As Shen Ying continued to sleep, a strange dream was formed from the myriad memories that she had absorbed. In this dream, she thought herself to be a girl named Li Tang Zi.
"Papa, where are you and mommy going?" Li Tang Zi asked her father this question. She was very bored when her father and mother were not around to entertain her.
"We are both going to somewhere important to help you, Tang Zi. Promise me you will stay at auntie's house." He stretched out his pinky to do a pinky promise with Tang Zi. As their pinky fingers wrapped around each other, her father smiled, before patting her on the head and going away.
Tang Zi stayed at her aunt's house, even though it was very boring. She wished that she could see the tricks her parents did, like flying with a sword, or summoning pets.
Many days passed peacefully, until someone knocked on the door. Her aunt answered the door, only to cry when the person at the door muttered out something. Tang Zi did not understand what happened to make her aunt cry so much. She had always disciplined Tang Zi with a straight face.
A few years passed for Tang Zi. Her parents were supposed to have come back a few years back, but her aunt told her that they had were delayed by unexpected events. She did not believe her aunt, however, due to the fact that her aunt kept looking at her parents' photos and crying.
"Tang Zi, your parents are dead." Her aunt delivered the news bluntly to Tang Zi on her 15th birthday. Tang Zi's aunt had felt that Tang Zi would be able to handle the news, since she was grown up now.
"I knew it. They were dead since that stranger came a few years ago, right?" Tang Zi sighed and looked dejected. She did not want her conjecture to be proven correct, but she would rather accept the truth than be in denial.
"Yeah. They were killed by enemy cultivators from other clans." Her aunt casually said something important. Tang Zi came to a stop when she heard the words, "cultivator".
"What? The cultivators that only exist in myths and legends? You must be joking, Aunt!" Tang Zi simply could not believe that her parents were cultivators. Even though she had suspicions about her parents' origins, she always believed in science and math to solve everything.
"No, I'm not. Your parents wanted me to give you this Unshaking Cultivation Manual for you birthday. If you want to stop now, you should. Cultivation is a tough and harsh process." Her aunt handed her a weathered old book, which had a special glow to it. She suddenly had a strange feeling coming on her that she forgot something. No matter, she should focus on her aunt first.
Her aunt explained the manual's unique power, which is to stabilise the user's body. They would not be able to be scared or fall down easily. Her parents also left behind some of their Qi in the Manual to help her advance her cultivation quicker. That was why the manual emitted put a special glow. It could help to increase her comprehension in the Unshaking Cultivation Technique.
Her aunt also explained about the cultivation ranking in their world. The first cultivation rank was the Body Building stage. This was followed by Spiritual Foundation, then Rotating Core, Astral Projection, and lastly True Soul stage. From there, cultivators have to choose their unique paths. If they were immensely lucky, they might even turn into a unique god.
Ever since her 15th birthday, Tang Zi has diligently practiced her Unshaking Cultivation Technique. It took a large toll on her body's health while she was practicing it, but she always recovered to a better stage than before. She promised that she would on day take revenge on her parent's death.
Ever since that day, Tang Zi has been diligently practicing her cultivation. She often sparred with her aunt to comprehend the Unshaking Cultivation Technique better. With the book she had, she had improved by leaps and bounds in her cultivation. She took 1 month to reach 1-tier Body Building stage, when a normal person would take a month.
However, whenever she looked at her aunt's eyes, she found it weird, as if it was some other person's eyes. As Tang Zi squinted closely at her aunt's eyes, the face slowly underwent transmogrification.
"Princess, are you fine?" Liu Ying's face appeared in front of Tang Zi. Tang Zi was shocked that she recognised this face. She had not seen her before, but it was very familiar to her.
"That's right, my name is Shen Ying! I'm not Tang Zi! I'm the princess of Lian Empire! I will not be subject to such madness anymore!" Shen Ying realised that she had nearly been tricked into becoming this woman known as Tang Zi. It was fortunate that Tang Zi's aunt had the same eyes as Liu Ying.
As the illusion slowly crumbled away in front of Shen Ying, a voice that she was very familiar came out.
"Host has recovered memories. Waking host up from memory implanting procedure..."
Shen Ying's body suddenly jerked itself up, before her eyes opened. She was covered in cold sweat and wiped her forehead with her calloused hands.
The experience she just had could not been described at all. She was this close to succumbing to the memories of this body, and losing her sense of identity entirely. It was merely a stroke of luck she had been reminded of her past life.
Still, where was this new place that she had been placed in? She could feel a comfortable bed that was beneath her. This new world seemed to be a nice one.
As she moved back on the bed to try and make herself more comfortable, she looked around the new environment that she was in. It was a totally white and hygienic environment that belonged to a hospital, with a large black device called a television above head, with people on beds like hers watching it.
On this device, there were people dressed elegantly who were talking to each other, and sometimes slapping each other too. It was a very intriguing story, so Shen Ying was engrossed when she watched the soap drama. She did not have this form of entertainment in her previous life. They used the language that everyone used in Liam Empire, so she could understand what they were saying.
While she was watching the show, a nurse walked into the hospital ward, only to see Shen Ying awake on the bed. She quickly rushed to the doctors' sleeping quarters.
"Patient Zero has awakened!" The nurse quickly said to the doctors.
"Quick! Everyone get to the room! This might be marked down in the history of medical advancements!" It was a rare occasion for them to study the effects of the God of Fate's powers. They just could not miss it!
The doctors quickly got dressed with their white coat, dashing through the corridor with a fierce intensity. Before long, they arrived at the entrance of the hospital ward that Shen Ying was in.
As the doctors rushed over to Shen Ying's side, Shen Ying heard them. What appeared in her mind was , "?????? What's happening?"