Chapter 30: The Destined-to-be-Abandoned Good-for-Nothing (10) p1
Not hearing Su Mingxiu’s answer, the little disciple tried the same trick again, reaching out towards Su Mingxiu—
Then she was bounced back by an invisible force of spiritual energy in mid-air.
“No more licking.”
Su Mingxiu tried her best to forget the image of Gui Mian putting those traces on her lips and then into her mouth, coupled with that innocent face.
Even though she knew that Gui Mian did these things because she didn’t understand love, desire, or shame, she still found it difficult to look at this scene calmly.
She hadn’t controlled her strength, and a thin red mark appeared on the back of Gui Mian’s hand, extending from the base of her little finger all the way to her forearm, quickly swelling into a long welt.
Seeing the mark on her hand, Gui Mian finally stopped and said to Su Mingxiu: “I won’t do that anymore.”
“Master, don’t be angry.”
She always said the same thing when apologizing, not even changing her wording.
But looking at those clear and innocent eyes, Su Mingxiu could only suppress her complicated emotions. Her gaze fell on the faint mark on Gui Mian’s hand, and she let out a soft sigh, softening her tone: “Anyway, don’t touch your tail anymore, okay?”
She cast another Cleansing Spell, instantly erasing all the messy and embarrassing traces she had accidentally gotten on herself.
“But… it’s itchy…” Gui Mian mumbled to her. The little disciple was tormented by the Redflame Serpent demon core, her voice even hoarser than usual, giving the illusion of a whine. “I can’t help it.”
“You have to.”
Su Mingxiu’s long, black eyes were devoid of any emotion. Compared to her almost frantic state earlier, she had now returned to the image of the cold and heartless Jade Elder, her eyelashes not even trembling as she said: “This will teach you a lesson about eating things randomly.”
Gui Mian’s tail, released from her grasp, swayed and quickly reached her side. She carefully reached out and lifted Su Mingxiu from the ground, cradling her in her hand like she did with Black Tortoise. She leaned in and gently rubbed her forehead against Su Mingxiu’s head.
“Master… I’ll be good.”
Her eyes were red from suppressing her urges, and even her newly freed tail was thrashing and coiling on the ground again. But she was incredibly obedient and actually tried to control these unfamiliar, never-before-felt impulses. She only whispered to Su Mingxiu: “I’ll be obedient in the future, I won’t eat Black Tortoise’s snacks anymore. I won’t be uncomfortable anymore, okay?”
In the little girl’s mind, her master could do anything.
She naively thought that the reason she couldn’t end this torment was because her master was still angry and hadn’t forgiven her.
So, to make her feel better, she just had to apologize obediently and appease her master, and the pain would go away.
Su Mingxiu lowered her eyelashes, her heart trembling at Gui Mian’s soft words.
For a moment, she couldn’t imagine what she would do if the pills brought by her other avatar didn’t work, facing Gui Mian like this.
But amidst the little disciple’s instinctive whining, she finally responded softly: “Okay.”
About fifteen minutes later, Su Mingxiu’s other avatar successfully infiltrated the secret realm.
The two avatars merged, and the faint touch of green was added to her sleeve. As Gui Mian was popping the pills from her storage pouch like candy, she suddenly narrowed her eyes, pointed at her sleeve, and reminded her: “Master, your sleeve is dirty.”
Su Mingxiu followed her gaze and saw the small lotus leaf from the spiritual spring. She didn’t expect Gui Mian to notice it.
But she didn’t explain. Gui Mian’s current condition was too complicated, and if there were any more variables, she wasn’t sure she could handle it.
“It’s fine,” she said, hiding her sleeve behind her back. She tilted her head and asked, “How are you feeling now?”
Gui Mian finished the last Heart-Clearing Pill in the storage pouch and smacked her lips. “A little bit hot…”
Even such a large amount of Heart-Clearing Pills couldn’t make her fully recover.
Thinking that snakes had to endure this period for at least seven days, Su Mingxiu couldn’t help but frown. She subconsciously looked at Gui Mian, contemplating how much force she needed to knock her unconscious so that she could peacefully get through this period.
One thing was for sure, she would never do as the system wished.
Even if she had to endure it herself, she would seal herself in that black ice and only emerge after these symptoms subsided.
Just then—
A tender, round lotus leaf floated past her face, heading towards Gui Mian. Su Mingxiu quickly reacted and reached out to grab it, but it dodged her touch with great resistance, wriggling in mid-air as if protesting.
The cultivator and the lotus leaf faced off for a while. Su Mingxiu finally understood its intention and hesitantly released her grip.
At the same time, the Floating Duckweed sword suddenly appeared in mid-air, its tip emitting a cold light, aimed at the lotus leaf.
“You better not be lying,” she said coldly.
Perhaps because she had nurtured this lotus seed herself, there was a subtle connection between Su Mingxiu and the lotus plant.
Just now, the lotus leaf had actually indicated to her that it could solve Gui Mian’s problem.
Su Mingxiu was prepared. If it dared to take root in Gui Mian’s body, even if she had to cut open her disciple’s spiritual platform, she would definitely dig this lotus leaf out.
Fortunately.
The lotus leaf only approached Gui Mian cautiously. Its green color deepened at a visible speed, as if absorbing something rapidly.
At the same time, Gui Mian’s tail, which had been constantly rolling on the ground, gradually calmed down. The flush on her cheeks also faded, and she seemed to be regaining her composure. Su Mingxiu stood by with her arms crossed. After unraveling the mystery of Gui Mian’s unknown origins, another mystery appeared on Mount Lingyu.
What was the origin of this lotus seed that the original owner had kept in her storage pouch?
“Master…”
Gui Mian touched her face, then cradled her head and said: “I’m not hot anymore!”
Her eyes sparkled with joy.
Su Mingxiu, however, remained calm. Seeing that the lotus leaf had grown to the size of an adult’s palm by absorbing Gui Mian’s desires, and that her disciple had recovered, she was about to call the leaf back. But after confirming that there was nothing more to absorb from Gui Mian, the green leaf flew back to Su Mingxiu with lightning speed, as if a dog was chasing after it.
Su Mingxiu subconsciously: “?”
Even though it had grown larger, the lotus leaf still tried to squeeze into Su Mingxiu’s sleeve. But this time, it cleverly disguised itself as an ink-grey color, no longer as conspicuous as before.
Sensing Su Mingxiu’s reaction, the lotus leaf on her sleeve swayed from side to side, as if protesting something. She listened carefully for a while, thinking she must have misheard.
Because the lotus leaf was saying, “There’s nothing delicious left on her! If I don’t run now, I’ll be the one getting eaten!”
“Uh…” She shook her head slightly, deciding not to think about why Mount Lingyu seemed to attract only gluttons.
Seeing that her little disciple had returned to normal, for the fairness of the secret realm expedition and for Gui Mian to find her own destiny, Su Mingxiu decided to leave. “Since everything is fine—”
“Boom!” A sound like a landslide came.
The ground beneath their feet and the withered tree trunks nearby, already stained by the sulfurous mist, trembled along with the sound. It felt like the entire world was shaking.
A strong demonic aura approached.
Su Mingxiu’s gaze sharpened. Judging from the intensity of the demonic aura, this demon was definitely above the Nascent Soul stage… How could such a powerful demon exist in this secret realm?
At this moment, she heard the system sigh in her mind, then dryly congratulate her on completing the mission of helping Gui Mian overcome the Redflame Serpent’s heat cycle. It was the same monotonous mechanical voice, but somehow she could hear a hint of regret in it.
She ignored it and pulled Gui Mian, wanting to leave the range of the sulfurous mist.
The Floating Duckweed sword was trembling, as was the one in Gui Mian’s arms. Now, being pulled by Su Mingxiu, she almost lost her balance and stared blankly in a certain direction. “It’s awake.”
Hearing the word “awake,” Su Mingxiu struggled to recall the secrets of the Sword Sect’s secret realm from the original owner’s memories. It took her some effort to remember that this secret realm was originally used to seal a powerful demon.
Although this demon wasn’t as powerful as the Chaos Beast she had found in the library records, it was still a demon king who had dominated an era in ancient times.
However.
In the original owner’s memories, this demon’s body had long decayed. Only its remaining cultivation techniques had kept this place shrouded in sulfuric acid mist. Although plants and animals disliked it, cultivators above the Foundation Establishment stage wouldn’t be affected by the mist as long as they didn’t stay here for too long.
Now, judging from Gui Mian’s reaction, it seemed that the demon’s situation needed further investigation.
They didn’t know that the Water Mirror outside the secret realm could no longer show anything happening here.
At the same time.
A deep voice echoed in both of their ears: “I smell the old monster… It’s been ten thousand years, Chaos, don’t you even greet me?”
Su Mingxiu immediately looked at her disciple beside her, but Gui Mian’s expression was even more confused than hers. She even subconsciously looked around, wondering if the voice was greeting someone else.
The sulfurous mist in the air was still for a moment.
Then, the voice let out a surprised “Eh?”
It said: “Why have you become so weak?”
Su Mingxiu sensed a dangerous killing intent. She silently summoned the Floating Duckweed sword and held it in her hand, pulling her little disciple behind her with her left hand, cautiously sensing every direction in the dense mist.
But the other party didn’t seem to care about her at all. The mist surrounding Gui Mian suddenly thickened, making it difficult for Su Mingxiu to see her face even at such close range. The mist enveloped her little disciple, and the voice, originally coming from miles away, now sounded right beside their ears.
“Just carrying your scent…”
The killing intent dissipated. Then, the melancholy in the voice suddenly turned into a strange mockery. “Even you, a creature born with heaven and earth, have fallen into the hands of those Daoists. No wonder the demon race in this world is so pathetic…”
Gui Mian asked cautiously: “Are you… talking to me?”
She said, “But my name is not Chaos, it’s Gui Mian.”
As she spoke, Su Mingxiu was already prepared to hear the system issue a mission. Strangely, this time, the system was as quiet as a chicken.
“Gui Mian?”
The mist repeated the name softly, then suddenly chuckled. “I’ve known it for ten thousand years, but I never knew its name…”
After sighing to itself, it said to Gui Mian: “Do you know who your father is, Chaos?”
“Ah?”
Gui Mian subconsciously looked at her master beside her, clearly not knowing how to answer this question.
In her memory, the only person she knew was her master. Everyone in the Sword Sect, inside and out, told her that her master was her closest person, her parents.
Finally, the mist noticed Su Mingxiu’s presence.
“A human cultivator?”
Its tone became impatient again.
Before Su Mingxiu could react, she was pushed out of the boundary by the mist.
She looked at the mist and asked the system. After confirming that this was Gui Mian’s destiny, she put aside her worries for her little disciple. Her avatar left the secret realm and returned to her body outside the Water Mirror.
—
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