High Martial Arts: Enlightenment after Practices - Chapter 102: Hundred Refinements Melting Furnace: Entry Level

Being second best is practically in my DNA. My sister got the love, the attention, the spotlight. And now, even her damn fiancé.Technically, Rhys Granger was my fiancé now—billionaire, devastatingly hot, and a walking Wall Street wet dream. My parents shoved me into the engagement after Catherine disappeared, and honestly? I didn’t mind. I’d crushed on Rhys for years. This was my chance, right? My turn to be the chosen one?Wrong.One night, he slapped me. Over a mug. A stupid, chipped, ugly mug my sister gave him years ago. That’s when it hit me—he didn’t love me. He didn’t even see me. I was just a warm-bodied placeholder for the woman he actually wanted. And apparently, I wasn’t even worth as much as a glorified coffee cup.So I slapped him right back, dumped his ass, and prepared for disaster—my parents losing their minds, Rhys throwing a billionaire tantrum, his terrifying family plotting my untimely demise.Obviously, I needed alcohol. A lot of alcohol.Enter him.Tall, dangerous, unfairly hot. The kind of man who makes you want to sin just by existing. I’d met him only once before, and that night, he just happened to be at the same bar as my drunk, self-pitying self. So I did the only logical thing: I dragged him into a hotel room and ripped off his clothes.It was reckless. It was stupid. It was completely ill-advised.But it was also: Best. Sex. Of. My. Life.And, as it turned out, the best decision I’d ever made.Because my one-night stand isn’t just some random guy. He’s richer than Rhys, more powerful than my entire family, and definitely more dangerous than I should be playing with.And now, he’s not letting me go.

I had thought that my life couldn’t get worse when I walked in on my fiancé cheating on me with my best friend. But after a series of unfortunate events, I opened my eyes in a world that I had only read about in a webnovel, the Erudian Empire, ruled under the domineering, bloody reign of Emperor Helio.

The worst part?

I’m not even the main character! Reborn as Winter Royberg de la Erudian, I am the pitiful side character who is discovered to be a royal bastard princess due to a certain physical trait only the imperial bloodline possesses. But I know the end of Winter’s story and the unwanted royal punching bag is framed as a witch and killed at age 16 on the guillotine due to the scheming of the cruel empress.

An aloof, murder happy father? Check.

Psycho half-sister? Check.

Meddlesome author who wants me to follow the script? Double check!

I don’t want to die an early death again, so I’m determined not to ever be discovered as a royal again. But before I know it, I’m trapped in a palace of blood and opulence playing tricky games of power, games I have no clue how to win. How will I survive to adulthood in the imperial palace and get my happily ever after? And am I really the only person who fell into this world?

“Alas, this life is a failure; let’s see what the next life holds.” ... “The second life has ended, calculating results... Final rating: C+. Rewards based on rating: You may choose to inherit one item from Constitution, Skill, or Talent. Please select?” “Hmm, I choose to inherit the Talent ’Dynamic Vision’.” “Talent inherited... Congratulations on achieving the following lifetime achievements: Innate Grandmaster; Blessing of Many Offspring (10/10)” Achievement rewards: Two random rewards. You may draw from Constitution, Skill, or Talent, or choose to upgrade Talent level. Please select? ... A reborn individual, in possession of the treasure ’Hundred Lifetimes book’, reincarnates within the Cultivation World, undergoing endless cycles of rebirth without the bloodline ending or the soul perishing! The family he established ten thousand years ago has now grown into a massive entity that spans the heavens. The disciple taken in casually eight thousand years ago ultimately became the founder of a Great Sect in the Immortal Realm. The pet raised three thousand years ago has evolved into an unparalleled Demon Saint of the Otherworld. ... I am Zhao Sheng, and I shall cultivate life after life until Ascension!

Varian only wanted to end the war with the Abyssals and bring peace so that no one would lose their dad like he did.