Only after Qin Tong died did she learn that she was merely a supporting character in a cultivation novel: the savior's mother.
She was handed the stand-in role. The powerful men in the story tormented her body and heart, and in the end she died miserably in the freezing snow. A passerby cut open her abdomen to take the child, then left her corpse exposed in the wilderness.
Only after her death did the male supporting characters who had once hurt her regret it. They found the posthumous son, the male lead, and became his masters and powerful backers. Whenever they looked at him, they would brood in pain:
"I wronged your mother."
The child ultimately became a heaven-defying hero who saved the world and avenged his mother.
Qin Tong's suffering was dismissed in the book with a few careless words.
When she opened her eyes, Qin Tong had returned to five hundred years earlier, to the day the senior sister returned to the sect.
Someone beside her sneered, "She's the only female disciple Feng Mountain took in fifty years ago. You were just someone they found to keep themselves entertained after the senior sister went missing."
"A fake should know her place."
Qin Tong nodded. "I think you're absolutely right."
In this life, she would no longer be anyone's stand-in, junior sister, or mother...
She had come through wind and snow, and endured a lifetime of hardship.
She would become a sword that would rather break than bend.
##
The senior sister, missing for decades, returned to the sect one day, and everyone in the sect cherished and adored her.
Everyone assumed the pampered junior sister would be jealous and make a scene.
Her aloof master, gentle senior brother, roguish second senior brother, and the other men who would one day mistreat Qin Tong all told her, "Your senior sister has suffered so much. Don't be unreasonable."
Qin Tong felt nothing. "All right."
Later, this bunch of clingy pests were all reborn...
They thought Qin Tong was still that pampered, dependent flower. Believing nothing had happened yet, they coaxed and deceived her, trying to crush her pride.
Qin Tong: ?
Belated devotion is cheaper than grass. No second-chance romance for you.
[Bonus Scene]
Feng Mountain Gossip:
#The loveless junior sister took in a beautiful, frail mortal servant whose family was slaughtered by demons!#
At the foot of the trial arena, Qin Tong instinctively blocked a hidden arrow and stared in shock at the young man who had thrown himself in front of her.
She used two Nine-Turn Pills to drag him back from the brink of death. "You risked your life to save me. If there's anything you want, and I can give it to you, just ask."
The handsome young boy, as refined as jade, lay in bed in a thin undershirt. His eyes reddened as he stammered, "Immortal Qin, my aptitude is poor, and cultivation is so hard..."
"I don't want to work hard anymore. Please take me in."
Loveless little immortal girl vs. ruthless fox of a man
[Notes and content warnings]
1. Before her rebirth, the heroine was a pampered junior sister. After being reborn, she still cries when she gets hurt and complains that it hurts, but she gets back up and keeps training.
My own take on cultivation. The heroine is Heaven's favorite daughter and a genuine adored-by-everyone type.
2. A melodramatic story. Everyone except the male lead is reborn, and these men all get their comeuppance. They are reborn at different times. The heroine only cares about cultivation and won't even give them the time of day.
3. The son from the original book is not the child of any of those scumbags.
4. Lots of original worldbuilding. If you don't like it, we can part amicably. Personal attacks and insults against the heroine are not welcome.
Theme: Take charge of your own fate