In the antique-style room, a pale-faced, handsome young man lay on a soft bed. His eyes were open, but they looked empty, as if despair had quietly dug a hole in the back of his gaze and never left.
He had woken up with a jolt, like someone drowning and suddenly breaking through the surface. Clouds of foreign memory had rushed through his mind, stirring everything into chaos until they finally settled and fused into something complete. Two lives overlapped, meshed into one. He remembered who he had been, and he remembered who he was now.
Even so, he still could not quite accept it.
In this life, he was a disciple of a celestial sect, with an outstanding talent, looks above average, status not low. He even had a fiancée who was famously beautiful, a childhood sweetheart who had grown up with him and was now promised to him.
On the surface, that was the script of a proper winner in life, wasn't it? A smooth start, a bright future, everything laid out nicely.
It would be perfect, if not for one small problem.
He was about to be cuckolded.
Yes, this place was the Misty Realm, the world of NTR Immortal Cultivation Game. Yun Liu was absolutely certain.
He was the unlucky scapegoat of this bishoujo-raising game, the designated victim who existed to suffer. Same face, same body, same name, and to make it worse, he knew this so-called masterpiece inside and out from his previous life.
The protagonist was a blonde woman, a goddess in human skin who descended to the mortal world, gathered a harem as she pleased, and swept across the Nine Provinces collecting fortune wherever she stepped.
While he had been stuck in bed these past days, Yun Liu had racked his brains. He dug through every strategy, every hidden flag, every bad ending he remembered, yet still could not think of a way to avoid the calamity looming over his head.
He was a phoenix-headed type, the sort of man whose fate was to raise a woman up, only to watch her fly away with someone else.
How was a mere side character supposed to resist the protagonist's halo? Was he supposed to lie down and accept being humiliated?
What a joke.
"As long as there are no established relationship yet, it doesn't count as being cuckolded," Yun Liu muttered under his breath.
He lightly slapped his own forehead, as if to knock some resolve into place. He had to keep his distance from the female leads, had to stay far, far away from the main characters.
The half-dead patient who should have been lying flat suddenly sat up straight. Just as he made up his mind, the door to the room swung open.
"Oh! Why did you get out of bed? The doctor said you can't move around yet."
Two beautiful young women walked in hand in hand. One wore fiery red, the other a soft, pale yellow dress that swayed as she moved.
The girl in red was as pretty as a blooming flower, young and vivid, with bright eyes that seemed to sparkle when she breathed. She puffed out her cheeks in a show of anger, secretly annoyed that the boy refused to take care of his own body.
In the game, the entrance of these two stunning beauties was designed as a little spectacle. Each had her own charm, and the player was supposed to be dazzled. But Yun Liu's mind was full of the metaphorical green halo above his own head, and once he slipped into the role of the victim, he really could not look directly at either of them for long.
Before he crossed over, he had been very familiar with the girl in red. After he crossed over, he was even more familiar with her. The only difference was that his point of view had changed from offender to victim.
"What are you mumbling about? Why are you ignoring me? Did you hit your head too?"
The girl in red tilted her head and waved a hand in front of his blank face.
Her name was Xiao Xinran, Yun Liu's childhood sweetheart and officially betrothed fiancée. She was also the undisputed main heroine of the first chapter of the story.
Yun Liu let her voice pass by his ears. Instead, he turned and focused on the taller girl in yellow, his gaze sharpening.
"This must be Miss Ji," he said. "I've heard what happened. Thank you for saving us. Otherwise, Xinran and I might have been in real danger."
He delivered the line almost exactly as it had appeared in the game, his tone polite and measured. There was not a trace of real gratitude in his eyes.
The young woman in yellow had skin pale as fresh snow and a quiet, ethereal aura. She looked like an immortal banished from the heavens, walking the mortal world by mistake. In terms of appearance, figure, and innate talent, she was the kind of genius people heard about in legends but never expected to see standing in front of them.
Ji Shiyu bowed slightly, her posture graceful.
"Brother Yun, you flatter us. As cultivators, it is our duty to slay demons and monsters. It's nothing special."
The seemingly dignified, well-mannered girl in front of him was none other than the protagonist. Her dazzling golden hair was proof of the extremely rare bloodline in the High Heaven. That color alone was enough to mark her as a true blonde heroine.
A weasel offering New Year greetings to a chicken was still a weasel. No matter how polite it looked, its intentions were never pure.
In the game, the prologue had just ended at this point. Yun Liu and Xiao Xinran had gone out to temper themselves, only to be ambushed by demonic cultists. Ji Shiyu happened to pass by, defeated the enemies, and saved them. The victim's point of view in the story began from the moment he was seriously injured and confined to bed.
"Of course she's amazing! Shi Yu is incredible. She took care of those demonic cultists in a few moves. Meanwhile, a certain inner disciple of Divine Favor Sect, already almost at Foundation Establishment, got taken down by a bunch of small fry. He doesn't feel ashamed at all!"
Xiao Xinran hugged Ji Shiyu's arm tighter, her eyes full of open admiration.
After delivering that sharp jab, she stuck out her tongue at Yun Liu. The two of them had grown up together, so she never bothered to hold back when teasing him.
Good start, Yun Liu thought dryly. Straight into criticism right out of the gate.
While he had been stuck in bed these past days, the blonde heroine and the main female lead had become inseparable best friends.
Ji Shiyu gently patted the younger girl on the head, a doting smile appearing on her lips. It was obvious she liked this lively, straightforward little sister.
Since ancient times, childhood sweethearts always had trouble winning against sudden intruders, and the hero-rescuing-the-beauty scene had never once failed as a strategy. A female sword cultivator descending from the sky, graceful and heroic, cutting down enemies with a shining sword… for a sheltered girl, that kind of scene carved itself straight into the heart.
Her fiancé, on the other hand, had been lying on the ground in a pool of blood. The comparison was not exactly in his favor. From that moment, one person gained a devoted little fangirl, and the other quietly took a step toward having a green hat nailed to his head.
Yun Liu noticed everything, but his face did not change. Complaining about it now felt pointless. All he wanted was to cut ties with Xiao Xinran as soon as possible.
In truth, he had risked his life to kill the leader of the demonic cultists, a ninth-stage Qi Refining cultivator. Ji Shiyu had only arrived in time to land the last strike and claim the kill.
Xiao Xinran, currently powerless and only at the third stage of Qi Refining, did not know any of that. All she remembered was her fiancé rushing forward, being taken out in one move, and the suddenly appearing sword fairy cleaning up the mess in a flash.
It didn't matter. Soon, none of this would have anything to do with him.
Ji Shiyu's expression turned a little more serious. After a small pause, she spoke softly.
"Brother Yun, are you alright? We went to every medicine clinic in the city. They all said your Qi Sea has collapsed and there is no cure. I'm afraid… it will affect your future cultivation."
"I know."
Yun Liu smiled. She was being very tactful about it, really.
In reality, he was already half-crippled. Without the Rejuvenation Pill to repair his shattered Qi Sea, his cultivation would only slide down and never rise again.
But Rejuvenation Pill was a third-grade spiritual pill. You needed at least a third-grade alchemist in the Golden Core stage to refine it. How could someone like that appear in a small, third-tier place like Lan City on the Eastern Continent?
News that the Yun family's young master had been crippled had already spread across Lan City and become the talk of the streets.
The world was cold, and the cultivation world was colder. The Xiao family definitely knew. His future father-in-law had not visited once. He only sent servants with tonics and instructions to "take good care" of Yun Liu's daily needs.
Why was the victim still able to smile?
Because he clearly remembered the recipe and materials for the Rejuvenation Pill. In his previous life, he had been one of those stubborn strategy-group veterans, the kind who refused to stop until every hidden route was cleared and every trophy was unlocked. His 100% completion record was not just for decoration.
Xiao Xinran, who understood none of this, happily rummaged through her sleeves and took out several porcelain bottles and jars.