Dug a huge pit

“Full?”

Su Wanqing asked when she saw the girl finally put down her chopsticks.

Ning Yuer was very obedient. Even though she hadn’t eaten properly in three days, she forced herself to stop at half-full.

“Not yet. Just half.”

“Good girl.”

Su Wanqing nodded approvingly and reached out to gently rub the girl’s head.

Ning Yuer leaned into the touch like a little cat enjoying being petted.

Su Wanqing almost couldn’t believe it: she, a future cannon-fodder side character, was actually patting the heroine’s head—and the heroine was loving it.

But she knew this version of Ning Yuer wouldn’t last.

Once she grew up, once her mind matured, that innocent softness would disappear.

The heroine in the original novel wasn’t some saintly, divine protagonist of justice.

She was something much more interesting: a ruthless, decisive dragon-king-style female lead with a hidden vicious streak.

Full of justice, but never a saint.

Decisive in killing, with a belly black enough to make you shiver.

And because of all the discrimination she’d suffered, she was also deeply obsessive.

Aside from the pursuit of the Great Dao, nothing else interested her.

Her rivalry with the villainess Chen Xueli stemmed from wanting the exact same heavenly treasures.

“Take this.”

Su Wanqing handed over a digestion pill.

It was low-grade, which was why she’d told the girl to eat only half-full—she was afraid the medicine wouldn’t be gentle enough on that ruined stomach.

Ning Yuer now trusted Su Wanqing unconditionally.

She swallowed it without hesitation.

Su Wanqing was well aware that, right now, even if she handed the girl poison, she’d probably take it with a smile.

If she really wanted to, with this momentum—and with Chen Xueli as a horrible example—she had at least an 80% chance of completely brainwashing the heroine into an obedient little pet.

Then she’d never have to fear that rebellious disciple again.

After all, Ning Yuer’s future technique was the perfect counter to Chen Xueli’s demonic art.

But if she actually did that…

Forget her own conscience.

Heaven itself wouldn’t allow it.

Even if it meant breaking the rules, “He” above the heavens would personally intervene.

Ning Yuer was the keystone of this world.

If anything happened to her, no one knew what chaos would follow.

If Chen Xueli had one of her episodes and accidentally dragged the whole secondary world into primal chaos…

Just the thought made Su Wanqing shiver.

Another excellent reason to shove the heroine far, far away.

“But… can I really do it?”

After the brief burst of determination, Ning Yuer deflated again, confidence crumbling.

This wasn’t something she could decide.

She’d heard that immortals only took disciples with good aptitude.

If her talent was trash, she’d never be able to soar.

“Don’t worry. Relax. I believe in you.”

“Then let’s test it.”

Su Wanqing wasn’t surprised by the girl’s reaction.

To a mortal, this was the ultimate chance to rise above their station.

But the price was heavy.

Live an ordinary life—you might die old and warm in your bed.

Step onto the path of cultivation—you could be dead next week.

Still, almost no one could resist the lure of power and immortality.

For mortals, the biggest sacrifice was family.

The very first step on the immortal path was severing all mortal ties.

Most people stumbled there.

For the current Ning Yuer, though?

That step was probably the easiest of all.

“Put your hand here.”

Su Wanqing took out a spirit-root testing artifact.

It was just going through the motions—she already knew everything as a transmigrator.

Right now, before her Heavenly Dao Record fully awakened, Ning Yuer’s spirit root was only Mysterious-tier.

Only after she started cultivating would it slowly evolve: Earth-tier → Heaven-tier → the once-in-a-millennium Immortal-grade.

Luckily, her base talent was already Mysterious-tier.

If it had been the lowest Yellow-tier, Su Wanqing would’ve had to pull some serious strings.

To help the girl grow properly, she still needed to pull strings anyway: make Li Ziyue owe her a favor and take Ning Yuer as a direct disciple.

Red Embroidery was a major sect.

Besides only accepting women, they had strict talent requirements.

Mysterious-tier was the absolute minimum.

Only Earth-tier and above could become an elder’s personal disciple.

To put it in perspective:

At Heavenly Sword Pavilion, the sect leader’s prized final disciple, Qiao Jinxi, was only mid-grade Earth-tier—and that would only qualify her as an elder’s disciple at Red Embroidery.

At Heavenly Sword Pavilion, anyone above mid Mysterious-tier was fought over by the elders.

Even in a top-tier minor sect like theirs, most sect leaders’ successors were barely Mysterious-tier.

In the original story, after escaping Hu Mei, Ning Yuer had joined Heavenly Sword Pavilion’s recruitment a month later, placed top three among the new disciples, and been taken by Elder Lü the alchemist.

Because of the fox demon incident and Heavenly Sword Pavilion’s heavy losses, Red Embroidery had sent lavish gifts under the guise of “observing the ceremony” to smooth things over.

Thinking about that recruitment a month from now, Su Wanqing recalled the details.

By Dao Alliance rules, any sect with eight or more elders fell under certain regulations.

Good seedlings were limited, so to avoid bad blood, Heavenly Sword Pavilion had rules:

Top three got to choose their master freely.

The rest were distributed—some had already decided their path, the others were split evenly.

Even then, elders still bickered endlessly over distribution.

Some years an elder only got one new disciple.

It caused plenty of open and hidden fighting.

Su Wanqing, however, had the best relationships among the elders.

She almost never socialized, yet everyone gave her face.

Partly because of her beauty and the pilgrims it attracted.

Mostly because she never competed for talents.

She only ever had one disciple—Chen Xueli, whom she’d picked up herself.

So the elders treated her very well.

“Does this mean I can cultivate?”

“Mm.”

The testing artifact glowed.

At Su Wanqing’s nod, Ning Yuer’s joy burst out uncontrollably.

In her mind: *If I can cultivate, I can stay with Immortal Sister forever!*

A hope that was, unfortunately, doomed to disappointment.

From the very beginning, Su Wanqing had never changed her plan.

She’d only entertained the fantasy out of curiosity.

“Thank you, Immortal Sister!”

“If you want to thank me, go brew a pot of tea.”

“Okay!”

Watching Ning Yuer happily dash off with yet another fresh tea set, Su Wanqing glanced at the red cord on her wrist and felt a pang of heartache.

This was her third set in two days.

She never used inn tea sets—she always brought her own.

Which meant that night two nights ago, Shen Xianyue had used hers too.

Another perfectly good set, ruined.

Su Wanqing grumbled inwardly.

What if another woman with ideas about her showed up? Another set gone?

At this rate, she’d go bankrupt.

She was extremely picky about tea sets.

It wasn’t about money—she just couldn’t find designs she liked anymore.

And she refused to reuse ones that had been “tainted,” even if they were clean. It just felt wrong.

She hoped she was just being paranoid…

Ning Yuer returned quickly with the brewed tea.

Watching the heroine personally serve her tea, Su Wanqing suddenly felt a twinge of panic.

PTSD from Chen Xueli and Shen Xianyue.

She had the irrational fear Ning Yuer might spike it too.

Still, she drank it in one go.

For now, it was impossible.

But to prevent future disasters, she decided to set some ground rules early.

“Little Yuer, promise me something.”

“Okay.”

“If you ever fall in love, never use tricks or drugs on her. Win her heart fairly.”

“And most importantly—never, ever put anything in someone’s tea.”

“Uh… okay…”

Ning Yuer was utterly confused by the random request, but she agreed anyway because it was Immortal Sister.

“Pinky promise?”

“Pinky promise.”

Their little fingers hooked, swung back and forth, then thumbs pressed together—sealing the vow.

“Pinky swear, one hundred years, no take-backs.”

Feeling the softness of Immortal Sister’s skin, the girl was filled with bliss.

This was the first time she’d ever touched skin this perfect.

Every part of Immortal Sister was flawless…

She was like a masterpiece sculpted by the heavens themselves.

Little did Ning Yuer know—

This brief moment of joy had just dug an enormous pit for her future self.