So much pain... it felt like she’d been trampled by a carriage. Alexis Hollis frowned, her entire body throbbing while her mind was a foggy mess—she couldn’t think straight.
Hadn’t she died?
Why could she still feel pain?
“Honestly, didn’t expect it. That ugly Second Miss has quite the figure,” a man’s voice said nearby.
The unfamiliar sound cleared some of the haze in her head. She tried to open her eyes, but her eyelids felt like they weighed a ton—no way they were budging.
“Soft skin like this, wait till I—”
That disgusting laugh made her skin crawl. As the man started tearing at her clothes and cold air brushed her skin, a chill jolted her awake.
Seeing the man leaning over her, she didn’t even stop to think—her leg shot up viciously and kicked him right between the legs.
“Ahhh!”
The man hadn’t seen it coming. He yelped, doubling over in pain, legs trembling as he fell backwards. He glared at her, hate in his eyes. “You useless thing, how dare you hurt me?!”
Useless? That was a new one to her.
She—Alexis Hollis—the prodigy alchemist, who earned the title of Alchemy Master before even hitting her twenties… now being called useless? What a joke.
“You bitch! I’m gonna kill you!”
No time to waste. As the man lunged again, she instinctively tried to summon her spiritual energy—only to find she had none. Not even a flicker.
He was already on her, forcing her to throw up her arms to block. She barely managed to keep him at arm’s length.
“You filthy whore!”
His slap landed hard on her face. Blood welled up instantly. Her eyes burned as they turned red with fury. Looking up at his twisted face, something snapped. She curled her body forward and—without thinking—sank her teeth into the side of his neck, right over an artery.
She didn’t stop until the man went completely still.
Finally, she shoved him off, panting hard. Then a sharp pain shot through her skull, and a torrent of unfamiliar memories slammed into her.
Scene after scene of a young girl getting bullied and humiliated filled her mind.
After a long while, Alexis stared at her now slimmer, smaller hands and sighed.
She’d been reborn...
This new body belonged to the Second Miss of the General’s Estate in Donghuang. Her name? Also Alexis Hollis. But unlike her, this girl was considered completely worthless.
Her mother had died in childbirth. She’d never been able to form a core. At sixteen, she still didn’t have a drop of spiritual energy.
No wonder she’d been walked all over.
From the original’s memories, she figured out that this was the Lower Realm. The continent was split into four kingdoms. She’d never heard of this place in her former life, but judging by how weak the spiritual energy was, it had to be far beneath where she came from.
Back there, a Spirit Lord was just average. Here, they were top-tier.
Something clicked. She looked down at the purple ring on her index finger.
The Violet Cloud Ring.
Her lips curled slightly as she stroked the ring. With a thought, her figure vanished into thin air—and reappeared inside the ring’s space.
"Well, congrats, Master. You didn’t manage to die after all,” came a drawling voice.
The air inside the ring was saturated with spiritual energy. Trees stretched as far as the eye could see. Brooks babbled, herbs grew wildly everywhere.
A toddler—barely dressed in a bellyband—sat on the ground. Around it, piles of spirit herbs towered over its tiny frame.
It casually yanked out a hundred-year-old lingzhi as if pulling weeds—and tossed it aside like garbage.
Catching sight of Alexis, it didn't react much. “You took your sweet time. These trash herbs are overflowing.”
Trash? Outside, each of those herbs would sell for a fortune.
But in this space… they really were nothing special.Ralph was the spirit of the Violetcloud Ring—its true form was quite literally a carrot. Alexis Hollis had risked her life in the Dead Sea when she was fifteen to get this treasure. The place was a heaven for cultivation; time and spiritual energy moved ten times faster than the outside world. Even the water there could heal almost any illness. No wonder so many wanted to get their hands on it.
In her previous life, it was also this ring that got her killed—besieged by thousands of powerful cultivators from the Upper Realm. What they never figured out, though, was that the ring had fused with her soul long ago. As long as her soul survived, the ring would always recognize her as its master.
Now back in the familiar space, Alexis tugged playfully at the little tuft of hair behind Ralph’s head before heading up into the loft.
The loft spanned three levels. The first floor stored rare old books, the second was her personal alchemy lab—shelves stacked high with all kinds of pills. The top floor was where she meditated and rested.
She sat cross-legged on the bed and started to meditate. The spiritual energy in the Violetcloud Ring was so dense it made the air hum, but her current body just wouldn’t absorb it.
Fifteen minutes later, Alexis opened her eyes with a scowl. Was this body really that useless?
She took a moment to scan herself thoroughly, and then suddenly paused. Her eyes narrowed slightly—there it was, a seal. And not just any seal—this one had to be the work of a Divine Master or someone just as powerful.
A seal like that on a girl from such a low-level continent? Unbelievable.
Still, there was a way to break it—but it would take spiritual stones. A lot of them.
These stones were packed with spiritual energy and were prized by cultivators. She used to take them for granted in the Upper Realm, but here they were rare—so rare that even the Hollis clan’s top disciples only got ten per month.
Now, how to get her hands on them...
Suddenly, chaos erupted outside.
"Something’s going on in the Second Miss’s room—everyone, go check!" The sound of hurried footsteps moved closer.
Eyes turning cold, Alexis exited the Violetcloud Ring instantly. She glanced at the unconscious man on the floor, flicked her sleeve, and he vanished into the ring.
She grabbed the bed’s lavender canopy and let it fall, hiding everything on the mattress from sight.
The door burst open, and a crowd barged in. Leading them was Bridget Hollis—the girl’s bright red robes shouting drama, her face twisted in outrage. Pointing at the bed, she yelled, "Alexis Hollis! You’re the Crown Prince’s fiancée, and you dare sneak a man into your bed in broad daylight? Drag this wench out right now!"
"Yes, Lady Bridget!" Two servants stepped forward, hands already reaching to pull the canopy aside.
"Touch it, and you’ll regret it."
Her voice was calm, but deadly. From her host’s memories, she knew Bridget was her cousin—the second uncle’s daughter—and had bullied the original Alexis all her life. This whole staged scandal? Definitely her doing.
The original Alexis had always been meek; even a low-ranked servant could boss her around. So this sudden resistance froze the servant in place. That unshakable tone had rattled him to his core.
"What are you standing there for, you idiot? Drag that useless girl off the bed!" Bridget shouted, fuming.
Alexis looked straight at him and said coolly, "I am the Crown Prince’s fiancée. If he finds out some random servant dared tear open his future wife’s bed curtains, what do you think will happen?"
Everyone froze. Sure, the Crown Prince wasn’t particularly fond of Alexis, but no one wanted to gamble on that risk.
Bridget scoffed. "So now you’re going to hide behind the Crown Prince’s name? Afraid to admit what you’ve done? He’ll kill you when he finds out you cheated on him."
"Bold claim. Got any proof I brought someone in?"
"The proof is on your bed. One search and we’ll know!" Bridget sneered.
"And what if there's no one there?"
Bridget snorted. "As if! Of course there is!"
"But what if there isn’t?" Alexis stared her down, her eyes sharp as blades.
