Weakness invited mistreatment.
That was Talia Sage's first thought after her crossing into another world.
Talia, a workaholic in her previous life, had just been promoted and given a pay raise after years of relentless hustle. However, the unexpected struck even sooner: she found herself transmigrated as a cannon fodder character in a cultivation novel that shared her name and surname.
The original character was killed by her nominal master, Luminous Celestial Archon, because she refused to hand over her jade pendant which contained an ancient sword art, "Verdant Firmament Swordsmanship."
At present, Talia had just crossed over and was kneeling outside the main hall of the Falling Maple Sect, clenching a jade pendant in her hand. Death was only a sentence away.
Under the immense pressure from the powerful Luminous Celestial Archon, Talia spat out a mouthful of fresh blood and was forced to bend her back.
As the fresh blood splattered on the jade pendant, Talia's clasped fingertips began to tingle, and a flood of knowledge instantly rushed into her mind.
— That was "Verdant Firmament Swordsmanship" from her jade pendant!
Why was this knowledge storming into her mind?
The pressure from Luminous Celestial Archon intensified, interrupting Talia's train of thought. She did not have the time to ponder about the knowledge that suddenly appeared in her mind. Faced with such a fearsome situation, Talia decisively relented. "Disciple is willing to offer the jade pendant."
The pressure of the Spiritual Transformation realm on her suddenly lightened quite a bit. Talia, wiping the blood from the corner of her mouth, submitted the jade pendant with both hands. "Please accept it, Master."
"Hmm, you are a good girl." The Luminous Celestial Archon put on a pretentious air of restraint, nodding his head as if it would be a great disservice to Talia if he didn't accept the jade pendant.
As he raised his hand, the blood-stained jade pendant flew from Talia's hand into his palm.
The people standing around the main hall, who were just insisting Talia to surrender the jade pendant, now switched their tone, praising Talia for her sensibility and gratitude.
Talia looked around, a faint smirk curling her lips.
Two-faced folks!
In this case, Talia spoke loudly and righteously to ensure everyone present could clearly hear her words: “My Master's benevolence weighs heavier than mountains — repaying this debt is my duty. As for this jade pendant's value, rest assured Master won't let me suffer loss. Generous compensation is certain, dear seniors, so spare your pity.”
The people who had been praising her for being sensible momentarily stunned, their gazes snapping to the Luminous Celestial Archon, who was standing at the summit.
Luminous Celestial Archon’s expression stiffened slightly. For a Spiritual Transformation cultivator, to bestow attention upon a mere Qi Condensation Stage 2 kid was already a great honor. And Talia dared demand compensation from him?
However, in front of so many personal disciples, he couldn’t appear too petty. Luminous Celestial Archon remarked with measured dignity, “You are correct. I naturally will not take your things for nothing. Here you go.”
He waved his hand, and a bag of spirit stones landed in front of Talia.
As Luminous Celestial Archon left, the atmosphere in the hall relaxed.
A disciple in blue walked over and said with a smiling face, "Once junior sister Seraphina makes progress with her cultivation, as her real younger sister, you will have someone to rely on."
Talia quickly searched through the host’s memories and guessed the man's identity— Raymond Craig.
The original female lead's name was Seraphina Sage, Talia's real elder sister. Although Raymond grew up together with her, he was the number one flatterer of Seraphina.
Seraphina innate cold constitution demanded cultivation of Yang-aligned heart methods. The ancient sword art inside the original host's jade pendant belonged to Yang, and in order to please Seraphina, Raymond intentionally leaked this information to Luminous Celestial Archon, leading to today's scene.
Talia said indifferently, “Seraphina is my real elder sister. Now, she has got my swordsmanship, it's only natural that she would take care of me. Why are you so happy? Do you really think she'll take a liking to you? Or you want to live off her?"
The smile on Raymond's face froze, and the brothers around who hadn't left yet laughed out loud when they heard this.
Talia didn’t care about the sycophant, picked up the bag of spirit stones, and discovered that there were a hundred high-grade spirit stones inside. She suddenly felt that her injuries weren't as painful.
As long as one does not cultivate in this world, a single high-grade spirit stone can provide for a normal family of three for a lifetime.
In her previous life, Talia had toiled laboriously, only to meet an abrupt end. This time, as the destined cannon fodder side character, she decided to lay back and take things easy.
The Falling Maple Sect was the leading sect among the seven major sects, requiring annual performance evaluations. If members didn't contribute enough, they would be kicked out.
This wasn’t a good place for loafing around, so Talia would rather hang out in an ordinary village as a casual and carefree person. Besides, she had a hundred high-grade spirit stones, which would give her a life like an emperor’s in the mortal world.
Upon leaving the main hall, Talia couldn't wait to go to the Fate Weave Hall to sever ties with the Falling Maple Sect.
The elder from Fate Weave Hall looked at her in disbelief, doubting what he had heard, “You want to sever your relationship with the Falling Maple Sect?”
Talia nodded, “Let’s get it over with quickly.”
The Falling Maple Sect sprawled across a vast mountain range, with long distances between the peaks. It would take a long time to reach by foot. Only upon reaching the Foundation Establishment Realm, could cultivators fly on their own swords or use flying artifacts. Those still in the Qi Condensation Realm, their spiritual power insufficient for sustained flight. To deal with this problem, the Sect provided celestial cranes.
The celestial cranes were freely available during daylight hours but required payment after nightfall.
The original owner of this body had given her all for the sect over the years, but her swordsmanship was snatched away effortlessly. Talia wasn’t willing to spend a single spirit stone for the Falling Maple Sect anymore, so she rushed to ride a free crane.
Seeing the identity card indicating she was under the command of Luminous Celestial Archon, a disciple from Fate Weave Hall laughed and said, “So, you're Talia. I heard your sister has supreme wood spiritual root, and has been accepted as a personal disciple by Luminous Celestial Archon. You've been in the sect for several years and achieved nothing. So you feel shame and want to leave?”
“Yeah, yeah, you made a great contribution, can you more faster?” There was only about fifteen minutes left for the free crane. Talia was in a hurry.
"......"
The disciple who was mocking her was speechless, as he somehow felt Talia’s sarcasm.
“Lack of ambition!” The elder glared at her, crossed out Talia's name from the disciple list, took back her identity card and other items, and hurried her to leave with an annoyed look.
Talia was overjoyed, like a bird freed from a cage, hurriedly running to the celestial cranes pick up point. She boarded the last free crane just before it clocked off for the day and headed towards the gate.
Though the Falling Maple Sect was rich, its care for these free celestial cranes left a lot to be desired; their feathers were dull and bodies were thin.
It was Talia's first time riding a celestial crane. She hugged the crane's neck, and couldn't help speaking against the crane's ear, "Crane, you fly around every day. Don't you get tired? And, does the food from the sect satisfy your taste? Would you like to leave the sect with me and find a nice place to settle down?"
The crane had a certain sense of intelligence. Upon hearing her words, it cocked its head to look at her.
Talia took out a small dried fish from her storage bag and fed it to the crane, "Life is short, relish your moments! Aren't you annoyed flying the sect members around every day? Does the sect give you any spiritual stones? Do they improve your ration?”
Thinking of her previous life, Talia was filled with heartache, “When the sect allows you guys to rest in shifts at night, is it really for your good? No, they are just afraid that you will die from exhaustion. Training a new batch of cranes would be too expensive.”
“Have you ever received a single spiritual stone for all the overtime you put in at night? Not even a token 'Your toil is appreciated' escapes their lips. Instead, they deem your servitude a... celestial blessing."
"This job is not worth it!"
The crane began to sing loudly, its clear call attracting a group of surrounding cranes.
A cacophony of high-pitched, crisp crane calls came one after the other, like a heated exchange.
They quickly flew over layers of high mountains and soon reached the gate of the Falling Maple Sect. However, the crane carrying Talia didn't stop at the predetermined landing point. Instead, it directly took Talia and a large group of cranes trailing behind her and majestically flew out of the gate.
Talia: ”?”
Oh god, not only did she leave the Falling Maple Sect, but she also led a group of the sect's cranes away?
