Chapter 26: The Destined-to-be-Abandoned Good-for-Nothing (6) p1
Hearing Su Mingxiu’s question, Gui Mian blinked, her innocent, doe-like eyes meeting Su Mingxiu’s directly. She replied matter-of-factly, “My senior sisters said that when Master teaches us diligently, as disciples, we should share her burdens.”
After a pause, she added dejectedly, “I’m not strong enough to fulfill my own wish.”
That’s why she had to resort to methods that other cultivators disdained, praying for the immortals’ blessings to protect Su Mingxiu’s health.
She thought she was only doing what any other disciple would do.
But Gui Mian didn’t know that other disciples wouldn’t steal lotus lanterns from mortals for their masters, nor would they be like her. Because she didn’t understand anything, this naive gesture of goodwill was especially precious.
Su Mingxiu stood by the spiritual spring for a while.
Then, she lowered her eyes, and with a wave of her sleeve, all the lotus lanterns in the spring floated into the sky. Amidst the boundless snow of Mount Lingyu, these floating lanterns were lit up again, swaying as they flew upwards with the help of spiritual energy. From afar, they looked like lotus flowers from the mortal world, boldly extending their branches and leaves towards the celestial realm.
Countless lotus lanterns were reflected in Gui Mian’s eyes. She watched as they flew higher and higher, letting out a loud “Wow,” her eyes seemingly lit up by the lights.
She wouldn’t know that none of these lotus lanterns truly belonged to her.
And the person who could fulfill her wish was standing right in front of her.
Su Mingxiu didn’t turn back to look at the lotus flowers rising into the sky. Instead, she gazed at the child who was barely as tall as her shoulder and asked, “Do you want to become stronger?”
Gui Mian looked away and nodded without hesitation: “Yes.”
“Even if you might encounter danger or even lose your life in the process, do you still want to become stronger?” she asked again.
This time, Gui Mian hesitated.
She had also been taught about life and death, knowing that the path of cultivation was the pursuit of immortality. Otherwise, they would be like mayflies, living for a day and dying at night. Even if there were countless other mayflies afterwards, they wouldn’t be the same one that had died.
Gui Mian knew that there were still many things she didn’t understand. If she died now, she might not have another chance to learn. So she said hesitantly, “Master…”
“You won’t let me die, right?”
Thinking of the love and care that Qiongying and the others said masters should have for their disciples, Gui Mian projected those expectations onto Su Mingxiu, her eyes full of trust.
Su Mingxiu met her gaze for a moment and nodded slightly: “Right.”
Gui Mian immediately smiled again and said with certainty: “Then I want to become stronger. I’ll definitely have many, many wishes in the future, and I want to fulfill them myself.”
Following the system’s guidance, Su Mingxiu brought Gui Mian to a small village a hundred miles away. Isolated from the larger towns, nestled deep within the mountains, the village was so small that after being ravaged by demons a few times, it had become deserted.
Judging from the situation, no one had lived here for at least half a year.
She first calculated the village’s fate, then deduced from the remaining traces that it was a demon, not a yao, that had wreaked havoc here.
Apart from the differences in their meridians, yao cultivators weren’t that different from human cultivators. Most decent yao cultivators wouldn’t harm human lives, afraid of facing divine retribution during their tribulations. Only those demonic creatures, born incompatible with the Heavenly Dao, were truly ruthless.
For them, increasing their cultivation and surviving were the most important things, so their methods were particularly cruel.
Including the encounter with the succubus, this would be Gui Mian’s second time facing a demon.
She set up a simple formation to assist Gui Mian, told her the demon’s cultivation level, and gave her a replica of her spiritual sword, “Floating Duckweed.” She said to her: “Go kill it.”
In her sea of consciousness, the small spiritual sword, which had been downgraded to an ordinary iron sword for Gui Mian’s use, buzzed in protest.
Su Mingxiu ignored it and expanded her divine sense, covering a radius of a hundred miles. She sat down in meditation by a withered tree in the center of the village, observing how her little disciple used the Sword Sect’s methods to track the demon, while asking the system in her mind:
[Can you tell me now what the protagonist’s true identity is?]
In the last world, as an agent, Su Mingxiu had read many scripts and knew that in these cultivation stories, orphaned protagonists without parents would eventually have their extraordinary origins revealed. They were either children of powerful immortals or possessed multiple bloodlines.
Little Gui Mian, which one was she?
The system was silent for a moment, as if calculating something. After a while, it replied: “You’ll find out later. For now, I’ll just give you a small piece of advice: stay away from her when she loses consciousness.”
Su Mingxiu stopped asking and turned her attention to her little disciple, who had already found the demon’s lair.
Then—
She watched helplessly as the little girl was kicked into the cave wall by the demon in less than fifteen minutes, coughing up a mouthful of blood.
Su Mingxiu’s brows slowly furrowed.
The Floating Duckweed sword, sensing her intention, shot out from her sea of consciousness. Its tip pointed towards the cave where the demon was hiding, and it let out a long, sharp cry.
Even though the Jade Elder’s cultivation had fallen to the Nascent Soul stage, she was still a former Great Ascension cultivator. The pressure from her natal sword alone was enough to make the demon tremble in fear.
Realizing that there was a greater danger watching it, the demon instinctively wanted to devour the insignificant creature in front of it and escape.
But as soon as it opened its mouth, it was sliced in half by a sword energy that spanned the entire mountain, disappearing without a trace.
System: “…”
Su Mingxiu clicked her tongue and explained to it: “You wouldn’t tell me Gui Mian’s true identity, how would I know if she could be saved after being swallowed by that thing?”
Knowing that she was deliberately using this opportunity to probe Gui Mian’s identity, the system still sneered and gave a vague hint: “Don’t worry, with the spiritual energy you infused earlier, no demon below the Golden Core stage can harm her.”
Su Mingxiu raised an eyebrow and heard the system continue coldly: “This is my only friendly suggestion. There are forty days left until the mission deadline. Please find other prey for the female lead to level up on your own.”
Because of Su Mingxiu’s excessive protectiveness, Gui Mian’s progress was repeatedly delayed.
But the little disciple was very obedient. Even though she was often beaten up after spending a lot of effort to enter a demon’s lair, only to have her master effortlessly eliminate the opponent from afar, making her suffer for nothing, she never complained. She went wherever Su Mingxiu pointed.
The only benefit was that her swordsmanship became more and more proficient.
At first, she would cough up blood after a few kicks from a mid-stage Foundation Establishment demon. Now, she could hold her own against an early-stage Foundation Establishment demon using the replica of the Floating Duckweed sword. The only downside was that she would devour all the food in a restaurant afterwards.
“Really, no more orders…”
The innkeeper smiled apologetically, looking at the empty plates piled up on their table, the result of who knows how many rounds of eating. He had just received a gold ingot from Su Mingxiu, but his smile still looked like a grimace. He said: “The kitchen has used up all the ingredients we had stored for half a month, and several chefs have collapsed from exhaustion. We really can’t serve you anymore. Would you two immortals please go to another restaurant?”
This was the first time he had felt both joy and sorrow while making money.
The joy came from the gold ingot that was more than enough to cover their bill.
The sorrow came from…
He had never seen anyone eat so much. Could they be monsters?
Su Mingxiu rested her hand on the windowsill. There was only a cup of hot tea in front of her. Hearing the innkeeper’s words, she turned her inquisitive gaze back to Gui Mian and asked softly: “Are you full?”
Gui Mian touched her stomach and thought for a moment, then replied: “I’m not hungry anymore.”
“Did you eat like this in the sect’s dining hall before?”
“Before… I wasn’t this hungry.”
After hearing her answer, Su Mingxiu fell silent again. Looking at her, still as thin as a bean sprout, she couldn’t figure out what this change meant. Under the innkeeper’s anxious gaze, she finally said slowly: “Since you’re not hungry anymore, let’s find the next one.”
***
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