Green Spirit City, Ye Manor.
Today was the wedding day of the Ye family's young master, Ye Chen. Although it was merely an engagement banquet, the Ye family, as the newly risen wealthiest family in Qingzhou, had arranged an extravagantly grand occasion.
Red silk adorned the entire street, a lavish feast had been spread for three days and three nights, and a continuous stream of guests came and went.
Yet, at this moment, the atmosphere inside the Ye family's main hall was not as festive as one might expect...
"Jiang Qingwan!"
A furious shout, brimming with youthful indignation, echoed through the hall.
In the center of the hall, a young man dressed in white stood ramrod straight, clutching a pre-written letter of divorce in his tightly clenched hand.
He stared fixedly at the young woman seated in the place of honor, who was currently blowing on the tea froth in her cup, his voice trembling slightly with emotion:
"I know you are the young lady of the Jiang family from Xuandu! The celebrated prodigy whose fame spreads across Xuanzhou!
"And I, Ye Chen, am merely the son of a merchant from this remote corner of Xuanzhou. In your eyes, I am probably as lowly as the mud beneath your feet!"
On the main seat, the young woman paused slightly upon hearing this.
She thought to herself: So you do know...
The young woman wore a flowing-sleeved gown woven from Cloud Drift brocade. Her jet-black hair cascaded like a waterfall, gathered up only by a single jade hairpin.
Her face was exquisitely beautiful, her features like a painting, yet they carried an air of bone-chilling aloofness.
Jiang Qingwan set down the teacup in her hand. The porcelain made a crisp "click" as it met the tabletop.
She slowly raised her head. Her eyes were deep as abysses, showing no emotional fluctuation as she calmly regarded the young man before her, who was puffing out his chest like a fighting cock.
No one knew that the person inside Jiang Qingwan's body had already changed.
Having crossed over just half a cup of tea ago, she had pieced together the current situation through the original owner's residual memories—a classic "waste discarded by marriage" scenario opening.
Except, this time, she was the villainess side character being used as a stepping stone.
In her previous life, she had crossed over to a world of immortal cultivation. Relying on her own talent, she had eventually become a renowned and powerful rogue cultivator.
Yet, due to a moment of soft-heartedness, she had believed the empty promises of a man who spouted lines like "I will never fail you in the future."
She had exhausted her resources to help him ascend, only to be stripped of her tendons and skin by him in the end, refined into a tool for his path to enlightenment.
Before that man made his move, he had also said similar things: "One's birth is not of their own choosing, but my fate is in my hands, not heaven's."
Hah.
A trace of mockery flickered in Jiang Qingwan's eyes.
Having lived a second life, what she found most intolerable was listening to useless trash like this pontificating and painting grand delusions with such seriousness.
Seeing Jiang Qingwan remain silent, Ye Chen thought she was conscience-stricken, or perhaps intimidated by his imposing manner.
His confidence swelled further. He took a step forward, raising the letter of divorce high in his hand:
"What? Cat got your tongue? Your Jiang family may be powerful, but my Ye family is not some soft persimmon to be squeezed at will!
"Now that Old Master Jiang is in secluded cultivation, his fate unknown, your Jiang family is declining like the setting sun, while my Ye family's business spreads across Qingzhou, reaching its zenith!"
"Today, this marriage contract is not for you to break off, but for me, Ye Chen, to divorce you!"
Whoosh—
As these words fell, the hall full of guests instantly erupted in an uproar.
"Divorcing the Jiang family's young lady? Has Ye Chen gone mad?"
"Shh! What do you know? The Ye family recently forged connections with the Purple Cloud Sect. I heard Ye Chen is even going to be accepted as an outer sect disciple!"
"An outer sect disciple? But that's still far beneath the Jiang young lady..."
"Who knows? Perhaps the shock was too great, and he's lost his mind... Pitiful."
Listening to the surrounding whispers, Ye Chen felt his blood boiling, as if he could already see the day he would trample the Jiang family underfoot and reach the pinnacle.
He took a deep breath, focusing his energy in his dantian, preparing to shout out that classic line he had rehearsed countless times in his heart.
"Jiang Qingwan! You listen well!"
"Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west! Do not bully the young..."
That unyielding, youthful spirit surged skyward, seeming ready to ignite the entire hall in the next second.
However.
"Clamor."
Two words, uttered lightly from between Jiang Qingwan's lips, carried undisguised disgust.
She didn't even rise from her chair.
Under the astonished gazes of everyone present, Jiang Qingwan's slender, jade-like fingertip flicked lightly against the edge of the teacup lid on the table.
Zing—!
An extremely sharp sound of something tearing through the air suddenly rang out.
The sound was impossibly fast, as if the very air had been ripped apart in an instant.
The next second.
Squelch.
A warm pillar of blood shot skyward, a full three feet high, directly splattering onto the plaque inscribed with the words "Great Ambitions Realized."
Thud.
A perfectly fine head, still bearing that expression of unfulfilled lofty aspirations, traced a parabolic arc through the air and landed heavily on the ground.
Then... it rolled clatteringly to a stop at Jiang Qingwan's feet.
Ye Chen's corpse stood rigidly for a moment before collapsing limply, as if all its bones had been removed.
The letter of divorce in his hand fluttered down, landing precisely over the severed neck, instantly soaked through with blood.
Silence.
A deathly silence.
The entire hall seemed to have been put on pause.
Guests ready to cheer stood with mouths agape. A serving maid holding a wine jug froze in terror, unaware that the wine had spilled all over the floor.
Ye Dafu, the head of the Ye family seated on the other side of the main seat, had a smug smile still frozen on his face, unable to retract it in time, looking both ludicrous and horrifying.
Dead?
That Ye family young master who just moments ago was setting a three-year vow, vowing to make the Jiang family regret... was just dead?
Without even letting him finish his sentence?
Jiang Qingwan unhurriedly drew a silk handkerchief from her sleeve, gently wiping her fingertips, which were not even dusty.
She casually tossed the handkerchief onto Ye Chen's head, covering those wide-open, unseeing eyes.
"Since you believed you could win in thirty years, I had no choice but to ensure you have no thirty years later."
The young woman's voice was cool and indifferent, echoing in the deathly silent hall, sending chills down everyone's spines.
"Now, the world is quiet."
Just then, a cold, mechanical voice abruptly exploded in Jiang Qingwan's mind:
[Ding! Host detected decisively eliminating "Son of Fortune" Ye Chen!]
[Destiny Plunder System activated successfully!]
[Congratulations, Host! Successfully severed Ye Chen's original protagonist fortune belonging to the "Waste's Counterattack" trope!]
[Plunder rewards being distributed...]
[Acquired: Supreme-grade Thunder Spiritual Root!]
[Acquired: Earth-grade High-quality Marrow Cleansing Pill ×10!]
[Detected a fragment of a "Ancient Alchemy God" soul residing deep within the deceased's ring! Host may dispose of it freely.]
Hearing this, a trace of a satisfied curve finally appeared at the corner of Jiang Qingwan's lips.
Just as expected.
Villains die from talking too much; protagonists die from putting on airs.
Only direct action is the foremost survival rule for a transmigrator.
"Ch... Chen'er?"
Ye Dafu's entire body trembled violently. As if finally comprehending what had happened, he threw himself towards the corpse on the ground, letting out a heart-rending howl:
"Ahhh!! My son!!"
He suddenly raised his head, his eyes bloodshot and crimson, glaring fixedly at the young woman who still sat calmly on the high seat, as serene as drifting clouds, his voice shrill as a ghost's:
"Jiang Qingwan! You... you dare to kill him?! This was the last male heir of my Ye family!!"
"I'll make you pay with your life!! I'll tear you to pieces!!"
As Ye Dafu roared, the stunned Ye family guards finally snapped back to reality.
Dozens of burly men wielding swords and blades surged into the hall from all directions, surrounding Jiang Qingwan with a palpable, murderous intent.
The glint of steel flashed, the intent to kill laid bare.
Yet, Jiang Qingwan did not even bat an eyelid.
She merely tilted her head and offered a faint smile to the plain-robed old woman who had been standing silently behind her with her hands at her sides:
"Oh?"
"Granny Ling, some people seem to find their lives too long. What do you suggest we do?"
