I Just Wanted to Live, but I Somehow Became Better Than the Main Character

“Since it’s not bad there, you should stay there. The cultivation at Sword Pavilion Hall is too tough,” Ye Mao was afraid that Ye Yong would leave Music and Art Hall to join Sword Pavilion Hall.

At Heavenly Luo Sect, disciples weren’t required to stay in a certain hall. As long as they could pass the assessment of another hall, they were allowed to switch to that hall.

Ye Mao was scared because Ye Yong used to be a sword cultivator, and if Ye Yong joined the Sword Pavilion Hall, then with his capabilities, the unparalleled sword immortal would have nothing to do with Ye Mao.

“I didn’t even say I was leaving.” Ye Yong rolled his eyes at Ye Mao. As expected of a brain-dead villain. I can easily guess what you’re thinking. “I heard that the Sword Pavilion Hall is having an intra-hall competition, when does it start?”

“In 4 days. It doesn’t seem like Qin Shi Meng would participate as there’s news that she has already reached the Crystallization Realm. None of the new disciples can beat her,” Ye Mao thought Ye Yong wanted to watch Qin Shi Meng compete, not realizing Ye Yong was actually here to keep an eye on him.

“Then show me around Sword Pavilion Hall.” If Ye Yong actually just wanted to know about the intra-hall competition, he could have just inquired about it through a transmission stone. He had come here mainly to see the scenes depicted in the novel.

“Are you interested in Sword Pavilion Hall?” Ye Mao instantly became nervous again.

“A little.” If it wasn’t because there were people around, Ye Yong would have kicked Ye Mao’s butt. If I ask you to lead, just lead. Why so much nonsense? I asked you to guide me because I know your personality and won’t be as annoying as those lackeys. But you shouldn’t be so paranoid and worry so much.

Ye Mao felt that his current cultivation was inferior to Ye Yong, so he felt the need to endure and wait for three years, no, three hundred years. When I become successful in the path of the sword, Ye Yong will still be a shitty cultivator who only knows how to play the flute and paint… Hmph, 7-colored foundation? I will step on you all the same.

Just as Ye Mao decided to endure humiliation and obey Ye Yong, a girl with a bun head and petite figure approached.

The person who had appeared was Loli Liang, no, Legal Xiao Rou, wait no, Liang Xiao Rou, a 21-year-old cultivator at the 8th layer of the Crystallization Realm.

“I heard what you guys said. Compared to a new disciple who just arrived, I am more familiar with Sword Pavilion Hall. Let me show you around.”

Seeing Liang Xiao Rou, Ye Mao subconsciously stepped back a few steps. During his few days at the Sword Pavilion Hall, he had heard a lot about her ‘glorious deeds’.

Despite her small stature, Liang Xiao Rou had a fiery temper. With a 6-colored foundation and outstanding talent, she was a Crystallization Realm genius of the Great Zhou Dynasty. She had fought against almost all crystalline late-stage disciples of the Heavenly Luo Sect and even dared to battle those in the early stages of the Golden Core Realm. She undoubtedly deserved her first rank place on Sword Pavilion Hall’s Crystallization ranking. With a father in the late Nascent Soul stage, she was someone you couldn’t afford to offend.

“Hello, Senior Sister Liang.” Ye Yong saluted. He hadn’t expected Liang Xiao Rou to appear, because in the novel, Liang Xiao Rou was more of a mid-stage character. She wasn’t someone the male lead could interact with in the early stages. At most, he had heard her name and could only look at her from afar.

Used to judging future events based on novel plots, Ye Yong subconsciously regarded Liang Xiao Rou as a mid-stage heroine.

“Mhmm.” Liang Xiao Rou nodded lightly. Because of her appearance as a cute little loli, she did not appear to be a mature senior sister at all and instead gave off the impression of a child pretending to be an adult.

However, only Ye Yong felt this way. The surrounding cultivators, especially the senior brothers and sisters, had witnessed Liang Xiao Rou’s fierceness and didn’t dare to see her as a child.

5 years ago, a 2nd-generation young master who had just entered the sect and had a bit of background, having not seen much of the world, mocked Liang Xiao Rou and told her to go home and drink milk. Liang Xiao Rou didn’t even blink, grabbed her sword, and chased him from the south gate to the north gate for several hours. No one dared to stop her.

As for whether her eyes were dry or tired after chasing for so long, why the fuck focus on that? What’s wrong with you? Is that the important part?

Anyway, that 2nd-generation young master was scared to death. One had to know that 5 years ago, Liang Xiao Rou was only 16 years old and had only reached the 6th layer of the Foundation Establishment Realm, while the 2nd-generation young master was already 24 years old and had reached the 9th layer of the Foundation Establishment Realm.

But even with the difference in cultivation and age, talent could not be ignored. Liang Xiao Rou had exceptional talent and was a 6-colored Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator, so fighting against cultivators above her cultivation level was not difficult for her.

The difference between the 6th and 9th layer of the Foundation Establishment Realm wasn’t very large- the only gap was the spiritual power capacity. Liang Xiao Rou’s 6 spiritual veins weren’t for show, and her opponent only had 4 spiritual veins, which instantly narrowed their gap.

The 2nd-generation young master survived and, after recovering from his injuries, did not lose any limbs and remained in the Heavenly Luo Sect. However, he was traumatized and would quickly turn away and leave whenever he saw Liang Xiao Rou, even from a long distance away.

“Since Senior Sister Liang will show you around, I’ll take my leave.” Having heard those rumors, Ye Mao didn’t dare to get too close to her. Before leaving, Ye Mao pulled Ye Yong aside and warned him not to offend Senior Sister Liang, lest he bear the consequences…

Anyway, he was afraid of being targeted.

Ye Yong waved his hand as if shooing away insects, signaling Ye Mao to leave quickly. Ye Yong was not afraid. As one of the few lolis in the novel, with the ability to change into a mature lady, Liang Xiao Rou was quite popular.

As a reader familiar with the plot, Ye Yong knew more about Liang Xiao Rou than even she herself did.

Actually, not really, because the dog author didn’t know how to write romantic scenes. When writing the heroines, he would basically just describe how beautiful and outstanding they were, how arrogant and prideful they were, and how they would fall into danger and be saved by the male lead and then fall in love with him in a very routine way.

Regarding the hobbies and interests of the female leads, they were just briefly mentioned in a few lines.

But that was enough. At least in Ye Yong’s eyes, Liang Xiao Rou was not a stranger.

“Do you have any place you want to go?” Liang Xiao Rou was a strong-willed heroine so it was rare for her to take the initiative to ask for others’ opinions.

In fact, when he first saw Liang Xiao Rou, Ye Yong had thought about how to get along with her. Because her personality was like a spicy pepper and a tsundere loli rather than a soft and cute loli and because the male lead was a very prideful person, they had many conflicts in the novel, and she really hated the male lead. However, she couldn’t escape the plot and was saved by the male lead.

However, this was consistent with the change in people’s impressions.

It was like how if a good person did something bad one day, others would criticize him for it, while if a bad person did something good one day, others would praise him.

If a person whom you originally hated suddenly saved you, as long as you weren’t a white-eyed wolf1, your perception of them would change for the better, especially if they risked their lives to save you.

Now, there were two paths ahead for Ye Yong. One, follow the path of the male lead, conflict with Liang Xiao Rou, and then appear to save her when she got into danger. Or two, go the other route, get friendly with her, and slowly make her fall.

If he picked one, then he couldn’t think about getting transcend points from her at the beginning as making her fall would come at a later time. Pick two, and it would be like cooking a frog in warm water2, slowly walking into her heart.

Without even thinking much about it, Ye Yong chose the second option.

Although choosing one would allow him to get transcend points from increasing Liang Xiao Rou’s favorability from the negatives, it also had huge uncontrollable risks.

That was because of the butterfly effect.

Qin Shi Meng, under Ye Yong’s influence, didn’t meet the male at the Spirit Phantom Mountain as in the novel, and now, she had even broken through to the Crystallization Realm and not participate in the intra-hall competition and couldn’t even enter the secret realm that would open a month later.

And if Ye Yong, who originally had no connection with Liang Xiao Rou in the novel, deliberately made her dislike him in reality, then it was possible that Liang Xiao Rou would encounter dangers earlier or later than she had in the novel, and Ye Yong would have no way of knowing.

A bad relationship would also lead to Liang Xiao Rou not telling Ye Yong when she went out. If her dangerous events really did happen earlier or later, and if he wasn’t aware of it and the male lead wasn’t present, then there was a very real chance that she would die.

Ye Yong didn’t want that for Liang Xiao Rou. After all, where else could he find a tsundere loli who could turn into a mature lady? Therefore, boiling frogs in warm water was the safest and most secure route he could take.

“Wherever Senior Sister Liang thinks we should go.” When dealing with strong-willed people, Ye Yong had to act a little weaker, but he wouldn’t lower himself to the level of a simp3. After all, that would cause him to be looked down upon. Liang Xiao Rou hated weak-willed people, and the more weak-willed and pushover they were, the more she hated them and wanted to stay away from them.

“Okay, then I’ll just take you around.” Loli Liang nodded and took the lead.

Translator’s Notes:

1 白眼狼. Describes a person who not only isn’t grateful for what someone has done for him, but even “repays” them by hurting them or doing something bad to them.

2 温水煮青蛙. The saying is that if you cook a frog in boiling water, the frog will jump out, while if you cook a frog in warm water, it won’t realize the danger its in and would stay in the water to be cooked.

3 舔狗. Licking dog. Refers to a person who gives all their attention and love to a person and would do pretty much anything for the person despite them usually not reciprocating the same feelings or even slightly liking them back. (I say usually I have seen very few cases in novels where the other person does like them back.) While I pretty much have only seen this term used for males, it is apparently a gender-neutral term.