Chapter 1

Thunder roared across the sky as if it were right in front of her, while the torrential rain nearly obscured all sight. When the scorching, fresh blood fell into the cold rain, Su Jinyuan clung to a broken tree at the edge of the cliff, her body hiding in its shadow.

The raindrops pelted the tree with a resounding splash, washing away the traces of blood that had fallen from her.

“Where is she?”
“Looks like she’s coming this way.”
“Then where did she go?”

The footsteps along the cliff edge grew steadily closer. Su Jinyuan bit her lips hard and held her breath. She had never expected to be reborn—and never imagined it would be at a time when, after eloping with someone, she’d encounter mountain bandits. Her innocence was not yet lost, nor had she come to rely on that wolf-hearted, ambitious man.

She had barely managed to kill one person in a desperate bid to escape, and yet these men had chased her relentlessly. After nearly five days on the run, she was still being hunted until she reached a dead end.

Gazing over the cliff’s edge, she saw that a thick, swirling mist covered the ground below, its depth unfathomable. She recalled that at the bottom of the cliff lay the Yulan River. After several days of relentless rain, its waters had risen dramatically—falling from such a height would leave her with less than a thirty percent chance of survival. But rather than being captured, she was willing to take the gamble.

The men on the cliff had already reached the edge, even leaning over to peer in this direction. Su Jinyuan gritted her teeth, preparing to let go, when suddenly a cry of agony sounded from above. She watched in horror as two heads flew down, their wide, terrified eyes fixed in a permanent stare, and as fresh blood splattered down the cliff, it drenched her head and face.

Swish.

After the treetop was split open, the raindrops pounded on her face.

“Yuanniang from Su Family?”

The person standing at the cliff’s edge wore a dark red, round-collared brocade robe paired with a deep purple cloak. His almond-shaped eyes carried a trace of cool detachment. Even having just killed someone, nothing seemed to disturb the grim, somber expression on his face as he stood under his umbrella.

“My name is Xie Yunyan.”

As he looked at her, the young man lowered his head, “Are you the one who eloped a month ago, bringing complete disgrace upon Brother Xiao?”

Staring at Xie Yunyan, Su Jinyuan found herself momentarily dazed. In her previous life, when she had seen him, the Xiao family—whom she had eloped with—had already been completely exterminated, every member perishing in the Southern Domain, and the young man raised by the Xiao family had, while leading his troops in besieging a fortress, perished along with the imperial house.

She remembered that the young man had grown into a dashing youth with unparalleled looks back then. Riding high on horseback and looking down at her, he even asked, “Yuanniang from Su Family?”

“Kill her,” he said in an exceptionally indifferent tone, and as the blade fell…

Lu Zhuo—the man who had coaxed her into eloping and abandoning the Xiao family, who had sworn eternal love to her—had pushed her. And then, before her death, it was Xie Yunyan’s scorn-filled gaze that met hers.

“I’m asking you,” Xie Yunyan said as he prodded a broken branch with the tip of his sword.

Su Jinyuan’s body wavered as if the branch at the cliff’s edge could snap at any moment. “It wasn’t an elopement.”

Xie Yunyan raised an eyebrow.

“I was meant to be engaged to the Xiao family by an arrangement made by my late father—I would never go against that. It was my aunt who deceived me, saying there was news of my little brother.”

“My little brother was kidnapped when he was four, and I heard nothing about him ever since. Then, on my wedding day, my aunt suddenly showed up with something very personal that belonged to him, saying he’d been seen in Qu’an.”

“I only left the capital in a moment of panic. Who in their right mind would wish to end up being forcefully abducted by Lu Zhuo in Qu’an?”

The rain stung her face painfully, and Su Jinyuan could barely keep her eyes open. Her hands were almost devoid of strength as she clung desperately to the broken branch.

“Mr. Xie, if I truly had eloped with someone, I would have found a place of wealth and peace—somewhere as far away from the capital as possible. Why would I ever have returned to the capital, only to end up like this?”

Seeing her in such a pitiful state, with her hair plastered to her face and her expression as white as a ghost, Xie Yunyan thought: that’s right, who elopes and ends up like that?

He had followed her trail all the way to Qu’an, and then it led him here. The route was indeed in the direction of the capital; he could see that the person clinging to the branch, trembling all the while, was moments away from falling.

Without hesitation, Xie Yunyan sprang from the cliff’s edge and was by Su Jinyuan’s side instantly. Wrapping one arm around her waist while still holding his umbrella, he leveraged the edge of the umbrella against a tree branch to haul her safely up onto the cliff. Yet the moment they touched solid ground, he let go with unmistakable disdain. Su Jinyuan’s legs buckled, and she fell to the ground, her body covered in muddy slurry.

“Sorry, Miss Su,” Xie Yunyan said with a slight smile. “My hand slipped.”

Su Jinyuan fell silent for a moment, clenching her teeth as she glared at the boy’s bright smile. Even though she knew he meant it on purpose, what choice did she have?

Although Xie Yunyan was not a blood member of the Xiao family, he had been raised in their household from childhood. He was like a brother to several Xiao young masters—even his name was arranged in sequence after theirs. Since it was she who had run away from an arranged marriage, the members of the Xiao family treated her poorly but could only endure it. Moreover, the man before her was someone who, in the future, would kill without a moment’s hesitation. She had no intention of risking her life testing his temper.

Without asking a single word about her condition, Xie Yunyan simply held his umbrella and walked down the mountain.

Su Jinyuan quickly hobbled after him.

The mountain trails were muddy, and the rain poured down in torrents.

Earlier, when she was being hunted, Su Jinyuan had injured her legs and feet; now, as she made her way downhill, she fell several times.

Xie Yunyan saw her tumble into a mud pit, her elbow bleeding. He stepped back half a pace and smiled warmly, “Miss Su, do you need any help?”

“No.”

It was plain that he was deliberately toying with her, but Su Jinyuan refused to let herself be humiliated. Gritting her teeth, she forced herself up and continued trailing behind him.

By the time they reached a dilapidated temple at the foot of the mountain, Su Jinyuan was drenched like a soaked chicken—her body battered and bruised, shivering from the cold—while Xie Yunyan, aside from some mud on the soles of his feet, was as immaculate as if not a single hair were out of place.

Inside the decrepit temple, a group of people was tied up. Su Jinyuan immediately recognized that several of them were among the men who had been chasing her before.

When they saw Xie Yunyan return, the men trembled in fear, their mouths stuffed as they made constant muffled sounds.

As he passed by them, Xie Yunyan suddenly swung his hand and slashed at one of them. The man’s arm was severed at the shoulder and fell to the ground; he cried out in agony, his eyes bulging as he emitted a muffled sound.

Looking down, Xie Yunyan remarked, “You’re too noisy.”

At that, the man abruptly fell silent, and the others who had been making noise became as quiet as if they’d lost their voices.

Xie Yunyan turned to Su Jinyuan and said, “Miss Su, don’t be afraid. These people are nothing but scum—a little punishment to teach them a lesson.”

As his smile brightened and his white teeth appeared, the corners of his eyes lifted ever so slightly with a trace of cold detachment.

“Our Xiao family isn’t one to be trifled with. It’s a pity we didn’t catch that Lu Zhuo; otherwise, I would have cut off his hands and methodically broken his bones, making him atone for his guilt to you, Miss Su.”

Su Jinyuan’s lips turned pale. She had witnessed firsthand the ruthlessness with which this man killed, and she had also seen him decide a man’s fate with a mere smile. His words weren’t so much an assurance for her as they were a warning—especially since by “Xiao family” he wasn’t referring to her, but to Xiao Yunxi, the eldest son of the Xiao family, the man she had originally been set to marry a month ago.

Taking a deep breath, Su Jinyuan asked, “Mr. Xie, since I wasn’t there that day, what happened to the wedding banquet?”

“Miss Su was kidnapped; naturally, the banquet couldn’t continue.”

A trace of coldness accompanied Xie Yunyan’s slight smile as his phoenix-like eyes glinted, “The bridal procession never received you. The Su family claimed you ran off with someone. Had it not been for that urgent report that forced everyone into the capital that day—with my elder brother and Uncle Xiao assembling troops to set out on a campaign—the entire Xiao family would have been reduced to a farce.”

“Before departing for the campaign, my elder brother even tried to cover for you, ordering the entire Xiao household to keep quiet and only announcing that you were ill, instructing me to search for you secretly.”

Raising his eyebrows with an extra chill in his gaze, Xie Yunyan added, “Miss Su, you really made it easy for me to find you.”