Hammer in her left hand, sword in her right, the eldest sister is connected to both worlds.

Dao Xuanzi returned three days later. He didn't say anything upon his return. This means the sect leader inauguration ceremony will proceed as scheduled.

Xue Lan breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that Dao Xuanzi hadn't come to Jiyuan Peak and stabbed her with his sword to vent his anger. However, that evening, when she took Lian Chuan to see He Wu behind Xuanling Peak, she saw a new sign erected outside the sect leader's cave. The handwriting on it had its own unique charm, with strokes like knives and swords, concealing an unstoppable sharpness.

【Xue Lan and dogs are not allowed to enter?】The system loudly read the words above in Xue Lan's mind.

[Right now, Qingyu Peak is openly preventing you from going, Yunhui Peak is subtly preventing you from going, and Xuanling Peak is even going so far as to use a dog to prevent you from going. The only one missing is Suandao Peak.]

You'll soon be shunned by the entire sect.

Xue Lan didn't care about this and led Lian Chuan around the restrictions on the back of Xuanling Peak to Zhihe Cliff to watch the crane dance.

I've been to Zhihe Cliff and Lianchuan several times before. But I missed the Crane Dance Banquet on the fifteenth night of the lunar month each time.

The Xuanhuang Sect has five peaks. Xuanling Peak is mostly populated by sword cultivators, while Qingyu Peak disciples excel at alchemy. The disciples of Suandao Peak spend their days speculating about the will of heaven, and Yunhui Sect is entirely composed of women skilled in music. Jiyuan Peak is more diverse…

Xue Lan had wasted some time looking at the sign at the foot of the mountain, and by the time she arrived at Zhihe Cliff, there were no good spots left. The stone benches nearby had already been taken by fellow disciples who had arrived earlier. Xue Lan had no choice but to stand. Lian Chuan noticed that a small platform had been added to Zhihe Cliff. According to their senior sister, this was specially commissioned by the sect's master to be built by a master craftsman from the Mingyangchuan War Puppet Mansion. It was usually embedded in the ground, but would rise up during the Crane Dance Banquet by activating an array. There were no white cranes on the platform, only several young and beautiful female cultivators sitting around it, each holding a musical instrument.

The female cultivator in the center had her face veiled, revealing only her beautiful eyes. Noticing Lian Chuan's gaze, she looked over. Her eyes were like pools of spring water, or like a thousand bushels of bright pearls produced by the Sky Fish Clan of the South Sea. She wore an indigo robe, the hem of which flowed like ocean waves, adding to her composed and serene demeanor.

The female cultivator walked up to the two with a smile. Xue Lan patted Lian Chuan on the head from behind: "Call her Senior Sister Xu."

Lian Chuan was swayed by Xue Lan's pat and quickly bowed to the female cultivator, saying, "Greetings, Senior Sister Xu."

Xu Qinghe looked at the little figure bowing to her. He looked to be only six or seven years old, but he was as serious and proper as a little adult. In Jiyuan Peak... that's really rare.

"This is honey from Junior Sister Yin of Qingyu Peak, and I'm giving it to you today." Xu Qinghe took out a small box from her storage pouch and opened it in front of Lian Chuan. Lian Chuan happily peeked inside, but dared not show too much joy. His shy and hesitant expression brought a knowing smile to Xu Qinghe's face.

"For you."

"Thank you, Senior Sister." Lian Chuan bowed respectfully again. He carefully took a candy from the box and turned to hand it to Xue Lan: "Senior Sister, have some candy."

Xue Lan paused for a moment, then smiled and ate the candy, dismissing Lian Chuan with a few words.

"It's hard to imagine what this child will become after two years under your care," Xu Qinghe sighed, watching the departing figure. Then she turned to Xue Lan and said, "When your brother returns from his training tomorrow and finds out that your martial uncle abandoned his position as sect leader, he'll definitely give you a beating."

The elder brother Xu Qinghe mentioned is Xu Qizhou, the senior disciple of Xuanling Peak and the current head disciple of the sect. He is a true violent swordsman.

"Well, there's nothing I can do. Even if he pins me to the sect's great formation, my master might not come to save me, right? Now that he's gone, he's left me with a few unfortunate kids. I have no one to complain to." Xue Lan bit the candy into pieces, feeling like a motherless little cabbage with a few little hearts underneath.

"I'll try to persuade my brother not to beat you too badly." Xu Qinghe sighed and returned to the center, summoning a purple jade flute in her hand and raising it to her lips.

A clear, ethereal flute melody rose, like the melodious cry of a crane. Lian Chuan looked up and saw a white crane calling, arriving under the moonlight. The cry and the flute music blended together. The white crane gracefully arrived, its wings like light clouds in the sky.

As it landed, ripples spread across the platform beneath its claws, turning the stone surface into water in an instant, reflecting the pure white and elegant crane.

The crane cries out in the marshland, its voice echoing across the wilderness. The crane dances gracefully, rising on the moonlight.

Years later, when Lian Chuan looked back, he realized that it was one of the best times in his life.

The moonlit night was still, along a bamboo path. Xue Lan held Lian Chuan's hand as they walked in the moonlight. The bamboo shadows swayed.

"Senior sister, do all the senior cranes know how to dance?"

"Senior Sister, Senior Sister Xu from Yunhui Peak is so beautiful!"

Xue Lan thought it best for the child to be quiet. So, Lian Chuan, who had been happily returning to Jiyuan Peak, hadn't even had a chance to speak with his second senior brother and the others when he happily recited twenty pages of the "Hundred Refinements Manual."

Lian Chuan: The best senior sister has suddenly rotted!

The next day, Xue Lan hadn't eaten breakfast yet when she stepped out of her room and saw a sharp sword light collide with the dilapidated array of Jiyuan Peak.

Then she heard a "crack" sound, and the great formation shattered piece by piece in front of her.

"Damn sword cultivator, didn't even bother to say hello," Xue Lan cursed under her breath, her head bowed. Not far away, where the sword light had landed, stood a tall, elegant man, a celestial sword hanging from his back, exuding a murderous aura.

It was none other than Xu Qizhou, the senior disciple of Xuanling Peak.

It's not entirely their fault for storming the mountain so early in the morning. Xu Qizhou and Xue Lan joined the sect around the same time, and since the age of eleven, they had been diligently cultivating and managing the disciples as the sect leader's disciple, setting an example for the five peaks. On the surface, he was the senior disciple of the Xuanhuang Sect, but in reality, he was just an immature steward. As a result, his resentment had deepened over the years, and he would often grab a sword and attack people.

"Senior Brother Xu..."

"Zheng!"

Before she could finish speaking, Xue Lan heard the sound of a sword being drawn, and a sharp sword light appeared before her. Xue Lan quickly dodged, a strand of hair at her temple being severed. The sword light struck the protective barrier of the bamboo house behind Xue Lan and dissipated.

"Bring your master back!" Xu Qizhou's voice was cold.

"You expect me to find someone even the Master Master couldn't find? Look in my storage bag!" Xue Lan said while dodging the sword flashes.

"I'm telling you, don't be so unreasonable. Do you know how hard it is for me to raise my junior brothers and sisters all by myself? You keep trying to damage the great formation."

Later on, both of them were a bit tired. Xue Lan was tired of dodging, after all, Xu Qizhou was already in the mid-stage of the Golden Core realm, while she was only at the Pseudo-Core realm.

Xu Qizhou was also somewhat exhausted. Xue Lan's cultivation was not as high as his, but she had cultivated a divine power called "Stepping on the Void," which made her as slippery as an eel, making her impossible to cut.

"Take it or leave it, I've already informed Master. From today onwards, you will be in charge of all matters, big and small, of the Xuanhuang Sect. The leadership transition ceremony in three days and the disciple recruitment in two years will all be your responsibility." Xu Qizhou sheathed his sword and looked at Xue Lan.

"If you're not a slut, why did you harm me?" Xue Lan couldn't sit still any longer and was about to confront Xu Qizhou. But the man had already flown away on his sword.

[Actually, this isn't bad; it makes it easier for the host to save the Xuanhuang Sect. Host, I've finally figured out the storyline.]

[I can't contact the main system, and organizing the plot myself is exhausting.]

The system's voice echoed in her mind, and at the same time, a book appeared. Xue Lan knew that her fate of being forced to work was probably unchangeable, so she briefly flipped through the book in her mind.

"Xu Qizhou, Lian Chuan, Zhu He. Cannon fodder in the dark cultivation genre."

"Ji Jinjin, a background character in the dark cultivation genre?"

……

After looking at the figures, Xue Lan's expression became somewhat unnatural.

"Dark cultivation style?"

[Oh, it's a book where the protagonist comes from a humble background, lacks natural talent, and gradually becomes an eternal emperor through his own hard work and ruthless actions. It's very popular right now.]

Xue Lan initially thought it was some kind of villain plotting against him, but now she realizes that the protagonist actually believed the whole world owed him something.

The book the system gave him mainly tells the story of how the protagonist, Lu Feng, was slaughtered by demons when he was a child. By the time the surrounding immortal cultivators arrived, the entire village had been eaten and only a few people were left.

The book's synopsis contains this passage:

Little Lu Feng watched as the seemingly invincible demon before him was reduced to ashes with a flick of the immortal's finger. Lu Feng was covered in blood and grime, while the immortal remained spotless.

Why didn't you come sooner? Why? He screamed inwardly.

From that moment on, he made up his mind to become an immortal, to kill the demons, and to stand at the pinnacle of all ages.

Heaven and earth are ruthless, treating mortals like straw dogs.

Then he would defy the heavens and slaughter immortals and demons.

"This...ah...who is reading this book?" Xue Lan asked.

"Yeah, shouldn't we have saved them all and let the demons eat them all?" The system cried and sniffled.

This book has influenced people's values; things have to change.

This dark cultivation genre is all about darkness.

[At first, it was about killing hypocritical immortals, but later it became that all immortals were hypocritical.]

There's also this.

The book in front of Xue Lan automatically turned to a page. It read:

[I have slain hundreds of thousands of immortals, my slaying never ceasing, neither in the heavens nor the underworld.]

[The author's main plot deviates from the intended storyline, causing character development to collapse. His actions in the smaller worlds are a catastrophe! Because of this book, all the stories with overlapping timelines have fallen apart!]

Xue Lan asked curiously, "How did it collapse? Is there any connection?"

[Exactly, all of this author's stories use the same worldview, you understand? Almost everyone with a name is a protagonist. He writes one book and then abandons it, another and another. This little world is now a sieve full of loopholes.]

[The Xuanhuang Sect, where the host resides, was the second sect Lu Feng joined after arriving in the cultivation world, and in the end, the entire sect was slaughtered.]

Xue Lan's eyes flickered slightly, and she softly asked, "Could I go and wipe out his entire village right now?"

No, he's connected to other timelines, and his untimely death could cause trouble!

The system was truly terrified by Xue Lan. Give her a ball of thread to work with, and she'll just pull out a pair of scissors and snip it.

Xue Lan nodded slightly: "Understood, I made sure he died at the right time."