“Senior Sister Sang!”
“She can’t be saved. The Heavenly Barrier has been breached, the Jade Gate is shattered. If we don’t leave now, we’ll die!”
“Yao Yao, hurry and go! The Demon King has suddenly emerged from seclusion and is heading this way—he must be coming to assist the Demon Lord in attacking the Immortal Realm! Sang Dai’s golden core is shattered, her meridians are severed. Leave her!”
“But Senior Sister Sang is still there!”
“Disciples of the Sword Sect, hear my command: board the Xumi Mustard Seed Ship and leave the Kongsang Realm!”
Under the blue-gray sky, amidst desolate mountains, the fierce wind howled, and fine snowflakes fell, merging into the streams of blood. The snow drifted down onto Sang Dai’s body.
Warm liquid flowed out of her, the unbearable pain surging through her meridians. The acrid smell of blood lingered around her nose. Her entire body ached, and the person who had always prided herself on cleanliness now lay in a pool of blood. Through her blurred vision, she could only watch familiar figures gradually move away from her.
Her junior sister wanted to save her, but her revered parents had instead held the little junior sister in their arms, half-coaxing and half-forcing her to leave.
Sang Dai heard cries of anguish, desperate roars, and the sound of demon beasts tearing and biting, yet nothing rang clearer than the words she had just heard:
“She can’t be saved.”
“Leave her.”
The snow fell on her, seeping into her wounds and into her heart, making it hurt so much that it was hard to breathe.
Panting heavily, she struggled to look into the distance.
The massive mustard seed ship stood there as disciples boarded one after another to retreat from the battlefield. Bringing up the rear were a man and a woman—her parents.
“Father… Mother…”
But they never once looked at her.
Sang Dai’s five senses gradually dulled. Through her hazy vision, she watched as a dozen or so mustard seed ships departed one by one.
Perhaps there were still living people on this battlefield, like her.
But soon, nothing would remain.
Using the last of her strength, she managed to turn her body over and lie flat. Her shattered life-bound sword lay by her side, and she couldn’t even lift her hand.
The boundless snow fell gently on her face. Snowfall was rare in the Kongsang Realm, yet today it had snowed heavily.
She had only seen snow twice before.
Sang Dai’s black hair was disheveled, and the jade hairpin that once bound it had been lost somewhere. Her white robe had long been stained red.
In this war against the Demon Realm, she had fought tirelessly for seventeen days, until her golden core was half-shattered and her life-bound sword was broken.
When a sword cultivator’s sword is broken, they are no longer a sharp blade.
At the brink of death, she witnessed a rare snowfall.
Sang Dai sensed demon beasts charging toward her from afar. A cultivator at the peak of the Nascent Soul stage, even with a shattered golden core, still had flesh that was immensely nourishing. The demon beasts would naturally fight over her remains.
She didn’t want to die so miserably, but she didn’t even have the strength to raise her hand and end her own life.
In this lifetime, what had she even lived for?
The sound of excited panting gradually approached her. She caught the stench of blood emanating from the demon beast, an unbearable smell that hinted at the countless lives it had devoured.
Sang Dai closed her eyes, hoping she could die before the beast tore her apart.
Yet, the pain she expected didn’t come. The pungent smell of blood was swept away, and she heard an enraged roar—a voice broken and trembling.
“Get lost—”
Was that scolding her?
How rude.
Sang Dai wanted to snap back, but she couldn’t even open her eyes. She could only lie there, defenseless, enduring the disdain.
Her last shred of strength was gone. Knowing she had only one breath left, she resolved to surrender to death before the beast could shred her to pieces. But suddenly, her wrist was seized.
A warm hand wrapped around her slender wrist, its heat completely different from her icy body.
So warm.
Her frigid body couldn’t resist. Instinctively, she craved this warmth.
Spiritual energy surged through her meridians, coursing along their intricate paths until it reached her dantian. The powerful energy enveloped her shattered golden core, forcibly keeping her last breath intact.
Neither fully dead nor truly alive, Sang Dai was infuriated.
Damn it, did this scoundrel plan to let her live just to be eaten alive? Who was this wretch?
But she couldn’t move. Warm droplets fell onto her face, trembling breaths resonated beside her ear, and an arm slid around her waist. A crisp scent of pine filled the air as she was gently lifted, taken away from the blood-soaked ground.
Though the person holding her showed no signs of strain, their hands trembled, causing Sang Dai to jolt several times. The jolts sent waves of pain through her body, and she wanted to curse. Yet, the spiritual energy that flowed into her severed meridians eased her pain and quelled the biting cold.
Sang Dai could hold on no longer.
Right before her consciousness plunged into the abyss, she seemed to hear a familiar voice speaking, as if addressing her.
Sang Dai couldn’t make out the words, but for some reason, that voice reminded her of someone.
No—of something.
A dead fox.
Su Xuan.
×××
“Loading the plot of (Crossing Immortality)…”
A fragmented voice echoed within her sea of consciousness.
Who was it?
Sang Dai’s head throbbed. The voice didn’t seem to come from the outside world but rather from deep within her mind.
“Please receive the plot.”
Before she could react, a torrent of chaotic text flooded into her sea of consciousness. The characters flashed rapidly before her eyes, moving so fast it was dizzying. Yet, strangely, she could see every word and even remember every sentence.
She didn’t know how much time had passed, but when it seemed like it was finally over, the characters gradually disappeared. Endless darkness threatened to swallow everything until a faint ray of light appeared.
The light grew brighter and brighter, piercing through the darkness until it shone vividly before her eyes.
It was a book.
A ridiculous book.
In this book, Sang Dai was undeniably a classic cannon-fodder supporting female character, holding a hand of excellent cards but playing them disastrously.
With a Heaven-grade spiritual root, she began Qi Refinement at the age of three, Foundation Establishment at five, and reached Core Formation at seventeen, making her the youngest Core Formation cultivator in the history of the cultivation world. By fifty, she had reached the Nascent Soul stage, and at a hundred, she broke through to the Soul Transformation stage. If nothing unexpected occurred, she was destined to be the first person in thousands of years to ascend.
As the eldest daughter of the Sword Sect, the senior members of her sect adored her, providing her with the sect’s best resources for cultivation.
Sang Dai lived up to their expectations. Diligent in her sword training and extraordinarily talented, she was nearly unrivaled in the art of swordsmanship.
She was the sharpest blade of the Sword Sect, a single person and her sword capable of holding off entire armies. In a normal story, she would undoubtedly be the leading protagonist, holding the script of a victorious heroine.
Unfortunately, the protagonist of this book wasn’t her.
The male lead, Shen Ciyu, was her senior brother and fellow disciple. Also blessed with a Heaven-grade spiritual root, he was the young master of the Shen family, destined for a smooth and successful life. He led the Immortal Realm in its battles against the villainous Demon King, Su Xuan, ultimately slaying the antagonist under heavenly lightning with the help of the Heavenly Dao.
The female lead, Shi Yao, was her junior sister—or so Sang Dai had genuinely believed before.
In reality, Shi Yao was the daughter of Sect Leader Sang and Lady Shi. From birth, she was weak and frail. When a diviner from the Xumi Sect examined her fate, they left a single prophecy:
“This girl is frail and unable to awaken a spiritual root. She is destined for a short life. If she is to survive, she must find someone with an identical birth chart and exchange roots. With cultivation progress, her meridians can be nourished and her life extended.”
That single statement plunged the entire Sword Sect into panic. Sect Leader Sang urgently searched for someone with a matching birth chart, and as fate would have it, the unlucky candidate was the recently born Sang Dai. Even more coincidentally, when Sect Leader Sang saw her, she was wearing a jade plaque around her neck engraved with the character “Sang.”
What a twist of fate!
Thus, Sang Dai became the ultimate scapegoat. Sect Leader Sang joyfully brought her back to the sect, raising her as the eldest daughter. Meanwhile, the real eldest daughter took on Lady Shi’s surname, her identity presented to the world as Lady Shi’s niece.
At three years old, Sang Dai suffered a high fever and lost all her prior memories. Upon awakening, Sect Leader Sang and Lady Shi deceived her, claiming her illness was due to a drowning accident. They further explained that Shi Yao had risked her life, despite being unable to swim, to save her, resulting in a lingering illness. They urged Sang Dai to take good care of her.
Sang Dai, being a kind-hearted child, felt deep gratitude. Believing her junior sister had fallen ill saving her, she was filled with guilt and did everything in her power to treat Shi Yao well—shielding her in the sect and protecting her during training expeditions.
The Sword Sect often brewed medicinal tonics for Sang Dai, claiming they were made from premium spiritual herbs to nourish her meridians. However, they also warned that excessive consumption of such herbs could leave residual toxins, necessitating monthly bloodletting to cleanse her body. Sang Dai believed them, even feeling grateful, and worked even harder in her sword training, becoming the sect’s most reliable workhorse.
But the book’s actual narrative was far different.
Sang Dai’s high fever had been caused by her awakening of a Heaven-grade spiritual root, while Shi Yao’s frailty was congenital, having nothing to do with her.
Those so-called medicinal tonics were not meant to nourish Sang Dai’s meridians. Instead, they secretly stripped her of her spiritual root. Once the process was complete, a formation would transfer the root into Shi Yao’s body.
The monthly bloodletting wasn’t to remove toxins but to sustain Shi Yao’s life. Without an awakened spiritual root, Shi Yao’s mortal body couldn’t survive for long. Her congenital frailty further shortened her lifespan. As someone with the same birth chart, a compatible fate, and a Heaven-grade spiritual root, Sang Dai became the perfect “blood bank” to extend Shi Yao’s life.
By the end of the book, Sang Dai died on the battlefield. Afterward, with Sang Dai’s Heaven-grade spiritual root gone, Shi Yao, who should have succumbed to the Five Decays of Heaven and Man, inexplicably awakened a spiritual root of her own.
Though it was only an Earth-grade root, her immense fortune granted her many treasures and spiritual artifacts. Her cultivation progressed rapidly, and she fell in love with the male lead, Shen Ciyu, culminating in a perfect, happy ending.
The final mention of Sang Dai in the book was a single sentence:
“Senior Sister Sang was brave and died on the battlefield she loved most.”
Love? Love what? Who loves fighting?!
Sang Dai woke up seething with anger.
The pain in her body was faint, so faint it was negligible. For Sang Dai, such pain was nothing at all.
A faint, cold fragrance lingered in the air—a familiar scent of grass and wood, crisp and pure.
Her body, which should have been filthy and grimy, instead felt clean, as if someone had changed her clothes and treated her wounds.
Her eyelids felt too heavy to lift, and her mind was hazy, not yet fully alert.
Faintly, she heard voices speaking in the distance.
“Honored Lord, Miss Sang’s injuries are no longer life-threatening. All the Tianchan Flowers available across the Four Realms have been used, but more simply cannot be purchased—”
“Then steal them. Doesn’t the Divine Healer Valley still have a few plants?”
“But the Divine Healer Valley forbids outsiders—”
“Then break in.”
“…Understood.”
Sang Dai thought this person was absurdly extravagant. Tianchan Flowers, valued at ten thousand spirit stones per plant, were extremely rare, with only a dozen or so circulating in the market. These celestial herbs were renowned for repairing meridians and stabilizing the soul, and he had apparently bought them all.
Footsteps approached, growing louder. Summoning all her strength, Sang Dai struggled to open her eyes.
In the darkness, a faint light spread gradually, growing brighter. The first thing she saw was a figure clad in black robes. Her vision was still blurry, but she could make out the exquisite gold embroidery on the fabric and the figure’s lean waist. At the waist, there seemed to be a dark jade pendant.
Further up…
“Awake?”
A cold voice.
Sang Dai’s mind froze. She couldn’t clearly see his face and didn’t know how long she had been unconscious. Her eyes felt sore.
Inside the bed canopy, a luminous pearl glowed softly. But just as she began to adjust to the sudden light, she instinctively closed her eyes again.
The man seemed to notice. With a wave of his hand, he extinguished the luminous pearl by the headboard, leaving only the one at the foot of the bed to provide a faint light.
“What’s this? After so many years, does the eldest young lady not recognize me anymore?”
It was still that voice. Although his tone was calm, Sang Dai could hear a subtle gritted-teeth quality to it.
She took a long time to collect her thoughts, finally matching the voice to a face in her mind.
A strikingly handsome face, almost too perfect.
Even though he had been in seclusion for years and she hadn’t seen him for so long, his face was etched into her bones. She even remembered the tiny tear mole at the corner of his eye because, in all her years, Sang Dai had never seen a face more beautiful than his.
Su Xuan.
Her nemesis. A powerful nine-tailed fox and the king of the demon realm.
He was also the greatest antagonist in the book. After her death, Su Xuan had emerged from seclusion and declared war on the Immortal Realm, vowing to fight to the death. He battled the male lead, Shen Ciyu, for a hundred years, only to be defeated by the combined forces of Shen Ciyu and the Heavenly Dao.
One was cannon fodder; the other, a villain.
How poetic.
Sang Dai slowly raised her eyes to meet the blurred features of his face.
Their gazes locked, and as her vision gradually cleared, she finally saw the face she hadn’t seen in over a decade.
He was still dressed in luxurious black robes, his posture tall and imposing as he looked down at her.
His silvery-white hair flowed like silk, his long, upturned eyes carrying a hint of sharpness. His irises were lighter than most, a pale, translucent glaze like colored glass. Below his left eye sat a tear-shaped mole. His lashes were like feathers, his high nose bridge complementing his tightly pressed thin lips. His face looked as if it had been carved by a master artisan—stunning and flawless.
A fox so handsome it was almost unnaturally enchanting.
Su Xuan stood by the bedside, lowering his head to look at her. In a calm voice, he asked, “Sang Dai, do you still recognize me?”
He didn’t use the formal titles he usually favored, addressing her simply with “me.”
Sang Dai found herself a little unaccustomed to this—it was the first time she’d heard him speak that way.
“You don’t recognize me?”
The fox asked twice in a row, but when he received no response, his expression shifted. A sinister air descended, as though a storm were brewing, his gaze so menacing it felt like he might skin her alive.
Only then did Sang Dai rasp out in a hoarse voice:
“Su Xuan, long time no see.”
—
TL: The title and synopsis might come across as cliché at first glance, but the story unfolds with unexpected depth and captivating twists that keep you hooked. And the romance? Absolutely exquisite—pure chef’s kiss! I just love the way the male lead yearns for the female lead. The dynamic between the cold and aloof female lead and the hopelessly romantic male lead is simply irresistible.
I want to post the ML and FL’s art character design here but the picture becomes blurry ☹️ There’s one on my Kofi tho.