The Chosen One

Xie Yunshu was born with the script of a protagonist: exceptionally gifted, dazzlingly beautiful, and even blessed with memories of a past life and an intense drive to outwork everyone. His once-in-a-millennium spiritual-sense constitution and diligent cultivation carried him steadily upward. He became the genius everyone in Wuling City admired, and was already the designated disciple of the sect master of the Immortal Sect, the number one sect on the Cangyuan Continent. That was what everyone believed, at least until Xie Yunshu's coming-of-age ceremony. After that grand ceremony, Xie Yunshu went from an untouchable genius to a notorious good-for-nothing across the continent. His spiritual root was crippled, his spiritual sense stolen, and he had no hope of rising again. Cast out by his family, Xie Yunshu thought: Got it. I've got the discarded genius, broken engagement, rise-to-power protagonist script. No big deal. I'll keep my head down for now. * The Xie family's genius had fallen, and Xie Yunshu had vanished from sight. No one paid any more attention to the declining Xie family of Wuling City. Just then, a genius even more astonishing than Xie Yunshu appeared out of nowhere. At the entrance test for the number one sect, he made a spectacular debut, then calmly revealed the truth to the world. Oh. Xie Yunshu wasn't a child of the Xie family. His mother had died long ago, and he was merely a stand-in and cultivation vessel, taking the calamity meant for the Xie family's true genius. If not for Xie Yunshu, it would have been the real young master of the Xie family whose cultivation was crippled on the day of the coming-of-age ceremony. The young master had also refined all of Xie Yunshu's spiritual sense, so years of cultivation had all gone toward benefiting someone else. The rest was only Xie Yunshu's guess, but he guessed right. No one thought Xie Yunshu was the protagonist anymore. Those who had once admired and flattered him now looked at him with pity and scorn. People always loved a story about a favored genius falling from grace. They wanted to see Xie Yunshu beg for mercy, wanted to see him fall into ruin, wanted to see him spend his whole life as a nobody, forever trapped in the shadows where others would never set foot. Then, as they watched, Xie Yunshu learned alchemy. He learned artifact forging. He began cultivating again and defeated the sect's genius with a single move, shattering his resolve. A divine spirit beast volunteered to be his dog, and he tossed aside one inheritance after another from ancient ruins. Everyone: ??? Isn't this going a little off script? Weren't you supposed to be a cannon-fodder character? How did you actually become the chosen one? Someone: Thanks for asking. I told you, I've got a little talent. ^^ Also known as: "After Becoming the Stand-In, I Took Out the Real Deal" and "What Do You Do When the Cannon Fodder Is Even More Powerful Than the Protagonist?" A favored genius / cultivation era / pseudo-ensemble cast / lots of original worldbuilding / old-school power fantasy Theme: Everyone is the protagonist of their own life