CSMCDB - Chapter 1
Chapter 1
Wen Yuncheng was a transmigrator. Or, you could say, she hadn't drunk Granny Meng's soup before reincarnating, so she still had memories of her past life.
The only unfortunate thing was that she hadn't been some big shot in her past life, nor did she have a world-shaking background, nor had she even experienced a dramatic, tear-jerking romance. As a super-sized slacker who had been single since birth, Wen Yuncheng was lazy and unmotivated—a twenty-first-century high school student who dozed off in class, played on her phone under the covers at night, "borrowed" homework from the top students, and left her exams to fate.
Then, one day, while staying up late scrolling through Weibo, she accidentally fell asleep, and her phone fell from her hand, smashing her in the face. When she woke up, she had become a newborn baby in a freaking strange world.
Yes, it was an otherworldly continent, the kind often seen in male-protagonist novels. This continent was called the Starry Sky Continent, and its people seemed to have a fondness for stars. For instance, the currency used for trade was a thing called "Star Stones." These stones were multicolored and reflected the sunlight, much like modern glass pebbles, and they contained a unique energy specific to them. This energy was one-of-a-kind and couldn't be absorbed by humans, which became one of the features used to distinguish real Star Stones from fakes. The stones were artificially cut into round coins of various sizes. However, to make transactions more convenient, people had invented Star Stone cards. Also made from Star Stones, they worked by measuring the energy stored within the card to determine the number of Star Stone coins it held.
Truth be told, Wen Yuncheng's life was quite miserable. She was a girl, yet she was raised as a boy. The reason was simple—a marriage engagement. The other party to the engagement was the daughter of a sect master from a relatively famous sect on the Starry Sky Continent, while her parents were merely from an unfavored branch of a family in a county town. Although it was a large family, her parents were gluttonous, lazy, and idle, disliked by the rest of the family. The family head had even suggested splitting them off—in the end, it was only because Wen Yuncheng was born, disguised as a boy, and the engagement was established that her parents could continue to live off the family for free.
This marriage had nothing to do with Wen Yuncheng's mother. It was something her grandfather on this continent had exchanged his life for. He had saved someone—that person being a sect master—who, out of gratitude and guilt, promised that if their descendants happened to be a boy and a girl, they would be joined in marriage, leaving a jade pendant as a guarantee.
Just listen to how absurd that was. Wen Yuncheng's parents never once considered what would happen if she was exposed, what would happen when she grew up, or what would happen to the engagement. They only thought about using the marriage alliance with a major sect to temporarily avoid being cast out of the family, after which they would continue to laze around and wait for death. Her father spent his days out drinking and dining, frequenting pleasure quarters, while her mother spent her time with a gaggle of young ladies, shopping at clothing boutiques and cosmetics and jewelry stores, living a life of debauchery.
And Wen Yuncheng? She was often abandoned in her cradle at home, starving to death, crying herself hoarse with no one noticing. It was a miracle she didn't die. As a result, the moment Wen Yuncheng could walk, she had to worry about feeding herself—she, who had once been a slacker content to laze around and wait for death, now had to tearfully become a thief, raiding the small kitchen at night.
She also discovered that her parents were truly unfavored, quite disliked, and had no presence in the family. By the time she was three, she had never seen anyone else from the family come to visit her.
Despite this, at the age of eight, Wen Yuncheng began her studies alongside the other children of the family, learning all sorts of knowledge about the Starry Sky Continent. Then, they began to absorb the power of the stars to cultivate. That's right, cultivate! This was a fantasy world!
There was a saying on the Starry Sky Continent: for every person on the ground, there is a star in the sky. When a star falls, someone has passed away. On the Starry Sky Continent, people cultivated by absorbing the power of the stars to strengthen their bodies. There were ten realms: Star Apostle, Star Practitioner, Star Warrior, Star Master, Star Lord, Star Spirit, Star King, Star Venerate, Star Emperor, and Star Saint. The higher your rank, the brighter the star that represents you would shine. You could see it just by looking up at the night sky.
The teacher said this to motivate the children to become the brightest star in the sky. Watching the other children's faces flush red with excitement, Wen Yuncheng clicked her tongue, her heart completely unmoved. This encouragement was similar to what she'd heard in elementary school in her past life. Back then, everyone thought they'd get into the best universities, even agonizing over the choice. Heh, now these kids were agonizing over which part of the sky their future star would shine most brightly and attract the most attention. But in reality? In a small county town like this, it would be a blessing just to have one shining star.
However, fate seemed to favor her this time.
Wen Yuncheng tried cultivating for a single day and directly became a Star Apostle.
Each star rank was divided into three layers. Wen Yuncheng had merely sat under the starlight in a daze, recalling the method the teacher had taught and absorbing the power of the stars. Just like that, she directly reached the first layer of Star Apostle.
—It shocked the Wen Estate! It shocked the small Holy Star City!
The name of Holy Star City had been chosen by its first city lord in the hope that a Star Saint would one day emerge from within its walls. Yet, after so many years and generations, the highest anyone had reached was Star Lord. This was also why the Wen Estate was so fixated on the marriage alliance with a major sect.
Entering the path in a single day showed her potential. Wen Yuncheng instantly transformed from the unfavored, invisible, legitimate son of the third branch into the most favored and outstanding young disciple of the clan! The elders, from the first to the third, sought her out one by one. The clan head clapped her on the shoulder in a frenzy of joy. Even her irresponsible parents held their heads high in the city because of her reputation!
Of course, there's always a twist, always a "however."
Wen Yuncheng had become a bit full of herself from the daily praise. You have to understand, in her past life, she was a slacker among slackers, the type who would lie dead and not even roll over! But now? She had so casually and effortlessly become… a top student? No, no, this was an academic god! Wen Yuncheng couldn't help but train diligently. She reached the second layer in one year and the third in two. At this point, she was only ten years old, while most other children were still struggling in the first layer! And here it came, the "however." However, when she was about to break through to Star Practitioner—attempting to break the record and become the youngest Star Practitioner—she failed.
Rather than a failure, it was more that one day, as she sat cross-legged absorbing the power of the stars, she opened her eyes to see a brilliant star shining in the sky, growing larger and larger.
"That star is so beautiful."
The moment the words left her mouth, that beautiful star smashed right into her. Wen Yuncheng was knocked unconscious at the bottom of a crater. Her clansmen, alerted by the commotion, rushed over. They all thought she was dead, and it was only after they wailed as they pulled her out that they discovered she was still breathing. But her cultivation had completely vanished.
Back to square one in a single day, her account had been wiped.
Wen Yuncheng lay in her room to recuperate. During this time, the entire clan comforted her. Even the city lord came to visit her several times. That was, until she discovered that no matter how she tried to absorb the power of the stars, it was as if something was intercepting it; the power just wouldn't flow into her body. Naturally, she couldn't return to the first layer of Star Apostle. She had become an ordinary… a "waste" in this fantasy continent, as ordinary as one could be.
After that, Wen Yuncheng watched as the attitudes of her clansmen shifted from the original "hope/jealousy" to "disappointment/glee," and finally to "indifference/mockery." She once again became an invisible person in the Wen Estate, or perhaps even worse. How could her parents, having tasted her former glory, be content with the current situation? Her scum of a father cursed and grumbled all day, even wanting to hit her. Her mother constantly berated her for being a useless, good-for-nothing waste. It was a good thing Wen Yuncheng was only unable to cultivate and not a cripple; at least she could run fast. It wasn't just her parents. Her peers who had once been jealous, admiring, envious, or respectful of her gradually either distanced themselves, despised her, or bullied her. Such is the fickleness of human nature.
Just like that.
When she had been content to be a slacker, what was hers came to her naturally, and she had obtained things she never had before. But when she tried hard, strived for more, and poured so much sweat and time into her efforts, she truly lost everything. How ironic.
Wen Yuncheng wanted to laugh at herself, but it pulled at the wound on her cheek, the pain making her want to cry. This was from yesterday, when she failed to outrun Wen Ziyu, a third-layer Star Apostle, who had landed a punch on her. She had done her best to protect her head but still got hit. Fortunately, her other injuries were on her body, and this one punch wouldn't be disfiguring. Wen Yuncheng deceived herself with this comforting thought as she lay on a haystack, gazing at the stars in the sky. It was always the same few stars that were bright—brilliant, dazzling, and eternal. But hers? She wasn't even a Star Apostle anymore. Her star had already fallen.
Now fifteen, even if she could recover her talent, she would have to start all over again. She was a full five years behind everyone else. Wen Yuncheng looked at the stars in the sky, feeling utterly miserable.
Even if she died here tonight, this family… her parents, probably wouldn't feel any sadness. Oh, they probably would. They'd be sad that the marriage they had secured had flown away. After all, the other party was a major sect.
[Energy digestion complete.]
Wen Yuncheng froze for a moment. It sounded like she had heard something incredible. She looked around in a daze but found nothing out of the ordinary.
[Ding! Initializing...]
[Long Aotian Growth Template loading~ Dear Host, I am System 1947. I will lead you to defeat all under heaven, marry a beautiful, rich woman, and reach the pinnacle of life!]
Wen Yuncheng: "You're full of shit."
The excited electronic voice froze: [Why is the Host cursing at the System?]
"Can't an electronic product analyze a person's gender?!"
The newly activated system, which would have censored any undressing, bathing, or bodily exposure with a mosaic blur: …?
"I'm a girl. Go find a Mary Sue template and come back." Wen Yuncheng rolled her eyes, not really believing in this damn system's usefulness. It just suddenly appears and spouts a bunch of nonsense, and she's supposed to believe it? Pfft. Who knew if this was some kind of conspiracy?
[...I can let you cultivate again and get revenge on everyone who has ever bullied you.]
Wen Yuncheng: Too lazy to move.
[I can make you the brightest star on the continent!]
Wen Yuncheng: My star has already fallen.
[...I'm very sorry. The loss of your cultivation was because I was binding to you. But I will compensate you! What you've suffered all these years won't defeat you; it will only make you stronger!]
Wen Yuncheng: No, it already slapped me to the bottom of the valley, where I discovered that lying down is pretty nice.
Author's Notes
System: Okay, understood. Goodbye.
Wen Yuncheng: ??!
Translator's Notes
I translated this novel over four months ago when I was still new to lore-heavy cultivation stories, so there may be some suboptimal translation choices in the narrative. While I've done my best to improve the overall quality during proofreading, some mistranslations, inconsistencies, or errors might remain. If you spot any, I would appreciate it if you let me know. Thank you for your support, and I hope you enjoy the novel.
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