This Is Already Your Fifth Attempt

Su Ying bobbed her head like a chick pecking at grain and stood up. "Yes, I'm Ling Xian, a disciple of the Cultivation Sect. I came down the mountain to help the villagers drive out evil spirits, but my senior sister has gone missing. Have you seen her?"

She recited the female lead's lines without missing a single word, even reproducing her expression as closely as possible.

The system watched from the side, dumbfounded: [Host, that actually works?]

[What else can I do? You haven't received any notice to restart the world, so I'll just have to make do for now.] Su Ying grumbled inwardly, blinking her big, watery eyes at the man before her.

In Feng Moyuan's eyes, however, all this amounted to a face as ordinary as ordinary could be shedding tears at him.

There was nothing remotely beautiful about it.

"No," Feng Moyuan said flatly.

Su Ying froze again. [Why isn't this demon king following the script?]

The system replied: [Host, you aren't following the script either.]

Su Ying was speechless. If she followed the script, she wouldn't even have a part in this scene.

Just as she was wondering how to keep the conversation going, a call suddenly came from outside.

"Su Ying? Su Ying, where are you?"

"Senior Sister, are you there?"

The two voices belonged to her senior brother, Ping Qingyun, and her junior sister, Ling Xian.

Su Ying stood there utterly dumbstruck. [What now? How about reporting this to the higher-ups and restarting the quest?]

[Host, the higher-ups haven't given any such instructions,] the system said.

Feng Moyuan remained silent, listening quietly.

Su Ying asked, [Originally, the demon king withdrew on his own after meeting Ling Xian. How am I supposed to complete the quest now?]

The system no longer wanted to speak. It only wanted to play dead.

Feng Moyuan raised an eyebrow, a ripple of light passing through his violet eyes, then concealed himself.

Su Ying jumped. [Holy crap, he's being this cooperative? If I didn't know better, I'd think he could hear my thoughts!]

The system was surprised too: [Host, hurry outside now.]

Su Ying nodded, lifted her skirts, and walked out.

Feng Moyuan followed behind her, invisible.

Su Ying called outside, "I'm here!"

At the same time, she asked the system inwardly, [Well? Is the main quest complete?]

[Checking. Please wait.]

The system paused before replying:

[Congratulations, Host. Verification confirms that the main quest, helping the female lead meet the supporting male character, is complete. Reward: twenty points.]

[It actually worked? Was it because I gave the female lead's name just now, and Feng Moyuan remembered it, so the quest counted as complete? I'm such a genius! Full marks!] Su Ying thought smugly.

Still invisible, Feng Moyuan listened to her conversation, growing even more curious about her.

He had to find out exactly what was going on.

Su Ying rushed out of the cave and headed straight for Ping Qingyun.

Before she could air her grievances according to the original plot, a torrent of scolding rained down on her.

"Su Ying, who told you to run off? Do you realize we lost because you went wandering around?" Ping Qingyun snapped, his brows drawn tight.

Their trip down the mountain to drive out evil spirits for the villagers had been arranged as a competition.

Their team had stood a very good chance of winning, but Su Ying's wandering around had cost them the victory.

Su Ying wiped the spittle sprayed all over her face and sighed. "I know. It's all my fault."

[Host...]

The system was about to remind her again.

Su Ying cut it off. [This part of the plot doesn't matter. I'll be punished by being sent to reinforce the seal anyway. What difference does one more line or one less line make? Are they going to let me off just because I repent, cry, and feel miserable?]

The system thought: Fair point.

It fell silent.

Ping Qingyun had expected Su Ying to tearfully deny it. When she didn't deny a thing, he decided she must have done it on purpose.

"The losing team has to reinforce the seal this time. You're the reason we lost, so as for the seal..."

Su Ying interrupted him. "I understand. I'll take care of the seal."

Another flicker of surprise crossed Ping Qingyun's eyes.

Was this really the same lazy, gluttonous Su Ying?

Why did she seem like a different person?

Su Ying yawned. "Then I'll head back now and accept my punishment."

With that, she flew away on her sword.

Ping Qingyun and Ling Xian exchanged bewildered looks, then had no choice but to follow on their swords.

Feng Moyuan did not follow them. He dropped his invisibility and gazed in the direction they had gone.

From their conversation just now, he had discovered that Su Ying's thoughts were the only ones he could hear.

So if he wanted to know how the plot of this book unfolded, he could only learn it through her thoughts.

Feng Moyuan took out a bronze mirror and examined himself. Even after a thousand years, his face remained peerlessly magnificent, his good looks unrivaled.

He stroked the pale, smooth skin of his face, a murderous chill flashing through his violet eyes. Someone like him was destined to become one of this world's strongest. How could he possibly be reduced to someone else's supporting character?

If anyone dared reduce him to a supporting character, he would kill them!

After returning to the Cultivation Sect, Su Ying packed a small bundle and scampered off to the seal.

In the original plot, she was supposed to endure a scolding from the male lead, Xiao Muchen, first. But since that scolding had nothing to do with the female lead, she took it upon herself to skip that part of the plot.

At the foot of the Cultivation Sect's Sit-and-Forget Mountain stood an ancient sealing barrier.

A Ten-Thousand-Year Ferocious Beast was sealed within it.

Because the beast was so vicious, the barrier would weaken if the seal went too long without reinforcement, and the beast could escape at any moment.

But reinforcing the seal consumed so much magical power and physical strength that most disciples were unwilling to do it.

The Cultivation Sect's elders had therefore come up with a solution.

They would occasionally hold competitions, and the losers would have to reinforce the seal.

Anyone who committed an offense would also be assigned to reinforce it.

Su Ying arrived at the seal and sat cross-legged without even inspecting it.

[Host, this isn't how the original plot goes,] the system reminded her.

Su Ying yawned and leaned against the mountain wall. "In this story, the seal never weakened, not even by the time I died. Why should I waste my energy on something pointless? Experiencing it the last few times was enough. I don't want to spend three days and nights reinforcing it, then go back and sleep for another three days and nights."

She wasn't about to do something so physically exhausting!

Unable to do anything about her, the system could only remind her: [Host, you can slack off when no one's around, but when someone comes, you must follow the plot properly.]

Su Ying closed her eyes and nodded. "I know, I know. You nag even more than the aunties at the market."

The system replied: [Host, you can't blame me. This is already your fifth attempt. I'm just trying to be a little more careful.]

Su Ying was about to speak when she suddenly heard a voice crying for help.