Hearing the villainous lines straight out of the script, Yan Zhen actually felt a strange sense of familiarity.
Now this was more like it—the perfect mindless mob attitude, so vividly real.
Unlike Yan Meng’er…
“Shut up!” Yan Meng’er released Yan Zhen and rose from the ground. She turned around, placing herself protectively between him and the others. “No one speaks ill of Cousin Yan Zhen from now on. If I hear even a word of it, you’ll end up just like this tree!”
With those words, Yan Meng’er flipped her palm over. A golden glow flickered faintly in her palm.
She slammed it into the nearby ornamental tree. Crack! The trunk, thick as a bowl’s rim, snapped in two. The broken end was covered in charred marks.
The sheer power of the display drained the color from the faces of the two loudmouths. Their lips trembled.
“This is… a Mystic Technique?”
“Meng’er actually learned a Mystic Technique?”
Murmurs rippled through the training grounds. No one dared to criticize Yan Zhen anymore—they were utterly cowed.
The gap in combat prowess between those who had mastered a Mystic Technique and those who hadn’t was like heaven and earth!
At their age, everyone ought to focus on building up their mystic power cultivation to scrape a passing grade on the cultivation test. Yet Yan Meng’er had not only left them in the dust at Mystic Disciple Eighth Stage but had also picked up a solid Mystic Technique!
What monstrous talent!
Yan Zhen stared in shock. It wasn’t her Mystic Technique that floored him, but the fact that it felt like she was flexing right in front of him—the protagonist. He hadn’t even gotten his moment yet!
What the heck?
“Cousin Yan Zhen, let’s go. Meng’er will walk you back.”
Yan Meng’er took Yan Zhen’s hand once more. She led the dazed youth, who looked as if he were sleepwalking, away from the training grounds under the crowd’s bizarre stares.
Yan Zhen stayed silent the whole way, but his mind raced as he chatted anxiously with the system.
“Found the cause yet, System?”
【Don’t worry, host. This system is investigating diligently… Ding! Anomaly detected.】
“What anomaly?”
【Summoning the host to role-play the protagonist has caused minor shifts in the world line, influencing plot progression to a degree.】
“Ah, crap… So what do I do?”
【Relax, host. Just ensure the overall plot stays true to the original.】
“But how?”
【You got this, host! This system is here for you anytime, mua~】
And with that, the system fell silent, leaving behind only a blank interface.
God damn it!
Yan Zhen itched to yank the damn thing out and give it a thrashing.
What now? He’d have to figure it out himself.
“Cousin Yan Zhen, you’ve been so quiet. Are you angry?”
Yan Meng’er’s voice pulled Yan Zhen back to the present. The girl looked timid and fragile now, a far cry from the fierce figure who’d just splintered a tree and silenced the clan.
“Back there, Meng’er got carried away and said some things without thinking. If it upset you, I’m sorry. Meng’er didn’t mean any harm—she just hated hearing those awful words…”
“Ahem.” Yan Zhen cleared his throat. “Look, I can head back alone. Mind letting go?”
Yan Meng’er’s lovely eyes widened a touch. Then, with obvious reluctance, she released his hand. Her shoulders slumped.
“I’m sorry. Meng’er was too forward.”
“See you.”
Yan Zhen brushed past her with a blank expression and returned to his courtyard.
Yan Meng’er watched his cold retreating back, tears brimming in her eyes once more.
She sniffed hard, dashed the tears away, and her face set with resolve.
The girl had steeled herself long ago. No matter how coldly Yan Zhen treated her, she’d fight to win his forgiveness and rebuild their bond.
She wanted to make things right with him.
She wanted to stay by his side forever.
That was the reason for her second chance at life!
“In a few days, that woman will come to the Yan Family to call off the engagement. I have to patch things up with Cousin Yan Zhen before then, or I won’t even have a pretext to comfort him… Big Sis won’t be back for a year, so I have to look out for him in her place too!”
…
“Sigh~”
Yan Zhen flopped backward onto his bed with a frustrated thud, sprawling amid the sheets.
Gazing up at the unfamiliar bed canopy and nestled in unfamiliar bedding, he felt nothing but agitation.
He’d figured playing the protagonist would be a cakewalk. Instead, he’d stumbled right out of the gate, and the unreliable system wasn’t helping!
Miserable.
Yan Zhen’s delicate heart curled up in defeat, but he knew the die was cast. No backing out now—he had to keep up the act.
Even with these curveballs, he’d roll with them and steer the plot back on course.
Otherwise, world collapse meant game over for him.
“Sigh~”
Steeling himself, Yan Zhen summoned the system interface. To his surprise, the plot completion degree sat at 100%.
That fired him up.
Full completion meant rewards.
Rubbing his hands eagerly, Yan Zhen claimed them with due ceremony.
【Congratulations, host! You’ve obtained ‘Trump Card (First Order) ×1’ and ‘Cultivation Gift Pack ×1’. Delivered to your inventory.】
“Trump Card?”
A thought brought up its description.
【Trump Card (First Order): An omnipotent card for protagonists only. Turns the tide in pivotal moments. Effective only below Mystic Practitioner.】
Yan Zhen got the gist from the description, though not every detail.
It was like a “lifesaver.”
Say he got hit with deadly poison—bam, cured.
Or tumbled off a cliff by mishap—survival guaranteed.
Bottom line: a protagonist’s ace for dodging disasters and untimely ends.
But it was just First Order. Once he hit Mystic Practitioner and became a Mystic Scholar, it’d fizzle out.
His Mystic Disciple Third Stage was a long way from that, though.
Mystic cultivators on the Mystic Heaven Continent spanned ten great realms:
Mystic Practitioner, Mystic Scholar, Mystic Master, Mystic General, Mystic King, Mystic Lord, Mystic Ancestor, Mystic Venerable, Mystic Saint, Emperor(Imperial Sovereign)!
Mystic Disciple counted as the beginner stage, or preparatory realm—not one of the ten.
【Cultivation Gift Pack: Initial funds of ten million Crystal Coins, First-Order Mystic Pill Selection, First-Order Mystic Artifact Selection, universal Mystic Technique ‘Mystic Body Technique’.】
“Ten million Crystal Coins?”
Yan Zhen’s eyes bulged. That rivaled a city lord’s yearly taxes, yet the system called it mere “initial funds.”
—Sweet!
Pleased, Yan Zhen stowed the items away. But a fresh puzzle nagged at him.
“Yan Meng’er totally went off-script, so how’d plot completion hit 100%?”
Original script: She ignores him, crushes his heart, and he slinks off alone to sulk. Reality: She flips, apologizes with tears, cows the crowd, defends his honor—total derailment!
【Host, the plot’s fine. You, the protagonist, did part from childhood sweetheart Yan Meng’er and trudge back alone to sulk in your room.】
“That counts?”
Yan Zhen gaped at the system’s logic.
【Fulfilling the role-playing requirement completes the plot.】
“Gotcha. Makes sense.”
【Such a genius, host.】
“Hey, take that back!”
No use bickering with code.
Yan Zhen crashed back onto the bed for a nap. A “knock-knock-knock” roused him later.
The system prompt showed chapter two of the novel was up.
Not a critical scene, so he could wing it or skip.
Skipping was peak civilization.
But Yan Zhen was a pro. He slapped his face to focus, slipped into character, and opened the door.
Hey, if it looks like a duck, sounds like a duck, and flies like a duck, so long as you hide the extra-dimensional eldritch mouth-tentacles, it’s still a duck, right?
☝🏼🤔, yeah you’re right