On How to Get a 'Long Aotian' to Win Themselves Over - Chapter 3

“Great Way Sovereign” tells the story of the young male lead, Qin Sheng, who was originally a generational genius. However, overnight, his family was wiped out and his spiritual roots were destroyed. He lived a life of dependency at the Heavenly Path Immortal Sect, enduring all kinds of humiliation, only to turn misfortune into a blessing by awakening his bloodline during a crisis, eventually becoming a sensation.

In the process, he captures countless beauties, recruits underlings to expand his power, and slaps the faces of a whole crowd of villainous cannon fodder. In short, it’s a ‘power-fantasy’ novel that doesn’t require much brainpower; all the protagonist’s early suffering exists solely for the rush that follows.

But it was one thing not to have actual contact with him; it was another thing entirely when the person was collapsed right in front of him. No matter how Ying Jue tried to comfort himself, he couldn’t continue to treat the boy as a mere ‘paper person.’

Look at that pale, defeated little face and those brows tightly furrowed even in unconsciousness. It was fine as long as he didn’t look, but one glance made Ying Jue feel incredibly uneasy. He truly couldn’t just dump the guy here and ignore him.

Since the male lead was unconscious anyway, Ying Jue stood up and fed him another pill.

He thought this behavior would trigger another electric shock, but it didn’t. Ying Jue grew thoughtful; it seemed that while the major plot direction had to remain unchanged, there were still many loopholes to exploit.

The next day, they had to leave Shishui City and head back.

Ying Jue himself was in no hurry to return to the Heavenly Path Immortal Sect, but the annual Inner Sect Grand Competition was approaching. Not long after the competition, there would be the five-year exchange conference between the four great sects. Even Ying Jue’s Master had personally sent an inquiry asking when he would return.

Knowing he couldn’t dodge the Inner Sect Competition, Ying Jue could only bite the bullet and rush back.

In the original work, the trio took a shortcut to save time, and on that shortcut, they encountered a “Malevolent Ghost.”

In the original story, the ghost was wary of Ying Jue’s strength and only used a scheme to lure him away, focusing primarily on the male lead and the little junior sister. During this process, the little junior sister naturally got heavily injured while protecting the male lead. In his grief, the male lead erupted, triggering his bloodline power, and the relationship between the two shifted.

But at this stage, first, Ying Jue didn’t have the original soul’s powerful strength; the ghost might not bother luring him away and might instead try to catch them all in one net. Whether the male lead would erupt then was unknown, but the fact that he wasn’t the original Ying Jue would definitely be exposed. Second, Ying Jue intended to change the plot to see exactly where the limit of major plot remains unchanged lay.

So, for various reasons, Ying Jue chose the main road.

Taking the main road was meant to avoid danger, but nobody knew if the main road itself would be dangerous. To be safe, Ying Jue spent the entire night reading various cultivation techniques, especially the talismans that the original soul was extremely skilled in. He didn’t just read them; he practiced them directly.

This practice turned out to be disastrous. Despite Ying Jue’s photographic memory, the talismans he drew were beyond description—they couldn’t even compare to the original soul’s level at age four.

After two hours of fruitless attempts, Ying Jue gave up the struggle and turned his attention to tinkering with the original soul’s spiritual root.

The original soul was a Single-Attribute Lightning Spiritual Root cultivator. Besides possessing terrifying attack power, he was also very skilled at exorcising ghosts and warding off evil. If they really ran into a malevolent ghost, even if he couldn’t use talismans, being able to strike down a few bolts of lightning would be good.

Unfortunately, the ideal was beautiful, but reality was skeletal.

Feeling the weak, tiny electric current in his hand, Ying Jue almost wanted to laugh. This little spark would do nothing against a malevolent ghost except provoke it.

Early the next morning.

Having pulled an all-nighter, Ying Jue’s complexion was terrible. His gloomy expression made it look as if someone owed him a mountain of spirit stones; he was even two degrees less enthusiastic toward his little junior sister.

Beside him, Qin Sheng watched Ying Jue impassively, pondering what that show yesterday was all about. If Ying Jue wanted to make his life miserable, why was it that after waking up today, not only were there no new injuries, but even his previous wounds were seventy or eighty percent healed? But to say the other came to deliver medicine was simply too ridiculous.

While Qin Sheng was staring at Ying Jue, analyzing his motives, he never expected Ying Jue to suddenly turn his head.

Their gazes collided. A flash of surprise crossed those light-colored eyes that looked like glass beads, and then Ying Jue looked away.

Ying Jue’s high-and-mighty, ‘don’t want to talk to you’ appearance was actually just him letting the male lead and himself off the hook. If he started a conversation, he’d have to throw in a few sarcastic remarks to be worthy of his villain persona.

“Big Senior Brother, how about we take the shortcut?” suggested Lian Muxi, who had also received a nudge from their Master. She was still somewhat afraid of her Master and feared returning too late.

Ying Jue glanced at the shortcut and began to talk nonsense: “An ominous aura is faintly coming from that direction. I fear it will cause complications. Junior Sister, it’s better if we take the main road.”

Lian Muxi only mentioned it in passing; once Ying Jue made the decision, she obediently nodded and agreed.

Normally, Shishui City wasn’t that far from the Heavenly Path Immortal Sect. Unluckily, they had run right into the monthly “No-Fly” period of the sect’s outer perimeter. Otherwise, with the original soul’s wealth, he could have sent the three of them back directly in a flying vessel, so how would they ever encounter a malevolent ghost?

But to promote the feelings between the male lead and Harem Member Number One, the author specifically wrote this plot point. To make the plot logical, they even set a “No-Fly” period, which made things miserable for Ying Jue.

It didn’t have to be this miserable. After all, the original soul’s family was quite rich. Even if they couldn’t take a flying vessel, he had a luxurious carriage that screamed “wealthy” and eight beautiful maidservants transformed from high-level paper puppets to serve him. Unfortunately, the original work specifically stated that the original soul, in order to torment the male lead, lied and said the carriage was broken, insisting on walking. Walking was one thing, but he walked incredibly fast, making it impossible for the male lead to keep up.

At this plot point, the original soul drew a lot of curses from readers. The only thing that made readers feel slightly better was that there was a lively and cute little junior sister by the protagonist’s side caring for him.

For the sake of Villain Value and Humiliation Value, Ying Jue walked very fast just like in the original work, only slowing down slightly when the male lead truly couldn’t keep up.

Watching the sweat continuously dripping from the male lead’s forehead, Ying Jue’s conscience was about to ache again.

The original soul pretended to be noble and refined in front of everyone; why couldn’t he pretend a bit more in front of the little junior sister? Bullying someone right in front of her—if she could still fall for him, she must be truly blind.

After stopping for a moment, Ying Jue first gave Qin Sheng a look of disgust, then said warmly to the junior sister: “It’s getting dark, and Junior Sister is tired. How about we rest in that ruined temple up ahead?”

Lian Muxi already had a Foundation Building cultivation; this level of travel was actually nothing to her. But seeing Qin Sheng’s pale face and head full of cold sweat, she nodded. “Fine. If we return late, Muxi will personally ask Master for punishment.”

“What are you saying, Junior Sister? Master dotes on you; how could he have the heart to punish you?”

Lian Muxi lowered her eyes slightly and didn’t speak further.

If it were the original soul, he would surely think Lian Muxi didn’t want to talk to him. But having read most of the book and received the original soul’s memories, Ying Jue picked up a different vibe.

The original soul’s Master wasn’t very old but was already the Sect Leader, managing a massive sect. Regarding his two disciples, he was dedicated to the original soul. But toward Lian Muxi, perhaps due to the distinction between male and female or something else, he wasn’t as close. Aside from guiding her cultivation, there was no other contact. This would have been nothing, but the original soul’s talent was freakishly high and he was close with their Master. After hearing a few rumors, the little junior sister inevitably felt a bit inferior. At this time, the appearance of the male lead, whom she had known since childhood, was undoubtedly a beam of light.

It turned out the male lead and the little junior sister were on a ‘mutual salvation’ route. Ying Jue unconsciously glanced at the male lead again, only to find the guy was looking at him once more.

Ying Jue found it a bit funny. Was the male lead thinking about how to kill him in his heart?

Exposing your ambition before you’re powerful isn’t a good thing. But it wasn’t a villain’s place to offer reminders. Ying Jue could only continue to play blind, acting as if he hadn’t seen a thing.

The ruined temple hadn’t been visited in years and was a mess. Fortunately, though the original soul was obsessed with cleanliness, and although he hadn’t brought human servants, the eight maidservants transformed from high-level paper puppets were enough. They soon cleaned the temple spotless. Several large night-luminescent pearls were used for lighting, incense was lit, and then the servants began their clear division of labor: brewing tea, playing the zither, and one maid even began cooking food on-site.

Qin Sheng hadn’t had much personal contact with Ying Jue before. Seeing this display, he couldn’t help but look a few more times.

Lian Muxi thought Qin Sheng was curious and explained a bit more for him: “Big Senior Brother is from the Ying family, one of the three ancient clans. Even if he’s obsessed with cleanliness and hates having people near him, he has plenty of ways to have people serve him.”

“He is obsessed with cleanliness?”

“Yes, it’s very severe. Previously, a senior sister tried to touch him and almost had her hand severed. That’s why I was quite surprised when Senior Brother grabbed you yesterday.”

Qin Sheng gave a grunt of acknowledgement and didn’t speak further, but his eyes were so deep one couldn’t see the bottom.

Ying Jue was currently waiting for the rain to fall, when suddenly, the Humiliation Value he had worked so hard to maintain at the passing line silently dropped a few points.

Ying Jue looked at the Humiliation Value in disbelief. He had a bad feeling. Sure enough, after dropping a few points, it wasn’t enough; it dropped a few more.

Heaven and Earth be my witness! This was Humiliation Value he had ground out by selling his own soul and working diligently! How could it just drop like that?

Male lead, I didn’t expect you to be such a good kid who doesn’t hold grudges. But as a human, actually being a bit petty is fine. How about this, male lead—give me back my Humiliation Value!