The Wuya Sword Sect sent five Direct Disciples and ten Inner Sect Disciples to the Sword Selection Assembly.
The Direct Disciples were Yun Fuzhao, Hou Feiyu, Yu Nian’er, and the brother and sister from Qingluo Peak.
The large party set out on their journey back to the Wuya Sword Sect.
By rights, their walking order should have been dictated by rank.
As the Sect Leader’s head Direct Disciple, Yun Fuzhao was supposed to be at the very front, flanked by her second brother and youngest sister, who would be half a step behind.
But the reality was the exact opposite.
Yun Fuzhao, a Direct Disciple, had been relegated to the back of the group, and not a single disciple would even speak to her along the way.
Meanwhile, the youngest, Yu Nian’er, walked at the very front, surrounded by the other three Direct Disciples, who were all fawning over her.
The brother and sister from Qingluo Peak were especially blatant, their sycophancy written all over their faces.
Yun Fuzhao was already used to this.
‘This world revolves around the female lead, after all,’ she thought.
‘As a minor side character, I just need to lie low and survive.’
[Host, as this is your first time binding to the live-streaming system, the system has prepared a Starter Pack for you.]
Yun Fuzhao had been feeling bored, and this perked her right up.
After fiddling with the system interface for a moment, she opened the purple gift box.
[Congratulations, Host!
You have obtained: Heavenly Spirit Beast Egg x1, Purple Sandalwood Beauty Couch x1.
Items have been delivered to your Sea of Consciousness.
Please confirm receipt.]
A Heavenly Spirit Beast Egg.
If she remembered correctly, the ranking system for Spirit Beast Eggs went from First to Ninth Grade, followed by Xuan Rank, and then Heaven Rank at the top.
Ninth-Grade spirit beasts were already exceedingly rare, to say nothing of Xuan or Heaven Rank ones.
‘To get a Heaven-Rank item right out of the starter pack…
my luck is a little too good, isn’t it?’
In this Cultivation World, Cultivators could choose different specializations based on their Spirit Root.
Paths like alchemy, spellcasting, and talisman crafting had the highest Spirit Root requirements, followed by sword and sound cultivation.
At the very bottom, with no prerequisites at all, was the path of the Beast Master.
Anyone who contracted a spirit beast could call themselves a Beast Master.
But this path had a low floor and a high ceiling; a truly top-tier Beast Master could rely solely on their beasts to achieve Ascension.
These days, nearly all Direct Disciples of the Major Sects raised their own Contracted Beast for protection.
Yun Fuzhao remembered that in the novel, Yu Nian’er had contracted a Xuan Rank Azure Divine Phoenix upon reaching the Golden Core Great Perfection stage.
The novel’s description of the event went: ‘The Six Realms were shaken, and the Major Sects sent countless treasures to the Wuya Sword Sect, all for a single glimpse of the Divine Phoenix’s magnificent form.’
It was then that the Xuantian Sect extended an olive branch to Yu Nian’er.
Master Renkun, who had publicly declared he would take no more students, broke his own rule and expressed his desire to accept her as his disciple.
In the novel, this was one of the female lead’s most famous moments in the spotlight.
Her thoughts had wandered.
Reining them in, Yun Fuzhao glanced at the item in her consciousness—still just a small, silver egg.
‘A Heavenly Spirit Beast Egg…
I wonder what will hatch out of it.’
“Quick, look!
They’re back!”
The booming voice snapped Yun Fuzhao out of her thoughts.
She looked ahead and saw a huge crowd of disciples gathered before the gates of the Wuya Sword Sect, craning their necks in excitement.
“Nian’er.”
The man at the head of the crowd was dressed in lilac cloud brocade.
He had waist-length hair, sharp, sword-like brows, and eyes as bright as stars.
His powerful aura was enough to inspire fear in any who looked at him.
This was Yun Fuzhao’s master, the Sect Leader of the Wuya Sword Sect—Meng Ci’er.
Even though three of his Direct Disciples were present, his eyes landed only on Yu Nian’er, and he called out only her name.
Yu Nian’er stepped forward and called out sweetly, “Master.”
Her single word seemed to dispel the man’s imposing aura, and his expression softened into one of incredible gentleness.
“I heard you bonded with the Frost Moon Sword.
You are truly a worthy disciple of mine.”
Meng Ci’er raised a hand to pat Yu Nian’er’s head.
“Tell me what reward you would like.”
Yu Nian’er’s face flushed, and she said softly, “Master, I don’t want any reward.
I only want to stay by your side forever.”
At her words, the smile on Meng Ci’er’s lips deepened.
The gentle, doting look in his eyes was enough to give Yun Fuzhao goosebumps.
“Senior Yu, I heard the Frost Moon Sword is gorgeous!
I wonder, might we have the honor of seeing it?”
“You sword fanatic, how blunt can you be!
That said… Senior Yu, count me in!”
The surrounding disciples began to clamor good-naturedly, forming a tight circle around Yu Nian’er.
Standing on the outskirts of the crowd, Yun Fuzhao watched the drama unfold with great interest.
The insufferable Hou Feiyu somehow ended up beside her and sneered, “Don’t be jealous.
It’s a testament to her skill that our youngest sister is so well-liked by the other disciples.
Unlike you, with that perpetual scowl on your face.
Who do you think you’re putting on airs for?”
Yun Fuzhao was speechless.
‘The original owner of this body looked almost identical to how I did before I transmigrated.
We both suffer from a bad case of resting bitch face; whenever our faces are neutral, we look angry.’
‘It’s why so many people used to call me cold and unapproachable.’
There was no point in explaining herself to this idiot.
Yun Fuzhao just said flatly, “Stay away from me.
I’m scared of dogs.”
The bullet comments flooded the screen.
[Oh, our Little Zhaozhao sure has a way with words.]
[How dare that son of a bitch swagger in front of our Fu Zhao!
It’s pissing this old man off!
That shameless ****!]
“You!”
Hou Feiyu’s face instantly flushed crimson, and he was about to lose his cool and start cursing.
Just then, Meng Ci’er called out her name.
“Yun Fuzhao.”
Dozens of gazes snapped toward her in unison.
Yu Nian’er saw Hou Feiyu staring daggers at Yun Fuzhao.
From her angle, all she could see was the two of them standing very close together.
A wave of irritation washed over her, and she called out, “Second Brother, what are you doing all the way over there?
Hurry up and come here.”
Hou Feiyu shot Yun Fuzhao one last, vicious glare before turning and walking toward Yu Nian’er.
Yun Fuzhao followed half a step behind him, ambling over at a leisurely pace.
“Nian’er tells me you bonded with the Wuji Sword?”
Yun Fuzhao had no fondness for this master of hers and didn’t want to talk to him, so she just gave a flat, “Mhm.”
Her attitude instantly enraged Meng Ci’er.
He stared coldly at Yun Fuzhao, his gaze sharp enough to pierce through her.
‘She had no doubt that if there weren’t so many people around, he would have already crushed her with his Divine Sense, forced her to her knees, and then punished her on some trumped-up charge.’
‘It wouldn’t have been the first time, after all.’
Indeed, seeing the large crowd, Meng Ci’er didn’t press the issue.
“The three of you, follow me back to Purple Sun Peak.”
“Yes,” Yu Nian’er and Hou Feiyu replied in unison.
Yun Fuzhao didn’t answer.
She was busy opening the system store to see if she could find a Vajra Shield, an Iron Shirt, or something similar.
If Meng Ci’er decided to fly off the handle and attack her later, she wanted to have an ace up her sleeve.
Only three item slots in the system store were stocked; scrolling down revealed only blank spaces that she couldn’t unlock because her Rank was too low.
Yun Fuzhao currently had 1,100 points, and the Invincible Golden Body she wanted cost a full 1,000.
‘So expensive.
It hurts just thinking about it.’
But to save her own skin, she grit her teeth and bought it anyway.
Meng Ci’er was at the Nascent Soul Great Perfection stage, while she was just a nobody in the Foundation Establishment Stage.
He could probably swat her out of the air like a fly just by twitching his little toe.
It all came back to the same principle: you had to know your place.
When it was time to lie low, you lay low.