A short while later.

The Exquisite Sanctuary.

“Fellow Daoists, you have traveled far. Your journey must have been arduous.”

The moment the Supreme Mystery Treasure Ship docked at the end of the rainbow bridge, a middle-aged female cultivator in elegant palace robes glided forward. She offered a polite, practiced bow to the delegation on the deck before gesturing gracefully toward the interior of the sanctuary.

“Your accommodations have been prepared. Esteemed guests, please follow me.”

“We are grateful for your hospitality, Senior.”

Qi Yuan nodded with the perfect amount of reserved dignity expected of a Holy Scion. He led his entourage down the gangplank, following the matron toward a secluded section of the sanctuary.

“This is the Resting Mist Courtyard,” the matron explained as they arrived at a sprawling, independent manor. “It has been specially reserved for the Supreme Mystery Sanctuary. You may rest here until the grand ceremony begins tomorrow.”

The estate was undeniably high-class. It was a masterpiece of landscape architecture, featuring layered terraces, exquisite pavilions, and a central pond filled with lush, emerald lotus leaves. The air smelled of spirit herbs and money.

After ushering them inside, the matron turned to Qi Yuan, her expression warm but her eyes sharp.

“If you require anything, please instruct the servants within the courtyard. However, I must remind you that the Exquisite Sanctuary is an all-female sect. To avoid… inconveniences… we ask that the male guests refrain from wandering the grounds unaccompanied.”

She smiled, but the subtext was louder than a warning gong: Don’t prowl around harassing our disciples, or we will castrate you.

“If you wish to tour the scenery, please request a guide from the sanctuary to avoid any misunderstandings.”

“Senior need not worry,” Qi Yuan replied with a gracious smile, looking every bit the upright gentleman. “This Junior understands propriety.”

I have no interest in your terrifying women anyway, he added silently.

“Then I shall take my leave.” The matron, satisfied that the warning had landed, gave a final nod and drifted away.

Qi Yuan immediately turned to Song Cheng, the Hall Master of External Affairs. “Hall Master Song, handle the disciples’ lodging. I will take the main building.”

“Understood, Holy Scion.”

Qi Yuan strode into the central manor, his demeanor instantly shifting from ‘Regal Guest’ to ‘Paranoid Operative.’

” everyone out. I require solitude.”

He dismissed the servants with a wave of his sleeve. Once the doors were shut, he swept the room with his divine sense, checking for surveillance arrays, listening bugs, or hidden peepholes. Satisfied that the room was clean, he exhaled a long breath and erected a noise-canceling barrier.

Safety first.

He flipped his hand, retrieving a vibrating communication talisman from his spatial ring. He injected a sliver of spiritual energy to activate it.

Immediately, Ji Chan’er’s voice spilled out, laced with irritation.

“What are you doing? Why did it take you so long to reply? Did you die?”

Qi Yuan rubbed his temples. “I don’t have time for your temper. I was on the ship surrounded by hundreds of witnesses. If I pulled out a dark talisman to chat with the Holy Maiden of the Joyous Union Sect, I’d be labeled a traitor before tea time. Now, speak.”

On the other end, Ji Chan’er huffed, her tone dripping with grievance. “This Seat worked herself to the bone investigating your little family mystery, and this is the thanks I get? No gratitude, just excuses. Men are all heartless.”

Qi Yuan ignored the bait. “You solved the Qi family massacre case?”

“Of course.”

Qi Yuan’s expression tightened. “Who was the killer?”

There was a pause. When Ji Chan’er spoke again, her voice had lost its playful edge, replaced by professional disdain.

“The killer tried to be clever. They used a clean, efficient technique and planted clues to mimic a demonic blood sacrifice. But those amateur tricks might fool the righteous idiots, but they can’t fool me.”

She sneered. “I can say with absolute certainty: the Qi family was not destroyed by a demonic cultivator. The energy signature, the method… it reeks of someone from the Righteous Path trying to frame us.”

“What?!”

Qi Yuan was genuinely shocked. He had assumed the original host’s family had simply been unlucky collateral damage in a cruel world—maybe a passing evil cultivator needed blood for a ritual. But a Righteous Path hit job?

He trusted Ji Chan’er’s judgment. She was a high-level demonic cultivator; she knew exactly what a real demonic crime scene looked like. If she said it was a frame-up, it was a frame-up.

Why would a ‘righteous’ cultivator slaughter a harmless mortal family?

As he pondered this, Ji Chan’er spoke again. Her voice was calm, but there was a strange, acidic undertone to it. Like someone biting into a lemon while trying to smile.

“Tell me… do you know a woman named Qin Lingxue?”

Qi Yuan blinked. The name meant nothing to him.

“Never heard of her,” he replied instantly. “Is she the killer?”

“Stop pretending!” Ji Chan’er snapped, her voice turning frosty. “If you are truly Qi Yuan, the abandoned son of the Qi family, how could you not know your own childhood sweetheart? Your fiancée?”

Qi Yuan froze. My what now?

“Qin Lingxue,” Ji Chan’er continued, reciting the dossier with aggressive precision. “She came from a humble family in your hometown. You two grew up together. The Qi and Qin families signed a marriage contract, planning to wed you once you both came of age.”

“But fate is cruel. Qin Lingxue blossomed into a peerless beauty with terrifying talent. At fourteen, she was recruited by a Dao Integration Sword Immortal from the Abyssal Sanctuary. She is now their prized ‘Jade Maiden Sword Immortal,’ the goddess of the younger generation.”

“And you… well, you were the trash of the Qi family. No talent, no future, eventually kicked out to rot on the streets.”

“Wait, hold on…” Qi Yuan felt a headache coming on. “You’re saying the original… I mean, I have a genius fiancée at the Abyssal Sanctuary?”

This was bad. This was classic, Grade-A trashy novel plotting.

“The engagement was never canceled,” Ji Chan’er said, her tone icy. “Strictly speaking, you are still her lawful fiancé.”

She let that sink in before delivering the killing blow.

“As the saying goes: ‘A common man is innocent of crime, but guilty of possessing a treasure he cannot defend.’ Qin Lingxue is the most desired woman in the Abyssal Sanctuary. She has rejected countless suitors—young geniuses, heirs, holy scions—by claiming she is already betrothed.”

“Imagine how those arrogant suitors feel. The goddess of their dreams, the Jade Maiden Sword Immortal, is technically taken by a piece of trash from a backwater mortal family.”

Ji Chan’er’s voice dropped to a whisper. “Someone decided to take out the trash.”

“?????”

Qi Yuan’s face contorted into a mask of sheer disbelief.

So, the Qi family wasn’t destroyed because of politics, or ancient artifacts, or even bad luck. They were wiped out because some jealous simp wanted to clear the path to Qin Lingxue’s bed.

The massacre was an act of aggressive fanboyism.

This logic is insane, yet entirely consistent with this world, Qi Yuan thought, horrified.

But the implications were worse.

He had inherited the original host’s body, and by extension, his karma. That meant he was still the “fiancé.”

I have a fiancée who is a top-tier genius. I am the ‘trash’ who rose to power. The engagement is still active.

A cold chill ran down his spine.

This was a Main Character script. A harem script.

If the System or the plot gods decided to activate this storyline, he was going to be dragged into an endless cycle of face-slapping jealous suitors, melodramatic reunions, and ‘unwanted’ romance.

No way.

Am I really doomed to walk the path of a scumbag protagonist?!