-gong
Concubine rank (Master): Pin-qie / Ben-pin | Ben-zhuzi
Lady rank (Chuer): Ji-qie / Ben-ji | Ben-chuer
Lower Mistress (Little Master): Ying-qie / Qie-shen | Ben-xiaozhu
Favored Maid: Bi-qie / Nu-bi