I Became the Secretary to a Powerful Beauty

Jiang Qingci was born into the cultivation world and spent years vanquishing demons and ghosts before finally making her way into Tianwei Palace, where she became a junior sister in the Secretariat Office.

But good things never come in pairs, and her love life was a tangled mess.

Her childhood sweetheart abandoned her for someone better connected.

Her new boyfriend, a sword cultivator, never seemed to be on the same wavelength as her.

Just as she was at her lowest, someone unexpectedly offered her a promising career opportunity:

Xie Ze, the current master of Tianwei Palace, asked her:

"I need someone to manage my scrolls. Would you be willing to take the position?"

His voice was deep and magnetic. He waited calmly for her answer.

He had the graceful bearing of an immortal, with a refined, otherworldly beauty, yet spoke with humble warmth.

People said he was a legend in the cultivation world, a man who had swept through the Demonic Abyss with his sword and restored the immortal palace to glory. They also said that once the Immortal Alliance weathered its current crisis, he would return to Taixuan Heaven.

Jiang Qingci rarely interacted with him. Whenever they crossed paths, she would step aside and, together with the other disciples, pay her respects to Xie Ze and the powerful cultivators accompanying him.

Now, after hesitating for half a second, she steadied herself and answered decisively, "This disciple is willing."

*

Long ago, when Xie Ze's path to immortality had been blocked, a kind stranger had given him a healing pill. The girl had been fifteen or sixteen, as beautiful as a dewy first cherry blossom or new snow beneath the moon.

Later, when he descended from Taixuan Heaven to take charge of Tianwei Palace, he saw her again. She kept half her face hidden and worked diligently as an attendant disciple.

He paid some attention to her, but never gave her much thought. "The Way treats no one as kin." He believed he treated everyone in the cultivation world equally, without favoritism.

Until he saw her with someone else, smiling at them the way she had once smiled at him.

Only then did Xie Ze realize that some people ought to be kept close from the start.

So what if she already had a lover?

He had plenty of ways to make her willingly take one step after another until she came to him herself.

He often took her out with him.

He deliberately took a love poison potent enough to kill an immortal.

When she came to him of her own accord, offering herself for the greater good, he said, "You don't have to do this. It wouldn't be fair to you."

But then he asked, "Are you sure? I'll be gentle."

So Jiang Qingci bit down on her finger, trying hard not to make any sounds that might ruin the solemn mood.

But at some point, it was no longer her finger in her mouth...

*

When strange demonic transformations broke out in a certain prefecture, Palace Master Xie Ze led a group there to investigate.

By chance, Jiang Qingci saw her "ex-boyfriend" again, the sword cultivator from a prestigious family whom she had met through an introduction.

He looked down on her. "Who have you latched onto this time? I used to think you were so high-minded..."

Jiang Qingci was distracted when she returned.

In front of a crowd of cultivators, Xie Ze lightly tapped the scroll she was holding and reminded her in a businesslike tone, "Daoist Jiang, have you recorded everything in detail?"

Jiang Qingci composed herself.

That night, in an empty palace hall, the sword cultivator's broken sword lay before her. Xie Ze swept it, along with the other things on the table, to the floor.

He shifted position, lifted her onto the table, and held her captive in his arms. Gazing into her eyes, glistening with the rising tide, he said:

"Good girl, from now on, can you avoid seeing people who have nothing to do with palace affairs?"

*

A gentle-seeming, scheming old fox who knows how to ensnare people x a muddleheaded sweetheart who keeps doing sit-ups between lying flat and striving for success

1. A gentle version of coercive romance. The male lead starts out by coaxing her, and his behavior isn't exactly moral.

Theme: You deserve better