The Doomed Master's Survival Guide - Chapter 1

Outside the window, all was dark. Only the flickering candle lit the room.

The young man knelt before me, clothes in disarray, his snowy face flushed the red of sunset. Little dragon horns had sprouted uncontrollably through his black hair. Looking closely, I could even see soft down on them.

He gritted his teeth, his emerald eyes shining with drug-induced tears. Yet his gaze remained cool, as though he already knew what I intended to do.

Calm. Indifferent. His back was straight, and he still carried the chill of a green pine standing in deep snow.

The Immortal-Binding Rope held him fast, leaving him barely able to move.

The white dragon had fallen on hard times. His pride remained unbroken.

With a slightly trembling hand, I picked up my teacup and took a sip, doing my best to look composed.

Oh. Good tea.

I took another sip before remembering what I was here to do.

Have my way with him.

No, wait. Protect him.

I had transmigrated into a melodramatic novel about a tormented romance called Nowhere to Run, My Aloof Dragon Lord.

The young man with dragon horns was called Qianyuan. Judging by the title, he was the protagonist.

An unattainable flower brought down from his pedestal. Countless people wanted to pluck him.

That included the master whose body I now occupied—the one who would kick the bucket early in the story. She had tried all sorts of tricks to force the young man before me to submit.

To prevent me from doing the same, my newly booted-up system promptly slapped a few large words above Qianyuan’s head.

[Protect the Unattainable Flower.]

[Pursuers driven away: 0/10.]

I was speechless.

So I was working security in a different world now?

I took another sip of tea and cleared my throat, casting about for something to say. “Little dragon—pah, Little Yuan. How’s your training coming along?”

Faint cracks appeared in Qianyuan’s expressionless mask.

He watched me with those glistening eyes for a moment, struggling to steady his breathing. “Master, your disciple’s skills are inadequate. I still have much to learn of the Dao.”

Feeling rather guilty, I coughed twice and put on a stern face. “Cultivation is a serious matter. Carelessness is the greatest of faults. Consider tonight a warning from your master, and a small punishment. Do you understand your mistake?”

“I do.”

The young dragon lowered his eyes. As if trained to do so, he bent forward and pressed his forehead firmly to the floor.

His silvery-white horns brushed the dust. At last, he looked a little disheveled.

My mouth twitched almost imperceptibly, and my guilt deepened. Feigning irritation, I waved my sleeve and recalled the Immortal-Binding Rope. “Spend tonight reflecting on your conduct in Qingxin Pool.”

Then I used my qi to toss him back into the pool.

A moment later, I studied the end of the rope in my hand, puzzled.

Huh?

What had burned through it?

Early the next morning, someone knocked on my door.

I shot upright.

And pulled something in my lower back.

After tossing the young dragon out of sight the night before, I had stayed up studying the novel. Its sheer absurdity had nearly killed me on the spot.

The villainous master was a bit of background scenery, alive only in flashbacks.

My purpose was to be the stinking rock in a latrine that people could haul out and stomp on whenever the occasion called for it.

To be fair, what she had done thoroughly deserved a good spit or two.

When the white dragon was young, she had cursed him to seal his powers and severed his meridians, preventing him from practicing normal cultivation arts. She hoped this would force Qianyuan to give himself to her.

What she hadn’t counted on was the sheer power of his bloodline. His meridians eventually grew back by brute force, and he broke through her seal as well.

The master duly met her end.

If I’d arrived earlier, I could have enjoyed raising him.

Unfortunately, the dragon boy was already taller than me when he stood, and mentally mature too. All I could do now was keep well away from him and finish my mission.

The System had promised to send me home once I completed it.

Ideally, I would finish before the dragon killed me.

Failing that, I would run like hell before his meridians healed.

I had only just fallen asleep after finishing the book. My dreams had been full of its plot—and my own bizarre death.

So now, faced with his exquisitely beautiful, otherworldly face, I had no improper thoughts left. Only one instruction:

Be a good security guard.

“What is it, Little Yuan?”

One hand supporting my back and the other braced against the door, I asked him with the weary face of someone who had seen too much.

“Martial Aunt Buzhi is here.” He bowed obediently as he reported this, apparently holding no grudge over last night’s treatment.

Beautiful red silk was woven through his black hair. His waist curved like a scimitar.

I had no attention to spare for the beauty before me. My eyes went wide, and I snapped fully awake.

Here she was. Pursuer number one!

“Quick, quick! Show her in!”