Southern Nine Heavens Peak, First Summit.

  Today is November 4th, the day of the triennial recruitment ceremony. Every year at this time, countless people, driven by their desire to attain immortality and eternal life, climb the mountain steps, heading toward the summit.

  At the summit lies a renowned sect across Nine Heavens, the Formless Sect. If one can become a disciple of this sect, in time, most can undergo a profound transformation, becoming figures of great reverence.

  The pursuit of longevity techniques and other mystical arts is the lifelong goal of these individuals, while the revered status is merely a byproduct.

  Because once one masters the teachings of the Formless Sect, everything that was once out of reach becomes attainable.

  Looking at the expressions of the new recruits, some excited, some expectant, some fervent, Ying Wuyou couldn’t help but sigh, "Ah, youth."

  Although she wasn’t old herself, her outward appearance suggested she was only eighteen, full of youthful vigor. Such a remark, tinged with the weariness of age, seemed out of pce.

  It was only at the beginning of this year that she finally remembered her past life, a fresh graduate, barely a year out of university, toiling away in a company, crushed under the weight of the 996 work culture.

  One night, after working te, “he” suddenly bcked out. When “he” woke up, “she” found herself on a quaint, ancient street, transformed into a girl of six or seven years old, staring longingly at the steaming baskets of a bun shop.

  In typical historical dramas, the pitiful heroine would be chased away by a harsh shopkeeper. Ying Wuyou didn’t have a single copper coin to her name, so she quickly left before she could be driven off.

  Passing by a ke, she accidentally fell into the water. Just then, a painted boat sailed by, and a young woman dressed in bck, with bck hair and crimson eyes, threw out her sword to fish Ying Wuyou out.

  The woman stared at her face for a long time, then smiled with satisfaction.

  "I’ve never seen someone with such a terrible fate as yours. You’re truly a lone star of camity. Life must have been hard for you, hasn’t it?"

  Ying Wuyou didn’t quite understand what she meant, but she figured nodding was the right response. When the woman proposed taking her somewhere to become her disciple and learn some mystical arts, she nodded vigorously.

  The woman looked well-dressed, like someone of means. Being able to eat was all that mattered.

  Later, Ying Wuyou learned that the woman who took her in was Xiao Che, one of the inner elders of the Formless Sect at the First Summit, and that she had been on the boat to indulge in some drinking and merriment.

  Among all the elders, Xiao Che was the most unrestrained, cking the elegance and dignity expected of a cultivator. Every week, she would pick a couple of good days to descend the mountain.

  For years, Ying Wuyou had been cultivating as Xiao Che’s closed-door disciple. It wasn’t until st year, on the night of her seventeenth birthday, that she remembered she was a transmigrator.

  This world was actually the setting of an erotic open-world game called The Path to Immortality.

  The pyer took on the role of the game’s heroine, Shen Xibai, a girl born into a wealthy family but with an awkward status, the cssic romance novel setup.

  Her mother was of low birth and had passed away early, her father showed no affection, the current mistress targeted her, and her half-siblings often bullied her.

  Of course, that wasn’t the end of her misery. To make the ter plot more satisfying, the scriptwriter made Shen Xibai’s life even more tragic.

  Her inferior spiritual root made her only slightly better than those with useless spiritual roots.

  Disciples with inferior roots couldn’t enter the inner sect and had to remain as outer disciples. Xiao Che, who loved taking in all sorts of unfortunate children, couldn’t resist and took her from the outer sect elder, making her the only inner disciple with an inferior root in the entire Formless Sect, as well as Ying Wuyou’s junior sister.

  This is where the story begins.

  However, after transmigrating into the game, Ying Wuyou didn’t become the heroine. Instead, she became one of the main characters, the antagonist, the second female lead. Using her status as the senior sister, she bullied the pitiful, mb-like junior sister relentlessly.

  In one of the 18+ side plots, there was even a scene where Ying Wuyou and Shen Xibai engaged in dual cultivation, and in one night, Shen Xibai experienced the world of adulthood, transforming from an innocent girl into a woman.

  The dynamic CG, voice acting, script, and music all reached new heights, making Ying Wuyou momentarily revel in the feeling of bullying her junior sister.

  But the consequences of antagonizing the heroine were dire.

  When Shen Xibai worked hard to become a revered Daoist, Ying Wuyou, who had bullied her, was disgraced and despised, eventually consumed by her inner demons.

  She was besieged and annihited by various sects, dying in the arms of her master, Xiao Che, filled with regret.

  Realizing her future was so bleak, Ying Wuyou decided to stay far away from the heroine, preferably never crossing paths again.

  She pulled out a treasure from the game’s setting, a celestial artifact called the Book of Omniscience.

  This item was essentially a cheat tool. By sacrificing a bit of qi to ask it a question, one could predict certain events. This was also her golden finger which appeared after she learned about her past life.

  "Now tell me, where is Shen Xibai? I just want to be a good person and peacefully make it through the three years until she leaves the mountain. If you dare mislead me, I’ll burn you to ashes."

  The Book of Omniscience looked like an ordinary thread-bound book, with a dark blue cover and slightly yellowed pages. It was empty inside, and words written in ink would only appear when asked a question.

  It was a book that answered questions, though sometimes it would pyfully give misleading answers.

  Today, the book was in a good mood and had received the qi it desired, so it showed no signs of mischief.

  [Take the path through the bamboo forest at the back mountain to avoid meeting her, or fly westward on your sword. Choose one.]

  The path through the bamboo forest at the back mountain was remote and difficult to traverse.

  It had rained the night before, and disciples who didn’t know mystical arts often fell and got injured. Flying on her sword was a bit taxing, but it was better than running into the heroine, the harbinger of misfortune.

  Speaking of misfortune, she was somewhat one herself. Two harbingers of misfortune colliding would only make an already unfortunate life worse.

  "I haven’t been down the mountain in a while. I’ll send a carrier pigeon to the Master ter. She probably won’t be mad."

  Staying on the mountain made Ying Wuyou feel like she was sitting on pins and needles.

  There was no rule that the senior sister had to be present on the day new disciples joined.

  Later, she could buy a few jars of Pure Talk (Qingliao) wine to offer to her master, and after some sweet-talking, the matter would be forgotten.

  Ying Wuyou drew the sword from her back, letting it hover a dozen centimeters above the ground.

  She stepped lightly onto it, and the bde automatically widened, supporting her body as it flew westward into the misty sky.

  As long as she didn’t run into Shen Xibai, all tragedies could be avoided.

  "Which girl should I invite for a drink today?"

  Ying Wuyou’s mind fshed with images of several stunningly beautiful women, completely oblivious to the person flying toward her.

  A fair-skinned, beautiful girl, about her age, with flowing light-gray hair, dressed in casual civilian clothes, was wobbling forward on a practice flying sword used by Formless Sect disciples.

  The girl looked more and more familiar.

  "Wait… isn’t that the heroine?"