Xu Ziqing's "Metamorphosis" (Third update! Request monthly votes!)

Early this morning, Xu Ziqing, a menial laborer, got up and started working.

Liu Tianfeng's courtyard was nothing like Niu Yuanshan's small yard—it was larger and far more extravagant.

Niu Yuanshan's elegant little yard had only four menials serving it, but Liu's courtyard boasted a full fifteen menials!

Yesterday, the butler had even hired three new ones.

Xu Ziqing was among those three.

As a newcomer, he was naturally assigned the hardest, most tiring, and dirtiest tasks.

All residences in the Dao Sect had small Dust Removal Arrays.

This meant that even if you were away for a long time, no dust would accumulate when you returned.

Beyond that, daily cleaning was hardly necessary.

But that only applied to dust removal.

As one could imagine, the area this new menial Xu Ziqing was responsible for inevitably included the master's latrine.

"I hate this!" The delicate-looking youth, covering his nose and mouth with a cloth strip, cursed bitterly in his heart as he worked hard.

He loathed that storyteller to the core for toying with his emotions.

"I was such a fool, truly."

"I actually believed that if I went to Biyou Meadow on Wumeng Mountain, some exalted figure would descend the mountain to fetch me."

"Heh, I was such a fool, truly." He began wallowing in self-pity.

On that night of torrential rain, he had stood at the foot of Wumeng Mountain, soaked for so long that it drained the soul from him.

Xu Ziqing, oh Xu Ziqing—though the Xuanhuang Realm was rife with tales of chance encounters and fortuitous opportunities, how could you be so laughable as to think such a heaven-sent blessing would suddenly fall into your lap?

You're nothing but a mere Pseudo-Spirit Fetus!

What right do you have!?

Just because you were a sword prodigy since childhood, mastering every mortal martial arts sword technique in one go, you arrogantly thought you could become a peerless Sword Cultivator?

"Wake up! Wake up!" He gave a bitter smile that night.

What use was it to master every mortal sword technique in the world?

Wasn't he still utterly helpless before true cultivators?

"Father, mother, grandmother, little sister—when will I ever avenge you?" Xu Ziqing muttered to himself at the foot of Wumeng Mountain, gazing at the night sky after the rain stopped.

Despite his delicate features and naturally feminine appearance, he had trained in swordsmanship since childhood, making his physique far sturdier than an ordinary person's.

Thus, even after being drenched for so long, his lips were merely pale, with no serious harm.

His trembling was only from rage and grief overwhelming his heart.

With both parents dead and a blood debt weighing on him, Xu Ziqing was practically the textbook protagonist template.

Once again, the figure of that storyteller surfaced in his mind.

He looked so ordinary, yet his words, actions, and demeanor were so flamboyant and vain.

At first, when Xu Ziqing saw him vanish on the spot after speaking, he thought it was a transcendent being Playing in the mortal world.

Now, having confirmed that the storyteller's game was to toy with him, Xu Ziqing, he saw the man as nothing but a demonic fiend!

On that rain-stilled night, he roared to vent his emotions, then the delicate-looking youth fiercely bit his lip, nearly drawing blood.

Snapping back to clarity, he looked toward the mist-shrouded Mountain Beyond Mountain.

The youth silently swore that since he had already come this far, he would enter the Dao Sect at any cost, even if it meant risking his life!

At dawn, he began to act.

Unexpectedly, by sheer chance, he found a way.

The butler at Liu Tianfeng's estate was hiring three new menials.

"What a coincidence? They're hiring menials today of all days?" Xu Ziqing grew excited.

Never mind—menial or not, he'd get into the Dao Sect first!

But was it really a coincidence?

Don't forget, someone else had been sent here by their organization at this very time, specifically to go up the mountain as a menial!

Xu Ziqing's "Metamorphosis" had thus begun.

Because he was so strikingly delicate and handsome, with no trace of tall, rugged charm—a classic feminine-faced male, exuding zero masculinity—the butler of the Liu family looked at him with a rather odd gaze.

—What a lad, like a fair maiden in a man's body!

When a man hits middle age, what's a little perversion?

Xu Ziqing was sharp-minded; how could he miss the meaning behind that look?

He never imagined that coming to the Dao Sect as a menial would put him in such a perilous situation!

Today, after finishing a pile of chores, he was summoned by the butler to a certain gathering spot.

The servants began carrying the gifts, following Master Liu and his son toward the small Bamboo House.

Along the way, quite a few Outer Sect Disciples respectfully greeted Liu Steward, then cast sidelong glances at the pile of gifts.

Xu Ziqing watched their robes and the Outer Sect Tokens hanging at their waists, envy swelling in his heart.

He couldn't help but look down at his own servant's uniform. Driven by a young man's fragile pride—even though no one here knew him—he kept his head low the entire way, burying it as deep as he could.

After arriving at the Bamboo House, he still kept his head down.

But in a brief gap, he vaguely caught a conversation between the old master and some young man, and couldn't help lifting his head to glance at him.

This man was strikingly handsome, with an air of refined elegance.

He was the archetype of a man blessed with good bone structure.

His brow bone was slightly prominent, the ends of his brows tilting upward just a touch, giving that legendary brow-over-eye effect that deepened the darkness of his Ink black pupils.

His nose bridge was high and straight, his facial lines sharp, his jawline crisp and defined.

A few loose strands of hair fell across his forehead, adding an extra touch of untamed charm.

On top of that, Chu Huai Xu's broad shoulders and narrow waist made his robes drape beautifully, without any of that frail, paper-thin look.

Whether in bearing or temperament, there was nothing to fault.

Sunlight spilled over him, and Xu Ziqing found himself momentarily stunned.

Because he had looked girlish since childhood, and as he grew older, his peers constantly mocked him for being effeminate. Somehow, he always found himself silently drawn to tall, handsome men, filled with envy and longing.

Over time, his attention toward such men even surpassed his interest in women.

That was why, even though Chu Huai Xu stood beside the breathtakingly beautiful Han Shuangjiang, Xu Ziqing's gaze landed on him first.

He couldn't understand how a man could possess such captivating charm.

Just moments ago, he had seen the smile lingering in his brows and at the corners of his lips, the way he chatted calmly and confidently with the steward, his demeanor impeccable.

After a few seconds of daze, the sensitive young man, once again driven by pride, lowered his head deeply.

From then on, events took a bizarre turn.

Liu Tianfeng was certain that when he first asked Chu Huai Xu if he needed a servant, the expression on his face and the right hand he had already raised clearly indicated he was about to refuse.

Understandable—living with such a peerless beauty, adding a third person would only bring more trouble.

The Old Man had been through it all himself; how could he not recognize the stirrings of youth?

Yet, a strange scene unfolded.

Chu Huai Xu swept his gaze casually, and his eyes were instantly captivated by that delicate-featured, short-statured servant.

He called out directly: "I want him!"

There was even a hint of eagerness in his voice.

Everyone, including Han Shuangjiang, turned their focus toward him.

Xu Ziqing panicked for a moment, nearly fumbling the gifts in his hands.

"Huh? Me?" He hadn't expected this strikingly handsome man to point at him.

His gaze was so resolute!

--I've set my sights on you!

Xu Ziqing's heart began pounding uncontrollably. He couldn't fathom how his life's fortunes could shift so wildly in such a short span of time.

Then, a scene he had experienced countless times before, all too familiar, played out.

Xu Ziqing clearly felt everyone's eyes first land on his face, then drift to his Adam's apple, and finally settle on his chest.

(PS: Third bonus chapter. Thank you all for helping me win the daily monthly ticket crown! Creating a myth for this year's new books on Qidian with a single-day monthly ticket record—the only one across the entire site this year!)