Liao Ting Yan, a new disciple who had just been admitted and held the lowest rank in the sect, had, against all odds, successfully tamed the fearsome, demonic ancestral teacher in Geng Chen Immortal Sect, resulting in great discussion erupting amongst the other members of the sect.
Junior Liao, please could you let us know, how you managed to accomplish what you’ve done?
Liao Ting Yan: ……By relying on my instinct as a Salted Fish?
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As this novel was highly rated on JJWXC (an online publisher), I decided to give this novel a shot. Now, this novel details the journey of our female lead, Liao Ting Yan, a typical, office lady living in the modern world who had transmigrated into the ancient world of cultivation (where normal beings are able to practice the art of cultivation and gradually ascend to immortal status or opt to become a demon), and is granted the opportunity to meet our male lead, Si Ma Jiao, the sole descendant of the founding fathers of the great Geng Chen Immortal Sect (the largest, and most powerful Immortal Sect) who, by virtue of his bloodline, possess extremely powerful abilities.
Due to his past experiences, however, our male lead possesses an extremely bitter heart, a somewhat twisted worldview, and a tendency / penchant to kill. His ability to force people to speak their true minds has also contributed to his jaded and cynical mindset, as he has verified, time and again, the deceit of various people throughout the years (when they are superficially nice to him in order to obtain an advantage from him). Having been trapped by the Geng Chen Immortal Sect in a secluded, isolated location for the past 500 years and our female lead first meet as the isolated ancestral teacher and a lowly disciple who had been ‘offered’ up by the Geng Chen Immortal Sect (amongst many others) to serve the ancestral teacher. Although our male lead initially views our female lead with the general distrust with which he views the general populace, our female lead’s “salted fish” [1] personality gradually wins her his trust, and she emerges as the sole surviving servant capable of accompanying him as he breaks free of his chains and embarks on his journey of revenge against the Geng Chen Immortal Sect.
[1] Salted Fish – a colloquial term used by netizens to describe a person with no ambition, no goal in life, and simply targets to get by day by day. In this instance, due to our female lead’s obvious (and true) lack of ambition, she has no requests to make of the male lead (and is not seeking anything from him in particular), which gradually causes him to be able to open his heart to her.
Having said, although this novel is set in the ancient times (with Xian Xia elements), this novel conveys, at its root, simply a sweet, typical romance between a relatively neutral female lead (with a heart full of support and love for our male lead) and a vicious / “evil” male lead, with minimal or little angst. Romances like these have been the trend recently (similar novels include Every Vicious Woman Needs a Loyal Man 恶毒女配身后的极品男人 by 若明翼 Ruo Ming Yi ), and unfortunately, really doesn’t strike my fancy. As such, the hype of this novel is, unfortunately, lost on me.