Qingyun Sect, Little Cang Peak.
“It’s not this one either…”
The young girl sat cross-legged on the bed.
She let out a long sigh.
She yanked the ring off her finger and tossed it aside.
Gazing at the gradually brightening sky outside the window, the girl felt inexplicably complicated emotions.
Her name was Su Zhan.
Originally an ordinary male university student, she had transmigrated into a group pampering webnovel due to an accident.
She had become a cannon fodder female supporting character who, despite her excellent family background in the plot, would die early because of her insufficient strength and frequent opposition to the protagonist.
Fortunately, the timing of her transmigration was before the original story’s plot events began.
To survive, Su Zhan did not choose the Common People’s Dao like the female lead in the original novel.
Instead, she cultivated the Ruthless Dao, which offered the fastest advancement speed.
She also stayed as far away from the protagonist group as possible.
However, the Ruthless Dao was not without its drawbacks.
Although it allowed for extremely fast progress in the early stages, the higher the cultivation became in the later stages, the harder it was to advance.
As a result, few people chose it.
Su Zhan could not afford to worry about that.
She only wanted to safely muddle through the early stages and achieve a decent level of strength to protect her life.
After all, in the setting of this group pampering novel, even without any interaction with the protagonist, insufficient strength could still lead to an inexplicable death due to the troubles stirred up by the female lead.
At first, everything had been progressing smoothly.
After one year of cultivation, Su Zhan had advanced rapidly from Qi Refining all the way to the Golden Core stage.
Who would have thought that three months ago, her battle qi… no, her cultivation suddenly stagnated and even began to slowly decline.
Heh, she was all too familiar with this script!
Initially, Su Zhan was excited.
She thought this was the activation of her portable grandfather golden finger, ready for her to perform the classic “thirty years east of the river, thirty years west” routine—don’t bully the poor young lady—complete with face-slapping.
In the first month, full of anticipation, she focused intently on closed-door cultivation.
Even her master, who usually showed little interest in her cultivation, praised her highly.
In the second month, when she dropped a small realm, she began to feel doubtful and anxious.
Still, she encouraged herself: Even the Flame Emperor was sucked dry for three years… This has only been one month.
No rush, no rush…
By the third month, after dropping yet another realm, Su Zhan completely lost her patience.
Damn it! These were realms she had painstakingly built through late nights in seclusion. If this kept up, they would all be sucked away!
So she started experimenting, trying to determine which item on her body housed the grandfather’s soul.
Unfortunately, after several days of trying, she gained nothing.
After testing a few more suspected targets, Su Zhan gave up completely.
She fell backward onto the bed and looked at the now brightening sky outside the window, feeling utterly drained.
After a simple rest, she walked out of the seclusion room.
She planned to grab something to eat first before thinking of other solutions.
Just as she stepped out the door, Su Zhan spotted a girl squatting not far away, pulling weeds and playing with them.
Her brows furrowed involuntarily, and her already gloomy mood grew even more depressed.
The fifteen- or sixteen-year-old girl wore no makeup, yet she possessed bright eyes and white teeth.
Her long, glossy black hair was styled in a falling horse bun hanging on the left side, adorned with a tassel hairpin.
This gave her an elegant yet slightly playful look.
The girl wore the inner sect disciple uniform.
She had a slender yet curvaceous figure, and her face was not overly elongated, retaining some baby fat.
Her charming features were filled with distress, making others want to hold her in their arms and comfort her.
But in Su Zhan’s eyes, this girl was the very definition of trouble.
She immediately wanted to turn around and leave.
There was no other reason.
This girl was named Yun Li.
She was the female protagonist of this group pampering novel and the main culprit behind Su Zhan’s eventual tragic death in the original story.
Therefore, no matter how cute the girl looked or how well she matched Su Zhan’s taste in beauties, Su Zhan only regarded her as a walking disaster.
Seeing Su Zhan, the girl’s eyes lit up.
When she saw Su Zhan about to leave, she quickly got up from the ground, not forgetting to toss away the grass roots in her hand.
She ran over in a few steps and called out.
“Senior Sister! Martial Aunt Wan’er told me to inform you that if you finished your seclusion, you should go see her right away. She has important matters to discuss.”
Su Zhan had been internally grumbling that she currently had no interactions with the female lead, wondering why this girl had suddenly sought her out.
Hearing the explanation, she stopped and nodded slightly.
The Martial Aunt Wan’er the girl mentioned was Su Zhan’s master.
She was skilled in divination and fortune-telling and had an almost completely hands-off attitude toward Su Zhan.
For her to specifically have someone wait for her emergence from seclusion, it must truly be something significant.
But as far as Su Zhan recalled, there shouldn’t be any major events at this time point in the original story…
“Mm, I understand. Thank you for waiting here especially, Junior Sister.”
After all, they were still martial sisters.
Su Zhan naturally responded with polite courtesy.
It was better to avoid unnecessary trouble.
Although her reply was somewhat cold, the persona she had cultivated over the years was that of an aloof and solitary person.
Besides, everyone knew she practiced the Ruthless Dao, so it wouldn’t come across as deliberate distance.
“Wow~ Senior Sister is actually willing to talk to me today~ Senior Sister’s voice is so pleasant~”
Yun Li exclaimed exaggeratedly.
Seeing Su Zhan’s face darken instantly, she stuck out her tongue as if embarrassed.
However, Su Zhan saw no trace of actual embarrassment on Yun Li’s face.
You just keep flirting around randomly like that. Sooner or later you’ll flirt with the wrong person and get pinned to a bed for some reckoning.
Su Zhan thought expressionlessly in her heart.
After all, in the later stages of the original story, Yun Li had flirted with a yandere villain, resulting in her being locked in a small dark room for some unspeakable “education.”
“Junior Sister should still have morning classes. Don’t be late. I’ll head off first.”
Su Zhan sighed.
Not wanting to linger any further, she found an excuse to dismiss Yun Li.
“Ehh~ Senior Sister always nags me about going to morning classes, but you never attend them yourself. It’s so unfair~”
Yun Li’s expression immediately fell.
She pouted her lips, looking as if she had suffered a great injustice.
Su Zhan did not respond.
She turned and avoided Yun Li.
Joke. Before I transmigrated, I was a university student.
Since when do university students attend morning classes?
Leaving Little Cang Peak, Su Zhan headed toward Casual Peak, where she and her master normally resided.
The Qingyun Sect had five main peaks and three secondary peaks.
Casual Peak and Little Cang Peak were both secondary peaks, not too far apart—roughly half an hour’s walk.
If one knew sword flight, it would only take a few minutes.
However, although Su Zhan’s master usually did not discipline her much, she prohibited her from using sword flight to return to Casual Peak from other places.
She gave reasons like “to train Su Zhan’s physical endurance” and “a Ruthless Dao sword cultivator absolutely cannot be the one being cultivated by techniques” or other odd statements.
Lost in her chaotic thoughts, Su Zhan soon arrived at the peak summit.
Before her lay a bamboo forest and clear spring, with graceful shadows swaying in the breeze.
Several simply yet elegantly decorated small houses were scattered around, subtly encircling the central wooden pavilion with its wide-open doors.
This was the residence she shared with her master.
The moment she stepped inside, Su Zhan saw an elegant woman with a graceful figure.
A teardrop mole rested at the corner of her eye as she sat in the main seat, holding a plain white jade cup in her hand.
Her red lips were moist and slightly parted, as if she had just taken a sip of tea.
Lin Wan’er slowly set the cup down.
Seeing Su Zhan approach, she smiled gently and beckoned the girl to sit beside her.
“Zhanzhan, come sit down and rest. You must be starving after three months in seclusion. Here, try the new pastries from the Delicacy Pavilion and see if they suit your taste?”
Su Zhan was not accustomed to Lin Wan’er’s childlike tone.
She slightly turned her head to avoid the pastry her master was offering to her mouth and asked directly.
“Master, what important matter prompted you to summon this disciple?”
“Aiya, after three months without seeing my precious disciple, your master missed you terribly. Can’t I just want to see you?”
Lin Wan’er spoke in a teasing tone.
Suddenly, she leaned closer to Su Zhan and turned mysterious.
“And~ Zhanzhan, have you recently felt that your cultivation is regressing instead of advancing~?”