Chapter 1: Don’t Show Off—Showing Off Gets You Struck by Lightning
Nan Xun was dead.
She died while trying to save a child who had recklessly run a red light. The car hit her so badly that she was smashed to pieces—dead beyond any doubt.
But now, as she stared into the pitch-black surroundings, she felt utterly confused.
Where was this place? Why was everything so dark, so completely devoid of light? She couldn’t see anything at all. Could it be that—
Damn it. She had sacrificed her life to save someone and ended up as a pile of mangled flesh, yet instead of going to heaven, she had fallen straight into hell?
Just as Nan Xun was about to point to the sky and curse loudly, the darkness before her suddenly began to churn, as if something were stirring within it. A vortex formed, spinning faster and faster, growing larger and brighter by the second. Eventually, it spread outward, transforming into a vast, dazzling expanse of stars—a brilliant, radiant starry sky.
Nan Xun stood there in a daze, staring blankly at the breathtaking spectacle.
Tap, tap, tap—there came the sound of something running.
Nan Xun’s eyes flew wide open.
A snow-white steed leapt straight out of the starry sky before her eyes. It traced a beautiful arc through the air before landing steadily right in front of her.
Its limbs were long and graceful, its mane fluffy and strikingly beautiful. Its tail was like an umbrella, opening and closing as it shimmered with starlike brilliance.
“Do you want to live?” the white horse asked, staring straight at Nan Xun.
On the surface, Nan Xun appeared calm and composed, but inside, her mind was exploding with shock, thunder roaring endlessly in her head.
She was dead—and now she was staring at a horse. A glowing horse. A horse that could talk.
“I am the ancient divine beast known as the Void Beast,” the white horse said. “I possess immense divine power. I am the master of time and space. I can shatter the void, traverse time and space, return to the past, and travel to the future.”
Shatter the void? Travel through time and space?
Nan Xun froze for a moment, then suddenly pointed at it and burst out laughing.
“Oh, sweetheart, don’t mess with me like that—hahaha!”
But before she could finish laughing, a tremendous pressure swept over her without warning. In an instant, her soul was crushed and twisted, distorted under the overwhelming force.
In the blink of an eye, she found herself standing inside a grand, ancient-style palace. Women in wide-sleeved, flowing gowns moved about within it.
Nan Xun was so stunned she might as well have turned to stone. Before she even had time to take a closer look, her soul twisted violently once again.
Round after round—ten or so times in total—Nan Xun was flung through all kinds of different worlds and spaces. There were ancient aristocratic courts, Republican-era warlord societies, near-modern settings, cultivation worlds, interstellar civilizations…
Damn it, there was even a primitive society.
People there wore absolutely nothing—just a single leaf wrapped around their lower bodies. It was painfully hard on the eyes.
The Void Beast flicked its glowing tail and said, “As long as you help me guide and redeem those who are filled with intense killing intent and malice—purifying their ugly, corrupted hearts—and assist me in gathering enough merit, I will take you back to the past and help you change the ending in which you died far from home.”
Nan Xun blinked and asked, “So when you say people with heavy killing intent and malice, can I understand that as psychos, serial killers, villains who want everyone to die and dream of destroying the world—those kind of ultimate boss-level antagonists?”
The Void Beast fell into an inscrutable silence.
Nan Xun was also quiet for a moment, but soon she let out a soft chuckle.
“Sure. Why not? I’m already dead anyway. This deal isn’t a loss, is it?”
When she smiled, her brows curved gently, and in her jet-black eyes reflected an entire starry sky—brighter and more dazzling than the stars themselves.
The Void Beast nodded in satisfaction.
In the next moment, its body began to shrink, growing smaller and smaller, until it finally turned into a round, chubby ball. The ball had eyes, a nose, and a mouth, and its short little limbs were almost completely hidden beneath soft, fluffy fur.
“Why did you turn into this?” Nan Xun asked in surprise, her eyes lighting up.
So fluffy. So cute.
The Void Beast—now a ball of fur—awkwardly twisted its round little waist and snorted lightly.
“Didn’t I just take you through so many worlds? My spiritual energy was overdrawn, so I reverted to my juvenile form.”
“Pfft—so basically, don’t show off. Showing off gets you struck by lightning. Hahahaha…”
Nan Xun couldn’t help bursting into laughter, her voice clear and unrestrained, brimming with wild joy.
The Void Beast stiffened its face, raised a tiny paw, and suddenly flicked a drop of blood into the center of Nan Xun’s forehead. It said coldly, “Soul contract successfully established. Entering the first world…”
“Hey, wait—I’m not rea—”
Before Nan Xun could finish her sentence, her soul twisted violently once more under that familiar crushing pressure.
Then everything went black.
She knew nothing anymore.
Puchi.
The sound of a sharp weapon piercing flesh rang out with chilling clarity.
The moment Nan Xun opened her eyes, she felt something splatter onto her face. She reached up and touched it.
Bright red. Sticky. Thick.
Blood.
When she looked up again, a round, grotesque monster’s head lay right in front of her, dripping with fresh blood.
Nan Xun: “……”
