Transmigrated as the Male Lead's Villainous Master - Chapter 3

When I woke the next morning, dawn had barely begun to lighten the sky.

Wen Jiangqiu was still fast asleep.

I left him undisturbed, pulled on an outer robe, and washed up.

The novel had not spent many words on Xiao Mengli, the demonic villain. Eighty percent of them were devoted to her appearance: seductive and wicked, dressed in red with hair as black as ink, a beauty no less dazzling than any woman in the male lead’s harem.

Even so, I froze when I saw the figure in the mirror. Slender brows arched over phoenix eyes; cherry lips and luminous skin completed a face so vivid it struck like a blaze of red peonies, impossible to look away from.

Without the strength to defend it, a face like this would have been dangerous.

I stepped outside.

New Moon Palace stood amid an inferno, encircled on every side by flame. At its heart lay a clear pool shaped like a crescent moon, dotted with rocky islands and jagged cliffs upon which the palace halls had been built.

In the cool morning breeze, I sat cross-legged at the edge of a precipice and swiftly reviewed the novel I had read three months ago—

*The Immortal Way*.

Its film and television adaptations happened to premiere at the same time. The film’s star was my roommate’s beloved idol, while the television lead was my cousin’s. To avoid being left ten thousand miles behind the cultural tide, I had read the book too.

In *The Immortal Way*, the male lead suffered terribly at first, then turned the tables. He became the disciple of Yuan Shuang, the foremost immortal in the realm, and ultimately united the Three Realms.

The story was wish fulfillment turned up to the heavens. Its audience was enormous; the franchise swept the country, and both adaptations cast popular young stars—one-in-ten-thousand beauties, heroic and sharp-browed.

But compared with Wen Jiangqiu…

They still fell short.

And Wen Jiangqiu was not even fully grown.

I could hardly imagine how elegant and otherworldly he would look in a few years.

Suddenly, his voice came from behind me. “Master?”

I turned.

The rising mountain wind sent my red robes billowing before they slowly settled. Wen Jiangqiu stood a short distance away. I smiled. “You’re awake? Come here.”

He paused, then slowly approached and sat beside me with proper deference.

“Jiangqiu, how long have you been at New Moon Palace?”

“Since birth, Master.”

Hm? That was different from the novel.

Puzzled, I asked, “Then… have your trials begun?”

“We will soon be going to the Myriad Serpents Pit.”

I exhaled in relief. There was still time to save him.

The story had several major turning points. Three months from now, Xiao Mengli would take the male lead and a group of newly accepted disciples to train at the Myriad Serpents Pit.

Training was merely the excuse. Her true purpose was to choose the strongest survivor. Xiao Mengli would throw every disciple into the pit and leave them to be torn apart by venomous snakes.

Unsurprisingly, only the male lead survived. Everyone else died horribly.

That ordeal began his descent into darkness. His childlike admiration for Xiao Mengli turned first to loathing, then hatred. When she later tried to invade the Immortal Realm, he defected without hesitation, entered the righteous path, and set the novel’s main plot in motion.

“Have you read the introductory manual I gave you?” I asked.

“I have.” Wen Jiangqiu bit his lip in embarrassment. “But this disciple is dull. After three months, I have made no progress at all.”

Of course you haven’t, I thought. That booklet is a sham.

Its only purpose was to plant a tracking mark and a binding spell on every disciple who recited it, preventing them from running away.

The night before, I had swept Xiao Mengli’s storage pouch and the entire palace with my spiritual sense. I found plenty of useful treasures, including cultivation manuals she had seized while slaughtering righteous cultivators. Wen Jiangqiu could use one of those.

After all, his future lay on the righteous path.

I took out a book. “Perhaps that method does not suit you. Try this one instead—the *Lihua Heart Sutra*. I will begin explaining it to you in half a month.”

And what would I do during that half month? Study first, of course. This teacher needed to familiarize herself with the body, the world’s foundations, and the distinctions between spiritual and demonic qi!

Wen Jiangqiu’s eyes lit up. He accepted the sutra in both hands. “Thank you, Master!”

Over the next several days, I started with the most elementary cultivation texts while searching for a way home.

I also wrestled with what to do about a future powerhouse like Wen Jiangqiu.

I considered cutting the problem off at the root and killing him while he was still weak. If I could not return home and truly had to spend the rest of my life here, he would become my greatest threat.

But some force seemed to protect him—what cultivators called the will of Heaven.

My eldest disciple, Fan Pai, for example, had repeatedly tried to kill Wen Jiangqiu in earnest. Yet not only did Wen Jiangqiu escape every time, he always came away with some rare opportunity.

Once, I watched Fan Pai shove him into the Abyss of Severance. Wen Jiangqiu climbed back out carrying several stalks of Soul-Sunder Grass.

Me: “…”

So this was the male lead’s luck. Excuse me for interfering.

There was another reason. At present, he was nothing but an innocent little flower. Even when Fan Pai and the others bullied him, he assumed he had done something wrong, reflected on his mistakes, and never complained.