How Come All My Free-Range Disciples Became Main Characters?

[Going premium on November 12. Thank you all for your support~]

[New novel: Horror Game Harem? Not Even a Dog Would Want That! Now open]

[Imaginary wuxia setting + transported into a game + supporting characters retain memories across multiple playthroughs + secret identities + everyone loves the protagonist + daily life raising disciples]

College student Shu Zimo suddenly found himself inside the wuxia RPG game he'd once been obsessed with. Desperate to get home, he decided to finish the story and make a quick getaway.

With help from the System, he unified the martial world in one playthrough and speedran the martial arts overlord route. Nothing happened.

Unconvinced, he promptly switched save files and started a second playthrough on the demonic path to become its leader. Still, nothing happened.

After repeated attempts to get home failed, Shu Zimo gave up and fled to a remote mountain village, where he raised a few little brats as disciples for fun.

Steal a chicken leg with Big Yellow from the village entrance;

Take his little disciples up trees to collect bird eggs and down to the river to catch fish;

Every now and then, enjoy a sweet rice wine dumpling made by an auntie.

Wasn't this little life way more fun than all the fighting and killing in the martial world? But... why were his disciples getting stranger and stranger as he raised them?

Shu Zimo opened the System panel and took a look:

The senior sister, on the path of revenge for her family, wiped out;

The second senior brother, a good-for-nothing on the path of rising from the ashes and getting revenge;

The third junior sister, on the martial arts version of the illegitimate daughter's face-slapping path;

The fourth junior brother, a villain reborn to reclaim everything.

So my disciples are the protagonists, and I'm just a background-character master?!

Meanwhile, he had no idea that people all over the martial world were searching for him.

The gentle former senior brother, a black-hearted lotus who wasn't entirely kind; his friend, the new martial arts overlord, turned against him over their differences; the Demon Cult's arrogant Left Guardian, who acted like a mad dog, and its sinister, cunning Right Guardian, who was like a snake...

At first, everyone thought this was just another restart, a chance to go back to the beginning and fairly compete for a place at his side.

But when Shu Zimo actually vanished from the world, everyone started to panic.

Who kidnapped my righteous-path/demonic-path white-moonlight big shot?!!!

Reader's note:

1. The male lead is like a big shot who's retired to enjoy his life. The people around him are all hopelessly in love with him, but he'll go home in the end.

2. Slow-paced slice-of-life at the start, with a warm master-disciple bond. Please be gentle about any logic issues. Updates follow the rankings before the premium chapters begin, then daily updates afterward (as much as possible). The story is fully outlined.

Also, check out my completed older novel, I'm Just a Tavern Owner, Who Says I'm the Savior?

And my new upcoming novel, I'm Not Talented, Just a Mere Body for Mastering All Swords. Blurb:

[Funny and lighthearted + everyone loves the chosen one + sword cultivator + face-slapping power fantasy + invincible protagonist + cultivation]

The world is in chaos, and monsters and demons run rampant.

Everyone knows that Xie Zhaoyuan, the Heavenly Profound Sword Venerable, failed to overcome his tribulation, developed inner demons, and fell into becoming a traitor to humanity, before finally being killed by the combined efforts of the Immortals of Guiyang Sect.

But no one knows that on the night the demons were supposedly vanquished, a young villager opened his eyes. He was still holding a broken sword.

After working hard for several hundred years, he was betrayed by his own people at the very end, only to return to the time before he began cultivating. Xie Zhaoyuan wasn't in a hurry to seek revenge. He focused on living a lazy life.

But then some fools came looking for trouble. The elders of Guiyang Sect had gone to great lengths to get rid of a Heavenly Profound Sword Venerable who came from a humble background, only to turn around and discover that another sword-cultivation genius had appeared from some unknown corner.

Before they could make the first move, the man brazenly entered Guiyang Sect's selection trials and started flaunting himself right under their noses.

They used every scheme and trick they could think of, but Xie Zhaoyuan came through without a scratch, and his cultivation kept rising.

So they used their old trick again and branded him a traitor to the human realm, ordering his execution on the spot!

Xie Zhaoyuan merely smiled at the crowd assembled against him and raised the broken sword in his hand.

In the next instant, every sword in their hands rang out and flew from its owner's grasp to his side. Even their blades turned aggressively toward their former owners.

Xie Zhaoyuan spread his hands. Sorry, I'm not talented, just a mere body for mastering all swords.

One sword splits mountains and rivers, shattering all laws.

Two swords cut through the clouds, destroying heaven and earth.

When all swords submit, they bow to just one person.

After the upheaval at Guiyang Sect, Xie Zhaoyuan regained his peak and led ten thousand swords against the monster tide, restoring peace to the world. He was only one step away from attaining the Dao and ascending.

People speculated that the broken sword still had some unfinished business.

As soon as the news spread, the spirits of the divine swords began competing for Xie Zhaoyuan's favor in every way they could. Today, the Frost Sword would charge ahead to slay demons. Tomorrow, the Bone River Sword would stay by his side, refusing to leave its master's protection.

Xie Zhaoyuan found it both amusing and exasperating.

Just as the rivalry was heating up and before he could step in to explain what was really going on,

The broken sword, Yuyuan, which had never left his side, shook violently and sent the divine swords flying as they tried to press themselves against Xie Zhaoyuan.

A tall, muscular young man slowly appeared, his body covered in frightening scars. His dark eyes, hidden beneath long bangs, looked only at the person behind him.

"My master. Mine. All of you, go."

A carefree sword cultivator on the receiving end × a steady, devoted sword as the top

Reader's note:

1. One-on-one, both characters are each other's first. The plot-to-romance ratio is roughly 6:4.

2. Everyone is obsessed with the protagonist on the receiving end.

3. Updates follow the rankings before the premium chapters begin, then daily updates afterward.

Archived June 2, 2026

Theme: To light the way for others, you must shine yourself