In the thirteenth year of the Nantang Kingdom.
Mount Lingxiu stretched endlessly beneath a sea of lush greenery. Because the surrounding region was sparsely inhabited, only a single narrow trail wound its way down the mountain. Although the scenery was breathtaking, the landscape was filled with steep cliffs and dangerous precipices. Wild beasts frequently prowled the area after dark.
As dusk settled, a cold gust of wind swept across the mountain.
On a flat patch of ground near the edge of a cliff lay a young woman of seventeen or eighteen years old. The fading rays of the setting sun fell across her body. She wore a lake-blue dress that had long since been torn and ragged. Covering half of her face was a massive black scar that completely concealed her original skin, making her appearance shockingly ugly.
Her eyes remained tightly closed, and it was impossible to tell whether she was alive or dead.
Suddenly, a deafening clap of thunder exploded across the sky.
The tremendous sound jolted the young woman awake.
Slowly opening her eyes, she blinked in confusion at her surroundings. What she saw left her stunned.
She was lying alone on a barren mountainside.
Even more alarming, she was dressed in ancient clothing.
Pinching herself hard, she winced from the pain.
It hurt.
Could it be that she had actually transmigrated?
Her name was Qin Man, an elite medical expert from the modern world.
Only moments ago, she had been in a library searching for a rare book called Secrets of Ancient Medicine. She had just found it and opened the first page when everything went black.
Now she was here.
Lowering her gaze, Qin Man looked toward her feet.
The moment she saw what lay below, she gasped sharply.
Beneath the cliff stretched a bottomless abyss shrouded in thick clouds. One glance was enough to make her legs go weak with fear.
Before she could gather her thoughts, a violent wave of dizziness struck her.
Countless unfamiliar memories surged into her mind like a flood.
When the torrent finally subsided, Qin Man understood.
She had truly transmigrated.
And she had transmigrated into a fictional ancient world.
The body she now occupied belonged to a young woman named Qin Muxi.
As the memories gradually merged with her own, she learned the story of the original owner.
Qin Muxi had once been the legitimate daughter of the Minister of Rites of the Nantang Kingdom.
However, when she was eight years old, her body had suddenly become covered with malignant tumors. After enduring six months of painful treatment, she was eventually cured, but the illness left behind a hideous scar on her face.
As the years passed, the scar never faded. Instead, it grew darker and more frightening.
Later, a Daoist priest secretly hired by her father’s favored concubine claimed that Qin Muxi possessed a fate cursed with fierce hostility, one that would bring disaster upon her family. He insisted that she be expelled from the manor immediately.
Her father deeply favored the concubine and feared that Qin Muxi’s presence would damage his official career.
As a result, he chose to believe the fabricated prophecy.
Ignoring the desperate objections of his lawful wife, he sent Qin Muxi away to live in the countryside with a farming couple. To outsiders, he claimed she had been sent away to recover from illness.
Now that she had reached eighteen years of age, several old servants and maids suddenly arrived from the capital. They claimed that the Minister missed his daughter and wished to bring her home.
The innocent Qin Muxi had tearfully bid farewell to her foster parents before following them back to the city.
Unfortunately, disaster struck along the way.
Their group was attacked by bandits.
Everyone scattered in panic to save themselves.
Qin Muxi’s body had always been weak. After running only a short distance, she stumbled and fell.
It was likely that the original Qin Muxi had died at that moment, allowing Qin Man’s soul to take over her body through a strange twist of fate.
Another clap of thunder rumbled overhead.
Dark clouds gathered densely above, pressing down upon the earth.
Qin Man forced herself to calm down.
A violent storm was clearly approaching.
This open grassland offered no shelter whatsoever.
Once night fully descended, she would be completely exposed to the dangers of the mountain. If wild animals appeared, she would have nowhere to hide.
If she had known this would happen, she never would have gone searching for that medical book in the library.
In her mind, that mysterious book was undoubtedly the culprit behind her transmigration.
As for how she could return to her original world, she had no answer.
For now, survival came first.
She needed to find shelter from the storm and then figure out a way to climb back up the mountain later.
Scanning the area again, she spotted endless rolling peaks stretching into the distance. Not far ahead stood a dense patch of woodland.
Without hesitation, she decided to investigate.
Suppressing the pain throughout her body, she struggled to her feet and slowly made her way toward the trees.
The forest was thick with tangled vegetation.
Unwilling to venture recklessly into the undergrowth, Qin Man carefully searched around the outskirts instead.
Soon, she noticed a recessed opening in a nearby rock face.
It looked like a natural cave.
By then, rain had already begun to fall.
She quickened her pace and hurried inside.
The cave was much larger than it appeared from the outside.
Cautiously, she moved deeper into the darkness.
By the time she reached the interior, the sun had completely disappeared beyond the horizon, and a torrential downpour raged outside.
Qin Man finally breathed a sigh of relief.
At least she had found shelter in time.
Feeling her way through the darkness, she reached the middle of the cavern and sat down against the stone wall.
After everything that had happened, exhaustion overwhelmed her.
She leaned back and closed her eyes to rest.
Just then, a faint, hoarse voice suddenly sounded nearby.
“Water…”
The voice was weak and barely audible.
Combined with the thunderous rain outside, Qin Man hardly had time to register what she had heard.
Before she could react, a figure lunged from the darkness and pinned her to the ground.
The tremendous weight pressing down on her told her immediately that it was a large man.
Her mind had not even processed the situation when her lips were suddenly sealed.
A warm mouth forcefully captured hers.
Qin Man’s thoughts went blank.
Instinctively, she struggled and tried to push him away.
But the man was far too strong.
The harder she resisted, the tighter his hold became.
Tears streamed uncontrollably down her cheeks.
She had protected her first kiss for more than twenty years.
Now it was being stolen in a dark cave, and she did not even know whether the thing pressing her down was a man or a ghost.
The man’s warm breath surrounded her.
His frantic kisses gradually slowed and softened.
The cave was so dark that she could not see his face.
However, a clean, refreshing scent drifted from his body, carrying a faint fragrance of medicinal herbs.
The difference in strength between them was simply too great.
No matter how hard she struggled, she could not break free.
Fortunately, the man eventually stopped.
In the darkness, he stared at the girl beneath him.
Though the cave was pitch black, his eyesight far surpassed that of ordinary people.
He could see her clearly.
Her face was small and oval-shaped.
Half of it was covered by a horrifying scar that made her appearance grotesque.
The other half, however, was flushed red with anger.
The man remained silent.
He had been pursuing a target according to secret intelligence when he passed through these mountains.
Unfortunately, the poison hidden within his body had chosen that very day to erupt.
The agonizing pain had nearly caused him to fall from the cliff.
To make matters worse, the medicine he carried to suppress the poison had tumbled into the valley below.
With no other option, he had retreated into the cave to regulate his internal energy.
Normally, suppressing the poison required both medication and assistance from his master.
This time, however, the accumulated toxins of many years erupted with unusual violence.
The more he tried to forcefully suppress them, the more uncontrollable they became.
His entire body burned with unbearable heat.
His throat felt parched beyond endurance.
In his delirious state, he thought he saw a water flask enter the cave.
Using the last of his strength, he rushed forward and grabbed it tightly.
Then he drank.
The water tasted astonishingly sweet.
Unable to stop himself, he wanted more.
Only after some time did his muddled mind gradually regain clarity.
Only then did he realize that the “water flask” he had been drinking from was actually a frail young woman.
The man’s gaze deepened.
His eyes lingered on her silently.
He had always disliked being close to women.
Yet strangely enough, he felt no disgust toward her whatsoever.
Instead, a playful impulse suddenly arose within him.
Lowering his head, he leaned closer to her face once more.
By now, Qin Man had recovered some of her strength.
The moment she saw him approach again, she acted immediately.
Gathering every bit of strength she could muster, she kicked him fiercely.
Unfortunately, the blow seemed to have no effect whatsoever.
Without missing a beat, she switched tactics.
Opening her mouth, she bit viciously into his left arm.
The man had never expected such a ferocious counterattack.
Deep teeth marks instantly appeared on his forearm.
Just as he was about to teach this fiery little girl a lesson, a powerful wave of dizziness suddenly struck him.
His vision darkened.
The poison in his body erupted once again.
His strength vanished instantly.
With a heavy thud, he collapsed against the stone wall and lost consciousness.