[This has passed the internal submission review, so feel free to invest.]
[If you aren't interested in this chapter, you can skip straight to the story. But if you skip it and then don't understand some of the alternate-universe changes, you're not allowed to yell at me, okay? Insert doge face here.]
After seeing the title and synopsis, you readers probably already had a rough idea of what this book would be about.
No thousand-year transformation, no Silver Sect wreaking havoc on the world; this was simply a story about "Xiao Yan" becoming an emperor on the Dou Qi Continent.
Why did I want to write this?
Actually, a long time ago, after seeing a question about this on a certain Q&A site, yours truly, the serial procrastinator, had the idea of writing this book.
But back then, I had no writing experience whatsoever, let alone experience creating a webnovel of around a million Chinese characters, so... I shelved it.
But times have changed. This procrastinator is now a seasoned veteran author (Lv3), and I've written a few passable fanfics, so I feel I should be able to handle it.
(Don't ask why you can't see my other books on my profile. If you ask, the answer is that they've all turned into soul rings.)
Besides, there are already a few stories about transmigrating into "Xiao Yan the transmigrator," but nobody seems to have written one about transmigrating into "the female Xiao Yan," at least not on Qidian.
There are similar stories elsewhere, but none of them were finished either. Many got the axe after the three-year agreement.
So yours truly has boldly decided to turn this idea from long ago into a complete story.
The protagonist, Xiao Yan, is a transmigrator, but she doesn't know the plot, much like the original "Xiao Yan." Her characterization will be introduced in detail in the story itself.
[Important]: The protagonist will not marry a man, the protagonist will not marry a man, the protagonist will not marry a man. There is no "male lead" in the traditional sense.
She will have quite a few female friends, though. Two pairs to start with, and no upper limit.
Of course, most of them will just be ordinary friends. I'll explain these things when they come up in the story, so no spoilers for now.
You can simply treat this world as a "parallel world." That will make it easier to understand.
Of course, the actual story won't just replace the original Xiao Yan with the female Xiao Yan and then follow the original work without changing a thing. That would be far too shameless a way to go about it.
There will definitely be original arcs in the story, and material from the original work will also be handled in completely different ways.
In other words, this is an alternate-universe work whose "main storyline" broadly follows the original, but whose content is completely different when you look closely.
After all, the original Xiao Yan and the female Xiao Yan will certainly have different ways of doing things, and different choices will lead to different outcomes.
Men and women differ somewhat in how they think, with one side tending to be more rational and the other more emotional.
We often say that you shouldn't always let your emotions dictate your life, but sometimes a sensitive, thoughtful approach can help you find smooth sailing on every side.
For instance, when it comes to "social graces and worldly wisdom," the female Xiao Yan will certainly handle things better than the original.
Another example: the original Xiao Yan is actually pretty reckless. In a fight, the original would hold back long enough to cook up a Fire Lotus, then charge straight in and blow up along with the opponent.
But the female Xiao Yan will certainly think more rationally and be more "steady." She won't use moves that wound the enemy a thousand times while taking eight hundred wounds herself. She'll plan first, then act.
In this timeline, Yao Lao... Master Yao probably won't get captured, and Xiao Zhan won't have to go to the Soul Hall for advanced Dou Emperor studies either.
Xiao Yan will certainly walk an equally arduous road to becoming an emperor, but this will absolutely be a story that won't disappoint you. It's worth a try.
You can read this book for some fun and a change of pace. I guarantee the plot won't be too dull.
To keep the plot plausible, a small number of characters, such as Nalan Yanran and Yao Lao, will receive minor adjustments. Everyone else will remain unchanged.
After all, if I changed everyone else too, then putting something like "The Empress and Her Male Favorites" in the male-oriented section would just be asking to get flamed.
It's not as though nobody likes things like "Emperor Medusa" or "My Childhood Sweetheart, the Young Master of the Gu Clan," but they're a minority, after all.
And with a swap like that, the whole thing would turn straight into "Overbearing CEOs and Their Darling Little Wife"...
-even worse than "The Thousand-Year Transformation."
After all, for over ninety percent of the original plot, Xun'er was stronger than the original Xiao Yan. Her characterization was essentially, "I believe Brother Xiao Yan can do it, but if Brother Xiao Yan can't, I'll help."
There's nothing wrong with giving that characterization to a "female lead," but make it the "male lead," and there will definitely be trouble.
The other characters are much the same. After all, the original protagonist, Xiao Yan, kept boosting cultivation through fortuitous encounters, while the supporting characters had cheats every bit as powerful just to "keep up with the current patch."
If I swapped them all, even Shennong would end up flat on his back here.
Therefore, aside from a tiny handful of necessary characters, the others will basically remain unchanged.
Xiao Yan's struggle, step by step, from an ordinary person to the pinnacle of this continent is one of this book's two main attractions.
What we're writing here is the "sisterhood" and "friendship" between Xiao Yan and Gu Xun'er, Xiao Yi Xian, Zi Yan, Medusa, and the others.
Besides, with the female Xiao Yan, a lot of plot developments will seem more reasonable rather than overly strange.
Yun Yun's feelings will be appreciation for a junior, Xiao Yi Xian's will be simple friendship, and Gu Xun'er will be her best friend since childhood.
That way, things like nourishing Gu Xun'er's meridians and helping Xiao Yi Xian seal her Woeful Poison Body will make much more sense.
Zi Yan will simply follow Xiao Yan around to "mooch meals," while Medusa will be a powerful ally.
At the beginning, Medusa will simply serve as Xiao Yan's "bodyguard," with the highest combat strength in the "starter village," and the plot will develop from there.
Famous scenes involving things like the fallen heart flame and the purifying lotus demon flame will also be selectively retained and given plausible treatment in this book. Readers who enjoy those parts can rest easy.
In any case, the ending will have everyone's friendship proving stronger than gold.
Of course, since the protagonist is now the female Xiao Yan, Xiao Xiao naturally won't have a role. There are some things I can't just recklessly throw in, after all. These will be explained later.
You can rest assured that I absolutely won't serve you any poison. Every important character will go through a natural progression.
I'm a veteran author of sorts, after all, and I've written a Battle Through the Heavens fanfic before, so I know what I can and can't write.
I won't say much more, or I'll end up possessed by Shen Gongbao and start handing out reverse "poisoned blessings"...
As for the relationship between a certain Nalan and Yun Yun, along with the Flower Sect matters, those would be a little difficult to handle if Nalan Yanran were the only one changed.
But swapping Yun Yun out would definitely be inappropriate, even though she barely has any role in the later stages.
Therefore, I'll make the following alternate-universe changes:
The master-disciple relationship between that certain Nalan and Yun Yun will be removed. Instead, that certain Nalan will be the Misty Cloud Sect's chief disciple and the personal disciple of an elder.
After all, once their sexes are swapped, with the man's family also being powerful, that certain Nalan wouldn't even need to borrow anyone else's influence to break off the engagement. At most, he'd just need to give the Xiao Clan a graceful way out.
Nalan Jie would probably still tacitly approve of breaking off the engagement. After all, in the original, he never even went to the Xiao Clan to state his position, which practically amounted to consent.
Nalan Jie didn't want his granddaughter marrying a cripple either. He simply couldn't bring himself to swallow his pride.
So when Nalan Yanran slapped the Xiao Clan in the face, he didn't even go there to make some gesture of goodwill. He only regretted it later, once he realized the Xiao Clan had risen beyond his reach.
If their roles were reversed, he would probably tacitly approve of that certain Nalan's actions too.
Therefore, in this book's alternate setting, Yun Yun never took a disciple, and after the three-year agreement, that certain Nalan will be reduced entirely to a random bystander.
As for the Flower Sect plot and the like, Yun Yun will be the only one involved, and there will be other ways to resolve it.
When Xiao Yan and her sisters ascend at the end, I could give that certain Nalan a scene from his regret-filled perspective. Heh heh heh.
Actually, I'm considering whether to give Hun Tiandi a change too. After all, having a she-devil as the final boss sounds pretty good, doesn't it?
Hey, you there. Yes, you, the one spamming "The Music Emperor." Go face the wall and reflect on your behavior. (LOL.)
That's all for now. Coo, coo, coo~
Before you continue