Bone Replacement - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Rumor had it that the Yun Family produced a Divine Maiden once every hundred years.

Holy and noble, revered by all living beings under heaven.

The Yun Family took great pride in its Divine Maiden as well.

In this generation, the Yun Family had only two young ladies: me, and my legitimate elder sister, Yun Yanyan.

But before the Divine Bone awakened, Yun Yanyan came to find me.

She set aside her lofty airs, her face tight with anxiety. “Guiyu, do you want to become the noble, unparalleled Divine Maiden?

“Let’s exchange bones, all right?

“I’ll give you the Divine Bone and make you the Divine Maiden!”

She held a bone-carving knife in her hand, her beautiful eyes fixed intently on my face.

As if the moment I nodded, she would immediately swap that crystal-clear Divine Bone-envied by everyone-into my body.

I clutched my chest. The pallor had not yet fully faded from my face.

In my previous life, Yun Yanyan defied her status as the Divine Maiden and cast a forbidden spell on me, shattering every meridian in my body. Blood poured from me without end, and in the end, I died in agony in the emperor’s arms.

At this moment, I was certain Yun Yanyan had been reborn too.

A faint sneer tugged at the corner of my lips.

Even after living it all again, her horizons were still so narrow. The first thing she did after waking up was come to me to exchange bones.

“Yun Guiyu, don’t refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit!” A cold gleam flashed through Yun Yanyan’s eyes, and her tone turned urgent and vicious. “Even if you don’t agree today, I will-”

“I agree!” I cut her off lightly.

“If Sister is willing to give me the Divine Bone, that’s more than I could ask for. How could I refuse?”

Yun Yanyan, you had better not regret this.

“You really agree?” At my words, light burst in her eyes. The hand gripping the bone-carving knife trembled with excitement. “Guiyu, you truly are my good little sister.

“Becoming the Divine Maiden is something others could beg for and never receive. Let’s exchange bones right now!” she urged, terrified I would notice something was wrong and change my mind.

Cutting open flesh and removing bone should have been agony beyond measure.

Yet Yun Yanyan’s face was twisted in a smug, ferocious smile. “In this life, it’s finally my turn to marry him, become the empress at his side, and enjoy endless favor and glory!”

Her hands were covered in blood as she placed the Divine Bone into my body. “Yun Guiyu, this was your choice! Then you can go be that dull, tedious, wooden Divine Maiden who can’t even have feelings.”

In my previous life, after Yun Yanyan came of age, her Divine Bone awakened, and she became the most exalted person the Yun Family had seen in a hundred years.

That day, brilliant clouds filled the sky, and hundreds of birds cried in unison, circling above the Yun Family estate in layer after layer.

Everyone who witnessed that scene knelt before the noble Yun Yanyan.

Yun Yanyan, too, took pride in her status as the Divine Maiden.

But the good days did not last.

After becoming the Divine Maiden, Yun Yanyan had to strictly observe every rule and precept. She changed into white dresses that wrapped her from head to toe, the same in every season, without so much as a single ornament allowed on her body.

What she ate each day was vegetarian temple fare. She could no longer play the qin or burn incense, could not attend operas or watch dances.

Before dawn each day, she had to rise and follow her master in studying cultivation methods, copying scriptures, and purging every stray thought and emotion belonging to a mortal.

The master the Yun Family hired was extremely strict. If Yun Yanyan recited even one sentence incorrectly, she would have her palms struck.

If she slacked off at all or copied even a few scriptures too few, she would be sent to kneel in the courtyard.

Slowly, resentment began to grow in Yun Yanyan’s heart. This was nothing like the life of a Divine Maiden she had imagined. It was practically the life of a nun in a convent.

As for me, because I was born of a concubine and had no Divine Bone, the Yun Family’s Eldest Madam kept me by her side and personally oversaw my upbringing.

She invited the finest dance instructor, perfumer, and private tutor in the capital for me…

While Yun Yanyan memorized long, tongue-twisting scriptures, I admired flowers beneath the moon, composed poetry, and went on outings with the sons and daughters of noble families. I could turn any phrase into elegant verse, earning cheers from every hall, and before long, I won the title of Number One Talented Woman.

All day long, she could eat nothing but plain vegetarian fare, forced to cut herself off from every pleasure of the tongue. Eldest Madam, however, thought I was too thin, my figure not graceful or full enough, so delicacies from land and sea and all manner of exquisite pastries were sent streaming into my courtyard.

The servants delivering the meals deliberately passed by Yun Yanyan’s courtyard. The fragrance spilling from the food boxes made her swallow again and again.

That very night, Yun Yanyan, the noble Divine Maiden, secretly climbed into the kitchen. Casting all dignity aside, she wolfed down half a roast chicken.

Her master discovered her and rebuked her in an icy voice. “If you do not sever emotion and desire and keep all living beings under heaven in your heart, how will you ever become a true Divine Maiden and ascend to the upper realm?

“Go make yourself vomit. Purge it all! Do not let these bloody, greasy things defile your Divine Bone!”

A Divine Maiden who bore a Divine Bone, once she accumulated enough merit, had the chance to gain eternal youth, transcend mortality, and ascend.

But clearly, Yun Yanyan did not want to ascend and become a true deity.

That night, the argument between master and disciple was so loud I could hear every word from my own courtyard.

“Becoming a god and ascending is nothing but an empty, distant fantasy! I refuse to live such a miserable life!

“I want to eat well and dress well, just like Yun Guiyu. Why am I the one who has to be the Divine Maiden?”

Because of those treasonous words, the master invited by the Yun Family turned livid with rage and nearly stormed off on the spot.

My father and Eldest Madam scolded her harshly as well, then locked her in a stone cave on the Yun Family’s back mountain to reflect on her mistakes.

After Yun Yanyan went into seclusion for punishment, I changed into the lavish dance dress Eldest Madam had carefully prepared for me, adorned myself with dazzling jewels, and performed a dance at the Yun Family evening banquet that could topple a kingdom.

Even the reigning monarch was so captivated by my bearing that he knocked over the wine in his cup.

Before long, I was carried into the palace in a sedan chair. I rose from noble consort all the way to empress.

Rumor had it that the sovereign, Pei Cheng, doted on me beyond measure, gifting me the peerless Phoenix Feather Dress and a Jade-Boned Pipa crafted from dragon bone.

Then came the annual blessing ceremony, when Yun Yanyan entered the palace as the Divine Maiden to pray for the emperor and the realm.

She heard the rumors of my overwhelming favor and saw the handsome, commanding Pei Cheng for herself.

Yun Yanyan lowered her Divine Maiden’s pride, broke her vows, and secretly tried to entice Pei Cheng again and again. She was willing to give up her chance at godhood and immortality for him, to stay by his side and become his woman.

But Pei Cheng was exceedingly distant and cold toward her. Whenever he saw her, there was only reverence in his manner. “You are the honored Divine Maiden. I dare not profane you in the slightest, nor do I dare gamble with my empire and its people.”

On one hand, he rejected Yun Yanyan. On the other, because I loved to dance, he emptied the national treasury to build Phoenix Arrival Terrace.

All so that when I danced upon it, the people of the imperial capital could look up and see me.

The jealousy and resentment Yun Yanyan had accumulated over the years surged out in an instant, as if it could destroy heaven and earth.

At the cost of her own life, she cast the most vicious forbidden art upon me.

She watched me curl up in Pei Cheng’s arms, racked with pain and coughing blood nonstop.

Then she laughed madly, her face twisted with gleeful satisfaction. “If I couldn’t have it, why should a concubine-born daughter like you get it?

“I won’t allow it! I am the Divine Maiden. I am the noblest woman under heaven. Yun Guiyu, what are you? How dare you become empress and receive his exclusive favor?

“Die! If I don’t have it, you are not allowed to have it either!”

So in this life, the moment Yun Yanyan woke up again, she could not wait to exchange bones with me.

I glanced calmly at the bloody hollow she had left behind after carving out the Divine Bone.

The corner of my lips lifted in a faint, mocking curve.

She still did not know that Pei Cheng’s love for me had always been false. I, his “empress,” was nothing more than a substitute meant to shield his true beloved from disaster.