The Villainess Refuses to Follow the Plot

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Lin Yan is the brightest pearl among the noble families of Xianying's Nine Provinces. Born to stand above the clouds, she is a pampered young lady, treasured by everyone.

She knows nothing of the hardships of ordinary life, nor the treachery in people's hearts.

It takes a dream for her to learn that she is a cannon-fodder supporting female character in a tragic romance novel.

On the day of their wedding, the fiance she loves sets an ambush. Using her to break the wards protecting her family, he joins forces with the other noble families of Xianying to slaughter her entire clan, all to obtain their clan's most precious treasure and save the life of the woman he loves.

To take revenge, the once-proud young lady of Wangjing falls into demonic cultivation. Yet even after giving it her all, she becomes nothing more than a stepping stone on the protagonists' path to triumph.

In the end, all she gets is: "You brought this ruin upon yourself. You deserved to die."

Lin Yan thinks the dream must end there, but on the day she dies, she sees someone arrive with a sword. In a single night, he slaughters the four great families of Xianying and kills everyone who harmed her.

In the pouring rain, a fire burns for three whole days, reducing the former splendor of Wangjing City to ashes.

From then on, Xianying has no more noble families, only ruins.

Lin Yan's spirit drifts after the man's silhouette until he reaches a lonely grave. The mist clears, and she finally sees his face.

Dressed in black, he is handsome, his expression indifferent. Yet his features look so much like those of the lowly servant who once knelt at her skirts, whom she had never deigned to look at properly.

She had thought he must hate her after she left him in the Demon Realm to fend for himself.

But after crawling out of the Cave of a Hundred Ghosts, his hands stained with blood, and climbing step by step over mountains of corpses to become the Demon Realm's supreme ruler, the first thing he did was avenge her.

Lin Yan is lost in thought for a moment. When she looks back, she sees him running his fingers over the blank stone tablet before her grave, his eyes lowered as he murmurs,

"Miss, I'm back."

On the second day after Lin Yan's death, Yu Xiu, the Demon Realm's supreme ruler, takes his own life before her grave after being hunted down by the orthodox sects.

[Arrogant, spoiled young lady who thinks the world of herself X devoted, humble, obsessive demon king]

-- The male and female leads are flawed characters; the cultivation setting includes original worldbuilding.

-- The heroine has a bad personality and treats the hero poorly at first. The hero is obsessively in love with her.

Theme: Fate accounts for three parts; the other seven depend on hard work.