Raising the Villain in Wrong Way

But how was she supposed to hit someone in the face with a spatula when they possessed the same face as the brother who had literally ripped her soul across dimensions to save her?!

It was psychological warfare of the highest, cruellest order.

But the universe, clearly deciding that Lin Ji’an had not suffered nearly enough mental trauma for one evening, was not finished.

GONG!!

The herald struck the golden chime a second time, the sound echoing heavily over the hushed crowd.

"And now," the herald announced, his voice taking on a tone of profound, hushed reverence. "Emerging from the Hidden Cloud Pavilion, making her debut to the martial world..."

Every single man in the room, from the feral Beast Lord to the calculating Fox, straightened their posture.

The atmosphere shifted from tense rivalry to anticipation.

This was the moment.

The reveal of the ultimate prize.

"The daughter of the Sect Leader. Presenting... Princess Bai Liyue!"

Ji’an, still reeling from the copy-paste brother, forced her eyes back to the brass doors.

’Okay,’ Ji’an thought, taking a shaky breath, trying to soothe the trauma. ’The female lead. The literal walking battery of Yin energy. She’s probably going to be this ethereal, veiled, untouchable goddess floating on a cloud of lotus petals. I just need to avoid her. I need to stay entirely out of her plotline.’

The heavy brass doors swung open for the second time.

A collective, breathless sigh rippled through the thousands of gathered cultivators.

A girl stepped over the threshold.

She was draped in the most extravagant, breathtaking robes Ji’an had ever seen, layers of shimmering pale pink and silver silk, embroidered with glowing moon-lotuses.

Delicate silver chains adorned her dark, perfectly styled hair, chiming softly with every step she took.

She possessed a delicate, porcelain beauty that was so pure that it hurt to look at her.

The overwhelming aura radiated outward, a sweet, intoxicating gravity that immediately drew the absolute, undivided attention of every Yang-heavy cultivator in the hall.

She was the picture of perfect, fragile, untouchable grace.

But she was also the stray cat who had thrown a tantrum over lukewarm tea in the Lin Estate days ago.

Ji’an’s heart stopped.

The blood in her veins instantly turned to Freon.

"Su Yin," Ji’an whispered, the word falling from her lips like a death sentence.

’Su Yin, a daughter of a merchant family, my ass!’ Ji’an’s internal monologue screamed, a cocktail of betrayal, terror, and realisation detonating in her brain.

The missing puzzle pieces slammed together with brutal force.

The expensive, imperial-grade silk she had been wearing in the Blood-Iron Syndicate dungeon.

The way she had haughtily demanded that Ji’an, a Sovereign Elder, carry her.

The way the guards at the Lin Estate had mysteriously let her wander the halls unbothered.

The utter lack of any "merchant family" sending inquiries.

Bai Liyue, the most valuable, heavily guarded, politically critical female in the entire continent, had somehow sneaked out of her sequestered tower, gotten herself kidnapped, and then, after Ji’an had saved her, had deliberately faked amnesia and a false identity just to play house in the General’s mansion!

She had treated the outside world like a vacation, and she had treated Ji’an like her personal, entertaining tour guide!

Ji’an stumbled backwards, hitting the stone pillar, sliding slightly down the cold rock.

The implications of this revelation were not just embarrassing.

They were apocalyptic.

In the safety of the Lin General’s Estate, Su Yin’s relentless, bratty clinging had been a minor annoyance.

Ji’an’s father, her sisters, and even Lin Xuan had laughed it off, teasing Ji’an about how the "Third Brother" was going to have to marry the pretty stray girl because she refused to let go of his sleeve.

It was a harmless domestic comedy.

But this was not the Lin Estate.

This was the Grand Hall of Ascending Heavens.

Ji’an looked wildly around the room.

She saw Xie Wangchen, whose ruby eyes were narrowing, already sensing the shift in Ji’an’s panic.

Every single apex predator in this room was currently hunting.

Half of them were completely possessively obsessed with Lin Ji’an.

The other half were driven to claim the Supreme Heavenly Yin Body of Bai Liyue to elevate their cultivation.

If Bai Liyue acted the way she did in the estate...

If Bai Liyue broke her elegant, princess facade right now, pointed at the cook in the corner, yelled "Hero!" and ran across the room to cling to Ji’an’s arm...

’I am dead,’ Ji’an realised, a cold sweat drenching her back, her breath coming in short, panicked gasps. ’If she claims me in front of these men, they won’t laugh it off as my father did. The male leads will murder her out of jealousy. And the male leads who want her powers will murder me out of rivalry. And the Sect Leader will execute me for kidnapping and defiling his precious, sequestered daughter!’

It was the ultimate, inescapable, worst-case scenario.

Ji’an would officially become the target of the entire sect and the outside world simultaneously.

Ji’an shrank back against the pillar, desperately pulling the hood of her cloak up over her head, attempting to blend into the stone, praying to any god that would listen that she possessed the power of absolute invisibility.

’Don’t look at me,’ Ji’an chanted internally, her eyes squeezed tightly shut. ’I am a wall. I am a potato. I am completely insignificant!’

On the starlight-glass floor, Princess Bai Liyue walked toward the dais.

She maintained her flawless, delicate, ethereal grace.

The entire hall watched her with bated breath, mesmerised by the walking myth.

But as she reached the centre of the hall, the Princess paused.

She didn’t look at the Sect Leader.

She didn’t look at the newly returned Senior Apprentice.

She didn’t look at any of the blindingly handsome, impossibly powerful male protagonists who were practically drooling over her Yin aura.

Bai Liyue slowly, deliberately turned her head.

Her massive, doe-like eyes swept over the crowded hall, bypassing the glittering nobles and the majestic elders.