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[Host, the one who cheered just now is Fu Chaoqing, one of the Fifth Elder of the Spirit Sword Sect's personal disciples. He and Ran Zirou are distant relatives. By seniority, Ran Zirou should call him uncle.]

Fu Chaoqing finally straightened his back, and a little confidence returned to his voice.

"My family told me that Zirou is my niece and asked me to look after her."

The Second Elder stared at him strangely.

If Fu Chaoqing and Ran Zirou were distant relatives...

Did that mean Fu Chaoqing knew who Immortal Ziyang had run off with?

And he had dared keep it from him!

Fu Chaoqing looked innocent. "Second Martial Uncle, I truly didn't know Ran Zirou was Immortal Ziyang's daughter. I've spent all these years cultivating in the Sect, paying no attention to worldly affairs. Even that much came from a messenger sent from the mortal world."

[And they're relatives, too. Fu Chaoqing ends up using his heart's blood to refine a Heaven-Grade Pill for Ran Zirou, exhausting himself to death. So they were playing at forbidden love all along.]

The system spoke as though it had uncovered a grave truth. [Such a shame. Fu Chaoqing is a genius alchemist, but he drains every last bit of his vitality for Ran Zirou. And in the end, she brings several men to his grave to fool around, more than once.]

Li Zi sighed deeply. [A lapdog can lick and lick, only to end up with nothing.]

Now it was Fu Chaoqing's turn to turn ashen.

What did it mean, he would drain his vitality for Ran Zirou?

Sure, he did think Ran Zirou seemed like a nice girl. She was delicate as a willow swaying in the breeze—quite adorable.

But that hardly meant he was deeply in love with her!

The Fifth Elder looked at him with pity and patted his shoulder.

"My disciple, you're extraordinarily gifted. Best not to let your heart stray. Keep yourself in check."

The corner of Fu Chaoqing's eye twitched.

On the platform.

Ran Zirou waited for praise from the elders, but none came. Her eyes reddened a little.

I did so well. Why won't the elders take me as a personal disciple?

Looks like I need someone worse to make me shine.

Ran Zirou swept her gaze around and spotted the skinny little figure at the very edge. "Little sister Li Zi, don't hide in the corner! Come on over."

Called out by name, Li Zi went, "..."

This was absurdity's mother opening the door for absurdity—absurdity had come home.

Ran Zirou smiled sweetly again. "Everyone, although little sister Li Zi is only a lowly maid, she's my good friend. I hope you won't bully her. I'd love for us to enter the Sect together."

The disciples' gazes all landed on Li Zi.

Li Zi was thin and scrawny, younger than any of them. There wasn't the slightest fluctuation of spiritual energy about her; she plainly hadn't even reached the Qi Refining Stage.

And yet someone as fairy-like as Ran Zirou was speaking up for this scruffy little girl.

She's so gentle. So kind.

[System, is she a textbook white lotus? What do I do about my blood pressure?]

[Host, hit back!]

The elders on the platform exchanged glances, all of one mind.

Found her.

She really is just a little girl.

With every eye on her, Li Zi walked forward step by step.

Ran Zirou glanced toward the elders, then came over and took Li Zi's hand. "Little sister, you only need to win one match for a chance to enter the Inner Sect. Come and try!"

Li Zi looked at her, and tears suddenly streamed down her face.

"You know perfectly well I can't cultivate, but you dragged me over to make yourself look better. Every word you say is another knife in my chest. So what if I have poor talent? Have I eaten your family's rice? You've humiliated me so badly—waah, I don't even want to live anymore."

Ran Zirou was stunned.

How is Li Zi even better at crying than me?

The girls in the arena were quicker to sympathize, and for a moment they felt Li Zi's pain as their own.

A taller girl strode over and pulled Li Zi behind her.

"Ran Zirou, why are you bullying this little girl? Using her to make yourself look noble? You men must be blind. Take a good look—is this what you call kind?"

Li Zi might have been thin and scrawny, but her eyes were big and bright. When she cried, she truly tugged at the heartstrings.

Ran Zirou hurried to explain. "I didn't... That's not..."

"So what if she's a maid? Once you set foot on the path of cultivation, you leave your past behind. We're all standing at the same starting line now. Why do you still look down on her?"

"Don't be afraid, little sister. We'll stand up for you."

Li Zi wiped her tears away. This time, she was crying because she was touched.

[System, this world is actually pretty wonderful. These beautiful big sisters are so good to me.]

The system replied, [...Host, I think you're the white lotus here.]

[Nonsense. I'm a green tea.]

Tears poured down Ran Zirou's cheeks too, each crystalline drop making her look pitiful.

"That's not what I meant. Little sister Li Zi, how could you misunderstand me?"

Seeing their goddess under attack from all sides, the male disciples' protective instincts surged. They immediately stepped in front of Ran Zirou.

"You're all just blatantly jealous!"

Li Zi choked out, "Big sisters, please don't make things hard for Miss Ran. Otherwise, people might think you, with your single and dual Spiritual Roots, are jealous of Ran Zirou and her Mixed Spiritual Root."

Those words struck Ran Zirou straight in the heart.

Her face went ashen, and she nearly failed to hide the venom in her eyes.

She came from a noble family and was stunningly beautiful, yet she had the lowest-grade Mixed Spiritual Root. Her cultivation progressed slowly.

It was the one flaw she had.

“Exactly! Ran Zirou is just a pretty vase with a Mixed Spiritual Root. What's there to envy?”

"You men are all lechers, bewitched by her face! Which one of us girls doesn't cultivate faster than she does?"

The scene descended into chaos, and the two sides looked ready to fight.

Li Zi quietly squeezed her way to the edge of the crowd.

[Host, are we really leaving?]

[Of course. I have a Mixed Spiritual Root too. If I stay, I'll only be an Outer Sect disciple doing odd jobs. I'm not as lucky as Ran Zirou, with so many men falling over themselves to hand her opportunities. I'd get beaten up and have to carry foot-washing water for my senior brothers and sisters. It'd be miserable.]

Ranking List

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Transmigration into a Book

Female Supporting Character

Xianxia

Cannon Fodder