A Record of Heavenly Secrets [Transmigration Into A Book] - Chapter 1

Auspicious light shimmered amid the clouds and mist on the horizon, while immortal birds occasionally swept across the overlapping ranges of magnificent mountains.

It was the autumn equinox. Fiery red maples blanketed the Beiyuan Immortal Mountains, and the lush forests swayed in the wind. Stone steps stretched all the way to the peaks, seemingly gilded with gold foil and shimmering with brilliant light. Birds chirped among the branches, while wooden walkways wound their way up the mountainsides as though leading straight into the rosy clouds.

A covered corridor jutted out over a treacherous cliff, its jade-beaded bells swaying gently beneath the eaves whenever the wind stirred. A woman in white sat sideways on the corridor railing, her eyelashes lowered and delicately curled. Her face bore a sickly pallor, and her raven-black hair was loosely tied with a single green cord, spilling over one shoulder. Draped in the sect’s long robe, her slender figure was as graceful as a flower reflected in water, delicate and heartbreakingly beautiful.

With her fair, slender fingers, she gently bent a flowering branch, tilting its blossoms so that the frost and dew gathered on the petals and leaves overnight rolled into droplets and fell into a wooden bowl.

The woman in white absentmindedly collected the floral dew. Upon sensing an approaching presence, her dark, ink-like eyes suddenly flicked sideways. Her pale pink lips pressed together slightly, and her fingers formed a spiritual hand seal beneath her sleeve.

In an instant, the spiritual sword resting on the railing chair abruptly rose with a hum, surging with killing intent as it shot straight toward the person concealed in the shadows.

“Senior Sister Yan, it’s me.”

Yan Qingli emerged awkwardly with both hands raised in surrender. The spiritual sword hovered right against the tip of her nose, and the murderous chill radiating from its blade sent a shiver through her entire body.

As she stepped fully out of the shadows, her sect uniform came into view, covered in scattered cuts and gradually spreading bloodstains. Even the spiritual sword in her hand had snapped in half, blood still dripping from its broken blade.

For the crime of killing her master, Yan Qingli was being hunted by the entire sect. A barrier surrounded the Beiyuan Immortal Sect, and within its mountain gates, the only route down the mountain was the Liyou Path, which ran along a treacherous cliff. What surprised her, however, was that the person guarding this path was none other than Yan Chixue, the one who had always taken the greatest care of her.

Yan Chixue looked at Yan Qingli’s strange gesture of surrender, unable to understand what it meant. She frowned and crooked a finger beneath her sleeve. The spiritual sword flew back into her hand, and she stood before Yan Qingli with her usual cool composure, blocking her escape.

“Junior Sister, you’ve committed a grave offense. Go to the main hall and ask my father, the Sect Master, to punish you. There may still be time if you go now.”

Before Yan Qingli could respond, a man’s voice suddenly cut in without the slightest courtesy, his curt words descending from above.

“Why waste your breath on her? Your body won’t hold out much longer anyway. Just take her head.”

A moment later, an exceptionally handsome man with a noble bearing appeared behind Yan Chixue. His robes fluttered gracefully, and he carried himself with an air of carefree confidence. As he looked at Yan Qingli, his sword-like brows drew together coldly, his gaze filled with ill intent.

The hell with asking for punishment. So you can cut me open again, dig out my heart, and steal my Golden Core?

Yan Qingli tightened her grip on her half-broken sword. The moment she saw Bu Yunlou appear beside Yan Chixue, disappointment overwhelmed her. Only one thought remained in her mind: Escape!

This was not the first time she had been intercepted and hunted down by the male lead, Bu Yunlou.

To be precise, ever since she, Yan Qingli, transmigrated into this novel, she had already died as cannon fodder N times.

The first time she entered the book, she had no idea what role she occupied in its world. As the darling of the entire sect and the best friend of Yan Chixue, the Sect Master’s daughter, she had lived an incredibly comfortable life. Everything had gone smoothly until she successfully formed her Golden Core, only to inexplicably die beneath the male lead Bu Yunlou’s sword.

During her second rebirth, Yan Qingli experienced the inevitable death plot written into the novel and finally recognized her true position in the story. She was nothing more than an insignificant cannon-fodder character.

The only reason everyone in the sect doted on her and treated her so well was that she had been designated as Yan Chixue’s medicinal vessel. The moment she formed her Golden Core was the moment her medicinal properties reached maturity—and also the moment she was destined to die.

In that lifetime, Yan Qingli discovered that Perfected Jiuyang, the master who had always cherished her, merely regarded her as a tool for currying favor with the Sect Master.

From then on, she stopped trusting anyone in the sect, distanced herself from Yan Chixue, and avoided Bu Yunlou. In the end, however, the plot automatically filled in the gaps, and she was still killed by the male lead, who used her as a medicinal ingredient to treat the female lead.

On her third attempt, Yan Qingli tried a new approach. She fled the Beiyuan Immortal Sect before the plot could unfold, only to be immediately struck by a bolt of righteous lightning from the heavens, dying on the spot.

The fourth time… the fifth time… the Nth time… She kept refining her methods of escaping the plot and eventually discovered that participating in events already mentioned in the original novel would allow her to leave the Beiyuan Immortal Mountains. Unfortunately, she was a cultivator with atrocious aptitude whose Golden Core cultivation had been artificially built up through external resources. Either she couldn’t survive long enough for those events to occur, or she lacked the qualifications to participate in them.

Yan Qingli had reached the Golden Core stage dozens of times and died over and over. By now, she had long since figured out the personalities of every disciple under Perfected Jiuyang.

Each time, she died in a different way. The only thing that never changed was that the entire sect doted on her to her face while secretly plotting against her behind her back. Only her senior sister, Yan Chixue, was genuinely good to her, having been kept completely in the dark about the truth.

And so, on her current N-plus-oneth attempt, Yan Qingli decided to start early. She cultivated a close relationship with the female lead, Yan Chixue, from the time they were both little girls, treating her like family. She hadn’t even shown her own biological mother in the real world this much love and care.

Originally, Yan Qingli had planned to take advantage of the relationship they had nurtured since childhood. She wanted Yan Chixue, the innocent little flower who had grown up sheltered in a greenhouse, to push the plot forward by acting spoiled with her Sect Master daddy and persuading him to let Yan Qingli descend the mountain.

Unfortunately, things never went according to plan. Before that day could arrive, her master, Perfected Jiuyang, made the first move against her, forcing Yan Qingli to kill her in self-defense. And in the end, Yan Chixue had still gotten mixed up with the male lead, Bu Yunlou. The two had joined forces to block her only path to survival.

Yan Qingli looked up at the heavens, wanting nothing more than to let out a long sigh. At least a dog would remain loyal to its master if you raised it. Every single character in this plot was an ungrateful wretch. What was the point of treating them well? She couldn’t afford to provoke them, yet she couldn’t escape them either.

Based on her previous experiences, whenever an important event occurred in the plot and both the male and female leads were involved, she, as a character within the story, could also take actions that followed the natural course of events without contradicting the plot.

By committing the grave crime of killing her master, Yan Qingli had inadvertently turned misfortune into an opportunity. She finally had a chance to descend the mountain.

Of course, that opportunity depended on one crucial condition: she couldn’t let the male and female leads catch up to her and stab her through the heart again, leaving her to die another inexplicable death.

Yan Qingli had already mapped out more than a dozen escape routes in her mind. She cautiously glanced at Yan Chixue and Bu Yunlou, deciding to abandon the sword in her hand and use a diversion before either of them could attack.

After spending several lifetimes as a short-lived Golden Core cultivator, even at her worst, she should at least be able to fight these two ridiculously overpowered characters to a draw.

The lotus-shaped bells beneath the eaves swayed, producing a crisp, tinkling sound.

As a breeze swept past, Yan Qingli kept her eyes fixed on the two people before her. Her back felt as though someone had rubbed it with White Flower Oil, a penetrating chill spreading across her skin. She gripped the hilt of her broken sword, sweat seeping into her palm.

Yan Chixue whispered a few words into Bu Yunlou’s ear, stopping him from making a move.

Her plain cloth shoes rustled against the fallen leaves scattered across the stone corridor as she walked straight toward Yan Qingli, stopping just a foot away from the tips of her shoes.

“Junior Sister, I don’t believe Master’s death was your doing either. I’ll have my father, the Sect Master, investigate this matter and clear your name. But right now, rumors and accusations about you are spreading throughout the sect. You must come back to the main hall with me and explain everything that happened.”

Yan Chixue spoke with the same clear, bright eyes as always, her words filled with upright conviction. Her dark hair and simple white robes complemented her tall, elegant figure. Beneath the sunlight, she possessed the noble grace of a lotus, untainted by the dust of the mortal world.

Senior Sister, after everything that’s happened, how can you expect me to believe you?

If you don’t want to hurt me, why are you guarding the Liyou Path?

If you don’t want to hurt me, why is Bu Yunlou here?

Yan Qingli gripped her broken sword so tightly that her knuckles turned white. Furious beyond words, she let out a laugh instead.

“Senior Sister, do you really think I’ll come out of the main hall alive? If the Sect Master wants to kill me to cure your illness, will you go against your own father?”

“I believe you wouldn’t hurt me, but ultimately, you’re still unable to trust me.”

A radiant smile bloomed across that breathtakingly beautiful face, leaving Bu Yunlou momentarily dazed by her beauty. Yan Chixue’s face, however, gradually turned pale and stiff.

Taking advantage of their momentary distraction, Yan Qingli hurled her broken sword, injuring Bu Yunlou’s arm. Then, as light as a swallow, she leaped off the cliff, bounding down the sheer rock face before disappearing into the abyss beneath the mountain.

Seeing Yan Qingli disappear, Bu Yunlou grew anxious. He wanted to marry Yan Chixue and secure his position as the son-in-law of one of the great cultivation sects. Capturing Yan Qingli, a sect traitor who had murdered her master, was the perfect opportunity to win the Sect Master’s favor.

He was just about to give chase when Yan Chixue caught hold of his sleeve.

Yan Chixue lowered her eyes, concealing the complicated emotions within them, and said coldly, “Senior Brother Bu, there’s no need to chase her. Junior Sister Yan will return. Her spiritual root is inherently a defective, single-element medicinal spiritual root. Without a constant supply of spiritual medicines to artificially sustain her cultivation, her cultivation will eventually plummet. She may even begin to age, gradually lose all her spiritual energy, and die.”

After hearing Yan Chixue’s words, Bu Yunlou abandoned the pursuit. Inwardly, however, he was already making calculations. He planned to wait until that little Junior Sister Yan was completely exhausted before heading over to reap the benefits without lifting a finger.

As someone who had always appreciated beautiful women, he couldn’t help feeling a little regretful after seeing Yan Qingli’s face.

So what if that little Junior Sister Yan was devastatingly beautiful? She was destined to die young. Whether she returned or not, death was the only path awaiting her.

With these thoughts in mind, Bu Yunlou couldn’t resist stealing another glance at Yan Chixue, following beside her while harboring his own ulterior motives.

The Sect Master had long since ordered Yan Qingli to be executed and ground into medicinal powder to treat Yan Chixue’s illness. As for Perfected Jiuyang, she knew far too much. Even if Yan Qingli hadn’t killed her, she was destined to die secretly during one of her journeys down the mountain. Thus, Bu Yunlou hadn’t been particularly surprised when he heard that their master had been killed.

What concerned him more was that, with Yan Qingli gone, Yan Chixue—who had always been closest to this particular junior sister within the sect—would surely be terribly heartbroken.

After descending the sheer cliffs of the Beiyuan Immortal Mountains, Yan Qingli arrived near a village at the foot of the mountain.

She became entangled in a fight with a group of disciples who had surrounded her. Amid the chaos, she snatched a low-grade spiritual sword and barely managed to shake off her pursuers before hiding in the thickets at the foot of the mountain.

She leaned against a towering tree to rest, her body already bearing several wounds. The true qi within her dantian had long since been exhausted, and her forehead was burning hot, as though she had developed a mild fever.

How strange. She wasn’t some frail, sickly mortal. How could a cultivator who had entered the Golden Core stage long ago actually develop a fever? It was simply too bizarre.

One had to understand that in the world of this novel, centuries of resource plundering by cultivators had damaged the foundations of the underground spiritual veins nurtured by heaven and earth. The spiritual energy of once-sacred cultivation grounds had been depleted, and the various spiritual mountains that had once teemed with countless spirit birds and rare beasts had fallen deathly silent. Human cultivation sects were also gradually declining as their wealth and resources ran dry and talented disciples dwindled in number. Those capable of forming a Golden Core had become exceedingly rare.

Therefore, reaching the Golden Core stage was already an incredibly impressive achievement in this cultivation world. Someone at that level shouldn’t still suffer from fevers and hunger like an ordinary person in the Qi Refining stage.

No sooner had Yan Qingli finished this thought than her stomach, which hadn’t needed food in ages thanks to her practice of bigu, unfortunately began growling. The sudden noise gave her quite a headache.

Fortunately, not far from the thickets was a shimmering lake. Plump, edible fish could be seen swimming near its surface with the naked eye.

Yan Qingli caught several fish from the lake and started a campfire. After rinsing the low-grade spiritual sword in the water, she held it over the flames for a while before using it to scrape off the scales and remove the fish’s innards. She then crudely skewered the fish on branches and began roasting them.

The firewood crackled as oil dripped from the roasting fish, feeding the flames and making them burn even more fiercely. The mouthwatering aroma of fried food gradually spread through the air.

Yan Qingli picked up a skewer of roasted fish and was just about to eat when she suddenly noticed that another skewer roasting over the campfire had vanished without a trace, leaving behind nothing but a dry, charred branch.

“Meow~”

A faint animal cry seemed to flit past somewhere behind her.

Shit. Don’t tell me the smell of her roasted fish had attracted some ferocious beast?

Yan Qingli inwardly cursed her rotten luck. She warily picked up the spiritual sword lying on the grass and looked around. But by the time she turned her attention back, even the half-eaten roasted fish she had been holding had vanished completely, bones and flesh alike. Not so much as a scrap of meat remained.

Just as Yan Qingli gloomily tossed aside the empty branch, a sword suddenly came hurtling straight toward her from the depths of the dark forest in the distance, its blade surging with murderous intent.