MTL - Capture the Jade - Chapter 1

Yu Yi found herself transmigrated into a female protagonist in a xianxia novel, destined to suffer both physically and emotionally.The entire novel was 800,000 words long. For 700,000 words, she endured extreme torment. In the remaining 100,000 words, the heroine reconciled with her past, found true love without regrets, and achieved a happy ending with the male lead.Yu Yi absolutely refused to be this pitiful scapegoat.To avoid the main plot, she adhered to the basic principle of “where he is, I am not; where I am, he is not.” She laid low in her sect, dodging every opportunity to encounter the male lead.Five years passed, and she finally severed this ill-fated connection.The male lead married someone else. Yu Yi let out three wild laughs as she stepped out of the sect gates, happily rushing towards the colorful world outside.However, she didn’t expect that in her excessive joy, she would accidentally stumble upon the mu*der scene of the main villain.Yu Yi hid in the bushes, watching Xue Chenjing, dressed in white robes now stained with blood, slowly crushing someone’s skull. She was so terrified she didn’t dare to breathe.In the dead silence, a noisy voice suddenly rang out: [Master, look quick! It’s your wife! Your wife has finally come online. Isn’t she adorable, curled up and hiding in the bushes like that?]Yu Yi was shocked: Surely it can’t be referring to me?[She’s even wearing a red dress, matching couple outfits with you.]Yu Yi clutched her pomegranate-red skirt tightly, glancing at the hem of Xue Chenjing’s robe. What couple outfit? Isn’t that just stained red with blood?Xue Chenjing flicked the blood from his fingertips, his gaze sweeping towards the bushes. He asked in bewilderment, “Whose wife?”The system pulled out a masterpiece of literature, tapping the cover and asserting confidently: [Your wife.]

Deep below the earth's surface, a mystifying subterranean seascape lurks, an archipelago bathed in inky blackness where suspense and horror hold court. Here lie strange islands and even stranger monsters, far beyond the realms of human imagination. In this domain, mankind is far from dominant; instead, madness and death rule supreme.

Pleading for mercy from the unknown creatures of the deep only leads to a slow, tortured existence. The trapped survivors gradually distort, losing what made them human, both physically and mentally, to the gloom as they remain trapped in this eternal obscurity. Their only hope? A perilous expedition into uncharted sea territories.

Fueled by determination, Charles embark on this daunting voyage aboard his steamship, aiming to reclaim humanity's past glory. Together with his crew, they sought a way out of this hidden sea world, a path back to the sunlit world above, where humans once stood tall.

=========================================

I read a few comments from Chinese readers that compared this novel with Lord of Mysteries because of similar elements: Lovecraftian, western fantasy, first industrial revolution, and steampunk. However, I have yet to finish reading Lord of Mysteries to do any actual comparison, but I do think those who have enjoyed that novel would enjoy this as well. Also, the author of LotM, Cuttlefish That Loves Diving, also did a shout-out for this novel, so I guess he approves of it too?

……………………………………………………………

Dear readers! Without any ads, maybe you will prefer .

A 34-year-old NEET otaku, chased out from his house by his family, found that his life is reaching a dead end. He then recalled that his life could actually have been much better if he had made better choices in the past.

Jiang Feng, a handsome young martial artist, was injured during a misadventure and ended up being saved by the sisters Yaoyue and Lianxing of the Palace of Shifting Flowers, who were considered the most powerful female martial artists in the pugilistic world. The two sisters fell in love with Jiang Feng, but he spurned them because of their arrogance. Instead, he fell in love with their servant girl, Hua Yuenu.

Jiang Feng and Hua Yuenu were forced to flee from the Palace after Hua became pregnant with Jiang’s child. However, they ended up being betrayed by Jiang Feng’s servant, Jiang Biehe, and attacked by bandits. During their harrowing flight, Hua Yuenu gave birth to a pair of twin boys abut ended up dying together with Jiang Feng during a bandit attack. Yaoyue and Lianxing soon caught up with the couple only to find them dead. Refusing to forgive Jiang Feng for rejecting her love, Yaoyue vowed to take her revenge by making his two sons destroy each other. To do that, they adopted one of the boys as their own child and abandoned the other.

The other boy was soon saved by Yan Nantian, Jiang Feng’s sworn brother and one of the most powerful martial artists in the pugilistic world. Unaware of the first boy’s fate, Yan Nantian pursued Jiang Biehe into the Villains’ Valley, a place populated entirely by criminals. There, he encountered five of the notorious Ten Great Villains whom he defeated easily before falling into a trap set by them. The villains ended up torturing Yan Nantian till he fell unconscious, but chose not to harm the second boy, instead deciding to raise him as their apprentice in order to groom him into the greatest villain in history.