The Villain Recognizes the Female Lead as His Master [Transmigration] - Chapter 40

Before Su Tingxi could react, the second and third questions arrived in quick succession: “A brother and sister set out from home to the Immortal Sect at the same time. The brother walks nine li per hour, while the sister walks six li per hour. Upon reaching the mountain gate, the brother realizes he forgot his birth certificate and turns back to retrieve it. He meets his sister at a point eighteen li from the Immortal Sect. How far is their home from the Immortal Sect?”

“Two people stand on opposite sides of a spirit pool, one filling it and the other draining it. The filler can fill the pool in twelve hours, while the drainer can empty it in fifteen hours. If the pool is currently 65% full and both work together, how long will it take to fill the pool?”

At this moment, not only was Su Tingxi stunned, but Chi Jinnian was too.

Was the original author an elementary school student? Did they just copy their unfinished winter homework into this story! Since when did cultivation world trials test elementary school word problems?

“Why isn’t he moving?” Yuan Shao watched Su Tingxi standing frozen in place, his face ashen, and grew puzzled. “What is he waiting for?”

“Young master, is it possible that he can’t solve them?” Chi Jinnian whispered.

Seeing this, Yuan Shao quietly released Zhang Wei, sending him to Su Tingxi’s side. Meanwhile, she borrowed paper and a brush from someone and began scribbling calculations.

Chi Jinnian never imagined she would one day witness the great female protagonist solving elementary school word problems with a brush and rice paper.

Yuan Shao used her bond with Zhang Wei to relay the answers to Su Tingxi: “Zhang Wei, first question: twelve rabbits, twenty-three chickens.”

Chi Jinnian: !

You actually solved it!

While she was still astonished, Yuan Shao had the answer to the second question: “Second question: ninety li.”

Yuan Shao continued writing and calculating, on the verge of solving the third problem, when the examiner struck a copper gong and loudly announced, “First place: Zhuang Rong of the Evergreen Sect!”

Someone had surpassed the great female protagonist, and it was someone from the Evergreen Sect! Chi Jinnian watched the back of the first person heading toward the city gate, feeling something was off.

The woman didn’t seem in a hurry to enter the city. Instead, she turned and waved to the crowd.

On the desk she had left behind, the paper and brush provided by the examiner remained untouched except for the submitted answers, pristine as new.

Could an NPC in this kind of progression novel really surpass the protagonist?

Before she could finish her thoughts, the second and third places were quickly announced. By the time Chi Jinnian snapped back to reality, it was already the eighteenth and nineteenth places.

Chi Jinnian glanced at Yuan Shao, who finally derived the last answer: “Ten hours!”

As the gong struck again, the examiners began collecting the candidates’ answers.

The rankings were soon posted on the city gate.

First place: Zhuang Rong of the Evergreen Sect. Chi Jinnian and her group ranked second. The rest, having submitted entirely wrong answers, were ranked based solely on the order of submission.

Chi Jinnian stared at the name in first place, lost in thought.

Just then, Huang Er’s voice pulled her back to reality: “Benefactor, your young master is truly amazing! Handsome, wealthy, and sharp-minded!” He was almost catching up to him. Of course, Huang Er kept that last part to himself.

“Of course, my young master is the best!”

Chi Jinnian’s praise brightened Yuan Shao’s expression, her smile impossible to conceal.

Having smoothly passed the first trial, Chi Jinnian and the others were in high spirits. Except for one person Su Tingxi.

Yuan Shao saw him return dejectedly and offered a few words of comfort. “It’s alright, there’s still the next round. Don’t take it to heart.”

Su Tingxi had thought this would be his chance to turn his image around, but instead, he ended up embarrassing himself once again.

Ignoring everyone else, he dashed back to the inn alone.

Unexpectedly, right at the inn’s entrance, he ran into the top-ranked contestant, Zhuang Rong.

“Oh? It’s you!” Zhuang Rong’s smile remained warm and gentle as she greeted Su Tingxi proactively.

But this only made Su Tingxi recall how flustered he had been in the examination hall, while the woman before him had remained calm and composed the entire time. He didn’t respond to Zhuang Rong and instead headed straight back to his small woodshed, slamming the door shut with a loud bang.

Zhuang Rong stood at the inn’s entrance, puzzled as to what she might have done to upset Su Tingxi and make him run off like that. Just then, Chi Jinnian and the others approached the inn.

They walked through the snow, their footsteps occasionally crunching softly.

When Yuan Shao reached the inn’s entrance, she didn’t go inside.

“I have something to take care of and need to go out for a bit. You go on up first,” Yuan Shao instructed Chi Jinnian.

“Where are you going, young master? I’ll come with you,” Chi Jinnian asked, confused. Not only had Yuan Shao lost her memory, but Ling’an City was also unfamiliar to her. Why would she say she had something to do and not allow anyone to accompany her? What was she up to?

“No need. It’s cold outside. Go back to the room and light the heater. Wait for me there obediently,” Yuan Shao instructed before walking off alone, continuing forward.

Chi Jinnian watched her retreating figure. Though she had her doubts, she ultimately didn’t follow. At that moment, she had a bigger question that needed answering.

After everyone had dispersed, Chi Jinnian asked Zhang Wei and Li Tao to go back to their room and light the heater. Instead of hurrying back herself, she went to the counter and asked the innkeeper for a pot of wine.

“More wine?” The innkeeper looked at Chi Jinnian with surprise. Didn’t I give you two a pot yesterday? Young people these days really don’t know how to restrain themselves!

The old innkeeper sighed and replied, “Miss, go wait in your room. I’ll bring it up to you in a moment.”

“No need, just give it to me now,” Chi Jinnian seemed unwilling to leave and stood by the counter, waiting.

Wow, she’s really in a hurry! Seeing this, the old innkeeper had no choice but to fetch a wine pot and fill it.

Leaning against the counter, Chi Jinnian pretended to ask casually, “The young lady who came in before us, which room is she in?”

“Oh, her? She’s right below your room.”

Chi Jinnian bent over to take a look and made a mental note.

The old innkeeper handed the wine to Chi Jinnian and specifically advised, “Miss, take my advice drinking is harmful to your health. You two… especially you, should take it easy!”

Chi Jinnian looked at the old innkeeper with hesitation. Since when did novels care about alcohol being harmful to health?

But before she could think too much about it, she hurried upstairs, taking two steps at a time, and headed straight for the room below hers.

Watching Chi Jinnian rush upstairs, the old innkeeper assumed she was in a hurry and could only shake his head, muttering, “Tsk, tsk, youth these days!”

Chi Jinnian carried the wine to Zhuang Rong’s room and knocked on the door.

“Who is it?” a woman’s voice called from inside.

“Miss, my young master sent me to bring you a pot of wine. He said he’d like to be friends,” Chi Jinnian replied.

“No need, I don’t drink. Please thank your young master for his kindness,” the woman replied.

“Would you like to try some, miss? This wine is quite precious.”

“No, thank you. If you like it, you can have it.”

Seeing that the door wouldn’t open, Chi Jinnian was about to leave when she suddenly turned on her heel and casually remarked, “What a pity for this imperial jade wine 180 a cup!”

A thud was heard from inside the room, as if someone had fallen, followed by a series of hurried footsteps approaching the door.

The wooden door swung open with a bang. Unlike the earlier refusal, Zhuang Rong now gestured for her to enter. “Please, come in, miss.”

As the door closed behind them, Chi Jinnian got straight to the point. “Tell me, who are you?”

“Zhuang Rong of the Evergreen Sect, a disciple under Elder Yaohua.”

“That’s not what I meant!” Chi Jinnian said sternly. “You remembered the answers to the trial in the side story from over 800 chapters are you a reader too?”

Hearing this, Zhuang Rong was completely certain of Chi Jinnian’s identity as someone from the real world. Overjoyed yet slightly embarrassed, she tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “Um, sorry. but those 800-plus chapters were actually written by me.”

“You’re the author!” Chi Jinnian’s first instinct was to confront her. “Then why did you have to take first place?”

“I already went easy on you all! Who knew you’d be so slow?” Zhuang Rong chuckled and took Chi Jinnian’s hand. “Sis, you know what? I’ve been waiting for you here for a long time.”

“Waiting for me?”

“Yeah.” Zhuang Rong nodded. “Weren’t you the one who urged me the most to update back then? Because I dragged the story out so much, I was forced to come here to speed up the plot. But I got the chance to find a helper, and I immediately thought of you, sis!”

Chi Jinnian:

Now she knew why she had been transported into the book!

“I really can’t thank you enough!”

“Aw, sis, no need to be so polite! By the way, why are you covering your face? Take off the mask and let me see you!” As she spoke, Zhuang Rong reached for the mask. However, it was enchanted by Yuan Shao’s magic, preventing outsiders from touching it. The moment Zhuang Rong’s fingers brushed against it, an electric shock repelled her hand.

“This.”

“Oh, my master did this to protect me and keep my identity hidden.” Chi Jinnian helped her up, and the two sat down at the table.

“Master? I don’t remember writing any characters who wear masks. Sis, whose disciple are you?” Zhuang Rong propped her chin in her hands, watching as Chi Jinnian slowly removed her mask.

As her true face was revealed, her waterfall-like hair also changed color. Chestnut-red locks and deep, striking features made her identity unmistakable.

Staring in disbelief, Zhuang Rong’s eyes widened. “Sis, you’re the villain! You, you’re Chi Jinnian! But wait! Then who’s your master? I remember, even though I used you to pad out a lot of the plot, I don’t think I ever wrote you having a master!”

Though reluctant to admit it, Chi Jinnian spoke the answer aloud. “My master is your precious daughter, Yuan Shao!”

After revealing their identities to each other, Zhuang Rong clutched her waist and laughed for a full ten minutes. Finally unable to take it anymore, Chi Jinnian shot her a sidelong glance and asked, “Are you done laughing? Your daughter will be back soon can we hurry up and get down to business?”

Zhuang Rong wiped the tears of laughter from the corners of her eyes, took a moment to calm down, and then spoke: “Nian Bao, if we want to leave this place, we need to speed up the plot progression. We must make sure you and your master ascend to immortality as quickly as possible so we can return to our original world. But remember one thing: you absolutely must protect your life. Otherwise, your body in the other world will vanish along with it.”

Chi Jinnian nodded. “So, how can we speed up her ascension?”

“When I was building the world’s lore, I prepared two paths to ascension.” Zhuang Rong counted on her fingers as she explained to Chi Jinnian. “First, undergoing tribulations is essential simply put, one must experience the eight sufferings of life. The first path involves cultivating for eight hundred to a thousand years, and when the opportunity arises, one can successfully ascend. I originally didn’t plan for my daughter to take this path, but later, when I realized the book was doing well, the word count just kept bloating.”

“So that’s how we ended up with over eight hundred chapters!” Chi Jinnian rubbed her temples. “What about the second path?”

“The second path is much simpler: whoever obtains the Glazed Jade will gain the opportunity to ascend.”

That sounded much easier at least it wouldn’t take eight hundred years! Chi Jinnian asked excitedly, “So where is the Glazed Jade?”

Zhuang Rong: “The Glazed Jade is split into two halves. One piece is here in Ling’an City, and the other well, as I got more focused on padding the plot, I ended up… forgetting where I put it. Hehehe ”

Chi Jinnian:

Faced with her murderous glare, Zhuang Rong quickly tried to comfort her. “Oh, don’t worry! We’ll take it one step at a time. Let’s just get the half in Ling’an City first!”

Chi Jinnian knew she had already been away for quite some time and figured Yuan Shao would be back soon. So she hurriedly asked something more practical: “What about the immediate situation? What’s the next trial?”

“The next trial involves entering a maze as a group. The maze has three layers. If you break through the third layer and reach the Xuanzhao stage, you can come out.” Zhuang Rong added suddenly, “But this maze is a bit like a Rubik’s Cube. You might be on the third layer one second, but if the cube rotates, even if you don’t move an inch, you’ll end up back on the first layer.”

“So it’s not just about navigating the maze but also about luck.” Chi Jinnian pondered for a moment.

“It’s not just that,” Zhuang Rong said seriously. “It also tests endurance and the ability to resist temptation. My original setting was: the first layer has nothing, the second layer has water and food, and the third layer, on top of water and food, also has illusions. The illusions vary for each person, showing scenes based on what they desire most. Whether you can break through the illusion depends on your willpower.”

Seeing Chi Jinnian’s troubled expression, Zhuang Rong smiled reassuringly. “Oh, Nian Bao, don’t worry. My daughter has an overpowered golden finger. As long as you stick with her, everything will be fine!”

Finally reunited with a fellow hometown friend, Zhuang Rong was reluctant to part with Chi Jinnian. But Chi Jinnian, thinking about Yuan Shao’s imminent return, knew she had to go back and wait for her obediently. So she had no choice but to say goodbye.

Just as Chi Jinnian stepped out of Zhuang Rong’s room, she ran into Yuan Shao, who had just come up the stairs.

“Ah Nian?” Yuan Shao’s eyes lit up with unconcealed joy upon seeing Chi Jinnian. “What are you doing here? Were you waiting for me?”

Chi Jinnian was about to reply when Zhuang Rong suddenly chased after her from the room, holding a wine jug. “Nian Bao, you forgot your Imperial Court Jade Wine!”

Upon hearing Zhuang Rong’s words, Yuan Shao realized that Chi Jinnian was not here for her sake, and the hand she had been hiding behind her back slowly dropped.

Chi Jinnian noticed that Yuan Shao was holding a stick of candied hawthorn the very one Yuan Shao had promised to buy for her the night before. She had only mentioned it in passing, never expecting the other to take it to heart and venture out alone in such cold weather just to get it for her.

Zhuang Rong, however, acted as if she were no stranger: “Nian Bao, is this your master?”

Yuan Shao’s gaze toward Chi Jinnian deepened, carrying a mix of inquiry and reproach as she repeated, “Nian Bao!”