Switching Fields to Play the Game of Power

[An older sister who just wants to lie flat x a younger puppy who's hopelessly in love]

How do you describe the grim state of employment in an era? Pigs ready for slaughter are scrambling to become guard dogs. A thousand-year-old turtle grows hair and decides to become a rooster that crows at dawn. Even chivalrous heroes have to pretend to be Taoist priests and get into political schemes.

For the first twenty years of her life, Liu Yinan lived by one creed: if you can use a blade, don't use words; if you can send someone to the afterlife, don't try to persuade them; and if you can send them to meet the King of Hell at the third watch, then of course you should do it at the second watch.

Later, she swore she would become a divine physician who saved lives. A hundred people wanted to kill her every day, but she never laid a hand on a single one of them. That meant she saved a hundred lives every day.

But later still, the secrets of her origins, her master's cause of death, and the wrongful deaths of her friends drove her to become the so-called ghost Taoist of later generations. She kept male lovers in the Qingfeng Temple the emperor built for her, yet whenever she was in a bad mood, she sent them off to meet the King of Hell.

People said the Taoist was a sinister one. Any "good official" who submitted a memorial impeaching her would be found dead outside his own residence the next day. Even the former top scholar of the capital had died by her blade.

"The Bodhisattva is merciful. Someone like you..." The man struggling beneath her feet stopped breathing, leaving only a pair of resentful eyes fixed on Liu Yinan, as if he wouldn't let her go even after becoming a vengeful ghost.

Thinking over his words, Liu Yinan suddenly understood.

"That's right. If I kill you, I've still saved ninety-nine people today. I truly am a living Bodhisattva."

Reader's guide:

1. The heroine wants to give up early on, but later becomes deeply focused on her career. She has no overpowered golden finger and relies entirely on herself, so the satisfying moments may come in bursts.

2. The male lead isn't very strong at first. He's a work-in-progress type.

3. The heroine isn't a lovesick fool. Men will only slow down our leading lady's sword arm.

4. The heroine isn't a Taoist priest. This will become clear later in the story.

Theme: Follow your heart