Listening to Jian Xingzhi’s confident words, Qin Wanwan fell into fantasies about the future.

Surrounded by handsome men, smoothly ascending—it sounded so tempting.

Most tempting of all was…

“After I ascend,” Qin Wanwan suddenly felt longing, “will I become strong?”

“Of course,” Jian Xingzhi raised an eyebrow. “Your talent is excellent. If you work hard and ascend in the future, even becoming number one in the immortal realm wouldn’t be out of reach.”

To encourage her, Jian Xingzhi began talking nonsense. Qin Wanwan’s eyes lit up upon hearing this: “That amazing?”

“Indeed,” Jian Xingzhi spoke, then after pausing, he continued making things up: “You should know, in the little dog’s world, there’s a person called Jian Xingzhi.”

Hearing this name, Qin Wanwan’s eyes brightened. She nodded frantically.

She knew this person. She was familiar with him. The greatest enemy of her entire life!

“He’s very powerful—just a tiny bit worse than me.”

Jian Xingzhi gave her an example. Qin Wanwan fell silent.

This person was bragging again.

“As long as you dedicate yourself to learning, with your natural talent, after ascending, even Jian Xingzhi wouldn’t be a problem!”

“Good!”

Thinking of herself stepping on Jian Xingzhi underfoot, Qin Wanwan suddenly felt motivated. Like a student who had just been through a wave of brainwashing speeches at school, she was extremely energized: “I’ll go work hard right now!”

“I have faith in you.”

Jian Xingzhi nodded: “You will definitely succeed.”

Qin Wanwan clenched her small fists, made a “go for it” gesture, stood up, and went to practice with her sword.

Jian Xingzhi watched Qin Wanwan continuously drawing her sword under the moonlight, feeling somewhat gratified in his heart.

Starting now, brainwashing ‘Qin Wan’ about how strong he was—when she ascended in the future, who knows how much she’d worship him.

Thinking of this, Jian Xingzhi couldn’t help but reveal a pleased smile.

Only hearing a “ding” sound, the sound of money clinking came through Jian Xingzhi’s mind. 666 cheerfully reminded him:

“Host, your points have been credited. Your current total points are -350. The female protagonist has now begun entering the romance plotline. Multiple romance subplots can be opened. The more romance subplots, the more opportunities you have to gain points. Do you need to activate them?”

“Open them!” Jian Xingzhi didn’t hesitate.

With a “ding dong” sound, 666 continued inquiring: “Female protagonist romance subplot tasks have been activated and will be issued anytime, anywhere to advance romance plotlines. To ensure task completion, I applied to central system for special equipment that allows real-time checking of surrounding people’s affection levels toward the female protagonist. It costs 100 points but can be paid back later. Do you need it?”

“Yes.”

If throwing ‘Qin Wan’ once could earn fifty points, what difficulty were a mere hundred points?

After Jian Xingzhi agreed, his mind made “click click” loading sounds. After a while, 666 happily spoke: “It’s ready.”

With that, Arabic numerals from 1 to 9 appeared in his mental panel.

“Shortly, numerical values will appear above relevant characters’ portraits. Full score is 100. These values are the characters’ romantic affection levels toward the female protagonist. Other emotions won’t be counted and will only show ‘——’. To help you better understand the values, please learn Arabic numerals with me. This is ‘1’…”

666 began teaching Jian Xingzhi to learn Arabic numerals while Qin Wanwan practiced her sword beside him.

Following the martial arts system panel provided by 38, she continuously aligned her posture with the humanoid figure in her mind, drawing her sword again and again, thrusting again and again.

38 was in her mind, crunching on potato chips.

Two people, two systems, harmoniously working toward different goals.

After the first half of the night passed, Baisui You and Su Zhenxue walked out. Baisui You bowed to Jian Xingzhi: “Long Fellow Daoist, we’ll guard the second half of the night. You rest.”

Jian Xingzhi looked up and saw a “10” hanging above Baisui You’s head, while beside him, Su Zhenxue’s head had “——” hanging above it.

Jian Xingzhi nodded and called to the already exhausted Qin Wanwan. He didn’t want to call her master, didn’t want to call her ‘Qin Wanwan’ or ‘Wanwan,’ and couldn’t call her ‘Qin Wan’ in front of everyone.

So he shouted loudly: “Old Qin.”

Qin Wanwan looked up in shock as Jian Xingzhi casually called out: “Come on, let’s rest.”

Qin Wanwan had practiced her sword until she was somewhat dazed. She lay down beside the fire with Jian Xingzhi. After a long while, she incredulously spoke: “You called me what?”

Jian Xingzhi ignored her and closed his eyes to sleep.

Thinking about that ‘Old Qin’ form of address, in that instant, Qin Wanwan felt as if she and this Long Aotian had become good brothers.

The five people rested overnight. When they woke up the next morning, Qin Wanwan was still sleeping when she heard someone pushing her: “This is bad, this is bad, Master, this is bad.”

Qin Wanwan groggily opened her eyes and rubbed them: “What is it?”

“Five people from Wenxin Sect passed through,” Nanfeng shouted in alarm. “The notification just came!”

“What?!”

Qin Wanwan sat up abruptly and saw Su Zhenxue and Baisui You standing at the entrance, looking up at the sky outside the cave with extremely ugly expressions.

Jian Xingzhi yawned beside her: “I told you early on to just go straight for the top-tier spirit beasts and spirit herbs, but you wouldn’t listen. You had to catch some cactus.”

“It’s only been one day,” Qin Wanwan found it unbelievable. “How did Wenxin Sect manage to pass?”

“Twelve of them came,” Su Zhenxue frowned. “According to these sects’ usual practices, only a few of those twelve are confirmed to enter the Sword Tomb. The others are helping those elite few. Yesterday, they should have been sweeping through ordinary spirit herbs or demon beasts.”

“But that can’t be done in one day…” Qin Wanwan thought about yesterday’s distribution density of spirit herbs and demon beasts. Before she finished speaking, Baisui You said gravely: “The notification just came—last night, fifty people crushed their name tags and exited the secret realm.”

Qin Wanwan was stunned, then reacted.

Spirit herbs and demon beasts were indeed hard to catch, but if you caught cultivators who had already captured spirit herbs and demon beasts, that was much easier.

Each person needed one hundred points. Wenxin Sect had five people pass through—behind those five people were the combined points of fifty-seven people.

Qin Wanwan’s heart sank. Five spots—if they were even one step slower, they’d lose.

“We got nothing yesterday,” Su Zhenxue pondered. “Now, to make a comeback from behind, there’s only one method.”

With that, she looked up at the people around her: “Before entering the secret realm, my senior brother told me that within the secret realm is a spirit beast not listed in the task roster. It’s the secret realm’s master, specifically responsible for nurturing spirit beast young and cultivating spirit herbs. It should have many top-tier spirit beasts and spirit herbs there.”

Hearing this, Qin Wanwan and Jian Xingzhi quickly exchanged glances. Qin Wanwan spoke cautiously: “Those young and spirit herbs shouldn’t have much attack power, right?”

“They don’t,” Nanfeng confirmed. “Spirit beasts and spirit herbs all need to cultivate. When they’re young, they rely on their parents’ protection.”

“Then this secret realm master—is there something difficult about dealing with it?”

Qin Wanwan felt there couldn’t be such good fortune. Su Zhenxue nodded: “It has one difficult aspect.”

“What?”

“Within the secret realm, it’s invincible.”

Qin Wanwan: “…”

“Does it have any weaknesses?”

Qin Wanwan still didn’t give up. Su Zhenxue thought for a moment: “It… likes good-looking people.”

“That’s easy then,” Qin Wanwan immediately decided. “We’ll send someone good-looking to seduce it. Best if we can get it to voluntarily give us things. If not, we’ll find a way to lure it away, and the rest of us will go carry off those young spirit beasts. Each person gets two—we’ll divide them up.”

“This is the only way.”

Baisui You nodded. Then he scanned around: “So, who will seduce it?”

Everyone fell into silence. Qin Wanwan thought for a moment: “For seduction, of course we need to find the best-looking one. Everyone, on the count of three, let’s vote together. Point at whoever you think is best-looking.” With that, Qin Wanwan glanced around. “One, two, three.”

As soon as the words fell, Jian Xingzhi pointed at Su Zhenxue, while everyone else pointed at Jian Xingzhi.

Jian Xingzhi was stunned, then exploded: “Are you all blind?!”

This face now—he had deliberately uglified it. It was only one hundred and ten percent of his original appearance. And they still thought it looked good?

“In terms of beauty, I’m inferior to Long Fellow Daoist.” Su Zhenxue spoke calmly.

Baisui You nodded: “Though Long Fellow Daoist is male, he does indeed look better.”

Jian Xingzhi turned to look at Nanfeng and Qin Wanwan. Qin Wanwan forced a smile: “It’s all for everyone’s sake.”

With that, she raised her hand and pressed it on Jian Xingzhi’s shoulder: “Aotian, this isn’t your first time. With this face, go properly seduce the secret realm master. Who knows how to do makeup?”

Qin Wanwan immediately arranged: “Hurry up and dress him up.”

When everyone contributes fuel, the flames rise high. Jian Xingzhi had no time to refuse before being held down by Qin Wanwan. A group rushed up, applying makeup, dressing him up, and changing his clothes. In no time, they had Jian Xingzhi all dressed up. Following Su Zhenxue’s instructions, the group began walking toward the depths of the dense forest.

With Wenxin Sect having five people enter the Sword Tomb at once, the entire secret realm atmosphere was very tense. Cultivators didn’t dare encounter each other—when they met, they immediately started fighting over points.

The five people avoided the fighting and walked for two hours before finally reaching the location Su Zhenxue had mentioned. Before arriving there, all five instinctively bent their waists, made grass rings to put on their heads, lay on the ground, and crawled forward.

After climbing over a small hill, the five people looked forward together. Su Zhenxue pointed toward the shimmering lake surface ahead: “Right there.”

Baisui You frowned. He looked at the lake surface, somewhat worried: “Could there be a mistake?”

“Use divine consciousness to look.”

Jian Xingzhi reminded everyone. Qin Wanwan closed her eyes and began “viewing” with divine consciousness.

At this time she saw that ahead wasn’t a lake at all, but rather a huge estate. In the estate, many small spirit beasts were crawling around on the grass. A rooster was strutting proudly and confidently through its territory, pointing at those small spirit beasts and cursing: “Learn to drink milk yourselves! Otherwise starve to death. Day after day, I don’t even have a wife, yet I have to take care of you little bastards. So annoying!”

With that, it yanked at a sunflower beside it that was twisting madly: “Stop twisting! The leaves are all falling off! What music dreams does a sunflower have?”

“See it? That chicken,” Su Zhenxue lowered her voice, looking at Jian Xingzhi. “You go to the entrance and strike some poses. It will come chat you up. Then you go and take it out for a walk, and we’ll go steal the young.”

“Don’t worry,” Qin Wanwan reassured him. “I’ll steal your share for you. I’ll steal four pandas.”

“Can’t we fight?” Jian Xingzhi frowned. “I really don’t know how to seduce.”

Everyone stayed silent, all looking at him. Jian Xingzhi took a deep breath: “Fine, I’ll try my best.”

With that, Jian Xingzhi stood up and ran down the hill, stopping at the lakeside.

As soon as he appeared by the lake, the rooster turned to glance at him once, then turned its head away as if it hadn’t seen anything, lowering its head to pull apart two fighting monkeys.

Jian Xingzhi looked back. Qin Wanwan stood up and began twisting her body, hinting that he should do some moves.

Jian Xingzhi frowned, thought for a moment, and copied Qin Wanwan’s movements, twisting toward the rooster.

The rooster’s movements froze. Everyone was greatly encouraged. Jian Xingzhi looked at Qin Wanwan again. Qin Wanwan immediately began running her fingers through her hair, recalling girl group dance moves she’d seen. Her hands traced down from her head, loosely outlining her body, twisting into a twisted dough stick shape. Finally, her hands made a flower gesture at her chest before withdrawing, giving Jian Xingzhi an “alluring” look.

Beside her, Su Zhenxue, Baisui You, and the others all watched Qin Wanwan in shock. Jian Xingzhi sucked in a cold breath.

Could this really work?

He really wanted to hit someone.

But thinking that the rooster had just successfully been attracted by the moves Qin Wanwan designed, Jian Xingzhi still began copying Qin Wanwan’s movements and started twisting, while simultaneously winking at the rooster.

The rooster narrowed its eyes, straightened up, and the tips of its chicken wings even curled up, forming fists.

Seeing the rooster notice him, Jian Xingzhi immediately felt encouraged, suddenly feeling that if he could subdue the enemy without fighting like this, it was also a kind of wisdom.

He excitedly turned back, waiting for Qin Wanwan’s next instruction.

Qin Wanwan turned sideways, imitating Marilyn Monroe bending over, and blew Jian Xingzhi a flying kiss.

Jian Xingzhi turned, positioned sideways, pressed his hand to his front, looking exactly like someone in painful distress from stomach cramps and diarrhea, and sent the rooster a flying kiss.

In that very moment, the rooster could bear it no longer. Like the wind, it appeared before Jian Xingzhi and kicked him, shouting: “I can’t take it anymore!”

Jian Xingzhi felt a tremendous force kick his chest. He didn’t even have time to react before being directly kicked flying by the rooster, crashing with a “bang” behind Qin Wanwan and the others.

Qin Wanwan’s group quickly ran to Jian Xingzhi’s side and dug him out of the ground. Before Jian Xingzhi could catch his breath, he was already struggling to get up: “Let me go, I need to kill him…”

Baisui You held Jian Xingzhi down to heal him. Qin Wanwan felt fortunate: “Good thing we didn’t take it by force. Long Aotian was beaten like this—we have absolutely no hope of victory. But speaking of which, if even Long Aotian doesn’t meet its standards, could its requirement for beauty also include gender?”

As Qin Wanwan spoke, everyone looked together at Su Zhenxue beside them. Su Zhenxue’s face stiffened, then she saw Qin Wanwan gazing at her seriously: “Su Fellow Daoist, why don’t you try?”

“Right, right, right,” Baisui You quickly nodded. “Though Long Fellow Daoist is good-looking, he is after all a man. Su Fellow Daoist is the number one beauty—taking down that chicken would be no problem.”

Su Zhenxue gripped her sword. Her complexion changed repeatedly before she finally gritted her teeth and nodded: “I’ll try.”

After simply treating Jian Xingzhi’s injuries, the group crawled back to their original spot and watched Su Zhenxue descend elegantly and reservedly in her white robes, carrying her sword.

The rooster was sunbathing in the courtyard. Su Zhenxue nervously bowed at the estate entrance and spoke softly: “This junior Su Zhenxue has long heard of Senior’s great name. Today, entering the secret realm and being fortunate enough to see Senior fills me with joy. I wish to invite Senior to drink together…”

Before she finished speaking, the rooster leaped up from its lounger. With one spin, its enormous chicken wing slapped Su Zhenxue flying, sending her crashing straight down next to where Jian Xingzhi had just landed.

“Su Fellow Daoist.”

Qin Wanwan and the others quickly ran over again and dug Su Zhenxue out of the dirt. Su Zhenxue lay against Qin Wanwan’s leg, coughing up fresh blood in small mouthfuls.

She seemed afraid of dirtying Qin Wanwan’s skirt and tried hard to push Qin Wanwan away. Qin Wanwan pressed her firmly against her leg: “At a time like this, why are you still being polite!”

Held down by Qin Wanwan, Su Zhenxue painfully closed her eyes, stiffly leaning against Qin Wanwan, not daring to move anymore.

Jian Xingzhi sat cross-legged beside them, propping up his head as he watched Baisui You heal Su Zhenxue, picking his teeth thoughtfully: “It doesn’t like women either. Su Fellow Daoist, could there be a problem with your intelligence?”

“No.” With Baisui You’s help, Su Zhenxue recovered. She gently pulled away Qin Wanwan’s hand, straightened up, and explained steadily: “Previously, people from my sect entered the Sword Tomb this way. Before I entered the secret realm, my senior brother specifically told me this method absolutely works.”

“Then,” Jian Xingzhi frowned, “are we not good-looking enough?”

“I think Fairy Su is very beautiful though.” Nanfeng looked at Su Zhenxue, full of confusion.

Everyone fell silent. After a moment, Su Zhenxue suggested: “How about Qin Fellow Daoist tries?”

“Huh?”

Hearing this, Qin Wanwan quickly waved her hands: “No, no, I look very ugly. Did you see this hairy mole on my forehead?”

She pointed at the upper half of her face not covered by the veil: “I’m afraid my ugliness will make the chicken beat me.”

“It’s fine,” Su Zhenxue continued persuading. “You can still try.”

“I really…”

“Fine!”

Jian Xingzhi decided. Qin Wanwan turned around abruptly to look at Jian Xingzhi: “Who’s fine?”

“You come with me.”

Jian Xingzhi stood up to pull Qin Wanwan, dragging her aside. Seeing no one nearby, Qin Wanwan quickly spoke: “That rooster doesn’t even like Su Zhenxue. I definitely can’t do it.”

“You can’t,” Jian Xingzhi pulled out ‘Qianmian’ from his chest. “But if you change your face, won’t that work?”

Qin Wanwan was stunned, then immediately reacted: “Then why don’t you change? You’re highly skilled in martial arts—if you change and go, that’s more suitable.”

“These spirit beasts recognize auras. It’s already seen me.”

With that, Jian Xingzhi grabbed Qin Wanwan’s hand and made a quick slash. Qin Wanwan’s face instantly wrinkled in pain. Jian Xingzhi gripped her hand and squeezed, dripping blood onto Qianmian.

“I’ve been researching recently. As long as the master doesn’t die, Qianmian can’t recognize a new master, but I just suddenly thought of a way to make it recognize two people. I’ll be the primary and you’ll be secondary. I can help you change to another face. From now on, you can use this face.”

“Alright… alright.”

Qin Wanwan reluctantly spoke, then reminded him: “You need to make it pretty.”

“Don’t worry,” Jian Xingzhi reassured her. “We’re still counting on you to handle that rooster. I’ll definitely give you the most beautiful one I’ve seen.”

Qin Wanwan felt somewhat uncertain. Jian Xingzhi had her close her eyes and raised his finger to her forehead: “Don’t think about anything.”

Qin Wanwan nervously nodded, reminding him: “It must be the best-looking one. Whether it’s your enemy, lover, friends or family, you must choose the most beautiful…”

Jian Xingzhi ignored her. He closed his eyes, recited an incantation, and countless female immortals’ faces began flashing through his mind.

But he discovered that actually, he couldn’t remember most female immortals clearly—just had vague impressions. The only one he remembered clearly…

The image of the first time he saw Qin Wanwan in front of the Dao Palace on Jishan suddenly flashed through his mind.

After all, she was a female immortal renowned throughout the immortal realm for her beauty. Strong and beautiful—she was instantly etched into his eyes.

In a moment of distraction, he heard Qin Wanwan ask: “Is it done?”

Jian Xingzhi opened his eyes and saw a pair of eyes like peach blossom petals looking up at him. Jian Xingzhi paused and let go: “Done.”

With that, he turned around: “Let’s go.”

Qin Wanwan nodded. She quickly took out a mirror from her storage pouch to look at her new face. When she saw the person in the mirror, she froze.

Wasn’t this herself?!!

She looked up in shock at Jian Xingzhi walking ahead somewhat hurriedly.

She had asked him to change her into the face he thought most beautiful, and Long Aotian had changed her into her original body.

Could it be that this Long Aotian already knew her when he was in the immortal realm, and moreover, very likely… had a secret crush on her?!

Realizing this, Qin Wanwan sucked in a cold breath. She looked at Jian Xingzhi’s back, her gaze changing.

She took a breath, put the mirror away, calmed herself for a moment, steadied her mind, and then walked back.

Jian Xingzhi had already returned to Baisui You and the others, arranging things for her in advance: “In a bit, Old Qin will go seduce that chicken. If even she can’t succeed, that rooster has definitely lost interest in women. We don’t need to beat around the bush anymore. I’ll attack directly, and you just grab the young.”

“That is indeed a method,” Baisui You frowned. “If even Su Fellow Daoist can’t gain that chicken’s favor, with Qin Fellow Daoist’s appearance, it will probably be difficult. We should…”

Having just spoken, Baisui You froze.

He stared directly at Qin Wanwan walking out. Qin Wanwan smiled apologetically at him: “Actually, this is my original appearance. Because it attracts too much attention, I don’t dare show my true face. I hope all fellow Daoists will keep it secret in the future.”

With that, Qin Wanwan shyly lowered her head.

Baisui You snapped out of it. His pale face suddenly flushed red, and he quickly responded: “Qin Fellow Daoist, rest assured. We won’t speak of it. Long Fellow Daoist,” Baisui You turned to look at Jian Xingzhi, “we need not think further. Qin Fellow Daoist cannot possibly fail.”

Jian Xingzhi didn’t speak. He looked at the “20” above Baisui You’s head and smiled mockingly: “Heh.”

This old lecher—truly seeing beauty and having thoughts.

As he thought this, his gaze swept to the side and suddenly froze.

He looked at Su Zhenxue, who was staring intently at Qin Wanwan, her eyes moving away then looking back again, moving away then looking back again. Finally confirming—

Above Su Zhenxue’s head, a solid “20” was displayed.

Question marks slowly floated through Jian Xingzhi’s mind: “????”

What was going on with this Su Zhenxue?

—

**Author’s Note:**

Jian Xingzhi: “I don’t care what system, what author—no one can make me fall in love.”