The royal capital of the Great Zhou, the Shen Residence.
Dark clouds pressed low across the sky as a fine drizzle fell silently. A cool wind gradually dispersed the metallic stench of blood lingering in the air.
A young man in blue robes stood atop the ornate eaves, looking down at the blood flowing through the courtyard and the corpses scattered in every direction. His pupils contracted sharply.
“I… transmigrated?”
After a long moment, Gu Chengxing lowered his gaze to the Azure Spirit Sword in his right hand, its blade drenched in fresh blood.
His scarlet eyes were filled with disbelief.
Fragments of residual memories in his mind quickly helped him understand the situation.
“I’ve transmigrated into the world of a novel. And I’ve become the biggest villain in this novel, Gu Chengxing!”
On Blue Star, Gu Chengxing had been an ordinary young man. Before transmigrating, he had read a novel in which the villain shared his exact name. Coupled with the fact that the novel was genuinely interesting, he had stayed up all night to finish it.
Although the novel ended on a perfect note, something in his heart had always felt unsettled. A faint sense of melancholy lingered, though he could not explain why. Carrying that strange emotion with him, he fell asleep and woke up inside the novel.
And the current situation…
It appeared to be ten years before the main plotline officially began, on the very day when Gu Chengxing destroyed the Shen family, the family of the protagonist Shen Ruochu.
At that time, Shen Ruochu had happened to be away from home, narrowly escaping the massacre. When she returned and saw the bodies of her entire family along with Gu Chengxing enveloped in demonic aura, he became the greatest driving force behind her will to survive.
“If nothing unexpected happens…”
“The protagonist Shen Ruochu is about to appear.”
The moment the thought formed in his mind, he felt something and looked down from his high vantage point toward the entrance of the Shen Residence.
Sure enough—
“Miss, slow down, slow down! Don’t fall!”
“Sister Ling’er, hurry up!”
A servant’s anxious reminder and a silver-bell-like laugh drifted in from afar, gradually entering the courtyard.
Soon, an exceedingly adorable little girl burst through the gate in high spirits.
The instant she saw the scene before her, she froze on the spot.
Her eyes filled with disbelief and terror.
Then came a heart-wrenching scream.
“Uncle! Cousin! Big Brother!!”
“Why are you bleeding?”
“Mother! Father!”
“What happened to you?!”
“Mother!!”
“Wake up! Please don’t scare Xiao Chu!”
“Wuwuwuwu…”
“Is it because I ran around outside that you don’t want Xiao Chu anymore? I won’t run around again. Please wake up, okay?”
“Mother!”
Gu Chengxing frowned as he watched.
This scene had been described in the novel. Whenever Shen Ruochu faced countless hardships ahead and felt like giving up, she would think back to this day and remember Gu Chengxing’s figure shrouded in overwhelming demonic aura.
Gu Chengxing let out a slow breath.
“Right now, Shen Ruochu hasn’t noticed me yet. Should I hide and slip away quietly?”
He hesitated for a brief moment. Just as he was about to decide, a clear, ethereal voice suddenly echoed in his mind.
[Ding! Host has slaughtered the entire Shen family and encountered the Chosen female lead Shen Ruochu. Villain selection triggered!]
[Choice 1: Leave secretly and pretend you were never here. Reward: Heavenly Demon Physique eruption, greatly increased strength, but with a slight probability of losing rationality.]
[Choice 2: Follow the plotline without making any changes and wait to control everything in the future. Reward: Title “Cowardly Turtle,” automatically activate Turtle Shrinking Divine Art, never emerge from the shell!]
[Choice 3: Take the initiative to appear before the Chosen female lead Shen Ruochu, tell her that you are the one who destroyed her family, and keep her by your side. Reward: Completely eliminate the hidden danger of the Heavenly Demon Physique. No more risk of eruption.]
“This is… a system? A choice-based system?”
Gu Chengxing reacted quickly.
As someone who often read novels, he was not overly surprised by the arrival of a selection system.
“Now this feels right.”
His heart steadied considerably. At the same time, he carefully considered the three options.
Choice one was intriguing.
Choice two was also worth considering. Knowing the plotline, he could completely control the pace and quietly alter many events. Perhaps he would not die as he had in the original novel.
But—
“I choose three.”
Gu Chengxing’s eyes flickered, and his well-shaped brows lifted slightly.
Throughout the novel, the Heavenly Demon Physique of the great villain Gu Chengxing had been repeatedly mentioned. The original text hinted multiple times that ever since his Heavenly Demon Physique was exposed and he slaughtered the Azure Cloud Sect, he was no longer himself but merely a puppet of that physique.
From its name alone, the Heavenly Demon Physique was inseparably tied to the demonic path. It was born to be a colossal force of the demonic path, a source of calamity. If not for his master, Chen Wuxin, who had carefully guided him since childhood, he might have already fallen into complete demonic corruption.
Even if he had transmigrated, this innate constitution would not disappear. One day, the Heavenly Demon Physique would erupt again, and he would likely meet the same fate as the original Gu Chengxing.
Now that he had a chance to completely eliminate its hidden danger, of course he had to seize it. Even if keeping the Chosen female lead by his side would bring endless trouble, alter the entire plotline, and disrupt most of the information he knew, it did not matter.
The thought passed in an instant.
Gu Chengxing returned to his senses and focused on Shen Ruochu, the Chosen female lead of this novel world.
Earlier, his mind had been in turmoil, and he had not observed her carefully. Now, as he looked, he could not help but sigh inwardly.
As expected of the immensely popular character who stood out even in a male-oriented web novel, the future Empress Shen Ruochu.
Even in childhood, though she carried a trace of mischievousness, her appearance and the unique spiritual vitality surrounding her made her utterly distinctive.
Sharp yet gentle.
Mischievous yet unyielding.
Her sobs gradually quieted as the sky grew heavier and more oppressive.
Heart-wrenching cries turned into silent tears. Lightning split the sky, and torrential rain poured down.
Outside the courtyard, Ling’er slowly regained her senses. Trembling, she struggled to her feet and, braving the heavy rain, entered the courtyard to lift the sobbing Shen Ruochu from the ground.
Ling’er had been an orphan in the capital and was taken into the Shen family at the age of four. At eleven, she was assigned as Shen Ruochu’s personal maid and had cared for her for seven years.
She had no family. Everything she had was in the Shen family.
Simply put, the only family she had left now was the young miss.
“I can’t be afraid… I can’t be afraid. Miss is still here. Miss is still here…”
“Madam treated me with boundless kindness. Miss is my last family in this world. I can’t retreat. I must take Miss and live…”
Ling’er repeated to herself in her heart, trying to dispel the fear. Tears streamed down her face.
“Miss, Miss, let’s go. We’re leaving. We—”
Ignoring everything else, Ling’er only wanted to take her young miss away.
At that moment, she lifted her head. A figure entered her line of sight, and her words stopped abruptly.
“Go…”
Under the dark clouds and upon the eaves, the handsome youth in blue stood tall. Once radiant and full of proud spirit, he now had crimson eyes, demonic aura surging around him, silently watching everything within the courtyard.