The Villain Is Soft and Clingy [Transmigration into a Book] - Chapter 1

A faint layer of moisture clung to the tips of the leaves in the early morning. Whenever someone hurried past, the branches would rustle and sway, brushing a trace of coolness onto their passing sleeves.

“Where did she go? Why can’t I find her anywhere?”

Lu Guo hurried along the bluestone path. She had searched all over Shuijing Peak, from top to bottom, but there was still no sign of the person she was looking for.

The surroundings were quiet and deserted. At the end of her line of sight stood a small wooden cottage with its windows slightly closed. Two little flowers planted before the door bobbed their heads lazily.

“So you really are here. No wonder I couldn’t find you.” Lu Guo sighed. “Why do you spend all day cooped up inside?”

She crossed the remaining distance in a few quick strides and pushed open the door. Inside, she saw a girl leaning beside the window, holding a strange little booklet.

The girl looked sixteen or seventeen. Her features were clean and delicate, and she wore ivory-white robes. Her long hair was loosely tied, spilling over her shoulders like dark clouds and tinted golden by the early morning sun.

Her head was slightly raised as she held the yellowed pages between her slender, pale fingers, reading the booklet with complete concentration.

Hearing someone push open the door, Xia Zhitao turned her head. She snapped the booklet shut, quickly tucked it into her clothes, and broke into a smile.

“Senior Sister Lu.”

Lu Guo sighed, bracing one hand against her waist. She glanced at the booklet Xia Zhitao had hidden securely behind her, then raised a hand and rubbed between her brows.

“Zhitao, Grandmaster wants to see you.”

“Me?” Xia Zhitao was a little surprised. She slipped the booklet into her clothes and brushed off her sleeves. “What does he want?”

“You’ll know when you get there.” Lu Guo deliberately kept her in suspense. She motioned for Xia Zhitao to follow, and the two of them headed down the path she had come from.

Neither of them spoke along the way. Growing increasingly bored, Lu Guo could not resist tilting her head and studying the junior sister beside her—whose cultivation level might be low, but who was particularly favored by their Grandmaster.

Xia Zhitao did not notice the probing gaze beside her. She walked with her head slightly lowered, lost in thought.

—Immortal Calendar, Year 266. This was the sixteenth year since she had transmigrated into a book.

。

Because of her profession, Xia Zhitao’s life had usually alternated between being so busy she could barely think and being so idle she nearly died of boredom.

She did not normally read much online fiction, but one day, a recommendation suddenly appeared on her phone. On a whim, she tapped it and read a few lines.

Who would have thought that once she started, she would not be able to stop? She stayed up through the night and finished the entire novel in one thoroughly enjoyable binge.

Unfortunately, while the beginning had been brilliant and the middle sweeping and magnificent, by the end, the novel had actually—

Had! A! Terrible! Ending!

After leaving the message, “I found a girlfriend, so I’m putting down my pen,” in the author’s note, the author, Banana Peel-jun, abandoned the story without a care in the world.

Not a single plot hole was filled. No one knew what became of the protagonist. The author simply ran off to go on sweet dates with his girlfriend, leaving behind a crowd of tearful readers who diligently refreshed the comments section every day, raining down accusations about his irresponsible behavior.

As one of the unfortunate readers who had fallen into the pit, Xia Zhitao stared coldly at the line of tiny green text in the author’s note for a full five minutes before angrily closing the page.

So what if he had a girlfriend? How could that possibly be an excuse to abandon the story?!

Closing the page was not enough. The more Xia Zhitao thought about the ending, the angrier she became. She shoved her phone into her pocket, changed into a pair of sneakers, and went downstairs to buy something to drink from the convenience store.

And then that one-in-ten-million chance happened to her.

As usual, she opened the refrigerator and took out a bottle of milk. However, the shelf had not been secured properly, and another bottle of milk tumbled down after it.

With a loud bang, it struck her on the head.

Xia Zhitao’s vision went black. She raised a hand, intending to rub the spot where she had been hit, but when she opened her eyes again…

She had suddenly become a tiny infant, lying in the arms of a woman and waving her limbs around helplessly.

Xia Zhitao: ?

Who am I? Where am I? How am I supposed to live like this?

。

After despairingly accepting that she had somehow transmigrated just because she went out to buy milk, the days that followed were unbelievably difficult.

When other people transmigrated into books, they came with cheat abilities and systems accompanying them. Xia Zhitao, meanwhile, had nothing except a shabby little book.

It was a yellowed booklet that roughly recorded the direction of the novel’s plot. However, all the detailed content had been removed and replaced with an extremely condensed timeline listing only the major events.

For example: “Year 234, the Xinyue Incident; the Kingdom of Jiang falls,” and “Year 265, the Demon Cult massacres the entire Shura Dao Sect,” among others.

The book was quite miraculous. Fire could not burn it, water could not soak it, and blades could not leave even the slightest mark on it. It was also written in modern Chinese, so apart from Xia Zhitao, there was probably no one else in this world who could understand it.

Xia Zhitao looked sadly at the tattered booklet and could only comfort herself: Although it was not particularly useful, should she ever become stranded on a deserted island, she could at least burn it to start a fire.

Recycling—clean and environmentally friendly.

She could no longer clearly remember what had happened when she first arrived. It was as though someone had erased those memories. She only vaguely recalled using the booklet to predict a great disaster and taking her family away from their village in advance.

Unexpectedly, the people who invaded the village pursued them. At the critical moment, an Immortal Lord appeared and saved them.

The Immortal Lord wore a strip of white silk over her eyes. Although she seemed cold and distant, she treated the family of farmers—and especially Xia Zhitao, their second daughter—with extraordinary gentleness.

After settling the two elderly parents somewhere safe, the Immortal Lord said that Xia Zhitao possessed exceptional aptitude and was suited for cultivation. She took Xia Zhitao into an immortal sect and had her enter the tutelage of the Grandmaster of Shuijing Peak in the Yashan Sect.

After that, Xia Zhitao somehow became an inner disciple. She spent her days eating vegetarian meals and cultivating the Dao. Her life remained calm, uneventful, and ordinary.

…Until today, when Grandmaster dropped an enormous bombshell on her.

。

Immortal pines flourished in verdant green while cold clouds curled through the air. As the road gradually widened, the clouds seemed to gain minds of their own, retreating to either side and revealing an endless succession of halls and pavilions.

A little farther ahead stood the main hall of Shuijing Peak, one of the thirteen encircling peaks of the Yashan Sect.

Seeing that they were almost there, Lu Guo could no longer be bothered to keep the secret. She patted Xia Zhitao on the shoulder with a hint of schadenfreude.

“Go inside. Grandmaster and your new junior sister are waiting for you.”

J-Junior sister…?

Xia Zhitao frowned and thought for a moment. Only then did she remember that, when she had first arrived, she had indeed heard about an unwritten rule on Shuijing Peak.

Whenever new disciples entered the sect, a senior sister or senior brother would be assigned to guide them for a period of time and teach them various matters related to cultivation. The purpose was to help the newcomers adjust to their new environment.

After all, the new disciples were selected from among ordinary mortals. After suddenly entering a so-called “immortal sect,” there would inevitably be many things they found difficult to adapt to.

The intention behind the rule was good, but in private, the disciples found the responsibility extremely troublesome.

There were two reasons for this. Among the new disciples, some were far too arrogant, believing themselves unparalleled because of their exceptional aptitude. Others were so foolish that they could not even perform the most basic gathering of spiritual energy, wasting their seniors’ valuable cultivation time.

“A newcomer?” Xia Zhitao asked in confusion. “Don’t we only recruit new disciples once every ten years? It hasn’t been that long.”

Lu Guo shrugged. “There are exceptions to everything.”

Still carrying several questions in her heart, Xia Zhitao said goodbye to Lu Guo and stood before the enormous stone doors. She placed her fingers on the bronze ring and knocked lightly several times.

“Dong—”

The dull sound of impact spread through the air in wave after wave. Xia Zhitao waited for a moment, and the heavy stone doors opened in response.

Standing in the center of the great hall was the Grandmaster of Shuijing Peak.

When Grandmaster saw Xia Zhitao, he laughed heartily twice and stroked his face full of thick, fluffy beard.

“Come, come! What are you standing there for? Come inside.”

Xia Zhitao bowed respectfully before quickly entering the hall. Her view had been blocked earlier, so she had not noticed that someone else was sitting beside Grandmaster.

It was a slender-looking young girl dressed in blue-dyed silk robes. Her head was slightly lowered as she sat quietly in the chair.

She seemed nervous about being in an unfamiliar place. Her slender, pale fingers were clasped uneasily over her knees, and she gently bit her lower lip.

After seeing Xia Zhitao enter, she abruptly raised her head. Her amber-colored eyes stared without blinking and brightened slightly.

Xia Zhitao looked at her curiously for a few moments and could not help sighing inwardly.

Where had Grandmaster abducted such a precious-looking young lady from? How could she be so pretty?

The girl looked fair, soft, and delicate. Her eyes were bright and clear, and her timid appearance was enough to melt anyone’s heart.

Although she appeared to be only thirteen or fourteen, and her features had not yet fully matured, one could already catch a glimpse of how stunning she would become in the future.

For now, however, she sat quietly to one side like a little steamed bun, making people want to pinch her cheeks merely to satisfy the urge.

Although it was certainly better to begin cultivating as early as possible, when Xia Zhitao thought of all Grandmaster’s tricks and schemes to deceive this pampered young lady into coming to such a remote and impoverished place…

It was simply too painful to watch.

After silently condemning Grandmaster’s behavior, Xia Zhitao looked away and stopped before him.

“Grandmaster, may I ask why you called me here?”

Grandmaster rose with a beaming smile. As soon as the young girl saw him move, she hurriedly stood up as well and obediently remained behind him.

“I’m sure you’ve already noticed,” Grandmaster said, stroking his full beard. He patted the young girl on the shoulder and gently pushed her forward. “This is the junior sister who has just entered our sect. I’ll have to trouble you to look after her.”

Xia Zhitao lowered her head and bent slightly at the waist.

“Of course. This disciple will gladly accept the responsibility.”

“As expected, my Zhitao is still the best.” Grandmaster sighed emotionally. “Your senior brothers are less reliable than the last. They spend all day picking fruit and catching monkeys. Only by entrusting your junior sister to you can I feel somewhat at ease.”

With that, he patted the young girl on the shoulder.

“I’ve already explained everything to you. Go with Senior Sister Xia Zhitao. She’ll take you to your residence.”

The young girl nodded timidly. She took several small steps toward Xia Zhitao and raised her head to look at her.

“Senior Sister.”

Her voice carried a faint, indistinct lilt at the end, fresh as an unripe fruit and soft against Xia Zhitao’s ear.

“Don’t be nervous,” Xia Zhitao said with a smile. She raised a hand and gently stroked the young girl’s hair, her voice growing even softer. “What’s your name?”

The young girl’s hair was soft and fine, brushing against her palm like downy fluff. The girl smiled shyly, her voice sweet and tender.

“Zhang Lan. My name is Zhang Lan.”

“Zhang Lan. What a lovely na—”

The hand Xia Zhitao had been using to stroke her head suddenly froze.