In the Tianshou era, during the Renwu year, the rulers were corrupt and incompetent, warlords circled like vultures, internal crises erupted one after another, and the throne was in peril.
A power-hungry man came to Lü Ling for a divination: "The realm will change hands. Who will be the new ruler?"
A sycophant beside him chimed in: "Of course the new ruler will be Your Excellency."
"No." Lü Ling swept her robe aside, turned around, and sat down with her arms spread wide. Her eyes blazed and her spirit soared. "When the realm changes hands, I, Lü Ling, will be its new ruler."
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Lü Ling was a leading practitioner of the occult, able to commune with the unseen and command spirits and ghosts. After transmigrating to ancient times for reasons unknown, she became a country widow. Her house leaked on all sides, and from the start, all she had was a bed.
When she went back to her parents' home, she found her parents worked down to the bone, her younger brother was thin as a bean sprout, and her feverish younger sister was about to be sold to a widower.
Faced with this disastrous start, Lü Ling fell silent.
Later, she left her husband's family and led her own family along a winding mountain trail. The night wind howled, and she came upon a lynx trying to entrust its young to her. After that came a demon parrot corrupted by dark magic, a ghost from a traveling opera troupe, a wild mountain without a mountain god, twin infant girls...
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Bian Duo was the head of the Zhen'e Bureau, the eldest legitimate son of the Bian family. His mother died young, his father didn't love him, his stepmother was cruel, and the official world was so dark that he struggled to get by.
The world was a quagmire of debauchery and excess, with wolves and jackals running rampant and bribery everywhere. The people suffered beyond measure. With the great edifice on the verge of collapse and one man unable to hold it up alone, Bian Duo was consumed by grief and indignation when someone knocked at his window.
A lovely face appeared before his eyes. The spring sunshine was warm, and the woman outside the window had a clear gaze. Her words rang like pearls falling onto a jade plate: "Lord Bian, the road through this world is filled with hardships and dangers. Would you like to walk it with me?"
Reader's Guide:
1. Both leads are strong, but the heroine is stronger.
2. The heroine has had other partners; the hero has not.
3. The story is entirely fictional, with plenty of invented details. Please don't nitpick the historical accuracy.
4. Blurb written on November 7, 2025, revised on August 14, 2026, and archived.
Theme: Believe in science and reject feudal superstition
Let Mrs. Liu die, give her death! 🙏
The writing is very good, it feels like a collection of stories