Previous Chapter Table of Contents Next Chapter
Sui An leaned against the doorway, gazing at the long flight of stairs below. The grand hall behind her was the highest point of the Demon Slaying Sect, a place many yearned to reach.
Perhaps because Sui An had been raised by Tan Yun from a young age, everything had come too easily. She didn’t like it here; it was too cold and detached, untouched by the mortal world1.
The only touch of the mortal world was her gluttony. No matter how high her cultivation became later, a delicious meal was delivered to her room by a servant disciple every day.
But in the end, it became her last meal before the underworld2.
“System, show me this so-called novel of yours,” Sui An said, her voice devoid of sorrow or joy.
[Please wait…]
A wall of text appeared before Sui An’s eyes.
She just sat there, basking in the sun, reading the novel.
The novel’s plot was brilliant.
It was just that Huaiyang had quite a few female confidantes; he was in no short supply of them, and she was not one of them. This was what the novel called the “male lead halo3“—no matter the woman, she would eventually have a change of heart towards him due to some event.
As for Tan Yun, Huaiyang chased her all the way to the Divine Martial World, the so-called Upper Realm, but the two never ended up together.
Sui An was dazed, her heart felt empty. In the novel, Tan Yun’s silence was her normal state. She was accustomed to using her sorrowful eyes to stare at you until you softened and submitted on your own.
It lacked a bit of the warmth she remembered from her Tan Yun.
Sui An tilted her head back, digesting the information in her mind.
The personalities and characters of the others who appeared in the book matched her memories, which made her believe most of it. It was just that the fates of some people inside were not very good.
Her body still ached faintly, but it was nothing compared to the shock to her soul at this moment. The world she had always yearned for had been crafted by another’s pen.
How laughable, how lamentable!
[Do not be discouraged, Host. It is precisely because this world has begun to slowly evolve that the System has appeared to assist in its proper evolution.]
“What do you mean?”
[The characters in the book are all flesh and blood; they are just temporarily unable to escape the shackles of the plot. The System is here to help the Host break free from the original plot’s constraints.]
Break free from the constraints!
Sui An reached out, propped herself up on the doorframe, and stood up again. As her gaze lifted, she looked down at the stairs below and suddenly had an epiphany.
Before, she had been playful and greedy.
She hadn’t been very diligent in her cultivation. In the sect, Sui An was like a treasured family member. No matter what she did, others would yield to her. Even when she was bored and played pranks on people, the other disciples would just laugh it off.
This led Sui An to believe her cultivation was high enough to venture out into the world, which was why she could only be captured without a fight when she was later caught.
In reality, she was a caged sparrow, unaware of her own situation, not knowing the immensity of heaven and earth. In the cruel world of cultivation, this was a fatal flaw. Through the novel, Sui An also gained a vague understanding of this world.
That was—the strong are revered.
As long as she was strong enough, no one could bind her!
Having figured this out, Sui An read on carefully.
Huaiyang exhausted his cultivation to refine a pill for Tan Yun. From this point on, her attitude towards him gradually changed, no longer ignoring him as she had before. But when she flipped to the part where Tan Yun was falsely accused of being a demonic cultivator, the story suddenly cut off, leaving a blank space.
“Why is there no continuation to this book?”
[Because it is still being serialized.]
Sui An flipped back a few pages, intending to memorize the contents, but she discovered that the story in the book began after her death. “Strange. Even if the plot starts after I die, Tan Yun shouldn’t have failed to even think of me. Why?”
[System prompt: A portion of the Host’s personal data is classified as highest-level clearance and cannot be accessed. Currently, the System only knows that the Host’s predestined fate of death has not yet been altered.]
Sui An frowned. “What does that mean?”
[System self-diagnosing…]
[Diagnosis result: The System suffered energy corruption from reversing the mirror world, causing partial data loss. It needs to be repaired by collecting karmic luck. In light of the major failure of the previous mission, the System has rearranged its programming and set some data to high-level clearance, which includes some of the Host’s personal information.]
“Then how do I obtain this clearance?”
[Host, the System’s data is severely damaged, so the System does not know. The System recommends that the Host prioritize accumulating karmic luck to carry out system repairs.]
“You just said that once bound, you can’t be unbound. So who were you bound to for your last mission? And why did the mission fail?”
[System data is severely damaged. The System recommends that the Host prioritize repairing the system…]
The voice that echoed in her mind was still that of a cold, emotionless puppet. It repeated itself twice more. Perhaps because Sui An didn’t answer, a moment of silence finally returned to her mind.
She shook her head, feeling that this system was truly unreliable. For some reason, it reminded her of her once-ignorant self. Perhaps in the eyes of others back then, she too was unreliable.
She didn’t dwell on it and limped down the path.
The current Sui An was only sixteen years old. Because she was still young, her features hadn’t fully matured yet. But her eyes naturally shimmered as if with tears, making others feel a sense of pity, while also exuding a tempting allure. Because of the whipping, her Human-rank, low-grade spirit garment4 was torn and ragged. The specks of blood were like blooming red flowers, making Sui An appear exceptionally bewitching.
Sui An lived in the right hall, while Tan Yun was in the left.
As long as nothing major happened, no one dared to come here, save for a few disciples on standby before the hall. It was always cold and deserted. She returned to her room and lay on the bed, listening to the chirping of the small birds outside the door. The wind blew through the leaves, creating waves of rustling sounds. The two combined to form a silver-bell-like music that relaxed her body and mind.
She thought back on all her past experiences.
She really couldn’t figure out who wanted her dead so badly.
[Host, the System has checked a lot of data. It is indeed impossible to unbind. Unless the Host has very high clearance and power, you can unbind at the moment of death, but the System will still die along with the original Host.]
For some reason, though it was a cold, robotic voice, Sui An detected a hint of grievance in it. “Forget it. Since I don’t have the clearance, I won’t make things difficult for you. The mirror world you mentioned just now, are they worlds like ours, from within a book?”
[Not exactly. The birth of a mirror world also requires certain conditions to be met. The most basic is that someone from the real world must be able to construct a complete world. Only then is it possible for that world to be born in a mirror world.]
Listening to the System’s words, Sui An grew curious about the people of the real world and what their lives were like.
Suddenly, Sui An heard footsteps outside her door.
She froze and pushed herself into a sitting position.
Fan Tianyou, dressed in white, stood at the doorway. He made a polite gesture and nodded lightly. “Junior Sister, Senior Brother Xufu asked me to come and check on your external injuries.”
This was the unique way of saluting in the Demon Slaying Sect.
In the cultivation world, peers were ranked according to their cultivation level. Fan Tianyou was at the tenth level of Qi Refinement, with one foot in the Foundation Establishment stage, so Sui An was the Junior Sister.
Once established, this seniority couldn’t be easily changed. If one day Sui An’s cultivation surpassed his, she couldn’t be called Senior Sister instead, unless Sui An forcefully demanded it, but that would be too rude.
Or one could be like Yuan Nuannuan and just call people by their full name.
“That’s not necessary, I’m fine.” Sui An’s injuries this time were not as severe as in her previous life; at least she could still walk.
“Junior Sister An, Junior Sister Nuan’s whip doesn’t just strike the flesh. It’s better to let Junior Brother Fan take a look, to be safe,” Xufu said, also standing at the doorway, not taking a single step inside even though the door was wide open.
Hearing Xufu’s voice annoyed Sui An. Not because his voice was unpleasant, but because in her past life, the last time she had painstakingly planned an escape from the sect, it was Xufu who had helped her. And only Xufu knew which direction she had fled.
But on the third day, she was captured and brought back.
Thinking it over, the only way Tan Yun could have caught her so easily was if Xufu had informed on her.
Sui An couldn’t say whether Xufu was right or wrong. After all, no one could withstand Tan Yun’s terrifying punishments. But she couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed.
“Please return, my two Senior Brothers. I can tend to my injuries myself,” Sui An said, her tone much firmer, hoping they would understand from her words that she was telling the truth.
Hearing this, Xufu said, “Well… alright then!”
“Junior Sister, since your injuries are not severe, I will leave a bottle of Muscle Injury Ointment at the door. Remember to apply it to your wounds daily. It can reduce pain and prevent scarring.” Fan Tianyou placed a porcelain bottle at the doorway.
The two bid farewell and left.
Sui An stretched her neck to look, then slowly got off the bed, enduring the pain as she walked to the door and picked up the porcelain bottle. She opened the lid.
A pungent medicinal smell rushed out.
Sui An immediately capped it and fanned her hand in front of her nose. “This smell is really unbearable.”
[Host, it is best not to use such a low-grade ointment. It contains too many impurities and will not be beneficial to the Host’s future cultivation.]
Sui An was unconcerned. “The Demon Slaying Sect doesn’t have many people who can refine pills to begin with. To have an ointment like this that aids recovery is already quite good.”
[The Host has the System and can be self-sufficient.]
“But I don’t know how to refine pills.”
[The Host can learn slowly. The Host’s dual Fire and Wood spiritual roots are an excellent combination for both alchemy and artifact refining. With the System’s assistance, you can improve the grade of your refined pills. However, it is best for the Host to engage in dual refinement of both fire and wood to achieve a balance of spiritual energy, which is entirely beneficial for alchemy.]
“Dual refinement?”
She turned back into the room and placed the porcelain bottle on the table.
On the Shengtian Continent where Sui An lived, those with a single spiritual root were geniuses with exceptional talent. Spiritual roots were graded as Heaven, Earth, and Human. The more spiritual roots one had, the worse their aptitude, because having too many roots meant they had to spend more effort cultivating than a single-root cultivator. One had to cultivate all roots to a state of great perfection before they could break through.
Therefore, in order to compete with single-root cultivators, multi-root cultivators would only major in one spiritual root. The excess roots were only used to absorb spiritual energy to fill them, and no time was spent on refining them.
The advantage was faster cultivation speed. The disadvantage was that they could never match a single-root cultivator, and the other roots took up space. A single misstep could lead to chaotic spiritual energy.
Sui An had Human-rank spiritual roots, which were already worse than others. Her speed of absorbing spiritual energy couldn’t compare to Earth-rank and Heaven-rank roots. If she were to dual-refine, she would have to spend several times the effort to cultivate.
[Host, your body has accumulated turbid impurities from taking a large amount of medicine. If you want to become strong, you cannot take shortcuts.]
“That’s right. If I want to become strong, how can I entertain such thoughts of instant success?”
Sui An’s gaze gradually shifted from confusion to determination. “System, do you have a way to wash away the impurities in my spiritual roots?”
********
Dear readers, if you would like to leave a tip, you can donate to my Ko-Fi. Thank you very much! I really appreciate it.
Reika’s Notes:
- Another strong chapter!
- If you’ve read my other projects, you know I’m fond of BL/yaoi/danmei, so this yuri story is a first for me!
- This text was translated by RudeGirl, and given to BC Novels to publish.
- RudeGirl says – the summary of this story is quite funny, and the System uses a lot of slang. “Karmic luck” is my translation, but originally this is what it said – European Qi (欧气, ōu qì), an Internet slang originating from the gaming community. “Europe” (欧洲, Ōuzhōu) means players with extremely good luck in gacha games (games with random prize draws), since allegedly Europeans have better luck compared to other players. “Qi” (气) means “energy” or “aura.” So, “European Qi” means “the aura of good luck.”
- I helped with the footnotes, formatting, grammar, etc., the usual stuff that is needed to post this on the website.
- Please let me know if there are any errors. Thanks for reading!
Glossary
Demon Slaying Sect (斩魔宗, Zhǎn Mó Zōng): The name of the sect Sui An belongs to.
Demonic Cultivator (邪修, xiéxiū): A cultivator who practices forbidden or malevolent arts.
Divine Martial World (神武界, Shénwǔ Jiè): The “Upper Realm” mentioned in the novel, a higher plane of existence.
Fan Tianyou (范天游, Fàn Tiānyóu): The Junior Martial Brother who is skilled in medicine.
Foundation Establishment (筑基, zhùjī): The second major stage of cultivation, following Qi Refinement. A significant milestone.
Shengtian Continent (盛天大陆, Shèngtiān Dàlù): The name of the continent where the story takes place.
Spiritual Root (灵根, línggēn): The foundation of a cultivator’s talent, determining their affinity for spiritual energy and their cultivation speed. They are often element-based (Fire, Wood, etc.) and graded by quality (Heaven, Earth, Human).
Upper Realm (上界, shàngjiè): A higher plane of existence in a multi-layered world, common in Xianxia. It typically has denser spiritual energy and more powerful inhabitants.
Previous Chapter Table of Contents Next Chapter
- Untouched by the mortal world (不食烟火, bù shí yānhuǒ): This is a Chinese idiom that literally translates to “does not eat smoke and fire.” It is used to describe someone or something that is ethereal, otherworldly, and detached from the mundane concerns and pleasures of everyday life. Sui An uses it to describe the cold, lofty atmosphere of the main hall, but then plays on the literal meaning by saying her gluttony was the only “smoke and fire” (mortal touch) there.
- Last meal before the underworld (黄泉饭, huángquán fàn): The Yellow Springs (黄泉, Huángquán) is the mythological Chinese underworld or realm of the dead. A “Yellow Springs meal” is a poetic and grim way of saying a final meal that leads to one’s death.
- Male lead halo (男主光环, nánzhǔ guānghuán): A popular term from Chinese internet and web novel culture. It refers to the “plot armor” or inexplicable charm and luck that a story’s male protagonist possesses, causing events to always turn in their favor and characters (especially women) to be drawn to them.
- Human-rank, low-grade spirit garment (人级下品灵衣, rénjí xiàpǐn língyī): This indicates a common tiered system for items and skills in cultivation novels. The typical hierarchy is Heaven (天) > Earth (地) > Human (人). Within each rank, there are grades, such as high (上), middle (中), and low (下). A Human-rank, low-grade item is therefore a very basic, low-quality magical object.