When others transmigrate into a book: Defy fate, trample the villains, and beat up the protagonist.
When Mingxin transmigrates into a book: She taps her wooden fish and chants sutras every day, wanting only to quietly earn some merit and retire as soon as possible.
As a cannon-fodder character who doesn't survive three chapters in the original, she decisively shaves her head (not really) and joins the Buddhist order, becoming the only female disciple of Jiaye Temple. She practices with her hair uncut, relying entirely on her acting skills.
Her senior brother worries she'll go hungry, her second senior brother worries she'll get bored, and the uncle-master from the Discipline Hall scolds her, “What kind of behavior is eating roast chicken in front of the Buddha!” while secretly slipping her an extra chicken leg.
But strange people keep insisting on barging into her merit-earning side quests:
The aloof sword cultivator throws up blood every time they meet. “Junior Sister, my inner demon is acting up again. Could you chant a sutra for me?”
The wickedly charming Demon King lies flat and lets her perform the rites to send him off. “Little baldy, repay the sin of touching my hair with a lifetime's worth of merit!”
The haughty young lady tosses out a million spirit stones. “I'll donate this temple! But you have to let me tag along and share your good luck!”
Mingxin clutches her wooden fish and trembles. “I'm just a nobody who wants to earn merit... Don't come any closer, aaah!”
Then one day, she discovers that the seemingly cool and pure original heroine has secretly been practicing the Merit Edition of the Star-Absorbing Art. She sucks up people's luck like drawing cards, and always pulls SSRs!
Mingxin is furious. “You dare steal the merit I've worked so hard to earn? Do you have any idea how many 996 sutra-chanting shifts I put in for it?”
And so the most timid junior sister in the Buddhist order grabs her lotus throne and chases the original heroine down the street for three blocks. “Give me back my merit! Or I'll use my ultimate move! I'm really going to do it! ...Senior Brother, help! I think I sent her off too thoroughly!!”
