Chapter 167: The Cannon Fodder Who Can’t Survive Three Chapters (10)
Bei Xing held her breath, feigning fear. The snake demon, seeing this, pressed closer, thinking Su Mingxiu wouldn’t attack with a hostage. Then—
A distant rumble of thunder.
The snake demon, her senses sharp, looked up, her body tensing. Bei Xing, seizing the opportunity, stomped on her foot, and a grey mist enveloped her, pulling her away just as lightning flashed.
They vanished, as if into another dimension.
Bei Xing, having closed her eyes before the lightning struck, opened them slowly, finding herself in darkness, then she saw the pile of gold ingots.
She had been too focused on survival earlier to notice her surroundings. Now, staring at the gold, she said: “Is this… what I burned for you?”
Su Mingxiu, one hand on Bei Xing’s waist, her attention on the outside world, estimating how long the snake demon could withstand the Five Thunders Talisman, didn’t answer.
But her silence was an answer in itself.
Bei Xing had thought the amount of gold was substantial, but now, in this space, it seemed like a small mound, almost… pathetic.
…I should burn more later, after all, Su Mingxiu is my master now, as long as I survive this, I’ll make sure she’s rich.
As she was thinking this, she felt Su Mingxiu’s grip tighten, the grey mist swirling around them, as if about to dissipate. She grabbed Su Mingxiu’s neck. “Wait!”
“Hmm?” Su Mingxiu, thinking this was a good opportunity to attack the weakened snake demon, wondered what Bei Xing was doing.
Bei Xing, remembering the Pixiu incident, carefully held up two fingers. “Is it… too early to go back?”
Su Mingxiu, after a moment of silence, “How many talismans did you use?”
Bei Xing made a strange gesture with her thumb and index finger, the space between them wide. Su Mingxiu, confused, “Two?”
Judging from the talisman’s power, two were only enough to scratch the snake demon.
Her grip on Bei Xing’s waist tightened, as if about to pull her out of this space.
But Bei Xing shook her head, wondering if her gesture hadn’t been clear enough. She exaggerated the pinching motion, even holding it up to Su Mingxiu’s face. “This… thick!”
Su Mingxiu: “…”
Thinking about the thickness of the yellow talisman paper, she couldn’t imagine what Su Jin was experiencing right now.
Death was unlikely, but severe injuries… definitely.
Bei Xing, imagining her beautiful bedroom being destroyed by lightning, clutched her chest, then comforted herself: The Bei family is rich, we can afford it.
To distract herself from the financial loss, she tugged at Su Mingxiu’s sleeve. “By the way, I stepped on her foot earlier, she seemed to be in pain. What are a snake’s feet made of? Is she a four-legged snake?”
Su Mingxiu: “?”
She raised an eyebrow, thinking she should record this and play it for Su Jin later, it would surely infuriate her.
Remembering her connection to the snake demon, she said: “Four-legged snakes are lizards, not snakes, they can’t cultivate into snake demons.”
“Oh,” Bei Xing touched her nose, embarrassed, then looked around, changing the subject. “By the way, what is this place? A ghost’s personal space? Why is there only the gold I gave you, nothing else?”
Su Mingxiu couldn’t answer.
She still hadn’t figured out what she was missing. And this unique space seemed to be connected to her, accessible with a single thought.
But based on her knowledge and experience, it wasn’t the ghost realm, nor something every ghost possessed.
“I don’t know,” she said.
Bei Xing sighed, frustrated, looking at the grey mist surrounding them. After a while, she tugged at Su Mingxiu’s sleeve. “I think the lightning should be over by now, should we go back? I wonder how big that snake demon is, if she’s dead, her bones, skin, and gallbladder should be worth a lot.”
Her eyes lit up, imagining herself as Super Mario, collecting coins.
Ding!
Su Mingxiu, seeing her excitement, didn’t refuse. The grey mist enveloped them, and they returned to Bei Xing’s room.
Calling it a “room” was an overstatement—
Dozens of lightning strikes had ripped off the roof, the villa looking like it had been on fire, one side charred black.
The expensive furniture was reduced to ashes, the floor covered in craters, a pigsty even pigs would reject.
A disaster zone.
Bei Xing, despite her mental preparation, was still shocked, her gaze drawn to the writhing black snake in the corner, its beautiful scales half-burnt, half-gone.
But as she looked, her vision was suddenly obscured by a coldness, plunging her into darkness.
Su Mingxiu, knowing she was easily frightened, shielded her from the sight of the snake’s gaping maw, its red eyes filled with hatred, the grey mist swirling around them, seeping into the snake’s wounds, making it writhe and hiss in pain and anger.
But Su Mingxiu was unfazed, the ghostly aura, avoiding Bei Xing, intensifying around the snake demon, the mist like needles, piercing its scales, the smell of burnt flesh and blood filling the air.
The snake’s struggles were futile, like a prey caught in a spiderweb.
[I’ve warned you, retrieve the ghost’s power only after gaining the protagonist’s love and power. Your defiance will lead to your destruction.]
The mechanical voice echoed in the snake demon’s mind.
“Shut… up!” Su Jin, amidst the excruciating pain, still managed to retort.
Then, she looked at Su Mingxiu, her voice a strained threat: “If you devour me now, you won’t be able to deal with that beast in the Bei residence, you’ll have to watch this mortal die from the curse.”
With each word, the mist pierced deeper into her veins, an unbearable torment, worse than the lightning strikes, her very essence dissolving.
But Su Mingxiu didn’t relent, until the snake demon, its struggles weakening, its form shrinking, becoming as small as an earthworm, did she release Bei Xing and pick up the tiny snake.
As she absorbed the snake demon’s essence, a strange sensation intensified—
She knew…
Refining this power would yield significant benefits.
But as the snake demon had said, there was still the beast downstairs, a more pressing matter.
She held the tiny snake’s head between two fingers, its red eyes weak and flickering. “Tell me about that Pixiu,” she said, offering it a chance.
Bei Xing, cautiously peeking from behind Su Mingxiu, initially afraid of the snake, now, seeing its size, felt bolder.
The snake’s injuries were less noticeable now, its remaining scales gleaming like jade. Bei Xing reached out, wanting to touch it. “It’s… kind of cute,” she mumbled.
Su Jin: “?”
She quickly lunged, hissing at Bei Xing.
Su Mingxiu, having given her a chance, seeing her defiance, dropped the snake, then slowly raised her foot and stepped on its tail.
“Wait, wait!” Su Jin, remembering the pain from Bei Xing’s earlier stomp, and now, seeing that they both had the same… hobby, her beautiful tail about to be crushed, quickly said: “I’ll talk, I’ll talk, just spare my tail!”
Su Mingxiu knelt down, raising an eyebrow, a final warning.
Bei Xing was bombarded with information.
Su Jin and Su Mingxiu looked alike because they were originally one… and the Pixiu wasn’t affected by the thunder talisman because it had been coated with dragon scales, dragons being immune to lightning.
To lift the curse, they had to remove the dragon scales.
“Then… how do we do that?” Bei Xing asked, prioritizing her family’s safety.
“Besides its reverse scales, a dragon’s most important possession is its pearl, the essence of its power. With the dragon pearl, the dragon scales’ protection will be weakened.”
Su Jin, the tiny black snake coiled around Su Mingxiu’s wrist, its tongue flicking, its eyes glaring at Bei Xing, answered obediently.
A dragon pearl?
Do we have to collect seven of them?
Bei Xing’s expression changed, and Su Mingxiu, guessing her thoughts, turned to Su Jin. “So, the dragon pearl is… on Chu Yinxi?”
The snake froze, its eyes widening, staring at Su Mingxiu in disbelief, wondering how she knew.
Bei Xing, however, had a sudden realization—
The protagonist’s aura!
She remembered the golden light when they had fallen into the cave, and the bead pendant Chu Yinxi always wore.
Remembering their encounter at school yesterday, she leaned closer to the snake. “You approached her… to get the pearl?”
Su Jin was about to say it was for love, but sensing Su Mingxiu’s displeasure, she quickly changed her answer. “Anyway, Chu Chu is kind, just contact her, she’ll help you.”
Bei Xing, prioritizing survival, immediately called Chu Yinxi, only to learn that she was on a school field trip and wouldn’t be back until tomorrow.
Which meant the Bei family had to endure the Pixiu’s curse for another day.
That night…
Bei Xing’s room had been destroyed by the lightning, so she had to sleep in a different room. But what truly unsettled her was the red-clad woman having dinner with her father.
Her father didn’t realize that “Master Su” had been replaced, although he had been puzzled by her red dress. But remembering the lightning and his family’s safety, he attributed it to her powers,
Even urging Bei Xing to pour her tea and wine.
Su Mingxiu stopped her, touching her wrist, feeling her fever, and told her to eat her porridge quietly.
Zhou Yun and Bei Qiming, also ill, were having their dinner in their rooms.
Her father, seeing their interaction, “Xingxing, have you met Master Su before?”
“N-no,” Bei Xing hesitated, glancing at Su Mingxiu.
Su Mingxiu, her eyes lowered, replied casually: “Love at first sight.”
Her father, seeing that she hadn’t touched her food, asked if she didn’t like it. Bei Xing quickly said: “Dad, beautiful immortals like her only drink dew, they don’t eat mortal food.”
“Ah? Then I’ll… have someone collect some tomorrow morning?”
Su Mingxiu, seeing that he actually believed it, glanced at Bei Xing, then sighed. “No need, Uncle, I’m… fasting.”
The dinner, somehow, proceeded smoothly.
Back in the room…
Bei Xing, looking at the small black snake coiled around Su Mingxiu’s wrist, voiced her long-held desire: “Can… can I touch it?”
“No!” Su Jin immediately raised her head and hissed, a warning.
The next moment, Su Mingxiu, pinching her by the neck, handed her to Bei Xing. Bei Xing carefully reached out and touched the snake’s tail, its smooth, cool scales a pleasant surprise.
She couldn’t resist giving it a gentle squeeze.
Su Jin: “!”
Its tail twitched, about to coil around Bei Xing’s wrist, when Su Mingxiu pulled it away.
She put the snake back in her sleeve. “Your fever hasn’t subsided, go to bed, I won’t be staying with you tonight, call me if you need anything,” she said, then vanished.
Bei Xing, slightly disappointed, could only stare at the empty space.
In the grey dimension…
Su Jin glared at Su Mingxiu, despite her weakened state, still defiant. “She’s nothing special, why do you care about her so much?”
“Control your slutty tail—” Su Mingxiu lifted her, her voice a cold warning, “or I’ll chop it off.”
Su Jin: “?”
“I’m the only one with a physical body now, aren’t you harming yourself by harming me?” she retorted angrily.
Su Mingxiu, remembering Su Jin’s interest in Chu Yinxi, scoffed, not wanting to share a body with her.
Su Jin, after a moment of silence, nudged Su Mingxiu’s wrist with her head. “Chu Chu is much more beautiful, why don’t you… consider switching targets?”
Su Mingxiu ignored her, meditating.
Su Jin, bored and unable to cultivate in this ghostly realm, her red eyes darting around, finally closed her eyes.
A while later—
Su Jin, looking inwards, saw strange images.
Not her own memories,
But all related to… Bei Xing.
Cold, cute, foolish, ungrateful, even… calling her “Little Mom.” She paused, suddenly realizing whose consciousness this was, and, delighted, started exploring.
When Su Mingxiu noticed and expelled her, the snake slithered up her arm, a mocking glint in its red eyes. “I thought you were so noble, but your thoughts are even more depraved than mine—”
“We’re both the same, stop pretending, don’t you want to… experience Bei Xing’s fever?”
“She’ll be so hot, so tight…”
The red in the snake’s eyes intensified, its voice a husky whisper by Su Mingxiu’s ear, the embodiment of her darkest desires.
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