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

In the early morning, a faint layer of moisture clung to the tips of the leaves. Whenever someone hurried past, the branches would rustle and sway, brushing over their sleeves and dyeing them with a slight chill.

“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, yet she still could not find any trace of that person.

The surroundings were quiet and empty. At the end of her line of sight, the window of a small wooden hut was slightly ajar. Two little flowers had been planted in front of the door, bobbing their heads in a lazy, drowsy manner.

“As expected, she’s here. No wonder I couldn’t find her.” Lu Guo sighed. “Why does she spend every day holed up inside her room?”

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

The girl was sixteen or seventeen years old. Her brows and eyes were clean and delicate, and she wore ivory-white robes. Her long hair was loosely tied, falling over her shoulders like dark clouds, touched by the clear golden hue of the rising sun.

She was tilting her head up slightly, her slender white fingers holding the yellowed pages as she read the contents of the booklet seriously.

Seeing someone push the door open, Xia Zhitao turned her head. With a crisp “pa,” she snapped the little booklet shut and quickly tucked it into her robe, then broke into a smile.

“Senior Sister Lu.”

Lu Guo sighed. Half-supporting her waist, she glanced at the little booklet the other had hidden firmly behind her, then raised a hand and rubbed the space between her brows.

“Zhitao, Grandmaster wants you to go over.”

“For me?” Xia Zhitao was a little surprised. She casually stuffed the booklet into her robe and patted her sleeves. “What is it about?”

“You’ll know once you get there.” Lu Guo deliberately kept her in suspense. She told Xia Zhitao to follow her, and the two of them walked back down the road she had come from.

Neither of them spoke along the way. Lu Guo grew increasingly bored and could not help turning her head slightly, sizing up this junior sister beside her whose spiritual rank was low, yet who was especially favored by Grandmaster.

Xia Zhitao did not notice the probing look from the person beside her. Her head was lowered slightly, her mind occupied with other thoughts.

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

.

Because of the nature of her work, Xia Zhitao was usually either so busy she was dizzy, or so idle she nearly went mad.

She did not usually read web novels either, but that day, a recommendation had suddenly popped up on her phone. On a whim, she tapped in and took a look.

Who would have thought that once she opened it, she would not be able to stop? She stayed up all night and finished the entire novel with great interest.

Unfortunately, the beginning was absolutely brilliant, the middle was magnificent and sweeping, but when it reached the later parts, that novel actually—

Had! A! Trash! Ending!

The author, Banana Peel-jun, left behind a single line in the author’s note—“I found a girlfriend, so I’ll stop writing here”—then abandoned the story with carefree ease.

Not a single pit they dug had been filled. The protagonist’s fate was unknown. The author had simply run off to go on sweet dates with their girlfriend, leaving behind a crowd of tearful readers who diligently refreshed the comment tower every day, crying rivers as they condemned the author’s irresponsible behavior.

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

So what if you have a girlfriend? How can that be a reason to abandon a pit?!

Closing the page was not enough. Xia Zhitao kept thinking about that ending, and the more she thought about it, the angrier she became. So she simply tucked her phone into her pocket, changed into sneakers, and went downstairs to the convenience store to buy something to drink.

In the end, that one-in-ten-million chance just happened to land on her.

As usual, she opened the freezer and took out a carton of milk. The shelf had actually not been arranged properly, and another bottle of milk fell down with it, smashing onto her head with a “clang.”

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

She had suddenly become a little baby, lying in the arms of someone who looked like a woman, waving her tiny arms and legs around.

Xia Zhitao: ?

Who am I? Where am I? There’s no way to live like this.

.

After she despairingly accepted the fact that she had somehow transmigrated just from going out to buy milk, the days that followed were simply incomparably difficult.

When other people transmigrated into books, they came with cheats and systems circling around them. But her? Nothing at all. She only had one shabby little book.

It was a yellowed little booklet. Roughly speaking, it contained the direction of the novel’s plot, but all the detailed content had been deleted and replaced by an extremely simplified timeline that listed the general events.

For example: “Year 234, the Xinyue Incident, the Jiang Kingdom falls,” “Year 265, the Demon Sect slaughters the entire Shura Path,” and so on.

This book was very magical. Whether burned by fire, soaked in water, or hacked with a blade, it could not be damaged in the slightest. It was also written in modern characters. Other than Xia Zhitao, there was probably no one in this world who could understand it.

Xia Zhitao looked at the tattered little booklet with heartache and could only comfort herself: Although it isn’t very useful, if I ever end up stranded on a deserted island, at least I can burn it for fire.

Recycling. Clean and environmentally friendly.

She could not remember clearly what had happened when she first arrived. Her memories seemed to have been wiped away by someone. She only vaguely remembered using that little booklet to predict a catastrophe, then taking her family away from the village in advance.

But she had not expected that the people who invaded the village would actually chase after them. At that critical moment, an immortal lord saved them.

The immortal lord had a strip of white silk covering their brows and eyes, and their bearing was cold and aloof. Yet they were exceedingly gentle toward this peasant family, especially toward Xia Zhitao, the second daughter.

The immortal lord settled the two elders properly, then said Xia Zhitao had extraordinary roots and was someone suited for cultivation. They led Xia Zhitao into the immortal sect, where she entered the Yashan Sect’s Shuijing Peak under the grandmaster.

After that, she somehow became an inner disciple. Every day, she followed everyone else in vegetarian meals and cultivation. Her days passed without waves, calm and ordinary.

…Until today, when Grandmaster dropped a heavy bomb on her.

.

Immortal pines carried fresh green. Cold clouds curled and drifted. As the road gradually widened, the clouds seemed to gain a spiritual awareness of their own, retreating to both sides and revealing countless connected pavilions and towers.

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

Seeing that they were about to arrive, Lu Guo was too lazy to keep hiding it. She patted Xia Zhitao on the shoulder, looking rather as if she were taking pleasure in her misfortune.

“Go on in. Grandmaster and your junior sister are waiting.”

Ju-junior sister…?

Xia Zhitao frowned and thought for a moment before finally remembering that when she had first arrived, she had indeed heard about an unwritten rule on their Shuijing Peak.

Every year, when new disciples entered, a senior sister or senior brother would be assigned to guide them for a while and teach them about various matters related to cultivation. The aim was to help newcomers get used to their new environment more easily.

After all, these new disciples were all selected from among ordinary mortals. To suddenly enter the so-called “immortal sect” naturally came with many things they could not adapt to.

The intention was good, but privately, all the disciples found this matter rather irritating.

There were two reasons. Among the newcomers, some were too arrogant and believed themselves to have extraordinary roots, acting as if no one else mattered. Others were too foolish and could not even do the most basic gathering of qi, wasting their own cultivation time for nothing.

“A newcomer?” Xia Zhitao was a little puzzled and asked, “Don’t we only recruit once every ten years…? It hasn’t been that long.”

Lu Guo shrugged and said, “There are always exceptions to everything.”

Carrying a few doubts with her, Xia Zhitao bid Lu Guo farewell and stood before the grand stone doors. She placed her five fingers on the bronze ring and knocked lightly a few times.

“Dong—”

The deep sound of impact spread through the air, layer after layer. Xia Zhitao stood there and waited for a while. Then the heavy stone doors opened in response, and the one standing in the center of the hall was none other than Shuijing Peak’s grandmaster.

Grandmaster looked at Xia Zhitao and laughed heartily twice. Rubbing his full, fluffy beard, he said repeatedly, “Come, come. What are you standing there for? Come in.”

Xia Zhitao bowed properly, then quickly walked into the hall. She had not seen it earlier because her view had been blocked, but it turned out there was another person sitting beside Grandmaster.

It was a little girl who looked somewhat slender. She wore blue-dyed silk robes and was lowering her head slightly, sitting quietly on the chair.

She seemed a little nervous because she had only just arrived. Her fine white fingers were clasped uneasily before her knees, and she was biting her lower lip slightly.

After seeing Xia Zhitao arrive, she suddenly lifted her head. Her amber-like eyes stared without blinking, brightening by several degrees.

Xia Zhitao looked at her curiously a couple of times and could not help sighing inwardly.

Where did Grandmaster abduct such a noble little girl from? How can she be this good-looking?

The little girl was fair, soft, and delicate. Her eyes were bright and clear, and her timid appearance made one’s heart soften just by looking at her.

Although she looked only thirteen or fourteen right now, and her features had not yet fully grown into themselves, one could already faintly glimpse the stunning beauty she would become in the future.

However, right now, as she sat quietly to the side like a little bun, she made people unable to resist wanting to pinch her cheeks and satisfy the urge in their hands.

Though it was true that the earlier one cultivated, the better, when Xia Zhitao thought about Grandmaster using every trick in the book to swindle someone else’s precious, pampered little girl into this poor and remote place…

It was truly unbearable to watch.

After condemning him in her heart for a while, Xia Zhitao moved her gaze away, stood before Grandmaster, and said seriously, “Grandmaster, may I ask why you called me here?”

Grandmaster stood up with a smile. As soon as the little girl saw him move, she also hurriedly stood up and obediently stood behind him.

“I imagine you’ve already seen her, Zhitao.” Grandmaster rubbed his bushy beard, then patted the little girl’s shoulder and pushed her forward. “This is the junior sister who has just entered the sect. I’ll have to trouble you to take care of her.”

Xia Zhitao lowered her head and bent slightly at the waist. “Of course. This disciple will not shirk the responsibility.”

“As expected, my Zhitao is still the best,” Grandmaster said emotionally. “Your senior brothers are more unreliable 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.”

After saying this, he patted the little girl’s shoulder and said, “I already told you just now. Go follow your Senior Sister Xia Zhitao. She will take you to your residence.”

The little girl nodded timidly. She took small steps over to Xia Zhitao, then raised her head to look at her.

“Senior Sister.”

That voice carried a slightly blurred trailing note, like an unripe green fruit, falling softly and gently beside her ear.

“Don’t be nervous,” Xia Zhitao said with a smile. At the same time, she raised her hand and stroked the little girl’s hair, her voice becoming a little gentler. “What’s your name?”

The little girl’s hair was soft, strand after strand, brushing against her palm like downy fluff. She smiled shyly, her voice soft and sweet.

“Zhang Lan. My name is Zhang Lan.”

“Zhang Lan, ah. What a good na—”

The hand Xia Zhitao was using to rub her head suddenly froze.