I Thought I Was Holding A Crematorium Script

Zhaoxue is a sickly young woman born without spiritual veins, raised as an outsider in the prestigious Shen family. She has no cultivation talent and lives in the shadows of her two talented sisters—Zhaoyang, the eldest and a prodigy at the Hidden Sword Sect, and Zhaolan, the beloved youngest daughter who will become the female lead of a xianxia romance novel. Zhaoxue discovers through a dream that she exists inside a tragic novel where Zhaoyang dies in the Abyss of Ten Thousand Demons, Zhaolan becomes her substitute and meets the same fate, and the four male leads—grief-stricken and enraged—burn the Shen family to extinction. Only Zhaoxue survives, but the system tells her she must prevent this timeline by taking on the roles of both sisters and charming the future villains.

The system offers a "fake death" plan: Zhaoxue will infiltrate the male leads' lives, complete missions, and eventually disappear under the pretense of death to live peacefully. Zhaoxue is skeptical, knowing her frail body makes survival unlikely, but she has no alternative. If she refuses, the Shen family will be destroyed and she will die anyway. If she accepts, there is a sliver of hope.

Zhaoxue's only true companion is Ji Xueshou, one of the four male leads. They grew up together, both sickly and marginalized in their respective families. Ji Xueshou secretly admires Zhaoyang, using Zhaoxue as a messenger to deliver gifts and maintain a connection to her. Zhaoxue resents this arrangement but tolerates it because Ji Xueshou is her only friend. When Zhaoyang returns home, Ji Xueshou asks Zhaoxue to deliver another gift, reigniting her frustration.

At a family banquet, Zhaoxue overhears relatives mocking her as a worthless outsider with no spiritual root. Humiliated, she flees to find her black cat Taxue, only to discover disciples beating the cat. Enraged, Zhaoxue uses defensive talismans to bind the attackers, but Jiang Lingfeng, Zhaoyang's senior brother and another male lead, intervenes. His sword disarms her, and in the struggle, Zhaoxue falls into the lake. Jiang Lingfeng rescues her, but she remains unconscious and vulnerable.

After recovering, Zhaoxue apologizes to Zhaoyang, accepting blame to maintain her cover. Zhaoyang, moved by her sister's fear and submission, promises to make amends. Zhaoxue seizes the opportunity to request permission to join Zhaoyang on a demon-hunting mission, hoping to enter the main storyline and alter her fate. Zhaoyang hesitates but agrees to consider it.

Ji Xueshou, concerned about Zhaoxue's wellbeing, takes her to a hot spring to help her recover. Their time together reveals his genuine care for her, separate from his obsession with Zhaoyang. However, Zhaoxue remains haunted by the dream's vision of Ji Xueshou's cold, indifferent gaze—the look of a future villain who will destroy her family.

The story follows Zhaoxue's struggle to navigate a world where she is powerless, unwanted, and destined for tragedy. She must balance her mission to prevent the apocalypse with her desire for a peaceful life, all while confronting the boy she once trusted and the family that rejected her. The narrative explores themes of identity, survival, and the cost of changing fate in a world governed by predetermined stories.