I Just Want to Get Through a Tribulation, Okay?!

After failing his 99th tribulation, cultivation maniac Meng Anli finally learned that he was a nobody destined to die as cannon fodder in a male-oriented novel.

And the story's arrogant, invincible male lead was his most hated rival, the young genius Bian Yun.

Fortunately, after being reborn, Meng Anli had bonded with a System.

The System advised him, "Join the male lead's faction, and you'll ascend together."

"The male lead has countless friends, admirers, and followers around him. He won't remember them all."

"So you must become the one who is most special to him, the one he can't let go of, the one irreplaceable person who is absolutely unique."

Meng Anli had a sudden epiphany. "I understand."

He had a special save-and-rewind ability that let him return to any point in this life.

So Meng Anli rewound to the time when his rival's family was destroyed, picked up the male lead after he'd been left homeless, and became his nominal master and actual dad.

Meng Anli: Isn't a dad someone you can never abandon?

System: ...???

System: Nice.

*

Meng Anli kept his rival, now a human toddler, by his side, feeding him, clothing him, giving him a place to sleep and hugs, and carefully teaching him:

"Dad is your one and only. You can only have Dad in your heart."

"You must repay your debt of gratitude. You belong only to me."

"Wherever Dad points, that's where you strike."

Watching his rival nod obediently, Meng Anli felt certain he had this in the bag.

Until he watched his rival grow taller, stronger, and more ferocious than him, and then one day get on top of him...

Only then did Meng Anli realize, oh no, he'd brainwashed him too well.

Was it still possible to run away?

*

One night, Meng Anli was caught and dragged back to the little house by his rival for the nth time. He cried until he was exhausted and fell asleep.

The tall man beside the bed straightened his clothes and walked outside.

The System floated out of the corner and asked obsequiously, "Master, how did I do on my mission?"

Bian Yun nodded. "Very well."

Reader's guide

1. Pure romance, 1v1, happy ending. A cool, dashing, flamboyant shou and a poker-faced, adorable gong.

2. Cultivation and power progression, with a strong plot focus. Cultivation stages: Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Spirit Birth, Avatar, Void Refining, Celestial Immortal, True Immortal, Tribulation Transcendence, True God. Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment have ten levels; all the rest have early, middle, late, and great completion stages.

Theme: Choice.