NPC Sword Cultivator's Fox-Raising Handbook

Ming Chaoyi, a 996 overworked office drone, dies suddenly from working overtime. When she opens her eyes again, she's transmigrated into a tragic xianxia yuri novel she'd only read the synopsis of on her bookshelf.

She struggles to find a mirror and studies herself: what a cool, aloof beauty, like a flower atop a lofty peak! Going by the usual yuri-novel formula, she must be an indispensable figure in this sect!

While she racks her brains trying to recall the plot, the door in front of her opens.

The female cultivator inside has clearly just been crying. Tear stains still mark her face as she softly calls, "Senior Sister Ming..."

Ming Chaoyi has read thousands of books, and this plot is familiar! She's just finished patting herself down, hoping to find her junior sister a handkerchief to wipe her tears, when her junior sister says through her tears, "Senior Sister Ming, don't try to talk me out of it. I'm not going back with Eldest Senior Sister!"

Ming Chaoyi: "...Huh?"

In a daze, she's pushed outside. She takes a few bewildered steps, then sees someone standing tall beneath a plum tree, with a massive protagonist aura over her head. When Ming Chaoyi emerges, Eldest Senior Sister looks back at her coldly. "Is Junior Sister still refusing to admit her mistake?"

Ming Chaoyi: "...Huh?"

So I'm just one part of your little game?

*

She used to work 996. Now, after transmigrating into a cultivation world, things are even worse: she's on call around the clock, with no days off all year, and even sleep seems to have been bred out of her.

Ming Chaoyi can't take it anymore. She comes up with an excuse to leave the mountain and travel, never expecting to run into the novel's villainous Boss, the Demon Lord Xu Qingjiu, shortly after setting off.

The synopsis describes this person as cold, arrogant, and deranged, with a particular talent for taking what she wants by force.

Ming Chaoyi: ...It's over. This character isn't out of character in the slightest. We were just sharing a table for a meal, and she carried me off along with the entire table and chairs.

Carried back to the Demon Lord's palace over one shoulder, Ming Chaoyi is tossed to the floor. She watches as the other woman starts wildly taking off her outer robe. Her mind collapses: does she want that version of me, that version of me, or that version of me?

The Demon Lord takes off her wild black cloak, revealing a white prisoner's uniform underneath. She casually tosses Ming Chaoyi a long whip and parts her thin lips to command, "Whip me."

Ming Chaoyi: "...The people in the demon realm are really into some wild stuff, huh?"

She nervously lashes the Demon Lord once. The Demon Lord immediately stands up, her expression defiant to the death. "You shameless villain! I'll never talk!"

Ming Chaoyi looks at Xu Qingjiu, utterly despairing.

After playing out a round of all kinds of roles with her, Ming Chaoyi takes off her imperial robe and tosses it beside the nine fox tails Xu Qingjiu has let down after enjoying herself. She sincerely pleads, "How about you just be the one to do it to me instead?"

*

Xu Qingjiu realized when she was very young that she was a little different from everyone else.

She was a tea-brown, platinum-white fox who grew up among red foxes. Not only was her fur the wrong color, she was also born without a heart, and had to figure out how to take human form on her own. A heartless fox wandered the world, unable to learn how to be a demon or a person. She had imitated countless people, hoping to understand human emotions and desires, but had never figured them out.

Until she met a sword cultivator named Ming Chaoyi.

Xu Qingjiu looks at Ming Chaoyi, sprawled beside her in apathetic surrender, and softly says, "Come closer. Closer still... Can you feel anything?"

She guides Ming Chaoyi's fingertips to her chest. Like a bird beating its wings, an epiphyllum blooming, a zither ringing out...

It is a heartbeat she has never felt before.

Ming Chaoyi looks at her for a long moment, then cautiously asks, "...Is it soft?"

Never mind.

There's still a long way to go before this sword cultivator gets it.

Reader's Guide:

* Primarily told from the uke's perspective

* A heartless paper-doll Demon Lord who loves to cosplay x a world-weary sword cultivator, the second senior sister and a transmigrated-into-a-book plot device

* All-female world

* Features a huge number of fluffy creatures

* Fundamentally lighthearted and fun. Hope you enjoy reading, and feel free to point out typos.

Theme: Even a passerby can find love.