Chapter 9: Dilemma.

As Xie Qiyang cursed the damn system in her mind, Li Tianxing keenly noticed the shift on “Jiang Ningshuang’s” face.

Just a moment ago, that stunning, mud-streaked face was filled with defiance and unyielding resolve.

But now…

Those ice-blue eyes, once brimming with resentment, pride, and the lofty arrogance of a heaven’s chosen, were stripped bare in an instant.

All that remained was a vast, dazed confusion—and… anger? But it didn’t seem directed at him.

Li Tianxing’s lips twitched upward almost imperceptibly.

“Jie jie jie jie jie.”

How amusing. But no matter what tricks she tried, it was futile.

He’d accounted for everything. Nothing could stop his next move, nothing could prevent him from keeping this beautiful butterfly caged by his side.

“Uh… can we… sit down and talk this out?”
Xie Qiyang, utterly drained, could only muster enough focus to stall for time.

She had no strength to resist, her body draped in flimsy, translucent cloth.
If he pounced and forced himself on her… in her current state…

She might just become the most pathetic transmigrator ever, dying like this.

“Oh? Talk about what?”
Li Tianxing sat cross-legged with a smile, his eyes sweeping over her disheveled form, radiating the smugness of a victor.

Xie Qiyang never imagined someone so handsome could have such a punchable grin.

She wanted to lunge and throttle this bastard, but the last shred of rationality held her back.

No! Absolutely not!

The original Jiang Ningshuang—peerless beauty, scion of the imperial Jiang Clan, bearer of the Lunar Saint Body and the potential of a Great Emperor—was effortlessly crushed by this man.

And her? A rookie transmigrator who didn’t even know how to channel this body’s strength.
Daring to bare her fangs now? Showing anger?

She’d probably get kicked the moment he stood up.
As a self-proclaimed expert in spicy cultivation novels, she knew exactly how perverse this guy could be.

In a third-person perspective, she’d be grabbing tissues and turning off the lights.
But now, in first-person, as the female lead?

In this situation… she was done for.
All she could hope was that this guy had some decency.

But…

When she looked up and saw that sleazy, punchable smirk…

Wahhh, he’s a total creep!

All thoughts of resistance vanished.
Unlike the original owner, who sought death, she didn’t want to die.
She’d barely gotten this transmigration chance—there was so much she still wanted to do.

But she also realized: today, she was doomed.

This body was about to meet a humiliating, dignity-stripping end in this wilderness, at the hands of this bastard.

And it might not be a one-time thing.
In the days to come, she could face this nightmare again and again.

What a shitty life!
Two lifetimes—if you counted her brief corporate drone days before transmigration—and her first time was going to end this pathetically, this absurdly.

“Wait… wait, I… I’m not Jiang…”
Fragmented memories crashed into Xie Qiyang’s consciousness like a tidal wave.

Countless blurry images flashed: a cold palace, stern elders, grueling cultivation, and…

The moment this devilish man struck with ruthless precision.

These shards of Jiang Ningshuang’s memories, like a shattered mirror, gave her a splitting headache, impossible to piece into a coherent whole.

She could only grasp a few key details: this body was Jiang Ningshuang.
The man before her was Li Tianxing.

Li Tianxing had ambushed her, and… she couldn’t fight back.
Soon, it’d be time for the classic “defeat CG.”

And then… she, the unlucky transmigrator, thinking she’d scored a jackpot, had recklessly rushed in to “take over.”

What a greedy little cat she was!

Xie Qiyang cursed herself inwardly.
What was this? Karma for her misdeeds? Struck by lightning for her sins?

Or was it retribution for reading too many spicy novels?
Now she was stuck in the female lead’s body, living a fully immersive plot?!

She opened her mouth, nearly blurting out that she wasn’t Jiang Ningshuang.
But the words caught in her throat, swallowed back.

Deny it? What good would that do?
Her fate would only be worse.

She was just a transmigrator, accidentally shoved into this stunning shell, a powerless soul with no right to negotiate with the man before her.

She had nothing—only this battered, mud-caked body.

“Not what? You’re not going to say you’re not Jiang Ningshuang, are you?”
Li Tianxing raised an eyebrow, looking at her like she was an idiot.

“I…”
Xie Qiyang opened her mouth, then lowered her head, falling silent.
Forget it—saying more would only lead to more mistakes.
Just wait!
Thirty years east, thirty years west—don’t let me get the upper hand.
If I ever surpass you, I’ll turn you into a girl and make you feel what I’m feeling now!

Xie Qiyang swore silently in her heart…