I Snatched the Male Lead’s "Cool Novel" Script - Chapter 36

“Teacher Lin, my Beast Soul Pearl test result was… white.”

The original body had been born into a noble family. Her clan had over a dozen A-rank Beast Arts Masters, and even among the younger generation, the worst of them had passed the C-rank exam early on. She alone had tested as white, almost no different from a commoner, and then had coughed and been sickly all the way past forty years old, unable to even pass an entry-level exam.

Her family had also been worried that she would have no ability to protect herself outside, so they had specially tamed a beast pet for her. But because her physique was too weak, she could only control a B-rank one like Lujia.

Now, let us talk about Lin Hegui’s threshold for accepting disciples.

The Beast Soul Pearl test had to be above yellow aptitude.

The physical arts assessment had to pass C-rank.

She only accepted female disciples.

Aside from matching the gender requirement, Yan Yu had nothing else…

“Your Beast Soul Pearl only has white aptitude?” Lin Hegui clearly did not believe it.

When she had sensed Yan Yu with her spiritual awareness just now, she had clearly felt extremely powerful soul power inside Yan Yu’s body.

One wave came from the Special-rank Beast Soul parasitizing inside her body, and the other wave truly came from Yan Yu herself.

These two forces were evenly matched. The former was fierce and violently imposing, while the latter was warm, smooth, flexible, and adaptable. The two intersected, merged, relied on each other, and grew together. If not for this, Yan Yu’s body would not have endured for so long.

Lin Hegui turned around and took out a Beast Soul Pearl testing ball.

This thing was not commonly seen outside. Generally, only official Beast Soul Pearl testing offices could possess one. But because of her position at Yuling Academy, she had been specially permitted to personally own one.

“Come, try it.” Lin Hegui placed the testing ball, which was even larger than a human head, steadily in place and signaled for Yan Yu to put her hand on it.

Yan Yu hesitantly reached out and gently placed her hand over the testing ball.

The testing ball’s sensitivity was extremely sharp. Almost the instant Yan Yu’s hand touched it, the mist at the center of the ball began spinning rapidly.

It formed vortex after vortex, and the color of the mist grew deeper and deeper as its speed increased.

White… green… yellow…

Yan Yu’s expression grew more surprised as the colors rose in rank.

But the testing ball did not stop spinning at yellow. It continued to accelerate, passing red and purple all the way until it condensed into a swollen mass of black. The black mist quickly filled the testing ball, and the originally transparent glass orb became almost the color of obsidian.

Lin Hegui nodded with a satisfied expression, becoming even more certain of the judgment in her heart. But Yan Yu was stunned.

She had never heard of anyone’s Beast Soul Pearl aptitude changing midway. There were indeed cases where people relied on hard work and were exceptionally promoted to high-rank Beast Arts Masters, but those people relied on scoring extremely well in one area to pull up their overall results. Aptitude was something fixed at birth. If it could be changed at will, then why would that group of nobles discriminate against Leng stones so much?

“Young lady, you will surely achieve great things in the future.” Lin Hegui held Yan Yu’s hand, smiling with a kind expression. “I still don’t know your name or where your home is.”

Yan Yu came back from the shock just now and said half a beat late, “My name is Yan Yu. My home… there’s no one left at home anymore.”

“Yan Yu.” Lin Hegui seemed to have an impression of this name. “Are you the only daughter of the Yan family?”

Yan Yu nodded. With the original body’s background, it was not strange that Lin Hegui had heard of her.

The original body’s mother had once been a general in the Jin Kingdom, beneath one person and above ten thousand. Her grandmother had even been a founding meritorious official who had participated in the national war back then. Her grandfather was also the previous empress’s biological younger brother. In addition, the Yan family’s rules were very strict and especially valued moral cultivation, so they were usually deeply loved by the common people.

But precisely because of this, when the current empress gave the order to exterminate the clan, she did not hesitate at all. What she needed was an army of her own. Now that her wings were fully grown, she no longer needed to rely on the Yan family’s power. Naturally, there was no reason to keep this threat around as an eyesore all day.

The original body’s mother seemed to have long expected such a day would come. After the order came down, she returned to her room very calmly and took out the death-exemption token bestowed upon her by the previous empress. She stuffed it into her daughter’s hand and asked the empress to spare her.

The original body dragged around a half-crippled body, and her Beast Soul Pearl aptitude was only white. Add to that her three-legged-cat spiritual arts that had left her blocked outside Yuling Academy for three consecutive years; even if she were left alive, she would not pose any threat. Moreover, the order to exterminate the Yan family had already stirred no small amount of public anger. If the current empress then ignored the previous empress’s death-exemption token, it might give rise to many unnecessary troubles.

After weighing things, the empress pardoned the original body and ordered that she could never appear in the main city again.

This was also the reason Yan Yu could still stand here alive now.

“Sigh.” Lin Hegui shook her head. “Your mother… no, General Yan, was truly a pity.”

If one followed the prophecy about the goddess, then the “Yan Yu” standing before her should be a celestial being descended from another world, not the original owner of this body. In that case, it was more appropriate to call her “General Yan.”

“I know. The Yan family suffered many grievances.” Yan Yu’s expression also darkened.

The reason the Yan family was raided and condemned had to do with Guo Lu’s Mountain-Splitting Axe.

After the current empress took the throne, she greatly changed the previous empress’s peaceful management policies. Under the excuse of serving the country and the people, she drew up a list requiring the families on it to pay tribute to the imperial clan once a year.

The Mountain-Splitting Axe was one of the tribute items offered by the Youqi family. But because of negligence among the managers, Guo Lu found an opportunity to steal it.

Although he wore a mask, his short stature and distinctive walking posture left a deep impression. In addition, the original body had usually come and gone with him without ever hiding it, so someone soon traced the matter to the Yan family.

However, because Guo Lu was wearing the invisibility cloak, the royal guards had great difficulty finding him. In the end, with the empress’s tacit approval, they directly charged the Yan family with harboring a criminal and forced them to hand him over within one day.

Guo Lu’s original self had known the Yan family for many years. Although his family was poor, his character had always been decent. So when he firmly insisted he had been wronged, Yan Yu’s mother chose to believe him and requested that the empress investigate the matter again.

The empress who received the letter flew into a rage. She directly punished the crimes of defiance and harboring together, issuing the order to exterminate the Yan family.

In truth, many people were dissatisfied with the current empress’s tyranny, but she had major families backing her, and her forces spread across various countries. Even those who wanted to save them ultimately chose self-preservation after consideration.

“But now, you have appeared.” Hope reignited in Lin Hegui’s eyes. “The prophecy says the goddess will assist a new empress in ascending the throne. At that time, the Jin Kingdom’s decline will greatly change.”

Yes. That was why Yan Yu had used this excuse back then to make Yin Beiqing keep her.

She wanted to become empress, but as a “calamity” who could only hide in Langdie Valley, how easy would it be to accomplish that? So she needed the support of a goddess.

Whether this goddess was real or false was not actually important to her.

“Yuling Academy starts in July. There is less than a month from now. The registration period has already ended…” Lin Hegui muttered to herself, taking out paper and brush to begin writing. “I will write you a recommendation letter. On the day of the entrance exam, take this letter with you. With your strength as well, special admission will not be a problem.”

“No—” Yan Yu did not know why she had suddenly brought up Yuling Academy.

“This matter is not up for discussion.” Lin Hegui’s gaze instantly became serious. “If that friend of yours truly wants to become empress, she must first become a candidate. The time for the transition is approaching. Now, every major family has already decided on their representative candidates. You can only take the path of a public recommendation.”

For the transition of the empress, candidates had to first be selected from the younger generation of all families with voting rights. But how easy was it to obtain this admission ticket? A massive family might have spent several hundred years hunting spirits to accumulate enough honor and obtain the right to nominate a candidate.

Every ten-year transition was bound to stir a great wave in the Beast Arts Master world. Countless people fought desperately to accept high-rank spirit-hunting tasks, using their lives as the price to earn points for their families and push forward a candidate. And the final candidates from each family still had to pass through layers of selection before truly sitting in that position.

But the so-called candidates were not only chosen from the major families. There were also reserve candidates from among the common people, but the selection conditions were extraordinarily harsh. Looking through history, there had only been a mere two empresses from such backgrounds.

Lin Hegui was very clear that without absolute strength, the final empress election would only become a game of competition between nobles.

But the current Yan Yu was still too immature.

“Yuling Academy will hold a preliminary candidate selection in the second half of the school term. This is your friend’s only and best chance.”

Yan Yu lowered her eyes in deep thought. In truth, what Lin Hegui said was not unreasonable. After all, in the original book, Guo Lu had also followed the Yuling Academy route.

Going to Yuling Academy was indeed good, but she was more worried that Yin Beiqing’s personality would not allow her to easily agree.

“Thank you for your kindness.”

“If you truly thank me, then accept this first.” Lin Hegui stuffed the letter into her arms. “I know that right now, your heart is focused entirely on worrying about your friend’s body, and you cannot listen to anything else. But please believe me. I will not harm you.”

“Of course I believe you.” Yan Yu said gratefully.

…

When the two finished talking, the people outside had practically waited until smoke was rising from their heads. It could be said that if Yan Yu had come out even one second later, Yin Beiqing would have charged in carrying her sword.

“Deal with this thing first.” In front of everyone, Lin Hegui no longer had the gentleness and kindness from just now. Her expression was very cold as she pointed at Guo Lu, who was collapsed on the ground with his breathing growing lighter. “Carry him outside. Set up the frame and light the fire.”

Seeing that the two of them seemed to have reached an agreement, Yin Beiqing then gave the person behind her a look. Zhongpu, who was used to doing physical labor, immediately went up, grabbed Guo Lu’s ankle with one arm, and moved him outside like carrying a chick.

Then she used spiritual arts to grow a solid wooden stake out of thin air and casually threw the nearly breathless Guo Lu onto it.

At this moment, Guo Lu had completely given up on the idea of asking for help. These women were more hard-hearted than the next. Even if he knelt down and kowtowed, they probably would not waver in the slightest.

“If you treat me like this… even as a ghost, I won’t let you go!”

What answered him was the crisp sound of Yin Beiqing snapping her fingers.

Flames descended with a roar, wrapping around his entire body. His screams mixed with the cracking sounds of burning wood, making one’s hair stand on end. But Lin Hegui only felt satisfaction in her heart.

She had never been some magnanimous person. The pain her brother suffered had to be repaid one by one by this wretched beast!

Amid the agony of being burned, Guo Lu soon fainted from pain. In the final second before his breathing stopped, the system’s beeping notification sounded once again.

“Mission failed. A new mission path will be quickly selected for Host.”

Mission?

There was still a mission?

At this moment, with only his consciousness remaining, Guo Lu cursed the system’s cold-bloodedness in his mind. He had already become like this, yet instead of thinking of how to save him, it was still thinking about making him complete a mission?

“Because Host has already failed two missions consecutively, if the next one still cannot be completed, the system will determine that you do not possess the ability to complete the script and will erase your existence.”

“Please prepare to accept the next mission. Countdown begins… 3… 2… 1!”

No one noticed that within the slowly rising smoke, a stream of black gas floated down the mountain.

Halfway down the mountain.

Yu Fusang, who had followed the scent here, seemed to sense something in her heart and suddenly raised her head, staring fixedly at the miasma in the air that was continuously approaching her.

“Fresh fertilizer. I happen to need it.” She revealed a faint smile.

At this moment, although Guo Lu had no physical body, his five senses remained. Seeing that face labeled as “villain” in the system’s information, he immediately began screaming.

“Where are you sending me! You’re sending me into the villain’s hands? You’re trying to kill me, aren’t you, you broken system!”

“Host, please mind your wording.” The system said coldly, “Because your blackening value is too high, the system previously modified your mission into a villain script.”

“Even a villain can’t just be sent to die! Shouldn’t you make me stronger first?”

“Yu Fusang is the existing villain.”

“Nonsense, isn’t that written in the system!”

“Your next mission is to replace her position and become the strongest villain in this book.”

“Go screw your—” The rest of his words were all choked back into his throat, because Guo Lu did not know why, but when Yu Fusang’s hand merely touched him lightly, he immediately possessed a physical body.

Only, this body did not seem to be his. The joints were broad, the skin rough, and the body wore the clothing of the You tribe. But before he could figure anything out, his head suddenly shook violently and smashed backward onto the ground. Amid the dizziness, he saw that cold-faced woman walking slowly toward him.

“Tsk.” Yu Fusang stepped on his face, her expression very displeased. She looked him up and down like an object. “Inferior goods. I’ll make do with you.”

Then Guo Lu saw her raise her hand and use some unknown spiritual art to draw even more miasma from all over the forest. With a sweep of her wide sleeve, all that miasma surged into his mouth.

The struggle between miasmas was no weaker than that of wild beasts. They all desperately craved a physical body, wishing to take root and sprout here as quickly as possible.

Guo Lu only felt his flesh being torn open and reconstructed, this process repeating nonstop in a short amount of time. The voices in his head grew more and more numerous: sharp, deep, hoarse. It was like countless souls had moved into one body, each person fighting to seize the right to speak.

“Ah! It hurts, ahhh—what are you doing!” Guo Lu’s eyes were about to split, and his mouth was full of the taste of blood. “Stop! Stop right now!”

“Heh.” Yu Fusang laughed softly and silently increased the force under her foot, as if she was going to crush his skull alive.

She bent down toward Guo Lu. Her golden eyes reflected the blood-red moon, revealing a hint of bloodthirst. “Do you need me to teach you how to shut your mouth, wretched beast?”

“You… you…” Guo Lu was so frightened by her gaze that he could not speak.

This feeling was like someone had seized his throat and forcibly pressed him into an icy lake. But the pressure radiating from the woman before him was even more suffocating than the low temperature and water pressure.

“I have a hundred methods that can make you wish you were dead for you to choose from.” Yu Fusang narrowed her eyes, hiding the killing intent in them, yet unable to conceal the cruelty in her voice. “Very merciful, isn’t it?”