In a daze, Nan Sining finally opened her eyes.
The first thing she saw was a smiling face—gentle, radiant, almost too warm.
“This thing in your hands is dangerous. Quickly, give it to me!”
That friendly expression looked as though he was sincerely thinking for her sake.
Nan Sining followed his gaze and looked at what she was holding—a fruit that looked half like a persimmon, half like a tangerine, glowing faintly orange. It felt soft and warm in her palm, cute and enticing.
“What is… this?” she murmured.
A fruit that glowed on its own? That would fetch a nice price, surely. Even the rotten fruit she’d picked up before had been bought for a high price by a university’s biology research institute—pure profit without cost.
Zhang Yun, seeing her dull and foolish look, felt a flash of impatience. If not for fear of her senior sister discovering, he would have already snatched it by force.
So he softened his tone and coaxed her: “This fruit is poisonous. If you eat it, your body will explode and you’ll die. Give it to me, and no one will get hurt.”
Nan Sining couldn’t help but laugh. This man could really talk nonsense. A fruit that made people explode? If such a thing existed, it would be worth a fortune in research! Institutes would pay handsomely for it.
Besides, he wasn’t even hiding his lying expression. Did he think she was blind?
By reverse logic, the fruit was definitely not dangerous—it was probably something extremely rare and precious.
No one could trick her into giving it away. Not even in a dream.
When Nan Sining tucked the fruit away, Zhang Yun’s face immediately turned dark. His eyes flashed viciously. “Since you refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit, don’t blame me for ignoring our sect bond!”
With that, his palm turned into claws, reaching straight toward her.
Nan Sining’s hairs stood on end. She wanted to run, but her feet felt rooted in place, immovable!
Anger and fear surged together in her chest. Fine then—if he wanted the fruit so badly, she’d rather ruin it than give it to him!
She crouched down quickly. Before his second strike landed, she pulled out the fruit and shoved it into her mouth without hesitation.
The moment she bit down, it melted like cotton candy, turning into a warm current flowing into her stomach.
Smacking her lips, she realized the fruit was sweet and fragrant, faintly citrusy. After eating it, her whole body felt as though she was soaking in hot springs, meridians stretched, pores opened, her body glowing with warmth. Blissfully comfortable.
Zhang Yun froze, stunned that she had swallowed it in one bite. When he came back to his senses, his eyes almost tore apart. “You idiot! How dare you eat it! How could you?!”
Nan Sining deliberately chuckled. “I’m a fool. So of course I ate the deadly fruit. What’s wrong with that?”
Something this good, and he tried to lie about it being poison just to rob her? She’d kill him if she could!
Zhang Yun’s fury only worsened. He had followed Junior Sister Luo into this secret realm, but he wasn’t the strongest nor the most outstanding. He’d lingered by her side half a month and barely exchanged three words with her.
He had planned to use this Blazing Heart Soul-Nourishing Fruit to win her favor. But now this idiot ate it!
To be outwitted by a fool—his last shred of reason burned away. Summoning his sword, he roared: “Bitch! If you want death so badly, I’ll grant it!”
His twisted, rage-filled face and killing intent like needles pierced Nan Sining’s heart. Terrified, she shouted, “Help! He’s killing me!”
The sword was already descending. She couldn’t run, couldn’t dodge. Just as she thought she was finished, there was a sharp clang.
A gleaming blade blocked the strike just three inches above her head. With a slight tremor, it sent Zhang Yun flying.
A figure in lake-blue appeared before her. In a blur, Nan Sining was lifted free of the mire that bound her feet and placed steadily on solid ground. She felt as though she had been given life again.
Wait… she almost died just now, and yet she hadn’t woken from the dream?
Before she could think further, the blue-robed woman grabbed her, anxiously examining her. “Xiao Jiu, are you all right? Are you hurt? Tell Senior Sister!”
Nan Sining hadn’t answered when Zhang Yun, clutching his chest, stood up and spat venom: “Hahaha… even if I didn’t kill her, she won’t live long. To swallow the Blazing Heart Soul-Nourishing Fruit raw—she’ll soon have her soul destroyed!”
“What?!” The blue-robed woman’s face drained of color.
Nan Sining didn’t quite follow, but she muttered anyway: Soul destroyed? Who was he trying to scare?
The others rushing over heard his words too and gasped in shock.
At their head, a beautiful woman ignored Zhang Yun’s bloody mouth and grabbed his collar. Her voice was shrill with urgency: “She swallowed the Blazing Heart Soul-Nourishing Fruit whole?!”
Seeing her, Zhang Yun instantly straightened and fawned, “Exactly so, Junior Sister Luo. I meant to pluck it and gift it to you, but that fool turned on me and swallowed it herself! Courting death! Such a heavenly treasure as the Blazing Heart Soul-Nourishing Fruit is fit only for you, Junior Sister Luo!”
At his words, Senior Sister in blue grew frantic, immediately channeling spiritual power into Nan Sining’s body to check her condition.
Nan Sining was curious—so this was the power of a cultivator? Interesting.
The others, watching her unruffled and even curious expression, could only assume she was too stupid to understand life and death. Their hearts grew complicated.
But after checking twice, Senior Sister still found nothing wrong, her brows furrowing even deeper.
Luo Qingyao, misinterpreting, sneered, “Senior Sister Qin, even a Nascent Soul master might manage to refine the fruit’s power. But our Junior Sister Nan, at just the second level of Qi Refining… hehe.”
Her laugh was venomous, cruel, clearly not from goodwill.
Nan Sining scratched her ear, feigning foolishness. “Why are you so mean? You’re actually hoping I die?”
Luo Qingyao choked, glancing nervously around. Luckily, everyone dismissed it as a fool’s nonsense.
She exhaled in relief, but then glared viciously at Nan Sining. Since she knew the plot, she’d definitely find a way to kill this idiot!
Nan Sining caught that guilty look clearly.
Just as silence fell, rustling noises echoed.
Luo Qingyao leaned close and whispered to Zhang Yun, “When that fool picked the fruit, did she encounter danger?”
Zhang Yun shook his head. “She was lucky—nothing happened. She just plucked it.”
But then realization hit him. Spiritual plants usually had spirit beasts guarding them. The rarer the plant, the stronger the guardian. A sixth-grade fruit like this meant at least a fifth-rank beast nearby…
Sure enough, a massive shadow loomed behind the trees. Luo Qingyao flung out talismans with crackling explosions, yelling, “Run!”
The group scattered, flying off on swords and artifacts.
It all happened so fast. Nan Sining hadn’t caught up when she saw a giant snake tongue flicker, and those cold eyes locked on her. Pain seared her mind—she fainted.
“Ningning, look—it must be this book, The Transmigrated Villainess Defies Heaven in Cultivation.”
Nan Sining quickly absorbed the information through her Recycling System and sighed.
She had just won the National Science Progress Award for her green technology of decomposing plastic waste, even been named one of the “Top Ten Youths.” After the banquet celebrating, she suddenly transmigrated here.
Originally, the girl she now inhabited was the heroine of another book. The “fool” Nan Sining would, in this secret realm, repair her damaged soul, gain her first great opportunity—the Sword Bone—and rise on the path of the sword. She’d fight, cultivate, seize fortuitous encounters, lift her sect, slap down villains, and eventually ascend as a Sword Immortal, remembered for millennia.
But The Transmigrated Villainess Defies Heaven in Cultivation rewrote the story. Luo Qingyao, having read that book, found her name in it and realized she was the supporting role. So when she transmigrated, she remembered every key plot point and stole all of the heroine’s opportunities.
In this secret realm, the Sword Bone originally meant for Nan Sining was stolen—just the first step.
Nan Sining’s chest tightened. She asked the Recycling System, “Fine, she can take the treasures and chances. But why must she doom Nan Sining’s entire sect too?”
According to the rewritten plot:
Nan Sining shook her head. Her seniors had mutated roots, heavenly roots, at worst double roots—if they cultivated properly, they could live tens of thousands of years even without ascending. Yet the author’s keyboard turned them all into stepping stones for Luo Qingyao.
The System replied, “Because Luo Qingyao is afraid. Even if Nan Sining lost her destiny, if her seniors grew powerful, they would never let her off.”
Nan Sining pursed her lips. “Also because she’s jealous. Jealous that even as a fool, Nan Sining had seniors who cherished and protected her. She wants to destroy that. What she can’t have, no one can.”
She had seen plenty of such people in real life.
The System agreed. “Makes sense.”
And Luo Qingyao did try. She seduced the romantic Fourth Senior Brother into her lapdog, turning him into an accomplice in harming Nan Sining. That betrayal shattered the heart of the Seventh Senior Sister, who loved him. Losing her Dao heart, consumed by inner demons, she fell into demonic cultivation—reviled and slain, disgraced forever.
One tragedy after another. The Fifth Sister, the slacker Sixth Brother, the naive Eighth Brother—all too weak to hold the sect together. They scattered. Though the book never detailed their fates, Nan Sining could guess—they weren’t good.
Their master, Sword Sovereign Cilie, spent years searching for his disciples. When he finally returned, the first thing he did was seek vengeance on Luo Qingyao. But by then, she had already gained an artifact through Nan Sining’s stolen fate. She ambushed him, and even a Soul Transformation Sovereign was obliterated, unable to reincarnate. That was how ruthless and scheming she was.
The System speculated, “You were brought here as the world’s way of repairing itself.”
Nan Sining grimaced. “But I don’t want to be a Sword Immortal.”
The System quickly adapted: “Then just save your sect. No need to exhaust yourself with both cultivation and leadership.”
Nan Sining nodded firmly. “Exactly!”
When she next woke, someone was gently wiping her face.
Seeing the stunningly beautiful woman before her, warmth surged in Nan Sining’s chest. She whispered, “Senior Sister…”
Qin Sangyue froze at the sight of those clear, luminous eyes. Her little junior’s eyes had always been big and round, lovely but dull, without life.
Now they glowed, alive and bright, as if touched by divine light—brimming with spirit.
“Xiao… Xiao Jiu? You… you’re better? You…” Qin Sangyue was utterly flustered. For over a decade, she had prayed for her junior to regain her wits. Now that it had come true, it felt unbelievable.
Nan Sining nodded slightly. “I’ve grown smarter. I’m not a fool anymore.”
Tears welled in Qin Sangyue’s amber eyes. “Good… so good… With your mind restored, everything else can be healed. Your body will recover with time. A few more Rejuvenation and Nourishing Pills will do.”
Nan Sining did ache all over, but she knew she wasn’t in mortal danger. Cultivator medicine truly was miraculous.
Seeing Qin Sangyue pale as paper, Nan Sining said, “Senior Sister, you should take some pills too.”
In the book, her death hadn’t been detailed. But since she still lived, there was hope to save her.
Qin Sangyue forced a weak smile. “Senior Sister has taken them. I just need time to recover.”
Nan Sining was about to relax when the System suddenly warned: “No, Ningning—her life force is draining. She hasn’t recovered at all. She’s lying to you!”