In the jade-carved halls of the Celestial Sword Sect, where the mist of longevity smells of incense and cold steel, a new power was stirring—one that the "Heavens" never intended.
The Awakening: A Script Rewritten
Ye Chen opened his eyes to the smell of burnt spirit silk. In his previous life, he was a corporate shark in 21st-century Shanghai who knew every trope of the popular web novel "The Peerless Sword Sovereign." Now, he was Ye Chen, the arrogant Young Master of the Ye Clan, destined to be the "stepping stone" for the protagonist, Lin Feng.
In the original plot, Ye Chen would humiliate Lin Feng today, only for Lin Feng to awaken a hidden bloodline and kill Ye Chen three chapters later.
"Ding! [Villain Fate System] activated," a cold, mechanical voice echoed in his mind.
"Task: Prevent the Protagonist's Awakening. Reward: 500 Karma Points. Penalty: Soul Erasure."
Ye Chen smirked. He didn't just want to survive; he wanted the Karma that the world had reserved for the hero.
Stealing the "Chance Encounters"
The secret to every hero's rise is a series of "lucky breaks." Ye Chen, armed with the system's map, knew every hidden treasure location before the hero even stepped out of his hut.
The Heavenly Flame: Lin Feng was supposed to find the Everlasting Sun Flame in the Back Mountains after being "bullied" into the forest. Ye Chen arrived three hours early, used a System Concealment Array, and absorbed the flame himself.
The Jade Spirit Ring: Instead of letting the hero "accidentally" buy the rusty ring containing an ancient master's soul at the market, Ye Chen bought the entire market stall. He then crushed the ring, absorbing the ancient master's wisdom into the system's database.
"Ding! Protagonist Lin Feng's Karma decreased by 20%. Host's Karma increased by 20%."
The Art of "Face-Slapping"
In a typical C-Drama, the villain is loud and stupid. Ye Chen was neither. When the Sect Competition arrived, Lin Feng stepped onto the stage, expecting his "miraculous" breakthrough. Instead, he found Ye Chen waiting with a calm smile.
"Brother Lin," Ye Chen said, loud enough for the Elders to hear. "I heard you've been struggling with your cultivation. As your senior, I've prepared a Qi-Stabilizing Pill for you."
The pill was real, but it contained a trace of Heaven-Sealing Dust. It wouldn't kill him, but it would lock his cultivation at the lowest level for three years—long enough for the plot to move on without him. To the Elders, Ye Chen looked like a benevolent saint. To Lin Feng, he was a nightmare.
Dominating the World
As Ye Chen "stole" more of the plot, the world itself began to shift. The Sect Leader, who was supposed to mentor the hero, now saw Ye Chen as the only hope for the sect's future. The Princess of the Great Zhou Empire, the hero's destined love interest, found herself captivated by Ye Chen's "mysterious and profound" aura.
By the time the Demonic Invasion arc began—the moment where the hero usually saves the world—Ye Chen was already at the Transcendence Realm. He didn't just fight the demons; he used the system to subjugate them.
Standing atop the Peak of Heaven, Ye Chen looked down at a kneeling Lin Feng, now just a commoner forgotten by the heavens.
"The script said you were the hero," Ye Chen whispered, his eyes glowing with the stolen Heavenly Flame. "But I am the one who owns the ink."