The Female Lead Always Comes Around [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 2

Ning Shu stepped out of the cave and finally saw the light again. Her eyes took a while to adjust before her vision returned to normal. She unfolded the tattered cloth and saw the long-lost secret manual that Zha Zha had mentioned.

As expected of a legendary manual, even its name was unique.

On the faded brown cover, the four characters “Invincible Divine Art” stood out, though worn and dim. Ning Shu stared at them silently.

“Host, this is truly the divine technique that can help you take revenge. Don’t doubt it,” Zha Zha explained.

Ning Shu put away her look of disdain and replied, “I’m not doubting you don’t slander me.”

Then why are you crying?

“The light is too harsh,” Ning Shu muttered, wiping away the tears sliding down her cheeks. She opened the cover.

The first page is blank. The second page is blank. The third page is still blank.

She refused to give in and quickly flipped through the thin manual, confirming every page was empty there was nothing at all.

She looked up at the sky, clutching the manual tightly. If she hadn’t had even a shred of reason left, she would have torn this useless book to pieces long ago.

If she had sinned, the King of Hell would punish her, not drop her into a place like this to torment her body and soul.

This time, Ning Shu truly cried.

Tears burst out.

“Don’t tell me this is a ‘wordless manual’ that needs special conditions to activate,” Ning Shu said through gritted teeth, barely controlling the volume of her voice.

“Bingo! Host, you’re so smart, guessing even the hardest hidden conditions,” Zha Zha gushed.

But Ning Shu didn’t buy it. She just wanted to know how to make the damn book reveal its words.

“Stop wasting my time. Tell me what I need to do.”

The sky was darkening, and she still had no clue what the manual contained.

[It’s simple. This manual is meant for a designated person. For anyone else, it’s useless. To determine if you’re the right person, just drip a drop of bl00d on the first page. If the manual accepts you, its cultivation methods will appear naturally.]

Ning Shu caught the loophole in Zha Zha’s words and frowned. “And if it doesn’t accept me, does that mean I’ll never see the words?”

That would mean she couldn’t learn the divine art, couldn’t find a way out, couldn’t take revenge, she’d fail the mission.

A vicious cycle.

Since childhood, Ning Shu had terrible luck. She once needed 361 draws to get a single crystal in a game. How could a scenario where she’s randomly chosen as a lucky participant actually happen to her?

Thinking this way, anxiety started to gnaw at her again.

[That won’t happen. The main god selects one in ten thousand. How could it not recognize you? Come on, dear host, let’s start this thrilling game.]

Listening to Zha Zha’s excited tone, Ning Shu felt like smashing it, but it had no physical body. She could only swallow her urge to punch.

Taking a deep breath, Ning Shu bit her finger and let a drop of bl00d fall on the blank page, waiting for a miracle.

She didn’t really expect a sudden turn of luck, but things couldn’t get any worse than they already were.

The bl00d was quickly absorbed into the brown paper, disappearing in an instant. If not for her broken finger, she would have doubted whether the bl00d had actually touched the page.

“Huh?” Zha Zha sounded puzzled. “Previous hosts saw the words appear immediately. Why isn’t yours responding?”

Ning Shu’s eyes stung as she sucked her bleeding finger. Even in a virtual world, someone kept reminding her she was incredibly unlucky.

Seeing her silence, Zha Zha tentatively suggested, “Maybe try again?”

Ning Shu waved her hand, deciding to be a lazy, hopeless fish. She found a flat stone to lie on and gazed at the blazing sunset, feeling a numb calm inside.

“Whatever. Maybe I was caught here by mistake. The main god will send me back when they realize it.”

Who gets hit by a system and doesn’t get any cheat at all? Even if she wasn’t a prodigy, she shouldn’t be this unlucky.

Her mind was reeling.

Today’s events had pushed Ning Shu beyond comprehension. Exhausted, she fell asleep lying there.

The night had completely fallen. All was silent no insects, no birds, only the occasional rustle of leaves in the wind.

Half-awake, she thought she heard a cold snicker, but she was too tired to open her eyes. She rolled over and continued sleeping.

“You useless fool! Even given a chance, you’re hopeless!”

With that mocking voice, the wordless manual beside her began to glow white. Golden characters appeared on the pages, spinning as if alive and embedding themselves into Ning Shu’s mind.

She whimpered, frowning.

The process didn’t last long. The white light vanished, and everything returned to normal, as if nothing had happened.

Ning Shu awoke with a start, knocking the manual to the ground. It lay there, lonely, its cover open in apparent displeasure.

Her mind felt cluttered, as if knowledge had been poured into it or as if nothing had happened at all.

She sat dumbfounded for a few minutes before picking up the manual. On the first page, words had appeared, written in elegant, precise strokes, clearly by a woman’s hand.

Though originally arcane and obscure, Ning Shu understood immediately. Specific techniques even formed in her mind.

“Ah!!” It made sense why the main god chose her. If this isn’t genius, what is?

Far away, the main god monitoring her scoffed and closed their eyes, not wanting to look at her.

A useless fool, yet claiming to be a genius, with no self-awareness!

Ning Shu rejoiced at her sudden enlightenment. Excited, she jumped off the stone and sat cross-legged, absorbing the techniques into herself.

The words vanished line by line. When she opened her eyes, the first page was blank again, leaving no trace.

Dawn broke, bathing the surroundings in silver light. Ning Shu stretched, feeling her stomach growl.

She hadn’t eaten since yesterday. Her empty stomach protested loudly.

Remembering the wild fruits she had seen while searching for the cave, she decided to fill her stomach first.

She tucked the manual into her chest and headed into the forest. For some reason, her legs felt lighter, her movements swifter, and she soon reached the fruit-laden trees.

To test her suspicion, Ning Shu focused, kicked off lightly, and flew toward a branch two or three meters high. Though she had no expectations, she actually floated up, but her posture was off. She fell with a thud when her hands touched the branch. Luckily, she stabilized herself in time.

Overjoyed, she adjusted and tried again, this time successfully perching on the branch and picking a plump, red fruit.

Cautiously, she asked Zha Zha if the fruit was poisonous. Only after receiving a “safe” answer did she eat heartily. In such a desolate place, simply filling her stomach was enough; she didn’t ask for more.

After eating, she pocketed more fruits and headed back toward the cave. Whether the old woman was a test set by the main god or not, a disabled elderly woman left in total darkness would starve, even if she didn’t go insane.

Ning Shu wasn’t a saint, but she couldn’t just watch the old woman die.

The cave was still pitch dark, as if magic blocked all outside light. Ning Shu followed the sound of breathing and approached the old woman cautiously.

“Grandma, it looks like you can’t leave this cave. Here are some fruits I picked. Eat something, at least.”

She placed the fruits on the ground. When the old woman didn’t respond, Ning Shu bit into a fruit herself.

“See? It’s safe.”

Still no sound. Ning Shu felt like her kindness was being unappreciated, but said nothing and quietly left. If the old woman didn’t trust her, there was no need to force it.

Ning Shu returned to her training spot and sat cross-legged. The view here was open, overlooking most of the valley, perfect for cultivation.

She opened the manual again. The second page revealed more instructions, this time accompanied by a diagram showing the flow of meridians and internal energy.

As the saying goes, the first step is always the hardest. With the basics in place, Ning Shu’s training became easier, and she quickly made breakthroughs.

Days passed. When she finally opened her eyes, the manual’s words had appeared in the middle. Looking at the dozen blank pages before, she almost cried with excitement. With a bit more effort, she could escape soon!

Time in the mountains was unmeasured. Ning Shu had no sense of how long it had been she had to ask Zha Zha.

“Host, you’ve been training for three months,” Zha Zha said with a note of satisfaction.

Ning Shu was shocked. Three months had passed with her eyes closed? Was that even possible?

The discomfort of learning the time quickly made her feel sticky and uneasy all over.

“A bath will make me feel better.”

The lake water was clear, reflecting the cold, round moon. Ning Shu stood in the shallow area, water just below her chest.

The lake that had once been a nightmare now served as her bathwater. Her fear had long vanished with the rise of her martial skill.

Immersed in the cool water, she first thought the rustling around her was wind through leaves—but soon she sensed an unfamiliar presence. Frowning, she sliced a wave of water toward the sound.

The water splashed on the leaves but hit nothing solid. Ning Shu wondered if she was overreacting.

She exited the lake, quickly dressed, and sat down to fix her hair, tucking her thick bangs behind her ears and revealing a flawless oval face.

The original owner had been beautiful, but self-conscious, always hiding most of her face behind heavy bangs, so much so that even Long Tao had never seen her full face.

“A beautiful girl, yet wasting herself on a blind, unworthy man. Why?” Ning Shu sighed.

She used internal energy to dry her smooth black hair and turned back toward the cave. The old woman still needed food; after so long, she couldn’t have survived on nothing.

Ning Shu’s figure disappeared into the night. At the spot near the lake, a dark figure appeared, lingered briefly, and then moved toward the left side of the valley. Approaching, it revealed a narrow, dim path through the bushes.

She glanced toward the cave, then entered the path without looking back.

She would not forget the life-saving favor, but her priority was stopping her father from handing the sect’s leadership to Li Su.

Li Su and his mother were wolves in sheep’s clothing. If he became the sect master, the righteous path would face disaster.

Entering the cave, Ning Shu heard no familiar breathing. Aside from dripping water, there was only silence.

“Could she really have starved to death?”

She muttered to herself and went to check the spot where the old woman had been, but the place was empty. Unwilling to give up, she circled the entire cave, yet still found nothing. The only sign of life was a few wild pheasants tied together, perched on the mound where the manual had been buried.

The pheasants were alive but seemed terrified, standing frozen on the dirt, neither squawking nor flapping, just staring blankly.

Ning Shu stared in disbelief for a long moment before breaking into a predator’s grin.

Once she confirmed the old woman was truly gone, she grabbed the pheasants and went outside. Using some branches, she built a simple spit and roasted the cleaned birds.

The smell of cooking meat made her swallow hard.

The old woman’s “test” had been true if she had chosen to do nothing, she wouldn’t have been enjoying this delicious meal today.

Before eating, Ning Shu clasped her hands and bowed sincerely. “Thank you for nature’s bounty.” Then, ignoring the burn on her lips, she began to eat heartily.

That night, she trained straight through the ninth level of the manual. Staring at the dense lines of text on the final page, she decided to rest before continuing.

Three months passed in that rest.

During those three months, whenever she thought she could break through the ninth level, she would fail, unable to decipher the last page.

From initial anxiety and frustration, Ning Shu gradually learned to go with the flow, becoming surprisingly Zen about it.

One sunny morning, Ning Shu awoke to feel a surge of energy running chaotically through her body. Sensing it might be a sign, she quickly sat cross-legged and began channeling the energy as instructed in the manual.

After following the prescribed sequences for all the internal exercises and techniques, her limbs warmed, and her bones crackled. Ning Shu felt a flicker of fear she had made a mistake and gone into a spiritual backlash.

Fortunately, nothing went wrong. When her body returned to normal, she realized the difference.

The problem that had plagued her for three months had been solved. Surprisingly, she didn’t feel exhilarated rather, a faint emptiness lingered.

“Was that… a little too easy?”

Testing her internal power, she realized she could now harm objects or even people with a flick of a flower petal. The legendary divine art was truly terrifying.

[Congratulations, host. Initial task completed. The passage to the outside is now open; you may leave at any time.]

Hearing Zha Zha’s voice in her mind finally made things feel real. Ning Shu glanced around the place she had lived in for more than half a year and decisively chose to leave immediately.

She couldn’t let the scumbags roam free any longer. Six months was already too generous. From now on, they would live in their own chaos.

Following the instructions, she found the path outward. Seeing the narrow, dim passage, she sneered. “Are you sure this path just opened? Look at the size of these footprints, you’re kidding me, right?”

Zha Zha chuckled but said nothing. Well, it was a joke, the way Ning Shu saw it, she might as well have been a ghost.

Ning Shu didn’t think much of it and went straight in, recalling the Peach Blossom Spring she read as a child:

“The path initially was narrow, just enough for one to pass. Walking several dozen steps, the scene suddenly opens to light and space.”

Though there were no fertile fields or bamboo groves ahead, the broad, flat road and surrounding scenery told her one thing: she had finally escaped the desolate cliff-bottom wilderness.

Looking back, all that remained was a towering mountain, perfectly sealed no trace of the small path remained.

She refocused on the road ahead. As she walked, the sound of fighting reached her ears. Pausing, she hid behind a large tree, ready to watch the scene unfold. Suddenly, a figure in black fell from the sky, landing right in front of her.

All eyes turned toward her. One of the attackers shouted at the woman being assaulted, “No wonder you’re so arrogant you have backup!”

Ning Shu quickly waved her hands to show she had no part in it. “I’m not involved! Don’t talk nonsense. I’m just a passerby, your conflict isn’t mine!”

The woman, already gravely injured, glanced at Ning Shu, her expression flickering. “So what? A bunch of riffraff won’t scare me!”

No sooner had she spoken than some of her attackers turned toward Ning Shu, their eyes sharp, faces lethal.

Ning Shu: “…Wait, is this staged?”