To whoever thought of the "Extra" trope,
Fuck you.
Furthermore,
To whoever made me believe that not interfering with the main plot is safe,
Fuck you, too.
This was all he had to say after transmigrating into two novels he'd read and dying in both.
Staring at the ceiling with a blank expression, he accepted the memories of the body's previous owner like a good boy and figured out which novel he had entered.
Five Villainesses of the Jade Realm.
The one where the world, although saved at the end, had 80% of its population gone.
'I think I'm progressively entering novels with worse endings,' he thought with a sigh.
'I died because I was naïve and full of myself in the first novel, which had a very happy ending.
'In the second, since the ending was fairly okay, I decided to avoid the main plot and live a life of seclusion…
'Alas, my mere existence in that world altered the main plot, and I was dragged in as one of those who died for the greater good.'
He let out a bitter laugh.
'Shit… I miss Earth. Gaming. Binging. Doomscrolling. Hell, I even miss my nine-to-five.'
Facing his third world so far, he couldn't help but lament.
"The goal here is to stop the Villainesses…no, those behind them," he concluded before adding, "Yes. I will also make sure to put an end to my transmigration cycles in this life."
"In this life, I'm locked in."
He sat up on the narrow meditation mat, wincing at the stiffness in muscles that weren't quite his yet.
The body was young—twenty years old, according to the memories settling like sediment in his mind.
An unremarkable young man at the early Foundation stage. A man with no drive and only a passive existence. He died from something akin to depression—eventually taking his own life.
This was because his mother died when their bond was strongest and his dependence on her was at its peak.
The name surfaced through the fog of inherited recollection: Wei Liang.
Not even a named character in the over two-thousand-chapter novel he'd binged over four years of lunch breaks and late nights.
Just another faceless character at a mid-tier sect.
The Soaring Crane Sect.
Wei Liang pressed his palms against his eyes and exhaled slowly.
Two months.
That's how long he had before Shen Yueling's Inversion at the Azure Flame Sect.
Two months before the Eastern Realm felt thunder shake its earth.
'This time. It has to be this time!' he thought, going against his unmotivated nature.
He stood, legs shaky, and surveyed his small quarters.
A meditation mat, a basic desk, a chest for belongings, a window overlooking the residency yard.
The morning sun cast long shadows through the rice paper screen.
His mind was already working, sorting through the flawless recall granted by his system's [Perfect Memory] perk.
The two thousand chapters consumed across hundreds of hours were now preserved with unnatural clarity.
The protagonist—Yan Chenfeng. The five Villainesses and their tragic trajectories. The Hollow Veil pulling strings from the shadows. The Celestial Accord's corruption.
Then, he reached there.
The part where his Sect was mentioned as an option when the protagonist and his group needed a Technique.
He could see the page in his mind's eye, the exact words:
"The Soaring Crane Sect had survived eight centuries not through strength, but through its founder Yun Shuangbai's doctrine of strategic irrelevance.
"She sealed a personal archive beneath the founding hall, accessible only to those who realized her three-line poem."
The protagonist and his group rejected this option because the alternative they had was better.
But for Wei Liang…
His breath caught.
Wei Liang's lips curved into the first genuine smile since transmigrating.
"Thank you," he murmured to whatever cosmic force had stuck him in a body at this specific sect. "Thank you a fucking cheat code. My pay back for going through all this will be a little less, I promise!"
Here was the thing about having a perfect recall of a two-thousand-chapter novel and everything relating to it.
There was a poem in that Chapter's comment section. Dropped as a reply by the author.
A crane flies low where tigers hunt,Surviving not through strength but patience,The reed that bends outlasts the oak.
Three lines. Eight hundred years of accumulated knowledge behind them.
He could go recite that poem right now, but it's best to not rush. He learned patience from his second life.
He knew it was the proper poem; it was just a matter of reaching the Archive Entrance.
'I need to bypass any monitoring and look for how to get under the Founding Hall.'
Outside his window, he could hear the sounds of the sect waking—disciples heading to morning training, the distant clang of the meal bell, voices calling greetings across courtyards.
A normal day at the Soaring Crane Sect.
The calm before the storm that ninety-nine point nine percent of these people didn't know was coming.
Wei Liang sat in front of his desk, mapping the Founding Hall area and how he was going to move.
Two months to save the world from its first calamity.
But first, he would spend three days trying to save himself.
He rolled his shoulders, feeling the foreign body settle more comfortably around his consciousness.
'The Villainesses would all reach Yuan Severance. The Hollow Veil's council was composed entirely of Yuan Severance experts. The protagonist starts at Peak Core Formation.'
And Wei Liang was at the Early Foundation Establishment.
Pathetically weak by the standards of what was coming.
'Doesn't matter,' he thought as he began the basic circulation pattern the original body knew by rote.
The Qi moved sluggishly through his meridians—poorly maintained, neglected by an original owner who'd lacked motivation.
That would change. The archive would change that.
But more than that, Wei Liang had something no one else in this world possessed:
He had read the ending. All two thousand chapters.
'I am the most knowledgeable right now. I have the most opportunities.'
He knew where the Villainesses were and had an idea of when they'd be vulnerable and what would trigger their Inversions.
He knew most of the Hollow Veil's identities, their pocket realm's location, and their ultimate goal.
He knew the key sects' true nature. He knew who could be trusted and who would betray.
All because of the protagonist's intense investigation.
'And this time,' Wei Liang thought as morning light spilled across his small quarters and the sect continued its oblivious routine around him, 'I'm going to use it right.'
The cultivation session ended. He opened his eyes.