INTRODUCTION
Vermillion Valley.
A blanket of fog covered the ancient stone formations as the night hung heavy over. Zhu Nuan crouched atop a weathered cliff face, her dark robes melding seamlessly with the shadows, her face covered by a thin black mask. Below, the entrance to the Sacred Abode yawned open— a crack in the mountain's wall that most cultivators had long since dismissed as nothing more than the product of a fight between territorial beasts.
It took her only a bit of work to extend that rumour, and because most cultivators were fools, no one had appeared here.
She'd learned of this place five years ago, purely by accident, while working at the Clear River Hall. Some drunken elder from the Celestial Sword Sect had been dragging about 'an unexpected gain' from one of his researches, his tongue loosened by rice wine and the tiny bit of something on the chopsticks. He'd mentioned the tale of Immortal Xu Feng—a reclusive cultivator who'd vanished five hundred years ago, leaving behind the fruits of his labor somewhere.
The elder was sure the place had to be the Vermillion Valley.
This little thing was something she kept for herself after fulfilling her mission and returning toAutumn Hall. From that moment, more information had eventually wound its way to Zhu Nuan's ears.
How was she supposed to ignore such an opportunity?
Descending the cliff face with practiced ease, she found a crack among the lines that looked different from the others to the untrained eye. Her spiritual energy flowed through her meridians in controlled pulses— just enough to lighten her body and sharpen her senses, yet not enough to create the telltale aura that might alert any lingering formations. That immortal had been a quasi-Nascent Soul from the Golden Arc Sect, so she was expecting traps and risk in each nook and cranny.
Gently opening the 'lock', she stepped in. The entrance swallowed her whole.
Inside, the air was stale and dry, untouched by wind for centuries. Zhu Nuan pulled a small luminous pearl from her pouch, its pale blue light pushing back the darkness just enough to reveal a narrow corridor carved from solid stone. The walls bore traces of formation patterns, barely visible after so many years, but she recognized the style. Defensive arrays, designed to activate at the slightest provocation. It was designed pretty well, as expected from that 'senior'.
It took her a second glance to find the third layer of arrays —a Soul Trapping barrier which could put any cultivator without a stable foundation in a difficult position. To those lucky. Really, if it wasn't because in her previous life, as a modern woman in a materialistic world, she'd been an archaeologist specializing in ancient tombs, and then ruthlessly trained in Autumn Hall, she wouldn't have found it as easily as now.
"...Xu Feng, you paranoid old bastard," she muttered, a small grin on her lips. "You better have left something good behind."
She moved forward with deliberate care, her enhanced senses probing for qi fluctuations across the formations. Master Yi had taught the basics about this, but it was her experience that lit the way.
The first trap revealed itself fifteen paces in —a pressure plate beneath a layer of dust that had settled in a perfectly natural-looking pattern.
The second trap was more clever: a formation that would trigger if anyone with cultivation above the peak Foundation Establishment passed through a specific point. Zhu Nuan paused, considering. She was at Golden Core middle stage —far above the threshold. But everything had weaknesses.
She withdrew a small paper talisman from her sleeve, one of her own creation, and infused it with a thread of Qi. The talisman fluttered forward, disrupting the formation's detection pattern for precisely three seconds.
She was through before the second tick.
The corridor branched three times. Each path was marked with subtle signs —scratches in the stone, some 'letters' from the Golden Arc Sect's language. She read them casually, picking up the right paths to the treasure room.
Yeah, some might call it grave robbing, a terrible thing she had despised so much before. But the cultivation world was built on searching far and wide for inheritances, secret realms were the hottest spots, and everyone knew you could be the next one whose treasures were the rest of the people fighting for.
Such re-training had given her a new philosophy about the matter -stealing? No. It was liberating resources from careless owners. After all, if you didn't want others to use your things, you shouldn't have died or ascended.
Finally, after a variety of traps —including a fire-python arrow array and a beast-summoning circle, Zhu Nuan reached the final end. This opened into a chamber that made her breath catch.
Treasure.
Mountains of it.
Jade tablets stacked like common firewood. Golden ingots piled in careless heaps in corners. Porcelain vases with distinctive patterns that signaled they were from Empress Haipeng's lost dowry, each one worth enough to purchase a small sect. Spirit stones gleamed from open chests, their pure energy making the air shimmer with fresh air.
Weapons, scrolls, jade, and porcelain bottles.
This was a lifetime of accumulated wealth spread before her-
Zhu Nuan had broken into treasure vaults before, of course. She'd robbed sect libraries and weaponeries, merchant caravans and merchants offices, even the private collection of a Core Formation elder from the Golden Pillar Sect (formed by survivors from the Golden Arc Sect). She was no rookie and knew well how to keep her head when faced with fortune.
But this... this was almost obscene. It was like she had wandered into the Royal Treasure room.
She forced herself to focus, scanning the chamber with a professional's eye. Everything here was valuable, yes, but she had limited carrying capacity. And she couldn't dismiss the chances of some of them being booby-trapped. So she needed to identify the most precious items and analyse them—
Her gaze locked onto the far end of the chamber.
There, on a raised dais of deep green jade, sat a single black lacquered box.
Everything else in the chamber was arrayed in casual abundance, as if Xu Feng had simply dumped his possessions here without care. But that box seemed like it was occupying the place of honor, elevated above all else, sitting at the precise center of the formation patterns that covered the floor.
Zhu Nuan approached slowly, her instincts screaming caution, yet at the same time swearing her this was the true treasure.
The box was exquisite —black lacquer inlaid with mother-of-pearl designs depicting phoenix feathers and flowing water and honeysuckle flowers. No lock at first glance, but she could feel the formations woven into its structure, waiting like a coiled snake ready to activate at the wrong movement.
She studied it for long minutes, tracing the energy patterns, identifying the trigger points. Then, with steady hands, she pressed three specific points in sequence while simultaneously channeling a thread of her spiritual energy through a hidden groove in the base.
The box opened with a soft click.
Satisfaction flickered across her eyes as she took in what was inside: nestled on red silk, lay a necklace of pearls.
They glowed with an inner light —a gentle kind that reminded her of a candle. Each pearl was perfectly round, perfectly matched, strung on what appeared to be a silver thread but felt like solidified moonlight against her fingertips. Yet it was the pendant at the center that drew her eye immediately: a tear-shaped pearl larger than the others. It didn't glimme,r but it didn't need it.
Beautiful. Swallowing hard, Zhu Nuan corrected herself. Dangerously beautiful.
Every instinct honed by years of thievery told her to leave it, to take the mundane treasures and flee.
But she'd never been good at listening to the cautious voice in her head. That voice hadn't gotten her transmigrated into this world after that little girl ran in front of her, straight to the road. It had kept her alive on the streets, but it hadn't helped her to pass Autumn Hall's entrance exam, nor survive the brutal training of the following years.
It hadn't made her Master Yi Yue's primary disciple or earned her reputation as one of the finest thieves in the Immortal Lands.
Fortune favors the bold.
She lifted the necklace from its silk bed with trembling fingers.
And then the world shifted left and right.
The faintest of sounds vanished, replaced by a pressure in her ears like diving deep underwater. Her vision blurred, the treasure chamber dissolving into streaks of color. After a brief refutation, she tried to drop the necklace but her fingers didn't obey, she couldn't move, she couldn't speak—
Then, cutting through the chaos, came a voice.
It was neither male nor female, young nor old. It simply was, resonating directly in her mind as clear as if it were speaking next to her.
[Binding successful. Host compatibility confirmed at 97.7%. Initializing Counterattack System...]
"What—"Her voice came out strangled. As the otherness clung to her, seeping down her flesh, into her blood and bones, her spiritual energy surged instinctively, trying to purge whatever had invaded her. Yet there was no wait to stop it.
[Binding complete.]
[Welcome, Host, to the Counterattack System. You have been selected to fulfill the grievances of unfortunate souls across myriad worlds.]
"I didn't agree to anything!" The instant she noticed she could move, she yanked at the necklace, channeling her full cultivation into breaking whatever formation had trapped her. The pearls only grew warmer against her skin, yet remained unmoved.
[Agreement is unnecessary. Physical contact with the System Artifact constitutes binding. Terms are non-negotiable.]
"The hell they are! I'll destroy this cursed thing—"
[Negative. Destruction impossible. The System Artifact exists partially outside conventional reality. Continued efforts of removal will result in Host soul extinction.]
The words hit like a bucket of ice water in winter. Zhu Nuan froze, her mind racing through possibilities, escape routes, solutions. She'd been trapped before. A big part of her training was focused on what to do if someone took her, but… even when surrounded by enemies in rotten circumstances, she always found a way out.
Always.
But as she probed the connection between herself and the necklace, she felt the truth of the system's words. The pearls weren't just lying against her skin; they'd integrated with her soul itself, woven into her very existence in a way that terrified her. Removing her own shadow would be easier than taking this out.
"What do you want?" She forced her voice steady, falling back on one of the main lessons.
When trapped, gather information.
[The Counterattack System exists to provide justice for those who suffered injustice. You will transmigrate into the bodies of women who have been abused, scorned, mistreated, and humiliated. Your task: achieve revenge on their behalf and secure them a better life. Upon completion, rewards will be granted.]
Zhu Nuan barked a laugh, sharp and bitter. "You've got the wrong person. I'm not some righteous hero who cares about justice for strangers." She was a thief, targeting both mortal and immortal people. She had killed people even before starting her cultivation. What kind of woman did this thing think she was?
[Your personal motivations are irrelevant. You are bound to the system. Failure to complete assigned missions will result in soul extinction.]
"So my choices are enslavement or death? Wonderful."
[Clarification: This is not enslavement. You retain full autonomy in how you complete missions. Methods, timeline, and approach are yours to determine. Only the objective is mandatory.]
"That is still slavery. You're retaining my autonomy to not fulfill your so-called missions!".
The system didn't respond to that, which Zhu Nuan took as admission. She took a deep breath, forcing down the panic clawing at her chest. Fine. She'd been in worse situations. Right?
"What happens after I complete a mission?"
[You return to your original body for a certain amount of time. Time in your home world passes at a reduced rate during missions—approximately one day for every mission year. Rewards are distributed upon mission completion.]
"Rewards?" Despite herself, interest flickered. This was the second time this thing used that word. What could it offer…? "What kind?"
[Cultivation resources, breakthrough pills, ancient techniques, and...] The system paused, as if checking something, [...appearance enhancement items.]
Zhu Nuan's hand went reflexively to her face.
Alright, it wasn't like she was ugly. In truth, after transmigrating into a malnourished orphan's body and clawing her way up through Autumn Hall's ranks, her skin was in a better state than in her previous life, don't even mention her shape. However, she was still… plain. So, so average.
In a world where cultivation could refine one's appearance, jade beauties and immortal goddesses walked the earth and soared across the skies. Yet she remained ordinary like a pebble on the road. Master Yi Yue teased her about it sometimes, pointing out that being forgettable was an asset for a thief, and yeah, she hated that he was right.
But she didn't want it.
"You know how to dig into a woman's insecurity," she admitted grudgingly.
[The system provides what the Host desires most.]
[Do you accept?]
"Do I have a choice?"
[Second choice: soul extinction.]
"I heard you."
She closed her eyes, feeling the weight of the necklace—no, the System Artifact—against her collarbone. Really, what a difficult decision. "Fine. Let's do it. But, let me make this clear to you, I'm doing this my way, understand? I'm not interested in doing this the good-shoes way. I'm a thief, and a killer, if you have complaints you can find some nice girl from some orthodox sect."
[Acceptable. Host psychological profile indicates high success probability regardless of stated motivations.]
[Preparing first mission world...]
Her surroundings dissolved like smoke in the air.
Zhu Nuan felt herself being pulled apart and reassembled, her consciousness streaming through impossible distances. She caught glimpses of other worlds flashing past—some similar to her own, others utterly alien. Galaxies of possibility, each one containing countless lives, countless stories.
Countless women who'd been wronged.
Anger flooded her veins.
[First mission world selected.
Target: Yu Changxi, scholar's wife.
Background: Married at sixteen to a supposed impoverished scholar Guo Zhen. Suffered three years of abuse from husband and mother-in-law. Accused of theft when twenty copper coins went missing. After being locked in the shed as punishment, Shen Changxi died of starvation after seven days, age nineteen.
Mission objective: Achieve revenge against those who wronged her and secure a prosperous life.
Difficulty: Tier 1.]
[Initiating transfer...]
"Wait—" Zhu Nuan tried to speak, to demand more information, but her voice didn't come out.
The last thing she felt before darkness claimed her was the peculiar sensation of her soul being poured into a vessel not her own, as water spilled inside a new shape.