Chapter 1 | Transmigrated Into a Book: I Stole the Female Lead by Playing the Young Miss

Shen Qingci's death was sudden and exceptionally pathetic.

Seventy-two hours of continuous, back-to-back overtime had drained the last ounce of her vitality. In the cold glow of her computer screen, her heart had quietly stopped.

In the final second before her consciousness slipped away, the image flashing before her eyes was still the seventh draft of the proposal on her monitor, along with the client's suffocating demand: “Let's optimize it just a bit more.”

If there was a next life, she would never be a damn game planner again!

Just as this thought crossed her mind, a splitting headache surged over her, as if someone were hammering at her skull all night long.

A massive flood of unfamiliar memory fragments rushed into her mind along with the pain: rumors of the Azure Cloud Sect's disciple recruitment assembly, the original host's turbulent life as a wandering rogue cultivator, and the sheer embarrassment of having just spent half her life savings to book a room.

With the Azure Cloud Sect's recruitment assembly just around the corner, inn prices had skyrocketed. A third-class single room cost a whopping one hundred low-grade spirit stones. The original host's entire savings amounted to just over two hundred, leaving her with no choice but to grit her teeth and book the room...

【Ding! Detecting host soul fluctuations. Binding in progress...】

【Binding successful!】

【Welcome, Host, to the world of Nine Heavens Palace. This is the territory of the Azure Cloud Sect in the Southern Region. Current timeline: one day before the Azure Cloud Sect's disciple recruitment assembly.】

Shen Qingci suddenly opened her eyes, her chest heaving violently. What met her gaze was the simple and crude furnishings of the third-class guest room. Though the wooden table and chairs were free of dust, they looked worn. The dim, golden light of dusk filtered through the window frame, casting faint shadows on the floor.

She pushed herself up in bed and looked down at her hands. They were fair and slender, without a single trace of the calluses she had developed from typing on a keyboard in her past life.

Combining this with the memories that had just flooded her mind, she realized what had happened.

She had transmigrated into a book!

As a planner who had spent years immersed in the gaming industry, it took Shen Qingci only three seconds to digest this absurd reality, and another two to calmly accept it—a speed faster than accepting a client's eighth revision request.

However, as the emotions belonging to the original host welled up from her memory, she couldn't help but clench her fists.

Orphaned, possessing a mixed spiritual root, and a rogue cultivator. In this dog-eat-dog cultivation world, she was lower than an ant.

Shen Qingci took a deep breath and relaxed her fingers.

The system had mentioned that this was the world of Nine Heavens Palace. In her previous life, she had happened to work on its marketing campaign. She had flipped through it several times to find points to criticize, so she remembered the general plot fairly well.

She recalled it was a standard power-fantasy novel. The male lead, Lu Beichen, started as a loser. He was publicly humiliated when his fiancée broke off their engagement, only to immediately test positive for a single spiritual root at the recruitment assembly, launching his overpowered journey.

With his heaven-defying luck, all kinds of opportunities and treasures practically threw themselves into his arms, leaving others completely unable to compete.

In the end, the male lead trampled over the geniuses of the heavens and gathered a harem of beauties. And the main “beauty” he held in the palm of his hand was Chi Yuan, the personal disciple of Sword Venerable Jinglian and the acknowledged number-one beauty of the Southern Region.

Chi Yuan's role in the story could be summed up in one word: tragic. She was misunderstood by the male lead, subjected to his cold violence, and had her heart physically gouged out to use her blood to save his white moonlight. Even on her deathbed, she had to force a smile and say, “I don't blame you anymore.”

When she first read that part, Shen Qingci had been so furious she almost threw her newly bought phone against the wall. She absolutely loathed trashy plots that used female sacrifice as a stepping stone.

Yet now, she had transmigrated into this very trash novel. What was even more ridiculous was that she had become an absolute nobody—neither a female lead nor a supporting character, not even a minor character with actual dialogue.

In the original work, there was zero description of this body. Her sole purpose was to squeeze into the crowd during the Azure Cloud Sect's recruitment assembly, contributing to half a line of background noise with the phrase: “Someone in the crowd gasped.”

“Wonderful,” Shen Qingci muttered, her lips curving into a cold smile. “This starting point is even lower than my life as a corporate slave.”

【Ding! System notice: Please do not be discouraged, Host. You have bound the “Drama Queen Gacha System”. This system will help you change your destiny!】

A translucent panel unfolded before Shen Qingci's eyes.

【Host】: Shen Qingci

【Current Identity】: Rogue Cultivator Nobody (No sect, no family, no background)

【Luck Value】: 1 (Standard for a nobody. Male lead Lu Beichen's current Luck Value: 999)

【Reputation Value】: 0

【Current Realm】: Qi Refining Level 3 (The foundation left by the original host)

【Spiritual Root】: Mixed Spiritual Root (A tiny bit of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth; the lowest aptitude in the cultivation world)

Shen Qingci stared at the numbers on the panel and fell silent for a long moment.

【Qi Refining Level 3, Mixed Spiritual Root, Luck Value 1.】

Meanwhile, the male lead Lu Beichen's initial luck was a whopping nine hundred and ninety-nine times hers.

“System,” she said, “are you here to help me change my fate, or did you come specifically to laugh at me?”

【Ding! Detecting the host's first activation of the system. Awarding a Newbie Gift Pack: one free ten-pull. Would you like to use it immediately?】

A sudden light flickered in the depths of Shen Qingci's eyes.

Here it was—the standard cheat code for transmigrators.

“Use it immediately.”

A massive illusion of a roulette wheel appeared before her eyes, its golden pointer spinning rapidly.

The wheel was divided into different colored zones: gold for “Legendary,” purple for “Epic,” blue for “Rare,” and white for “Common.” In the very corner was a small, dusty gray strip that read, “Thank you for playing.”

The pointer began to slow down.

【First pull—!】

A burst of purple light exploded, and the purple zone on the wheel glowed with a blinding brilliance.

【Congratulations, Host! You have obtained: Lightning Spiritual Root (replaces your original spiritual root upon use).】

The Lightning Spiritual Root was a mutated spiritual root superior to the standard five elements. Among them, lightning was the most domineering and rare, possessing an offensive power that reigned supreme among its peers. In the entire original novel, only a handful of top-tier geniuses possessed it.

【Second pull—!】

Purple light flashed again.

【Congratulations, Host! You have obtained: Earth-grade High-rank Cultivation Method 《Nine Heavens Lightning Control True Art》.】

It was actually a matching set! The cultivation method perfectly suited the Lightning Spiritual Root, and its grade was not low. The cultivation methods in this world were divided into four grades: Heaven, Earth, Black, and Yellow, with each grade further divided into high, mid, and low ranks. An Earth-grade High-rank cultivation method was valuable enough to make even the Supreme Elders of the Azure Cloud Sect slaughter one another for it.

【Third pull—! Congratulations, Host! You have obtained: Mid-grade Spirit Stone × 20,000.】

Blue light.

Practical. The hard currency of the cultivation world.

【Fourth pull—! Congratulations, Host! You have obtained: Black-grade Mid-rank Armor • Thunder-Pattern Soft Armor.】

Blue light.

Information surfaced in Shen Qingci's mind: The Thunder-Pattern Soft Armor, tanned from the hide of a thunder beast and worn beneath one's clothes, could withstand a full-force blow from anyone below the Nascent Soul stage. It also provided an extra boost to lightning-based spells.

【Fifth pull—! Congratulations, Host! You have obtained: Black-grade Low-rank Technique 《Lightning Flash》.】

Blue light.

A movement technique. Once mastered, it allowed the user to transform into a flash of lightning and teleport within a range of ten zhang, making it an excellent life-saving tool.