Overgod Ascension (主神崛起) by Plagiarist (文抄公)
This book is the same type of 'parody' as HSSB. Except rather than facing off against the xuanhuan genre, our protagonist is up against multiversal games like Terror Infinity or Ultimate Evolution.
In any case, at this point, it is less a parody and more a work based on other works. Which is completely appropriate since Overgod Ascension is written by Plagiarist, the guy who creates fakes better than the original. He is the author of Warlock of the Magus World, which is basically a better written and more psychopathic version of The Wizard World. You can find the former on WuxiaWorld and the latter on Qidian international.
The opening might be really similar to HSSB but the real thing is completely different. Hang on for the first 20 or so chapters and then the plot kicks off. The main character here is more humane than Leylin so those of you who disliked WM can also give this a try.
http://book.qidian.com/info/1004595865
Title: 主神崛起 Overgod Ascension
Author: 文抄公 Plagiarist
Genre: 游戏异界 Gaming Otherworld
Tags: Multiple Worlds, Action, Cultivation, Martial Arts, etc.
Synopsis:
一觉醒来穿越成反派？这剧本不对！
还抢了人家的妹子？又有一个强势的姐姐？剧本更不对了！
居然还有主神空间，诸天万界？我一定是在做梦！吴明淡定地木着脸，继续着征程。
When I wake up having been transported to another world, I am suddenly the antagonist? This script is wrong!
I stole the other guy's girl? I also have a super strong big sister? This script is even more wrong!
There's even a Overgod Space, along with the infinite worlds? I must be dreaming! Wu Ming calmly maintains his neutral expression and journeys ever onwards.
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Chapter 1 – Transported to Another World
The gentle sunbeams of early morning peeked into room forcing Wu Ming to squint his eyes.
“Hhuoooown...”
He sat up halfway on the bed and leisurely stretched his body. Glancing around at the small pools of light that had snuck into the room and the tiny particles of dust that floated in the air, he especially noticed the exotic antique furniture and the intricate Zitan wood bedcouch* he was lying on. There was also a brocade quilt embroidered with ducks playing in the water using divine needlework.
Suddenly, Wu Ming shook his head.
“I must be dreaming!”
This was Wu Ming's first reaction.
His second reaction that followed shortly after was, “This dream of ancient times is really realistic...”
As he ruminated, he attempted to pinch his own face. He also tried to identify the words in the mountain and river paintings hung on the wall. His expression underwent a sudden change as his right hand blithely dropped down.
“Ahh!”
A muted cry of pain sounded out from the side. Beautiful long hair, jet black in color, spread out resplendently was revealed on the other side of the duck embroidered pillow, bringing with it the unique body fragrance of a young girl.
The brocade quilt shook loose to unveil a delicate oval face with yet to dry tear stains and a sense of innocence.
Wu Ming instantly broke out into cold sweat, a large amount of sweat, an entire waterfall of sweat.
He was immediately overtaken by a very inauspicious premonition. A moment later, after lowering his head and considered his plight. Wu Ming calmly got out of bed, methodologically put on the pants and green jacket that had been messily scattered on the floor, then preceded to tidy up his hair using the copper mirror in front of him. After noting his own appearance as a youth of fifteen, sixteen, or seventeen, he maintained his indifferent expression and walked out of the room with large strides.
From start to finish, the woman on the bedcouch ignored Wu Ming's existence. Her face was expressionless. Her eyes were pools of stagnant water. She was like a living corpse.
Due to the fact she was lying down, she missed what happened after Wu Ming walked out of the room. He could no longer keep up his indifferent expression and escaped from the scene as if trying to fly.
“Surprisingly, it's not a dream!”
Wu Ming with his disordered clothes explored his way frantically back and forth through an enormous courtyard. He saw servant girls in period costumes and other servants of various types greet him respectfully while calling out young master Ming. The shock he experienced was too vast to describe in words.
“It really is ancient times... did I perhaps get transported to another time or another world?”
Being a pure liberal arts person who has read countless works of fiction in his previous life, Wu Ming did not find this scenario unfamiliar.
However, fiction is merely fiction, for something like this to happen to a real person, who could immediately maintain their calm?
“Young master Ming? What happened? Were you perhaps unsatisfied with little lady Yun's ability to attend to you last night?”
A fawning voice could be heard. When Wu Ming turned his eyes in that direction, he saw a middle aged fatty bowing as he greeted Wu Ming with a cajoling smile. The man's large and oily face was saturated with intent to flatter. His cloth was one grade superior to that of a servant, apparently a housekeeper of some type.
'This is a standard lackey!'
Wu Ming decided to himself after taking a single look. Suddenly a sense of familiarity appeared in his mind, and he blurted out, “Housekeeper Wu!”
“This lowly one is here.”
The fat housekeeper Wu instantly straightened his waist and stood at attention as if he were a loyal dog awaiting orders, “Does young master Ming have any orders?”
Housekeeper Wu acted as if he completely could not see the young master's disordered clothes.
Who hasn't heard? Young master Ming is the boss lady's favorite person, and as such is always spoiled. He had already done many unconventional things, improperly worn clothing was merely a small matter in comparison. Hasn't young master Ming performed actions far more offensive than this numerous times already?
After seeing Wu Ming's preoccupied appearance, housekeeper Wu immediately guessed that the little lady failed to properly attend to the young master last night. He was already prepared to help young master deal with the issue.
“Orders?”
Wu Ming composed himself.
First, he could be certain that he has been transported to another world!
Not only has he been transported, his current body was longer his former body. Even though he had become younger, he was no longer as handsome as before.
Of course, at this moment, handsomeness doesn't matter at all. If they discover that their younger master had been replaced, Wu Ming's continued survival would probably become an issue.
Wu Ming's imagination instantly filled the blanks and provided him with various ancient methods for dealing with evil spirits such as being splashed with dog blood, or spray with boiling oil, or drown in excrement, and so on. His legs trembled a bit.
'I need to first conceal my true identity. No one other than me can ever discover the truth.'
With that thought in mind, Wu Ming spoke rubbish, “I am hungry.”
This was commonly accepted rubbish since time immemorial. However, this was not a lie. This body probably performed the deed who knew how many times and its stomach was rumbling with hunger.
“Oh! This lowly one was neglectful! This lowly one should die!”
Housekeeper Wu slapped himself and smile apologetically, “Today, young master Ming got up late, this lowly one forgot to prepare breakfast. This lowly one should be punished! This lowly one should be hit!”
In truth, in this type of rich family, even if Wu Ming woke up sometime when the sun was high up in the sky, there would be a hot meal waiting for him to enjoy. When Wu Ming left the room, there had actually been a servant girl waiting to serve his meal.
Unfortunately, Wu Ming had been preoccupied at that time, moving frantically throughout the courtyard. How would any mere servant dare to stand in his way?
However, since ancient times, only the servant can be wrong, has there ever been a master that was wrong? Thus, lackey housekeeper Wu diligently and responsibly reallocated all the mistakes to the subordinates, “This lowly one will immediately go prepare... why don't we go to the top of HighWind building? That is usually young master's favorite dining location...”
“Excellent. Let's go there!”
How could the current Wu Ming have any sense of direction? Fortunately, at that moment, a bunch of memory fragments floated up in his dizzy and throbbing mind fusing into his person, as if he himself lived another lifetime from a different perspective.
Wu Ming who wanted to quickly find a place to digest these memories naturally accepted the housekeeper's proposal.
…
A short time later, Wu Ming sat at the very top of HighWind Building. His eyes stared fixedly at the breakfast in front of him.
The main course was crab roe steamed buns. The head chef of the Wu family definitely made his specialty. The wrap of the steamed bun was translucent and limpid, faintly revealing the shiny crab roe inside. The dish was just like an elegant work of art.
Side dishes included several exquisite appetizers and the delicious smell assailed the nostrils causing the mouth to drool.
Even the accompanying soup was like a type of rice nectar that appeared like white juice. Its sour and sweet flavor was very suited for awakening one's appetite.
Overall, even in his previous life, a breakfast of this quality would represent a huge blow to his wallet.
Wu Ming with an expressionless face suddenly picked up a crab roe steamed bun with his chop sticks.
Whoosh whoosh!
A cold wind blew. Wu Ming instantly felt like cursing at the wind.
This lousy building leaked in wind from all directions. After the wind blew a couple times, not only was Wu Ming himself cold, even more importantly, all his food had grown cold!
“Bring the heater!”
The lackey had long since prepared contingencies. A red hot coal heated copper stove was brought forth, which finally managed the task of saving Wu Ming's tastebuds.
Otherwise, no matter what the delicacy, unless it was originally a cold dish, food that has gone cold would lose a vast majority of its deliciousness.
“Excellent. You can retire first. I want to enjoy the tranquility.”
After barely eating and drinking his fill, Wu Ming waved off his subordinates.
Housekeeper Wu led the servant girls in clearing away the dishes and plates, then everyone bowed to Wu Ming before retreating with their waists still bent low and their movements so silent that hardly any noise could be heard.
The rules of this large clan were very strict.
Wu Ming sat upright, his eyes partially closed as if deep in thought. Then he stood up abruptly and leaned on the parapet looking outwards.
What appeared before his eyes was uninterrupted rows of buildings surrounded and joined together by tall sturdy walls, actually coming together to form a small city fortress.
And his current location, HighWind Building, should be the watchtower of this small city fortress.
As far as the eye can see, farmers and work oxen were industriously working along the paths linking up to the city fortress. Inside the fortress, pale smoke constantly rose in spirals, as all the servants, slave girls, and other dependent powers performed their respective duties in an orderly manner like worker ants in an anthill.
From where he stood, Wu Ming could only see the heads of the people as little black dots, vivid and fascinating almost like watching real ant.
Wu Ming now also understood why the previous owner of this body liked this location, for the sake of pretending to be awesome. The previous owner of this body probably enjoyed the feeling of standing far above others, like a god looking down on the world.
With that realization, Wu Ming couldn't help but give a middle finger for that certain person who no longer existed.
“As expected... isn't this already another world?”
After a long time, Wu Ming retracted his gaze. Having already organized and digested the memories he inherited, he let out a sigh.
This place was not his world, nor was it the past!
Even though the previous owner of the body was a silkpants**, but Wu Ming was able to learn a lot from the inherited fragments of his memory. This world was a vast, boundless world where mysterious forces were real.
Coincidentally, his current body was also called Wu Ming. The previous owner and his big sister who loved him dearly were interdependent with no one to rely on but each other. Not counting those distant relations, he was apparently the only inheritor of this enormous family! And unthinkably, up until now, there hasn't been any outsiders who have coveted their holdings.
Based on his memories, this was probably due to his incredibly prodigious sister whose talent had been recognized at a young age. As a result, she had been accepted as a disciple by a daoist temple.
Strangely enough, though this sister was incredibly doting to Wu Ming, in Wu Ming's recollection, all memories associated with her also contained an indistinct sense of fear.
“Ai... luckily, she's currently at the dao temple undergoing cultivation. Otherwise, I would have already been exposed. Everyone else is a subordinates and wouldn't dare question my actions as the master.”
A more daring Wu Ming held his hands behind his back and strolled down the stairs, where he saw housekeeper waiting on the side.
“What is it?”
“This is... little lady Yun is in young master's room...”
Housekeeper Wu seemed to want to say something but heisitated.
“Oh, her...”
Wu Ming massaged his temples, and couldn't help feeling gloomy.
According to the memories, this Wu Ming was basically a tyrant. He performed many outrageous acts that would offend the heavens.
This little lady Yun was actually a girl that the previous owner of the body had just snatched. It seemed she even had a childhood friend.
Technically, 'snatch' was not quite the right term. After all, after receiving his money, little lady Yun's parents had delivered their daughter to him in high spirits, without even quibbling about her future position in his household.
'I'm not accepting responsibility for the last guy's actions!'
There were black lines floating down Wu Ming's forehead.*** Using the speech patterns from the inherited memories, Wu replied, “That little lady? This master will show great mercy. Send her home and gift her with some money, silk, and whatever. And might as well, let her get married to that Lin Qi fellow!”
“Urg?”
“Oh... and immediate go find Ghosthand Old Six. Let him return immediately!”
Wu Ming smacked his head. There were too many memories, he practically forgot about this matter until just now.
This Ghosthand Old Six was the courtyard guard of the Wu family. He did many bad things for the former Wu Ming. While it would be a joke to say his hands have caused hundreds of unjust deaths, but this man has taken at least ten lives...
“Reporting!”
A strong and sturdy man quickly ran forward, his face filled with terror, “Young master Ming, something terrible has happened. Lin Qi beat Ghosthand Old Six to death!”
“What's going on? Wasn't that guy supposed to be the rumored loser? How could he beat Ghosthand Old Six?” Housekeeper Wu frowned.
However, for Wu Ming, a loud boom echoed through his mind, like lightning flashing past. He had a certain inauspicious premonition.
“Did I perhaps reincarnate as a villain like in those stories? The antagonists who oppress the people and serve as experience points for the male main lead? My god! This script is wrong!”
* Zitan is red sandalwood, it is a type of wood for making traditional Chinese furniture, very valuable. Bedcouch is 床榻, which is a bed that is also a couch.
** Silkpants as in 纨绔 refers to spoiled young masters who tend to rely on the authority of their family to bully the less fortunate. You've probably seen this term in ISSTH. Wanku (纨绔) literally translates into silk pants or white pants, in reference to the extravagant clothing those spoiled rich brats wear.
*** I'm not sure but I think this is an anime reference. As in this:
“Parallel vertical lines with dark shading over the head or under the eye may represent mortification, fatigue, or horror.” from wikipedia.