After Accidentally Marking My Grandmaster

1.

Ning Chuyu transmigrated into the bizarre fanfiction she had once read at Professor Zhou Li’s home.

She had not read it very carefully at the time. All she remembered was that Zhou Li had been a deeply cherished princess in the mortal realm until her entire family was slaughtered overnight. With vengeance taking root in her heart, she changed her name to Zhuo Chen and joined the Hanjian Sect, entering the way of the sword through the Path of Emotionlessness. Over the next three hundred years, she rose from having no cultivation foundation whatsoever to reaching the Spirit Transformation stage, and everyone in the cultivation world praised her as a genius.

The original Ning Chuyu, meanwhile, was merely an ordinary outer disciple of the Hanjian Sect who had to respectfully address Zhuo Chen as “Grandmaster” whenever she saw her.

On the night Ning Chuyu transmigrated, she was gravely wounded and fell from a cliff into an icy river within a forbidden area, her blood staining the surface red. Through her haze, she saw a woman breaking through the ice—an ethereal beauty with flawless features and an aloof, transcendent air who looked exactly like the Zhou Li in her memories.

After that, for some inexplicable reason, they both lost their senses and spent an absurd night together.

When Ning Chuyu awoke again and remembered those scenes of her committing such outrageous insubordination, she thought she was almost certainly doomed. Yet to her surprise, Zhuo Chen did not hold her accountable. Instead, she healed Ning Chuyu’s injuries, accepted her as her sole personal disciple, taught her how to protect herself, and cared for her in every possible way.

Although Zhuo Chen was no longer the Zhou Li she had once known, she still made Ning Chuyu feel warmth in this unfamiliar world. Just as Ning Chuyu gradually began to fall for her, the sword piercing her abdomen made her understand the truth.

It turned out that Ning Chuyu’s true form was actually the legendary solar divine beast—the Golden Crow. The very first time they met, Ning Chuyu had marked Zhuo Chen with her blood. Zhuo Chen had refrained from killing her only because she feared the backlash she would suffer as Ning Chuyu’s divine attendant. Even her attentive guidance had merely been intended to help Ning Chuyu form her Golden Core as quickly as possible, for an ancient record stated, “When the Golden Core shatters, the divine contract breaks.”

Looking at the woman standing before her with a sword in hand, whose fingertips were nevertheless trembling faintly, Ning Chuyu gave a bleak smile. “You could have just told me.”

Ning Chuyu died beneath Zhuo Chen’s sword, her body dissolving into a cloud of shimmering golden dust that scattered into the air.

Zhuo Chen stared fixedly at the light gradually slipping away from her palm. Her eyes, which had remained dry for a hundred years, abruptly filled with tears as she murmured like someone who had lost her soul, “No, this isn’t right. The ancient text clearly said she wouldn’t die like this. She wouldn’t.”

2.

Ning Chuyu had not actually died.

When she opened her eyes again, she was among the reclusive Feathered Clan. Qingluan stood beside the bed and asked with concern how she was feeling. Bai Ze calculated with his fingers before gently saying that Her Highness had suffered greatly during this tribulation. Not far away, Dapeng carefully manifested his wings to fan her, while the Vermilion Bird handed her a beautiful tail feather without looking at her and muttered, “Haven’t you always wanted one?”

Looking at the roomful of birds, each wearing a different expression, Ning Chuyu’s mood inexplicably brightened. She smiled reassuringly and said, “I’m fine.”

Then the Phoenix walked in from outside, her eyes filled with gratification. “It seems that through this tribulation, you have comprehended your own path. All things in this world possess emotions. To follow the Path of Emotion, you must personally experience and truly feel them before you can gradually attain enlightenment.”

And so, Ning Chuyu entered the mortal realm together with the still-youthful Vermilion Bird, experiencing joy, compassion, sorrow, and every other kind of emotion among mortals. Hatred alone remained beyond her reach, for she could not find anyone to hate.

Just then, following the faint divine contract she had forcibly sustained through her own power, Zhuo Chen found the two of them strolling through the streets and admiring the lanterns together. Her eyes, sleepless for far too long, were webbed with blood, and the obsession and jealousy entrenched within them had nearly taken tangible form.

Yet the instant those desires entered Ning Chuyu’s sight, they transformed entirely into tears. Zhuo Chen clutched the corner of Ning Chuyu’s robe, her tone and posture astonishingly humble. “Chuchu, I was wrong. Please mark me again. I’m begging you.”

The divine contract she had once regarded as a shackle was finally on the verge of fading away completely, yet Zhuo Chen now felt indescribable panic at the thought, because it meant she would never be able to find Ning Chuyu again.

After entering the Dao through emotion, Ning Chuyu could see other people’s seas of emotion. Most were filled with countless colors, but the entire sea Zhuo Chen had now exposed through her spell was pink, overflowing with feelings for Ning Chuyu.

The empty space labeled hatred was finally filled. Shielding the Vermilion Bird behind her, Ning Chuyu took a step back, tilted her head, and deliberately asked, “Why? Do you want to kill me again?”

Reading Guide:

         1. Cheerful, innocent younger love interest who gradually matures × gloomy, reclusive, pathologically suspicious, possessiveness-maxed, groveling madwoman;

　　2. A groveling chase-the-top redemption arc with plenty of jealousy and romantic confrontations. Please avoid if this is not to your taste;

　　3. Both leads are physically and emotionally exclusive, 1v1. Strictly speaking, this is a split-incarnation setup: Zhou Li and Zhuo Chen are the same person;

　　4. Contains sexual encounters initiated for exploitative purposes. Please avoid if this is not to your taste;

　　5. In this setting, the Golden Crow is a two-legged divine bird, and the divine contract is equivalent to a mark.

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One-Sentence Summary: “I’m begging you—defy your superior.”

Theme: Trust is to love as water is to fish.