Chapter 1 | After Courting Death and Faking My Demise, the Whole Sect Wants Revenge on Me

【No spirit beasts were harmed in this case】

【Please leave your brain at the door】

【This is not a strong female lead novel, please read the synopsis】

“Didn't I just give Eldest Senior Brother an aphrodisiac and make him perform a striptease for the entire sect?”

“Didn't I just roast Second Senior Sister's spirit beast into a beggar's chicken?”

“I was only worried that Fourth Junior Brother missed his parents, which is why I dug up their bones and put them in his room.”

“And Fifth Junior Sister's fiancé—I was just vetting him for her. Who knew he would fall in love with me?”

Inside the Discipline Hall, the eighteen Grand Elders glared like tigers eyeing their prey, the atmosphere as heavy as a mountain.

Song Yao knelt dejectedly in the center, completely giving up on herself. “Leaving everything else aside, is it possible they weren't at fault either?”

The leading elder's veins bulged on his forehead, his hair and beard bristling with rage. “They all suffered qi deviation because of you! They are still in seclusion right now! What could they possibly have done wrong?!”

If he hadn't brought it up, Song Yao might have stayed quiet, but this only fueled her arguments.

She began counting on her fingers, saying earnestly, “Eldest Senior Brother's waist is so flexible and his shoulders are so broad. He tempted me every day. Who knows if he secretly wanted to dance himself?”

“Second Senior Sister's spirit beast is so fat and kept running up to me. Who knows if it wanted to be eaten?”

“Fourth Junior Brother was depressed all day. What's wrong with helping him reunite with his family?”

“And Fifth Junior Sister complained every day that her fiancé was dry and unromantic. I solved her problem once and for all. Why isn't she thanking me?”

After listing everything, she looked up, seeking validation. “Can you really blame me for this?”

“You... you rebellious disciple! Pfft—”

“How dare you slander your fellow disciples like this! You!”

Sounds of vomiting blood and angry roars erupted one after another.

Song Yao looked in panic at the mentally broken elders, trying to placate them. “Stop spitting blood, we aren't allowed to set off fireworks indoors...”

“Song Yao!”

“Shut your mouth!”

Clearly, the eighteen elders had lost their minds again. Ignoring the blood trickling from their eyes and noses, they knelt in unison toward the phantom projection seated high above. “Hall Master, please be the judge! Ever since this rebel entered our sect, has our Nine Saints Hall had even a single day of peace?!”

“Who in the entire sect hasn't fallen victim to her evil schemes? Rumors are already spreading outside that our Nine Saints Hall has raised a demon who brings misfortune to her fellow disciples and elders. If not for her six months ago, you wouldn't have failed your breakthrough!”

“The Nine Saints Hall's fortune is declining daily, our people are divided, and we are beset by troubles from within and without—all because of her! We beg the Hall Master to severely punish this culprit to uphold the sect rules!”

The phantom projection high above coalesced into a human figure.

The Hall Master, who loved Song Yao the most, looked at her with eyes full of disappointment and heavy exhaustion. “The Earth Realm has been unstable lately, with rampant great demons. Several mortal cities have already suffered. As the third legacy disciple of the Nine Saints Hall, your cultivation is not weak, yet you have never put your mind to the righteous path.”

“This time, you will be dispatched to the Earth Realm to suppress the demon beasts—”

Before he could finish, several elders snapped their heads up.

The Earth Realm was incredibly perilous, and it was currently controlled by the Thousand Souls Academy. Although Song Yao was a once-in-a-millennium sword cultivation genius, how could she suppress the demons and evils all by herself?

The Hall Master also seemed reluctant. His brow furrowed slightly as he slowly walked down the steps and stopped in front of Song Yao.

Then he knelt down, looking at her at eye level, his voice carrying a trace of hope. “Yaoyao, do you really not know what you did wrong? If you are willing to admit your mistakes and reform, Master can...”

Song Yao blinked her eyes and interrupted him. “Master, actually, your waist is also quite slender. Do you want to learn the striptease too?”

“?”

Song Yao was slapped all the way to the Earth Realm.

The news of her death reached the Nine Saints Hall half a month later.

When she woke up again, a mechanical system voice sounded in her ear: 【Congratulations, Host! The villain task is complete, and the collective resentment level has reached 100%! The task reward has been issued. Wishing you good health and a bright future!】

Before Song Yao could even open her eyes, two streams of tears rolled down her cheeks.

Finally.

It was finally complete.

Ever since she was hit by a car and transmigrated five years ago, she had been a slave to the cultivation world.

Some dog system had appeared out of nowhere, claiming she was a malicious female supporting character. She had to torment the entire Nine Saints Hall to force them all to turn dark, thereby paving the way for the kind, sunshine male protagonist to win them over and heal the entire sect.

Yes.

A male protagonist.

This was an incredibly twisted, overpowered, pampered-boy harem novel.

Supposedly, by the end, the male protagonist would become the Hall Master of the Nine Saints Hall, with her senior and junior brothers working themselves to the bone as his right-hand men, while her senior and junior sisters naturally became his romantic confidantes.

To ensure the plot progressed smoothly, and with the system chasing her from behind with an electric baton, she had spent the past five years committing all sorts of atrocities and terrorizing everyone.

If even a single dog in the Nine Saints Hall hadn't turned dark, she would have considered it a failure on her part.

Fortunately, hard work paid off. Under her relentless self-sabotage, the entire sect came to view her as a thorn in their side, wishing for nothing more than to rid themselves of her.

Thus, she took the opportunity to die in the Earth Realm, successfully completing her mission.

However, the system had promised to give her a low-profile new identity to continue living in the cultivation world once the task was complete. What would this new identity be?

A low whimpering sound interrupted her thoughts.

Song Yao wiped her face and struggled to open her eyes.

Her gaze met a dimly lit woodshed, with four or five trembling boys and girls huddled in the corner.

Looking down, she saw she was wearing a coarse cloth shirt, and her stomach felt completely empty.

So hungry.

She felt like she would pass out from hunger any second.

What kind of awful identity did the system give her where she couldn't even get enough food or clothing?

She didn't even have the strength to stand up. After a moment's hesitation, she decided to cast aside her pride and crawled toward the youths in the corner on all fours. “Fellow compatriots, I wanted to ask...”

“Ahhh!!!”

“Ghost!!”

“Help!!!”

The ear-piercing screams stopped Song Yao dead in her tracks.

A ghost?

Her?

Before she could react, the rickety wooden door was kicked open with a loud bang.

An old man with a face full of pockmarks stood at the doorway, holding a blackened poker in his hand, his squinted eyes filled with malice. “What's all the racket! I can't even get a decent sleep!”

Mid-sentence, he turned and saw Song Yao, and the poker clattered to the ground.

The flesh on his face twitched, and a high-pitched, strained voice squeezed out of his throat. “Y-You... how are you awake?”

Song Yao gave him a friendly smile.

Unfortunately, this only terrified him more. He stumbled back two steps, shaking like a leaf. “Weren't you dead for half a year?! I... I dug you out of the grave myself! Are you a human or a ghost?!”

Song Yao: “...”

So, the dog system's new identity for her was a corpse that had been dead for six months and was freshly exhumed—

A dead person?

After working diligently for five years, this was her reward? Song Yao roared internally, “I want customer support!”

But just as she uttered a couple of words, her brain starved of oxygen from hunger, and her head lolled as she almost fainted.

On the contrary, the pockmarked old man snapped out of it. Remembering something, a sharp gleam flashed in his eyes. He grinned, revealing several rotting yellow-black teeth. “Who cares if you're human or ghost? A live one is worth more than a dead one. It just so happens the Master is hosting guests today! Pick two to serve!”

He quickly stepped forward, grabbing Song Yao by the back of her collar with one hand, then rummaged through the crowd to precisely grab the collar of the most violently trembling boy, dragging them both out.

Her back dragged across gravel and dry straw, burning with pain.

Amid the terrified pleas of the boy beside her, Song Yao caught a few key phrases and managed to piece together her current situation.

This place was likely a den of evil cultivators who kidnapped young men and women with spiritual roots to use as human vessels for cultivation.

No one who was taken to see the “Master” ever came back alive.

As a “corpse,” her utility wasn't as good as theirs, but she could barely suffice.

Those damn capitalists.

Truly shameless.

It was bad enough being a corpse, but did it have to be such a miserable one?

After working diligently like a beast of burden for five years, she was finally about to become a ghost herself.

As she cursed, she suddenly felt something off and scanned her body.

Her god-tier, max-level metal spiritual root was still there, and so was her inherited sword meridian!

Her cultivation hadn't decreased in the slightest.

However, these powers were completely suppressed by a serpent-patterned seal. The moment she tried to channel them, the seal activated, squeezing her internal organs like a giant hand.

Already physically weak, Song Yao grew dizzy with pain and almost blacked out.

Before she could catch her breath, her back bumped against a threshold, and the pockmarked old man's fawning voice echoed in her ears. “Master, the ingredients have been brought.”

Great.

She wasn't even a corpse anymore; she had been demoted to raw ingredients.

Song Yao forced a wry smile and assessed her meridians.

The metal spiritual root was unusable, but she still had an uncultivated wood spiritual root she could use. Combined with the mental cultivation methods and sword techniques she had learned over the years, she might be able to escape if she risked half her life.

Struggling to lift her eyelids, she saw a large cauldron sitting in the room.

Inside the cauldron, liquid bubbled and boiled, emitting steam and a foul stench. Beneath it lay several pieces of pale white bones.

Two people sat cross-legged on either side of the cauldron.

One was as thin as a bamboo pole, with sunken cheeks and bulging eyes that looked like dead fish eyes in the firelight. The other was short and fat as a ball, with a greasy smile on his face, holding a handful of talismans and feeding them under the cauldron.

Their cultivation levels didn't seem high, likely only at the Golden Core stage.

Back at the Nine Saints Hall, she had tormented experts at the Soul Transformation and Void Tempering realms. She couldn't possibly die at the hands of a few rogue cultivators.