The snow began to fall again on Tianjue Mountain.

It wasn’t just a light flurry; the snow was swirling fiercely with the strong winds, howling outside the palace, and it showed no signs of stopping even as noon approached.

The disciples sweeping the snow at the entrance were bustling about, braving the wind and snow. The sky was a vast expanse of gray, and the palace remained dark, without a single candle lit, creating a heavy atmosphere.

Perhaps thinking that their master was not present, one disciple straightened up, rubbed his lower back, and complained, “It’s always like this every year! Out of the seven mountain palaces on Tianjue Mountain, our Yuluan Palace has it the hardest! There are thousands of disciples outside, but we only have a mere four here with our master!”

“Alright, enough of that,” a female disciple soothed him. “No matter how much we complain, we still have to sweep. Let’s not waste our energy.”

“Aren’t you angry?” The complaining disciple was not ready to back down. He turned to her and said, “Every time it snows, we have to clear the accumulated snow ourselves. The palace masters outside send dozens of disciples to finish it in no time. But here, it’s just the four of us, and we end up working like old farm oxen from dawn till dusk. We sweep, and then it snows again, and we sweep some more. Am I here to cultivate or to be a beast of burden?”

“What can we do? Our master practices talismans and only became an elder and palace master a few years ago, so he hasn’t gained much fame in the world… Besides, if you come to Tianjue Gate, it’s natural that more people want to wield swords. Our master’s cultivation level is also a bit lacking compared to those elders, so it’s understandable that there are fewer disciples.”

As the female disciple spoke, she paused her work and sighed.

She continued, “I do like our master, but I have to admit… he really doesn’t stand out in the sect.”

“Right? You admit it too!”

Finally, another disciple, who had been listening, couldn’t take it anymore. “Hey, don’t talk bad about our master in front of the door.”

“It’s fine, the palace isn’t lit, so he’s probably not here,” the male disciple replied. “He might have gone to find the sect leader for tea? Besides, it’s not really bad-mouthing; it’s just stating the truth. I’m not saying this because I dislike our master. Think about it, we often get bullied by our peers because our master has a low status among the elders. We need to vent a little in private, and our master won’t hear it anyway.”

Zhong Yinyue leaned against the door, taking a deep breath.

Your master heard everything, you little brats.

He rubbed his forehead and let out a bitter smile, lowering his hand— or perhaps, it’s more accurate to say, your master will never hear it again.

Zhong Yinyue was no longer Zhong Yinyue.

To be more precise, the shell was still there, but the core inside had changed just a quarter of an hour ago.

Now, the “Zhong Yinyue” inside was a “book traveler” who had come from the real world, and this was the world of a cultivation novel he had stayed up all night to angrily rate with 999 negative comments.

The novel was called “After Awakening My Unusual Spiritual Root, I Became the Immortal Emperor”— a title that really spoiled the plot in a thrilling way.

In the original text, the protagonist, Bai Rendong, came from a poor background. While fighting a dog for food on the roadside, he was spotted by a passing fairy, who took pity on him and brought him back to the mountain gate.

Upon arriving at the mountain gate, the protagonist discovered that the fairy was actually the Elder Lingze of the number one immortal sect in the world, Tianjue Gate!

Such an opportunity was rare in a hundred years.

However, when he tried to awaken his spiritual root, there was no reaction at all.

A rare opportunity was useless; a waste is still a waste, and he couldn’t enter the Lingze gate. So, he was sent to the bottom of the mountain gate— the mountain palace of Elder Yuluan.

Zhong Yinyue was this bottom-tier Elder Yuluan. Coincidentally, he shared the same name and surname as the elder.

In the original setting, he was just a background character, a tool person, who loved to flatter others. He was either buttering someone up or on the way to do so.

This made him quite annoying to read about, and eventually, he had little presence and a very low status.

Because of his lowly position, the protagonist, as his disciple, often received disdain in this mountain gate.

Zhong Yinyue had mixed feelings.

At this moment, he really couldn’t bring himself to like the protagonist.

After all, the reason he had stayed up late to give this book bad reviews before crossing over was because of another man in the story.

That was the protagonist’s senior brother, who was taken away by Elder Qian Yao and met in that mountain palace.

The senior brother was the chief disciple under Elder Qian Yao, named Shen Changxue.

According to the original text, Shen Changxue was eight feet tall, with gentle features and a pair of peach blossom eyes that were full of emotion, warm as water, always smiling, and his entire aura was like a handful of spring water from Jiangnan, so beautiful that he didn’t even seem human.

Zhong Yinyue was head over heels for him.

Then Shen Changxue died.

Just mentioning this made Zhong Yinyue furious— Shen Changxue, as the protagonist’s senior brother, had always taken care of him wholeheartedly.

From clothing, food, and housing to sword techniques and insights, Shen Changxue gave him everything he had, treating him almost like his own brother.

But the protagonist inexplicably always had a sour face towards him, and his attitude was not good.

However, he was polite to everyone except Shen Changxue. Zhong Yinyue had thought it was just the protagonist being tsundere, as the early plot suggested that he wasn’t a bad kid.

Maybe he was just shy?

But in the middle of the plot, the protagonist unexpectedly fell victim to a villain’s scheme and had a demonic seed planted in him. To save him, Shen Changxue bravely ventured into danger to gather spiritual herbs.

Those spiritual herbs were hidden in a perilous secret realm, where even great ascension stage immortals had to be extremely cautious. Yet, Shen Changxue, a nascent soul stage little immortal, went in without hesitation.

After facing numerous dangers, he obtained the spiritual herbs, but came out covered in wounds.

On the way back to the mountain, he was ambushed by the villain.

The spiritual herbs were snatched away, and Shen Changxue, with his last breath, returned to the mountain gate to inform Elder Qian Yao.

Elder Qian Yao’s expression changed.

Without the spiritual herbs, the protagonist would be doomed.

Then, the plot took a bizarre and sudden turn, sending Zhong Yinyue flying a full eighteen kilometers.

Elder Qian Yao, Shen Changxue’s own master, actually sacrificed Shen Changxue’s immortal bones to save the protagonist, using them as the focal point of a blood formation!

And when Shen Changxue struggled, others in the mountain gate held him down, accusing him, saying, “You’re the senior brother; isn’t it natural to sacrifice for your junior brother?”

“What’s there to be unhappy about? You had the spiritual herbs, and if you didn’t bring them back, who can you blame?”

“All the blame is on you!”

“It’s your fault the spiritual herbs are gone; you should clean up the mess!”

Even when the protagonist later woke up and heard that Shen Changxue had died, he just sneered, “That’s what he should do; it’s only natural.”

Zhong Yinyue was so furious that he bombarded the author all night.

Then, he woke up to find himself in a dark place, having crossed over into the story.

He had become the bottom-tier elder with the same name and surname, Zhong Yinyue, who even looked exactly like him.

— Regarding his face, Zhong Yinyue had just found a water mirror artifact in the room and had taken a quick look; it indeed looked just like his original face.

Suddenly, a thunderclap rang in his mind, and a thought struck him.

Zhong Yinyue jumped up.

Outside the door, the wind howled.

The dimly lit room without candles felt extremely dark, and Zhong Yinyue’s white robe looked like a cold moon in the darkness.

Wait a minute.

He suddenly realized.

He had crossed over.

So why was he just sitting here listening to the disciples outside secretly complain about him being the bottom-tier elder?

Now that he had crossed over, he should go find Shen Changxue first!

What kind of good person crosses over and doesn’t go find the one who was wronged by the author?

Shouldn’t he hurry to find him and warn him to run? What if he got skinned alive again?

Zhong Yinyue pumped himself up, and with a turn, he pushed open the palace door with a bang.

The wind outside was already strong, and with his push, the two palace doors were slammed against the wall by the cold wind, making a loud noise.

The few disciples complaining at the entrance were startled and turned around to see Zhong Yinyue standing behind the door, their frostbitten faces turning pale in an instant.

They all dropped to their knees in the snow, their voices trembling in the wind, “Master!”

Zhong Yinyue’s surging emotions were interrupted by them.

As the wind blew against him, he calmed down a bit.

Zhong Yinyue glanced around.

The protagonist had at least walked through a fair amount of plot with him, so the original text had detailed descriptions of the disciples in his palace.

Counting the protagonist, there were a total of four disciples under Zhong Yinyue.

Three were male and one was female, all dressed in white.

At this moment, all four were kneeling in the snow, shivering, and he couldn’t tell who the protagonist was.

Feeling a pang of sympathy, and with urgent matters at hand, he waved his hand and said, “Since it’s snowing heavily, don’t sweep for now. Come inside and warm up.”

The four disciples looked up in shock, including the protagonist.

After all, Elder Yuluan was notorious in this book for being a bully who took advantage of the weak and feared the strong, using a feather as a command.

Especially towards his disciples, he was known for being lenient with himself but strict with others.

Usually, in such situations, he would definitely throw a huge fit and punish them to either stand in the snow for a day and night or do some other hard labor, never letting them off so easily.

Zhong Yinyue knew that what he was doing was very unusual, but he couldn’t be bothered with that.

He hurriedly stepped down the stairs and walked outside.

The male disciple who had just complained the loudest saw him walking briskly and quickly said, “But Master, it’s the sect’s rule for everyone to clear the snow in front of the door…”

“Why sweep when it’s still snowing? It’s not like others don’t know we have fewer people! We’ll sweep after it stops!”

Zhong Yinyue didn’t have time to deal with him, speaking as he waved his sleeves and rushed outside.

Su Yuying— the female disciple asked again, “Master, where are you going?”

“To find someone!”

As soon as he said this, Zhong Yinyue suddenly remembered something.

He halted his hurried steps and turned back sharply.

He asked his few students, “Where is Shen Changxue right now?”

The disciples blinked at him, looking at each other in confusion.

They were all a bit puzzled as to why Zhong Yinyue, who seemed to have nothing to do, suddenly wanted to find Shen Changxue.

Though they didn’t understand, Wen Han timidly replied, “If it’s Senior Brother Shen from Qian Yao Palace… he should be at the Lakeside Pavilion practicing swordplay.”