Immortal Heavenly Realm, Year 2095 according to the Celestial Calendar.
At the Hundred Lotus Sect training ground, at a time when the snow geese were migrating and winter was piercing through the bones, a four-year-old boy was leading a three-year-old girl who was waving her fists and feet in the snow.
"Keep your legs apart and your hands straight! On my command, deliver an uppercut with your right hand!"
The boy's face was red and his ears were warm, but the girl's lips were blue with cold.
That was because the boy was wrapped up like a bear while the girl only wore a thin cotton-lined coat.
"Brother, I'm cold, so cold..."
Looking serious like a miniature adult, the boy hugged his chest and said, "I’m standing in the cold too. You won't freeze to death. This cold air won't hurt you at all."
At this moment, the maid accompanying them couldn't take it anymore and went to the boy's side, trying to intercede for the girl and whispering, "Young master, don't bully Miss Pei. She is so pitiful. On this snowy day, even my nose is freezing."
The boy glanced at the maid in disgust and righteously said, "Who’s bullying her? This is cultivation training."
"Cultivation is not freezing in the snow, is it?"
"You don't understand!"
"..."
The maid looked sympathetically at the girl trembling in the wind and snow. Although she still wanted to plead for mercy, the boy was so stubborn that he wouldn't listen to anyone except the Patriarch and his wife.
So, she had to retreat to the side and planned to go to the Patriarch later to snitch on him, let the Patriarch teach him a lesson, and also send the girl more coals.
The boy was Ye Anping, the only son of the Patriarch of the_ Hundred Lotus_ Sect, a small sect in the Immortal Heavenly Realm.
However, as a young master of the Hundred Lotus Sect, Ye Anping was not exactly born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Although he was a tyrannical little boy inside the clan, the maid remembered the young master was quite cute before he turned three years old.
He used to be cute, acted like a normal baby, and liked to eat candied fruit. Every now and then, he would be in a daze with snot dripping from his nose, which was kind of adorable.
But for some reason, ever since this girl named Pei Lianxue was brought back by the Patriarch, the young master seemed to be a different person.
He didn't eat candied fruits anymore, nor did he act cute. Regardless of night or day, wind or rain, he always tormented little Pei.
If she wanted to escape, the young master would actually pull her back by her skirt. When asked why he did this, he would always say, "It is for sister Pei's sake."
The Patriarch was busy with his affairs all day and had no time to care about them while the maids could not persuade him.
"Ah..." the maid sighed sympathetically.
Hearing her sigh, Ye Anping just shook his head, feeling somewhat aggrieved at the thought that, in the maid's eyes, he had become a spoiled child who bullied others.
Well, he couldn't blame people for thinking that. After all, he was the only one who knew that these seemingly abusive methods could greatly improve Pei Lianxue's physical constitution and spiritual foundation.
Ten years from now, Pei Lianxue and the Hundred Lotus Sect would face a disaster.
A demonic cultivator named Wu You was seriously injured and came to the Hundred Lotus Sect to find a living person whose blood could heal his wounds.
Under that man's glinting sword, none of the disciples of the sect survived, and blood flowed from the top to the foot of the mountain.
Pei Lianxue was the only survivor.
But then, she was chained by Wu You and turned into a human furnace. Losing all hope, her blood flowed into the blood reservoir of that demon's sect as she suffered endlessly.
And how did he know?
Because this world was exactly the same as the fantasy game he used to play.
In other words, this was the world of the game called "Heavenly Sword Fantasy."
As for Ye Anping, he was a time traveler who was transported into this game. However, he did not transition into the protagonist or villain, nor did he forget what he played before.
Instead, he transmigrated into some cannon fodder that would die shortly after the start of the original game and only required a brief description.
『...On that day, the Hundred Lotus Sect's blood flowed like a river, and under the bloody sword of Wu You, the Patriarch's head fell to the ground, and his fifteen-year-old son became a delicacy for the dogs and beasts in the mountain...』
The ‘fifteen-year-old son’ was him.
To become a young master through time travel in a fantasy world, his skills should be good, right?
Indeed, his ability could be considered good in the world of immortal cultivators, having dual spiritual roots: water and wood.
However, even the protagonist barely survived in the hands of Wu You, and only because she had the attributes of the main character.
As for someone like him who didn’t have the advantages of the main protagonist, there was a huge gap between himself and Wu You.
Therefore, Ye Anping placed all his hopes on the currently three-year-old Pei Lianxue.
In the early stages of the game, Pei Lianxue was an ordinary disciple with moderate abilities and three spiritual roots.
But in reality, she was an extremely rare single-water spiritual root that only appeared every few tens of thousands of years. Because of that, she was mistaken for an ordinary girl with three spiritual roots.
It was when Wu You slaughtered the clan that he saw her talent and turned her into his personal furnace.
In other words, Pei Lianxue was actually a hidden peerless genius.
Therefore, Ye Anping decided that before that scoundrel Wu You arrived, Pei Lianxue must be trained to take him down.
Looking at the little girl's blue lips, Ye Anping frowned, then stepped forward and gently grabbed her wrist. "Sister."
Thinking that today's training was over, Pei Lianxue's eyes lit up as she looked at him happily and asked with chattering teeth: "Bro... bro... brother, can... can we go... go back n-now?"
Hey, the poor kid is so cold she can't even speak... The maid on the side gave a long sigh.
However, Ye Anping next said something that caused the maid's jaw to drop.
"Well! Let's start forging the bones."
Pei Lianxue, who didn't understand what Ye Anping meant by ‘forging the bones’, tilted her head. "Eh?"
The next moment, she saw Ye Anping holding his breath and yanking her right hand with all his strength.
Click——
There was a crunching sound.
Her right elbow joint was directly dislocated.
"…"
Because her body was almost frozen, Pei Lianxue didn't feel any pain. However, seeing her right arm twisted in a strange direction, her pupils uncontrollably shrunk into a small hole, her mouth opened wide as she took a deep breath, and then…
"Aaahhhh—!!!"
Ye Anping raised his hand and said, "Don't fret, there are still thirty-five bones to break."
"Wooooaaahhhhhhhh!!!"
Pei Lianxue wanted to escape, but her legs were frozen, and she couldn't move at all. She could only watch helplessly as the snotty boy tore out her bones one by one and put them back in their place again.
The attendant maid was so frightened that she immediately ran to tell the Patriarch.
As expected, Ye Anping got his butt spanked by his father after returning home. However, he did not repent in the slightest. And after that, he became even harsher in his methods.
He broke her knees fifty times. Threw her into an icy lake for three days and three nights. Threw her off a 100-meter cliff. Sent her to the monsters' dens for seven days...
...
The maple leaves in the Hundred Lotus Sect compound turned red and green, green and red, over and over, as winter turned to spring and spring to autumn again. Thus, ten years had passed in the blink of an eye.
Pei Lianxue and Ye Anping also turned from a little girl and a little boy to a young lady and a young master with curly hair.
In Ye Anping's bedroom, the bronze mirror on the dressing table reflected a handsome face with starry eyes.
Those eyes were dark and deep, with a charming glow, and his skin was smooth and white, showing off the sharpness of his well-defined features.
Looking at the face in the bronze mirror, Ye Anping couldn't help but marvel, "How can there be such a man with both phoenix and dragon traits in this world?"
The maid next to him, while combing his hair, sighed. "Young Master, you are fifteen years old this year. The servants feel that you should show some prestige."
"Don't you think the man in the mirror is very handsome, Xiaodie?"
"Young master is very handsome, but every morning the poor servants have to listen to him again and again. After listening to him for ten years, their ears are calloused."
Ye Anping smiled and said, "Didn't you know? If you keep telling a person that he is handsome, then that person will really become handsome."
"Is there such a thing?" Xiaodie tilted her head in confusion.
"Look how beautiful little sister is now. Isn't it because I praised her for her beauty every day?"
"..."
Left speechless, Xiaodie sighed. "Master, could it be that Miss Pei is already very pretty anyway?"
"No way! Absolutely impossible!" Ye Anping waved his hand in denial. "She wasn't even a supporting role. If it weren’t for what I said every day, how could she be more beautiful than the protagonist now?"
"Master, here you go again. What protagonists and supporting roles? You have read too many novels, and the Patriarch will whip your ass again."
"You don't understand. In a month or two, Pei Lianxue will kill the Grand Master of the Magical Poison Sect and save our Hundred Lotus Sect from destruction."
"You've been telling this story for ten years." Xiaodie pursed her lips as she tied his hair. "The Magical Poison Sect is in the Eastern Region, thousands of miles away from us."
Shaking his head, Ye Anping stopped explaining and stood up. "Bring me more healing pills. I'm going to fight my sister today."