Chapter 4
Edward Quan ·
I removed my Aura-Boosting Talisman and revealed my true cultivation.
Feeling a little embarrassed, I said, “I've always exaggerated my cultivation because I was afraid people would laugh.”
“Forget Foundation Establishment. I haven't even reached Qi Refining.”
“I'm an ordinary mortal.”
This time, Su Wanning was genuinely stunned.
“What's wrong with you?”
“I've heard of pretending to be a pig to eat a tiger. Who pretends to be a tiger to eat a pig?”
I smiled sheepishly.
“I didn't want to embarrass the sect.”
She lost her temper.
“And you think spending twenty years stuck at Qi Refining is something to be proud of?!”
However angry she got, the truth was out.
Eldest Senior Brother snorted and sent her flying.
“Even without that, there's no way Little Junior Sister would frame you.”
I was a little puzzled.
“Why do you trust me so much?”
Second Senior Sister answered gently, “Because we're family.”
“Family doesn't hurt one another.”
Su Wanning left.
My peaceful life returned.
Sometimes I still thought about her.
Character aside, she really was extraordinarily talented.
She might not become my junior sister, but she surely had a bright future.
As for me…
One day, I might simply grow old and die.
I'd barely had a few days to feel sorry for myself when something else happened.
Right in front of all three of my senior siblings, I was kidnapped.
“Surprised?”
“Surprised that charlatan didn't see it coming?”
I recognized Su Wanning's voice at once.
What surprised me more was that she was no longer made of paper.
Her strength felt unfathomable.
The last people who'd given me that feeling…
were my senior brothers and sister.
“Want to know what happened to me?”
She laughed wildly.
“Beg.”
“Beg me, and I'll tell you!”
“No.”
My indifference made her freeze for a few seconds.
“How can you not want to know?”
“You have to!”
“No.”
She ground her teeth.
“The less you want to know…”
“the more I'm going to tell you!”
As though she'd go mad if she kept it in, she launched into a rambling account of everything she'd been through.
The will of this world had approached her.
“Ye Wangshu, do you know?”
“This place is actually a book.”
“You're the heroine. I'm just your stepping stone.”
“The world's will couldn't accept it.”
“It couldn't accept a transmigrator like you becoming the heroine.”
“And I couldn't accept losing to you.”
“So it chose me!”
She went on in a frenzy.
“That's why your charlatan of a senior brother couldn't foresee this. The world itself is against him!”
Once she'd got it all out, she gradually calmed down.
“The world's will told me.”
“If I kill you—the anomaly—it'll let me take your place.”
“Someone like you doesn't deserve such a wonderful sect!”
Her sword was only 0.01 centimeters from my throat—
when I heard Master's booming laugh.
“Let's see who dares touch my precious disciple!”
A kindly old man appeared in front of me.
Behind him were Eldest Senior Brother, Second Senior Sister, and Third Senior Brother.
“Little Shu, did you get a fright?” ×4
All four spoke at once, competing to fuss over me.
The noise made my head swim.
I shook my head and complained, “Master, everyone… next time, could you not cut it quite so fine?”
Master stroked his beard awkwardly.
“I remember last-second rescues being very popular back in your hometown.”
“Has the trend changed?”
Su Wanning fumed as we chatted as though she weren't there.
“Enough!”
“What do you think this is, a marketplace?”
Working with her, the world's will unleashed a powerful attack.
Apart from Master, my senior brothers and sister all coughed up blood and stumbled back.
Su Wanning's smile grew smugger.
“Never thought you'd see this day, did you?”
Then she looked at Master.
“You've got some ability, old man.”
“Unfortunately, you're still a character in a book. You can't escape the punishment of the world's will.”
My heart clenched.
“Master, can't you beat her?”
He spread his hands.
“Right now, she's effectively the world's will.”
“What am I supposed to fight her with?”
Now I really panicked.
“Then shouldn't we run?”
Su Wanning sneered.
“Run?”
“Go on. Let's see even one of you escape!”
Space and time froze.
Forget teleporting. I couldn't even move.
Master remained perfectly composed.
“Run?”
“Why would we run?”
“I can't beat her, but you can, Little Shu.”
My face was one enormous question mark.
“Me?”
“A mortal fighting the world's will?”
Su Wanning burst out laughing.
“That's the funniest thing I've ever heard.”
“You think I'd lose to a pickled slacker?”
Master ignored her and looked kindly at me.
“Little Shu, I told you.”
“I'd bring you a present.”
He waved a hand.
Someone dropped out of the sky.
A petite, pretty young woman.
“Master,” I whispered, “she's very pretty, but I'm straight.”
“Besides, this is human trafficking. We'll get censored.”
He looked at me in exasperation.
“Hopeless!”
“Who said I'd found you a cultivation partner?”
“Haven't you always been unable to cultivate?”
“She can fix that.”
Su Wanning kept sneering.
“Isn't it a little late to start praying for help?”
I opened my mouth, thought better of it, and nodded.
Master clasped his hands behind his back with an air of effortless confidence.
“But she's the author.”
Everyone went blank.
The woman muttered curses.
“Old man, let's get one thing straight.”
“I'll help Ye Wangshu defy Heaven and change her fate this once.”
“After that, no more coming into the real world to bother me.”
Master made an OK sign.
She took out a keyboard and started clacking away as though none of us existed.
“Ye Wangshu achieves enlightenment.”
“Ye Wangshu becomes invincible.”
“Ye Wangshu goes on a killing spree.”
“Okay. Done!”
I had no words.
That was ridiculously slapdash.
The whole world really was one enormous amateur production.
Even as I kept mocking it, I felt boundless power flood my body.
I had a feeling—
one punch would be enough to kill Su Wanning and the world's will behind her.
So I did exactly that.
She didn't even have time for last words before she turned to ash.
With everything settled, I looked excitedly at Master and the others.
“I did it!”
Master regarded me with affection.
“Now you can finally stop feeling inferior.”
“And stop secretly packing your bags to leave the mountain.”
I froze.
“So… you all knew?”
If you had a choice…
who would want to be a pickled slacker?
The more Master and the others spoiled me, the more insecure I felt.
I was so ordinary.
What if they stopped liking me one day?
And immortals and mortals were different.
They could live freely forever.
I would grow old and die.
So more than once, I'd packed my bags in secret.
“You worry too much.”
“Don't forget, we chose you very carefully to be our little junior sister.”
I looked at Third Senior Brother in confusion.
“You… chose me?”
He raised a brow.
“I spent ten thousand years calculating, so I could pinpoint your location.”
Second Senior Sister lowered her head guiltily and wouldn't meet my eyes.
“That semitrailer that hit you back then…”
“I arranged for someone to drive it.”
Eldest Senior Brother chuckled.
“I fished you up.”
Master Meow jumped onto my shoulder and rubbed his face against me.
“And I gave you your system.”
Me:
“Huh?”
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