Chapter One: Unlicensed Immortal Cultivators, Die

Cold.

It was so cold that she felt like she was freezing to death.

Le Piaopiao felt her body was completely frozen stiff, and her hands and feet seemed to no longer belong to her. The cold wind cut across her body like knives. There was also a chilly and damp sensation on her forehead, making her feel even colder to the core.

She struggled to open her eyes and saw large snowflakes falling down in a flurry. The vast expanse of white land was really... really full of people.

Eh? It seemed that there were onlookers all around her.

What was going on?

She remembered that she had died because she had witnessed her own body and mobile phone turn into a charred mess. Thinking about this made her angry. It wasn't fear or reluctance; she just felt that there was no reason for her to be so unlucky.

She was just playing an old-fashioned game of Truth or Dare and setting up a Peach Blossom Formation. How could she get struck by lightning? It seemed that the weak were always picked on. Even if the lightning had gone astray, it shouldn't have hit her, right? She was an orphan. When she grew up, she was a homebody. She made and spent money mostly online and hardly occupied any social resources. She hadn't bothered anyone.

Now, if she wasn't a spirit, she must have been reincarnated.

She vaguely remembered that she had been quite lucky to transmigrate twice. First, she was sucked into a strange pitch-black space by a huge vortex. There were four men fighting beside her.

It wasn't a physical fight, nor did they use weapons. Instead, each of them shot out colorful light balls. She thought she had transmigrated into an immortal cultivation game. What was frustrating was that she happened to be in the center of the light, as if she had disrupted their group fight. In the end, she became the last straw that broke the camel's back. Because of her interference, the space exploded with a bang.

In an instant, she only had time to see the face of one of the men.

He had purple hair and golden pupils. He didn't look human at all, although half of his face was that of an extremely handsome man. However, he had only one eye and seemed to have difficulty walking. He was sitting in a wooden wheelchair, looking a bit paralyzed on one side.

What was meant by the beauty of imperfection? That man was a perfect example. Stranger still, for some reason, when she saw his eyes, Le Piaopiao suddenly felt an overwhelming sadness, and her heart ached so much that if she hadn't been a spirit, she might have burst into tears.

That man turned around and looked at her, giving a desolate yet gentle smile, but didn't say a word.

However, his gaze made her suddenly calm down and forgive the injustice that heaven had dealt her. She thought that since she was already here, she might as well accept it. It was really strange.

Then she saw a red feather, as bright as blood, guiding her through the endless darkness and into the body of a baby girl who had frozen to death in a swaddling cloth.

Whether it was Buddhism or Taoism, why should one look down on the physical body? It was the body that gave the spirit warm protection. At that time, she was extremely weak and seemed about to dissipate, so she fell into a deep sleep, ignoring the outside world. During that period, there were several times when she was about to wake up, but each time she felt a burning sensation on her body and didn't manage to wake up until now when she was frozen back to consciousness.

Now it seemed that... she was on a high platform, looking down at the people below. Were those onlookers pointing at her?

Le Piaopiao was startled and tried to move her body, only to find that she couldn't move at all. Part of the reason was the extreme cold. She had always been particularly afraid of the cold since she was a child. If she stayed outside in heavy snow for a long time, it was possible for her to turn into an icicle. But soon she was horrified to realize that it wasn't just that. She was tied up and her freedom was restricted!

This realization was truly astonishing!

She desperately turned her neck and looked around, trying to figure out what was going on... There were onlookers in layers upon layers, quite a large number of them, including men, women, the elderly, and children. They were all dressed in ancient costumes, and there were also many soldiers. On the faces of the people, some showed contempt, some sympathy, and some even excitement.

Watching a cruel execution seemed to be a terrifying form of collective entertainment, a common bad habit among people of all ethnic groups. But an execution? Her? Terror? What on earth had happened?

Desperation gave her strength.

She increased the range of her body's wriggling and saw that she was kneeling and lying prone on the execution platform. Above her head was a pitch-black, shiny guillotine, as if it could fall at any moment and chop her head off!

Was this for real? She had already been struck dead by lightning, and her spirit had been killed once by those strange men. Now, she was going to be killed again?

This time, knowing what she was facing, she was scared, terribly scared, and struggled vigorously.

"I'm wronged!" She was truly wronged. Truly.

She had just woken up and didn't know what crime this body had committed that deserved beheading.

"Don't move around!" The executioner beside her, wearing a bright red robe, kicked her and growled, "Now you're afraid of death? Isn't it a bit too late? You violated the laws of the Great Qin by secretly cultivating immortality. Why didn't you think of the consequences then? Behave yourself, or I'll chop off your hands first!"

What? What? What? Cultivating immortality? And it was against the law? The Great Qin? Was it the one of Emperor Shi Huang's time?

"Brother, I'm really... really wronged." Le Piaopiao couldn't think of anything else to say and was extremely anxious. "The death penalty is such a serious matter. You must be careful. I demand a retrial. There's a misunderstanding! It's definitely a misunderstanding!"

"Nonsense. Unlicensed immortal cultivators will be killed on the spot without a trial." The executioner gave Le Piaopiao a pitying look. "If it weren't for the fact that you're young and really confused and pitiful, as an executioner, I shouldn't even be talking to you. Don't waste your energy. Remember not to cultivate immortality in your next life and be an honest citizen."

"Then what are you waiting for?" Le Piaopiao was a bit impatient.

What kind of world was this? Cultivating immortality was illegal! She had only heard of operating without a license, but never that cultivating immortality also required a permit. She had already died twice, once with her body and once with her spirit. Even if she died one more time now, there was nothing she could do. She was just afraid of pain. Beheading should be very painful. Moreover, waiting for death like this was truly terrifying. It would be better to just get it over with in one go.

"We're waiting for His Highness the Crown Prince to supervise the execution." The executioner snorted. "You're lucky. His Highness the Crown Prince happens to be free. Otherwise, a seventh-rank official would have dealt with you."

He called this lucky? Lucky? Lucky!

Le Piaopiao was both angry and scared. If death came quickly, it wouldn't be so bad. But now it was like Death was grinning hideously on the side, holding a scythe... The pain of being on the verge of life and death was hard to understand without experiencing it oneself.

"His Highness the Crown Prince has arrived!" Amid the rapid breaths caused by nervousness and fear, the loud announcement of the soldiers came.

Le Piaopiao exerted all her strength and raised her head.

The crowd automatically parted, leaving a path in the middle. A line of cavalry was slowly approaching, getting closer and closer.

The snowflakes were dancing in the air.

He was looking down from above.

He didn't hold an umbrella or wear a helmet. Large snowflakes fell on his silver armor, the saber at his waist, and his slightly messy short hair that was so black it had a dark purple tint. Among the ancient men who all had long hair, he looked extremely special. There was also snow on his eyelashes, freezing there, making his face look even colder than this extremely cold weather, as if it would never thaw.

His facial features were sharp, his nose was straight, his eyes were deep, and his lips were tightly pursed. His back was straight, and he exuded an air of inadvertent arrogance and nobility all over. The big horse with dark iron armor under him carried an aura as if it had come from hell. However, in this gloomy weather, he was like bright sunlight.

Dazzling, yet without warmth.

Through the hazy snowflakes, Le Piaopiao's blurry gaze met the gaze of this man who seemed so contradictory, and their eyes locked.

"Execute." Finally, the man uttered a word that was colder than the snowy day.

Le Piaopiao was stunned.

Through the snow, it seemed that they were close to each other, but in fact, they were worlds apart. Just because they were looking at each other didn't mean anything would be different.

That man was His Highness the Crown Prince, and she was a commoner about to be executed. What was she expecting? For a heavyweight figure to show up and then save the beauty like a hero? It was too dramatic. Although she was about to die without knowing anything, in the eyes of the Crown Prince of the Great Qin, she was just an ant and a nobody.

Forget it. There would be no miracle.

Le Piaopiao closed her eyes, not knowing where her spirit would go next. She didn't want to cry out her innocence anymore because it was useless anyway. The executioner was right. Don't waste your energy. It was really cold. However, she broke out in a cold sweat because the guillotine above her head was truly terrifying!

"Spare her life!"

"Spare her life!"

"Spare her life!"

Just when Le Piaopiao was about to resign herself to her fate, suddenly the shouts of three men rang out. They sounded extremely anxious and concerned.

Who? Who was trying to save her? Her relatives in this world? But wasn't it a bit too late? However, it was really touching that they still came to save her in this situation. Well, she believed in life again.

"Your Highness, someone is crying out for injustice. What should we do?" A soldier stepped forward to report.

"Kill them." His Highness the Crown Prince waved his hand impatiently.

What? Kill them? Without even asking! This man was a bad guy, a devil, a tyrant who didn't care about human lives! Maybe not yet, but he would definitely become a tyrant in the future!

Instantly, the good impression Le Piaopiao had because of his good looks dropped to zero. No, below zero!

"Your Highness, that's not good, is it?" A gentle male voice rang out. "The common people are all watching. Privately, people have already started calling our Great Qin the Tyrannical Qin. I think it's better not to make things worse."

Le Piaopiao looked in the direction of the voice.

Only then did she see that beside His Highness the Crown Prince, there was another man on a white horse, who seemed to be a bodyguard. He was quite young, about twenty-two or twenty-three years old. He was also wearing armor, but there was no dragon pattern on his chest. Compared to the tall and imposing Crown Prince, he looked a bit thinner. He had clear and handsome eyes, a heart-shaped face, and thin lips that gave him a slightly sharp look, but his warm and gentle eyes made up for it.

"What do you suggest?" His Highness the Crown Prince frowned and asked.

"Just bring those three people over and ask them." The bodyguard replied, looking at Le Piaopiao. "If the girl is really wronged, since it's almost the New Year, we can just consider it as doing a good deed."

The Crown Prince snorted and turned his horse around, facing Le Piaopiao sideways.

And the bodyguard quickly waved his hand and ordered the soldiers to bring over the people who were crying out for injustice.

After a while, three figures scrambled out of the crowd, covered in mud and water, with disheveled hair and tattered clothes. The tall and thin one had several lumps of black cotton showing through his cotton-padded clothes. The big and burly one had his coat open and didn't seem to be afraid of the cold at all. As for the normal-sized man in the middle, his face couldn't even be clearly seen.

Could it be that this body of hers was that of a beggar? So all her relatives and friends were beggars?

It was a pity that she couldn't see what she herself looked like. The clothes on her body were normal, just a bit thin. Her small and thin hands showed that she was usually malnourished.