It was the twenty-third year of the Zhizheng reign, early winter.

The heavy city gates of Pingjing groaned open, their gears screeching as a long procession of carriages, stretching for miles, passed beneath them. The caravan quietly departed the grandest city of the Great Yan Dynasty.

The young Princess Xincheng lifted the carriage curtain. This was her last glimpse of Pingjing's imposing walls. Her journey to the Northern Lands would be long, with no return in sight.

“Your Highness,” the young maid attending Princess Xincheng, still with a touch of childishness about her, asked, “Is your heart heavy?”

The princess lowered her head slightly, the jade and pearl ornaments in her hair chiming softly. Heavy? The true Princess Xincheng was long gone. Now, inhabiting this body, embarking on this marriage to the Northern Lands, shouldering the heavy responsibility of securing peace, was the celestial fairy Yao Ji, descended into the mortal realm.

Yao Ji felt no heaviness herself; she only felt for the original Princess Xincheng.

Guided by the Star Monarch's Destiny compass, she had smoothly merged with a mortal body whose soul resonated with her own. Princess Xincheng, also named Zhuang Yao, was just sixteen, in the bloom of youth and beauty. Yet, due to years of neglect, she had suffered at the hands of the court's sycophantic servants, denied even medicine in her illness, and thus perished.

The transmigrated Yao Ji became the reborn Princess Xincheng. Before she could fully acclimate to this new body, she received startling news.

“The Northern Lands…” the little maid, Aqing, murmured, “I hear it's covered in snow, with so, so many wild wolves and horses. The people there love to drink, and they love to fight. I also heard…” she shivered, “that the men of the Northern Lands eat people!”

“Pfft.” Yao Ji couldn't help but laugh softly. Due to the souls' resonance, Princess Xincheng's appearance was strikingly similar to her own. While lacking the ethereal beauty of a celestial fairy, in the mortal realm, she was undoubtedly a breathtaking beauty.

Aqing was stunned. “Your Highness… you… you are so beautiful.”

Such a beautiful princess, yet she was to be married to the Northern Lands, to those savage, man-eating barbarians. She couldn't fathom the Emperor's reasoning. Such treasonous thoughts she dared not utter aloud. She didn't realize that even with Princess Xincheng's beauty, as the daughter of a mere palace servant, whose mother had died early and who lacked her father's favor, the Emperor of the Great Yan Dynasty, in choosing among his three daughters, would naturally select the most vulnerable, Xincheng, for this political marriage.

The Emperor hadn't wished to send his daughter to such a desolate land to suffer. However, the Youjin tribe of the Northern Lands possessed formidable might. Their iron cavalry had already advanced to the Great Yan Dynasty's border. Their young and capable Khan, at only twenty-six, had unified the barbarian tribes. He refused a marriage to a noblewoman, explicitly demanding a true princess, threatening immediate war otherwise. The Emperor and his ministers deliberated through the night in the Hall of State Affairs. The final decision: send Princess Xincheng.

While almost everyone pitied the departing princess, Yao Ji's heart leaped with joy. She wasn't the true Princess Xincheng; she felt no attachment to the Great Yan Dynasty. While she knew of Xincheng's life through the remnants of her soul, she only felt sorrow for the deceased girl.

Instead, she eagerly anticipated the man she was to marry. The Book of Destinies clearly stated: his reincarnation is the barbarian lord. The current barbarian lord was none other than the Youjin Khan.

The compass of destiny was truly miraculous. 'Closely related to the destined one' could certainly include his future bride.

So… Yao Ji realized with a start, she was about to meet Fei Guang’s reincarnation in this world. What would he be like?

When gods descended into reincarnation, their appearance, identity, even their personality would change. But the core essence of their soul remained constant. No matter how many worlds Fei Guang traversed, his numerous reincarnations would share a common thread, the very essence of his soul.

Yao Ji couldn't help but wonder, what was the core essence of Fei Guang's soul? Was it his gentleness, or his resilience? As she pondered, a shy smile graced her lips. Marrying Feiguang was something she had never dared to dream of.