Chapter 1: Liu Hongmei

“What a cute little baby!”

“Wow~ Master, quick, look! A baby just fell from the sky!”

In the bathhouse of Tianxiang Pavilion, steam filled the entire space. A woman, brimming with curiosity, held the palm-sized infant in her hands and placed him before her master, who was currently bathing.

Tianxiang Pavilion

A faction within the top-tier Northern Domain sect, Tianxuan Immortal Sect.

This was the only information Gu Yunfei currently had about it.

Moments ago, he had transmigrated into this world as a newborn infant.

At this moment, he opened his eyes and beheld the beautiful sight before him.

How beautiful was the view?

It could be described with a single idiom.

Misty clouds swirling.

All clouds!

Gu Yunfei could only sense that he was being cradled in a soft, delicate palm.

The palm trembled slightly—this was the vibration from the woman walking.

“Red Plum, you’re no longer a child yourself. How can you still be so curious?”

The woman carrying Gu Yunfei was none other than the chief senior sister of Tianxiang Pavilion, Liu Hongmei!

“Master~ This is my first time seeing a baby, of course I’m curious~ Look how tiny he is!”

Liu Hongmei held Gu Yunfei’s tiny body and presented it before her master.

“Master?” Gu Yunfei tried to struggle, wanting to see this so-called master, but with an infant’s feeble strength, he couldn’t even twitch a finger.

Gu Yunfei only felt a chill, a cold that reminded him of winter mornings when he’d skip the coat to save time and dash out to toss the trash.

“Hiss—what’s going on?”

Leng Ningbing took the child from her disciple’s hands. Her icy gaze merely swept over Gu Yunfei, causing his body to tremble uncontrollably.

“This child is quite handsome,” Leng Ningbing praised. “Few infants in the world are born with such striking good looks.”

Liu Hongmei nodded in agreement. “Then, Master, since we’ve crossed paths, it’s fate. We should keep him, right? If we don’t, a baby like him would surely die out there.”

Hearing this, Gu Yunfei inwardly cheered a thousand times over. “Yes, yes, yes! Keep me here. As an infant, I’d be dead on my own out there.”

From what he could tell so far, this Tianxiang Pavilion didn’t seem half bad. That woman earlier even seemed kind-hearted.

Leng Ningbing handed Gu Yunfei back to Liu Hongmei and closed her eyes.

Gu Yunfei watched as a wave of blue energy rapidly spread outward from her, centered on herself.

“This is…? Immortal magic! So cool!”

Seeing this, Gu Yunfei grew even more determined to stay here.

Moments later, Leng Ningbing withdrew her divine sense. She gazed thoughtfully at the infant in Liu Hongmei’s hands.

Why on earth did this child fall here? My divine sense scanned to the horizon and found nothing amiss.

Could it be that some other faction tossed this infant into our Tianxiang Pavilion to frame us, or perhaps as a spy?

Leng Ningbing grew suspicious of Gu Yunfei’s origins and pondered whether to keep him.

After a moment’s thought, she said to Liu Hongmei, “Throw him out. Toss him beyond Tianxiang Pavilion, or bury him somewhere outside. Don’t let it tie back to us in any way!”

“What!” At these words, Gu Yunfei jolted in shock. “This venomous woman actually wants to throw me away! And bury me!”

“No, I need to think of something!”

Gu Yunfei racked his tiny brain, spinning it furiously in search of a plan.

“What!” Liu Hongmei was equally stunned by her master’s words. “M-Master, this child is so young. D-Do we really have to do this?”

Leng Ningbing frowned. Her disciples had always obeyed her without question, never prying into her reasons, only carrying out her orders. Today, one actually dared to ask.

But she didn’t dwell on it, chalking it up to her disciple’s overflowing compassion. So, she explained her suspicions.

Once Leng Ningbing laid out her reasoning, Liu Hongmei still looked reluctant as she gazed at the infant in her hands.

She gently stroked Gu Yunfei’s cheek with her right hand.

Seizing the chance, Gu Yunfei mustered every ounce of his strength and wailed at the top of his lungs.

Wahhh—

The cry startled Liu Hongmei, flooding her heart with a rush of emotions.

“Master…” Liu Hongmei began, pleading for Gu Yunfei.

“Sigh—” Leng Ningbing watched her disciple, whose temperament had so rarely shifted over a mere infant.

“I’ve taught you before—our lineage cultivates the Path of Ruthlessness. Your aptitude is already mediocre, and now you’re like this. How am I supposed to entrust this position to you in the future with peace of mind?”

Liu Hongmei bowed her head in silence. Truth be told, she didn’t care for cultivation, but her master had saved her life and treated her well, so she’d chosen to inherit her master’s techniques out of gratitude.

Clenching her teeth, Liu Hongmei steeled her resolve. Her master was her lifelong benefactor, while this infant’s origins were unclear. She absolutely couldn’t disappoint her master.

Seeing the look on Liu Hongmei’s face, Gu Yunfei sensed trouble. “Wait, no! This woman’s made some kind of bad decision!”

Gu Yunfei grew frantic. As an infant, he was utterly helpless— even crying had taken all his strength.

“What do I do? Don’t transmigrators usually get a system? System! Come out, I’m gonna die here!”

[Counterattack System successfully activated]

“Counterattack System?” A line of text suddenly appeared before Gu Yunfei’s eyes, the words slowly shifting.

[At one year old, you unluckily fall into Tianxiang Pavilion, only to be callously thrown out by the heartless Leng Ningbing. Facing imminent death, you’re picked up by an old man and survive—though the old man is a bit deranged.]

[At five, the old man’s old illness flares up. You desperately seek a cure alone, but to no avail.]

[At seven, the old man dies. Suddenly, a group of men abducts you, claiming the old man was a prince of the Great Liang Dynasty. Driven mad, he’d escaped during a lapse in supervision.]

[That same year, the old man’s wife sees you return and fears you’ll vie for her son’s inheritance. She arranges for a lady to tend to you daily, dosing you with a slow, subtle poison—timed to kill you precisely on your sixteenth birthday.

And you, blissfully unaware, think the lady of the house treats you so kindly.]

[At ten, the Great Liang’s national advisor is taking disciples. The lady of the house arranges for you to join. As you part, tears of reluctance well in her eyes, and she urges you to take good care of yourself. You weep too, vowing to return and honor her with filial piety.]

[At fifteen, you realize the national advisor is using you as a medicine boy and try to flee. But he uncovers your intentions and locks you in the dungeon.]

[At twenty-five, you’ve rotted away in that lightless dungeon for a decade. You’ve long forgotten what the outside world looks like, reduced to dumbly eating the filthy slop fed to you by the servants each day.]

[At thirty, today, a servant unlike the others feeds you. The food is fragrant this time—the fullest you’ve ever been. A spark lights in your eyes as you gaze at the servant before you.]

[The next day, you’re released from the dungeon. On the day of your freedom, you search desperately for that person.]

[At forty, after a decade of searching, you finally uncover a lead. Following it, you learn that person is the reigning eldest princess. Overjoyed, you set out to repay the debt.]

[At forty-one, you finally meet the princess—only to stumble upon her in an intimate moment with her own brother.]

[Such royal scandals cannot be leaked!]

[The next day, you’re hurled back into the dungeon—the same cell, the same chains.]

[Now, at fifty-five, in your final moments of life, you awaken the Counterattack System. Are you ready to counterattack?!]

Gu Yunfei stared blankly at the long string of text displayed on the system panel before him, frozen in Liu Hongmei’s hand.