Senior Brother, You're Playing Favorites

The Book Transmigration Bureau assigned Lin Zhiyi a classic mission: go to a cultivation world and become the male lead’s tool of a senior brother. Core KPI: ensure the Overpowered Male Lead cultivates smoothly, claims every fortuitous opportunity, and ultimately ascends to the pinnacle of the immortal path. System: “It’s simple. You just have to be his dad... No, his senior brother. Basically, you feed him spirit medicines, fend off his enemies, take the blame, and deal with his troubles. Got it?” Lin Zhiyi replied confidently, “Got it. I’m his professional nanny.” And so began the chaotic daily life on Tianyan Peak. After finally refining an ancient spirit pill, Lin Zhiyi lovingly popped it into the Overpowered Male Lead’s mouth. “Eat up, Aotian. It’ll help your cultivation!” Duan Congwen happened to be passing by. He stared at the pill and said coolly, “Senior Brother, you’re playing favorites.” With his conscience assailing him, Lin Zhiyi said, “...Fine. I’ll refine one for you too.” After risking his life to bring back the world’s greatest sword manual from a secret realm, Lin Zhiyi promptly shoved it into the Overpowered Male Lead’s hands. “Here, this technique is amazing. You take it, Aotian.” Duan Congwen sat nearby, sighing over a battered copy of basic sword techniques. His gaze turned mournful. “Senior Brother, you’re playing favorites.” Lin Zhiyi guiltily rubbed his nose. “...Fine. Wait here. I’ll find one for you too.” While training down the mountain, they encountered demonic cultivators. Lin Zhiyi darted in front of the Overpowered Male Lead, unleashing his sword aura. “Stay back! I’ll protect you!” At the same time, he caught sight of Duan Congwen out of the corner of his eye. Demonic energy had struck him, staining his sleeve with blood. Lin Zhiyi’s heart clenched. He thought Duan Congwen was about to say those six words again, but to his surprise... Duan Congwen clutched his wound and smiled wanly. “It’s all right, Senior Brother. Just focus on protecting Junior Brother. I can manage on my own. I only coughed up a little blood, while Junior Brother scraped his knee.” Lin Zhiyi: “...” His conscience was bleeding profusely. That night, a new post appeared on the Tianyan Peak forum: Help! What do I do when I have too many junior brothers to keep everyone happy?! In his previous life, Duan Congwen had been a great demon feared throughout the Three Realms. In the end, he died a gruesome death at the hands of Qi Lingyun. He thought his soul would be scattered forever, but instead he was reborn, and even picked up a cheap System. System: “Our mission is to steal all the male lead’s luck and become the new male lead! Got it?” Remembering how, no matter how hard he had tried in his previous life, he had always fallen short of Qi Lingyun, Duan Congwen smiled darkly. “Sure.” But he couldn’t remember Qi Lingyun having a senior brother in his previous life. This senior brother was handsome and no pushover, and he was always finding ways to feed Qi Lingyun spirit pills and miraculous medicines. Whenever they snatched a fortuitous opportunity, the senior brother would make up for it with another. It never ended. The System slapped the table. “Looks like we need to win over the senior brother before we steal his luck!” Duan Congwen’s gaze slid over the senior brother’s handsome face. The corners of his mouth lifted, and he answered with a sweet, obedient expression, “Sure.” The System scratched its head. Something felt a little off. #Senior Brother and I are the perfect match. Who do you think you are? #Why does Junior Brother have one more grain of rice in his bowl than I do? Reader’s Guide: 1. Both are each other’s one and only, with no past or present partners, no stand-ins, and no white moonlight. They’re each other’s first love and first kiss, and they’re absolutely crazy about each other! 2. No breaking up the pairing, no reversing the roles, and no shipping them with yourself. There are no secondary couples in the story, so ship whoever you like as long as you don’t break up the official pairing. 3. The cultivation setting is generally familiar, with a few original details added. 4. More to come if I think of anything. Here’s a preview of an upcoming story~ Sui Liushui is an alien. His home planet plans to invade Earth, so he is sent to Earth, but a glitch in the deployment program accidentally sends him to the cultivation world instead. On his first day in the cultivation world, an old man picks him up and takes him back to his hideout, a place called the Wuji Sect. The old man wants to recruit him, and Sui Liushui agrees so he can infiltrate the enemy’s ranks. Sui Liushui has no idea what cultivation is. He just copies what he sees, and even that he gets wrong. His eldest senior sister teaches him to wield a whip. He blinks, swings his hair, and slices off half a mountain. His second senior brother teaches him demolition techniques. He twitches his antennae and blows up an entire fishpond out of thin air. His third senior brother teaches him artifact crafting. He pulls out one of his own bones and smashes a five-thousand-jin boulder of granite with it. Everyone in the Wuji Sect: “...?” Sect Master! Do you know there’s a ghost in the house?! But once you join the sect, you’re family. Gritting their teeth, the people of the Wuji Sect protect their strange little junior brother. And so Sui Liushui rampages through the cultivation world for years without ever exposing his identity. The invasion of Earth is just around the corner. There is just one thing that bothers him... On his first night at the sect, Sui Liushui sneaks out under cover of darkness and wanders around in his alien form. To his surprise, he runs straight into the legendary cold-faced King of Hell, Luo Bujiao. He is so startled that he instantly transforms into a human, and his greatest secret is exposed just like that. The good news: Luo Bujiao isn’t going to kill him. The bad news: Luo Bujiao is only sparing him for now. Sui Liushui knows that a wise man knows when to yield. Every day, after finishing his cultivation and gathering information about the enemy, he makes time to butter up Luo Bujiao. But somewhere along the way, he seems to have overdone it... Now Luo Bujiao chases after him every day, demanding that he make their relationship official. Sui Liushui shrieks and runs away: “An alien and a human can never have a happy ending!” Luo Bujiao comes from a prestigious family. He began gathering qi at six, established his foundation at nine, formed his golden core at thirteen, and reached the Nascent Soul stage at seventeen. He is a genius through and through. Geniuses don’t understand people, and he’s painfully rigid. If you’re a demon, good or bad, you’d better believe he’ll strike you with his sword first! But Sui Liushui is different. He’s an idiot. Luo Bujiao watched as Sui Liushui transformed into a human right in front of him. Long strands of pink hair fell over his shoulders, covering his naked body. “W-Why aren’t you wearing clothes?” Luo Bujiao scolded, turning away with a flushed face. Taking advantage of his turning around, Sui Liushui immediately ran off. But before he’d gone two meters, he tripped over his own hair and landed flat on his face. Luo Bujiao: “...” Unable to watch any longer, he took off his outer robe and tossed it to Sui Liushui. “I’ll let it go this time, but the next time we meet, I’ll kill you.” The next time they met, Sui Liushui, who couldn’t read, had been tricked by a crooked merchant into signing a contract of indenture. When Luo Bujiao arrived with his sword to demand his release, Sui Liushui was still earnestly helping the man balance his books. The time after that, Sui Liushui nearly transformed back into his true form in public after losing control. And the next time... Sui Liushui really is an idiot, Luo Bujiao thought. So I’d better keep him by my side and watch him closely. Theme: Treat everyone equally.