Chapter 1: The Evil God’s Daughter, Lingling Lan

Lingling Lan had already lost count of how many times she had stood at that same familiar street corner, clutching a crumpled script in her hand.
She coughed a few times, drew in a deep breath, and then… just read it out loud!

“Linglan’s exclusive secret ancestral formula! Guaranteed to cure whatever strange illness you’ve got. As long as it’s a disease a human can catch, this medicine will definitely restore you to—ah, no, I mean, to full recovery!”

“Really?”

Several passersby, lured over by her shouting, scrutinized the strange figure before them: a silver-haired person wrapped in a cloak, masked, with only a pair of emerald-like green eyes visible.

“Uh… o-of course it’s real! This formula was passed down from my grandmother. If our family hadn’t fallen on hard times, I would never have been forced to sell it…”

Before she could finish, a white-haired girl with a side ponytail—dressed like a wandering swordswoman—pushed her way through the crowd. She slapped the table covered with bottles of medicine and glared indignantly.

“Fake! I bought this stuff before. It couldn’t even cure a little cold. Instead, it gave me a mouthful of ulcers… hiss—it hurts…”

The girl’s accusation wasn’t even done when another figure staggered out from the back.

A young man, clutching his stomach, his face gaunt, eyes sunken deep, his skin sagging like that of a seventy-year-old man. Propping himself against the table with thin arms, he gasped hoarsely:

“What sin have I committed… please, spare my miserable soul… I went to the toilet a dozen times today. I just wanted to fix my constipation, not drag my guts out… If only I’d just bought some laxatives from the pharmacy instead of being greedy for this cheap bargain…”

The moment he finished confessing his greed, the youth collapsed face-first onto the table.

The crowd erupted in horrified cries.

This… this was bad. The formula must have been botched. Who knew the side effects could be this severe?! No way to explain it now. If she stuck around, she’d be mobbed, pelted with trash and rocks, then hauled to court to rot in jail. Time to bolt! Escaping was her specialty!

“Hey, fake-medicine seller, where do you think you’re going?”

The furious side-ponytail girl grabbed Lingling Lan’s cloak.

“I-I’m just going home to fetch the antidote for you all… gotta run!”

With that, Lingling Lan wriggled out of her cloak, leaving it behind like a cicada’s shell, and bolted down her pre-planned escape route.

Her survival strategy was simple—hide well enough, and no one could catch her to beat her senseless! Once the storm passed, she’d sneak back, gather her things, buy two buckets of instant noodles, go home for a nap, then queue up with the captain for a night of ranked games.

Life was meant to be simple, thrilling, and fulfilling.

Peeking her small head out from her “emergency shelter”—a perfectly ordinary roadside trash bin—Lingling Lan scanned the area warily. No movement, not even the buzz of a fly.

Good. With the coast clear, she’d grab the remaining bottles, then head to the convenience store for snacks!

Where had she gone wrong with the formula? Could it be… because in her past life, when she was a ranger healer, she’d slacked off in class and misremembered?

“Still, made a decent profit today!” Lingling Lan muttered as she pulled out her wallet.

“Yeah. I got lucky too.”

A woman’s voice suddenly whispered at her ear.

“That’s worth celebrating! …Huh?”

What?! Since when—behind her?!

It was that side-ponytail girl! The expression on her face was terrifying, like she was ready to swallow Lingling Lan whole. And why was she leaning so close—way past safe social distance!

“So you’re just a little girl. I thought you were some sleazy old man or a wrinkled crone,” the girl said, pressing Lingling Lan against the wall. “Hiding in filthy trash bins—what if you get sick? Would your so-called ancestral formula fix that?”

To be cornered like this by another girl her own height—how humiliating! Just imagining the situation was enough to make Lingling Lan’s face burn red with shame.

“A-ah… d-don’t talk nonsense! I am the greatest divine alchemist of Penglai Mountains and Seas! If not for vile conspirators, I wouldn’t have fallen to such straits. But I will rise again! Give me twenty gold coins, and once I reclaim my inheritance and sit as Lord of Penglai Immortals, I’ll even make you my—”

“Stop right there.”

The ponytailed girl blew a bubble with her gum and popped it with a snap.

“If I told you I was the reincarnation of the Golden Rooster King, would you believe it? Twenty coins? Please. If I report you to the Ranger Association, the bounty’s two thousand.”

“That’s not fair! You’re bullying me!” Lingling Lan’s voice cracked into a sob.

“Say something nice, and maybe I’ll reconsider.”

“Hmph! Even if I leap into a sea of blades and flames, even if bugs strip me to the bone, I’d never yield to someone like you!”

Summoning courage from who-knows-where, Lingling Lan suddenly laughed.

“Do you have proof I sold fake medicine? No, right? I’m running a legitimate business! Report me and I’ll sue you for slander. You’ll lose everything!”

She stuck her tongue out at the ponytailed girl in a mocking face.

Half a day later.

“Defendant Lingling Lan, the Emerald Witch, descendant of an evil Outer God—harboring malicious intent against our city, plotting destruction, and attempting to brainwash citizens through insidious schemes. Such vile designs defy the very laws of heaven! How do you plead to these charges?”

In the Grand Court of Peace City Ita, the judge’s gavel struck as countless fabricated accusations rained down upon Lingling Lan’s unlucky head.

If it had just been about selling fake medicine, she knew from experience with the Ranger Association’s geezers she’d be out in two or three days, tops.
But once the charges involved being tied to an Outer God… ten years minimum, easy.

She had always been so careful about hiding her true identity. Why did it all come crashing down at the critical moment? Could it have been that ponytailed girl…?

Impossible. Absolutely impossible. Only her captain knew the truth. Unless—no way! Could Mother, that hateful big sister, and those old Rangers have conspired to throw her in jail?!

In a daze, Lingling Lan thought she saw the twin-ponytailed girl at the plaintiff’s bench smirking.

As if saying: See what happens when you refuse me? This is your punishment, hahaha…

You… just wait! Once I get out, you’re the first one I’ll take down!

“You remain silent. That counts as admission of guilt. I hereby—”

Wha—?! So fast?! Not even giving her a chance to explain?!

“W-w-wait, I have something to say! This is all slander! I am a law-abiding citizen—I accuse the court of a flawed investigation!”

But her desperate defense was weak and powerless.

The jury booed.

The ponytailed girl’s face wore that infuriating look of ‘beg me now and you’ll still have a chance.’

Lingling Lan’s cheeks puffed up in anger—hardly the expression of someone about to be jailed.

“The evidence is conclusive. You have nothing left to say. I hereby—”

“Wait, Your Honor. I move to—”

The ponytailed girl, named Xinghui, suddenly interrupted everyone’s thoughts.

“Withdraw the charges.”

???

The entire court froze—judge, jury, Lingling Lan, all dumbfounded.

“Miss Xinghui, are you insane?! What is the meaning of this? Do you take this court for a joke?”

The judge’s face turned green with rage.

“My mistake. Sorry for wasting everyone’s time.”

Xinghui leapt from her seat, tossed a smoke bomb, and in the confusion yanked the panicked Lingling Lan into a waiting sack.

“Help! Kidnapping! She’s abducting me in broad daylight!”

And thus, the daughter of an Outer God was dragged off before she could even scream…

Lingling Lan (Daughter of the Evil God)

Xing Hui (the reincarnated former swordsman)