Transmigrated as the Calamitous Demon Empress, I Exterminated My Ex-Husband’s Entire Clan

Nalan Yunci, a top-tier toxicologist and assassin from the twenty-first century, transmigrates into the body of a woman with the same name who has just been framed for adultery. The original host, a gentle and trusting wife of the Lu family, was tricked by her scheming sister-in-law, Ye Jiayi, into visiting a brothel called Yuntai Ge. There, she was dosed with Hehuan Powder, a potent aphrodisiac, with the intent of ruining her reputation and getting her divorced and cast out. Upon awakening in the brothel, Yunci quickly assesses her situation, neutralizes the poison through an encounter with a mysterious man in a nearby river, and fights off the seven men sent to assault her. She then returns to the Lu mansion to reclaim her life.

Yunci’s husband, Lu Yanci, is revealed to be a man of deceit who has been secretly involved with his widowed sister-in-law, Ye Jiayi, for months. Lu Yanci also orchestrated the downfall of Yunci’s father, Nalan Xin, by impeaching him for corruption, leading to the Nalan family’s impending execution. Back at the Lu estate, Yunci confronts the family matriarch, Old Madam Lu, and Lu Yanci when they attempt to force a divorce. She demands a purity test to prove her innocence, which she passes with the help of a former palace maid, Guan Pozi, whom Yunci had previously saved. With her virtue restored, Yunci takes control of the household, punishing the maid who betrayed her and exposing Ye Jiayi’s pregnancy, which is actually Lu Yanci’s child.

A key turning point occurs when Yunci discovers that the mysterious man she met in the river is Fu Xi, a powerful figure who is the legitimate son of the late Empress and a rival to the current Empress Dowager’s son, Prince Zhao. Fu Xi is suffering from a severe, long-term poison and a condition called Dugu, which requires him to conceive a child with a woman of extreme Yin constitution to survive. Yunci, possessing the rare constitution, becomes his only hope. They form a pragmatic alliance: she agrees to help him cure his poison in exchange for his protection and assistance in clearing her father’s name.

Yunci then executes a series of counter-schemes. She frames Lu Yanci for the arson at Yuntai Ge by planting his personal jade pendant and the tokens of his guards at the crime scene, alerting Prince Zhao, Lu Yanci’s political enemy. This leads to Lu Yanci’s arrest by the Jingzhaoyin. When Ye Jiayi’s mother, Lady Ye, attempts to use Madam Liu, the Empress Dowager’s niece, to testify against Yunci, Yunci threatens Madam Liu with a painting depicting her illicit encounter, forcing her to change her testimony and support Yunci’s alibi. Old Madam Lu, desperate to protect the family’s newly granted title and avoid further scandal, is forced to make Ye Jiayi kneel and serve tea to Yunci as an apology.

Despite these victories, Yunci remains vigilant. She discovers that her maids have been replaced by spies from the Lu family and that her food is being poisoned. Using her knowledge of toxins, she identifies the poison and turns the tables on her enemies. She also secretly poisons Ye Jiayi’s nourishing soup, causing her health to deteriorate. Yunci secures her financial independence by retrieving a jade pendant from her mother’s inheritance, which grants her access to vast wealth. As the story progresses, Yunci continues to dismantle the Lu family from within, leveraging her alliance with Fu Xi and her own sharp intellect to survive the political and domestic threats surrounding her.