Chapter 211: So I’m the Protagonist After All (7)
The earring, condensed from the essence of the spring flowers in the garden, floated in front of Sui Yihuan. She stared at the two connected snowflakes, one large and one small, and was momentarily blinded by the moonlight refracted by the snowflake petals—
Then she saw a sea of fire surrounding the place, completely different from the warm spring scenery she was currently in. All the flowers she saw were reduced to ashes.
And this lotus spirit stood in the center of the sea of flowers, her sleeves torn, blood on the corners of her lips. But she didn’t make a move to save a single flower, just quietly watching everything burn, her eyes empty, not knowing what she was thinking.
Oh no.
It’s an illusion again!
Sui Yihuan’s right fingertips curled tightly, her nails digging into her palm, but before she could even feel the pain, she was already back in the garden under the gentle moonlight.
She calmed herself, her eyes full of vigilance as she looked in Su Mingxiu’s direction, unconsciously pursing her lips.
“Daoist friend… don’t you like this gift?”
Su Mingxiu didn’t know why she suddenly put on such a defensive posture. Uncharacteristically, a hint of confusion appeared in her eyes.
“We are neither friends nor family, and I have done nothing to deserve it. Why are you giving me this?”
Hearing her ask this, Su Mingxiu thought of the Hundred Flower Sect, which would soon be ravaged by the demon army. Her gaze softened a lot, sweeping over the surrounding flowers. She said lightly, “I just thought that before they disappear, I should try to preserve this beauty as much as possible.”
Although she didn’t know why Sui Yihuan didn’t like this gift, Su Mingxiu didn’t want to force her to accept it. After saying this, she quickly reached out, as if to destroy the snowflake earring floating in the air. “Forget it… I was being presumptuous.”
Even though she was still concerned about the strange illusionary scene earlier, at this moment, seeing the snowflake about to shatter in Su Mingxiu’s spiritual power, Sui Yihuan suddenly felt a tightness in her chest, an indescribable pain. In this strange feeling, she instinctively stopped her, “Don’t!”
Her palm reached out and firmly grasped the snowflake earring before Su Mingxiu’s spiritual power could reach it.
Fortunately, Su Mingxiu hadn’t used much force and was able to disperse the condensed spiritual power in time, so she didn’t injure Sui Yihuan’s hand in her rash protective action.
As if understanding her confusion, Sui Yihuan herself couldn’t explain why she had to keep this earring.
She even remembered that from the first time she stepped into this little garden, she felt a rare sense of peace…
And an indescribable sadness. Even though it was her first time here, it was as if this tranquility and peace were as fragile and easily shattered as a dream.
—As if she had once tried everything to preserve it.
“You… How can you be so overbearing when giving gifts?” Suspecting that she might be suffering from the aftereffects of an illusion, Sui Yihuan held the angular snowflake, looking at Su Mingxiu unhappily.
Since their reunion, Su Mingxiu, under the close watch of the Heavenly Dao, had been particularly restrained, almost not daring to reveal her true nature. Hearing the word “overbearing,” she raised an eyebrow.
She felt that… she couldn’t quite figure out Sui Yihuan’s thoughts at this moment.
But seeing that she had changed her mind and refused to hand over the earring, Su Mingxiu could only let her be. She even acknowledged her accusation, only calculating the time and casually asking, “Are you hungry? Do you want a midnight snack?”
Sui Yihuan: “?”
She couldn’t keep up with this flower spirit’s train of thought. She looked up at the moon above her in a daze. Then she thought of the dishes she had seen in the dining hall in the evening, and her face turned the color of vegetables. She shook her head vigorously.
Su Mingxiu seemed to be able to read her mind, smilingly adding, “It’s not from the dining hall. The taste is about the same as the food box I gave you earlier. Even so, you don’t want to try it?”
The person shaking her head suddenly seemed to be hit by a immobilization spell.
She wavered between restraint and honesty.
Just as she was about to make a decision, she saw the owner of the small garden walking out of the flower bushes. Sui Yihuan quickly took two steps to follow her. Just as they walked out of the spiritual garden, they saw two figures walking towards them on the fragrant path.
The person in front was wearing a black outfit with the Sword Sect emblem on the collar and cuffs. As for the one behind…
Even without a sect emblem, just from the exaggerated bells on her wrists and ankles, and the fragrance that was completely different from the natural floral scent around them, it was obvious that this was a disciple of the Joyful Union Sect.
Coincidentally.
Su Mingxiu, who was walking in front, also wanted to turn around when she saw these two people. Unfortunately, the swordsman had good eyesight and called out to her before she could turn, “Daoist friend Su.”
When Xiao Xingwei spoke, the expression of the Joyful Union Sect disciple beside him was particularly ugly. But they were on someone else’s territory, so she finally called out her name in a low voice, “Su Mingxiu.”
But her eyes were full of “you better not interfere.”
…Su Mingxiu?
Hearing this name, Sui Yihuan felt that it suited the Hundred Flower Sect more and more. Her gaze was fixed on the grass at her feet, her mind wandering as she wondered which two characters made up the pronunciation of Mingxiu.
But the protagonist, who was being watched by all three of them, seemed not to see Xiao Xingwei’s gaze, nor did she care about the person from the Joyful Union Sect. She just walked up to the two of them very coldly, “Excuse me.”
Xiao Xingwei didn’t move. The Joyful Union Sect disciple’s expression became even uglier. In the end, it was the Sword Sect’s leader who broke the strange atmosphere, “Daoist friend Su, the conference hasn’t started yet, and we are new here. We don’t know the rules of the Hundred Flower Sect. We have forgotten how to get back to our lodging. We hope Daoist friend can help us.”
“I’m busy.”
Su Mingxiu didn’t believe his words.
First, when these disciples were brought in, the Hundred Flower Sect had explained the rules and designated the areas they could and could not go to.
Even if someone really couldn’t remember, the temporary tokens they were issued could also serve as guides.
Second, she was very annoyed by this protagonist chosen by the Heavenly Dao and didn’t want to get involved with him.
Unfortunately, fate was not up to her.
The thing that hadn’t come out when she was interacting with Sui Yihuan earlier, now that it saw Xiao Xingwei, it couldn’t wait to come out and annoy her again: “Don’t forget the task I gave you, and don’t forget what you promised me. You better not refuse Xiao Xingwei’s request.”
“So this is the hospitality of the Hundred Flower Sect. No wonder it’s the most declining of the Four Sects. In my opinion, if you don’t want to hold this conference, you should give up the opportunity early. Forcing yourself to take on something you can’t handle, your greed is too ugly.”
The woman from the Joyful Union Sect moved a little closer to Xiao Xingwei, her voice dripping with artificial sweetness, but her sarcasm was very sharp.
Even Sui Yihuan, who didn’t want to get involved, frowned.
Suddenly—
A willow branch from a nearby tree, which was thick enough to cover the path and had lush, drooping branches, whipped towards the Joyful Union Sect disciple without warning. The blow directly shattered the protective treasure worn on her body. The woman only had time to close her eyes and scream, thinking that the branch was going to land on her face.
“Ah!”
But only a gentle breeze passed by, and nothing happened.
The sudden attack of the willow tree seemed to be just a punishment for her disrespect to the Hundred Flower Sect. Or perhaps it was because Xiao Xingwei, who was beside her, summoned his Tai’e Sword, looking around vigilantly while raising his hand to protect her, “Daoist friend Xuan.”
When he said her surname, Su Mingxiu finally remembered the name of this Joyful Union Sect disciple. Xuan Chan was the leader of the Joyful Union Sect’s disciples in this generation, and also one of Xiao Xingwei’s admirers.
A male protagonist with exceptional cultivation talent, a female supporting character full of malice towards other women, and this melodramatic plot full of suffering and torment. Thinking that she was once a part of this brainless story, Su Mingxiu felt a surge of disgust towards the Heavenly Dao.
She didn’t say a word from beginning to end. At this moment, she just turned sideways and reached out to Sui Yihuan, “Let’s go.”
At this moment.
Xuan Chan, who was being protected by Xiao Xingwei, thought of her fear of almost being disfigured by the willow tree. Seeing that Su Mingxiu still didn’t take her seriously, she was overcome with anger and malice. She turned the bells on her wrist, releasing a Nascent Soul spiritual power that her master had placed in it towards Su Mingxiu!
“Be careful!”
“Xuan Chan!”
Seeing this attack, Sui Yihuan could only widen her eyes, instinctively grasping the hand that Su Mingxiu had just extended to her.
Xiao Xingwei, who reacted a little faster than her, could see the trajectory of this Nascent Soul spiritual power, but he was completely unable to do anything about it. He could only shout at Xuan Chan, who had suddenly launched a killing move.
You’re courting death.
Facing the killing intent of this spiritual power phantom, Su Mingxiu was about to respond when she heard a rumbling sound. Her eyes, which had gathered killing intent, paused. She remembered that the movement of the Hundred Flower Sect’s protective formation was nearby. Now that the protective formation was already abnormal, if it was hit by this Nascent Soul spiritual power, it would probably…
“Stop!” Before the spiritual power could hit Su Mingxiu, the Heavenly Dao shouted in terror, “Didn’t you say you didn’t want to be the female protagonist anymore! I grant you freedom, but don’t get in my way. Since Xiao Xingwei has been chosen by me as the protagonist, he also needs a female lead to match him. This Xuan Chan is the new female lead I have chosen for him!”
【If you don’t want Sui Yihuan to be chosen by me, let her go this time!】
The thunder spiritual power gathered in her sleeve dissipated. Su Mingxiu let her body fall into the crack that had opened in the path, just missing the spiritual power that was about to hit her.
The dark, bottomless chasm swallowed everyone on the path.
Su Mingxiu, who fell first, looked at the panicked Sui Yihuan above and finally couldn’t resist. She gathered her spiritual power into a rope, wrapped it around the other person’s waist, and pulled her into her arms to protect her.
At the same time, she saw the red light flashing from Xiao Xingwei’s Tai’e Sword. He should be busy catching Xuan Chan.
During the endless fall, Su Mingxiu released her spiritual power to probe the surrounding environment. She didn’t forget to communicate with the Heavenly Dao, “Saving her life wasn’t part of our previous agreement. If you want to protect her, you have to offer something in exchange.”
【…】
Although it knew she was blackmailing it, the Heavenly Dao also knew that if it wanted its chosen Child of Heaven to continue to exist, it had to rely on Su Mingxiu’s power. So it quickly said, “The center of the protective formation is right below, the array eye that Ye Qingbai altered. Your previous actions must have made her realize something was wrong, and Xuan Chan’s Nascent Soul attack made Ye Qingbai target you. She now wants to pull the intruders to the bottom of the array as nutrients.”
【You must not let my male and female leads fall into this! There is a cave five hundred meters diagonally below, leading to the back mountain of the Hundred Flower Sect where the ancestors are sleeping.】
Almost as soon as the Heavenly Dao’s voice fell, Su Mingxiu had already turned around in mid-air with the person in her arms. Before her spiritual power could even spread out, the silver fan in the person’s hand pierced into the cliff, and at the same time, she wrapped her arm around her waist.
“You flower spirit…”
Sui Yihuan didn’t know why she had suddenly fallen towards Su Mingxiu’s direction. But this didn’t stop her from frowning and lecturing the other person, “At such a dangerous time, it’s one thing for you not to run yourself, but we are neither friends nor family. Why did you let yourself cushion my fall?”
Su Mingxiu: “?”
She was stunned for a moment.
She hadn’t decided whether to ask Sui Yihuan what “flower spirit” meant first, or to explain that she wasn’t trying to cushion her fall earlier.
But seeing that the silver fan that the other person had inserted into the cliff was bending precariously because it was bearing the weight of two people, she said quickly, “I think I saw a cave. Why don’t I jump over and check it out first, and then you can come over?”
Huh?
Thinking that she had just escaped death under the attack of the Joyful Union Sect disciple, and now she was almost smashed to pieces, how could Sui Yihuan agree to let her explore the way? But before she could refuse, the other person easily pried her fingers open and let her body free fall.
“Hey!”
Sui Yihuan’s voice came from below, full of anxiety. Su Mingxiu naturally heard it, but as soon as she landed in the cave, she found that it was full of poisonous snakes, like a snake den. Fortunately, she had thunder spiritual power, which she released to stun them all. Because she didn’t know if Sui Yihuan was afraid of snakes or not.
So when she let the other person jump down, she caught her but didn’t let go, planning to carry her forward.
Struggling for a moment and finding that she was as if locked by vines, unable to jump down, the red-clothed cultivator’s face instantly turned as red as her clothes in the darkness. She clung to Su Mingxiu’s shoulder, trying to get down, “You… let go!”
This frivolous flower spirit!
She knew that these spirits were all libertines! She had actually been deceived by Su Mingxiu’s cold appearance earlier!
“Are you sure, Daoist friend Sui? There are bones everywhere in this cave. They are probably the remains of the predecessors of my Hundred Flower Sect who once cultivated here. Daoist friend is unfamiliar with this place, can you release your divine sense? Otherwise, you might inadvertently offend the predecessors.”
Taking advantage of the fact that the child was polite, Su Mingxiu missed the scent on her body and held the fragrant jade in her arms, speaking nonsense with a straight face.
The person in her arms really fell silent, and she didn’t even dare to struggle too hard, for fear that she would step on the skull of some predecessor as soon as she landed, and be accused of disrespect by the Hundred Flower Sect.
But she had never been so close to anyone other than her mother in her life, let alone being held in this “princess carry” style. Smelling the fragrance of the mortal flowers on the other person’s body, she could feel the temperature on her neck rising.
“Daoist friend Su… are you always so intimate with people?”
Realizing that her current thoughts were inexplicably dangerous, and fortunately it was pitch black in this cave, Sui Yihuan thought that the other person wouldn’t release her divine sense, just to be familiar with the terrain, so she began to randomly change the subject.
Su Mingxiu carried her towards the depths of the cave. The aura she released scared the bats roosting in the cave into hanging on the rock wall, not daring to move. She lowered her gaze and saw Sui Yihuan’s tomato-colored face and the skin on her collarbone. The smile in her eyes deepened.
But getting benefits also had its drawbacks.
The rare, pure object of her affection… was right at her lips, but she couldn’t eat it.
She could only rely on her memory to move forward, while casually replying, “Not really.”
Oh.
Sui Yihuan understood. Then she felt that she must have been overthinking. Perhaps Su Mingxiu wasn’t being frivolous. Both times she was abrupt, it was just to save her—she really shouldn’t have taken advantage of the situation.
【Excuse me,】 the Heavenly Dao said woodenly in Su Mingxiu’s ear, “May I ask when my great former female protagonist will remember that the current male and female leads are still outside in a perilous cave?”
At that time, Su Mingxiu was passing through this long cave towards the back mountain of the Hundred Flower Sect. Thinking of a certain opportunity she had obtained when she accidentally fell into it, she casually made a hand seal and threw it out, replying casually, “Don’t worry, they won’t die.”
Xiao Xingwei, who was flying unsteadily in the air for the first time while carrying someone, felt that the spiritual power consumed by his flying sword was faster than ever before because of the strange attraction from the ground.
Fortunately, just as he was about to be unable to support Xuan Chan, she keenly discovered a mountain cave entrance with a Hundred Flower Sect entry sign. The flying sword wobbled and fell.
Xuan Chan, who was still in shock, had just landed and hadn’t had time to complain about this damn place of the Hundred Flower Sect when she screamed again, “Ah!”
“Brother Xiao, my ankle hurts so much… I think I was bitten by something.” Xuan Chan fell to the ground, touched something, and screamed again. The man, who had originally wanted to go outside to see if he could save Su Mingxiu, was stunned. When the sword light illuminated the area, they both turned pale at the sight of the poisonous snakes on the ground.
Fifteen minutes later.
After clearing the poisonous snakes, Xiao Xingwei cautiously looked towards the depths of the cave with his sword, wanting to take Xuan Chan away from this place. But the person who had been resting nearby was now blushing, breathing heavily, looking at him with watery eyes, and saying in pain, “Brother Xiao, I’m so hot, I feel like I’m going to be burned to death…”
While the two of them were in danger from the snake venom, Su Mingxiu carried Sui Yihuan to the exit of the cave and smelled a refreshing, cool fragrance.
Sui Yihuan only felt refreshed, as if all the dangers she had experienced tonight had been smoothed out. She felt as if she were soaked in a jade liquid full of spiritual energy. Fatigue, unhappiness, all negative emotions disappeared, and her state of mind was exceptionally peaceful.
“It’s the Serene Realm Grass.”
After the pleasant voice entered her ears, Sui Yihuan found that the other person had finally put her down. Then, the green-clothed female cultivator walked to a corner where a crystalline light was emanating, squatted down, and observed the green herb with jade-like leaves.
This grass only bore fruit once every thousand years. Before fruiting, it would instinctively sense danger, releasing an illusion to trap those who coveted it, both humans and beasts, forever. The fragrance emitted by the leaves could create illusions.
But the fruit it bore was the best antidote. Once eaten, one would be immune to all illusions from then on, free from these false troubles, and their state of mind would be clear and bright.
In the previous life, this was what Su Mingxiu found when she was hiding in the back mountain of the sect, just as the sect was about to be destroyed.
It was because of this Serene Realm Fruit that she was able to maintain her true heart no matter what danger she was in, go through all the hardships, and never fall into the demonic path.
When Sui Yihuan heard this, she only felt that it sounded familiar. Because she had lived at sea all her life, she was very familiar with things from the sea.
But she was not very familiar with the treasures of heaven and earth on land. So she couldn’t remember what it was for a long time. She only vigilantly tugged at Su Mingxiu’s sleeve, “Usually there are natural spirit beasts guarding treasures. We should be careful.”
Su Mingxiu didn’t say that the spirit beast guarding this herb had long since fallen into an unending dream. In this dim light, she just smiled and asked her, “Do you know what the characteristics of this grass’s fruit are?”
“I don’t know.”
Before she could say the next sentence, the Heavenly Dao warned in time, “Since you are no longer the protagonist! You cannot take the protagonist’s opportunity! You must leave this fruit for Xiao Xingwei.”
Hearing it say this, Su Mingxiu’s eyebrows twitched again.
—Why should she give her things to others?
“The protagonist can’t be too greedy. Besides, Xiao Xingwei already has the best opportunity that others can’t even ask for. Why should he take all the luck in the world?” She replied meaningfully.
Heavenly Dao: “What best opportunity?”
【Me, a person as powerful as me, will be his support and cheat. From now on, in these nine continents and four seas, who can harm him even a little bit?】
Su Mingxiu’s sarcasm choked the Heavenly Dao. At the same time, she quickly reached out and plucked the Serene Realm Fruit. The green, transparent, water-drop-like fruit looked delicious. She said to Sui Yihuan, her voice not too loud or too soft, as if talking to herself, “I heard it’s very sweet. I’ll try it.”
Thinking that this lotus spirit was always verbally and even physically bullied by others and didn’t dare to fight back, Sui Yihuan was very suspicious of her judgment, especially when she heard her unreliable description of this treasure. She subconsciously wanted to tell her to be more cautious, “Wait!”
No matter what, she should check the sect’s records first. She had heard that many treasures and poisonous things looked very tempting. What if this was poisonous!
She hurried over, her lips slightly parted, approaching Su Mingxiu to tell her to be careful. Who knew that the person who was about to put the fruit in her mouth suddenly turned her wrist and stuffed the green fruit into her lips.
Caught off guard, the person who had just finished speaking didn’t have time to react. She wanted to spit out the fruit, but found that this spiritual object melted into a cool, sweet liquid as soon as it entered her mouth, like a cold summer drink, melting in her mouth, directly sinking into her throat, and falling into her stomach.
Then, she felt a cool and refreshing sensation throughout her body, but her dantian was warm. And her realm, which had been fixed at the Great Perfection stage of Foundation Establishment, loosened a little.
It was a spiritual object.
From her spiritual platform to her meridians, every inch of her reaction was the most direct way of telling her what good thing she had just eaten.
The green-clothed female cultivator was still squatting beside the grass, a smile on her lips, making the small mole at the corner of her eye seem to shimmer. “How is it? This midnight snack tastes good, doesn’t it?”
Sui Yihuan: “…”
She stared wide-eyed, not understanding why Su Mingxiu could so casually stuff such an opportunity into her mouth and ask her how it tasted in such a joking tone.
This! Was this a midnight snack!
“You… you’re simply being unreasonable.”
Hearing her say this, the cultivator squatting on the ground stood up. Because the cave was narrow, barely enough for two people to pass through, at this moment, as Su Mingxiu approached, Sui Yihuan wanted to retreat, but her lower back was already pressed against the cold wall.
The “lotus spirit” approaching her seemed unaware of this. Her nose almost touched her lip bead, and the warm, moist breath from her speech fell on her neck. After sniffing lightly, Su Mingxiu asked with certainty, “Isn’t it sweet?”
“Or, are you trying to trick me into trying it too?”
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