chapter 1- Transmigration
The rain tasted like iron and regret.
Zhao Tian's body crashed through another branch, wood splintering against his already broken ribs. Thunder roared overhead, drowning out the sounds of pursuit—but he could still feel them. Hundreds of spiritual senses locked onto him like hungry wolves circling wounded prey.
Should've known, he thought distantly, blood bubbling at his lips. Should've known she'd betray me.
Lin Xue. Wife number one. The Ice Sword Empress. The woman whose sect he'd defeated in honorable combat fifteen years ago, who'd accepted his marriage proposal with cold dignity.
The woman who'd just sold him out to both the Righteous Alliance and the Demonic Coalition.
A shaft of crimson light pierced the darkness—someone's sword qi. Zhao Tian twisted mid-sprint, felt it graze his shoulder instead of his heart. Still hurt like hell. That made... what, seven wounds now? Eight?
"FOR THE FALLEN!" A righteous cultivator dropped from the canopy above, spear crackling with lightning.
Zhao Tian didn't have time for this. His Resonance Array flickered weakly in his dantian—the formation that should've let him borrow power from his hundred wives. Except they hated him. Every single one. And hatred made terrible fuel.
The spear caught him in the left leg.
He screamed, stumbled, kept running. The cliff was close. He could feel the spatial turbulence ahead, that chaotic mess of qi that made flying impossible. Jump, survive the fall, hide in the ravine until—
A formation activated beneath his feet.
Earth spikes erupted like stone teeth. One pierced clean through his abdomen.
Oh.
That was bad.
Zhao Tian ripped himself free with a wet tearing sound, burning the last dregs of his life force for one final burst of speed. The coalition hesitated—just for a moment, shocked by his desperation—and that moment was enough.
He burst through the tree line.
The Thousand Devil Cliff yawned before him, a three-hundred-meter drop into fog and certain death.
Behind him: the coalition. Sword Saint Chen at the front, old face twisted with righteous fury. Blood Demon Kui beside him, looking almost bored. A dozen others fanning out, weapons drawn.
United in wanting him dead.
Zhao Tian turned, managed a blood-stained grin. "You think this kills me? I am Zhao Ti—"
Sword Saint Chen's blade sang through the rain.
The beam of pure sword qi hit Zhao Tian square in the chest.
He fell.
THREE HUNDRED METERS ABOVE THE GROUND
Li Wei was having a very bad day.
Actually, "very bad" was an understatement. "Catastrophically terrible" was closer. "Cosmically unfair" was probably most accurate.
He'd died. Died! At twenty-four! In his own apartment! Choking on instant ramen because he'd laughed too hard at a plot hole in a webnovel!
The plot hole had been stupid too. Something about a protagonist with a hundred concubines somehow remembering all their birthdays. Li Wei had thought it was hilarious. The spicy noodles lodged in his windpipe had disagreed.
And now...
"—WHERE AM I?!"
Li Wei's soul—or consciousness, or whatever the hell he was now—slammed into something solid. A body. Memories that weren't his flooded his mind like a broken dam.
Zhao Tian. Hundred Souls Resonance Array. Forced marriages. Lin Xue's betrayal. The coalition. The fall—
Oh no.
Oh no no no.
I'M FALLING!
Wind screamed past him. Rain lashed his face. His body—Zhao Tian's body, full of holes and broken bones—tumbled through empty air.
Two hundred meters to the ground.
One ninety.
One eighty.
"SYSTEM!" Li Wei screamed into the storm, because that's what protagonists did when they transmigrated, right?! There was always a system! "SYSTEM, HELP! GOLDEN FINGER! CHEAT CODE! ANYTHING!"
DING!
A cheerful blue screen materialized in front of his plummeting face.
HUNDRED HEARTS SURVIVAL SYSTEM
HOST DETECTED: SOUL COMPATIBLE
BODY STATUS: CRITICAL (3% HP)
ALTITUDE: 150 METERS
TIME TO IMPACT: 5.8 SECONDS
...Oh great. Another clueless transmigrator.
"DON'T BE SARCASTIC, SAVE ME!" Li Wei shrieked.
Initiating Emergency Protocol...
QUEST: SURVIVE THE FALL
Reward: Not dying (probably)
Failure: Definitely dying
Cost: 500 System Points
(All your starting points, btw)
[ACCEPT?]
"YES! YES, TAKE THEM ALL!"
Emergency Heal Activated
This is going to hurt :)
White-hot agony exploded through every nerve ending.
The wounds in his body—shoulder, leg, abdomen, a dozen smaller cuts—began to seal. Not gently. Not like magic healing in novels. It felt like someone was sewing his flesh together with molten wire while simultaneously setting his bones with a sledgehammer.
Li Wei would've screamed, but the wind stole his breath.
One hundred meters.
Seventy.
Fifty.
Tree branches whipped past, slowing his descent. Each impact rattled his barely-healed bones. A translucent barrier of qi flickered around him—the System's doing, probably—taking the worst of the hits.
Twenty meters.
Ten.
Five.
He hit the ground.
Well, technically he hit mud. Soft, rain-soaked mud that cratered under the impact, splashing outward in a wave of cold muck.
Everything went black.
When Li Wei woke up, he immediately regretted it.
Every part of his body hurt. Not the sharp pain of fresh wounds, but the deep, bone-deep ache of someone who'd just fallen three hundred meters and somehow lived to complain about it.
"Ugghhh..."
He tried to move. Bad idea. His right arm screamed in protest. Broken? Fractured? Just really, really angry at him?
Slowly, carefully, he opened his eyes.
Dark forest canopy overhead. Rain still falling, lighter now. The crater he'd made in the ground was already filling with muddy water.
And there, hovering in his vision like the world's most unwelcome notification:
CONGRATULATIONS!
You survived! +10 Achievement Points for not dying immediately
Current Status:
HP: 8%
System Points: 10
Spiritual Stones: 0
Wives Who Want You Dead: 100
...Good luck with that last one.
"A hundred... wives...?" Li Wei croaked.
The memories were there, jumbled and foreign but undeniably there. Zhao Tian's life. The Resonance Array. The obsessive collecting of powerful women like they were trading cards.
And now Li Wei was him.
Or in his body.
Which meant...
"I'm the villain," he whispered. "I'm the villain everyone wants dead."
CORRECT! ★
Welcome to your new life, Host!
Quick Tutorial:
1. You're in Zhao Tian's body
2. Everyone hates you
3. Your original power is SEALED
4. To survive, you need to win your wives' affection!
Easy, right? :)
"Sealed?! What do you mean sealed?!"
Original Zhao Tian sealed his peak cultivation in an ancient vault as "insurance" against cultivation deviation.
Good news: You won't die from qi deviation!
Bad news: You're currently at Mortal Realm Stage 3.
(That's pathetically weak)
The vault is hidden in the ruins of the Forgotten Star Faction. You'll need to find it and unlock your sealed power to survive.
Li Wei stared at the screen, then at his mud-covered hands, then back at the screen.
He'd died eating noodles.
He'd transmigrated into a villain's body.
Said villain had a hundred wives who wanted him dead.
His only cheat—this sarcastic system—had just used all his starting points to barely keep him alive.
And his actual power was locked away somewhere he'd have to find.
"I'm doomed," Li Wei said flatly.
Probably! But let's try to survive anyway, shall we?
First step: GET OUT OF THIS CRATER BEFORE SOMEONE FINDS YOU
Right. Right, that made sense.
Gritting his teeth, Li Wei rolled onto his side. Pain flared through his ribs. His right arm was definitely broken. Most of his body was covered in rapidly-forming bruises.
But he was alive.
Somehow.
He crawled out of the muddy crater, every movement an exercise in agony. His spatial ring—Zhao Tian's spatial ring—hung on his finger, but when he sent his spiritual sense into it...
Empty.
The coalition must've looted it before the final battle. Fantastic.
No weapons. No healing pills. No money.
Just him, a broken body, and a sarcastic system.
Li Wei dragged himself toward a nearby hollow tree, desperate for shelter. The rain was lessening, but he was shaking—from cold, from pain, from the sheer absurdity of his situation.
He collapsed inside the hollow, pressed his back against damp wood, and tried to catch his breath.
Voices echoed in the distance.
"—find the body?"
"Not yet. Spatial turbulence scattered the search."
"Sword Saint says to keep looking. Can't confirm the kill without a corpse."
The coalition. Still searching.
Li Wei held his breath, prayed they wouldn't look his way.
The voices faded.
He exhaled slowly.
QUEST COMPLETE!
Survived immediate threat
Reward: +5 System Points
Current Points: 15
NEW QUEST: Survive until dawn
Reward: Basic Healing Pill
Time Remaining: 7h 43m
"Eight hours," Li Wei muttered. "I just need to hide for eight hours."
He could do that.
Probably.
Maybe.
And then—
A voice cut through the rain. Soft. Cold. Terrifyingly familiar from Zhao Tian's memories.
"Husband... where are you...?"
Li Wei's blood froze.
That voice. He knew that voice.
Lin Xue.
Wife number one. The Ice Sword Empress. The woman who'd betrayed Zhao Tian to the coalition.
"I know you survived the fall..." Her voice drifted closer, almost sing-song. "I can feel your blood trail. Just come out, and I'll make it quick."
Li Wei pressed himself deeper into the hollow tree, eyes wide.
She wants to finish the job, he realized.
WIFE DETECTED!
Lin Xue - Wife #1
Cultivation: Core Realm Stage 7
Affection: 5/100 (Wants you VERY dead)
Equipped: Frost Requiem Sword
Intent: 94% Murder, 6% Confirm
Recommended Action: HIDE
No kidding!
Footsteps crunched on wet leaves. Getting closer.
Li Wei could see her now through the gaps in the tree roots. Silver hair plastered to her face by rain. Ice-blue eyes scanning the forest with predatory focus. That legendary sword in her hand, frost forming along its edge.
She was beautiful.
She was terrifying.
She was fifteen meters away.
"The blood trail ends here," Lin Xue murmured. She turned slowly, gaze sweeping across the hollow trees.
Don't look here don't look here don't—
Her eyes locked onto his hiding spot.
Li Wei stopped breathing.
Lin Xue took a step forward.
Then another.
Raised her sword.
Li Wei closed his eyes, prepared to die for the third time today—
"Lady Lin!" A voice called out from deeper in the forest. "Sword Saint requests your presence! We found something!"
Lin Xue hesitated, glanced toward the voice, then back at the hollow tree.
For a moment, Li Wei thought she'd ignore the summons.
Then she lowered her sword.
"Coming," she called back.
She took one last look at the trees—at the blood-stained mud—and turned away.
Her footsteps faded into the rain.
Li Wei didn't move for a full minute. Then two.
Finally, he let out a shaky breath.
CLOSE CALL!
+10 System Points for successful stealth
Current Points: 25
That was Wife #1.
You have 99 more to go.
Sleep well! :)
Li Wei slumped against the tree, exhausted and terrified and somehow still alive.
One wife down.
Ninety-nine to go.
And dawn was still seven hours away.
"I'm so doomed," he whispered.
But somewhere in his chest—beneath the fear and pain and overwhelming absurdity—a tiny spark of determination flickered to life.
He'd survived falling three hundred meters.
He'd survived a murderous Ice Empress.
Maybe, just maybe, he could survive this whole mess.
Or at least make it to morning.
One step at a time, Li Wei thought.
First: don't die.
Second: find food.
Third: figure out how to stop a hundred wives from killing me.
Simple.
Right?