A legend has been passed down through the cultivation world:
It is said that the Chosen One will always find favor with a hidden master or an ancient powerhouse at a critical moment, whether facing life and death or reaching a dead end. It doesn't matter if he's chased off a cliff or a cultivation washout whose engagement has been broken off. He'll always turn danger into triumph, return in glory, crush his enemies, and finally retire after making a name for himself, with a beautiful woman at his side.
When her senior brother repeated this story to her yet again, Ning Guanxi, a carefree slacker from a sect on the verge of bankruptcy, gave a world-weary smile, patted him on the shoulder, and said earnestly, “Senior Brother, maybe we should focus on figuring out what we're going to eat tomorrow.”
Senior Brother: ...
On one of her later trips to the mountain to dig up spirit herbs and help support the sect, Ning Guanxi accidentally fell off a cliff. She was lucky enough to survive, landing in a cave. She was completely unharmed except for a cut on her fingertip. By sheer coincidence, it bled, and by another coincidence, a drop fell onto a jade token.
Golden light flashed, and the phantom of a handsome young man appeared, asleep.
Ning Guanxi: ...
Ning Guanxi fell silent. Ning Guanxi wanted to cry.
The man opened his eyes and looked at her, about to speak, but Ning Guanxi got there first.
With an anguished yet helpless expression, she said, “You don't have to say anything. I know who you are.”
Shen Yunjin raised an eyebrow. He had just been surprised that anyone in the modern cultivation world still remembered him when Ning Guanxi said:
“You're my handy grandpa!”
Shen Yunjin: ...?
Ning Guanxi grabbed his hand, her gaze earnest. “I don't want to fight and kill people. It's pointless. But our sect is about to go bankrupt. Can you conjure up some money for me?”
Shen Yunjin was silent for a moment. Seeing her hopeful expression, he replied with a smile:
“Sure.”
The story really did unfold just like the legend, except Ning Guanxi had forgotten one thing:
Only beings sealed away by countless powerful masters require someone's essence and blood to break their seals.
*
Later, after becoming sect leader, Ning Guanxi took stock of her life and realized she'd experienced it all: facing life and death (with her sect on the verge of bankruptcy), falling off a cliff (to retrieve spirit herbs), finding an ancient powerhouse (Shen Yunjin), and making a name for herself (thanks to Shen Yunjin's schemes).
Only the last part was missing: retiring with a beautiful companion.
As she lamented this, Shen Yunjin gave her a knowing, half-smile from beside her and said:
“Wasn't that part already taken care of from the very beginning?”
Ning Guanxi: ...?
[Reading Guide]
1. Carefree girl x scheming villain
2. The story of a villain who keeps trying to lead the heroine astray, but gets nowhere because she's so carefree that she misses his intentions, leaving him helplessly furious time and again.
3. A lighthearted, sweet xianxia romance. Guanxi will eventually become the strongest under heaven.
[Blurb written on March 18, 2024. Screenshot saved.]
Theme: People can always mend their ways.
