In the twilight years of modern Earth, Lin Hao stood atop a digital mountain. Revered in Immortal Sovereign Online, he was a sovereign of pixels and code—relentless in pursuit of ascension. After five years of sleepless nights, today he stood on the verge of breaking into the fabled Earth Immortal Realm.
Yet just as his breakthrough approached, fate struck from the side.
A blaring horn.
A screech of tires.
A flash of steel.
Truck-kun had come.
"No… not now… I was so close," Lin Hao gasped with bloodied lips, body broken upon the street. "Damn you, Truck-kun…"
His eyes dimmed. His journey ended—ignominiously, under a vehicle.
But Heaven was not done with him.
On a faraway road in another world, beneath a clear, cloudless sky, a bolt of lightning fell without warning.
It struck a young man clad in wedding robes.
He collapsed instantly. No signs of struggle. The air sizzled. The earth blackened. Birds fled the trees as thunder echoed far and wide.
Moments later, villagers and cityfolk gathered.
> "That lightning… there wasn't even a cloud. It came straight from the heavens."
"It was divine retribution, I tell you. Mark my words."
"Heh, who else would it strike but that disgrace of the Ji family? Lin Hao—the so-called son-in-law."
"The man who sullied the wedding night and brought shame to the noble First Miss?"
"It's said he snuck into the wrong chamber and tried to bed her younger sister. What a beast…"
"Hmph. I always said the Duke should've married the First Miss to the Governor's son instead. Young Master Song is handsome, refined, and talented !"
"Indeed! A true gentleman and a cultivator. Far better than that foolish orphan."
Lin Hao groaned, slowly opening his eyes.
Smoke rose from the ground. He lay on scorched soil, surrounded by wary strangers. They stared at him like one would a corpse that refused to stay dead.
"What's everyone gawking at?" he muttered. "Am I lying in a street play?"
"Z-Z-ZOMBIE!!!" someone screamed.
A man in black robes stepped forward—a coroner, judging by the imperial badge at his belt. He crouched, inspecting Lin Hao like a discarded animal.
"Pale face… faint thunder qi residue… body lightly charred… Cause of death: lightning from the heavens. Signs of divine wrath."
"Divine wrath, my ass!" Lin Hao sat up, coughing smoke. "At least comb my hair before calling me a corpse!"
The crowd recoiled.
He staggered to his feet—body weak, thinner than before. A sense of disorientation gripped him. Something felt… off. He looked down, inspecting himself.
The limbs were unfamiliar. The robe was of a different era.
A horrible suspicion clawed into his gut.
He quickly checked beneath his waistband—
—and screamed in anguish.
"NOOOOOO! HEAVENS, RETURN TO ME WHAT WAS RIGHTFULLY MINE!"
Where a proud dragon once soared, a pitiful chick now whimpered.
The crowd grew louder in their mockery.
> "Even the heavens pitied the First Miss. Look what she's been saddled with."
"How did such a disgrace marry into the Ji clan in the first place?"
"The Governor's son would never have brought shame like this."
And then, the square fell silent.
A chilling presence approached. The crowd parted like seafoam before a stone.
Clad in robes of pure white, she walked like mist over snow. Her every movement was elegant, measured. Her face—serene, cold, unblemished—seemed carved from jade. Her long black hair trailed like ink upon silk.
She stopped before him.
"Lin Hao," she said, her voice quiet yet laced with contempt, "only a few hours since our wedding, and already you look at me as if I were a stranger?"
Lin Hao's jaw slackened.
This ethereal beauty… is my wife?
His mind stirred. Memories surged—belonging not to him, but to this body's previous owner.
Lin Hao. An orphan. Weak. Talentless. A laughingstock. Through some twist of fate, he had been chosen as the son-in-law of Ji Zhongtian, Duke of Qinzhou. His bride: Ji Chuyan, the Duke's pride and the First Miss of the Ji clan. A woman feared and admired for her cultivation, her intellect, and her icy beauty.
She had never accepted him. That much was clear.
Lin Hao swallowed hard and offered a forced smile.
"I jest, my lady… just a little humor after such a shocking day."
He reached toward her waist.
She stepped aside without even glancing down. "Control yourself. You shame me further with every breath."
Before he could answer, a sharp voice rang out.
"Watch your step, 'Young Master.'"
A woman in green robes stepped forward—Snow, Ji Chuyan's personal maid. Slender, sharp-eyed, and radiating disdain.
"Do not defile the First Miss with your presence."
Lin Hao's face darkened.
Even the servants dared humiliate him in public.
> "They say even Snow despises him."
"Why wouldn't she? The First Miss is like a goddess. He's just a worm who got lucky."
"The whole city knows she never touched him after the wedding. They sleep in separate wings."
"Tsk. I heard the Governor's son still visits the Ji estate. Perhaps the Duke regrets his choice…"
The words stung.
Lin Hao followed behind Ji Chuyan, eyes on her figure as she stepped into her family's carriage. He tried to follow, but Snow blocked his way once more.
He brushed past her.
The interior of the carriage smelled faintly of plum blossoms. Ji Chuyan sat inside, reading a delicate silk-bound book.
She looked up in surprise.
"You dare come in?"
"I am your husband, am I not?" Lin Hao muttered, trying to sound bolder than he felt.
Her gaze narrowed. She closed the book slowly and tucked it away into her sleeve.
Just as Snow stormed in behind him, ready to throw him out, Ji Chuyan said coldly, "Leave him."
Snow, gritting her teeth, turned and stepped out.
Ji Chuyan returned to her reading, her voice like wind through dead leaves. "You are behaving strangely."
Lin Hao looked out the window, where the crowd still watched him with thinly veiled ridicule.
"A man struck by lightning may see life more clearly."
"Indeed," she said softly. "Perhaps too clearly for his own good."
He turned to her. "I only wish to be treated as a husband should."
She closed her eyes.
"Do not mistake a marriage of convenience for affection."
The words struck harder than any thunder.
Lin Hao sat in silence, fists clenched.
So this was his new life.
Mocked by the world. Loathed by his wife. Humiliated by servants. Compared endlessly to another man.
Let them speak. Let them sneer.
He would endure.
And when the day came, he would repay every word, every look, every smirk.
With interest.