重生之孽奴虐暴君 [Rebirth - Degenerate Slave Abuses Tyrant]

by 梅果

Son of the Senior Chancellor, Luo Wei, loved the wrong person in his past life. This mistake caused his entire family to be wiped out, and in the end, he was cast down as a pleasure slave, and died in the wilderness during the depths of winter.

Somehow, the heavens did not give up on him and gave him a second chance at life. He believed this rebirth was only meant for atonement, and not love. Yet, as he plotted his vengeance, Luo Wei quickly realized that passion would again be his fatal downfall.

The once emperor, the lover from his past life, his beloved in this life, and an opposing empire’s monarch who is doomed to love him, who is supposed to be good for whom?

And who is supposed to hurt whom? A hero chasing after a dream, an empire of a thousand years, a kingdom stretching across the known lands, all flashing before the eyes like a mirage. Is it worthwhile to trade a hundred years of my loneliness to give you a single lifetime of joy?

Genres: China

ebook

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Son of the Senior Chancellor, Luo Wei, loved the wrong person in his past life. This mistake caused his entire family to be wiped out, and in the end, he was cast down as a sex slave, and died in the wilderness during the depths of winter.
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This story is pretty hard core, although nothing is described in graphic detail...do pay attention to the tags on novel updates should you choose to read it. That being said, I found it to be a pretty good novel. I just wish Luo Wei and Lan Wei had a happy ending in this life. So much court drama/backstabbing between Luo Wei and Long Xuan. Both have blood on their hands but I was really rooting for a happy ending for Luo Wei. In his 2nd life, Luo Wei only wanted to keep his family safe from Long Xuan.

[Dianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prepare yourself for heartbreak if you read this. There's a tragedy tag on Novel Updates for this story for good reason. The title of the book is super long, so people refer to it as R:DSAT for short. The story itself is also quite long with almost 500 chapters, so make sure you know what you're getting into before you start ready.

It follows our MC, Luo Wei, who in his previous life blindly followed the second prince Long Xuan in his bid for the throne. Because of his love, he was willing to do anything, even betraying his family, which ultimately lead to their deaths. Unfortunately, Long Xuan, didn't appreciate his efforts and tossed him out like a toy, and he suffered an unimaginable fate for 10 years where he was repeatedly physically and sexually abused and was even maimed until he died alone in the snow.

This time around, Luo Wei was reborn into his 13 year old self, before he started making all of the mistakes of his previous life by blindly supporting Long Xuan. All he wants in this reborn life is to live peacefully and protect his family, but unfortunately, our MLs won't let him do so. Yes you read that right, there are multiple MLs in this story, and two of them are toxic and honestly kinda crazy.

Needless to say, even though Luo Wei wants to live a low key life where he only plots for his family's well being, he's unable to do so, and there's a lot of pain in store for him, both in terms of physical and mental/emotional abuse. The first third or maybe even half of the story isn't terrible, but things go quite downhill after a while and some chapters were quite hard to read.

**Warning: Spoilers Ahead**

I'll start by going through the characters.

I actually quite liked Luo Wei as a character. I've got a soft spot for smart characters, and he's definitely one of them. He can plan and carry out his strategic plans like it's no one's business. His schemes brought about the demise of multiple powerful families, including the families of one of the emperor's consorts and even the later empress's family. In the 10+ years at the end where he has to serve as the regent while the emperor's off fighting wars, he does an amazing job of governing the country.

Also, because of all Luo Wei's suffering in his previous life, he can endure much more than the average person, which he shows us this time and time again. The fact that he can remain so cordial and work hand in hand with some of the most hated people in his heart, like Long Xuan, for the sake of his beloved or his family's safety is absolutely amazing to me. After everything he goes through, you can't help but wish for a happy ending for him, but you know it's not possible, at least not in this lifetime.

As for our three MLs, I can't say I was a huge fan of any of them. I knew going into the story that there would be multiple MLs and read spoilers about what happens, since it was driving me crazy not knowing who the true love interest was.

The first ML is Wei Lan, or A Chou as Luo Wei knew him in his previous life. After Luo Wei rescues him from his own life of misery and physical abuse, he's super grateful to Luo Wei and serves not only as his bodyguard but as his lover as well. Initially it felt like Luo Wei wasn't super into Wei Lan and just had some light affection for him, but his feelings deepened after he realized Wei Lan was A Chou, one of the very few people to treat him sincerely in his previous life.

Their love isn't super exciting or passionate, but Wei Lan remains a steady presence Luo Wei's life and the latter comes to rely on him quite a bit. When they first got together, I wasn't really feeling the romance as it felt like they were using each others' bodies to find comfort and healing, and it wasn't until Wei Lan risked his life to infiltrate Northern Yan to save Luo Wei and they lived happily together in obscurity for a couple years that I started really appreciating their relationship. Unfortunately, Long Xuan just had to break up the happy couple, and it was absolutely heartbreaking the moment Luo Wei realized Wei Lan was given the forgetfulness drug and no longer remembered him and was marrying someone else on top of that. I think my heart died a little bit then :'(

I'm glad that in their third life together, they were reborn and found each other again. I wish the author had included more about this in the extra chapters, but we only caught a glimpse of this from Long Xuan's perspective, who at this point was already quite old.

The second ML is Long Xuan, obviously. He does so many terrible things to Luo Wei and then feels guilty about it afterwards. He's the definition of a scum gong. I actually wouldn't mind him if he didn't do so many terrible things, since he's a smart guy and can scheme with the best of them. But I can't in good conscience ignore how poorly he treated the MC in his previous life, or the fact that he was the one who suggested to Sima Qingsha to take Luo Wei hostage and then tried to trick himself into believing Luo Wei was living well as a hostage in the enemy nation. Or how he made Wei Lan forget Luo Wei so that he could monopolize Luo Wei for himself in the palace. By the time he tries to treat Luo Wei genuinely near the end, it's too late. He's already done way too much to make Luo Wei hate him. He deserves every bit of indifference and loathing from Luo Wei.

If it wasn't for his scummy personality, I would say he was a good match for Luo Wei, since they're both extremely smart individuals. Together, they would have been able to accomplish so much good together. Unfortunately they were born into opposing sides of the struggle for the throne, and despite Long Xuan's feelings for Luo Wei, he knew he had to remove LW as a contender for the throne.

The last ML is my least favorite, Sima Qingsha. I honestly think the author added him to the story purely to make Luo Wei suffer. For someone who claims to care about the MC, he sure treats the MC terribly, from locking him up for months in a dark room and not letting him have even some candlelight to sexually abusing him and hurting him to the point where his life is in danger, Luo Wei's time with Sima Qingsha was hard to read. I get that he has a love/hate relationship with Luo Wei, since LW betrayed him previously and caused his country to lose control of a key stronghold, but does that really warrant his terrible treatment of Luo Wei??

I'm not super happy with how the story ended, where Wei Lan and Luo Wei are finally together in their third lives, after Long Xuan sacrificed multiple reincarnations to give them this time together. I wish they could've been together in this life, rather than Wei Lan marrying Yan'er and having two kids with her. But I get that not all stories have a happy ending.

Here's a short excerpt from the story that embodies its tragic theme quite well, from the scene where Luo Wei passes:

“Lan is right there,” Luo Qi whispered in Luo Wei’s ear, afraid he couldn’t see properly.

The corners of Luo Wei’s mouth raised slightly, revealing a smile. He looked at the smile on Lan’s face, wondering if this smile could accompany Lan for a lifetime. In their past life, this person gave him comfort, and in this life, he walked through most of his life with him. He was already satisfied. In this life, he had only sought to atone for his sins. Now that his family was safe, his Lan had a loving wife and children, even if his own life was as fleeting as a mayfly or as insignificant as a speck of dust, he had done his best to accomplish what he sought to do, to protect those he owed from his previous life. It was still a night of swirling snow, but he could now die in the arms of his older brother. The Heavens had allowed him to be reborn in this life, and had not treated him poorly.

The sound of New Year’s firecrackers crackled in the snowy night, ushering in another spring.

Luo Wei raised his arm as if reaching out to Lan. “If there truly is a next life,” Luo Wei said in his heart to Lan, who was so close yet so far away, “I want to meet you again. I owe you a lifetime together, growing old side by side.”

[Cali · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow I cried so much reading this novel! There was so much angst and unfairness. I loved all the scheming and political intrigue and even if some of the battle stuff was a little boring, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book! I loved that the main character and the rival/og love interest were both such cunning, manipulative, cruel people and I still ended up rooting for both and even felt bad for Long Xuan at the end and was hoping that they could eventually enjoy a happy lifetime together. I would consider this story to be a BE/bad ending because I wish they had found a way to be happy together. They both suffered in both lifetimes but only Luo Wei got the knowledge of the past life to be able to make different choices. Had Long Xuan had knowledge of the past, I think he too would have tried to make different choices. At least in this life, Luo Wei was able to protect the family he had wronged in the past and Long Xuan exchanged his future reincarnations for one lifetime of smiles for Luo Wei.

Summary: Luo Wei, born into a powerful noble family in an ancient China-esque setting, has always loved the Second Prince, Long Xuan. Luo Wei betrayed his family for Long Xuan to inherit the throne and become emperor only to be discarded, spending ten years humiliated in a brothel and dying in the snow. Luo Wei gets reborn as his 13 year old self and is determined to save his family this time and make up for his past life. Political intrigue, angst, obsessions and scheming ensue.

[Shrivrae · Rating 5 out of 5]

I went into this story expecting palace intrigue. I came out devastated, hollow, and in awe of how deeply a book can hurt.

[SPOILERS]

481 chapters + 7 extras

I don’t even know where to start. I feel like I have so much to say about this story, but the words just won’t come out right. I’m still trying to process everything - and honestly, I’m overwhelmed. Mostly by grief.

Ah, Luo Wei… Two lives, and he still couldn’t escape the pain. All he ever wanted was to protect the family he destroyed in his first life - and even in his second, fate wouldn’t let him go. At least this time he had a few moments of genuine happiness (you could probably count them on one hand, but still), and in the end, he managed to fulfill the goals he set for himself.

The first half of the story focuses on introducing the characters, their relationships, and the endless web of politics, schemes, and power struggles in the Imperial Palace. I loved that part - it’s brilliantly written, full of intrigue and sharp dialogue. I’m a sucker for mind games like that.

But the second half… once Luo Wei goes to Northern Yan, everything changes. It’s just pure, unrelenting suffering - for him and for the reader. I can’t remember the last time a book made me cry this much. Even the rare peaceful, happy moments with Luo Wei and Wei Lan were hard to enjoy, because deep down I knew they wouldn’t last. The future was already doomed. Still, at least they got two short years of peace together.

Even the villains - Long Xuan and Sima Qingsha - were incredibly well written. They were both awful people, sure, but complex and fascinating ones (especially Long Xuan). I liked how none of the main characters were truly good. Sima Qingsha (the prince and later emperor of Northern Yan) and Long Xuan (the second prince and later emperor of Great Zhou) were absolute maniacs who would stop at nothing to get what they wanted. Luo Wei (the youngest son of the Senior Chancellor) was cold, calculating, and ruthless - but everything he did, he did for his family and for Lan, no matter how much it destroyed him. And Wei Lan (a shadow guard saved by Luo Wei) would have burned the world down if it meant protecting him.
Even the side characters stood out - they weren’t just there for decoration. They each had a story, a purpose, and their actions actually mattered. Imperial Physician Wei was probably the only sane person in that entire palace, lol.

Luo Wei was my favorite from the very start, but by the last thirty chapters, I just wanted him to finally rest. He deserved peace - even if it came only in death. He was in his late twenties or early thirties, but his whole life had already been ruined beyond repair. He lost everything: his freedom, his family, his happiness. Locked inside his home, forbidden to leave the palace (and when he finally did, it was on the day he died), cut off from everyone he cared about, sick and bedridden, his body barely holding together - and to make it worse, the one person he loved most didn’t even remember him until the very end, having started a new life with someone else. And still, Luo Wei wished them happiness.
After being dragged back to the palace by Long Xuan, he slowly faded away, like a candle burning out. No anger, no sadness - just emptiness. Those final chapters, watching him slip away, were absolutely soul-crushing. At least he got to die in his brother’s arms.

This book is brutal. Heavy. Unforgiving. It gives you barely any room to breathe between all the heartbreak and despair. The violence, the trauma, the sheer hopelessness of it all - it’s a lot. The story doesn’t shy away from anything: political betrayal, fratricide, war, massacres, entire families wiped out, rape, murder, torture (both physical and emotional). It’s disturbing, graphic, and painful. Please read the content warnings on Novel Updates before diving in.

And honestly? I wouldn’t even call it a romance. What Sima Qingsha and Long Xuan felt for Luo Wei wasn’t love - it was obsession, control, possession. Luo Wei hated them, but they still wouldn’t let him go, not even at the end. What he had with Wei Lan started as mutual comfort, something fragile born out of shared pain, and only later grew into something deeper - something real. Luo Wei couldn’t imagine living without Wei Lan. But whether Wei Lan would’ve felt the same if his memories hadn’t been erased… that’s hard to say. Even then, their happiness didn’t last long. Long Xuan made sure of that.

“Luo Wei and Wei Lan were destined to be together. ‘It was me,’ Long Xuan admitted to Xie Yu. ‘I wronged them.’”

He said that twenty or thirty years after Luo Wei’s death - bruh. At least he finally owned up to it. In the end, Long Xuan traded his nine reincarnations for a lifetime of happiness for Luo Wei, so that in their next lives, Luo Wei and Wei Lan could finally live together in peace. There are even two extras about their new life... but honestly, after everything that came before, I couldn’t bring myself to feel happy for them. I’m still bitter that Wei Lan didn’t remember Luo Wei, even though some part of him knew something was missing.

What can I even say? I love stories like this - the kind that break you and then linger long after you finish. It’s dark, tragic, and emotionally exhausting, but it’s also unforgettable. I was sobbing through the final chapters, especially the extras with Luo Wei’s family and friends visiting his grave and reminiscing about him.

It hurts - but it’s the kind of story that stays with you.

[Joy]

Thanks to the three translator teams who have tag teamed tried to tackle this 479 chapter danmei rebirth novel. Currently it's translated up to chapter 227 and seems to have been dropped. Originally published online on 3G书城 in 2011, it's a fairly typical rebirth story setup. The chapters are short but the plot advances at a fast pace. There is very disturbing content (think Gu Mang from Yuwu) as hinted by its title. Furthermore, the MC Luo Wei is reborn into his fourteen-year-old self with the attendant wiser mindset from his previous life to make different choices in this redo but the reader can't help being uncomfortably aware of his biological age.

[TofuBao]

DNF - This book is depressing. It’s miserable from the start and if you’re a heavily invested reader like me, you will feel significant anxiety and morose, reading this.

What the MC is subjected to in both lives and the callous and absolutely despicable ways of the MC made me physically ill.

I decided to drop this for my own sanity. After peeking at some spoilers I realised that there’s no reprieve for most of the 450 chapters, so I made my escape in time.