Chapter 215: So I’m the Protagonist After All (11)
“I told you long ago not to approach her, or the consequences would be unbearable for you.” While the elders of the Hundred Flower Sect came to check on the situation because of the commotion, the Heavenly Dao, which had been silent all this time, only watching everything, whispered in her ear again.
The person in her arms had not yet woken up. Su Mingxiu leaned against the broken wall, her eyelashes moved slightly, and she raised her eyes to look at the elders of the Hundred Flower Sect who were gathering around.
【What consequences?】
She knew that their eyes were all focused on Sui Yihuan. Moreover, the little girl, whose demonic pupils had been activated, was still emitting an ominous black aura, a fact that could not be covered up no matter what.
Therefore, she calmly let them look, and at the same time answered the Heavenly Dao with her consciousness, “The consequence is that the road she once walked alone, I can now walk with her.”
“Mingxiu, you should believe the sect’s judgment now. She is a demon, you must hand her over.”
The one who ordered her was Elder Yuejian of the Law Enforcement Hall, who was also Huaxuan’s master and particularly protective of her own. Therefore, her attitude towards Su Mingxiu was cold and official.
Elder Xuehan, on the other hand, stared at Ye Qingbai’s corpse with a grim expression, “Was it the demon in front of you who killed your master?”
She didn’t finish the rest of the sentence, obviously in disbelief and feeling heartbroken. Even her gaze towards Su Mingxiu was a little strange.
“Elders, the truth of the matter is not so—”
Even though Su Mingxiu’s green clothes were stained with blood, like red flowers blooming on the grassland, it only made her face more beautiful, not showing any weakness, “The demon is the one who has been appearing as the Sect Leader of the Hundred Flower Sect, not Sui Yihuan.”
Compared to the sea of fire that destroyed all evidence in the previous life, at least now a corpse that could be investigated was left for the Hundred Flower Sect. As long as these elders could be serious and responsible…
“The demonic energy on her body can’t be hidden. Do you know the consequences of harboring a demon, Su Mingxiu?” Elder Yuejian’s eyes were full of coldness as she looked at her.
Noticing that she was about to take out her magical artifact, Xuehan subconsciously stopped her. She had already seen that Su Mingxiu’s current realm was a mystery, and she had probably obtained some opportunity in this incident.
Thinking of her usual performance in the sect and the bizarre death of the Sect Leader, she softened her voice, but it was still a forced question, “Mingxiu, today’s matter is inseparable from the demon race, and your master is… If you still have a heart, hand her over and cooperate with the sect’s investigation—”
The protective formation, the demon race, and the death of the Sect Leader were all weighing heavily on the Hundred Flower Sect at this time. The Elder Hall, which had not encountered such a major event in thousands of years, had lost its leader and was somewhat at a loss. Therefore, with Yuejian’s strong voice, the other elders subconsciously obeyed.
Su Mingxiu’s gaze swept over them one by one, and she suddenly understood why the Hundred Flower Sect was so vulnerable when the demon race invaded in the previous life.
Because these righteous people had been comfortable for too long, contentedly enjoying the shade of the lush tree grown from the foundation of their ancestors, they couldn’t even distinguish the priorities of the situation.
She stood up, holding Sui Yihuan, her expression still cold. Perhaps the reincarnations that repaired her soul had diluted the emotions of the previous life, or perhaps the past was still like a reflection in a mirror, a flower in the water. Su Mingxiu found that when she made this decision, she did not feel the pain and discomfort she had imagined, “I will not hand her over.”
“If the elders want to ignore the truth and make things difficult for us, this disciple cannot obey.”
The dust in the sunlight suddenly swayed, as if captured by an unknown force, stopping its movement in the light. The overlapping figures of green and red standing on the ruins, even the fluttering of their robes, were obediently subdued, as if captured by something.
The backlit figure, with stray hairs casting shadows on her forehead, yet miraculously gathering some scattered light in her eyes, like the sparkling of a lake, inadvertently cutting one’s gaze.
And all of this was unknown to Sui Yihuan, who was asleep.
She seemed to be captured by a nightmare from ancient legends, deeply trapped in that blood-colored purgatory, unable to extricate herself.
She found herself back at the Qiangshan Sect, but the sect was silent. Not even the hooting of owls could be heard in the middle of the night. Only a blood moon illuminated the sky.
Sui Yihuan pushed open the gate with her bare feet, wanting to find her father. As the heavy gate creaked open, what was revealed to her was a human purgatory. The terrifying blood color spread out from the ground like a spider web, like the most ominous curse in the world.
The blood was so strange, who knows how many lives had to be filled to make it so vivid. And this formation seemed to have a life of its own, beating with her gaze.
Sui Yihuan’s ominous feeling grew stronger. She instinctively wanted to find her father, but as she pushed open one door after another, she was only greeted by mountains of corpses and seas of blood—
Until finally, in front of the family ancestral hall, she saw the figure standing there. She remembered that since her mother passed away, her father always liked to come here to accompany her mother when he had time, bringing her mother’s favorite green rice balls, which were made with seafood filling, a unique specialty of the Thirteen Schools, and each family had a different flavor.
She breathed a sigh of relief, ignoring the anomalies in her mind. She carefully walked over, deliberately circling to the front of the figure, as if seeking salvation, or as if she had suffered for a long time and wanted comfort from her family, “Father… do you know what’s outside…”
The rest of the words were suppressed in her throat by an invisible force.
Sui Yihuan’s eyes widened, her eyes bloodshot—
She saw a silver light piercing into the man’s chest. Although it did not pierce through his heart, it was firmly nailed to the position of his heart. The silver had penetrated so deeply into his body that one could clearly imagine the scene of a shattered heart.
This light was too bright, the only dazzling existence in the bloody hell. Sui Yihuan was even hurt by it, but she didn’t dare to move, nor did she dare to touch it. She just stood there in a daze, staring at it intently.
No one in the world was more familiar with this silver light than she was. This was the sea beast dragon bone that her father brought back from the sea on her tenth birthday. Her mother drew a picture and had craftsmen grind it little by little into a fan, named “Lake and Mountain Scenery.” Her parents always felt that she lived by the sea all year round and couldn’t see the beautiful scenery on land.
So they spared no effort to collect famous paintings of various landscapes in the nine continents, embroidered them on the screens in the house, placed them on the eaves and walls, and now, it was also engraved on her birthday gift.
“Have you remembered?”
A familiar, malicious laughter sounded from above.
Sui Yihuan trembled all over, but an infinite hatred arose in her heart, hating the creator of this illusion for concocting such a sinister dream.
She ran out without looking back, as if this way she could escape the scope of the illusion, and not have to see this clumsy hell on earth.
On the way, Sui Yihuan tripped over a stone and fell, her knees covered in blood. But she couldn’t escape that voice, “Do you remember, when you were young, you were weak and often sleepwalked. Every time you woke up in a different place, the entire Qiangshan Sect had to send people to look for you.”
“That was not you sleepwalking. It was your bloodthirsty demon bloodline following its instincts, finding supplements for you. Look how well you’ve grown now. You can finally leave the Qiangshan Sect and see the scenery your parents always wanted you to see.”
“Shut up! Get lost!” Sui Yihuan picked up the stone stained with her blood and threw it around randomly.
Then she saw that the part of her palm stained with blood also emitted the same light as the formation in the house earlier, as if it had its own consciousness.
She knew that it was because she had not yet escaped the illusion. So she ran all the way forward, hearing that voice chasing after her, “I knew you wouldn’t accept the present world. Never mind, the demon race has been dormant for tens of thousands of years, they don’t care about this short time. If you want to escape by forgetting again, then forget.”
Sui Yihuan covered her ears and ran forward. As she ran, she heard the sound of the wind beside her ears. The heavy shackles on her body seemed to be blown away by the wind. She felt that her whole body had become lighter. When she was exhausted, she fell asleep by the roadside.
When she woke up again, Sui Yihuan was awakened by her servants, “Miss, the rules of the Hundred Flower Sect are not like those of our Qiangshan Sect. Today is the first day of class at the Cultivation Conference. If you are late, you might be punished.”
“What?”
She woke up in a daze, sat up in bed, and smelled a particularly fragrant scent from the soft, non-salty wind. She realized that she was not in the Qiangshan Sect. She had to ask, “What Hundred Flower Sect?”
“Miss, don’t you remember?” The servant looked at her strangely, “You came here to participate in this Cultivation Conference on the Sect Leader’s orders. Yesterday you told me you would perform well. Oh dear, time is running out. Miss, don’t forget the mountain of the first class. It would be troublesome if you were late.”
She was hurriedly called up. When she walked out of the room, she saw a small pond next to her house, where pink and white flowers swayed gracefully. She vaguely remembered that these seemed to be lotus flowers.
Naturally, Sui Yihuan walked out of this Lotus House, not knowing where to go to class. After asking people along the way, she was still in a daze when she arrived at the classroom.
“I hate it when people are late to my class.” The lecturing elder looked at her with a cold expression, the gold trim on his collar almost blinding her eyes. Sui Yihuan was stunned for a moment. When all the unfamiliar cultivators in the class looked over, she heard the other person’s judgment, “Go to the Law Enforcement Hall to receive your punishment. Since you are late, you don’t need to attend this class.”
Having gotten lost for a long time before finding this place, Sui Yihuan: “…?”
She opened her mouth, but was intimidated by the complicated rules of the Hundred Flower Sect. Unfamiliar with the place, she could only shut her mouth, turn around dejectedly, go back down the mountain, and ask for directions to the Law Enforcement Hall.
After climbing the mountain road again, when she arrived at the gate of the Law Enforcement Hall, Sui Yihuan was attracted by a figure standing in the flower bushes. Especially when the other person turned around, the wind blew her hair, revealing her delicate face, which made Sui Yihuan think of the gracefully swaying lotus flowers in the pond when she left the courtyard earlier.
But such a small pond seemed to be a sacrilege to her.
She stared blankly. When the other person noticed her gaze and glanced at her diagonally, her eyes curved, and the shimmering light in her eyes was more dazzling than the surrounding flowers.
When Sui Yihuan came to her senses, she had already been staring blankly at this never-before-seen beauty as she walked closer, “Why has Daoist friend come here?”
Facing those eyes that seemed to be able to suck out one’s soul, Sui Yihuan suddenly came to her senses, hurriedly averted her impolite gaze, and said softly, “I… was late for class, and someone told me to come to the Law Enforcement Hall to receive punishment.”
Although she didn’t look at the other person, Sui Yihuan belatedly added a mole to the overly stunning face in her mind, right at the corner of her eye—
Perhaps it was to match the name of the Hundred Flower Sect. Only a sect that was so dazzling, full of fragrant flowers and colorful blooms, could raise such a beauty that one couldn’t take their eyes off her. Even a mole was perfectly placed. Just one glance made it hard to pull away.
“It’s Elder Yuejian’s class, right? You’re really unlucky to have been caught by her.”
A hint of a smile crept into the voice that fell into her ears.
Sui Yihuan didn’t know how to describe this wonderful sound on land. Anyway, she felt that she had only heard such a beautiful voice when the merfolk in the sea sang.
So she was also bewitched by this voice, “Come in with me.”
After blankly following her in, she saw this beauty take out a black wooden ruler. And she obediently held out her hand, receiving a blow. Only then did she quickly withdraw her palm, as if bitten by a jellyfish.
“Ah!”
The exclamation was full of disbelief, not at all reacting to the fact that the other person had hit her.
The enforcer was also surprised by her reaction. After a moment, her eyes curved into a smile, “You’re the first person I’ve seen who reacted so genuinely to receiving punishment—”
Sui Yihuan felt that she was being mocked.
Perhaps the major sects were like this, doing things by the book, even receiving punishment with a stiff upper lip. For a moment, she felt the embarrassment of coming from a remote place to a prosperous capital. In the other person’s gentle gaze, she felt ashamed and didn’t know why she was so embarrassed.
She held out her hand again, gritted her teeth, and saw that her palm was already red and swollen from just that one blow, with a raised ridge. The wound was painful and numb. Even when her father had disciplined her with the family law in the Qiangshan Sect, she had never felt such pain.
After all, she was a cultivator, and her body had been tempered by spiritual power.
Until the ruler made a whooshing sound and the second blow landed in exactly the same place, Sui Yihuan still couldn’t help it. Her eyelashes trembled fiercely, tears welled up in her eyes, and she let out a short, suppressed sound of pain from her throat.
Wh-why did it hurt so much?
For a moment, she wished this person would cut off her arm. She would rather endure the pain of a severed arm than this unbearable pain in her flesh.
After five blows—
Sui Yihuan’s forehead was covered in sweat, her back was also wet, and she could barely stand.
When the ruler was raised, she no longer had time to think about beauty or flower spirits. She just held her red and swollen palm, the skin of which had become thin, with tears in her eyes, thinking, I want to go home. Why did I come to this place to suffer?
“I forgot to tell Daoist friend earlier, the instruments of punishment in our Law Enforcement Hall all need to be empowered with spiritual power. Perhaps it is because I have natural thunder spiritual power that the punishment I administer is particularly painful and unbearable. If Daoist friend doesn’t mind, take this spiritual pill first, otherwise you might not be able to sleep tonight.”
The beauty handed her a white porcelain bottle.
Sui Yihuan, who had rarely suffered such hardship, sternly refused. As she turned around, enduring the pain, she thought to herself, I’m so stupid, really. I was just bewitched by beauty and didn’t know that the beautiful flowers in this world are all poisonous.
If I had been able to take my eyes off her when I entered the Law Enforcement Hall and look at someone else… I wouldn’t have been beaten so badly by someone with thunder spiritual power! And I wouldn’t be so embarrassed!
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