Underneath A Thousand Skies ✔️

29 Favoring Qie Over Wife (29)

Zhao Cheng rode north to battle the barbarians.

Song Jia fought a battle of her own — one that raged quietly inside her sleeping body.

It was not physical injuries that kept her asleep, nor was it because she didn't want to see Zhao Cheng's face as he had suspected. Rather, it was because the original host of this body, Li Jia, wanted to come back.

There were several theories about transmigration in the 23rd century. It was a very obscure discipline to research, thus they have not produced any concrete evidence and conclusion up until now. As for how one person could transmigrate while the other couldn't, they thought it was because of the energy of the soul.

Scientists had once sealed a dying man inside an airtight chamber made from next-generation graphene — a container so precise it could detect the escape of a single atom. They weighed his body before and after death, tracking every possible factor: air, heat, radiation, even molecular drift. It was actually the second experiment of its kind, the former having been dismissed due to those inevitable errors.

When the man's heart stopped, the machines registered a faint pulse of missing energy — small enough to escape ordinary instruments, but consistent across trials.

They called it ψ-energy, the resonance of consciousness itself.

It was not proven yet, but the scientists thought that it must be the 'soul' which escaped its physical constraints and thus caused the difference between the two measurements. As for how transmigrators could occupy the body of another person, they theorized that it was simply because their soul's energy was greater than soul of the former host.

There were also special circumstances in which a transmigrator with a weak soul could occupy another body, but that was when the original host was on the verge of death or had completely passed away. In that case, since the body was an empty vessel, these transmigrators could occupy the body without any resistance.

Song Jia's soul was only a little bit stronger than Li Jia, so for her body to be riddled by injuries now, Li Jia took the chance to 'awaken' and battle it out with Song Jia for territorial rights.

"Who are you? Why are you inside my body?"

The battle was not fought by their human forms but by shapeless blobs of energy that made a 'ping ping pang pang' sound as they collided against each other. Li Jia howled accusations at Song Jia as the two tried to seamlessly merge with the sleeping body below them.

"I'll give it back to you as soon as I'm done," Song Jia tried to appease her. "Right now, I'm also trying to help you have a good life!"

"Good life? Good life? As long as that bastard is alive, how can I have a good life?!"

Li Jia redoubled her efforts, her rage fuelling her adrenaline. The two collided — energy against energy — sending ripples across the dark like waves breaking on an invisible sea. Song Jia blocked her attempts with all of her strength, feeling that if she had a body right now, her forehead would definitely be soaked with sweat.

"Zhao Cheng is the only monarch that could lead this world to prosperity, don't you understand? If he doesn't ascend the throne, this world would gradually descend into destruction. I can't let you kill him!"

"Future monarch or not, I have to kill him! Otherwise, this blood debt inside my heart, how would it be resolved? Leave the future to the future, let them take care of their problems! I have to kill that bastard!"

"You're selfish," Song Jia snapped, matching her force. "You think pain gives you the right to destroy everything around you?"

Li Jia's light twisted and writhed. "You talk like someone who's never loved! What do you know about betrayal?"

Their energies struck again — sparks scattering through the void like fireflies.

Song Jia felt blocked in her throat. This kind of 'it's not my problem, why should I care' mindset was really making her feel irritated to death. Just before, she was feeling sympathy for this woman, but right now all of her good feelings had vanished into thin air.

This kind of spoiled and selfish woman who only looked out for her own sake, it was really a miracle that Zhao Cheng waited for her to don on the phoenix robes before deposing.

Below them — in the physical world — the oil lamp on the bedside flickered, its flame dancing in rhythm to their unseen struggle.

"Zhao Cheng loves Bai Mei Lien, what is wrong with that?" Song Jia placed her own bitterness and her own hurt ego to the back of her mind. "It was you who wanted to marry him, it was you who chose this kind of road! Before you married, did you ask him if he had anyone else inside his heart? Before you decided to recklessly love him, did you ever consider, if he would be able to love you back?"

"Being jealous of Bai Mei Lien is natural, but choosing to kill her, choosing to harm her, didn't you think about how Zhao Cheng felt? He abandoned you, yes, he didn't pay attention to you, yes, all those accusations inside your heart are true. But in the same way that you love him, he loves someone else too! Can't you understand?"

Song Jia was mainly dissatisfied with Zhao Cheng because he kept breaking his promises to her. But as for the fact that he loved Bai Mei Lien, Song Jia didn't have any problems with it. Bai Mei Lien was a nice girl, and she loved Zhao Cheng too. If this was a TV drama, she would be his love interest, and Zhao Cheng was the main character.

Li Jia unreasonably forcing her love on him and not caring if his own love got destroyed in the process, wasn't this the dark path of the villainess?

Since she occupied her body, naturally, Song Jia wished for the original host to be well and live happily ever after. If she couldn't become the love interest, then why not become a supporting female lead? Song Jia would match her with Wen Heng Zhi, the man Li Jia had a brief attraction with in her previous life. After she and Zhao Cheng got divorced, she would then make sure that Li Jia would have someone to take care of her for the rest of her life.

"Listen to me," Song Jia's voice softened. "You were born in a time where a woman's worth was tied to her husband. But that isn't the only way to live. If you can't be loved, you can still live...freely, on your own terms. I'll make sure you can."

Li Jia's soul dimmed, trembling like a candle before extinction. The edge of her voice was no longer a scream but a hissed breath, low and ragged.

"Live freely?" Her voice carried the brittle edge of madness. "You don't understand. Even if I could be reborn a thousand times, I'd still choose to destroy him."

The dim glow of her soul pulsed violently, twisting into sharp, spear-like tendrils that lashed through the void. 

"Zhao Cheng took everything from me...my dignity, my love, my family. How can I rest while that man still draws breath beneath Heaven's gaze?"

Song Jia's light flickered as the two forces clashed again, the air rippling between them like molten glass.

"He's not the monster you think he is," Song Jia said evenly. "But you...your hate will only bury you deeper. Let me fix what you couldn't."

Li Jia's laughter came again. Although it was quieter, it was still sharp with mockery, like the jagged edge of a broken sword.

"Fix it? No one can fix this. Not you, not Heaven. Let him endure the same heart piercing anguish I feel. Let his mouth taste blood when he thinks of me. Let his days be full of nightmares that he can't wake up from. If Heaven allows it, then even if I crumble into dust a thousand times, I'll come back to drag him down to the burning fires of hell myself!"