“There are still three months until the annual assessment. Whether you can enter the inner sect depends on this one shot. Miss it, and you’ll have to wait another year…”
“In our Yunyu Sect, beauty is your ticket through the door…”
“Those of you who are good-looking, don’t get too pleased with yourselves. Do you really think you’re that beautiful? Let me tell you this: if all you have is beauty, but you don’t understand romance and have no aptitude for comprehension, then even if you’re as beautiful as Su Xiaoyuan…”
Su Xiaoyuan was sprawled over her desk, half-asleep. In her daze, she thought she was still sitting in a university lecture hall. But the moment she heard her own name, she hurriedly wiped the drool from the corner of her mouth.
“Present!”
A chorus of tinkling laughter rang out around her.
Su Xiaoyuan rubbed her eyes and finally saw the person standing at the front of the classroom: a fair-skinned beauty dressed in a rather revealing ancient-style outfit, looking like a picture-perfect Chinese-style beauty.
Then it hit her like a bolt of lightning.
This wasn’t some Chinese-style beauty.
It was Elder Qin, her teacher for the class **“Basic Five-Element Theory of Yin Gathering and Yang Nourishment.”**
Su Xiaoyuan suddenly remembered that she had transmigrated a year ago after a car accident.
She had entered a novel called *The Substitute Is Actually Me*, a melodramatic double-substitute romance, and become an unnamed minor character who barely ranked in the supporting cast.
She appeared in the book only once, described as **“a female cultivator of the Hehuan Sect who overestimated herself and brought humiliation upon herself.”**
Her sole role was to infiltrate the female protagonist’s sect and attempt to seduce the Sword Venerable she admired. She had the audacity to drug him with a Gu, only to be cleaved in two by the sword of that mighty cultivator who followed the path of ruthless cultivation.
Like many transmigrated heroines, Su Xiaoyuan had also received a mission system in her head. Complete the mission, and she could return to her own world and continue living.
And there was only one mission—
To win over the Sword Venerable who had cut her in half.
Su Xiaoyuan: *Do you think I didn’t get into Qingbei because I didn’t want to?*
To be fair, getting into Immortal Venerable Lingyue’s good graces was far more difficult than getting into Qingbei.
Who exactly was Immortal Venerable Lingyue?
He was a cultivation genius who appeared only once in a thousand years, a celestial prodigy born under the Northern Dipper Star. He entered the Dao at the tender age of three and a half. The old sect master of the greatest sect under heaven had personally gone to his door, coaxing and pleading with him to become his final disciple.
Before he was even ten, he had already reached the Nascent Soul stage.
Before twenty, he became the only Tribulation Transcendence cultivator in the entire realm.
Many predicted that he would ascend and become a god within a hundred years.
Only Su Xiaoyuan knew that this peerless genius would fall at the tender age of twenty-one, becoming an insurmountable white-moonlight figure in the heroine’s heart and adding even more flavor to the tragic love-hate saga between the heroine and the Demon Lord.
Immortal Venerable Lingyue lived year-round at the summit of Snowpeak in the Taiyan Sect. He kept himself apart from the world and rarely left his doors, to the point that hardly anyone within his own sect had ever seen his true face.
Even so, he was the ultimate target of countless cultivators from the Hehuan Sect.
Of course, as the white-moonlight love who had merely caught the heroine’s eye once and remained unforgettable forever—and who continued to make his presence felt throughout the male and female leads’ romance even after his death—his beauty went without saying.
When Su Xiaoyuan received the mission, she nearly gave up on the spot.
But then she remembered the sight of her parents nearly crying themselves unconscious in the emergency room.
So she decided to give it a try.
The system itself knew how difficult the mission was. Gritting its teeth, it activated a beauty enhancement for her.
Unfortunately, it drained all its power in the process and went into hibernation.
It had remained asleep until now.
Su Xiaoyuan was now blessed with skin like jade and cream, a delicate and supple figure, limpid eyes like autumn waters, a slender waist, and long legs. Even in the Hehuan Sect, where pale-skinned beauties were everywhere, she stood out as exceptionally beautiful.
Whether she could actually win over the Immortal Venerable was another question.
But the first time she looked in a mirror, she had nearly seduced herself.
*What if there really is a chance? I’m already here, after all.*
“Since you’re awake, let’s have you solve a problem,” Elder Qin said.
Su Xiaoyuan’s scalp prickled.
“Suppose a Hehuan Sect female cultivator is born with a cauldron constitution, a pure-yin destiny, and a single water spiritual root, and has reached the Golden Core stage. She encounters a Golden Core-stage male cultivator with dual metal-and-fire spiritual roots whose true form is a turtle. During the Bingchen year, in the Si month, on the day of Beginning of Summer, within the celestial field of Jiao and Kang, she first uses the fifth position of *Dongxuanzi*, ‘Silkworm Entwining,’ and cultivates together with him for approximately half a quarter of an hour. She then uses the seventh method of the *Suwen Scripture*, ‘Rabbit Sucking the Hair,’ and continues for another half a quarter of an hour. In the end, who gathers from whom—the woman from the man, or the man from the woman? And what is the maximum amount of yang crystals or yin crystals that can be gathered?”
Solving this problem required astronomy, geography, yin-yang theory, the Five Elements—
and even mathematics!
Who could have imagined that a liberal arts student who never had to study mathematics at university would come to the Hehuan Sect and find herself doing math problems?!
Su Xiaoyuan began to feel dizzy before Elder Qin had even finished reading the question. Her mind became a complete blur, and her eyes gradually cleared.
All she knew was that this Black Tortoise male cultivator didn’t have much stamina. By the standards of the cultivation world, he was practically at the level of someone who needed to see a doctor specializing in men’s health.
Under Elder Qin’s merciless interrogation, Su Xiaoyuan could only widen her bright, watery almond eyes.
Elder Qin shook her head in exasperation.
“With a student like you, you’d walk out the door in a daze without even knowing whether you were gathering from someone else or being gathered from! If I let you out into the world, you’d become a ravaged corpse within three days!”
It wasn’t an exaggeration.
The world was a dangerous place. Even the Hehuan Sect, which had built its very foundation around harvesting other people’s cultivation, could have its own resources harvested by unscrupulous people. It had practically developed into an entire industry chain.
Some obscure little sects didn’t care whether their disciples lived or died. After a few days of beginner training, they would send their disciples out to bring in results.
Having a little cultivation drained away would be considered lucky. If they happened to encounter an immoral rogue cultivator—or even one of their own kind—they might be completely drained of their essence and die.
That was why respectable major sects like theirs didn’t casually send disciples out into the world. It was a matter of protecting their disciples, as well as preserving the sect’s reputation.
Only after passing the annual assessment and becoming an inner disciple could one receive a token allowing them to leave the sect and take on missions.
Su Xiaoyuan had transmigrated only a month before the previous year’s annual assessment and had, without suspense, come dead last.
Now there were only six months left until the next major plot point.
The annual assessment three months from now was her final chance.
She had to enter the inner sect.
Otherwise, she wouldn’t even be able to leave the starting village, let alone seduce Immortal Venerable Lingyue.
Su Xiaoyuan sighed, picked up the spirit brush that had fallen onto the floor, wiped the drool from the paper with a handkerchief, and continued drawing her mind map.
Meanwhile, Elder Qin called on several more students.
Some stammered and couldn’t answer.
Others answered questions that had absolutely nothing to do with what had been asked.
The most outrageous answer came from her best friend, Ruan Mianmian.
“I know this one! The female cultivator gets angry and stews that turtle-man! She doesn’t get any essence, but at least she nourishes her kidneys.”
Elder Qin was so furious that she nearly flung her folding fan across the room.
“Don’t you dare tell anyone outside that you’ve taken my class! You truly are the worst batch I’ve ever taught!”
After a pause, she added, “One last time. I’m going to explain it again. Listen carefully!”
Su Xiaoyuan forced herself to perk up and take notes.
But before long, her upper and lower eyelids began fighting each other again.
An eight-a.m. class at university had already been ridiculous enough.
Here, it was even more outrageous.
Six a.m.
And before class, they still had to practice their cultivation and participate in motivational pledges.
Every day, they had to get out of bed before five.
*If I don’t fall asleep, I’ll just close my eyes and rest them.*
With that thought, she peacefully closed her eyes.
She ended up resting for the entire class.
Before the lovebirds perched on the rafters could even sing the first note of the end-of-class song, *Romance and Moonlight*, Su Xiaoyuan suddenly remembered something important in her sleep.
As if divinely inspired, she jolted awake.
**Today was Friday.**
The cafeteria was serving stir-fried Lili meat!
Lili was a marvelous beast unique to the cultivation world. It looked like a little pig, but its meat was a hundred times more fragrant than pork.
The Yunyu Sect was built on an island in the middle of a vast stretch of wetlands. There was plenty of aquatic produce, but mountain delicacies were comparatively rare.
And something as good as Lili meat?
If you arrived late, there was no chance of getting any.
The moment the lovebirds opened their beaks, before they could sing even the first note, Su Xiaoyuan shot out like an arrow released from a bow.
Her current body was delicate and soft, and normally, walking a few steps would leave her lightly panting.
But when it came to fighting for food, she could somehow perform beyond her limits.
Running neck and neck with her was Ruan Mianmian.
They hadn’t made it more than a few steps before Elder Qin called after them.
“Su Xiaoyuan, get back here! And you too! Ruan Mianmian!”
The two exchanged a glance.
Their faces fell simultaneously.
They had been kept behind.
The stir-fried Lili meat was as good as lost.
“Do you know why I kept you two behind?” Elder Qin demanded, thumping her folding fan against the desk.
Ruan Mianmian answered boldly, “How should I know?”
Su Xiaoyuan had at least some idea, and she hurriedly tugged at her best friend’s sleeve.
Ruan Mianmian clicked her tongue.
“Why are you pulling me? …Elder Qin, hurry up and tell us. We’re in a rush to fight for the stir-fried meat.”
Elder Qin snatched up her folding fan and smacked it against Ruan Mianmian’s forehead.
“Food, food, food! That’s all you ever think about! No wonder you fail every single subject!”
Ruan Mianmian stood firm and immovable, like a mountain.
Despite her petite, delicate figure and sweet-girl face, she was a Golden Core-stage body cultivator and a genuine member of a cultivation aristocratic family.
She came from the Xie clan of Xuanwu.
Her real name was Xie Kaishan.
Ruan Mianmian was simply the stage name she had given herself.
Her childhood sweetheart and fiancé had been stolen away by a male cultivator from a Fengyue Sect, which was why she had run away from home, concealed her identity, and infiltrated the Yunyu Sect.
Her plan was to **learn from the enemy in order to defeat the enemy**.
Once she mastered their techniques, she would steal the scumbag back, then ruthlessly abandon him in return and grind his heart beneath her feet until it became minced meat.
Su Xiaoyuan didn’t understand it, but she respected it.
After fanning herself a few times, Elder Qin was already lightly panting. She reluctantly gave up.
“Judging by appearance alone, the two of you are among the cream of the crop of this batch of outer disciples. The elders originally had high hopes for you. But look at what you’ve managed to learn!”
Su Xiaoyuan lowered her head in shame.
She came from a family of teachers. Though she had never been a top student, she had always been hardworking and diligent.
She had studied for more than a decade and had never once scored below the class average.
Who could have known that she would now spend every year battling her best friend for the glorious title of **Dead Last**?
Elder Qin continued, “To enter the inner sect, you need at least three subjects graded A in the annual assessment, while all your other subjects must be at least C. The other classes can be overlooked to some extent. If the elders loosen their standards a little, you can scrape through. But those practical classes are different. They’re formation examinations.”
The formation examinations were essentially the cultivation world’s equivalent of the practical driving tests—Subjects Two and Three.
If you couldn’t pass, you couldn’t pass.
Even the sect master couldn’t fudge the results.
Ruan Mianmian looked confused.
“I thought I was pretty good at practical classes.”
Elder Qin ground her teeth.
“All you know is one move—‘Tyrant Forcing His Way Onto the Bow.’ Who in their right mind would let you mount them?”
Spiritual energy was like water. Generally speaking, it flowed from high places to low places.
Elder Qin wasn’t wrong.
Ruan Mianmian could only “mount” those she could beat.
That wasn’t gathering cultivation.
That was **targeted poverty alleviation.**
“In short, you absolutely must pass the practical classes,” Elder Qin said. “You have to get at least a C. While there’s still time, practice more.”
Su Xiaoyuan’s face crumpled.
“But how are we supposed to practice…”
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to.
She simply had no talent for it.
And besides, she was a peony—a virgin—and she just couldn’t get past that psychological hurdle.
“I’ve already obtained special approval from the sect master. Bring your own puppets here, and I’ll install the examination formations for you. Practice for three months. Even a block of wood should have figured it out by then!”
Ruan Mianmian blinked.
“But we don’t have puppet people.”
Elder Qin rolled her eyes.
“Then go buy some!”
Half an hour later, the two of them were standing inside a specialty puppet shop run by disciples of the Yanshi Sect.
They stared at row after row of life-sized puppets on the shelves.
The shopkeeper came over rubbing his hands together, his face plastered with a smile.
“Two little immortals, what do you need the puppets for? We have all kinds here.”
Su Xiaoyuan’s face flushed bright red. Her voice was softer than a mosquito’s buzz.
“Do you have something like…”
The shopkeeper immediately understood.
“You two are from the Yunyu Sect, aren’t you? Our practice puppets are over here. Every puppet in our shop is a handcrafted premium piece custom-made by inner disciples of the Yanshi Sect. They’re nothing like those mass-produced models outside.”
As he spoke, he led them to a shelf.
The puppets inside were all handsome men and beautiful women with perfectly modeled faces.
They were just a little uncanny.
Su Xiaoyuan quietly flipped over the jade price tag hanging around one puppet’s neck and glanced at it.
She immediately sucked in a sharp breath, almost unable to believe her eyes.
*Why don’t they just rob people?!*
Ruan Mianmian looked around and immediately turned up her nose.
“They aren’t even as good-looking as the servants in my family. How much?”
The shopkeeper solemnly announced, “A mere twelve hundred high-grade spirit stones.”
Ruan Mianmian: “Twenty.”
“Hahaha, little immortal, surely you’re joking.”
The shopkeeper was very accommodating and laughed so hard he nearly doubled over.
“She isn’t joking. We only have twenty each,” Su Xiaoyuan said politely. “Excuse me, do you have any puppets here that can be bought for twenty spirit stones?”
The shopkeeper asked them several times to confirm.
Eventually, he accepted that these two respectable-looking female cultivators really were dirt poor.
His smile instantly collapsed.
“For twenty spirit stones, you can only buy from our old-stock inventory. But you don’t get to choose. Whatever you draw is what you get.”
Su Xiaoyuan thought:
*So it’s basically a blind box.*
The shopkeeper added, “And even if it’s missing an arm or a leg, there are no returns.”
Ruan Mianmian waved her hand grandly.
“Even if it’s just a torso, that’s fine. As long as the big head and little head are still there.”
“Then let’s do it.”
The shopkeeper led them into a place that looked like an old-stock warehouse.
Dust covered everything.
The air reeked of mildew.
There weren’t even shelves. Human-shaped figures wrapped entirely in black cloth had been dumped haphazardly all over the place, one on top of another, like a field of corpses.
The two paid their spirit stones.
The shopkeeper yawned.
“You can point, but you can’t touch.”
Su Xiaoyuan knew full well that she was catastrophically unlucky.
In her previous life, she couldn’t even win a five-yuan scratch-off lottery ticket.
So she turned to her best friend.
“You pick first.”
Ruan Mianmian stepped forward without hesitation and began picking through the pile.
“I’m telling you, my luck is really good…”
As she spoke, she pointed toward a tall puppet.
“This one looks pretty good.”
The shopkeeper cast a spell.
The puppet stood upright on its own and raised a hand to remove its mask.
Not only was it fully intact, its face wasn’t ugly either.
In fact, it was rather handsome in a delicate way.
It simply had somewhat feminine features, and its body was far too slender and frail.
But for twenty spirit stones, what more could you ask for?
Ruan Mianmian gave it a pat.
The most important components were all there.
Her face immediately split into a grin.
“This is exactly the type I like! Looking closely, it even resembles Song Jinshu a little. Wonderful!”
Song Jinshu was her childhood sweetheart and fiancé.
Su Xiaoyuan couldn’t understand what was so great about resembling a scumbag.
Her best friend’s train of thought had always been bizarre.
The shopkeeper spoke sourly.
“Fairy, you’ve got quite the luck. With this quality, you could easily sell it for at least two hundred outside. I don’t even know how it ended up in the old-stock warehouse…”
Ruan Mianmian hoisted her precious puppet onto her shoulder.
“I found this bargain fair and square. You can’t go back on the deal.”
The shopkeeper shook his head dejectedly, muttering repeatedly about how badly he’d lost out.
Su Xiaoyuan had never once been a lucky person, so she was incredibly envious.
She wasn’t even asking to draw some hidden rare model.
As long as all the important components were intact and it wasn’t too ugly, she’d be satisfied.
She was a complete sucker for good looks.
If it was too ugly, she simply wouldn’t be able to bring herself to kiss it.
She clasped her hands together, closed her eyes, and silently prayed.
“Goddess of Wushan, bless me. Lady Sunü, bless me. Please don’t let it be too ugly, please don’t let it be too ugly. If the goddesses answer my prayer, this faithful believer will definitely…”
She thought about it.
Her offering didn’t seem sincere enough.
So she made a grand vow in her heart:
*This faithful believer will definitely study hard and strive every day toward the sun…*
“Hurry up and pick,” the shopkeeper urged impatiently. “I still have things to do.”
Su Xiaoyuan had always suffered from indecisiveness.
She looked at one, then another, unable to decide which one to choose.
In the end, she simply closed her eyes, spun around several times until she made herself dizzy, then pointed randomly.
When she opened her eyes, she found her fingertip aimed at a puppet standing against the wall.
The puppet had a tall, slender figure.
It wasn’t particularly muscular.
Yet despite standing so far away, it somehow radiated an inexplicable sense of pressure.
Through the layer of black cloth, she suddenly had the eerie sensation of being watched by a beast.
She froze like a rabbit that had been scared witless.
The shopkeeper’s eyes widened.
He opened his mouth.
A moment later, however, he returned to normal.
“This one? Once you’ve chosen, you can’t change your mind.”
A faint sense of foreboding stirred in Su Xiaoyuan’s heart.
But before she could even get the word “wait” out, the shopkeeper had already impatiently cast the spell.
The black cloth wrapped around the puppet’s body dropped to the floor.
Broad shoulders.
A narrow waist.
Long, impossibly long legs.
The puppet was even wearing a crude mask over its face.
She had no idea what he actually looked like.
But his proportions alone were already outrageously perfect.
He stepped forward on those absurdly long legs.
His movements were stiff and unfamiliar as he slowly walked toward her.
It was too late!