I Disguised Myself as a Man, Went from Charlatan to Powerful Official, and Became an Immortal

On a stormy night, a farmer's wife went into labor, but the midwife was nowhere to be found. After struggling to give birth, she hemorrhaged and died. The child's father was a misogynist. When he saw that the baby was a girl, he wanted nothing to do with her. He tied a rock to her and threw her into the river.

The baby girl died, and her soul was reincarnated.

Though the infant had no soul, she was born in a year, month, day, and hour of yin, with a purely yin birth chart and no yang in any of the four pillars. Her yin energy was so intense it was beyond measure, making her body the perfect vessel, one that evil spirits from the underworld coveted. Lan, a powerful evil spirit, was one of them. She not only succeeded in taking the baby's body, but also devoured the other evil spirits who coveted it.

At last, the evil spirit Lan had a body of her own.

She went to her master to boast of her achievement, but he said, "The path you chose is yours. Don't regret it."

Lan nodded. Her master raised her until she was four, when her soul and body finally fused completely.

She went to her master to boast of her achievement, but he said, "From here on, you'll walk the path alone."

And so Lan and her master parted ways.

*

In town lived a wealthy family, the Niao family. Their eldest son, Niao Beichen, had been sickly since birth and was not expected to live long. After a fortune-telling Daoist was consulted, the family learned that he was a solitary yang who could not thrive alone. The Niao family would need to bring a purely yin person into their home to support his yang with yin. The yin person would absorb the baleful energy, allowing the young master to survive.

Following the Daoist's advice, the Niaos eventually found Lan. They adopted her as their daughter, named her Niao Zhaoyue, and brought her into their home. After she arrived, yin and yang began to nourish one another, and Niao Beichen's health truly improved. Niao Zhaoyue enjoyed a comfortable life for a while, though now and then some foolish little ghosts would come looking for trouble.

They all became food for her.

*

Time passed, and ten years went by. Niao Beichen was now eighteen. He went to the Qingwu Academy in the imperial capital to study under a master and prepare for the civil service examinations, but after he left, the family never heard from him again. His parents went to the capital to search for him, only to be told that he had deliberately murdered a fellow student and was now a fugitive. After the incident, the family was deliberately suppressed and gradually fell into decline.

With their eldest son missing and the family falling apart, her adoptive parents blamed everything on Niao Zhaoyue. They branded her a bringer of misfortune, then abandoned her again and drove her out of the house.

When she was useful, she was a lucky star. When she was not, she was a curse.

At fourteen, Niao Zhaoyue was alone once more. In a chaotic world, she knew how hard it was to survive as a girl, so she disguised herself as a boy to make a living. With no yang energy of her own, she named herself Mu Xizhao. Using her special constitution, she became a ghost-hunting "fraudulent mystic," known to the world as "Demon Wind."

*

The world is overrun with demons and monsters. Only Demon Wind can bring them to heel.

Over the next four years, Mu Xizhao killed countless ghosts and captured countless monsters, gathering an army of little underlings and making a name for herself as a fraudulent mystic. Her fame spread all the way to the imperial capital. Curious, the emperor summoned Demon Wind to court, hoping to recruit her.

But on the first day she entered the palace to pay her respects, she glanced around the court and spotted her missing elder brother standing among the officials, now a prince with a different surname?

Readers can pick their favorite male lead. Plot-driven story. The female lead has cultivated for over a hundred years, and is the strongest character in the entire novel. She's the absolute best.

May 26, 2026

Theme: Study hard and improve every day.