Hengchao Dynasty.
Year 3 of the New Era.
Heng Beishuo dreamed of Yun Qing again.
She stood under the night sky, carrying her long blade, gazing at him with a faint, almost gentle smile.
She said: “Ah-Shuo, I’ll be your blade.”
But in the next instant, the long blade came flying at him.
Heng Beishuo jolted awake.
By force of habit, he got up to look for Yun Qing in the side courtyard—only to remember, she’d died half a year ago.
Killed by his own hands. And not just killed—buried alive.
He didn’t want to remember. But the memories surged up anyway, threatening to drown him.
***
Five years ago, back when Heng Beishuo was just a “bandit,” the Yun family of saber masters took him into their home.
Exactly what he’d wanted.
The Heng family had once been a powerful and prestigious clan—one of the foremost houses in the imperial court.
But the emperor had been weak and inept, easily swayed by corrupt officials. A few whispered accusations had been enough to see the entire family exiled and their estate seized.
Heng Beishuo had changed his name, escaped from exile after a grueling ordeal—and happened to stumble across the saber-wielding Yun family in the north, who had just declared independence.
He’d quickly formulated a plan, discreetly changed his attire, and successfully slipped into the Yun household under a new identity.
The saber-wielding Yun family had two daughters: the elder was wild and unrestrained, infamous for her romances, while the younger was the heir—pure-hearted and emotionally untainted.
At the time, he had been young, handsome, silver-tongued, and carried the refined air of a scholar. After a few deliberately staged “coincidental” encounters and well-timed displays of talent, Yun Qing—the younger daughter—had fallen for him without resistance.
Heng Beishuo painted a beautiful future for her, spinning dreams of a shared life.
“I want to take you north to see the snow… and then south to watch the lakes shimmer… Ah, but the court’s down south. No way I could bring you there. If only we could go…”
He always spoke with vivid yearning, but never directly said what he wanted. Just the occasional sigh, a wistful remark here and there.
Naturally, Yun Qing thought he was making sacrifices for her. She was deeply moved.
She had no idea she’d already stepped into a trap.
Not long after, Heng Beishuo formally confessed to her, and the two became engaged.
It was only then that his ambition began to truly show.
He gathered a force of exiled soldiers and martial experts persecuted by the court, and borrowed men from the Yun family. Before long, he’d raised an army of tens of thousands and marched on the capital. He even asked Yun Qing to be his general.
To be his sharpest blade.
At first, Yun Qing was reluctant. But he persuaded her—told her that unifying the land would save countless innocent lives. In the end, she agreed.
But who ever falls in love with a weapon?
Once they stormed the capital and Heng Beishuo seized the throne, power—both civil and military—was entirely in his hands.
If the story had ended there, it would’ve just been another imperial rise to power.
But the moment a man becomes emperor, he’s infected with suspicion. Heng Beishuo was no exception.
He dragged his feet on naming an empress. Yun Qing had a Taoist priest read their fortunes. The priest, clearly well-versed in political survival, offered Heng Beishuo an “excellent” suggestion.
“Your Majesty, the general’s fate is quite unique. Why not… make use of it?”
Heng Beishuo’s eyes lit up.
He secretly summoned Yun Qing alone. Staring at the woman who had stood by his side for four years, he finally made up his mind. He ordered his most trusted assassins to take her to an empty plot of land in the outskirts.
He had given her paralysis poison beforehand so Yun Qing had no strength to resist. As the dirt fell, her eyes were filled with despair.
Something vague and difficult to name flickered in Heng Beishuo’s heart, but it vanished quickly. With absolute power in his grasp, he had no time for second thoughts.
Later, they built the General’s Platform on that very spot.
Yun He had come searching several times. Heng Beishuo had considered eliminating her too, but strangely, every attempt failed—as if Yun Qing were still protecting her sister.
Terrified yet resentful, he gave up and instead had the now-national-preceptor perform several rituals to suppress her.
Eight years of peace followed.
Until…
Several fortune-tellers with real ability showed up. He assumed they’d join him, so—just like in the past—he dismissed his guards.
He never expected they were there for Yun Qing.
They even summoned her soul—and then vanished, as though fulfilling some sacred duty. They left him beaten within an inch of his life, stripped of even his robes, humiliated beyond words.
Yun Qing floated before him, expression ice-cold.
Heng Beishuo reached toward her. “Ah-Qing… you’ll forgive me, won’t you?”
In his youth, Heng Beishuo had once told someone: “If I ever gain the world, I’ll give you half.”
And now he had the world—yet that person had long since been discarded.
Yun Qing, in her youth, had fought half the war for someone she loved. Now she was dead. Her heart, too, had died. She gave him a faint, cruel smile. There was a sharp, satisfying edge to her voice as she said:
“No. If there’s a next life, I’d rather spend it wandering the jianghu, never seeing you again. You make me sick. You broke my heart… Meeting you was the biggest mistake of my life. But… this is fine too. This way, you’ll never—ever—be able to leave my side again.”
She was no longer human, but a vengeful spirit. Even if Heng Beishuo died here and now, she could seize his soul and chain him to her side.
He would be tormented by guilt and fear until the day his soul crumbled.
Life after life. With no escape.
