After Ascending, I Became the Humble Sect Leader at the Bottom of the Pecking Order

[Highly recommend my neighbor's ongoing novel, It's Old-Fashioned, but I'm Normal. It's hilarious. Synopsis below.]

Yu Tang is the leader of the Yunxia Sect, the greatest sect in the cultivation world.

The title sounds imposing, but unfortunately, everyone in the cultivation world knows she has no cultivation at all. She's merely a puppet propped up by the Grand Elder, Su Qingyun.

As the greatest cultivation sect under heaven, the Yunxia Sect is naturally full of talented people.

For instance, the sect's genius elder is the heroine of a food-themed novel about helping people turn their lives around. She mistakes Yu Tang for her mission target and spends three months feeding her, yet Yu Tang makes no progress in cultivation. Every day, she looks at Yu Tang with an expression of exasperated disappointment.

For instance, the head of the sect's Discipline Hall is a transmigrator on a mission to redeem a villain. The problem is, she mistakes Yu Tang for the villain and keeps muttering about how weak this villain is.

For instance, the sect's junior disciple is a reborn overpowered hero. She mistakes Yu Tang for the evil sect leader who made her life difficult in her previous life and spends every day plotting to assassinate her.

And for instance, the sect's eldest senior sister...

Caught between all these powerful figures, Yu Tang sits in her undeserved position, trembling with anxiety every day.

She's afraid that if her cultivation is exposed one day, she won't be able to keep pretending to be an ordinary person and enjoy life as a puppet anymore.

Yu Tang once served diligently as sect leader for a thousand years.

At long last, she cultivated her way to ascension.

But when she opened her eyes, she hadn't gone to heaven. Instead, she'd ended up in another cultivation world, where she had become a sect leader all over again.

Yu Tang had worked so hard to ascend because she wanted to retire.

No matter who comes knocking, she's going to retire, come hell or high water!

So she resolves to hide her cultivation and vows to do her best to be a puppet sect leader. The more puppet-like, the better.

Yu Tang's dream is to be a freeloader here, doing nothing but eating and drinking for free.

Note: A slice-of-life comedy.

It's Old-Fashioned, but I'm Normal

Synopsis: As times change, many old-school Mary Sue novels that were once popular now seem like absolute disasters.

So when Lu Momo transmigrates into one of these old-fashioned novels, she becomes the only normal person in it...

One day, the male lead appears.

The whole school crowds along both sides of the entrance, welcoming him and exclaiming over how handsome he is, while also gathering to watch the male and female leads' first meeting.

Only Lu Momo is running at full speed. "Aaah, I'm going to be late for my required class!"

In the end, Lu Momo is the only student in the whole school who makes it to class on time. She earns the high praise of her counselor and professor, and the admiration of all the students. What? Someone can actually resist the temptation of a handsome guy and juicy gossip!

Later, the male lead bullies the female lead, as the plot demands, and she silently endures it through tears.

The students gather to watch, some mocking her, some frightened, and others feeling sorry for her.

Lu Momo can't take it anymore, so she tells the counselor. When the counselor says, "His family is so rich, I really don't dare to mess with him," Lu Momo suggests, "Why not call his parents?"

The counselor suddenly sees the light. "Oh, right! I have his dad's phone number!"

A few days into the semester, Lu Momo realizes that none of the students in the whole school ever study.

To give the male and female leads time to date, this school has classes for ten minutes and breaks for forty!

Since the whole school spends their breaks as extras in the leads' romantic scenes, Lu Momo has nothing to do, so she reads and does her homework.

And so, when finals come around, Lu Momo ranks first in the whole school and snatches the highest-tier scholarship away from the female lead by a landslide.

Lu Momo: "...It's not that I'm too good. The female lead never studies. Even if she's supposed to be a top student, she can't keep screwing around like this."

Seeing this, the female lead immediately comes to her senses. Wait, I need to study hard, get a good job, and support my family. Forget dating! I want to study!

And so, Lu Momo, the most inconspicuous background character, becomes a prominent figure at school simply because she's so normal.

What's more, she gradually sets all the people in the Mary Sue story straight...

At last, Lu Momo graduates and starts working. She thinks she's finally escaped the Mary Sue novel, but one day at work, she sees a new employee with innocence written all over her face, rushing carelessly into the elevator reserved for the CEO...

Lu Momo: SHIFT!

Notes:

1. A slice-of-life comedy, pure slice of life.

2. "Shift" is a joke. Some Mary Sue novels misspell "shit" as "shift." It's a fairly obscure joke, so here's an explanation.

3. Because of the story's setup, everyone except the heroine starts out acting irrationally and without thinking.

Theme: Life doesn't always go smoothly, but as long as you work hard, you can achieve the results you want