The morning mist had not yet cleared when Yan Luoluo was already sweating profusely at the martial arts training ground.
Her tiny figure stood out sharply in the morning light, her small hands gripping a wooden sword nearly as tall as she was, repeating the most basic slashing movements over and over again.
"Nine hundred and ninety-seven, nine hundred and ninety-eight, nine hundred and ninety-nine... One thousand!"
Yan Luoluo stopped, panting, and wiped the sweat from her forehead. She wasn't worried about physical conditioning, having practiced Tai Chi and Xingyi Quan in her past life, but swordsmanship was a glaring weakness.
She had to become stronger.
Because according to the original plot, before long, that scheming original female protagonist would make her move.
At age ten, she would frame the legitimate eldest daughter to lose her chastity; at thirteen, she would seduce a clan elder; and after entering an immortal sect at fifteen, she would soar all the way to the top by relying on dual cultivation.
And what pained Yan Luoluo the most was that legitimate eldest daughter whose life was destroyed—Chu Qingli.
In the original story, Chu Qingli was gentle, kind, and immensely talented, yet due to the original female protagonist's schemes, she was defiled by a profligate scoundrel and ultimately forced into a living hell, dying in bitterness and despair.
Yet her spiritual roots were the supreme metal and fire dual spiritual roots!
Yan Luoluo bit her lip, suddenly dropped her wooden sword, and scampered off to find Gu Qinghan.
That sword cultivator senior brother whom she had praised to the skies.
"Senior Brother!"
Gu Qinghan was practicing his forms when he heard the call, reined in his stance, and looked down at the panting little dumpling.
"What is it?"
Yan Luoluo tugged at his sleeve, lifted her little face, and gazed up at him with exceptional earnestness: "Senior Brother, can you go to a place for me and bring back an elder sister?"
Gu Qinghan paused: "Who?"
"The legitimate daughter of the Chu family, Chu Qingli." Yan Luoluo lowered her voice, "If anyone asks, just say the Lingxiao Sect specifically named her to be taken as a disciple."
Gu Qinghan frowned: "This... wouldn't be against the rules, would it?"
"It's fine."
A cool, detached voice suddenly came from behind.
Ye Wuchen appeared unannounced, standing with his hands behind his back, his expression calm and indifferent: "Go. If anything happens, this seat will take the blame."
Gu Qinghan was startled and quickly cupped his fists: "Yes, Master!"
Three days later.
The Chu family estate.
"What? The Lingxiao Sect wants to take Qingli as a disciple?" The head of the Chu family was both shocked and delighted. "But... my daughter never participated in the immortal sect trials?"
Gu Qinghan's expression remained unchanged: "The sect recently divined the heavenly secrets and discovered that Miss Chu possesses extraordinary aptitude, so they specially dispatched this disciple to escort her."
The Chu head was overjoyed and hurriedly ordered servants to summon Chu Qingli.
Meanwhile, in the backyard of the Chu family estate—
A little girl of about ten was hiding behind a rockery, staring with cold eyes at a gorgeously dressed young maiden not far away, clutching a packet of medicinal powder in her hand.
"Chu Qingli, you'll soon... be utterly ruined."
A malicious smile curved the corner of her mouth, and just as she was about to act, suddenly—
"Miss Chu! The family head wants you to go to the front hall immediately! An immortal elder from the Lingxiao Sect has come and says he wants to take you as his disciple!"
The little girl's expression changed drastically, and the packet of powder in her hand dropped to the ground with a "clatter."
The plan was completely in ruins.
(Meanwhile, far away in the Lingxiao Sect, Yan Luoluo was dangling her little feet and crunching on a Spirit Fruit, thinking with a cheeky smile: "Female protagonist, I've intercepted your very first plan!")
Chu Qingli still felt as though she were in a dream.
She stood before the towering mountain gates of the Lingxiao Sect. Amidst swirling clouds and mist, cranes beat their wings in flight, and in the distance, sword lights like rainbows slashed across the vast sky. Everything felt so surreal—she, an unfavored legitimate daughter of the Chu family, was actually being explicitly named by the number one sect in the cultivation world to be taken as a disciple?
How could this be possible?
She looked down at her own hands, her slender fingertips trembling slightly.
Three days prior, in the front hall of the Chu family.
"Miss Chu, I am Gu Qinghan, sent by command of my sect to escort you into the Lingxiao Sect."
The young man was dressed in pristine white, his features picturesque yet as cold and severe as frost, his voice as aloof as snow atop a mountain peak that never melts year-round.
Chu Qingli froze in place, momentarily forgetting how to react.
The Lingxiao Sect? That was the sacred sanctuary of immortal cultivation that countless cultivators dreamed of! Yet she had never participated in any trials, and even... within the Chu family, her presence as the legitimate daughter was inferior to that of a maidservant by the side of her concubine-born half-sister Chu Qingyao.
"Immortal Elder!" Chu's father suddenly spoke up, his face piled with fawning smiles, "I have another young daughter at home, turning ten years old this year, exceptionally bright and talented. Might she perhaps join..."
Before he could finish, a dainty figure stepped out from behind the screen.
"Father." Chu Qingyao offered a graceful bow, her voice as sweet as honey. "For elder sister to win the favor of an immortal sect is her good fortune. Your daughter is of mediocre aptitude, how could she dare to covet entering the Lingxiao Sect alongside elder sister?"
She lifted her gaze, a trace of coldness flashing in the depths of her eyes, only for it to instantly morph into docile obedience.
Gu Qinghan's gaze swept over her, his brow furrowing imperceptibly.
Something was wrong.
The aura emanating from this girl... made him instinctively uncomfortable.
"Clan Head Chu." His tone was cold, directly cutting off Chu's father's endless chatter. "This time, the sect has explicitly named Chu Qingli alone. No one else will be accepted under any circumstances."
The father's expression stiffened, and he was about to say more when Gu Qinghan had already turned to Chu Qingli: "Miss Chu, are you willing to follow me into the Lingxiao Sect?"
Chu Qingli slowly clenched her hands into fists.
She looked at her father—in his eyes, there was only calculation.
She looked at Chu Qingyao—beneath that innocent and naive face lay what kind of malice, she knew better than anyone.
This household had never offered her a shred of warmth.
"I am willing," she heard herself say.
Gu Qinghan nodded, flicked his sleeve, and a long sword materialized out of thin air. He reached out with a guiding gesture, and Chu Qingli felt her body grow light, finding herself standing upon the blade in the blink of an eye.
"Immortal Elder! Wait—" Chu's father tried to stop them, but the sword light had already soared into the sky, vanishing into the clouds in an instant.
Three days later, while traveling on the flying sword, Chu Qingli finally couldn't help asking: "Why... me?"
Gu Qinghan looked straight ahead, his voice still indifferent: "The sect has its own considerations."
Naturally, he couldn't tell her it was because the little ancestor of the Lingxiao Sect had broken into his quarters in the middle of the night, tugging at his sleeve and pestering him relentlessly until he agreed to rescue a "poor elder sister who would otherwise be miserably harmed by a wicked concubine-born sister."
At the thought, the corners of his mouth twitched.
That little girl named Yan Luoluo was clearly only eight years old, yet she spoke with the air of an elder, and her pair of eyes shone as if they could see right through a person's heart. Most absurdly of all, she actually knew down to the last detail that Chu Qingli possessed "metal and fire dual spiritual roots"...
Just what background did this little girl have?
As he was pondering, the mountain gates of the Lingxiao Sect came into view ahead. Gu Qinghan reined in his thoughts and said in a low voice: "We have arrived."
Chu Qingli looked down, seeing sea of clouds churning as floating immortal mountains hung suspended in the air, pavilions and towers looming faintly, and spiritual springs and flying waterfalls cascading down like silver ribbons.
She took a deep breath, her heart hammering wildly.
Here would be her rebirth.
Meanwhile, in the backyard of the Chu family estate.
"Clatter!"
Chu Qingyao smashed the teacup by her hand, her youthful face contorted with malevolence.
"Chu Qingli..." she gnashed her teeth, pulling a pitch-black wooden doll from her sleeve, inscribed clearly with Chu Qingli's birth characters.
"Do you think you'll be safe just by escaping to the Lingxiao Sect?"
Her fingertips grazed the wooden doll's throat, revealing a ferocious smile.
The game had only just begun.
"Master, hurry up! We're going to miss it!"
Yan Luoluo stomped her foot anxiously, her small hand tugging at Ye Wuchen's sleeve to drag him forward. Her rosy, chubby cheeks puffed out like a little squirrel hoarding pine nuts, and the silver bells tied in her hair chimed merrily with her movements.
Ye Wuchen lowered his gaze to look at this little disciple who barely reached his waist, a flicker of helplessness crossing the depths of his eyes. With a hook of his slender fingers, he scooped up the bouncing little dumpling and scooped her right into his arms.
"What's the rush?" He flicked Yan Luoluo's smooth forehead with a finger. "The Spirit Testing Hall isn't going to run away."
Before his voice faded, the two had already teleported outside the Spirit Testing Hall. Through the carved lattice windows, they caught sight of the Spirit Testing Stone erupting with a dazzling gold and crimson radiance, dyeing Chu Qingli's pure white dress the color of evening glow.
"Metal and fire dual spiritual roots! And of supreme purity!"
"An aptitude like this is a once-in-a-century miracle!"
"Cultivating the merciless path will surely lead to great accomplishment!"
Amidst the elders' gasps of awe, Sect Master Xuanxiaozi had already stroked his beard and stood up: "Little girl, would you be willing to enter my..."
"No!"
A crisp, childish voice abruptly cut off the Sect Master. Yan Luoluo poked half her body out from Ye Wuchen's arms, her small hand pointing toward Gu Qinghan standing in the corner: "Sister Chu wants to learn the sword from Senior Brother!"
The entire Spirit Testing Hall fell instantly silent.
Xuanxiaozi's beard twitched: "Little Junior Sister, this..."
"Metal and fire govern slaughter and warfare, making them best suited for sword cultivation," Ye Wuchen said indifferently, a single sentence silencing all objections. He looked down at the little disciple in his arms who was nodding frantically, and added, "Qinghan's Departing Fire Sword Intent is precisely in need of such a successor."
Gu Qinghan was named out of nowhere, a trace of astonishment flashing across his cold features. When he saw the look of eager anticipation in Chu Qingli's eyes, the tips of his ears actually turned slightly red, and he cupped his fists: "This disciple... will certainly teach her with all my heart."
(The Heavenly Dao up in the clouds nodded with satisfaction: Excellent, another CP acquired?)
Meanwhile, a thousand miles away at the Chu estate—
"Boom!"
A bolt of purple lightning shattered the window lattice, striking with pinpoint accuracy the cursed wooden doll in Chu Qingyao's hand. The ten-year-old girl sat stunned on the ground, staring at the charred remnants in her palm before suddenly letting out a shrill scream.
"My puppet! Who did this?!"
Outside the window, the sky was clear and blue, save for a suspicious cloud drifting quietly away.
(The Heavenly Dao maintaining profound mystery and claiming no credit: Bullying someone under my daughter's protection? Hah.)
Inside the Spirit Testing Hall, the dust had settled.
Chu Qingli solemnly performed the master-admission bow to Gu Qinghan, her eyes slightly red-rimmed when she rose. She looked at Yan Luoluo, who was clinging to Ye Wuchen's shoulder and winking at her, and suddenly understood everything.
"Luoluo..." she whispered, "thank you."
Yan Luoluo immediately wriggled like a twisty dough-pau: "Sister Chu is one of us now!" As she spoke, she suddenly remembered something, smacking her small forehead with her palm. "Oh right, oh right! The back mountain of Senior Brother's Sword Peak has a hot spring, which is amazing for cultivation..."
"Yan, Luo, luo." Ye Wuchen clapped a hand firmly over his little disciple's endlessly chattering mouth, nodded slightly to the assembled company, and said, "We take our leave."
In the blink of an eye, master and disciple had returned to Lingxiao Peak.
"Master~" Yan Luoluo pawed at Ye Wuchen's fingers, "I wasn't finished yet..."
Ye Wuchen set her down on a stone stool, suddenly crouching to bring himself eye-level with her: "How did you know Chu Qingli had metal and fire spiritual roots?"
Yan Luoluo's breathing hitched.
"And..." Ye Wuchen lightly tapped the center of her brow with his fingertip, "why were you so certain she ought to study the sword path?"
Mountain breezes swept past, carrying the crisp, clear sounds of distant disciples practicing their swordsmanship. Yan Luoluo looked at her master's handsome face close at hand, and suddenly reached out to poke his cheek:
"Master, your eyelashes are so long!"
Ye Wuchen: "......"
(Disciples peeking from not far away: The Junior Grand Uncle is teasing the Grand Ancestor again, times three!)
Meanwhile, up on Sword Peak, Chu Qingli was clutching the introductory jade slip Gu Qinghan had given her. The mountain wind fluttered her robes, revealing a faint scar on her wrist—one that Chu Qingyao had poked with a hairpin when she was eight years old.
"Master," she lightly stroked the sword hilt, "I want to learn the most powerful sword technique."
Gu Qinghan looked at this newly accepted disciple, wondering why he recalled what a certain little girl had said: "Sister Chu looks gentle, but her bones are actually fiercely unyielding..."
"Good." He nodded, summoning his natal spirit sword. "The first form of the Departing Fire Sword Technique, watch closely."
The setting sun drew the shadows of master and disciple long, very long.
【Side Story】
That night, Yan Luoluo lay prone on her bed, swinging her little feet as she wrote in her diary:
"Today successfully got Sister Chu to enter Sword Peak! Original plot minus one!
Though Master seems to be getting suspicious QAQ
Whatever, tomorrow I'll go to Medicine Peak to ask Third Senior Sister for some beauty pills~
——Wait, how was Chu Qingyao's cursed wooden doll dealt with again?"
Outside the window, a bolt of lightning flashed across the night sky.
(Heavenly Dao: Profound mystery and merit claimed.jpg)