Reborn as the Crown Prince's Little Ancestor - Chapter 1

When I burst into the crown prince’s hall, the Divine Maiden, Chu Yao, was standing protectively before a gravely wounded man and shouting at the prince.

“The God of War protects all the people of Qi! Your Highness lives on what those people provide. All we ask is fifty years of your life to save him, and you still hesitate?

“You’re so selfish, Your Highness!”

This was a world where mortals and gods lived side by side, a world rich in spiritual energy.

A rare, gifted mortal could draw on that energy to cultivate and attain immortality.

Very rare.

Auspicious signs had filled the sky when Crown Prince Xiao Yundu was born. His spiritual awareness awakened at three; at ten, he formed an immortal bone. The people hoped he would ascend and take the whole country up with him, down to its chickens and dogs.

Chu Yao was a mortal girl, one chosen from a hundred. The imperial family had selected her for her compatible birth signs and trained her to serve as Divine Maiden.

Qi’s chief deity was Mingjue, God of War. His temples stood everywhere.

People believed he kept their land safe.

At the moment, he could not even save himself.

He had fallen from the sky into the mortal world, and the Divine Maiden had brought him to the palace.

Unconscious and critically wounded, he lay there with even the divine mark between his brows fading. Only a mortal rich in spiritual power could save him—by giving up fifty years of life.

So Chu Yao had set her sights on Xiao Yundu, with his hard-earned immortal bone.

In my previous life, she had pressed him with duty, righteousness, and the lives of his people. “If the God of War dies and Qi loses its divine protection, Your Highness will be condemned for all eternity!”

For his people’s sake, the crown prince had agreed to give up fifty years.

A cultivator’s heartblood was tied to their lifespan. He had cut his heartblood out with a dagger and fed those fifty years into the God of War’s mouth. The divine mark on Mingjue’s forehead had blazed anew.

Chu Yao had rushed to the bedside. She was the first person Mingjue saw when he opened his eyes. Cupping his face, she had said, “Divine Lord, I poured my heart and soul into saving you!”

She was so eager to claim the credit that she ignored the crown prince behind her, whose hair turned white in an instant.

Mingjue fell in love with her at first sight. To repay her, he took her back to the heavenly realm.

Everyone knew the crown prince loved Chu Yao.

But she wanted nothing except to follow the God of War to Heaven. The white-haired prince had said nothing to stop her.

Before long, she came back to the mortal palace full of grievances. She had visibly aged.

Cultivation traditionally meant following the righteous path and accumulating merit. Many people labored for thousands, even tens of thousands of years in the hope of ascending.

Chu Yao had tried to turn a supposed debt of gratitude into a shortcut to Heaven. It trampled on everything the traditional path stood for.

And one day in Heaven was a year on earth.

She had not truly become an immortal. Forcing her way into the heavenly realm brought the Heavenly Dao’s backlash: she aged ten years a day.

She knelt before the crown prince and wept.

“The immortal women all look down on my mortal bones. They say I used the God of War’s gratitude to force my way into Heaven!

“Now I’m growing old, and no elixir or immortal medicine helps. Your Highness, please help me!”

Chu Yao had served as Qi’s Divine Maiden for fifteen years, accompanying the crown prince at every sort of blessing ceremony. Despite the vast difference in their standing, they really had grown up together.

His heart softened. He asked how he could help.

She gazed greedily at the white-haired prince.

“They despise me, and I age ten years a day in Heaven, because I went there without an immortal bone.

“The God of War says that if you give your immortal bone to Yaoyao, I’ll become a half-immortal.

“Then I can take a few elixirs in the heavenly court and soon become a full immortal!”

The prince hesitated. “Yaoyao, do you realize I’ll die without my immortal bone?”

She drew a long jade ruyi scepter from her robes.

“This is a jade bone from Heaven. It can replace a human bone. With your talent, it would take you no more than five years to cultivate it into another immortal bone.”

He took it. It felt cold and sharp against his hand.

When the emperor and empress learned of this, they flew into a rage.

The ministers all urged them to have Chu Yao cut in half at the waist: she was no Divine Maiden, but a witch!

In the end, she still got his immortal bone. All it took was what she said in prison.

“Having lost fifty years, Your Highness has almost no hope of ascending now.

“If you help me become an immortal, I swear I’ll protect everyone in Qi. They’ll have food and clothing, freedom from demons and monsters, and a thousand years of peace.

“Only a god can do that. You’re still only a mortal, Your Highness. Helping me is helping all the people who sustain you!”

Using the people as her excuse, she took the immortal bone he had spent nineteen years cultivating.

As soon as she received it, immortal energy wreathed her body. Her aged face became young and radiant again.

She ascended from the city tower. That day, she promised to bless all of Qi and told the people to build her temples.

The crown prince believed her. Without those fifty years or his immortal bone, he was terribly weak. He could only shut himself away and devote himself to cultivation.