(PS: The story unfolds from the female lead's perspective. The original female lead barely appears. There is no competition between women later in the story, nor any sucking up to the original female lead. No CP; feel free to ship in your own corner~ Content warnings: the female lead has quite a few "golden fingers" and "contract beasts." Leans toward a power fantasy.)
"Unfilial wretch! Do you admit your mistake? Do you know what people are saying out there?!"
"The young master of the Tang Household, one of the five great aristocratic clans, is actually a damned cut-sleeve?" The middle-aged man seated on the dais, dressed in the household head's robes, had turned livid with anger.
Grinding his back teeth, he snatched up the jade cup beside him and made to smash it. But halfway through raising it, he caught sight of the spiritual light flowing across its surface and forcibly stopped.
This jade cup... was worth at least several dozen mid-grade Spirit Stones.
Smashing it would be such a waste!
Tang Hua closed his eyes and swallowed his anger.
As a sword-cultivating aristocratic clan, aside from their hot blood, they were just like those sword cultivators of the Azure Cloud Sect-poor.
Holding the cup, he hesitated again and again, then could only take a sip of tea to settle himself.
Their Tang Household already ranked dead last among the five great aristocratic clans. Though their strength was lacking, their reputation... all right, their reputation was lacking too.
But now this unfilial wretch had actually flirted with the Profound Heaven Sect's chief disciple in broad daylight. Wasn't that practically pulling aggro?!
He truly dared not imagine what they would do if that young genius held a grudge.
Jiang Yueyan was not only the Profound Heaven Sect's chief disciple, but also belonged to the Jiang Household, ranked second among the five great aristocratic clans. The Jiang Household had made its name through talisman cultivation for generations, with thousands of businesses in the lineage's talisman industry. Suppressing their penniless Tang Household would be far too easy.
Just thinking about it made Tang Hua's temples throb.
The youth kneeling in the hall kept her head lowered, her black hair disheveled and a trace of confusion on her handsome face.
What? A damned cut-sleeve? Me?
Tang Yao's brows abruptly tightened. A thunderclap seemed to explode in her mind, and her eyes flew wide.
The Tang Household's young master? A cut-sleeve? The five great aristocratic clans?
Those keywords flashed through Tang Yao's mind. She remembered this character. This character was also called Tang Yao, cannon fodder so utterly insignificant that he did not even count as a supporting male character. He had ended up becoming a devil cultivator! And the righteous female lead had killed him!
Tang Yao: ?
What the hell have I transmigrated into?
Her vision went black.
Then she searched her mind for those scant scraps of information...
The original owner had decent talent, but an outrageously terrible reputation.
Under the influence of the outside world, despite her innate sword bone, her Dao heart had been unstable. She had never managed to break through to golden core, ultimately suffering Qi deviation.
After falling and becoming a devil cultivator, however, her strength had soared.
The female lead was the Tang Household's adopted daughter, Tang Xin, who had already become a core figure within the lineage at this point.
Upon learning that her elder brother had succumbed to the demonic path, she had resolutely stormed into the Devil Realm to cleanse her household.
The most ridiculous part was-
The person who helped the original owner in the Devil Realm was actually Jiang Yueyan, the supporting male character she had flirted with today.
This supporting male character, Jiang Yueyan, had fallen in love with the female lead. Unable to win her love, he had developed a heart demon, becoming a powerhouse of the Devil Realm shortly after Tang Yao!
The two had buried the hatchet and gone hand in hand through the Devil Realm as good brothers?
When the female lead came to cleanse her household, Jiang Yueyan had not wanted to watch his brother be killed and was forced to fight her. With both sides grievously wounded, the female lead had still risked her life to kill Tang Yao.
From then on, she had won widespread praise throughout the cultivation world!
Meanwhile, during his desperate battle with the female lead, Jiang Yueyan had also severed his heart demon, comprehending the Dao of Ruthlessness on the spot. He had dispersed all his Devil Qi cultivation and returned to the immortal cultivation world.
From then on, he had stood utterly alone, without ties or fetters, charging ahead with nothing but his worthless life.
So the original owner was the sucker here?
A world where he alone got hurt had been achieved.
Then a piercing pain interrupted Tang Yao's recollection. She received the memories of the original owner's first fifteen years, and what surprised her was-
Original owner, you were actually a girl?!
As the heir to the household head, the original owner was not without precedent: the Tang Household had passed leadership to women before, but only if their strength spoke for itself. Her mother had not dared gamble on her being a genius, so she had concealed her sex, without even telling the household head.
Tang Yao broke into a cold sweat. What kind of feudal nonsense was this?!
I'll have to give them a proper lesson later!
Of course, the biggest headache right now was that the original owner was a universally acknowledged damned cut-sleeve, throwing herself at any handsome young gentleman she saw. Today, emboldened by alcohol, she had even flirted with Jiang Yueyan in the street, causing word that the Tang Household's young master was a cut-sleeve to spread like wildfire.
Tang Yao slowly raised her head, breaking into a sweat on her own behalf.
All she could say was, thank goodness she had not transmigrated right before the female lead stabbed her to death. Otherwise, there really would have been no turning things around!
As long as she did not follow the original plot...
Anyone who wanted her dead would find it far from easy!
At that thought, Tang Yao lowered her eyes and revealed a gentle smile. "Father, you needn't take those rumors seriously. It's very possible that the small and medium aristocratic clans deliberately spread them, aiming to rise into the ranks of the five great aristocratic clans."
"Jiang Yueyan and I were merely having a normal conversation. Someone with ulterior motives took advantage of it."
That was not entirely nonsense. The memories she had just partially absorbed showed that members of the Tang Household's collateral branches had tricked the original owner into going to a restaurant and getting drunk, then kept plying her with alcohol.
Only then had she spotted Jiang Yueyan and spouted a load of outrageous remarks. This Tang Household... Tang Yao smiled.
Someone thought she was a fool, easy to deceive, and was ruining her reputation.
After hearing Tang Yao's words, Tang Hua's expression did indeed soften considerably. He let out a long breath, set down his teacup, and said heavily, "Enough. We'll set this matter aside for now."
"Yao'er, you must focus on your cultivation. We'll also have to bring forward the date you report to the Azure Cloud Sect."
"The word from the Azure Cloud Sect is that as long as you reach foundation establishment and meet the inner sect's minimum threshold, the position of chief personal disciple among the Azure Cloud Sect's sword cultivators will always be waiting for you."
"They'll also help examine the problem with your spirit root."
Tang Yao found that strange, but nodded in agreement first. She searched through the fragments of information in her mind, then understood.
The original owner was one of only two people in the cultivation world with an innate sword bone, yet the lineage's tests had only identified her spirit root as low-grade.
Both people with innate sword bones in the cultivation world were oddballs. One was her, the wastrel Tang Yao, while the other, Song Tinglan, was utterly obsessed with pill refining.
As a result, the Luo River Sect had long since lured that oddball away, making him the only dual sword-and-pill cultivator among the sect's pill cultivators!
That had left the Azure Cloud Sect's old fellows bristling their beards and glaring. No matter what, they could not let Tang Yao get away too. Even if Tang Yao was a wastrel, they still wanted her!
They had told Tang Hua long ago that as long as Tang Yao came, she would be the Azure Cloud Sect's chief disciple!
They refused to believe it! Just how bad could the spirit root of someone with an innate sword bone be? Whether mule or horse, they had to bring her over and see for themselves!
Tang Hua, meanwhile, was counting on latching onto the Azure Cloud Sect so that their entire household could rise to heaven along with its chickens and dogs, changing their circumstances. That was why he had always turned a blind eye to Tang Yao over the years.
On the dais, Tang Hua glanced at Tang Yao. Only four words came to mind-
What an absolute headache.
Surely she could at least reach foundation establishment...
He sighed, instructed Tang Yao to cultivate diligently, and dismissed her.
Back in her room, Tang Yao tried cultivating according to this world's methods.
First, she sank her Qi into her dantian and closed her eyes, spiritual Qi circulating through her meridians. Sitting cross-legged, she sensed the spiritual power between heaven and earth: colorful clusters of spiritual power in red, green, blue, yellow, and many other colors.
Tang Yao hesitated. This many colors?
The spiritual power gathered at her spirit root, where the different colors began to merge into white, glowing with a lustrous pearly sheen.
Tang Yao raised her hand, and spiritual power emerged along with it.
It was white in her palm, but with a shift of her will, it turned red in an instant. Immediately, a powerful surge of fire spiritual power rushed toward her face. A moment later, it switched to green, and a vigorous, surging vitality washed over her.
How was this a useless spirit root?
This was a fucking all spirit root!
Even if I haven't seen a pig run, haven't I eaten pork?
"Elder Brother, are you resting in your room?" A clear voice suddenly came from outside the door, interrupting Tang Yao's thoughts.
Calling the original owner Elder Brother?
Then it had to be the female lead...
Tang Yao withdrew the spiritual Qi in her hand and said in a low voice, "Come in."
She had decided!
Until she had strength, she would be somewhat nice to the female lead.
As Tang Yao's words fell, the door slowly opened. A girl in white-and-blue robes walked toward her, her hair arranged in a simple bun, her blue hair ribbon fluttering in the breeze along with her hair.
She spoke mildly. "Elder Brother, I reported to the Azure Cloud Sect's outer sect a few days ago. The elder said you can report even if you haven't reached foundation establishment. The rewards for this year's new disciple tournament are generous."
"I'll inform Father in a little while."
"Thank you for bringing the message, Little Sister." At that moment, Tang Yao wore a perfectly standard gentle smile as she looked at Tang Xin!
Though Tang Yao's reputation was not particularly good, her looks were decent. Dressed in the young master's robes edged with dark gold patterns, she could even be called handsome and refined.
The corners of her lips lifted slightly, her eyes smiling as she looked at the female lead, who was a little shorter than herself, wearing an air of solemn righteousness.
"Little Sister! If you suffer any grievances in the outer sect, you must tell your big brother!"
"Even though I bully you at home, no one outside gets to bully my little sister!"
Tang Xin: "?" What the hell?
Who had put a hex on Tang Yao? How had this elder brother, who berated her every few days, turned out like this?
Tang Xin immediately took half a step back, a trace of astonishment appearing on her normally cool face.
"And after I tell you? We get beaten up together?"
Tang Yao: "..."
"What are you saying!"
"Obviously, the elders will protect me, and I'll protect you!"
As she spoke, Tang Yao coughed awkwardly, then took a new Jade Slip from her Storage Bag.
"Little Sister, you must be extremely careful when you go to the outer sect. This Jade Slip is for you. It contains my spiritual signature. If you find any opportunities... cough, no, if you run into any trouble or someone you can't beat, remember to call your big brother. I can take on three at once."
When things strayed from the norm, something sinister had to be afoot. Naturally, Tang Xin refused to accept it.
Tang Yao forcibly pressed it into Tang Xin's hands. "Little Sister, if you go out without even a Jade Slip, wouldn't you be disgracing our Tang Household?"
Hearing that, Tang Xin wavered slightly in her refusal. Sure enough, she was afraid Tang Xin would embarrass them outside...
With that thought, she immediately accepted the Jade Slip.
Tang Yao's lips curved slightly, and her mood was wonderful too. As long as she did not fall and become a devil cultivator, even the female lead would have no legitimate reason to kill her, right?
As for why she could not break through to golden core...
There did not seem to be anything wrong with this body. On the contrary, it was outrageously strong. Could someone have deliberately sabotaged her?
But cannon fodder truly was cannon fodder. The novel had never mentioned the actual reason at all. Instead, it was because the female lead came to kill her that she met the Devil Venerable-
This was an extremely old-fashioned story about winning over a villain. The female lead had moved the Devil Venerable with her kindness, and from then on, the Devil Realm and the immortal cultivation world had shaken hands and made peace.
Her role as cannon fodder was probably just to make the male and female leads meet!
If she did not fall and become a devil cultivator, would the male and female leads never meet? If they never met, how would they get that harmonious ending??
Then, after Jiang Yueyan succumbed to the demonic path, he would never end up mutually wounded in a fight with the female lead either, and would never comprehend the Dao of Ruthlessness.
Would that mean this guy would stay a devil cultivator forever?
Who knew whether she would be the first person he cut down after falling to the demonic path! In any case, she was not falling!
Tang Yao sighed, planning to enter the game herself and slip into the Profound Heaven Sect to give this Jiang Yueyan some pointers!
Most importantly! Talisman cultivators were rich!
If she learned even a little and came back to set up a stall, wouldn't Spirit Stones pour into her pockets!
They sword cultivators spent a whole year's worth of Spirit Stones on honing their swords. No matter how poor they were, they could not lose even their wife fund.
Tang Yao took Tang Xin's hand and said sincerely, "Little Sister, your big brother has something to do."
"When you come back, go to the Azure Cloud Sect on your own. If anyone asks where I went, just play dumb and say you don't know anything. Once your big brother makes money, I'll buy you the most expensive Spirit Artifact to keep you alive!"
Tang Xin blinked. "All right, understood."
Though it felt very strange, she did not question Tang Yao further.
After all, this elder brother of hers in name had never been right in the head.