After Transmigrating, the Vicious Supporting Female Is Entangled by the Male Lead

Qu Xiangxiang, a modern woman with a passion for reading novels, is struck by a car while crossing the street and transmigrates into the body of a vicious cannon-fodder side character in the cultivation novel *The Emperor’s Decree*. Upon waking, she discovers she has been reborn as the character who shares her name, a pampered and brainless young lady from the prestigious Qu family. Her situation is dire: she is destined to be thrown into the Ten-Thousand-Snake Pit by the novel’s male lead, Mu Hanzhang, and fed to serpents. Mu Hanzhang is a half-demon cultivator with a sealed spiritual root, despised by the disciples of Cangxuan Mountain for his impure bloodline. The original Qu Xiangxiang frequently humiliated him, ensuring his hatred and her eventual gruesome death.

Fearing her impending fate, Qu Xiangxiang resolves to change her destiny by altering her behavior toward Mu Hanzhang. She avoids the landmines set by her loyal but foolish servant, Lin Zheng, and takes charge of the battered Mu Hanzhang after he is bullied by others. Instead of continuing the abuse, she feigns a strange interest in him, claiming she wants to keep him as a helper for her homework in exchange for spirit stones. This bizarre shift confuses Mu Hanzhang, who suspects her motives are malicious. Despite his distrust, he is forced to comply due to his weakened state. Qu Xiangxiang maintains a careful balance, pretending to be the original character’s arrogant self while subtly showing kindness to avoid arousing suspicion of a soul swap.

During a mission to collect Soul-Losing Grass, Qu Xiangxiang deliberately teams up with Mu Hanzhang, ignoring the scorn of their peers. They encounter a demonic corpse disguised as a woman named Jinxi, who seeks Mu Hanzhang’s demon blood to sustain herself. Qu Xiangxiang saves Mu Hanzhang by using a fire talisman to destroy the creature, an act that triggers the awakening of his demonic aura. He uses this power to defeat the enemy but collapses from exhaustion. Qu Xiangxiang protects him from the venomous silk of a Ghost-Faced Spider, an event that spreads through Cangxuan Mountain as a romantic gesture, altering how others perceive her. She wakes from a three-day coma to find that the plot has diverged significantly from the novel.

Qu Xiangxiang rushes to the training grounds to witness the original first meeting between Mu Hanzhang and the heroine, Ruan Qingtao. However, her clumsy sword flight causes her to crash into Mu Hanzhang, disrupting the scene. Mu Hanzhang, still suspicious and cold, rejects Ruan Qingtao’s advances, causing the heroine to leave in confusion and hurt. He then takes Qu Xiangxiang to Mirror Lake, demanding she prove her alleged affection. When she declares her love in a desperate bid for survival, he leaps into the lake, forcing her to follow. Beneath the lake lies Shiling Village, a desolate realm where half-demons live.

In Shiling Village, Mu Hanzhang seeks his parents’ tomb to break the seals on his power. Qu Xiangxiang learns from the headless innkeeper, Mei Niang, that demons are also hunting for the relic. She uses an invisibility talisman to follow Mu Hanzhang to the Ancient Wood Grounds, where they are ambushed by puppet-controlled enemies. Qu Xiangxiang reveals unexpected combat prowess, destroying the puppets with her whip, but collapses due to qi deviation. Mu Hanzhang, conflicted by her actions and his growing, unexplained attachment, carries her back to the inn. As he tends to her, his hatred wavers, setting the stage for a complex relationship that defies the original novel’s tragic trajectory.