She Just Wanted to Treat Every Man Equally Well

Ran Zirou forced a smile onto her ashen face. "Mm..."

She Just Wanted to Treat Every Man Equally Well

The female disciple's gaze shifted between the two of them, and she gave a knowing smile.

"Junior Sister Ran, are you feeling unwell? Why do you keep leaning on Junior Master's Uncle Bao?"

Ran Zirou covered her lips and coughed twice, looking even more frail.

"Junior Master's Uncle Bao and I were injured while hunting spirit beasts, and then there was that fuss over at Li Zi's just now... but it's all right. I'm fine."

The female disciple exclaimed in surprise, "Junior Master's Uncle Li bullied you? That's impossible. Ever since she joined the sect, she's spent every day cultivating in seclusion. She has no quarrel with you, either. Why would she bully you?"

The disciples nearby chimed in.

"Exactly. Junior Master's Uncle Li has focused entirely on cultivating since she joined the sect. She made tremendous progress shortly after arriving, and she's barely even gone down the mountain."

"Junior Master's Uncle Li is a model cultivator for us disciples. She's diligent, hardworking, and a good person, too."

"That's right. Last time I told Junior Master's Uncle Li I was injured, she gave me a Healing Pill without another word."

As he listened to them, Bao Yuanwu's mind, which had been clouded by her beauty, gradually cleared.

Was his little junior sister really the sort of person they described?

[System, is that really how everyone sees me? Do I work that hard at cultivating? How come I never noticed?]

The System replied, [You don't work hard? Tell me, was there a single day you spent idle after joining the sect? Didn't you cultivate every day?]

Li Zi shuddered.

The thought of being tormented by Fu Chaoqing's medicine a while ago, along with the heart-piercing agony of having her meridians expanded and undergoing meridian cleansing, still left her shaken.

She really had worked pretty hard.

Bao Yuanwu instinctively looked around, searching for his little junior sister.

He had yet to spot her, but her inner voice was certainly lively.

Then, out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of an eight-year-old girl struggling to poke her head through a dog hole.

Li Zi's inner voice suddenly grew excited.

[Look! Ran Zirou and Second Senior Brother actually have their fingers interlocked. That's way too intimate!]

The System said, [And Ran Zirou initiated it. She knows what she's doing. Later, on their way down the mountain, they'll duck into a cave and do this and that. It'll be quite a steamy scene. Just you wait.]

Li Zi stared at their interlocked hands, their entwined fingers brimming with tender affection.

[Maybe Ran Zirou's feelings for Second Senior Brother are genuine. After all, she's been reborn, so she knows he truly loved her in her previous life.]

[Host, this is what you don't understand. The reborn Ran Zirou is Niohuru Ran Zirou. She cares only about cultivating and has no room in her heart for romance. She and Immortal Ziyang are complete opposites.]

Immortal Ziyang, who had just arrived to retrieve Ran Zirou after learning she was at the Spirit Sword Sect: ...

Why had she barely arrived only to hear the System talking about her again?

Li Zi barely managed to poke her head out and looked toward Ran Zirou, who was already surrounded by disciples.

The whispers around her deepened the sorrow on Ran Zirou's face.

She leaned weakly against Bao Yuanwu, as though she had placed all her hopes in him, drawing out his masculine tenderness to the fullest.

[Wasn't Ran Zirou in the original book completely love-addled? She spent every day romancing those men, a master of time management. Even after being reborn, her personality couldn't have changed that much, could it?]

The System replied, [No. What the book showed was only the surface. In her previous life, Ran Zirou did passively accept the kindness those men offered her. Like a doll, she let others manipulate her however they pleased. But after being reborn, she went completely dark. She began taking the initiative and seizing control in her dealings with men, taking only the benefits without involving her feelings. She knows perfectly well that her own abilities are the only thing she can rely on. Immortal Ziyang, on the other hand, used to place that sense of security in men. That's the fundamental difference between them.]

Actually, hearing the System say that made Li Zi feel a little more favorably toward Ran Zirou.

She thought a female lead who played the field like that was rather exciting.

If Ran Zirou weren't always coveting her myriad flower divine bone, she really would have liked to befriend her.

[Host, I advise you not to entertain any thoughts of befriending Ran Zirou. After experiencing her previous life, she feels that every resource ought to belong to her. Your divine bone, the Spirit Sword Sect's resources, and all those men—she takes it for granted that they're hers. That mindset is pretty frightening. Even the things your godmother gave you—Ran Zirou thinks you stole them from her.]

Not far away, Immortal Ziyang frowned slightly.

No wonder Ran Zirou had asked about those things she had given Li Zi when she took her away last time.

So she thought those things should have belonged to her.

What a joke. She had obtained all those things by venturing into danger time and again. They were hers, and she could give them to whomever she pleased!

Li Zi blinked and looked toward Ran Zirou, who was now practically nestled in Bao Yuanwu's arms.

[Does Ran Zirou think Second Senior Brother belongs to her, too?]

[Not just him. All those senior brothers in your sect belong to her, as far as she's concerned. She even thinks you've stolen her life. That mindset is what lets her get close to your senior brother so brazenly now. But they have no relationship whatsoever. They're neither a couple nor fellow disciples. What does being so intimate make them?]

Li Zi remarked, [So she can gobble him up, wipe her mouth clean, and deny she owes him anything, huh?]

The System wholeheartedly agreed.

In the shadows.

Immortal Ziyang curled her lips in an intrigued smile and said to the Fifth Elder beside her, "The way I see it, letting those disciples of yours go through something like this might not necessarily be a bad thing."

The Fifth Elder frowned. "Not a bad thing? If someone drains their primordial yang, all their cultivation will go down the drain."

Immortal Ziyang raised an eyebrow. "Isn't Xiao Zi here? She's already muttered all of Ran Zirou's little schemes in her head. If those disciples of yours still fall for it despite knowing full well that Ran Zirou is deliberately plotting against them, then they're hopelessly obtuse. Even if they don't lose their primordial yang this time, there will be a next time."

The Fifth Elder frowned in thought for a moment, then let out a soft sigh.