The city gate tower of Qingyun Town was showing its age.
The plaster was peeling away, revealing the blue-gray bricks and stone beneath.
A few tufts of withered grass poked tenaciously through the cracks, trembling in the wind.
Luo Qingchen stood at the entrance, looking up at the weather-beaten plaque.
She let out a long, heavy sigh.
She had finally arrived.
As a proud transmigrator, Luo Qingchen felt like she had been handed the wrong script.
In her previous life, she was a senior corporate slave at a factory that worshipped the “996” work culture.
Motivated by her boss’s empty promise that “the company will go public next year and give you stock options,” she worked herself to the bone for a week straight before the Spring Festival.
Then, everything went black, and she worked herself right into this cultivation world.
She thought she would be like those protagonists in novels—ruling the world, surrounded by beauties, and reaching the pinnacle of life.
But the reality?
She had transmigrated into a delicate young girl.
That would have been fine on its own.
After all, the original owner of this body was the Little Junior Sister of the Dao Tian Sect, and she was truly a beauty.
Even though Luo Qingchen felt strange looking at that pure, lovely face in the bronze mirror—considering she used to be a man with eight-pack abs—she could have lived with it.
The real kicker was that as soon as she arrived, she inherited a catastrophic mess.
The Dao Tian Sect, as the name implied, didn’t exactly do honest work; the sect specialized in the art of thievery.
Her Cheap Master had apparently lost his mind and stolen from a powerful figure who shouldn’t be trifled with.
As a result, a curse was laid upon the entire sect.
Before they even saw the enemy’s face, they all died in neat rows.
Just before his death, the Cheap Master shoved the “Deceiving Heaven Jade Slip”—the supreme treasure that caused all this trouble—into Luo Qingchen’s arms.
He then tore open a spatial rift and tossed her through.
“Disciple, Master is going ahead. This Deceiving Heaven Jade Slip can shroud the secrets of heaven. You must uncover its hidden secrets and break the curse… keep the sect’s legacy alive!”
The old man went peacefully, leaving Luo Qingchen with a useless body at only the mid-stage of Qi Condensation and a blood-colored curse etched into the depths of her soul.
Luo Qingchen rolled up her sleeve and stared at the hideous red line on her fair, slender arm.
The thing was growing slowly.
Once it reached her heart, she would be heading downstairs to join her Cheap Master.
By her calculations, she had about three years left.
‘Three years…’
Luo Qingchen’s mouth twitched.
‘When other people transmigrate, it’s always “The three-year period is over, welcome back the Dragon King!” When it’s my turn, it’s “The three-year period is over, drop dead on the spot.”‘
As she grumbled internally, the jade slip in her dantian grew slightly warm.
A current of warmth flowed through her meridians into her limbs.
Her steps, which had been a bit heavy, instantly became much lighter.
The mass of spiritual energy in her dantian expanded by a notch.
Late-stage Qi Condensation.
This was the reward for the task: “Reach Qingyun Town on foot.”
Luo Qingchen sensed the stone known as the “Deceiving Heaven Jade Slip” in her dantian.
As long as she completed the tasks it issued, she would receive feedback—spiritual power, pills, and even cultivation techniques.
This treasure was quite similar to the systems in the novels from her old world, which was pretty convenient.
This was the only solace she had in this hellish starting position.
Luo Qingchen rubbed her hands together, looking expectantly at the words appearing on the surface of the jade slip.
Since she was in the newbie phase and that walking task gave her experience to level up, the current task shouldn’t be too hard, right?
Maybe helping with some farm work? Or helping Aunt Wang next door find a lost cat?
The words slowly materialized:
**[Task Target: Ling Xiyue, Eldest Senior Sister of Cangjian Mountain.]**
**[Cultivation: Early Core Formation Stage.]**
**[Task Content: Use sweet talk and deception to swindle one high-value item from her.]**
**[Task Reward: One Foundation Building Pill, one random spiritual tool.]**
Luo Qingchen stared at the jade slip in her dantian and fell into a long silence.
Then, she slammed her travel bag onto the ground.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!”
Was this a newbie task?
She was only at the late stage of Qi Condensation! She wasn’t even at the Foundation Building stage!
This Ling Xiyue was at the Core Formation stage! Core Formation!
There was a massive cultivation gap between them!
This was like a fresh-faced newbie holding a wooden stick just outside the starting village, receiving a first quest to fight alongside the Monkey King to storm the Heavenly Palace.
Wasn’t this just a joke?
The passersby were startled by the sudden outburst and turned to look.
They saw a girl as beautiful as a flower shouting at a bag on the ground.
Her posture had quite the air of a spoiled, street-wise brat.
“What are you looking at? Haven’t you ever seen someone frustrated before?”
Luo Qingchen glared at the people around her, quickly picked up her bag, and patted off the dust.
Complaining was one thing, but life had to go on.
The jade slip was a pain, but the rewards were genuinely enticing.
She would have to think of something and take it one step at a time.
A Foundation Building Pill was a crucial item for breaking through to the Foundation Building stage.
They sold for astronomical prices on the market and were mostly controlled by the major sects.
You could rarely find them for sale outside, even if you had the money.
Luo Qingchen sighed and slung the bag over her shoulder.
Her stomach let out a timely “growl” in protest.
‘Whatever. In this big world, eating is the most important thing. I’ll go to a restaurant to gather information first, then make a plan.’
Luo Qingchen felt her thin purse.
Inside were only a few low-grade spirit stones—the entire inheritance left by her Cheap Master.
Speaking of which, why didn’t the sect leave her any treasures? She supposed if she had been one step slower, she would have ended up perishing with the rest of them.
‘Sigh, I’m so poor…’
Luo Qingchen stepped through the city gate.
Although Qingyun Town was just a town, it was prosperous because it was near the trial grounds of several major cultivation sects.
Shops lined both sides of the street, and the sounds of vendors hawking their wares rose and fell.
“Fresh spiritual meat buns! Eat them to gain strength!”
“Low-grade talismans on sale! Don’t miss out!”
Luo Qingchen caught a delicious scent and her feet involuntarily led her into a restaurant called the “Gathering Immortals Inn.”
Despite the grand name, it was just a large tavern.
The hall was noisy, filled with various rogue cultivators and commoners.
Luo Qingchen found a corner seat and waved over the server.
“Two pounds of braised beef, a bottle of good wine—”
The moment the words left her mouth, Luo Qingchen wanted to slap herself.
That was the muscle memory of reading too many novels.
She didn’t even know the cost of living in this world yet; she needed to be low-key.
“Cough, give me a bowl of plain noodles instead. Extra green onions.”
The server paused, looking at the delicate girl before him.
Though she was dressed simply, she had an extraordinary aura.
Why was she so stingy with her order?
“Guest, just the noodles?”
“What, you don’t sell noodles?” Luo Qingchen raised an eyebrow.
“We do, we do. Please wait a moment.”
The server turned to leave, muttering under his breath, “She’s pretty, but too bad she’s a pauper.”
Luo Qingchen rolled her eyes.
‘So what if I’m poor? Did I eat your rice and not pay for it?’
While waiting for the noodles, Luo Qingchen pricked up her ears to listen to the chatter of the other diners.
This was a habit she had developed as a corporate salesperson in her past life.
The fastest way to gather information was usually in a place like this where all sorts of people gathered.
Knowing a “client’s” preferences was especially important.
“Did you hear? The people from Cangjian Mountain have arrived in town.”
“I saw them earlier. That display of power… tsk tsk.”
“I heard the one leading them is that ‘Sword Maniac’ Eldest Senior Sister, Ling Xiyue?”
“That’s the one. I heard she’s exceptionally talented. She reached Core Formation at age 20. She’s a famous genius in our Xuanzhou Continent.”
“What’s the use of being a genius? I heard she has a very cold and eccentric personality. She doesn’t have a single friend in her sect. She’s out on a trial now, but I bet none of her junior brothers or sisters actually want to deal with her.”
Hearing the name “Ling Xiyue,” Luo Qingchen’s spirits lifted.
It was as if someone had handed her a pillow just as she was getting sleepy.
She was just worrying about where to find this Core Formation powerhouse, and here she was, delivering herself right to the door.
Just then, a commotion broke out at the entrance.
The noisy hall fell silent instantly.
A group of cultivators dressed in white with longswords on their backs walked in.
The leader was a woman.
Luo Qingchen narrowed her eyes to get a good look.
The woman was tall, wearing a long purple robe with a green silk ribbon tied at her waist, accentuating her breathtaking curves.
With her light purple hair, she truly looked like an immortal who had descended to the mortal realm.
Her features were exquisite, but her expression was cold to the extreme.
Her face practically had the words “Do Not Approach” written all over it.
The most eye-catching thing was the ancient longsword strapped to her back.
The scabbard was covered in intricate cloud patterns, faintly emitting a heart-chilling coldness.
The Eldest Senior Sister of Cangjian Mountain, Ling Xiyue.
Although she was restraining her pressure as an early-stage Core Formation cultivator, that aura of someone in a high position still made it hard for the rogue cultivators in the shop to breathe.
Luo Qingchen noticed a detail.
Even though this group had arrived together, a three-meter “dead zone” had formed around Ling Xiyue.
The junior brothers and sisters following her were huddled together, whispering among themselves.
Their eyes drifted toward that lonely, proud back from time to time, filled with a mix of fear, jealousy, and even a bit of exclusion.
‘It really is just like the rumors. This Eldest Senior Sister is a loner with no friends.’
Luo Qingchen’s eyes darted around as she formed a plan in her mind.
The jade slip task said to use “sweet talk” to swindle a high-value item.
If the target were a seasoned veteran of the world, Luo Qingchen would have run as far away as possible.
Three years might be short, but she could still live an exciting life; there was no need to be chopped into minced garlic and die a pathetic death right now.
But this kind of high-cold goddess who grew up in a sect—talented but socially isolated—usually lacked one thing: a sense of belonging.
In other words, they were easy to fool.
The corners of Luo Qingchen’s mouth curled up slightly, revealing a smile befitting a hunter.
Though with her current body, the smile looked more like a mischievous, wicked fox.
“Server, are the noodles ready yet?”
Luo Qingchen hurried him along, her mind racing to calculate the perfect opening line.