River City.

The Chu Residence.

Draped in a blanket, Chu Luo sits beside the swimming pool, somewhat stunned, struggling to comprehend what just happened.

Her beautiful face is pale without a trace of color, and she is dripping wet from head to toe.

She remembers that just moments ago, she was in the cultivation world, where she had just slain a demon king wreaking havoc in the human world, dramatically increasing her cultivation prowess.

But when she opened her eyes again, she found herself here.

"Luo Luo, how could you push your sister into the water? She's your sister, quickly apologize to her!" A beautiful and elegant woman, who is also soaking wet, scolds her while hugging another wet girl.

On seeing the woman, memories that had long been forgotten instantly become clear.

This is Song Qianya, her mother from the previous life.

Her past life had been full of hardships.

During her childhood, she lived in an orphanage. Since she was born with the ability to see spirits, often seeing things others couldn't, people thought she was a freak, and nobody wanted to play with her.

By the time she was eighteen, she didn't attend college and instead entered the workforce.

Believing that she was mentally ill, she worked hard to earn money, working three jobs a day, with the goal of saving enough money to afford treatment at a hospital and become a 'normal' person.

It wasn't until she turned twenty-two that she was found by the Chu family.

Only then did she realize that she had been swapped at birth. She was the daughter of the prominent and wealthy Chu family in River City.

For her who had never truly experienced familial affection, being warmly welcomed into the Chu family was akin to being hit by a pie falling from the sky. She thought she could finally live an ordinary, happy life like other girls.

However, life in the Chu family was not as she'd imagined.

There was another 'fake' daughter of the Chu family, Chu Ran.

Having been schooled among the elite for more than twenty years, Chu Ran presented herself as elegant and noble. From the parents to the house servants of the Chu family, everybody held Chu Ran in high regard.

She was constantly compared with Chu Ran and inevitably fell short every time.

In such a challenging environment, her mental state underwent multiple transformations—from initial anticipation to fawning, and finally resentment.

The more she struggled, the more disgraced she became.

Today was no different.

At her welcome party, she had upstaged Chu Ran by wearing her evening dress in an unbecoming fashion. This led to ridicule from a group of heirs.

Provoked, she had a heated argument with Chu Ran, and in the fray, they both fell into the pool.

Her last memory from her past life was watching from underwater as a crowd rushed to rescue Chu Ran while she was sinking.

Upon opening her eyes, she found herself still in the pool. A few seconds later, she was rescued by Chu Heng, the eldest son of the Chu family.

Memories rushed back along with the repressed emotions from her past life.

Chu Luo, wrapped in a blanket, stood up and asked, "Why should I apologize?"

"You nearly killed her, and you're not even going to apologize?! What's wrong with your attitude?" Sang Qianya looked at Chu Luo in disappointment and anger.

Chu Ran leaned weakly in Song Qianya's arms, murmuring, "Mom, let it be. Luo Luo certainly didn't do it on purpose, I accidentally fell in. Luo Luo was trying to save me…"

The people present had seen the entire incident clearly.

The more she said this, the more people would feel sorry for her, seeing her as kind.

They might also find Chu Luo ruthless and ill-bred.

"You're wrong. I did it on purpose." Chu Luo walked over, emotionless. She was still dripping wet, moving like a water ghost to stand in front of Chu Ran.

She said something that stunned everyone present.

"I wanted you to die."

"Chu Luo, how could you say such a thing!" Song Qianya's face turned ashen with anger, subconsciously shielding Chu Ran behind her in fear that Chu Luo might harm her treasure of a daughter.

Witnessing her action, Chu Luo's eyes flashed a momentary hurt, quickly concealed, "Am I vicious? Her mother ruined my life. She stole my parents, my brother, and my life!"

"Do you say I am evil?"

Song Qianya was still protecting Chu Ran, "Ran Ran is innocent."

"Innocent?" Chu Luo scoffed, "She has enjoyed more than twenty years of parental love, brother's protection, and a life free from worry about food and clothing. Is this innocent?"

"What about me?" This was a question Chu Luo had wanted to ask all along.

From the first day she stepped into the Chu family home, everyone told her to get along well with Chu Ran, to learn from Chu Ran, fearing that she might bully Chu Ran.

They were afraid that Chu Ran would find out the truth and feel uncomfortable in the Chu household, so they treated her doubly well.

Even in the effort to avoid hurting Chu Yan's feelings, their attitudes towards her were cold and indifferent.

"Am I not innocent?"

"Being bullied and ostracized in the orphanage, enduring hunger and cold, am I not innocent?"

Song Qianya: "…"

"Getting into university at the age of eighteen, but having no money for tuition fees and failing the chance to study further, am I not innocent?"

"Struggling to survive, working three jobs on the very first day, sleeping for only four hours, am I not innocent?"

She persisted with her questions, and the room fell into a deathly silence.

Pain was evident in Song Qianya's eyes, "Mom knows your suffering. Mom wants to make it up to you. But you shouldn't blame Yan for this. She never wished for any of it. Mom hopes you can get along well with Yan."

"Hah! Get along with her? Not blame her?" Chu Luo scoffed and shook her head, "How could I possibly do that?"

"Am I a saint? Void of desires and emotions?"

"Are you all really my biological parents, my real brother?" Her voice began to rise, "Why would you rather help someone with no blood ties than me?"

The Chu Family: "…"

"Why is it that when she and I fell into the water, everyone thought of saving her first?"

The sensation of near-death was exceedingly painful, the rush of water into her mouth and nose, the cessation of breathing, the acute lung pain.

That moment, she was in total despair and heartbreak.

"If you don't love me, then why did you bring me back?"

"I'd rather have no parents or brother. I also... I also don't want to know, that my parents and brother don't love me at all."

After accusing them through her tears, she didn’t look at anyone else’s faces. She broke through the people blocking her way, ran into the villa, entered her bedroom, locked the door from the inside, and shut out the outside world.

[System, what on earth is happening?] Chu Luo wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes as she asked with a cold voice.

The forlorn, disappointed expression she had just shown outside was nowhere to be seen now.

System: [Host, are you okay? Are your emotions stable?]

[I'm fine, now tell me what's going on? Why am I back here again?] Those words she had just said were a knot in her heart previously, but after expressing them, her resentment and depression from her former life were all gone.

The System began to explain: [Because you never actually died, I only extracted your soul and moved it into another world.]

Chu Luo instantly understood, she hadn’t died, her soul was just extracted by the system and taken to another world to practice spells.

Once her spell cultivation was successful, she was transferred back.

In that world, she had lived for a century.

But in this world, only a few short minutes had passed.