Chapter 8: Black Dragon Rending the Heavens (Part 3): The Cat Official Wants to Learn Immortal Arts to Defeat You! Part 1

She struggled to get down, but her arm and leg joints were stuck, making it temporarily impossible to free herself. Shang Shan shouted angrily, “You’re going back on your word and breaking your promise! I want to end the apprenticeship!”

Mu Qian Tan sat up straight and gradually calmed down. “What were you doing standing at the head of my bed?”

Shang Shan yelled, “I want to end the apprenticeship! I want to go home!”

The grand hall was too vast and empty, her voice echoing endlessly within it. Mu Qian Tan frowned slightly, climbed down from the coffin lid, and walked over to her. “Answer my question. What were you just about to do?”

Shang Shan’s eyes went wide. “What else could I do? You brought me here but then ignored me. This place is so huge—where am I supposed to sleep? Can’t I even ask?”

Any ordinary person seeing such a pitiful little girl would soften and want to treat her better. But Mu Qian Tan’s expression didn’t change; she remained cold as ice. “You could sleep on the ground in a cave. There are plenty of places to sleep here. Why ask so many questions?”

Shang Shan said, “That’s different! No one sleeps on the ground after going home… Never mind that. You hit me again! That’s too much. I want to end the apprenticeship!”

Mu Qian Tan said, “Fine. If you can beat me, you’re free to go.”

Shang Shan froze, then struggled again. “You haven’t taught me anything yet, and you want me to fight you? How can I win?”

Because of her movements, pebbles began to fall with a rustle again. Mu Qian Tan glanced at the ground. “If you can’t win, then stay put obediently. Clean up the ground yourself later.”

With that, she turned and headed back toward the jade coffin. She wanted to rest a bit more.

But just halfway there, a creaking sound came from behind her as cracks spread across the wall. Something crashed to the ground. Then a cool breeze blew in. She dodged to the side, and Shang Shan, who slipped on the shattered stones and lost her footing, ended up pouncing into empty air and falling flat.

She fell hard. Mu Qian Tan’s heart skipped a beat as she lowered her eyelashes. “…Why bother.”

Shang Shan turned her head and saw the woman’s ice-blue hem and spotless white boots. She was already the type to explode at the slightest spark. After repeatedly slapping her hot face against cold indifference and getting hit on top of it, her pent-up frustration erupted in an instant.

She pushed off the ground with both hands and leaped up, gritting her teeth. “I don’t care anymore! Let’s fight right now!”

As she said this, she reached for her waist to grab some gold particles and stuff them into her mouth.

Getting burned by dragon flame was far worse than being bitten. Mu Qian Tan immediately nodded. A rope slid out from her storage pouch into her palm. Infused with spiritual power, it snaked around the girl several times before suddenly tightening, binding her securely. The end of the rope fell into Mu Qian Tan’s hand.

“Don’t move.”

They were very close. Shang Shan could only look up at her. She didn’t hide her indignation, but the anger that had been so clear on her face moments ago cooled down.

Mu Qian Tan thought to herself: This calm, calculating expression had appeared once before at the Liu Residence—right after getting beaten too.

The black hand over her heart trembled. Its eyes narrowed and then opened.

Li Biyuan’s voice trembled. ‘Auntie… could you be a little gentler with the female protagonist? Even the original host’s master never hit her like this. If you two make such an ugly scene, how is the plot supposed to progress afterward?’

Mu Qian Tan said, ‘Wasn’t she the one who startled me first?’

Li Biyuan said, ‘Ah, yes, but… you’re her elder. Can’t you overlook a junior’s little mistake?’

Whether before or after transmigrating, this body’s age and her soul’s were both twenty-seven, while the female protagonist had just turned fifteen—a full cycle older. By age alone, ignoring appearances, calling her “Auntie” wouldn’t be out of place.

Mu Qian Tan said, ‘If she doesn’t respect her elders first, how can I lo—’

Shang Shan suddenly spoke up. “Did you take me as your disciple for some other purpose?”

The question struck at the core. Mu Qian Tan immediately looked down, meeting her gaze. Deep in those pitch-black pupils, faint flames still burned, though the surface was calm.

“You get no benefit from taking me as your disciple, and you don’t seem to want to teach me anything right now.” Shang Shan grew more fluent. “And at the start, you clearly saw me for the first time but knew who I was. All of this is so strange, like you approached me with some agenda.”

Mu Qian Tan gripped the end of the rope tightly. “I consulted a star official and divined that you and I are fated to be master and disciple, so I sought you out.”

At those four words, ripples rose in the girl’s eyes again. She raised her voice. “But you broke your promise. You said you wouldn’t hit me, yet you still attacked me.”

Mu Qian Tan said, “Don’t sneak up on me next time, and you won’t get hit.”

Shang Shan huffed and stared straight at her. “But I don’t believe your words anymore.”

She was clearly fishing for a firm vow. Mu Qian Tan saw through it but still glanced up slightly at the Golden Hall’s ceiling and sighed. “Whatever.”

Then she added, “Just stay put obediently. Do what I tell you, don’t ask questions, and don’t bother me. Can you manage that?”

Shang Shan said, “No master-disciple pair gets along like this.”

Mu Qian Tan’s patience ran out, her tone sharpening. “So what do you want?”

Shang Shan twisted a bit, straightening her back as much as possible and lifting her chin. “I want you to talk to me properly, never hit me again, and tell me everything we’re doing next.”

Mu Qian Tan said, “Denied.”

Shang Shan cried out in disbelief. “Why!”

The echo reverberated through the hall until it faded.

The silence stretched on. Half of Mu Qian Tan’s face was shrouded in shadow, the lit half too cold and detached to read her emotions.

A moment later, she flipped her palm, looped the rope around her hand, and yanked hard, instantly closing the distance between them.

Fine shards of spiritual light dotted the woman’s eyes as she said lowly, “I really don’t get what you’re aggrieved about.”

The voice and tone were stranger than any Shang Shan had heard before. She blinked. “What?”

Mu Qian Tan said, “What do you have to feel aggrieved about? You’re the female protagonist. Your victory is written for you. Even if you stray, the end is still glorious. You’ll win in the end anyway, with the whole world catering to you. Not satisfied yet?”

She had wanted to say this not long after arriving in this world, but she’d had some patience left then and held back. Now it was worn away; she said whatever came to mind.

Shang Shan shook her head instinctively at the baffling words. “I don’t understand…”

“Yeah, you know nothing, understand nothing, so you can enjoy the world’s favoritism with peace of mind.” Her free hand rose, palm hovering near the girl’s throat, rubbing lightly.

She didn’t envy book characters much, but constantly being labeled the vicious female supporting character had amplified these thoughts and dissatisfactions until Mu Qian Tan had to vent.

She let out a chuckle. “I know you’re a disaster waiting to happen, yet I can’t just kill you outright. Why? Because you’re the protagonist—unique, irreplaceable. Everyone has to revolve around you.”

Shang Shan seemed poked in a sore spot and immediately shouted, “I’m not! I’m just different from ordinary people. I’m no disaster! I’ve been catching rats all along—that’s a merit! Why do you want to kill me? I’ve never provoked you!”

Her agitation made her vocal cords vibrate, along with her unusually high body temperature, letting Mu Qian Tan feel the girl’s vibrant, surging vitality.

Mu Qian Tan stared intently at her, gradually tightening her fingers. She thought: So what if she’s one of the hall masters of the greatest immortal sect? She’s just a tool character, traveling thousands of miles to pick up a little cat official to lord over her.

From the original plot, the female protagonist would face countless hardships, but the author always managed to turn danger into safety for her at the last moment. While shaping this character, the author paved a broad, smooth path—what kind of hardship was that?

Didn’t the modern world have people with protagonist-level luck too? Gathering all the halos—wealth, power, status, even a “perfect” personality that never fought. Completely opposite to her.

Mu Qian Tan admitted she was jealous. Why? Why were these people so lucky?

Why did she have to play supporting role?

Even after this absurd transmigration happened, it was still the same.

Like heaven had branded “supporting character” into her bones.

She couldn’t choose before, but now… the person was right in her hands. If she killed her, then followed the original plot to seize all the female protagonist’s heavenly treasures and resources, could she replicate the protagonist’s fate?

If she did that, if…

“Urgh…” Her vision suddenly went black. The abrupt agony over her heart made Mu Qian Tan grunt and double over, loosening her grip on the girl.

Seeing her relax, Shang Shan immediately leaped back a step, shook off the rope, clutched her neck, and watched the woman warily.

It felt like thunder had exploded in her chest cavity, scorching pain inside. Mu Qian Tan’s head spun, her body muscles twitching faintly. She bent over for a good while before recovering somewhat from the ringing in her ears.

Li Biyuan was more serious than ever. ‘I know what you were about to do. I’m warning you now—absolutely not!’

Mu Qian Tan panted deeply, pressing hard on her chest to ease the discomfort in her heart beneath flesh and bone. She wiped the fine sweat from her forehead, her voice icy. “What did you just do?”