In her hand, Xie Bing clutched a handful of Messaging Paper Cranes crumpled from her own grip.
She wanted to continue meditating on the spell within the book. However, her Shifu, Gu Monian, kept sending her messages with stern wording, demanding she attend Junior Sister Xuan Yao’s apprenticeship ceremony.
Xie Bing bit her lip.
In her previous life, she had joyfully welcomed the Junior Sister, even carefully preparing a meeting gift for Xuan Yao—the best body-tempering tonic she had. Yes, the very best thing she had ever received in the entire sect was nothing more than the supreme body-nourishing tonic Shifu had given her.
Only later did she realize those tonics were solely meant to refine her into the perfect Cauldron.
In her last life, Xuan Yao had been naively charming, delicate, and lovable, receiving countless meeting gifts throughout the sect. Accepting the tonic Xie Bing gave, she had merely smiled faintly and said thanks, not even uttering the address “Senior Sister.”
And Shifu Gu Monian had gazed fondly at Xuan Yao. When his gaze passed over Xie Bing’s gift, his eyes had flickered slightly. Back then, she hadn’t understood why. Now, thinking back, he certainly wouldn’t let Xuan Yao take those “high-grade body-nourishing tonics.”
How could he possibly bear to let his Final Disciple… who was also the disciple he loved, receive the Cauldron’s tempering?
…It was laughable. Perhaps because deep in her bones lay the Face Connoisseur genes of a modern person, Xie Bing had been outrageously bold. In her last life, she had actually fallen in love with the Shifu she respected and revered!
Her heart full of longing, her love overflowing, she had been infatuated with Gu Monian, holding Shifu as the paragon in her heart, not daring to profane him in the slightest, only begging Shifu to look at her just once more.
And then, one drunken evening, five years after arriving at the sect, she had poured out her love to Shifu.
Her eyes tipsy and blurred, her thumb and forefinger carefully clutching that spotless white robe corner, as if gazing fearfully at an inviolable deity: “Shifu, can I… like you?”
Gu Monian’s face showed disgust. An icy flash flickered in his hand, and in an instant, he cleanly severed the robe’s corner along with Xie Bing’s fingers!
The severed fingers fell to the ground.
“Don’t touch me.”
He spat out lightly, a mixture of gentleness and cold indifference on his face. He frowned, looking at her.
The torn robe corner, the spurting blood… She slumped to the ground, clutching her mutilated hand, instantly sober from the alcohol.
She had profaned her Shifu.
Gu Monian confined her to the Confinement Chamber for a full month. After she sobered up and became clear-headed, all she felt was that a young girl’s heartfelt feelings had transformed into an empty city.
During that month in confinement, she curled up in a small, pitch-black room, holding that bloodstained piece of robe corner. Only her Eldest Senior Brother, who was as elusive as a dragon—visible only in parts, never in whole—had come to see her.
The usually violent and gloomy Eldest Senior Brother had reattached her severed fingers, jibing: “Woman, you’re playing with fire.”
She had actually had the dog’s audacity to try and nibble at that cold-hearted, cold-blooded Shifu.
From then on, she locked all heartfelt feelings deep inside, never daring to speak of them again.
It wasn’t until after her death that she understood: a mere Cauldron, and she thought it worthy of discussing love with Shifu?
…
As she walked, Xie Bing lowered her head and flexed the fingers that had once been severed.
The fingers were perfectly intact, as if they had never been broken. She couldn’t name the medicine Eldest Senior Brother had applied to her five years ago, but it must have been the very best.
Expressionlessly, she thought, she truly was a dog-daring transmigrator and regressor.
Every single time, she had precisely and deadly vied with the Female Lead, who carried the added favor of Heavenly Luck, and every single time, she had been reduced to cannon fodder.
Thinking about the plot now, Xie Bing really wanted to roast it.
—Actually, Shifu hadn’t initially fallen for the Female Lead Xuan Yao, but rather for Xuan Yao’s mother!
The reason Shifu accepted Xuan Yao as a Final Disciple, carefully sheltering her, was initially for the sake of the Female Lead Xuan Yao’s mother, wanting to take care of the little girl. But as he cared for her, the potent Heartthrob Cheat caused Shifu to care for Xuan Yao right into his heart, and all the way into his bed!
After Gu Monian refined Xie Bing into a Cauldron, successfully concocted the pill, and revived the first-generation Heartthrob, the Female Lead’s mother… the Female Lead was heartbroken, and she turned around and got together with the Male Lead, the one who had killed his wife to prove the Dao.
Meanwhile, Gu Monian, overwhelmed with grief, continued his relationship with the first-generation Heartthrob on one hand, while still entangled and indecisive with the second-generation Heartthrob on the other.
In the end, Shifu ended up with the Female Lead’s mother?? When Xie Bing finally stormed the grand wedding ceremony at the end, she even saw Shifu and the revived first-generation Heartthrob, the Female Lead’s mother, sweetly attending the ceremony together. At that time, Xie Bing had hesitated for a moment about which scumbag dog-man to kill first… But unfortunately, she was the one who got killed.
What kind of plot was this?
…Me and my Heartthrob mom competing on the same stage??
The chaotic private lives of this circle were truly appalling—it desperately needed a Hong Kong paparazzo to expose them!
What Xie Bing wanted to roast even more was her Schrödinger’s Spiritual Root condensing into Schrödinger’s Spirit Elixir to save a Schrödinger-existing person!
This chain of twisted logic had actually succeeded!
What was wrong with this society? What was wrong?!
…
Thinking like this, ahead, immortal clouds drifted, radiant light shimmering. She arrived at the Astrology Platform, where the grand apprenticeship ceremony was being held.
Gazing remotely at Shifu and Xuan Yao on the high platform, a trace of a mocking smile curved on her lips.
According to the original plot, two years later, Shifu would lock her in the dungeon of his quarters, refining her day and night.
She would disappear. Gu Monian would say she’d gone down the mountain for training. Everyone would actually believe she had really left. Only when her disappearance was finally exposed would it come to light. Shifu would deny it, and very few in the entire sect would even bother to inquire.
She could only blame herself for loving too humbly, wanting to do everything to avoid Shifu’s displeasure. Whatever Shifu disliked, she wouldn’t do. Whatever Shifu criticized her for, she would self-reflect. Whatever Shifu said was bad about her, she would believe it was bad…
—Had her Shifu secretly been taking PUA courses?
Xie Bing was like an invisible person in the sect. That’s why when she went missing and was imprisoned in the dungeon, no one stood up for her, no one dared to offend Shifu for her. And now, she was going to make her presence known, to make Shifu harbor some apprehension.
She stepped up the stairs. On the high platform, Shifu, seated in the place of honor, had a cold expression, yet his eyes blazed like torches. Looking at Xuan Yao, it was as if he were gazing through that peerlessly beautiful face, seeing the shadow of another woman.
Xuan Yao, delicate and alluring, stood at Shifu’s side, sweetly saying to a Shibo, “Thank you, Shibo, for the spirit tool.”
Everyone’s eyes were filled with approval. Xuan Yao possessed the world’s rare Five Spirit Roots. Becoming a peerless powerhouse was only a matter of time! Our sect would surely prosper!
Xie Bing stepped onto the platform, and a moment of silence instantly fell.
Xuan Yao saw Xie Bing, and an obvious disappointment flickered in her eyes.
Xie Bing wore a washed-out, faded cyan robe. Her figure was thin, yet her spine was held ramrod straight.
Only when she stood before Xuan Yao did everyone realize with a start: Xuan Yao and Xie Bing looked surprisingly alike—a full eighty percent similarity!
The difference was that Xuan Yao was charmingly delicate and alluring, with an outstanding temperament, while Xie Bing usually shrank back and cowered, utterly inconspicuous. Although now, for some unknown reason, Xie Bing carried a bit more of a cold, aloof quality, she still couldn’t compare to Xuan Yao.
Xuan Yao was clearly also stunned. Her soft, tender petal-like lips pressed tightly together as she looked at Shifu, her eyes instantly brimming with tears that quivered, threatening to fall.
The tears hadn’t fallen, yet it seemed as if they had already splashed onto Gu Monian’s heart, causing him a pang of pain.
This time, Xie Bing didn’t bring the body-tempering tonic. She gave Xuan Yao a book she had carefully selected from the Scripture Library.
Xuan Yao stared blankly at the tattered, worn book. “…What is this?”
Xie Bing looked at her seriously. “Stories.”
That trash system had hidden who-knows-how-many messy, distracting garbage books in the Scripture Library. She had even discovered the treasure trove known as Stories. The headline story on the cover was:
—Man beds mother and daughter simultaneously; both pregnant with two sons; relationship sparks controversy
—Mother and Daughter Fall for Same Man; Teenage Girl Taunts Mother: “He likes me better”
Xuan Yao: ???
Xie Bing helpfully opened it for her. “There are many thought-provoking stories inside. I hide and read them when Shifu punishes me with the Discipline Whip and confinement.”
Shifu: “…”
The tears Xuan Yao had been holding back finally fell. So Shifu also locked people in small dark rooms and played confinement games?
She glanced timidly at Gu Monian, her pitiable state evoking tender affection.
“…Thank you.”
Xuan Yao reluctantly said thanks, still not addressing her as Senior Sister.
Xie Bing lowered her eyes. This was the plot of her last life. Back then, she hadn’t cared, simply thinking Junior Sister was naively charming. Now, she felt like smashing her own dog head in!
Xuan Yao tremblingly put Stories away, looking back and forth between Xie Bing and Shifu. “So I’m not Shifu’s only female disciple.”
Her eyes glistened, faintly filled with disappointment.
Gu Monian’s heart ached, thinking of that woman.
Xie Bing’s heart leaped.
She remembered that in her previous life, it was precisely because of this sentence from Xuan Yao that Shifu had declared on the spot that Xuan Yao was his sole, formally recognized disciple. He had slapped the face of the supporting female character Xie Bing right there—she, this Senior Sister, didn’t count for anything!
Shifu had said then: “Only you… are my one and only female disciple.”
From then on, Xie Bing became an old rag. From then on, no one took her, a waste, seriously anymore. And from then on, no one inquired when she went missing. This moment, one could say, was the beginning of the tragedy.
Just as Xie Bing’s fingers were slowly clenching, a faint broadcast sounded by her ear:
[Plot Triggered: First confrontation with the Heartthrob Female Lead—Prove Your Rightful Place!]
[Success Reward: “Gazing Across the Water, Longing but Unable to Speak” can be advanced. “Speechless, we gaze at each other, only a thousand lines of tears”—Effect: Reach peak sorrow value, Disarming Weapon, one-hour weeping.]
Her Speech Ban Spell could be upgraded!! It could evolve into an attack spell!
Xie Bing: “…”
Death Option A—make the Female Lead shut up.
Death Option B—make Shifu shut up.
If she made the Female Lead shut up, the Heavenly Dao’s favored daughter would surely bring misfortune upon her, the vicious supporting female character.
If she made Shifu shut up, this senior PUA instructor Shifu would torment her again.
Shifu opened his mouth.
Shifu’s Adam’s apple moved.
Shifu was about to utter that sentence.
Xuan Yao’s eyes grew slightly moist.
Xuan Yao looked at Shifu expectantly.
Xuan Yao was about to be declared Shifu’s sole female disciple.
Xie Bing shut her eyes, made a snap decision. A faint golden light flickered from her fingers, and she directly cast the “Speech Ban Spell”!