The original owner of the body, also known as Shen Qiaolian, was an illegitimate daughter of the Shen Clan which resided together as a big family in the Moonlight kingdom.
Her mother was a commoner with no backing of sorts, but she was known as a talented cultivator.
Although Shen Qiaolian was an illegitimate child, it couldn't have been said she was mistreated as she grew up under her mother's protection.
But it all changed when her mother passed away.
Little Shen Qiaolian, who wasn't even at the age of 9, was forced to face the harsh reality of the world.
The true face of the people she thought of as family, were actually snakes that were ready to bite their prey at any given time.
The child who grew up under the warmth of her mother was forced to grow up overnight.
Shen Yun had accessed the original owner's memory early on.
As long as she wills it, the memories will play like a movie unfolding before her eyes.
The problem is, it was all blurred out.
Some were still recognizable, but others were pure blur.
But there were 2 vivid memories, so vivid it felt like it was happening in front of Shen Yun.
16 year old Shen Qiaolian was kneeling on the ground, blood dripping from her mouth.
She looked at the man standing in front of her with horror and disbelief in her eyes.
The person she trusted with all her heart was now destroying her spirit root with his own hands.
"B,brother…?"
The man was whispering to her ears like he had done numerous times.
But the only difference was, instead of the honeyed words which made her heart giddy and her cheeks flush, they had changed into taunting words dripping with malice as if he wanted nothing more but to pull her deeper into hell.
"Foolish Lian'er, you shouldn't have trusted me."
The man had a smile on his face as he looked at her blank expression, he looked at her with pity and contempt.
The man's whisper, as well as the unfamiliar expression on his face made her question if they were really the same person.
Maybe something happened, maybe this wasn't her big brother Huan.
But she knew, she knew she had been toyed with.
Just like a puppet fully manipulated by her master dancing beneath the strings tied to his fingers.
Tears streamed down her cheeks for the first time after her mother's death.
She had been toyed with... but she still couldn't stop her heart from longing to be with the person who had hurt her.
…
"Shen Qiaolian, you pathetic bitch.
Do you still not understand?"
"Fan Huan doesn't love you. Do you see the way he looks at you? His eyes are filled with contempt. Hah! Do you believe he really loved you at least once?"
Shen Qiaolian could feel the whip hitting her body once again as she tried to struggle away from the maids that were gripping her.
After her cultivation was crippled, she became weaker than an ordinary man that has no cultivation whatsoever.
It wasn't supposed to be this worst, she would have still been stronger than the average human if her body received the appropriate treatment.
Unfortunately, the father who in the past treated her as the apple of his eye, now wouldn't even glance her way.
Her half-sister, Shen Meilin was looking at the kneeling her, who was covered with whip marks all over her body. Her dress torn and bloodied, she painted a sorry figure.
Shen Meilin pulled her hair, forcing Shen Qiaolian to look at her.
Shen Qiaolian felt pain all over her body but her glare was firm as she looked at her sister.
Her gaze was filled with defiance, not an ounce of shame as if bending so low did not bother her at all.
Shen Meilin despised that look.
"Hahaha...Stupid bitch, maybe if you drop that remaining pride of yours and beg me like the dog you are, i'll let you off. Am I not being merciful?"
Shen Meilin's eyes were filled with ridicule and enjoyment, seeing the girl that she was compared to all her life, now couldn't even match a strand of her hair.
But there was also jealousy that couldn't be covered no matter what.
"After all…"
She increased the strength on the hand that was pulling Shen Qiaolian's head.
"...you are someone who lusts over my, Shen Meilin's, fiance."
Upon hearing the last bit Shen Qiaolian's face seemed to carry some pain, her eyes slid to the waistband of her sister's dress. Among the many jade tokens, a lustrous one stood out brightly. She knew that it was the engagement present that her Fan Huan had given her.
A wide grin appeared on Shen Meilin's face.
She made a gesture towards one of the maids, as they handed her a burning metal plate.
"Beg."
"Beg me and I'll spare that pathetic face of yours.
At the very least, you can still survive while selling it in the brothels."
Shen Qiaolian glanced at the burning steel with no emotions.
There was neither fear nor anxiety, as if she had long accepted her fate.
"Don't blame me when you regret your choice!"
Shen Meilin pressed the metal plate at Shen Qiaolian's face mercilessly, wishing to erase that sickening nonchalant appearance.
The sounds of the skin burning crisp as well as the rotten smell of burning flesh filled the room.
'Never again...would you be better than me.'
Shen Qiaolian's eyes widened at the sight of the metal plate, she subconsciously gathered all her strength for a futile attempt to escape.
The world seemed to turn silent as the metal plate touched her skin.
The pain of her skin burning couldn't be felt as her brain was empty.
She looked at her sister who was smiling.
What was she smiling at?
Maybe it was the painful scream that came out of her mouth.
...
"Remember my words, Shen Qiaolian was discovered in the woods covered with bruises and her face deformed. Her clothes were disarrayed."
She Meilin has a cold expression as she instructs her subordinates.
"Put this brocade beside her. Make sure to make it look as if it has been trampled and accidentally ripped"
She gave them an exquisite silk brocade made from spiritual silkworms from the Spring Valley in the north.
This kind of silk is hard to get even with her family.
She smirks, but the heir of the Fan Family, Fan Tian, recently bought a bundle in an auction for a sky-high price.
"Let's go."
Shen Meilin beckoned to her personal maid as she looked at the bloodied face of her sister with satisfaction.
No one would recognise this monster as the beauty Shen Qiaolian.
Just as she turned around to leave, a dry hoarse voice sounded behind her.
"I, I curse you… even if I am nothing but a ghost, I will haunt you until you receive the death you deserve."
Shen Meilin turned around and glanced at her sister who was looking at her tenaciously.
She couldn't help but scoff.
She muttered loud enough for the crawling beggar to hear,
"Stubborn bitch! You don't learn do you?"
She couldn't do anything to her now that she's alive, let alone when she's already dead.
"Beat her until she's one foot inside death's door!"
This was the last sentence Shen Meilin spoke before strutting away shaking her long sleeves in disdain as she did so.
That sound of the door slamming ended this memory abruptly.
Shen Yun felt pity as well as sympathy towards the original owner.
After all, she oddly has a similar life as Shen Qiaolian.
But sympathy is nothing but sympathy.
Although she has the original's memories, as well feel her emotions and thoughts in the specific memory,
But just like it played like a movie, it also felt like it.
It felt like a movie, Shen Yun still had a clear definition between her and Shen Qiaolian's emotions.
Even if you pity the main character, you won't go out of your way for her.
She couldn't be bothered to get revenge for her sake. What she wanted was to lead a life without anyone disturbing her.
Bringing down a Clan with hundreds of years of history, and a powerful house at that is unrealistic.
And it's troublesome.
She had enough blood on her hands from her last life, she planned on laying as low as possible.
Forgive her for being heartless, but no good person with a magnanimous heart would have survived in an apocalypse for 5 years.
But unfortunately, things are destined not to go her way.
"Host can't have full access to the memory since the host is still in the process of merging with the body."
System 69 replied to her question.
"Then how long is it before I'll be fully merged?"
Shen Yun has little care about the body's past, but this world is most likely a wuxia world.
There's a high chance that someone may figure out that she possessed this body if she acted out of sorts.
She couldn't just sit back with a weakness that could potentially get her spirit eradicated.
Shen Yun wasn't the kind of person who leaves her weakness out in the open.
"Host can't fully merge with the body."
Shen Yun who was trying to stand up turned stiff,
"What?"
She subconsciously asked.
...it couldn't be, right?
"Host needs to eliminate every trace of the original owner for the host to fully merge with it."
Shen Yun had a terrible hunch.
"... What do you mean traces?"
"Host needs to complete the original owner's wish."
"Hah… "
The cliches of all cliches. The main character getting revenge.
'System, damn you.'
And here we have our protagonist collapsing on the floor.
~~~
Thank you for reading.