I Accidentally Picked Up a Black Lotus Because of a System Bug?!

Shen Ning transmigrated into a book as a cannon-fodder character. Following the System's instructions to save the original male lead, she found a boy with impossibly good looks whose age, appearance, and background all matched.

Shen Ning was overjoyed, and went to great lengths to successfully keep the male lead in her sect.

But one day, she accidentally called the boy by the male lead's name, making him suspicious. Only when her life was on the line did she realize that the person before her was Xuantong, the black-hearted lotus who would one day shake the world in the original story!

But by then, she was trapped in an illusion with no way out, utterly at his mercy. Facing the boy's suspicious, probing gaze, she immediately pressed two fingers together and swore to the heavens: "I swear on my life to protect you. I'll never leave you!"

Ten years later, the System gave Shen Ning one final ultimatum: correct Xuantong's life path and set the plot back on track. To complete the mission, she had no choice but to steel herself and kick Xuantong into the Abyss.

The boy's wrist and ribs were shattered, his body drenched in blood. His gaze darkened as he thought that none of the promises she'd made back then had ever meant anything.

-Sis, what am I supposed to do?

-I can't let go anymore.

Three years later, Xuantong became the ruler of a thousand demons.

When they met again, Shen Ning was sweating buckets. I'm doomed! I kicked him in the face back then. My poor, poor life!

The man cornered Shen Ning against the wall, his expression unreadable.

"Sis, don't even think about running away again."

As a young demon king whose bloodline had yet to fully awaken, Xuantong was being hunted by a great demon. With nowhere else to go, he hid beneath the offering table in a temple hall. But then a bright-eyed girl lifted the tablecloth, holding out a steamed bun and coaxing him gently.

Her expression looked suspiciously like she was up to no good.

Suffering from a high fever brought on by his demonic blood, he was taken back to the sect by the girl and forced to suppress his demonic nature and learn how to be "human."

But one day, he discovered that she had mistaken him for someone else all along!

The boy's eyes were clouded with sorrow. He used demonic power to erase the writing on the name tag of the unconscious male lead they had found along the way. Watching the girl's distant figure, he murmured to himself, "If it's a mistake, then let it stay one forever."

Bonus scene:

Shen the Timid online question: What do you do when you pick up the wrong kid? I need an answer, fast.

Xuantong smiled. "Sis, this store doesn't offer no-questions-asked returns within seven days~"

Character dynamics: An optimistic, easygoing, snark-loving female lead X a suspicious, jealous, clingy male lead.

Reader's guide:

1. One-on-one, happy ending.

2. Not a traditional cultivation story. The worldbuilding is wildly original. Please don't nitpick if you find plot holes.

3. The male lead is a hopeless romantic. He's not what he appears to be, and he values the female lead above everything.

4. The female lead isn't a self-sacrificing saint or a white lotus, and she's smart. (Original male lead Luo Chao: So it's my fault, then?)

5. I promise I won't abandon the story. Please add it to your favorites and leave a comment QAQ

Coming soon from the same author: After Becoming the Strongest, the Six Realms Were Caught in a Shura Field

Blurb:

[Everyone's favorite / fierce romantic rivalry / a story about keeping everyone happy]

In her previous life, she was the strongest sword cultivator. Countless men sought her protection and willingly served at her bedside. But having seen too much of the world, she didn't believe in true love. She treated men as toys for her pleasure, enjoying them for a night before casually casting them aside.

In this life, she was reborn as an ordinary sect disciple, with no memories of her previous life. Quiet-eyed and dressed in plain robes, she still had the same tenacity at her core. She pursued cultivation tirelessly, becoming the defiant, solitary figure many people found impossible to forget.

One day, Chi Yi'an was forced to bind herself to a System.

The System told her that this was a story world. If she agreed to find all the evil bones and resurrect the Evil God, the System would help her improve her cultivation and increase her spiritual power.

But as the mission progressed, the chosen prodigies of the Six Realms slowly fell for her.

The genius senior brother of the cultivation world knelt on the ground, the corners of his eyes red. "Gently... it hurts..."

The taciturn, cold-blooded young lord of the demon realm pleaded earnestly, his posture humble. "Could you treat me a little differently than you treat the others?"

The brash, carefree heir to the demon realm gazed at her in a daze, his breathing growing ragged. "I feel awful. Help me..."

The snow-covered mountain-like Divine Venerable of the god realm arched his jade-white neck, his voice hoarse. "Please... give me more..."

*

By the later stages of the mission, the Six Realms had descended into complete chaos.

They threw the full might of their clans behind them into the fight, each striving to become the strongest and earn the right to share Chi Yi'an's bed.

At last, the evil bones were gathered, and they unexpectedly formed a sword. Though it was midsummer in June, snow fell from the sky like shattered jade.

A white-haired, frost-eyed man emerged from the snow and knelt on one knee, pressing a kiss to the back of Chi Yi'an's hand. "Master, I've finally found you."

As her memories of her previous life fully awakened, she finally remembered that this sharp, invincible sword and her heaven-defying cultivation should have belonged to her.

The prodigies who had been fighting so frantically suddenly realized that no matter how powerful they became, they could never surpass her.

The Six Realms laid down their arms, and peace finally returned to the world.

The others gathered and began negotiating.

"She and I were engaged."

"We grew up together."

"In my previous life, she and I were bound together. She sealed one of my souls in her spiritual platform."

After they'd finished, the Divine Venerable stroked his slightly rounded belly with a languid expression and said, "I've already conceived her child."

Everyone turned to stare at him in unison: ?!

*

Much later, the woman, once again seated at the pinnacle of power, suddenly realized that the men in this life seemed... impossible to get rid of.

Theme: Remain unbroken in adversity, and persevere.