Lin Yue's POV
"ATTACK!"
The old woman's voice shattered the tense standoff. Hundreds of righteous sect cultivators charged forward, their weapons glowing with spiritual energy. But I couldn't focus on them. My mind was drowning in memories that weren't supposed to exist.
A beautiful garden. Shen Yifeng's face, younger, laughing as he tucked a flower behind my ear. "You're the only one who makes me feel human," he'd said.
A battlefield. Bodies everywhere. Him holding my dying body, screaming my name as I bled out. "Find me in the next life. Promise me!"
My last breath. "I promise. Always."
"Lin Yue!" Shen Yifeng's urgent voice yanked me back to the present. He pulled me behind him as a sword strike nearly took my head off. His own power erupted like a crimson storm, throwing back a dozen attackers. "Stay behind me!"
But the memories kept flooding in, each one more painful than the last. I clutched my head, gasping. In my past life, I'd been powerful—so powerful that heaven itself feared me. I'd been called the Heaven-Defying Empress. And Shen Yifeng had been my cultivation partner, my love, my everything.
Until I died protecting him from a heavenly tribulation meant for both of us.
"She's vulnerable!" the old woman cackled, pointing at me. "The awakening is making her weak! Chen Hao, if you truly loved her, strike now before she becomes the monster she was before!"
"Monster?" Chen Hao looked confused, his sword wavering.
"You fool!" the old woman shrieked. "Lin Yue is the reincarnation of the Heaven-Defying Empress! The cultivator who nearly destroyed the righteous sects three hundred years ago! I've spent decades searching for her reincarnated soul, and when I finally found her as a baby, I placed a seal on her memories and powers. I've been feeding her spiritual energy for years, planning to harvest both her Golden Core AND her sealed immortal cultivation when she matured!"
My blood ran cold. This woman had been controlling my life since I was a baby?
"That's why her Golden Core formed so perfectly despite her 'weak' spiritual roots," the old woman continued, her black eyes gleaming with greed. "Because she's not weak at all. She's the most powerful soul in this realm, sealed and sleeping. But now the seal is breaking. Soon she'll remember everything—and when she does, she'll slaughter you all just like she did in her first life!"
"That's not true!" I shouted, though I wasn't sure anymore. The memories showed me doing terrible things. Destroying sects. Killing elders who tried to stop my research into forbidden cultivation. I'd been ruthless, cruel, obsessed with power.
"Isn't it?" The old woman smiled wickedly. "Tell me, child, why do you think you always felt different? Why you could never quite fit in? Because you're not meant to be a servant. You're meant to be a god. And deep down, you've always known it."
"She was only cruel to those who threatened the innocent," Shen Yifeng said coldly, his power still holding back the attackers. "The sects she destroyed were corrupt, harvesting Golden Cores from their own disciples like livestock. She was trying to stop them. That's why they killed her—not because she was evil, but because she exposed their evil!"
"Lies!" Master Qingfeng shouted. "The Heaven-Defying Empress was a demon in human skin! She had to be stopped!"
"By murdering her?" Shen Yifeng's rage made the ground crack beneath his feet. "By ambushing her during her tribulation when she was most vulnerable? That's your righteous justice?"
Chen Hao stepped forward, his face pale. "Lin Yue... is this true? Are you really...?"
"I don't know!" I screamed. The memories were too much, too fast. I couldn't tell which ones were real and which were lies planted by the old woman. "I don't know who I am anymore!"
"Then let me remind you," the old woman said, raising both hands. Dark energy crackled around her fingers. "Let me show you exactly what you were. What you'll become again. And why you must DIE!"
She unleashed a wave of black power directly at me. Shen Yifeng moved to block it, but he was already fighting off twenty cultivators. He couldn't reach me in time.
The dark energy hit me like a hammer.
And suddenly I was falling. Not physically—my body stayed standing. But my consciousness plummeted through darkness, through layers of sealed memories, deeper and deeper until—
I stood in a grand hall wearing empress robes. Blood covered my hands. At my feet lay the bodies of sect elders who'd tried to steal my research. Shen Yifeng stood beside me, his expression cold and distant.
"This is wrong," he'd said quietly. "This isn't justice anymore. This is revenge."
"They killed my family," I'd spat back. "They destroyed my village when I was a child because we wouldn't give them our children for their experiments. Every sect elder in this hall participated. They deserved death."
"And what about their disciples who knew nothing? Their servants who were just following orders? When does it stop?"
"When they're all gone!"
His face had crumbled with grief. "Then you've already lost yourself. The woman I loved would never say that."
"The woman you loved was weak!" I'd screamed. "She's dead! I killed her so I could become strong enough to protect others from suffering like I did!"
"No," he'd whispered. "You became exactly like them."
I gasped, yanking myself out of the memory. Tears streamed down my face. That's who I'd been? A monster who justified murder as protection? Someone who'd lost herself so completely that even Shen Yifeng had turned away?
"Now you see," the old woman said softly, her voice almost kind. "Now you understand why you must be destroyed before you fully awaken. You're too dangerous to live, child. Even with good intentions, you become a catastrophe."
"She's different now," Shen Yifeng said desperately. "Reincarnation changes people! She's not who she was!"
"Isn't she?" The old woman pointed at me. "Look at her eyes. The awakening is accelerating. Soon the old personality will consume the new one. The Heaven-Defying Empress will return, and this innocent servant girl will cease to exist!"
I touched my face and felt it—my eyes were burning, changing. When I looked at my reflection in a nearby sword blade, I saw silver light replacing my normal brown eyes. My hair was turning white at the roots. The transformation was happening whether I wanted it or not.
"No," I whispered. "I don't want this. I don't want to be her!"
"You don't have a choice," the old woman said. "The seal is broken. Your true self is emerging. In an hour, maybe less, Lin Yue the servant girl will be completely erased. Only the Empress will remain."
"Then we have an hour," Shen Yifeng said grimly. He turned to me, his red eyes intense. "Lin Yue, listen to me. You're stronger than her. Stronger than your past self ever was. You endured ten years of suffering and never became cruel. You had every reason to hate, but you chose compassion. That strength—that's real. Don't let your past define your future."
"But what if I can't control it?" My voice shook. "What if the memories take over and I hurt people? What if I hurt you?"
"Then I'll stop you." He touched my face gently. "I failed to stop you last time. I watched you destroy yourself and did nothing. I won't make that mistake again. This time, I'll save you from yourself if I have to."
"How touching," the old woman sneered. "But pointless. Guards! Capture them both! The girl for harvesting, the Demon Lord for execution!"
The righteous sect cultivators surged forward again. But this time, something inside me stirred—not the Empress's cruelty, but her power. Raw, ancient, overwhelming power that had been sealed away for centuries.
My Golden Core suddenly erupted with silver light, expanding from the size of a marble to the size of a fist in seconds. Pain ripped through my body as my cultivation level skyrocketed. Foundation Building became Golden Core Peak became Nascent Soul became—
"She's ascending!" someone screamed. "Stop her! Stop the breakthrough!"
But they couldn't. The power kept rising, breaking through bottlenecks that should have taken decades to pass. My body lifted off the ground, floating as silver energy poured off me in waves. The old woman's seal shattered completely, releasing everything she'd locked away.
And with it came clarity.
I remembered everything now. Both lives. Both personalities. The innocent servant girl and the ruthless empress. They weren't separate people—they were both me. Different choices, different circumstances, but the same soul.
The question was: which one would I choose to be?
"Lin Yue!" Shen Yifeng reached for me, but the power surrounding me threw him back. "Fight it! Don't let her win!"
"She's not winning," I said, and my voice came out layered—both my soft tone and the Empress's commanding one speaking together. "We're merging. Becoming something new."
The silver light intensified until everyone had to shield their eyes. When it finally faded, I stood on the ground again, but everything felt different. Sharper. Clearer. More.
I looked at the old woman and smiled. "Thank you."
She blinked. "What?"
"Thank you for breaking the seal. For showing me who I was. Because now I can choose who I'll be." I raised my hand, and silver energy gathered effortlessly. "And I choose to be neither the weak servant nor the cruel empress. I choose to be Lin Yue—reborn, powerful, and finally free."
"Impossible!" the old woman shrieked. "Your personalities should be at war! The Empress should have consumed you!"
"She tried," I admitted. "But I'm not her. I learned from her mistakes. And now..." I released the energy in a controlled wave that swept across the battlefield, freezing every attacker in place without harming them. "I'm going to make sure no one else suffers what I did—in either life."
The old woman's face twisted with rage. "Then you leave me no choice!"
She bit her thumb, drawing blood, and began chanting in an ancient language. Dark symbols appeared in the air around her, pulsing with evil energy.
Shen Yifeng's face went white. "No. That's a forbidden technique. She's summoning—"
The ground split open behind the old woman. From the crack emerged a massive hand made of shadows and screaming souls. It reached up, up, up, until a head followed—a demonic entity from the Abyss, twice as tall as the fortress, with empty eye sockets that leaked black blood.
"A Soul Devourer," Shen Yifeng breathed. "She's insane. That thing will kill everyone here, including her!"
"Not everyone," the old woman cackled, already backing away. "Just everyone except me. I have protection. But you? You'll all become food for my pet. And when it's done feeding on your souls, I'll harvest what's left of the precious Golden Cores!" She vanished in a swirl of dark smoke, her mocking laughter echoing.
The Soul Devourer's empty eyes fixed on me. Its mouth opened, revealing rows of teeth made from human bones, and it released a roar that shattered windows across the fortress.
Then it attacked.
Its massive hand swept toward me and Shen Yifeng—toward everyone frozen by my power who couldn't defend themselves. Including Chen Hao. Including Master Qingfeng. Including hundreds of disciples who'd come to fight but were now helpless.
I could dodge. Save myself and Shen Yifeng. Let them all die as payment for what they tried to do to me.
But that's what the old Empress would have done.
I wasn't her anymore.
"Shen Yifeng," I said calmly, even as the hand descended. "Do you trust me?"
"With my life. With my soul. With everything."
"Good." I smiled at him. "Then let me show you what the new me can do."
I raised both hands toward the descending attack and released every bit of my newly awakened power—not to destroy, but to protect.
Silver light erupted like a second sun, meeting the shadow hand in midair.
The explosion was heard across three territories.