Chapter 2

Bai Yang immediately tried to mentally prepare himself for the task at hand. After a moment, he heard Xiao Ling say in his mind, “Task 1: Impersonate Xie Zetian. Survive until the protagonist Zhou Ying ascends. If Xie Zetian dies before Zhou Ying ascends, the punishment is brain death for the host.”

… Father! It’s true that I’m not very useful most of the time but neither am I the sort of ****er who deserves to die!

Bai Yang almost burst into tears.

Xiao Ling tried to console him: “Sir, we can complete the task! Xiao Ling will help you!”

Bai Ying wiped away his tears and said in a voice half-choked with sobs: “Alright since I can’t resist then all I can do is accept the task.”

Xiao Ling said, “Sir, you’re right. Let’s cheer up. I have the text of the Wild Wind novel with me. If you can’t remember the plot, I’ll help you. Wild Wind is more than 10 million characters long. Zhou Ying’s ‘Ascending to the Celestial Realm’ story arc is about 3 million characters long. In short, you only need to survive one-third of the plot before going home.”

When Bai Yang heard that the task would end after only one-third of the plot was finished, he cheered up. “Great, thank you, Xiao Ling.”

Xiao Ling laughed happily. “Sir, you are welcome. This is what I should do. When the gentleman exits this world, please give me a five-star rating.”

Bai Yang immediately said: “A five-star rating? Absolutely no problem!”

“I’m so happy!” The sweet girl’s voice in his mind was full of joy, which diluted Bai Yang’s panic.

The human and System were getting along quite well.

Bai Yang tried to rid himself of the anxiety in his heart and cheer up: “I will complete the task as soon as possible so I can go home. Xiao Ling, let’s go find the protagonist right now and give him the pills and spiritual techniques. Then he can ascend early!”

Xiao Ling said, “Alright!”

Having finished speaking to Xiao Ling in his mind, Bai Yang looked around. He saw that he was in a small cave full of black stones. The innermost part of the cave had a pool of bubbling lava in it. The whole cave was filled with a burning smell and Bai Yang was almost cooked by the heat.

Xiao Ling’s voice rang in his mind: “Memory loading. Please be patient, sir.”

A few seconds later, Bai Yang’s brain was suddenly filled with a ton of information, including some spiritual techniques. He quickly used a newly-learned technique to circulate Qi through his Eight Extraordinary Meridians until his body felt cool.

Based on his newly acquired memory, he realized that his lava cave was actually an extremely good place to cultivate that was filled with Qi. Only Xie Zetian and the other Four Dukes of the Demon Realm were qualified to use this cave.

As he went over the memories in his mind, Bai Yang became speechless. Xie Zetian was a typical villain. According to the novel’s plot, he cultivates in the cave every day. Whenever he went out, he was bound to tease and provoke a beauty and to do his utmost to commit multitudinous evil acts regardless of the consequences. He truly had no purpose in life; all he did was tyrannize people and take liberties with beauties.

If one were to look at it another way, what was the purpose of having a villain in a story? Obviously, it was to give the protagonist treasures, techniques, money, and beauties…

Bai Yang wanted to leave this world and go back to his comfortable life as a young master. He immediately got up and left the cave. He just wanted to find the protagonist to help him ascend as soon as possible.

He had just walked out of the cave when Xiao Ling spoke in his mind: “Sir, the Main System has issued the daily task. Please complete it.”

“What daily task?” Bai Yang wondered, “Why do have to complete a daily task?”

Xiao Ling explained, “Sir, have you forgotten why you entered the world?”

Of course, it would be impossible to forget.

“I was scammed by my father.” Bai Yang’s face was expressionless.

Xiao Ling: “…”

Xiao Ling was silent for a moment then spoke: “Sir entered this world to change his personality. The Main System will issue tasks that will help achieve this purpose. If sir completes the tasks then he will receive points. If he fails to complete the tasks then he will be punished.”

“What punishment?”

“It will be a punishment that sir will never be able to forget.”

Bai Yang: “…” That wasn’t something that was good to hear.

Bai Yang said in his mind, “Is this also a System error?”

“No.” Xiao Ling: “That’s what your father asked for. He wanted the System to be a little tough on you. If the System isn’t ruthless then you will remain a worthless, good-for-nothing man.”

Bai Yang: “…”

Father… sure enough, it really was his doing.

“Don’t worry, sir. Daily tasks are simple and easy to accomplish.”

Bai Yang was a little relieved. “Okay, can you tell me what the daily task is?”

Xiao Ling said, “The daily task is to tease a and provoke a beauty. It’s very simple.”

Bai Yang: “…”

Bai Yang: “Isn’t this an error? Making me tease people?”

For more than twenty years, he hasn’t even touched a girl’s hand and now he was expected to tease and flirt with someone?

This…

“Why should I flirt with people? Why is there such a task?”

Xiao Ling: “Because Xie Zetian is an absolute villain, he loves to flirt with beauties, so sir must do things the way that he would. Also, you’re afraid to tease people so the System forces you to do what you are afraid of doing to make you more courageous.”

Bai Yang: “…”

Bai Yang put on a stern expression, “Alright.”

Flirting is just flirting.

This type of ****ing annoying world and daily tasks, he wants to finish everything and leave as soon as he can.

Protagonist, ascend quickly!

Bai Yang had just walked out of the cave when he heard polite voices saying on either side of him. “My lord.”

Bai Yang was almost scared by the sudden sound when he saw that it was two beautiful young juniors. They were eye-catching characters. They all had their heads bowed respectfully and were cupping their hands.

Bai Yang thought: These are probably Xie Zetian’s minions.

Hearing their cries, Bai Yang stretched out his hand and said, “Please lift your heads.”

.

He had just finished speaking when he heard Xiao Ling’s voice in his mind say: “Sir, Xie Zetian wouldn’t act so gentle, nor would he say ‘please’ for no reason. If you act in a manner that is not consistent with your role, you will be punished with an electric shock.”

Bai Yang had no time to respond. An electric current rushed from the top of his head to the soles of his feet, which almost made him jump.

It hurts too much!

Xiao Ling said, “Sir, remember not to do too many actions that are out of character.”

It was so painful, who would dare to act OOC?

Although he talked with Xiao Ling in his mind for some time, in reality, it was only a short time. When he returned to his senses, he saw that the two juniors were staring at him in shock. It was indeed OOC of him to have said “please lift your heads” just now.

Bai Yang quickly retracted his hand and coughed. “Leave. I’m going out alone.”

“Yes!” The two brothers and sisters responded and left the cave without any hesitation.

Bai Yang sighed in relief when they left. The reason why he sent them away was because he was afraid that if they stayed, he might do something OOC and be punished for it again.

Other people had crooks for sons but he had a crook for a father.

Father, don’t you know you’ve placed your son in mortal danger?!

And as for the person who secretly played this trick on him, what was he plotting?

Bai Yang silently cursed that person as he walked. He had Xie Zetian’s memory so he remembered the way. The cave was on a very high mountain and there was a barrier around the mountain. Those who don’t have certain abilities wouldn’t be able to set foot on it. At the foot of the mountain was the Demon Realm’s city.

Bai Yang was a bigshot in the Demon Realm so he would normally instantly teleport himself thousands of miles down to the city but Bai Yang didn’t want to leave the barrier so soon. He got electrocuted in front of his two subordinates right away. If he went down to the Demon Realm and he encountered more people…

He shivered at the thought.

As he walked he kept on absorbing the memories in his brain and before he knew it, he had walked halfway down the mountain.

There was a pavilion surrounded by a sea of clouds. Bai Yang walked over and saw that there was a person standing in the pavilion. That person’s back was facing Bai Yang.

This was the third person that Bai Yang met in this world. Viewed from behind, that person was a slender, tall, straight-backed man with pure, ink-black hair falling down to his shoulders that was loosely tied with a blue-green headband. He was wearing an exquisite blue-green robe with no pattern on it. However, though it was a simple and plain robe like a low-ranking civil servant would wear, it looked particularly elegant and beautiful.

Notes:

Eight Extraordinary Meridians (奇经八脉 qí jīng bā mài) – act as reservoirs or pathways for the circulation of Qi. Source – https://immortalmountain.wordpress.com/glossary/wuxia-xianxia-xuanhuan-terms/

Four Dukes of the Demon Realm – There isn’t really an exact translation of 公 (gōng) but for now I am using Duke since I would assume that he is ranked as the highest level of nobility but below royalty. Also, I like it because it reminds me of the novel The Deer and the Cauldron, also known as The Duke of Mount Deer.

Daily task: Tease and provoke a beauty. – The word used was 调戏 (tiáo xì) which can range from just teasing or mocking a person verbally to aggressively flirting or harassing someone.

Two young, beautiful juniors. – 两兄妹 (liǎng xiōng mèi) It literally means two brothers and sisters. The original had an idiom saying “red lips white teeth” meaning young and attractive.

it was a simple and plain robe like a low-ranking civil servant would wear – 青衣 (qīng yī) A theatrical term meaning the simple costume that a dignified and serious character would wear.