Zou Yan discovered that her current situation was not quite right.

She was in an antique, ethereal room, wearing a light green dress, sitting on a meditation cushion with her hands forming a lotus mudra, as if in the midst of cultivation.

…But hadn’t she been working overtime until dawn the night before, revising design drafts, and then fallen asleep at home without even taking a shower? And these hands were far too fair and delicate to be hers. While examining the slender jade-like hands resting on her knees, suddenly there came a knocking at the door.

“Knock, knock, knock”

Zou Yan’s heart skipped a beat. She hesitantly got up, took three breaths to prepare herself mentally, and opened the door.

Outside stood a man who appeared to be in his thirties, dressed in a grayish-green Daoist robe, looking refined and otherworldly. He smiled at her and said, “Junior Sister Liao, Master has summoned you to the Bamboo Melody Secluded Garden.”

Zou Yan: Junior Sister Liao? Master? Bamboo Melody Secluded Garden? What was all this? If this was a transmigration, why didn’t she come with memories? Why wasn’t there a beginner’s guide? Ah! She was going to die!

“Um… Senior Brother?” Zou Yan asked tentatively.

The brother was very amiable and said, “Junior Sister, are you nervous? Don’t worry, Master just wants to give you a few instructions. Go quickly.” After speaking, he made a gesture to take his leave, but Zou Yan hurriedly called out to him again.

The brother looked at her questioningly, and Zou Yan forced herself to ask, “Senior Brother, could you take me there?” Without a map, how could she find the place without someone to guide her?!

The brother showed no suspicion at all and very agreeably led her there.

“Junior Sister Liao, you needn’t worry too much. Our Clear Valley Heaven is different from other places; we don’t place much importance on such things.”

Zou Yan followed behind, pretending to listen attentively and occasionally nodding in acknowledgment, but her mind was full of questions. What the hell was all this? She couldn’t understand a word!

Along the way, they encountered some disciples also dressed in green robes who would often smile and nod when they saw them. Occasionally, some would greet them, calling them Junior Sister Liao and Senior Brother Su. There were also smaller youths, dressed in even simpler robes, who called her Senior Sister Liao. As Zou Yan walked along, observing the unfamiliar people and various flowers and plants around her, she quickly grasped several key concepts—soul transmigration, immortal cultivation, and major sect.

She was going to die, going to die! Her profession was painting, not acting! What was she supposed to do now? What if she was exposed—would something terrible happen to her?

Before she could think too much, Senior Brother Su brought her to the edge of a bamboo forest, indicated that she should enter alone, and then gracefully departed with a swish of his robes.

Zou Yan had no choice but to continue forward with forced courage. She entered a small path through the bamboo forest where, at intervals, there were bamboo structures resembling ceremonial gates. After passing through nine of them, she finally saw a small bamboo palace inside.

There was no sign. Wait, how could there be no sign? Was this the Bamboo Melody Secluded Garden? She hesitated outside the door for a moment, and from inside someone said, “Disciple Ting Yan, why don’t you come in?”

Oh, so this was the place. And now she could draw a conclusion: the body she was in had the surname Liao and the given name Ting Yan. Zou Yan walked in and saw a young man in his twenties turn around to look at her with a kind, loving expression.

Zou Yan: “…Master.” Was he really this young? Was this real?

The young man said, “You’ve been under my tutelage for three months now, why are you still so formal? Haven’t I told you, you are like my own daughter to me, you should treat me as your father, there’s no need to be distant.”

Zou Yan: “…” Are you serious? You look even younger than me, and you want me to call you father just like that?

The more she said, the more mistakes she might make. Zou Yan employed her ultimate technique for dealing with relatives during New Year—smiling. As long as it wasn’t a question that required an answer, a shy smile would suffice.

Indeed, the young Master showed no sign of detecting anything amiss. Instead, he invited her to sit and drink tea, then spoke to her in the tone of a homeroom teacher having a heart-to-heart with a student: “The reason I called you here is mainly because of the selection in three days. You don’t need to worry, just let things take their natural course. You joined late, your cultivation level is low, and your seniority is the lowest. This time, all eight major palaces will select outstanding disciples to go, and our Clear Valley Heaven is just making up the numbers.”

Zou Yan had a moment of confusion, thinking it was like a homeroom teacher consoling her about unsatisfactory exam results. After listening to a cloud of mystifying words, the young Master finally said, “In three days, I will send you off. Be prepared.”

Zou Yan instinctively glanced at the top of his head, feeling there should be a scroll or an exclamation mark there. She felt as if this Master was like an NPC giving out quests.

When she returned to the room where she had first awakened, following her memory, she finally let out a sigh of relief. She scratched her head in frustration. This was no good—the pressure of impersonating someone else was too great. She wanted to die and go back!

Turning her head inadvertently, she spotted a mirror in the corner. Zou Yan suddenly froze, then jumped up to touch her face. My goodness, what an otherworldly beauty! Was this body a fairy? What did one need to eat to grow so beautiful? Alright, I’m fine now, I don’t want to die anymore. Each extra day alive is a day gained.

Since she didn’t know how to go back anyway, she could only continue being Liao Ting Yan for now.

Being Liao Ting Yan wasn’t very difficult because she soon gathered some basic information from the surrounding disciples and young attendants. For instance, she had been accepted as a disciple by the True Immortal Dong Yang this year. Her cultivation level was low, merely at the Qi Condensation stage, and she was a mediocre talent with three spiritual roots.

She was in the number one orthodox sect in the cultivation world, the Gengchen Immortal Mansion. This Gengchen Immortal Mansion was said to be so large that its disciples alone could form a country. Her master’s small branch was called Clear Valley Heaven, which was a sub-branch in one of the Immortal Caves under one of the eight major palaces.

To sum it up, her cultivation level was low, her seniority was low, and she was a tiny shrimp in a massive organization.

She also heard a bit of gossip: it was said that the reason her Master, True Immortal Dong Yang, had accepted her as a disciple was because she looked exactly like his daughter who had passed away decades ago. Therefore, True Immortal Dong Yang had transferred his affection to her, and treated this small disciple with great care. Consequently, the senior brothers of Clear Valley Heaven were all kind to her, and she was the only female disciple in this small branch of Clear Valley Heaven.

Because of this, Liao Ting Yan finally understood what her Master had been talking about earlier. This connection, as it turned out, had to do with a major event.

The only significant recent event in the Gengchen Immortal Mansion was not only discussed by everyone within the sect but also attracted attention throughout the entire cultivation world.

—A senior ancestor of their Gengchen Immortal Mansion, who held the highest seniority, was about to end his five-hundred-year seclusion and emerge!

This old ancestor, named Dharma Lord of Compassionate Repository, was of such high seniority that he was even one generation senior to the current sect leader of Gengchen Immortal Mansion—he was the sect leader’s grand-uncle. If compared to earthly emperors, he would be the Grand Emperor. Moreover, this ancestor was doubly significant.

It was said that not only was his seniority high, but his identity was also special. The Gengchen Immortal Mansion had been established for several hundred thousand years. The founder who initially established it had the surname Sima, and every generation of leaders thereafter bore the surname Sima. Hundreds had ascended through tribulation, and more than half of them had the surname Sima. Today, the last Sima in the Gengchen Immortal Mansion was the Dharma Lord of Compassionate Repository.

Wasn’t it a big deal when an ancestor at the top of the food chain was about to emerge from seclusion?

Because this ancestor was about to emerge, the sect leader, elders, and the eight palace masters—a group of top leaders—decided to provide the best service for the ancestor. First, they would select some talented and outstanding disciples to serve him. For some unknown reason, these candidates were limited to female disciples, so Liao Ting Yan, the newly admitted and only female disciple of Clear Valley Heaven, was also on the list of candidates.

Liao Ting Yan: “…” This was probably no different from an emperor selecting concubines.

On the third day, that young-looking Master, who was over three hundred years old, personally came to escort her to the selection venue. Only then did Liao Ting Yan truly realize how vast the Gengchen Immortal Mansion was. Her direct superior used such a fast magical artifact to fly, yet it still took at least two hours to reach the destination. The places they passed through were said to be just a small part of the Gengchen Immortal Mansion’s territory.

“The Qu Dong Thirty-Six Immortal Mountains extend for eight thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight li, all of which belong to the Gengchen Immortal Mansion,” True Immortal Dong Yang said, seemingly noticing what Liao Ting Yan was thinking. “Our sect is indeed very large. Many low-level disciples will live their entire lives in these affiliated cities, just like citizens in the mortal world.”

Liao Ting Yan: My goodness, this was truly eye-opening.

From a distance, Liao Ting Yan could see a gigantic square that could almost be considered a plain. Dozens of jade pillars stood on both sides, with majestic palaces along the central axis resembling a phoenix. Many disciples were already standing there, with more continuously arriving. The scene was so grand and magnificent that Liao Ting Yan felt intimidated.

True Immortal Dong Yang, like a parent sending a child to an exam, could only offer encouragement with a loving gaze after delivering her, then had to retreat and wait, leaving Liao Ting Yan—a newcomer—mixed among a group of beauties.

Liao Ting Yan stood in a corner, looking up, and felt as if she had arrived at a beauty pageant. If this were indeed a beauty pageant, there would likely be a fight, because every person was as beautiful as a fairy. Selecting a champion would be quite difficult, and after looking for a while, she even felt a bit of aesthetic fatigue.

After watching for a while, she had to lower her head and do some eye exercises—the visual stimulation was too intense.

There were at least ten thousand people present. Beautiful women in various colored dresses were chatting in soft voices, and some even approached Liao Ting Yan.

“Excuse me, which branch are you from, Junior Sister?”

Liao Ting Yan was, after all, a working adult who knew how to interact with people. She politely stated that she was a disciple of True Immortal Dong Yang from Clear Valley Heaven.

The beautiful woman who spoke covered her mouth and laughed, revealing a hint of contempt in her eyes. “Oh, not Junior Sister, but Junior Niece.” Then she ignored her, probably looking down on her.

From just a brief listen, Liao Ting Yan discovered that these beautiful women around her all had either single spiritual roots or variant single spiritual roots or top-tier dual spiritual roots—exceptional talents. The so-called once-in-a-decade or once-in-a-century geniuses of the cultivation world were all gathered here, clustered like cabbages.

Moreover, most of them were of the same generation as True Immortal Dong Yang and held high status, so naturally they looked down on Liao Ting Yan, a minor disciple. If not for her remarkably beautiful face that stood out among so many people, they wouldn’t have initiated a conversation with her.

Liao Ting Yan: Reassured now, it seems true as the leader said, I’m just here for the show.

“Dong—”

After a deep bell sound, the crowd suddenly fell silent. Then five-colored light streamed in from beyond the sky, landing one by one in front of the great hall on the square, transforming into five people. Being too far away, Liao Ting Yan couldn’t see their appearances, but she sensed that each of them possessed a unique aura, with a magnificent presence that made one dare not look directly at them.

These must be the top leaders.

“Five of them came!”

“Yes, a few years ago when the catastrophic demon appeared, only four palace masters showed up, right? How is it that today, just to select a few people, five palace masters have come? It seems the higher-ups attach great importance to this matter.”

Liao Ting Yan perked up her ears, listening to the beautiful women beside her gossip in low voices, all sounding surprised and excited.

Atop the high steps, an elderly man began to speak, “Today, we will select one hundred people from among the disciples present to serve the Dharma Lord of Compassionate Repository after he emerges from seclusion.”

The elderly man said a few more simple words, then asked the people beside him to act together, releasing ten thousand streams of spiritual light. Everyone in the square was enveloped in a layer of spiritual light, including Liao Ting Yan, of course. After a moment, these lights began to extinguish one by one. Only one hundred people in the square remained illuminated—these were the people selected by the palace masters above.

Liao Ting Yan, enveloped in light: “…” Wasn’t she supposed to just be here for show? How did she get selected???