War God Ning Xiang Returns-At Her Command, a Hundred Thousand Spirit Transformation Cultivators...

That was right-this was her masterpiece!

Over the past three days, Ning Xiang had failed to squeeze out a single word of her essay. She had, however, tried several literary styles, cursing Lu Qingchen dozens of times from every angle, leaving no blind spots.

Of course, merely spewing fragrant language was not enough. Ning Xiang decided to write Lu Qingchen into her masterpiece. That way, if she ever transmigrated back home, her work could still become an immortal classic handed down through the ages in this world!

Ning Xiang got straight to work. In just three days, she had already written a thirty-thousand-word opening.

The book mainly told the story of a useless cultivator named Lu Qingchen, whose childhood sweetheart cruelly broke off their engagement before his stepmother sold him to a hideous woman as a live-in husband. Lu Qingchen endured disdain and humiliation, yet retained his proud backbone, choosing to break rather than bend. Even when punished with chicken feed for meals and a chicken coop for shelter, he refused to bow his head!

Just as Lu Qingchen was being tormented to within an inch of his life, his disciple-the Supreme Dragon King and invincible War God Xiang Ning-returned in the nick of time. At the War God's command, a hundred thousand Spirit Transformation cultivators came to report for duty...

The plot came to an abrupt halt there, simply because the essay had driven her to the brink of a breakdown, and she had not yet had time to finish making it up.

Ning Xiang carefully put the book away in her Spirit Bracelet, thinking-

Once I have some free time, I'll definitely finish it, polish it, then find a bookshop down the mountain to publish it for me! Hahaha, I'm a literary giant of our age!

You bastard, Lu Qingchen! That's what you get for making me write an essay. I'll put you in my book and torment the hell out of you!

Unable to beat Lu Qingchen in a fight, Ning Xiang chose a roundabout route to victory, taking up her pen to wage war against him.

Yu Tingchao felt deep sympathy for the still-oblivious Lu Qingchen. He only hoped his senior sister would never write him into the book too.

Ning Xiang cast Yu Tingchao a sidelong glance.

Hmm, my book happens to need a few more cannon-fodder characters with death wishes. I'll write him in and save myself the trouble of coming up with a name.

Yu Tingchao: "..."

You really won't do anything remotely human, huh?

"Senior Sister."

"Hmm?"

Yu Tingchao approached, step by step.

"What are you doing?" Ning Xiang asked in surprise.

The boy's silhouette enveloped her completely.

Ning Xiang's heart pounded like a drum. In that instant, her mind went utterly blank, as though a soft, shapeless hand had crushed all her thoughts to pieces, then turned them into wisps of cloud and smoke that she could neither catch nor touch.

Ning Xiang retreated step by step, but the room was only so big. Where could she go?

"Don't move," the young boy suddenly murmured. He reached out and clasped Ning Xiang's wrist, gently tugging her around to swap places with her. They had only just come to a stop.

The boy bent down and gazed at Ning Xiang's face, his alluring eyes narrowing slightly, their corners lifting in a seductive curve.

Only when she admired his features up close did she notice the tiny red mole beneath the outer corner of his right eye.

His looks were already exquisite and lushly beautiful. Even that little red mole was placed just right.

The boy seemed lost in thought. Ning Xiang could not fathom what he was thinking, and she felt awkward staring directly at his face. Unsure where to look, she hastily averted her gaze.

"Senior Sister, I thought you were so brave. Turns out this is all you've got," the boy said with a smile. He curled his index finger and lightly brushed it down the bridge of her nose, then released her wrist.

Only then did Ning Xiang realize that, had Yu Tingchao not caught her in time, she would have bumped into the candle stand.

Though whose relentless advance had made her nearly bump into it in the first place?

Was he just... flirting with me? Impossible, right? He should hate me, shouldn't he? Ning Xiang, don't flatter yourself.

Ning Xiang rubbed her wrist and decided to ignore the troublemaker.

She knelt upright behind the long table and concentrated on drawing talismans.

Yu Tingchao did not disturb Ning Xiang again. He found a chair, sat down, and quietly watched her for a while before taking out an array and studying how to inscribe it.

By the time a thick stack of talismans had piled up in front of Ning Xiang, evening had arrived. The sunset's lingering glow quietly spilled into the room, like shattered gold scattered across the floor, dappling it with light and shadow.

The boy was still earnestly studying his array.

A thin layer of golden light had settled over his beautiful eyes as well.

Ning Xiang propped her chin on her hand and watched him. Sure enough, a man was most handsome when he was focused.

Dear host, secretly watching a man is very rude.

The system, which had played dead for several days, finally came back to life.

Why did Ning Xiang find those words so familiar?

"Oh, shut up. You finally rise from the dead, just to take a jab at me?"

The system:

Warning, warning! If the host dares make another personal attack against this system, the system will issue the host a side quest.

Ning Xiang paid the damned system no mind and decisively banished it to the cold palace.

The system wept. Was there any system more lowly than it?

Whatever. It was going to issue a quest anyway!

Side quest unlocked: personally cut and sew a set of enchanted robes for Lu Qingchen. Present them to Lu Qingchen in front of no fewer than fifty people, boldly confess your love to him, and be rejected.

Quest deadline: five days.

Upon completion, the host will receive a magic artifact. As this is the first side quest issued by this system and holds great historical significance, even failure will be rewarded with one Kakapo, which can keep the previous one company.

Friendly reminder: this quest cannot be abandoned. Abandoning it will count as failure.

Ning Xiang: ...The magic artifact did not matter, but she absolutely could not take another ugly bird. She would never be able to handle it!

As for personally cutting and sewing clothes? Dream on. Never mind that she lacked the skill-even if she had it, she would not let Lu Qingchen reap the benefit.

The damned system really could not stand seeing anyone enjoy a moment's peace. It never did anything remotely human.

Ning Xiang gathered her thoughts, only to find that Yu Tingchao had set down his array at some point and was looking in her direction.

"Senior Sister, this is the array I inscribed. What do you think?"

Yu Tingchao pinched his fingers together, and the small array flew over to Ning Xiang.

Ning Xiang sent her spiritual sense into it and discovered that it was actually a multifunctional array combining defense, concealment, spiritual energy gathering, and more. It contained several array nodes; every node had to be found and destroyed simultaneously before the array could be broken.

Her junior brother's looks were so stunning that he seemed, on the surface, like an embroidered pillow-all decoration and no substance. Who would have guessed that, at such a young age, he possessed such extraordinary talent for inscribing arrays?

Ning Xiang asked, "If your enemies find the array nodes and break them all at once, do you have another fallback?"

Yu Tingchao said, "I also inscribed an explosive array inside it. If the enemies are too powerful to defeat, I can take them down with me." The boy looked rather pleased with himself.

Ning Xiang said, "...There's really no need for that."

She considered it for a moment, then made a few small modifications to Yu Tingchao's work.

After examining the array Ning Xiang had modified, Yu Tingchao could not help being surprised.

Ning Xiang had added a few more strokes within the array.

Though they were only a handful of strokes, they formed a talisman array.