Chapter 1: Cannot Be Raided

When Yu Xiu found out that Bu Xiwei was uncapturable, she was very surprised.

Five Elements Immortal Domain was a phenomenal Xianxia-themed RPG released earlier this year.
Players could choose their gender and pursue several in-game characters, with full integration of multiple sexual orientations.
Its exquisite art style brimmed with ancient charm, the plot was compelling, the world-building vast and intricate, and the degree of freedom unusually high—making it an explosive hit upon release.

Yu Xiu didn’t usually play games.
But she often came across images, videos, and live streams related to Five Elements Immortal Domain on various websites.
Though she had never played it herself, she had a general understanding of how it worked.

The portraits of popular in-game characters were widely circulated online.
Yu Xiu could admire them all as very beautiful…
But Bu Xiwei was the only one who left her completely stunned at first glance.

A slender woman in an ultramarine dress.
A sword in her left hand, a flower in her right.
Her valiant posture carried a languid nonchalance.
Her chin was slightly lifted, her gaze full of disdain.
Her beauty was rich, strikingly glamorous, with features so flawless they seemed carved by the gods themselves…

…yet her expression was cold and arrogant to the extreme, as if nothing and no one in the world was worthy of her notice.

That contradiction—glamorous yet grim—made her shockingly eye-catching.
So enchanting, so unforgettable.

Yu Xiu had been stunned by a mere portrait.
Without thinking, she opened her browser and searched the name: Bu Xiwei.

It was the first time she had actively looked up anything about Five Elements Immortal Domain.

She quickly realized she wasn’t alone.

Bu Xiwei—the Supreme Demon Lord and canonically the number-one figure of the demonic path—was universally regarded as the most beautiful character in the game.
Search results for her name were split down the middle:
Half were enthusiastic gushing about her appearance.
The other half? Desperate laments over her being uncapturable.

[I’m going to die if I can’t romance the Demon Lord, ahhhhh!!]
[Petition in blood! Begging the devs to release a favorability system for Bu Xiwei!!!]
[Please, please! Let me raise the Demon Lord’s favorability! I’ll pay anything—just name the price!]

Yu Xiu blinked at the outcries.

She hadn’t expected that someone like Bu Xiwei—so breathtaking, powerful, and overwhelmingly popular—wouldn’t be on the list of capturable characters.

Yu Xiu had been slightly tempted to download the game and try it herself.
But now she dismissed the idea.

If in the future…

Like a river flowing into the sea, crimson-gold spiritual power surged through Yu Xiu’s body, finally piercing the last aperture and forming a complete cycle through her meridians.

She had reached the Half-step Golden Core stage.

Slowly opening her eyes, she sat on a jade bed glowing faintly with spiritual light, gazing at the empty, spacious cave around her, momentarily dazed.

The results of this closed-door cultivation far exceeded her expectations.

During deep cultivation, a cultivator’s consciousness often drifted, reliving illusions of past memories.
But this time… Yu Xiu touched upon something even deeper—a glimpse of her past life.

Fourteen years ago, she had transmigrated into this world.
At the time, she had been on a business trip when a car accident struck.
In the blink of an eye, she had awakened in the body of a six-year-old girl.

A kind-faced administrative elder had stood before her and said:

“You have a dual spiritual root of Gold and Fire. You may enter any peak of our Five Elements Sect as an inner disciple. Where do you wish to go?”

From her surroundings—and the strange crimson-gold glowing stone sphere in her hand—Yu Xiu immediately realized something.

She had transmigrated into the world of Five Elements Immortal Domain.

Just like in the game’s setting, six-year-olds were brought to the Five Elements Sect—the top of the three great immortal sects in the world—for spiritual root testing.

Depending on their aptitude, ranging from Three-Spiritual Roots to Heavenly Spiritual Roots, they could then join one of five peaks and begin their cultivation journeys.

Yu Xiu didn’t know all five peaks by name, but she did remember the three most talked about:

• Cangling Peak: Mostly male disciples, including a cold and handsome senior brother. The game’s classic childhood-sweetheart romance route.

• Xuanji Peak: Mostly female disciples, including a seductive master. The popular master-disciple romance route.

• Tianshuang Peak: The freest choice, with plenty of capturable male and female characters, and the easiest path to switch peaks or leave the sect entirely.

But Yu Xiu chose none of them.

She chose the most desolate and remote one: Chiyang Peak.

The reason? Survival.

Five Elements Immortal Domain was a story-and-romance driven game.
Players could breeze through cultivation by clicking around, killing monsters on a screen, completing a few quests, and calling it a day.
There were no real bottlenecks.

But Yu Xiu wasn’t playing a game.

She was living in a real, high-martial world, full of hidden dangers and ruthless factions.
Without strength of her own, she would always be vulnerable.

The major peaks—Cangling, Xuanji, Tianshuang—were filled with talented prodigies.
Heavenly and mutated spiritual roots weren’t uncommon.
With just dual roots, Yu Xiu would be lower-mid tier and unlikely to receive any special resources.

But Chiyang Peak?

It was dead last among the five peaks.
Few wanted to go there.
And so, anyone who did… got everything.

Even if Chiyang’s total resources were lower, Yu Xiu would get the best of what was available—almost by default.

She followed a spirit beast guide to Chiyang Peak—and immediately understood why players often posted memes and videos complaining about how empty it was.

All five peaks were similar in size, each with around 70 to 100 subsidiary peaks in addition to the main one.
Chiyang Peak had 81 subsidiary peaks.
But on all of them combined—apart from Master Chiyang and fewer than ten scattered disciples—there was no one else.

Because the cultivation method practiced here was the Path of Emotionlessness.
Everything was kept minimal.
Even disciples who needed immortal servants would have one or two at most.

On average, there was only one permanent resident for every three or four peaks.

To become a disciple of Chiyang Peak, one had to cultivate the Path of Emotionlessness.

“Little girl, you’d better think this through,” said Master Chiyang, stroking his white beard with an uncharacteristically serious tone.
“Once you step onto this path, you can forget about ever having a Dao Companion, ha!”

Yu Xiu had no objections.

Love and romance had never interested her.
In her past life—more than twenty years—she had never dated anyone.
With her looks, ability, and charm, she’d had no shortage of suitors, but had always turned them down, politely or otherwise.

This life would be no different.

What truly excited Yu Xiu was cultivation—getting to personally experience the immortal arts she had only admired through screens and books before.

And just as she had predicted, once she joined Chiyang Peak, nearly all top-tier resources were directed to her.
In return, she cultivated diligently, never slacking off.

In just six years, she broke through to Foundation Establishment—a twelve-year-old Foundation Establishment cultivator.

In the entire history of the Five Elements Sect, such talent was exceedingly rare.

Yu Xiu now stood head and shoulders above all her peers.

Back then, many disciples from other peaks already called her Head Senior Sister.
Now, another eight years had passed. Yu Xiu had reached the peak of Foundation Establishment and was just one step away from the Golden Core stage.
Her title as the Head Senior Sister of the Five Elements Sect was well-deserved—and widely acknowledged.

After circulating her spiritual power through another full cycle, Yu Xiu carefully examined her meridians.
Finding no hidden injuries or lingering flaws, she finally rose from the jade bed.

Her closed-door cultivation had ended. It was time to leave.

With a flick of her sleeve, Yu Xiu’s fair, slender fingers drew a casual arc in the air.
The heavy stone door of the cave opened as lightly as a falling leaf.

This cultivation session had lasted a full two years.
As Yu Xiu looked at the familiar flowers and trees blooming outside the cave, a trace of nostalgia flickered in her eyes. A faint smile touched her lips.

“Sister Xiu!” a cheerful, excited voice called out.

A girl of thirteen or fourteen, dressed in a pale yellow robe with her hair tied into twin buns, came hurrying over.

Yu Xiu gently called her name: “Xing Zan.”

This was the girl she had bought from the foot of the mountain seven years ago.
Since then, Xing Zan had taken care of Yu Xiu’s daily needs and had managed her residence while Yu Xiu was in seclusion.

Stopping in front of her, Xing Zan’s eyes sparkled as she carefully looked Yu Xiu over.
“Sister Xiu, how was your closed-door cultivation this time?”

“Very good,” Yu Xiu said with a smile, reaching out to pat her head. “You’ve grown quite a bit.”

“That’s wonderful!” Xing Zan beamed, leaning into Yu Xiu’s hand.
“I knew it! Sister Xiu is so amazing—there’s no way you wouldn’t succeed!”

Though Xing Zan was eager to chat with Yu Xiu after such a long separation, she didn’t forget her responsibilities as an immortal servant.

She quickly reported, “Sister Xiu, the Master has summoned you to the main peak. He said there’s a den of Qi Refinement demonic cultivators that he wants you to lead a team to eliminate!”

Yu Xiu raised an eyebrow in slight confusion. “Qi Refinement demonic cultivators?”

The “Master” Xing Zan referred to was, of course, Master Chiyang—Yu Xiu’s current master.
As for “demonic cultivator,” that was the common term among the public. Within the righteous path, they were more formally called evil cultivators.

Though her master often forgot her name…

Yu Xiu had already been a Foundation Establishment cultivator for eight years, and she’d been at the late stage even before entering seclusion.

A mere den of Qi Refinement evil cultivators wasn’t something that should require her attention.
The sect certainly didn’t lack lower-level disciples.

Normally, the Five Elements Sect would dispatch Qi Refinement disciples to deal with threats of the same level.
Elite disciples like Yu Xiu were usually assigned far more difficult tasks—so as not to waste talent and resources.

Unless… there were special circumstances.

Xing Zan’s next words confirmed her suspicion.

“That den is really strange,” she said, her expression serious.
“Several groups of Qi Refinement disciples sent there before suffered heavy casualties.”
“One disciple who barely escaped said it looked like a high-level demonic cultivator was involved!”

Yu Xiu’s expression darkened slightly.

This was exactly the kind of thing she had anticipated when she first transmigrated.
Cultivation in this world was no easy task.
Advancing through the stages demanded not just effort and time, but vast resources—and sheer luck.

The Qi Refinement stage was manageable, but beyond that, many cultivators would hit a wall.
Out of a hundred Qi Refinement cultivators, perhaps only seven or eight would ever reach Foundation Establishment.

In the cultivation world, Foundation Establishment was already considered significant.
Even in a place as powerful as the Five Elements Sect, Foundation Establishment disciples were the core of the inner sect.

Calling a cultivator at or above Foundation Establishment “high-level” was no exaggeration.

And the destructive power of such a demonic cultivator far surpassed anything Qi Refinement disciples could handle.

The longer it went unchecked, the more people would die.

“I understand,” Yu Xiu said calmly.

Without hesitation, she began preparing to depart.

“I’ll probably be gone for some time.”

Xing Zan, a mortal, naturally couldn’t accompany her on this kind of mission.

“Ah? You’re leaving so soon?” Xing Zan’s face filled with reluctance.

“I haven’t even reported to you, Sister Xiu, about all the things that happened during the two years you were gone…”

She had missed Yu Xiu dearly.
Ever since being rescued and brought here, this was the longest they had ever been apart.

She also wanted to show off—to tell Yu Xiu how responsible she’d been, how she’d managed everything well, and how much she’d grown.

Yu Xiu understood her thoughts in an instant.

Smiling, she bent down slightly so that her eyes were level with Xing Zan’s.

Her voice was soft, her expression as gentle as the spring breeze.
“Xing Zan always does her tasks well. Even if I don’t ask, I’m not worried.”

Xing Zan: “…!!”

Even after so many years by her side, Xing Zan was still caught off guard when Yu Xiu suddenly leaned in close.

The body Yu Xiu had transmigrated into was, like many player avatars in Five Elements Immortal Domain, based on a blank-slate model that mirrored her younger self.

Having grown up, her appearance had matured into one nearly identical to her previous life.

Her delicate, porcelain features were exceptionally refined.
Her eyes were large and bright, with slightly drooping corners that made her look unusually gentle.
At first glance, she was beautiful. But the more one looked, the more impossible it became to look away.

And now, after years of cultivation, her already elegant temperament had gained a serene sharpness—making her aura even more arresting.

Xing Zan’s face flushed red. Her mind blanked.
She forgot what she’d just said—forgot what she had meant to say. Completely.

Yu Xiu chuckled softly and reached out to ruffle the little girl’s hair.
“Wait for me to come back.”

With that, she turned and walked past her.

Raising her hand, she summoned her natal spiritual sword.

In the blink of an eye, she rose into the sky, flying swiftly toward Chiyang Peak’s main summit.