It was the day of Jingzhe, and the scorching sun was blazing fiercely. On Mount Qize, flamboyant phoenix trees burned bright red, scorching half the mountain.
Li Jingsheng stood frozen in place, dressed in a vibrant red robe, with a celadon vine-and-flower jade pendant hanging from his waist. His hair was secured with a jade hairpin, and he gripped a rattan whip tightly. Fresh blood from the whip dripped down drop by drop, forming vibrant crimson blossoms on the ground beside his cloth boots.
He looked down. Kneeling at his feet was a delicate young man dressed in pink, his hair half-secured with a peachwood hairpin, weeping with pear blossoms drenched in rain.
“Senior Brother, Zigui knows he was wrong! I beg you, please don’t hit him anymore! If you still have pent-up anger, you can hit me instead. Mengfeng is willing to accept the punishment!”
As he spoke, the young man repeatedly kowtowed against the ground.
Li Jingshen was completely baffled. He thought to himself: Wait, gorgeous, who on earth are you? Dressed like this—are we shooting a historical costume drama?
Before Li Jingshen could even react, the delicate young man continued to cry and plead, “Senior Brother, just spare Zigui this once. Please don’t hit him anymore. If you keep hitting him, Zigui really won’t survive!”
He wanted to help the delicate young man up, tell him to stop crying, and casually drop some mental chicken soup like, “A man has gold under his knees, kneeling only to heaven, earth, and parents.” But before he could even brew that philosophical soup, he looked down again and saw another person kneeling before him: a youth dressed in profound black.
To be precise, the youth was kneeling with his back turned toward him.
The youth’s dark hair was tied high, his upper body bare, and his back covered in whip marks and raw, bloody flesh. Some of the wounds were so deep his bones were visible, and fresh blood poured out, soaking into the dark fabric and deepening its intricate patterns.
The youth looked to be around fourteen or fifteen years old, with a face as flawless as jade, sword-like brows, and starry eyes. Yet, at this moment, his face was deathly pale, and the stray locks of hair on his forehead were completely soaked with sweat. Even though he had suffered such severe injuries, he hadn’t let out a single cry, showing a resilience far beyond ordinary people.
Even though it was the season of Jingzhe, the sun high above Mount Qize was scorching, roasting the earth ruthlessly. Li Jingshen was sweating profusely just standing there, let alone the youth, whose back was torn open and undoubtedly burning with excruciating pain.
After just one glance, Li Jingshen couldn’t bear to look any further. He silently cursed in his heart: Who on earth did this? How could anyone be so ruthless? They’re practically beating the bones out of the kid—this is inhuman!
Perhaps sensing that Li Jingshen had remained motionless for a long time, the delicate young man looked up at him. His eyes were like shimmering spring ripples, and his slightly red eye rims instantly stirred deep protective instincts.
Wait. The scene before him made Li Jingshen feel an inexplicable sense of familiarity. He glanced around: the fiery red phoenix trees, the heavily abused youth in black, the weeping youth in pink. Then, he looked down at his own attire.
Oh, wow. I’m wearing red, too.
The location was correct, the clothing color was correct, so the characters must be correct as well, right?
Li Jingshen took a deep breath inwardly, immediately reached down to help the kneeling young man to his feet, and asked with a trembling voice, “What is your name? What did you just call him? And what am I called?”
The delicate young man was stunned by these questions and stammered in reply, “I… my name is Chu Wen, he is called Mo Yu, and you… Senior Brother is called Li…” He paused, as if gathering a great deal of determination before speaking, his voice trembling: “Li Jingsheng.”
Li Jingshen froze in place. The heart hanging in his chest finally died.
Beneath the blazing midday sun, he felt as though he had plunged into an icy cellar.
He looked up, wanting to cry without tears.
Ah, the waters of West Lake are my tears.
We’re done for, it’s all over!
I’ve actually transmigrated into a book!
And I’ve transmigrated into the ultimate villain who gets hacked into a thousand pieces by the protagonist in the end!
In a daze, he let go of the delicate young man and glanced back down at the youth in black kneeling on the ground. Catching sight of the wounds on the youth’s back, a chilling sense of realization suddenly bloomed in Li Jingshen’s heart.
The injuries on the kid’s back were eighty percent thanks to him.
Just as he was thinking this, Li Jingshen suddenly felt something gripped tightly in his right hand.
He looked down, and sure enough, it was a blood-stained whip.
He really wanted to cry now—it really was him!
He immediately tossed the whip aside like a hot potato, then unhesitatingly took off his own outer robe to drape over the youth. With a beaming smile, he hurried forward to help him up.
At this moment, the adaptable, two-faced demeanor of a corporate worker was on full display: “Junior Brother, it’s all a misunderstanding, a total misunderstanding! No matter what happened just now, it was Senior Brother’s fault. How about we just let bygones be bygones, alright?”
Seeing that the youth still looked pale, his lips tightly pressed, gazing at him like a venomous snake, Li Jingshen felt a chill run down his spine. He pressed on, continuing to show weakness: “Or how about I let you hit me back?”
Chu Wen was equally shocked by this sudden turn of events. What on earth is Senior Brother up to now?
Mo Yu stared at the harmless, innocent display before him, unable to figure out what scheme the other was trying to pull.
Enduring the pain, he pulled off the red robe that had just been draped over him and spoke in a weak, hoarse voice, “It was all Zigui’s fault; it has nothing to do with Senior Brother.” Taking a deep breath, he continued, “Senior Brother, there are still three whips left.”
Seeing how stubbornly rigid the youth was, Li Jingshen felt half his heart shatter.
My good man, even if you want me to whip you now, I wouldn’t dare!
Hoping to salvage his future ending, Li Jingshen pressed on, “Those three lashes are unnecessary. Let’s call it a day here; Junior Brother, head back early and get some rest.”
Mo Yu ignored him completely, simply repeating, “Senior Brother, there are still three whips left.”
Li Jingshen’s head felt like it was about to explode.
Are you a masochist? Why are you even arguing about this?
He took a deep breath, calmed his racing mind, and tried to speak as amiably as possible: “Junior Brother, really, there’s no need.”
Chu Wen had also regained his bearings by now. Seeing that Li Jingshen genuinely seemed unwilling to give them a hard time, he hurried over to support Mo Yu, whispering, “Zigui, let’s go. Senior Brother really seems willing to let it go.”
Hearing this, Mo Yu remained silent. He forced his body to stand up, though perhaps due to his severe injuries, his frame swayed unsteadily the moment he rose. Blood from his back dripped along with his steps, leaving a trail of blooming red blossoms behind him.
He walked slowly toward the rattan whip, picked up the still-damp weapon, and clutched it in his hand.
Seeing him pick up the whip, Li Jingshen instinctively took a step back. No way? You’re actually going to hit me? I’m not ready yet!
Instead, the next second, Mo Yu raised the whip and lashed it fiercely against his own back.
The force was staggering, the sound echoing loudly, and the whip marks cutting so deep they were jaw-dropping.
Hand raised, whip falling—lash after lash, drawing sharp gasps of air from Li Jingshen.
He felt as though the whip were landing on his own flesh.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Great, now I’ll definitely have to suffer three extra cuts of execution later.
Still, since you hit yourself, you can’t blame me!
Once the three lashes were finished, Mo Yu held the rattan whip out with both hands, offering it to Li Jingshen. Though his voice hung by a thread, the underlying ruthlessness remained piercing: “Senior Brother, sixty lashes… not a single one short.”
Li Jingshen tried his best to steady his hands, keeping them from shaking too violently. He cautiously took the rattan whip, meeting Mo Yu’s gaze.
Li Jingshen had no doubt that if looks could kill, he would have been ground into dust by now.
Why are you glaring at me like that? I didn’t even do anything! I told you to forget it, and you’re the one who insisted on hitting yourself!
Averting his gaze, he struggled to keep his voice steady: “Alright, you two head back now. I’m tired and need to rest.”
Hearing this, Chu Wen hurried forward to support Mo Yu. Tears still lingered in the corners of the young man’s eyes, painting a picture of pure, delicate pity. And Mo Yu, who had just been glaring with fierce hostility, now revealed a fleeting touch of tenderness.
Watching the two figures support each other as they gradually faded into the distance, Li Jingshen couldn’t help but sigh: As expected of the protagonist pairing—they really do look perfect standing together.
Once they were gone, Li Jingshen hurriedly tossed the whip aside; he truly wanted nothing more to do with the item.
Dragging his exhausted body, he turned and went back inside the dwelling behind him.
As expected of a villain, his capacity for harboring luxuries was extraordinary. The interior was lavishly decorated; while it looked like an ordinary house from the outside, a whole different world lay hidden within.
There were tables and chairs made of sandalwood, and tea sets crafted from white jade. Li Jingshen picked up a cup and sniffed—the tea leaves were actually top-grade Biluochun. In the corners were stacked ornate chests, but Li Jingshen had no mood to admire these bizarre novelties right now.
He had only one pressing question.
How on earth am I supposed to survive?
He had been sleeping soundly at home, so how did he end up transmigrated into a book?
Transmigrating was one thing—if he had landed as a billionaire with hundreds of millions in assets, fine. Even if he were just an ordinary commoner, that would be acceptable.
Instead, he went straight to villain status with a literal hell-difficulty starting line. Wasn’t this driving him toward certain death?
He had initially thought about cozying up to the protagonist as a powerful ally, but given the sheer disgust the kid had just shown him, there was an eighty percent chance that bridge was burned.
Though, come to think of it, if someone beat and scolded you every single day, only to pretend to care when they needed something, he wouldn’t care either.
Li Jingshen found some paper and a brush to sort out his thoughts.
If he wasn’t mistaken, he had transmigrated into a web novel titled “Ascension.”
He had come across this book because one of his students was reading it in class, and because the major villain shared his exact name, he had looked it up out of curiosity.
Back when he was reading it, all the heinous deeds committed by that villain had made him want to change his own name. Sharing a name with such a major villain was pure humiliation!
Of course, he was rational enough not to actually change his name just because of a fictional villain in a book.
Even so, that alone showed how deeply despised the villain was.
With mixed feelings, he wrote the word “Ascension” down on the paper.
The book told the story of the protagonist, Mo Yu, who rose from being a trash-tier spiritual root mocked by everyone, awakened a heavenly spiritual root, defied all odds to become the Alliance Leader of the Cultivation World, and ultimately won the heart of his beauty.
The novel detailed just how miserably Mo Yu had been bullied before his heavenly spiritual root awakened. When Li Jingshen first read it, he had wanted to charge right into the story and beat up that pack of good-for-nothing bullies.
Naturally, the worst bully of all was none other than the protagonist’s senior brother—who happened to share his name: Li Nanxing, also known as Li Jingshen.
That’s right, the very person he had transmigrated into.
As everyone knew, villains who bullied the protagonist never met a good end, and this book was no exception. After Mo Yu rose to power, he systematically settled scores with everyone who had ever mistreated him. What went around came around, and needless to say, the one who suffered the most miserable ending was none other than his senior brother, Li Nanxing / Li Jingshen.
Again, precisely the person he was inhabiting right now.
In the original work, this character’s ending could only be described as deeply satisfying to the readers: the man eventually fell into demonic cultivation, colluded with the demon race, and was hacked into a thousand pieces by the Alliance Leader of the Cultivation World—none other than Mo Yu—before his bones were ground to ash.
However, applying that exact ending to himself was not pleasant at all. Wuu wuu wuu.
The original work featured another major protagonist: the delicate, tearful, pitiful young man Chu Wen from earlier.
As Mo Yu’s junior brother, Chu Wen had stayed steadfastly by Mo Yu’s side through thick and thin. Even when everyone else regarded Mo Yu’s unawakened spiritual root as useless trash, Chu Wen never abandoned him, often stepping forward to protect him and apply medicine to his wounds.
In the original text, the two of them were a match made in heaven—the kind of couple that even lightning couldn’t tear apart.
Looking at the scribbled flowchart in his hands, Li Jingshen plunged into despair once more.
So, what am I supposed to do now?
He had already beaten the protagonist to a pulp; expecting the protagonist not to hate him would be pure fantasy.
Alternative approach: Strike first and eliminate the protagonist. Li Jingshen mentally drew a big X through that thought. As everyone knew, protagonists had heavy plot armor. If a mere villain tried to kill the protagonist, even using a toe to think would tell you who would die first.
Li Jingshen wasn’t stupid enough to try that.
After racking his brain for ages without coming up with a single viable idea, he felt as though he could already see the gates of the Yellow Springs.
Suddenly, a voice filled with suspicion broke through his thoughts:
“What are you doing?”