Song Bingyao, the Empress of the Heavens, was betrayed and assassinated by her trusted confidant, "Demon Blade." She was reborn three hundred years in the past—back to the Great Xia's maximum-security prison—thanks to the power of the nameless Dragon Ring on her finger. While imprisoned, she harnessed the ring's "Yellow Dragon True Qi" to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage. When Yi Sha, the "King of Myriad Kills," launched a surprise attack on the prison, Song Bingyao killed him in self-defense, subdued the warden Xu Qiang and his subordinates, and established the foundation of her own power base. After her release, she sought to uncover the truth behind the collapse of the Yuchuan Group—owned by her past-life fiancé, Ye Yuchuan. She crossed paths with Xiao Zhenting, CEO of the Xiao Cloud Group, and his father, Xiao Tenglong; recognizing signs of Xiao Tenglong's imminent death, she used a "Spirit-Suppressing Talisman" to extend his life in exchange for him ceasing his hostile takeover of the Yuchuan Group and injecting 100 million yuan in capital. However, upon arriving at the Yuchuan Group, Ye Yuchuan demanded to annul their engagement due to her status as an ex-convict and conspired with Hu Mei'er to claim credit for the capital injection; disillusioned, Song Bingyao agreed to the breakup. At a signing banquet at the Shenzhou Hotel, Hu Mei'er and Ye Yuchuan mocked Song Bingyao, but Xiao Zhenting arrived in the nick of time to acknowledge her as his fiancée and reveal that she was the one who had arranged the investment. The Hu family attempted to use Warden Xu Qiang to pressure her, but Song Bingyao ordered Xu to ruin the Hu family within five minutes, and Xu publicly pledged his loyalty to her, hailing her as the "Empress." Song Bingyao visited the Xiao family to treat Xiao Tenglong; despite a setback where Madam Xiao wiped away the Spirit-Suppressing Talisman, she successfully revived Xiao Tenglong using an ancient jade artifact and Xiao Zhenting's blood, subsequently taking on Sun Tian—the "Medical Saint of Shenzhou"—as her disciple. Later, at the Yuantian Tower auction, she defeated Hu Mei'er's brother, Hu Tianyi, and the head of the Wang family, Wang Hao; she also bested Lu Fan, the Master of the War God Hall, taking him as a disciple, and discovered that a piece of "useless stone" used to prop up a table leg was actually a rare "Mystic Jade Spirit Stone" highly prized in the cultivation world. At the Demon-Slaying Banquet, the Zheng family—the foremost clan—provoked a confrontation, with their patriarch summoning their ancestor, Zheng Yaodao. Song Bingyao realized that Zheng Yaodao bore the exact same appearance as the "Demon Blade" who had betrayed her in her past life. When Zheng Yaodao revealed his true identity as the Demon Lord, Song Bingyao defeated him. A mysterious figure with a ghostly mask then appeared, revealing that it was responsible for her rebirth and inviting her to the Cultivation World in the future; Song Bingyao resolved to strengthen herself, uncover the truth, and reclaim her throne as Empress.
