Yu Liang wracked his brain for a minute, hoping to surmise the fate of this cannon fodder’s body by trying to remember the events of the novel. After a few minutes… 

Aha!

...

Wait, oh shit!

He remembered now!! After failing to poison Li Qiuyue, Ma Chang gathered his lackeys to ambush Li Qiuyue during a training mission in the mountains! It was during this excursion that suddenly a stampede of spirit beasts cause the death of Ma Chang’s lackeys, leaving Ma Chang and Li Qiuyue to fight one on one. Li Qiuyue would win but be injured in the forest, and then she’d be discovered and helped by none other than Wang Jin! 

Suddenly very sure of himself, Yu Liang let out a huge breath of relief. If he knew where he was in the story, then he could at least save himself! All he had to do was refuse to follow Ma Chang in their pseudo-mission! 

“Brother Yu, are you okay?” asked a worried voice. Sheng Fu gazed at him with pitying eyes. 

Ah, right! He had almost forgotten about Sheng Fu’s existence. A cannon fodder’s existence really was easy to forget… which meant he would be to. Honestly, Yu Liang wasn’t sure if he was happy or not to be such an easily forgettable character in the story of Rebirth of the Strongest Female Cultivator. Sigh…

“I’m okay. I’m gonna just rest for the day and head to bed.” Yu Liang said with a small smile. “Thanks brother Sheng for your concern.” 

The young boy smiled widely at the kind words again. “Take care, brother Yu! I won’t disturb your rest. I’m going to hang out with my friends then!” Then the innocent young man left cheerfully, closing the door quietly behind him.

Yu Liang blinked, a little surprised. He had thought that it would be harder to get Sheng Fu to leave, but it had been surprisingly easy… And the young boy even had other friends!! Maybe this original owner’s body was quite friendless to have only invited his roommate to help him do such an important thing as Li Qiuyue… Honestly, he wouldn’t put it past the cannon fodder lackey to bully Sheng Fu into silence after doing bad stuff for Ma Chang. Sigh. He pitied the original owner honestly, but at least… he wouldn’t bully nor take advantage of Sheng Fu’s kindness anymore.

Yu Liang fell asleep from the tiredness of the day and woke up bright and early the next morning. Sheng Fu kindly reminded him that there were morning and afternoon lessons, but that they were just basic lessons and not many people went to them because most people knew the basics of martial arts and cultivation. Most people focused on cultivating to increase their strength in hopes of becoming an inner sect disciple where they could gain a master to teach them strong techniques from Mountain Wu sects elders. 

Sheng Fu left early to go hang out with some friends, so Yu Liang bid him farewell rather quickly. He needed to find out more about his situation and maybe… He wasn’t so shameless as to openly seek out Wang Ji and Xu Ming, his favorite ship couple, but he could at least familiarize himself with the sect more to not get lost. And maybe luckily run into them. Yeah, okay. 

He left his room and strolled around the courtyard, finding that this an all-male courtyard for new outer sect disciples. There was probably a female equivalent somewhere nearby; that’s probably where Li Qiuyue was staying at. As he walked around, he found himself in a dining hall full of people. His stomach grumbled loudly, causing some passing individuals to give him weird looks. Yu Liang’s face flushed embarrassingly, and he made his way to the line for some morning food. It was some simple rice and vegetables, but he wasn’t a picky eater so he grabbed quite a bit. Finding an empty-ish area to sit, Yu Liang wolfed down the food as if he hadn’t eaten for weeks. He had quite a big appetite! So much so that he actually went back for seconds… 

He didn’t know that he had caught the eye of someone who was watching him with amusement. This mysterious individual gazed at the young man who ate two large helpings of food shamelessly; where did it all go? The young man had a tall and slender figure with light skin and long black hair; when he wasn’t eating, he looked rather graceful. But as soon as he opened his mouth to chow down, he looked like a starving beggar. The contrast in appearance was quite amusing to the watching eyes… 

Yu Liang happily finished his food and set off to explore some more. He hadn’t noticed the mysterious and amused gaze at all…

“You!” Someone shouted nearby.

Huh? Yu Liang paused in his steps, glancing around. A hunkering figure came into view; and it was none other than Ma Chang! Yu Liang gulped back a bit of fear, and his mind immediately calculated the chances of him escaping Ma Chang’s gaze…

Bam! 

Ma Chang stopped right in front of Yu Liang with a scowl on his face. “You, what was your name again?”

Yu Liang blinked twice before answering. “Greetings to senior brother Ma. This junior brother is named Yu Liang.” He maintained the utmost polite posture and kept a neutral expression. But internally, he was screaming. Fuck!!! 

“You follow me.” Ma Chang said in an annoyed voice. “Today, we’re going to properly deal with that bitch Li Qiuyue.” 

Oh shit. Yu Liang knew where this was going, and he had no intention to die today! He was just about to refuse when Ma Chang’s other lackeys showed up out of nowhere. Yu Liang really didn’t have the confidence to turn Ma Chang down in front of these other lackeys because he knew full well that Ma Chang would just beat him up again and also probably make these lackeys beat him up too. He winced internally when remembering the excruciating pain from yesterday. Okay, so he can’t say no… but maybe he’ll just find a time to escape when they’re quarrelling with Li Qiuyue… 

Ma Chang didn’t waste any time. Him and his lackeys, including Yu Liang, stood off to the side as they waited for Li Qiuyue to leave on a training mission with three other new outer sect disciples. Peeking out from behind the wall, Yu Liang looked at Li Qiuyue’s slender figure; she definitely had a protagonist aura, exuding confidence with a beautiful appearance. She had long silky black hair that lifted with the wind, causing her to look almost celestial in appearance. She had a nice perky bust and an hourglass figure; it was no wonder that many women were quite envious of the female protagonist’s appearance and that she was able to stir up the hearts of all the men around her. 

Once Li Qiuyue and her team left, Ma Chang and them also took off shortly after in the same direction. Yu Liang found that he was able to surprisingly keep up with the pace of the others as they moved through the forest quickly and stealthily. His vision was also quite sharp, able to discern things at a much farther distance than he was used to. Could this be the magic of a cultivator’s body? Enhanced vision… immensely durable bodies with impressive physical capabilities… magical martial arts… Thinking about all these things made Yu Liang quite excited. He was too busy trying to learn more about the world and acclimate to the story that he had forgotten that he could cultivate just like the characters from his favorite Xianxia novels!! Yu Liang promised himself that as soon as he escaped this death route, he would turn over a new leaf as the new owner of this body and whole-heartedly cultivate! 

It wasn’t long before they caught up to Li Qiuyue’s team who were battling some low rank spirit beast snakes. It was the long awaited moment… Yu Liang gulped and prepared himself to run away at a moment’s notice at the sight of any impending danger. However, he currently could only steel himself to follow after Ma Chang and the gang as they descended upon Li Qiuyue’s team and came head to head with the protagonist. 

“You die today, Li Qiuyue!”