Chapter 25: The Destined-to-be-Abandoned Good-for-Nothing (5) p1
Su Mingxiu silently recited the Heart-Clearing Mantra a few times, ignoring Gui Mian’s breath on her jaw. She helped Gui Mian sit up properly on the lotus leaf, her voice laced with spiritual power, reaching the other party’s mind without obstruction: “I will now impart the Heartless Sword Art to you. You must carefully remember every word I say…”
The little disciple struggled to open her eyes in the dense spiritual mist, her every breath carrying warmth, intertwining with the cold mist around her. The water droplets on her cheeks and jaw became even more concentrated.
Then, with every blink and every sound she made, those tiny droplets of water fell onto the lotus leaf below, the faint sounds echoing in the silence of Mount Lingyu’s peak, stirring one’s imagination.
Su Mingxiu, standing behind her with her palm against Gui Mian’s back, ignored these sounds. As she imparted the cultivation method, she absorbed the cold spiritual mist from the air into her body and channeled it all into Gui Mian through her palm.
Gui Mian was currently at the Qi Refining stage, not yet considered a true cultivator in the strict sense. Qi Refining was merely body tempering, strengthening the body by coating it with spiritual energy. Even ordinary blacksmiths, martial artists, and soldiers could reach this level through years of rigorous training.
Only by reaching Foundation Establishment could one truly embark on the path of cultivation.
Foundation Establishment not only required guiding spiritual energy into the body, but more importantly, into the sea of consciousness. By using spiritual energy to cleanse the sea of consciousness and then following the cultivation method, one would guide the spiritual energy through the twelve meridians and eight extraordinary meridians, finally storing it in the dantian. Through continuous cultivation, one would stabilize the sea of consciousness, expand the meridians, and accumulate spiritual energy in the dantian, allowing for further progress.
What Su Mingxiu wanted to do was to use the power of the spiritual spring to gradually infuse the surrounding free-flowing spiritual energy into Gui Mian in a way she could absorb, using it to cleanse the chaotic energy in her sea of consciousness—
If this method worked, let alone three months, according to the protagonist’s law, Gui Mian might even reach Foundation Establishment within this month.
The system, guessing her intention, sneered in her mind.
Soon.
Su Mingxiu felt the first strand of spiritual energy she had guided into Gui Mian’s sea of consciousness being unceremoniously swallowed by the chaotic energy within. But there was no change in the little girl’s body.
It was as if… that chaotic energy was connected to another realm, directly transferring the spiritual energy she had infused.
It was too strange.
Gui Mian was still trying to sit up straight, carefully repeating the cultivation method Su Mingxiu had just imparted, word by word. The spiritual energy flowed through her meridians and reached her sea of consciousness, but it was cut off there, unable to complete even a single cycle. But the little girl seemed to be used to this situation and remained unfazed, persistently repeating the process, failing again and again.
Seeing this, Su Mingxiu concentrated for a moment. Then, as if sensing her intention, the entire spring’s spiritual mist surged towards them, even her grey and black ink-stained robe billowed as if caught in a strong wind.
Su Mingxiu increased her absorption speed to the limit, a faint blue light even emanating from her palm that was pressed against Gui Mian’s back—
She was still very cautious. Her idea seemed crazy, but she was careful in her experiment, afraid that her current level of spiritual energy would burden Gui Mian’s sea of consciousness. She was ready to withdraw all her spiritual energy as soon as the chaotic energy in Gui Mian’s sea of consciousness dissipated even slightly.
However, this vast amount of spiritual energy, far exceeding what a Foundation Establishment disciple needed, even surpassing the level of a Golden Core cultivator, not only didn’t make the chaotic energy retreat, but instead seemed to provoke a slumbering beast. The grey mist, which had been passively absorbing spiritual energy before, now reached out towards the spiritual energy Su Mingxiu was infusing.
In the blink of an eye, the vast amount of spiritual energy, like a river flowing into Gui Mian’s sea of consciousness, was completely swallowed by the grey mist.
And that wasn’t all.
The grey mist, originally confined to the sea of consciousness, was awakened from its slumber. Now, it relentlessly reached towards the source of the spiritual energy…
“Pfft!”
Soon, Su Mingxiu coughed up a mouthful of blood.
The sound startled Gui Mian from her cultivation. She turned around in confusion and saw the woman clutching her chest, a bright red stain on her pale lips. She widened her eyes and called out in a daze: “Master…”
She pointed at the mark on Su Mingxiu’s lips. “Blood… You’re injured.”
Su Mingxiu couldn’t suppress the sweet and metallic taste in her throat. Her gaze towards Gui Mian darkened. Remembering the scene of the grey mist in Gui Mian’s sea of consciousness entwining with her own spiritual energy and forcefully absorbing it, she couldn’t help but guess that this female lead might have a hidden identity.
She wiped the blood from her lips with the back of her hand, coughed, and said in a low voice: “It’s nothing.”
It was just that her spiritual energy was temporarily depleted, causing her old injuries from the celestial lightning to flare up.
The system, finally seeing her suffer, couldn’t help but laugh loudly in her mind. Its maniacal laughter gave Su Mingxiu a headache. Just as she was about to block the noise in her sea of consciousness, the system finally stopped and said slowly:
[Congratulations, you haven’t even started the mission, and you’re already experiencing the penalty for failure.]
Then, as if guessing that Su Mingxiu wouldn’t respond, it continued on its own: “You’re really strange. You want to complete the mission and repair your soul, but you always resist the mission, as if you’re afraid I’m trying to harm the protagonist—
In the end, these protagonists in the small worlds just happen to look like someone you had a connection with in the past. Why go to such lengths for her?”
[Besides, I remember that your relationship with that person… was just a fleeting encounter.]
Hearing its reminder, Su Mingxiu didn’t know if it was because of the pain in her bones or something else, but a face from long ago appeared before her eyes. In fact, she couldn’t remember that person very clearly anymore.
Even the reason why she had fallen in love had become blurry.
The memories of her time with Yu Yinglan in the last world were much more vivid. She even couldn’t help but think, if Yu Yinglan was a little younger, wouldn’t she be just like Gui Mian now?
After thinking about it, she felt that it wasn’t quite the same—Yu Yinglan was pretending to be well-behaved, but Gui Mian was genuinely good.
Despite not understanding human emotions and desires, she had been brought to the Sword Sect by a master with ulterior motives, neglected and left to fend for herself. Yet she had grown up well, even kinder than most people in the mortal world. If properly guided, she would definitely become an outstanding cultivator.
As the protagonist, wouldn’t it be better for her to live a peaceful and happy life? Why did she have to go through hardships?
Su Mingxiu lowered her eyes, seeing the bloodstains on her sleeve, and replied to the system in her mind: “If you think it’s for her own good, why threaten me with failure penalties, afraid that I’ll show mercy while giving me the mission?”
The system said angrily: “Because you’re too rebellious!”
She let out an “Oh” and said to the system: “Alright, then reveal the future world line plot to me. Let me see what kind of good life she’ll have. If I approve, you won’t have to bother with these small missions anymore. I’ll cooperate with you and follow the plot completely, achieving a win-win situation. How about that?”
“Uh…” After a moment of silence, the system refused: “No.”
Negotiations failed.
Su Mingxiu knew that it had ulterior motives, probably digging some kind of pit for Gui Mian. Thinking about Yu Yinglan in the last world, who had also started out obedient but later, after she completed the final mission, became a ticking time bomb on the verge of turning dark, and then looking at this adorable little disciple in front of her—
She suddenly said in a low voice:
“What kind of person they become, what kind of fate they have, should be up to them to decide.”
Gui Mian was worried about her injury. Seeing her master just sitting quietly in the spring, neither absorbing spiritual energy nor taking any bitter medicine to heal, she hesitated whether to remind her. Now, hearing her muttering to herself, she looked around and replied blankly: “Huh?”
Su Mingxiu raised her head, her ink-black eyes meeting Gui Mian’s. A faint smile appeared on her lips as she asked the little disciple in front of her softly: “Gui Mian, do you want to have emotions and desires like other people?”
“I…” Gui Mian looked into her eyes, not knowing how to answer. But at this moment, it was as if an invisible force was compelling her to nod.
So she lowered her head, then raised it again, nodding several times in a daze. “I do.”
“Then do you want to become an immortal?” Su Mingxiu asked again.
Become an immortal?
Actually, since being brought back to Sword Mountain and stumbling through her growth, Gui Mian had never thought about becoming an immortal. She was like a mirror, reflecting the other disciples who went to the Platform of Enlightenment to practice their swordsmanship every day. So she also found a sword and imitated their moves, practicing alongside them.
She saw how much the other disciples admired their masters and followed suit, being polite and obedient in front of Su Mingxiu.
In the past, it was mostly the eldest disciple, Qiongying, who taught her things. After listening to her teachings for so long, Gui Mian became very much like Qiongying.
But now that her master had started teaching her, she carefully mirrored the person in front of her. After thinking for a while, she asked: “Is becoming an immortal… like being like Master?”
She said: “Then I want to become an immortal.”
Su Mingxiu was amused by her seemingly thoughtful but actually clueless demeanor. “Do you even know what kind of person I am, and you want to be like me?”
Gui Mian wanted to follow up with the question, then what kind of person is Master?
But the words caught in her throat. Seeing the smile on that face, as cold and unchanging as the snow on Mount Lingyu, her eyes went blank for a moment, and the words that came out of her mouth inexplicably changed to: “Master’s smile…”
“Hmm?”
The little girl forgot what she was going to say, her gaze wandering aimlessly. Then, she looked up at the sky above Mount Lingyu, which had turned a greyish blue due to the cold air. As if struck by inspiration, she clapped her hands and exclaimed: “Like the stars in the sky!”
A gentle voice rang in her ears: “If you had once picked the brightest star in the sky, would you still be able to see the light from other stars?”
The speaker’s face gradually merged with the young face in front of her.
Su Mingxiu was momentarily lost in thought, then abruptly composed herself, her voice colder than ever: “You’re mistaken.”
She said: “Where are there stars during the day?”
Gui Mian nodded blankly, wanting to add that she was talking about the stars from last night, wanting to describe how bright that star was. But before she could speak, she was interrupted by Su Mingxiu suddenly standing up.
The water in the spiritual spring rippled, splashing droplets onto the lotus leaf, making it rustle. The little girl subconsciously closed her eyes.
When everything fell silent again, the girl sitting on the lotus leaf opened her eyes, but the other figure was gone.
Only a voice transmission reached her mind:
“Go to the Hundred Herbs Hall and find Elder Tian Nanxing. Tell him my old injury is acting up and ask him to prepare some medicine and send it over.”
“Cultivate on your own for the next few days.”
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