Guide to the Rebirth of the Evil Woman in the Immortal Realm - Chapter 34

Chu Huaizhuang squinted as she flipped the small statue over a few times, examining it before tossing it back to Chu Huailing. “It is quite exquisitely made. Where did it come from?”

Their movements drew a glance from Chu Huaijing. Chu Huailing lowered her head, putting the statue away, and said softly, “Just a little trinket I found in a chest a while back.”

Having stowed the statue, she looked back at the performing artists as if nothing had happened, but a seed of curiosity had been planted in her heart. After the banquet, she thought, I must show this statue to the immortals. Perhaps the statue and that jade-clad immortal were the same person; it was not impossible that she had shared some past fate with Taiyin.

The song and dance dedicated to Emperor Ruwen in the imperial garden reached its climax. Following the lyrics, two more artists dressed as deities made their way forward. One wore moon-colored robes and held a laurel branch as a sword; this was the legendary Moon Goddess of Taiyin. The other wore battle armor and was dressed as a man, though it was clear that the person playing the War God was still a woman.

Chu Tian watched intently. Even sitting in the corner, he could not hide his displacement; unfriendly gazes flickered toward him from time to time. Although they did not actively harass him, Chu Tian felt as if ants were biting his skin, making him want to lower his head and adjust his hair every few moments.

When he looked at the War God in the performance, Chu Tian felt a rare sense of comfort. In a Taiyin dominated by women, he often felt like an anomaly, but whenever he saw the image of the War God, he felt he had a spiritual pillar to lean on.

Emperor Ruwen’s banquet lasted a long time. The relationship between the sovereign and her ministers in Taiyin was harmonious. Once the organized performances ended, ministers skilled in music volunteered to play. Amidst the singing and the sounds of silk and bamboo instruments, invited officials painted and presented their works on the spot. The festivities did not conclude until nearly dusk.

Shen Fuxin received three crates of rare local specialties personally gifted by Emperor Ruwen, along with five thousand taels of silver from Chu Huailing. Now that the banquet was over and the work was done, she decided to take Ji Ting and Shen Sha out of the palace to find something good to eat.

Just as they were preparing to leave, Chu Huaizhuang beat her sister to the punch, stopping Shen Fuxin with a mysterious air. “Don’t be in such a hurry to leave. I will take you somewhere.”

As twilight settled, Chu Huaizhuang dismissed the other servants and led them down a secluded palace path. She lowered her voice as she walked. “Yesterday, I realized where we should start looking. We are going to the Taiyin Royal Library. The official historians of every dynasty have kept detailed records of the lives of the Taiyin Emperors. If there is truly a problem with that male War God, perhaps we can find some clues in the archives.”

Seeing her composed and certain manner, Shen Fuxin could not help but half-joke, “What makes you think we will help you? Our immortal appearance fee is very expensive.”

Chu Huaizhuang widened her eyes, looking at Shen Fuxin and then at Ji Ting beside her. “I am not sure if Immortal Shen or Immortal Shen Sha will help, but do we not still have this Sister Immortal surnamed Ji here?”

She walked ahead, her voice steady. “This Sister Ji might just have a past connection with our Taiyin. Her statue is currently in my sister’s hands, yet I have not heard the immortal mention it these past few days. Did you forget?”

Ji Ting said in surprise, “My statue?”

“Indeed,” Chu Huaizhuang replied, her words a blend of sweet talk and half-truths. “How difficult it is to find two people in this world with identical faces, unless they are twin sisters or perhaps a past life of the immortal? Are you not curious at all?”

Ji Ting had to admit, she was curious.

Chu Huaijing was steady and serious, and Chu Huailing was decisive and lethal, but when it came to schemes, they might both be a step behind Chu Huaizhuang. Chu Huaizhuang waited for three heartbeats; seeing that Ji Ting remained silent, she knew her guess was likely correct.

Who would not be curious about their own origin? Chu Huaizhuang’s thinking was actually quite simple: immortals live long lives and forget much; it would not be strange to forget a few years spent in the mortal world. She had actually seen that small statue and had gone to find it yesterday, but she had been one step slower than her younger sister.

But it did not matter. It did not matter whose hands the statue was in, as long as the objective was achieved.

Chu Huaizhuang stopped before a book hall that was higher and wider than the average palace building. It was deserted now, as she had arranged for everyone to be sent away, allowing her to lead Shen Fuxin and her group inside at a leisurely pace.

Shen Fuxin looked up at the library, which seemed to be composed entirely of books, and was somewhat stunned. It turned out that the mortals, whom the immortal second-generation elites of the upper realms never took seriously, could create such awe-inspiring architecture. Unlike the dreamlike towers of the Immortal and Divine Realms that drifted above the clouds, these yellowed scrolls of Taiyin gave her a fresh sense of reality.

“There is another point where Taiyin differs from other nations,” Chu Huaizhuang’s fingertips brushed against the spine of a book on the shelf. “We share a consensus: regardless of the dynasty, the sovereign’s background, or how she came to the throne, her life must be preserved here in this library.”

Taiyin was not an isolated island; they naturally engaged in trade and learning with foreign nations. Precisely because they saw the suffering of women in many other countries, the vast majority of Taiyin’s rulers cherished the rights and responsibilities that naturally fell upon their shoulders.

Thus, the sovereigns of Taiyin could calmly set aside many loves and hates to build this record of their lives for future generations. Each book represented the standing or sitting figure of an Emperor.

Shen Fuxin pulled out a book at random and flipped through a few pages. The records were concise, dating back three hundred years. Chu Huaizhuang led them deeper into the hall, explaining, “Starting from the last few centuries would be too tiring; who knows how long that would take. Let us start directly from the earliest years we can find.”

However, the history of the Taiyin Kingdom spanned tens of thousands of years. Tens of thousands of years are enough to make seas dry and rocks crumble, let alone a few small pages of paper. Naturally, those records could not be kept on a standard shelf.

At that moment, Chu Huaizhuang pushed aside a bookshelf, feeling for a secret door.

She clearly knew of its existence. After twisting a protruding part of the door a few times, it slowly slid open.

Inside was a set of stairs leading downward. They walked down for a while until they reached a level area. Shen Fuxin did not need a torch; she used her spiritual fire to light the room, revealing many long stone objects laid out like coffins.

“The history of the Emperors from ten thousand years ago is kept here,” Chu Huaizhuang explained. “I do not come here often. This underground chamber is too cold, like a tomb. Besides, the items stored here are too precious; one cannot descend without my Imperial Mother’s decree.”

Ji Ting knew this Second Prince was clever and could not help but smile. “Are you not afraid your Imperial Mother will be angry when she finds out?”

“I am not,” Chu Huaizhuang replied as she searched, sounding perfectly righteous. “We came down together. You immortals will surely cover for me, will you not?”

“Are you looking for this batch?” Shen Sha, who had been silent, suddenly spoke. “This stone has years written on it, roughly thirty thousand years ago.”

They all moved closer to look. Indeed, these were the records left by the Emperors of thirty thousand years ago. Chu Huaizhuang tried to push the stone lid but could not move it. Instead, she broke into a cold sweat and said helplessly, “This stone lid is so heavy; it takes ten people to lift it. If it is not sealed tight, the bamboo slips inside might rot and the characters become illegible. Preserving these things is truly a hassle.”

Under Chu Huaizhuang’s admiring gaze, Shen Sha casually opened the stone lid and placed it gently to the side. The bamboo slips inside were still perfectly preserved, the handwriting clear and legible. Ji Ting picked up a scroll and read for a moment, then frowned. “There are indeed records of Jie Fanyin’s existence here.”

The scroll in Shen Fuxin’s hand said the same. She looked at the characters on the bamboo and read softly, “The War God was of extraordinary bravery, born to a poor family in Qiong County of Taiyin. He attained enlightenment and ascended to immortality at the age of twenty-three.”

But the more perfect Jie Fanyin was, the more unnatural his existence felt.

Shen Fuxin could almost imagine the scene. In a Taiyin filled with women, a man appeared out of nowhere: brave, handsome, and incredibly lucky, as if he were a Child of Destiny whom the whole world had to serve.

If it were anywhere else, Shen Fuxin might have believed it. But this was Taiyin. No matter how beautiful Jie Fanyin’s image was, it felt abrupt and strange. She did not buy it.

Looking at Chu Huaizhuang, who was immersed in the search, a spark of inspiration hit her. She asked, “Before Jie Fanyin, did you ever hear of a War God named Wu Zhen?”

Ji Ting stopped flipping through the scrolls. Shen Sha seemed to react to those two words, suddenly looking toward Shen Fuxin.

But the only mortal, Chu Huaizhuang, stood up with a confused expression.

“Wu Zhen?” she asked. “I have never heard of such a person.”

“If you have not heard of Wu Zhen, what about Shen Sha?” Shen Fuxin did not give up and continued to ask. “Are these two names not recorded even once in these books?”

Chu Huaizhuang had indeed never heard of them nor seen them. Shen Fuxin felt as if she were touching the edges of some long-buried, sealed secret, but she could not quite untangle her thoughts yet, until Chu Huaizhuang, after rummaging through a pile of bamboo slips, suddenly let out an exclamation.

The Second Prince of Taiyin held up a bamboo slip, pointing to a passage in surprise. “The life of this Emperor in the record is very strange. Look at this part.”

The three of them crowded around to look at the passage Chu Huaizhuang was pointing to.

“This Emperor lived over thirty-two thousand years ago. Look, her name was Li Kunling. She lived to be forty-three. During her reign, she did not achieve anything remarkable, nor did she make any great mistakes,” Chu Huaizhuang said. “But the historical record says that the reason she chose to remain single was because she was infatuated with the War God. It says she had once seen the true face of the War God and slept day and night with the sword he had gifted her.”

Shen Fuxin raised an eyebrow. Infatuated with the War God?

“Is your Taiyin truly this open-minded?” Ji Ting’s eyes crinkled. “I thought Emperors were not allowed to marry men. How could this Emperor do such a thing so openly?”

“I do not know why I have never seen this part of history before. Forget it,” Chu Huaizhuang shook her head. “This is the key point. Although it is hard to pinpoint exactly which period the currently worshipped War God came from, we only know he began to be worshipped roughly thirty thousand years ago, there is an illogical point in this passage. Thirty thousand years ago, men had only just started invading Taiyin in small numbers. They did not dare show their faces, or they disguised themselves as women. In that era spanning nearly a thousand years, many women in Taiyin had never even seen what a man looked like.”

“He is a fake,” Chu Huaizhuang concluded. “We have definitely been worshipping the wrong god.”