Category: After I Abandoned the Protagonist [Quick Transmigration]

Chapter 28: The Destined-to-be-Abandoned Good-for-Nothing (8) p2

Su Mingxiu stayed by Gui Mian’s bedside all night.

The little disciple slept soundly, not waking up once. When she opened her eyes and saw Su Mingxiu, she was stunned for a moment, then rubbed her eyes and called out happily: “Master!”

Su Mingxiu responded with a hum. She suddenly reached out and touched the corner of Gui Mian’s eye. The skin, which had just been rubbed, had become red, the long mark at the corner of her eye adding a touch of allure to her innocent face.

The pressure on her eye intensified, making Gui Mian gasp. But she didn’t dodge. She simply let Su Mingxiu touch her and whispered: “It hurts a little…”

The woman sitting by the bed frowned.

She remembered that Gui Mian’s skin wasn’t this delicate before. And she didn’t know if it was the influence of the Redflame Serpent demon core, but she felt that the little disciple’s aura had changed after waking up today. It was still the same face, her features hadn’t changed at all, but why did she suddenly feel different?

Su Mingxiu stared at her eyes, recalling how, when she first saw the little disciple on the Platform of Enlightenment, those eyes were calm and still, like a stagnant pool of water.

And now…

Reflecting her image, they were clear and bright, shimmering like autumn water, even though there were no tears.

Su Mingxiu looked away and explained what had happened: “You accidentally ingested the Redflame Serpent demon’s inner core, which is why you’ve become like this. The secret realm expedition is approaching. If you don’t return to your original form soon, you’ll be in trouble. Now, circulate your spiritual energy and see if there are any changes in your body.”

Gui Mian immediately closed her eyes and did as she was told.

Looking at her obedient demeanor, no one would have guessed what kind of unimaginable trouble this little girl could cause.

After about fifteen minutes, Gui Mian opened her eyes and replied to Su Mingxiu seriously: “Master, there are no changes in my body.”

“Uh…” Su Mingxiu had no choice but to grab her wrist and check her pulse herself.

There were really no changes.

She calmly withdrew her hand, gradually getting used to the strange things happening to Gui Mian. After all, she was the protagonist.

What was so strange about a human with a snake tail who could circulate spiritual energy through human meridians?

Su Mingxiu searched through the original owner’s storage pouch.

The former Great Ascension Jade Elder lived up to her reputation. Her storage pouch contained everything, including a leaf that could create an illusion, concealing the user from the prying eyes of cultivators below the Great Ascension stage. She decided to give this to Gui Mian.

***

“What? You want to be the Water Mirror Elder for the secret realm expedition?”

Sword Sect, Spirit Dream Peak, where the Sect Master resided.

Seeing his junior sister gracing his humble abode, the Sect Master was initially quite happy. But now, hearing her request, he couldn’t help but be surprised. “Do you know that the secret realm expedition is only for Foundation Establishment disciples from the four major sects? The Water Mirror Elder only needs to stay by the Water Mirror, scoring the disciples’ performance in the secret realm. It’s usually very boring and not beneficial to cultivation.”

Su Mingxiu: “…”

He didn’t have to be so blunt.

She thought for a moment and replied honestly: “Senior Brother should know that I have a disciple who recently reached Foundation Establishment—”

The Sect Master understood. He got it.

With a wave of his hand, he directly wrote Su Mingxiu’s name as the Water Mirror Elder for the Sword Sect this year.

***

Seven days later.

Sword Sect Secret Realm.

Su Mingxiu first confirmed that the elders and participants from the other sects coming to the secret realm expedition were at most at the Nascent Soul stage. Then, she had Gui Mian walk around the Sword Sect several times with that leaf, ensuring that no one could see her transformation, before letting her go.

In addition, she also gave her a piece of paper, telling her to write on it if anything happened.

Any marks made on this paper would directly appear in Su Mingxiu’s sea of consciousness.

With the Water Mirror that could see every corner of the secret realm, this paper, and the life-saving teleportation talismans on the disciples, Su Mingxiu felt that Gui Mian’s journey in the secret realm would be very smooth.

But on the first day Gui Mian and the other Sword Sect disciples entered the secret realm.

They encountered a mirage demon by a lake. The demon breathed out a mist, and the Water Mirror became blurry, showing nothing.

Su Mingxiu: “…”

She could only close her eyes and meditate, asking the system to livestream Gui Mian’s whereabouts in her mind.

System: “Oh, she’s listening to Qiongying and the others betting on who can kill the mirage demon. The loser has to call the winner ‘daddy’.”

[Well, your good disciple just killed the demon with her last sword strike. You’re about to gain a bunch of grandchildren.]

…

Perhaps sensing Su Mingxiu’s recent cooperation in completing missions, the system reported everything to her in detail, like a running commentary.

This chattering continued until nightfall.

While she was meditating, she didn’t notice the other sect elders secretly observing her.

After all, Su Mingxiu was the most prominent Water Mirror Elder sent by the four major sects this time. Even though her cultivation wasn’t at its peak, everyone present had heard legends of her past exploits in the nine continents. Now, knowing that she had taken in a disciple, they were all very curious.

But after watching for a long time, they couldn’t find anything unusual. Not only that, this Jade Elder, who was rumored to be extremely protective of her disciple, was actually meditating in front of the Water Mirror?

Was she that confident that her disciple would win?

The elders from the other sects held their breaths and secretly adjusted their own Water Mirrors, wanting to see what the Sword Sect disciples were doing.

Hmm…

They had already finished eating their spirit beast and were preparing to put out the fire and rest.

That Gui Mian, nothing special about her, right?

The elders stared at Gui Mian for a few more moments. Many of their eyes lit up. Eh, she’s a beauty.

But that was all.

In terms of beauty, she couldn’t compare to this Jade Elder.

Their gazes shifted back and forth between the two, but Su Mingxiu frowned slightly, sensing their prying eyes.

She was about to open her eyes and warn them when she suddenly heard a rustling sound in her mind. It was the sound of Gui Mian writing on that piece of paper.

Su Mingxiu focused her attention and saw a line of words gradually appearing in her mind: “Master… my tail feels strange…”

As the words appeared, the little disciple’s slightly hoarse voice also reached her mind clearly.

But the writer didn’t know that this paper could not only convey words but also emotions. She continued writing obliviously: “Tail… in the water…”

Her hoarse voice, with a hint of a sniffle, hummed out the distorted word caused by her discomfort: “Itchy…”

Chapter 28: The Destined-to-be-Abandoned Good-for-Nothing (8) p1

The little disciple was rarely at a loss. As her expression shifted, the tip of the tail wrapped around Su Mingxiu’s wrist trembled even more violently.

“I…” Gui Mian also stared at her tail in bewilderment, even reaching out to try and pull it off Su Mingxiu’s wrist. As she leaned forward, her waist bent low, incredibly supple, yet it still took her a lot of effort to pull the disobedient tail into her arms. “I… didn’t move, but it doesn’t listen.”

She pouted, as if complaining to Su Mingxiu.

“Redflame Serpent?”

Su Mingxiu ignored her question, staring at the bright scales and discerning the pattern from her memory. She asked subconsciously.

The little girl still had a confused expression. Su Mingxiu shook her head. “No…” No matter what kind of snake demon it was, it couldn’t possibly have Gui Mian’s abilities.

Besides, there had never been such a powerful snake demon in the demon realm, one that even those arrogant demon cultivators would call a monster.

Thinking of this, she held out her hand to Gui Mian. “What snack did Black Tortoise eat today? Show me.”

Gui Mian was still wrapped in the quilt, which now seemed to be a dividing line, making her upper body look like a very proper and cute child.

But her lower half revealed that beautiful and alluring tail. Hearing her master’s words, she was about to reach for the small cloth pouch at her waist, but then she remembered. “Ah, the senior brother at the Beast Taming Hall said that I can only get one of these candy beans every three months. Black Tortoise’s bloodline is too ordinary now, and eating too many will make it explode.”

“Uh…” Su Mingxiu finally laughed in exasperation.

She flicked her right index finger and tapped the little disciple’s forehead. The seemingly light tap made the little girl yelp and raise her hand to cover her forehead. A distinct red mark was visible between her fingers. “Master, that hurts.”

“It’s supposed to hurt so you’ll remember.”

After casually dropping this line, Su Mingxiu finally stood up from the ground and walked towards the exit of the cave abode. But after taking a step, she turned her head and said seriously: “Stay here, don’t move an inch until I come back, do you hear me?”

“Yes!” Gui Mian nodded, hugging her tail.

But Su Mingxiu was still worried.

She summoned the Floating Duckweed sword and drew a circle around Gui Mian, setting up a sword formation that would prevent anyone from entering or leaving. Only then did she leave.

The head of the Beast Taming Hall was surprised to see the Jade Elder grace them with her presence.

If the Hundred Herbs Hall and the Platform of Enlightenment were the favorite places of the Sword Sect disciples, then the Beast Taming Hall was the least popular. The reason was simple: this place was responsible for handling the demons and monsters captured by the disciples during their missions. Those with good nature were taken in and taught, while those who were only corpses were dissected for materials used by the disciples to forge swords.

Disciples who needed materials didn’t have to come here.

As for those who wanted to get spirit beasts…

Please, their swords were their only wives! Anything else, be it fluffy or soft, would only hinder their sword-drawing speed!

“My disciple recently brought a small creature back to the sect. She doesn’t know how to feed it properly, so I came to see what she has been getting these past few days.”

Su Mingxiu’s words interrupted the head’s thoughts.

He was immediately startled.

There were rumors outside that the Jade Elder doted on her disciple. The news seemed quite credible, but he hadn’t believed it at first.

After all, he had seen Su Mingxiu when her Heartless Sword Art was at its peak, and he felt that nothing in this world could affect her sword-drawing speed.

Unexpectedly…

This emotionless person, when she doted on someone, put even the other peak elders to shame.

To actually come to the Beast Taming Hall in the middle of the night for a mere mortal pet of her beloved disciple!

He was deeply moved. While repeating the instructions he had given to Gui Mian, he also fetched the list of materials Gui Mian had taken for Black Tortoise.

Su Mingxiu listened to him absentmindedly. When she received the list, her gaze suddenly fixed on a few words.

Just then, the head’s voice also reached her ears: “This Redflame Serpent demon, although not particularly powerful, is still stronger than those unawakened creatures in the mortal world. Even though this is just a Foundation Establishment demon core, it still needs to be carefully ground into dozens of portions. When feeding it, it’s best to add—”

A faint breeze swept past him.

When the head looked up again, he found that the person in front of him was gone.

“Uh…?” He thought with admiration, As expected of a Sword Sect expert, such comprehension! He hadn’t even finished speaking, and she already understood?

***

Mount Lingyu.

Su Mingxiu returned to her cave abode and saw Gui Mian sleeping soundly, wrapped in the quilt, hugging her tail. If it weren’t for the red tip of the tail peeking out from the quilt, no one would have noticed anything unusual about her.

Such a carefree spirit. She thought, sighing. She bent down and picked up the little disciple, quilt and all, from the icy cave and walked towards the Untainted Abode, which stood amidst the wind and snow.

The howling wind and snow rushed towards them, but before they could touch her sleeves, they were blocked by an invisible force. The snowflakes couldn’t reach the emotionless person’s face and could only regretfully kiss the person in her arms.

Su Mingxiu lowered her eyes, seeing the six-petaled ice crystal about to land on Gui Mian’s eyelid.

As she watched, a surge of spiritual energy erupted around her, forming a whirlwind that blocked all the snowflakes, even this tiny one couldn’t escape.

The person in her arms seemed to be dreaming of something. She chomped on the tip of her tail, then frowned and let go, as if she had bitten herself or found the tail unappetizing.

Gui Mian didn’t wake up the entire way.

After placing her on the warm bed in the Untainted Abode, Su Mingxiu suddenly heard a voice in her mind: “Host, please help the female lead conceal her transformation during the upcoming secret realm expedition and ensure she participates smoothly! Failure penalty—”

The system’s mission was interrupted by Su Mingxiu’s laughter: “I remember someone telling me not to worry about the secret realm expedition, desperately trying to keep me from learning her true identity?”

“Uh…” The system was silent for two seconds. “It’s all because of the pet you bought her.”

Its tone was full of blame, as if all the trouble was Su Mingxiu’s fault.

In the past, upon hearing such baseless accusations, Su Mingxiu would definitely have engaged in a round of blame-shifting with the system, ultimately ending in her complete victory.

But this time, she didn’t say anything. Instead, she stared at the sleeping Gui Mian, watching as the little disciple, covered by the warm quilt, quickly became flushed. She seemed to want to kick off the quilt but could only weakly flick her tail from side to side.

A smile appeared in her eyes.

Just when the system thought she wouldn’t respond, Su Mingxiu replied slowly in her mind: “So, their fates aren’t entirely in your hands after all. You’re just trying your best to make them follow the path you’ve set, right?”

The system had a bad feeling upon hearing her seemingly mischievous tone. After a moment of silence, it decided to adopt a softer approach, saying to Su Mingxiu gently:

[I won’t harm you.]

[Whether it’s her or you, I’ve chosen the most beneficial path for both of you. She’s the protagonist, so she’s destined to go through hardships before achieving success. The path I’ve chosen for her is the most perfect. It’s the same for you. If it weren’t for me, how could you have another chance after your soul was shattered?]

Su Mingxiu chuckled softly.

She said: “In that case, I should indeed be grateful to you.”

The system didn’t push its luck and brought the topic back to the current mission. Before it could continue analyzing the pros and cons with Su Mingxiu, it heard her reply calmly, telling it not to worry.

So it went silent again.

Chapter 27: The Destined-to-be-Abandoned Good-for-Nothing (7) p2

“Pfft—”

A long time later.

Mount Lingyu.

Su Mingxiu managed to bring Gui Mian back, but as soon as they returned to this world of ice and snow, she could no longer suppress her injuries. The demonic energy left by the demon and the resurgent power of the celestial lightning caused her to cough up a mouthful of blood.

Her jade-white fingers gripped the Floating Duckweed sword, which she plunged into the frozen ground.

Gui Mian hadn’t even stabilized herself before she fell out of Su Mingxiu’s arms. The turtle slipped from her hand and landed on the ground, its legs flailing in the air as it tried to flip itself over.

At this moment, Gui Mian rushed to Su Mingxiu’s side and wiped the blood from her lips, her expression unusually anxious and helpless:

“You’re bleeding again…”

She murmured: “But I already made a wish.”

Su Mingxiu had been coughing up blood almost daily during the last ninety days of the previous world. Now, apart from the pain in her meridians giving her a sense of novelty, she was actually used to it. She wiped away the blood with her hand and even had the energy to comfort the little girl: “It’s nothing.”

She just needed to return to her cave abode and recuperate.

Su Mingxiu knew that as long as the world line hadn’t reached the point where she had to carry out the final mission, her body would hold up no matter what she did.

But after completing the final mission, no matter how she calculated it, she didn’t think she would die peacefully or ascend to immortality.

Gui Mian quickly ran down the mountain. “I-I’ll go find Elder Tian Nanxing right now.”

Su Mingxiu looked at her retreating figure, unable to even voice her refusal.

Forget it.

She gathered her strength, returned to her cave abode, and entered seclusion once again.

But that night, as she was circulating her spiritual energy, she suddenly sensed movement around her. She opened her eyes instinctively and saw the little girl standing beside her, holding a quilt. The red string on her head was rubbing against the quilt as she tried to cover Su Mingxiu with it.

Su Mingxiu: “?”

Her eyelashes trembled. The first question she asked was: “How did you get in?”

Gui Mian was trying to spread the quilt properly. Hearing this question, she looked up in confusion. After a while, she seemed to remember. “I was hungry when I was sleeping just now, but I couldn’t find anything to eat, so I woke myself up from hunger. When I opened my eyes, I saw you shivering in this cave. Are you cold, Master?”

Su Mingxiu followed her gaze—

The massive block of ice that she had cut from the original and used as the entrance to her cave abode was completely gone.

“Uh…” She was silent for a moment, then let out a rare sigh. “Don’t eat anything randomly anymore. If you’re hungry, have the kitchen send over some spiritual food.”

Just one trip outside with her, and Gui Mian had already shown so many unusual changes. If other members of the Sword Sect saw this, it would be difficult for her to explain.

Then, she said: “I’m not cold, you don’t need to cover me with a quilt. Go back to the Untainted Abode.”

“But Master is shivering.” Gui Mian was stubborn in some aspects.

Su Mingxiu knew what she was referring to. It was the involuntary trembling caused by the intense pain from her old injuries from the celestial lightning. But she didn’t explain further and simply closed her eyes again, continuing her meditation.

Soon.

She heard a “crack, crack, crack” sound.

Su Mingxiu could no longer circulate her spiritual energy smoothly. Thinking about how Gui Mian had even gnawed on the entrance to her cave abode, she wondered what the girl was up to now. She opened her eyes and saw, oh, she was eating pills.

Well, that’s fine then.

This time, before closing her eyes, she reminded Gui Mian: “Don’t forget to feed your little turtle, be careful not to starve it to death. If you don’t know what to feed it, ask the Beast Taming Hall.”

The little girl, reminded, got up and tried to cover Su Mingxiu with the quilt, wrapping her up tightly before skipping out. As she left, she didn’t forget to say: “Master, get well soon.”

Su Mingxiu thought that she just needed to wait patiently for news of Gui Mian’s participation in the secret realm expedition.

Who knew…

Three nights later, her little disciple came to her cultivation spot again in the middle of the night, clutching her stomach and whispering: “Master… my stomach hurts.”

“What did you eat?” Su Mingxiu asked without opening her eyes.

But the messy quilt wrapped around her was suddenly guided by a surge of spiritual energy, unfolding and wrapping the little girl rolling on the icy ground into a bundle. Then, with another jolt, the cold chill disappeared, replaced by a comforting warmth.

But Gui Mian’s condition didn’t improve. She frowned in pain, her forehead covered in cold sweat, as she tried to recall what she had eaten today. “This morning, I had sticky rice chicken from the dining hall, with mushrooms from the Hundred Herbs Hall’s medicinal fields. I also had freshly ground multigrain soy milk…”

For the next fifteen minutes.

Su Mingxiu listened to the entire menu of the Sword Sect’s dining hall for the day.

It almost made her, who had already reached a state where she didn’t need to eat, feel hungry.

However, even as Su Mingxiu’s expression gradually shifted from helplessness to blankness, she couldn’t find anything suspicious in this lengthy list of dishes.

After all, the recipes in the dining hall were carefully planned, taking into account the medicinal properties of the ingredients, to prevent disciples like Gui Mian, with a sweet tooth, from having any problems.

She interrupted: “Besides the food from the dining hall, what else did you eat?”

Gui Mian thought hard for a while. “I ate one of Black Tortoise’s snacks.”

Su Mingxiu: “?”

The little disciple looked at her cautiously, still trying to confirm: “Black Tortoise was fine after eating it, so it doesn’t count as me eating randomly, right?”

“Uh…” For a moment, Su Mingxiu wondered if she had been spoiling this little one too much.

Some lessons couldn’t be learned through words alone. The consequences of eating randomly had to be experienced firsthand.

She asked indifferently: “If you didn’t eat randomly, why is your stomach hurting so much?”

Gui Mian pouted and tugged at her sleeve. “Master, I was wrong.”

“If you were wrong, you should be punished.” Su Mingxiu looked at her like this, but she still reached out, preparing to check her pulse and see what was wrong.

But as soon as her fingertip touched the little disciple’s wrist, Gui Mian rolled around on the ground, unable to control herself. Su Mingxiu’s pupils constricted. She was about to pull her back when she felt something wrap around her forearm—

She looked down.

It was a… tail? Bright red with distinct patterns.

Following the scales, she saw that it was coming from the quilt wrapped around Gui Mian.

Su Mingxiu instinctively grabbed the tail, wanting to see what kind of demon could conceal its aura and sneak in here.

But as soon as she exerted force, she heard a cry of pain. The small face that peeked out from the quilt turned pale.

As she subconsciously loosened her grip, Gui Mian struggled to sit up. Her hair was a mess from rolling around, some strands sticking to her cheeks, making her fair face look even more disheveled.

The little disciple also saw the bright red tail extending from under the quilt, long and slender, covered in scales.

It was obviously not a human feature.

With a thought, the red tail lying on the blue ice surface flicked from side to side.

Gui Mian said in a daze: “Master… this seems to be mine?”

She added: “I grew a tail?”

On her childish and innocent face, those clear eyes were as pure as ever. But because of this contrast, the red snake tail extending from under the quilt looked even more alluring, vibrant, and bewitching.

Extreme opposites, combined in one person.

Su Mingxiu’s eyelashes trembled for a moment, but her voice remained calm: “I see it.”

Seeing that Gui Mian was no longer in pain, she reached out again, wanting to check on her little disciple. But as she moved, the tail, as if finding its target, wrapped around her wrist again. The cold touch made Su Mingxiu frown. “Don’t move.”

“Oh.” Gui Mian nodded obediently.

Then, the tip of the red tail wrapped around Su Mingxiu’s wrist curled up and gently scratched her palm.

Su Mingxiu: “…”

Gui Mian: “!”

Chapter 27: The Destined-to-be-Abandoned Good-for-Nothing (7) p1

“People can’t be pets.”

Su Mingxiu glanced at the vendor, then casually shifted her gaze back, not caring about how strange their combination appeared to others. She simply explained to Gui Mian.

The little disciple responded with a dazed “Oh” and dropped the subject. Instead, she held the turtle in front of her and naturally asked the next question, “Then how can it become my pet?”

With a wave of Su Mingxiu’s sleeve, their figures vanished from the bustling market, leaving the vendor holding the money and a group of children staring blankly in the direction they disappeared. After a long while, they seemed to come back to their senses and bowed towards that direction.

By the boundless lake outside the town.

The shimmering water reflected the sunlight, and a faint mist rose from the surface. Gui Mian squinted at the bright reflection, then suddenly saw the many fish fry that her master had bought at the market swimming out of Su Mingxiu’s long sleeve. With a series of “plop, plop” sounds, the fish returned to the vast expanse of the lake.

The little girl squatted by the lake, her hair tied up in a round bun with a red string. She never knew how to comb her hair. In the past, when Senior Sister Qiongying saw her messy hair, she would help her straighten it out. Now, always by Su Mingxiu’s side, her hairstyles changed every day.

But the child didn’t understand beauty or ugliness and never noticed the difference. She was still holding the little turtle in her hand. Seeing the vast lake, Su Mingxiu thought she would foolishly release the turtle as well. But to her surprise, the little girl was whispering farewells to the fish.

—She seemed to have instinctively developed a possessive desire for “captivity.”

Su Mingxiu raised an eyebrow, recalling Gui Mian’s previous question. She suddenly said, “Give it a name first.”

“A name?”

Gui Mian frowned. “Isn’t it called a turtle?”

“Turtle is just its species, not its name,” Su Mingxiu said, reaching out to stroke her head. “With a name, it will be different from other turtles here with you.”

But Gui Mian couldn’t think of a name for the turtle.

Su Mingxiu chuckled, a hint of amusement in her voice that the child couldn’t understand. “How about… Black Tortoise?”

Gui Mian nodded in agreement.

Su Mingxiu held her wrist and checked the circulation of spiritual energy in her body, finding it the same as before, with no trace of demonic energy. She decided not to take her back to the inn and headed straight towards the Sword Sect, planning to observe her condition on the way. If there were no problems, they could just return to the sect.

Her little disciple was exactly sixteen years old this year and had already reached Foundation Establishment. Su Mingxiu remembered that the Sword Sect and other sects would open a secret realm every few years for disciples of appropriate age and at the Foundation Establishment stage to enter. This was both to train the disciples’ abilities and to promote exchanges between sects.

Thinking about the system’s strict deadline for Gui Mian’s Foundation Establishment, Su Mingxiu could roughly guess that the opening of the secret realm was a plot point that Gui Mian, as the protagonist, had to go through. So, like a mature adult, she even took the initiative to ask the system about its next mission.

System: “…”

It couldn’t understand Su Mingxiu’s actions. It replied speechlessly, “The secret realm plot is an opportunity for the protagonist to grow and doesn’t require the host’s participation.”

Compared to its cooperative attitude in the last world, the system was now extremely guarded against her, afraid that she would learn anything about Gui Mian’s true identity.

But the Jade Elder didn’t care. She looked at her little disciple walking beside her and said suddenly, “Gui Mian, you’ve reached Foundation Establishment. When we return, you can participate in the secret realm expedition for Foundation Establishment disciples from the four major sects. I’ll give you an item. If anything happens, you can use it to contact me.”

System: [? ]

It wanted to stop her, but then it thought, since Gui Mian had successfully reached Foundation Establishment in her own way and was not far from Golden Core, even if Su Mingxiu learned about her true identity, she would still have to follow the final plot.

For this kind of curiosity within the allowed range of her character setting, it decided to turn a blind eye.

After Su Mingxiu finished speaking, the little girl didn’t respond immediately. Her lips moved slightly as if she was lost in her own world. After a while, she suddenly looked up: “Huh? Did Master just call me?”

“What were you thinking about?”

The red string hanging from the little girl’s hair bun swayed gently. It was the same material they had used to make string figures all night in that red-light district when they were catching the succubus.

As she looked up, the end of the red string brushed against her neck. Su Mingxiu suddenly noticed that her skin had become much fairer and smoother.

She didn’t know if it was because she had been eating well recently or because reaching Foundation Establishment had cleansed her body.

Gui Mian uttered a few difficult words, names of rare medicinal herbs and beasts recorded in ancient books, answering Su Mingxiu’s question: “I read a book in the sect’s library. It listed the types of food that Black Tortoises like to eat.”

“Uh…” A look of helplessness appeared in Su Mingxiu’s eyes. She stared at the turtle in Gui Mian’s hand, wanting to say that this Black Tortoise wasn’t the legendary Black Tortoise.

But thinking that since this little turtle was now with Gui Mian, it was destined to be different from other ordinary turtles. The Sword Sect’s mountain range was rich in spiritual energy, and even the grass and trees by the roadside were nourished by it.

Even if it was fed with ordinary pills, it might awaken some of its ancestral bloodline in the future—

Thinking this way, it wouldn’t hurt to raise this turtle as the legendary Black Tortoise.

So she patiently repeated what she had said before.

This time, Gui Mian carefully memorized every word, her little head nodding from time to time.

***

T/N: 玄武(Xuanwu):  “Black Tortoise,” representing the north and winter in Chinese cosmology. It’s one of the Four Symbols of the Chinese constellations, alongside the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, and Vermillion Bird, each associated with a cardinal direction and season.

***

The journey back to the Sword Sect was far from peaceful.

Su Mingxiu looked at the fifth demon that appeared before them and, instead of killing it with a single sword strike, she left it with a sliver of life. Stepping on its head, she divided her Floating Duckweed sword into sixteen replicas that floated in mid-air. Her robes billowed as she lowered her eyes and asked indifferently: “Tell me, how did you find us?”

The demon only laughed, its fearful gaze fixed on Gui Mian standing beside Su Mingxiu. It said in a hoarse and unpleasant voice: “Kill… kill it… Must kill it… Monster…”

Su Mingxiu frowned slightly.

This demon was too low-level, unable to speak properly, its pronunciation strange. But its fear and malice towards Gui Mian were unmistakable.

She didn’t hesitate any longer and killed the demon with a single sword strike. But recalling the demon’s hoarse voice, she thought of something. She summoned her disciple, who was eager to charge forward and slay the demon, touched her neck with her fingertip, and asked: “There’s something I’ve never asked you.”

“Have you ever been injured here before?”

Gui Mian thought for a moment and shook her head.

The red string swayed before Su Mingxiu’s eyes again.

She sighed inwardly and decided not to ask anymore. Finding that Gui Mian’s condition was normal throughout the journey, she decided to take her back to the Sword Sect on her sword to avoid further trouble.

Just then, a strange laughter came from a secluded spot. Su Mingxiu’s expression changed. She pulled Gui Mian behind her, killing intent flashing in her dark eyes. Her divine sense instantly locked onto the source of the laughter and saw a black shadow writhing under a nearby rock.

“A word of advice for you righteous cultivators—”

“It’s best to kill your disciple now, lest you make a grave mistake and raise a tiger to trouble you.”

The person in the ink-stained robe remained silent, but the Floating Duckweed sword had already locked onto the newcomer’s location. It shot towards the black shadow silently, almost pinning it down. The shadow’s voice carried a hint of surprise: “This is… the Soul-Stabilizing Floating Duckweed Sword? Are you that Su from the Sword Sect?”

The demon had planned to ambush them from the shadows, but it sensed that the newcomer’s strength was not to be underestimated. So it tried to shake Su Mingxiu’s resolve with words before finding an opportunity to strike. Who knew it would provoke such a formidable opponent? Back when the Jade Elder of the Sword Sect roamed the world with her Floating Duckweed sword, countless demons and monsters had fallen under her blade. Later, after reaching the Great Ascension stage, she had few rivals in the nine continents.

Even though her cultivation had declined, it wasn’t something this demon could easily defeat.

It seemed like it had picked a fight it couldn’t win.

Su Mingxiu missed her attack, but her expression remained unchanged. She even seemed relaxed, and in a rare display of conversational interest, she casually replied: “Oh? It seems you have some insight into my little disciple’s identity.”

But the demon, who had just tried to provoke her, only let out a sinister chuckle. Both the cultivator and the demon knew that since they had met today, one of them was destined to stay here.

***

Chapter 26: The Destined-to-be-Abandoned Good-for-Nothing (6) p2

As the deadline for the mission approached, Su Mingxiu had already prepared herself mentally. Who knew that they would encounter a cannibalistic demon at the early stage of Foundation Establishment that day. Gui Mian, smelling the strong scent of blood on it, immediately charged forward with her sword.

But the cannibalistic demon had hidden its true cultivation level. It slapped Gui Mian’s head with its palm.

Su Mingxiu reacted quickly. As she caught her flying disciple, she felt that Gui Mian still had a faint breath. She quickly stuffed a life-saving pill into her mouth and summoned her natal sword, charging towards the demon—

The battle between them caused the mountains to shake and the earth to tremble.

In a corner that no one noticed, a wisp of grey mist emerged from Gui Mian’s head and gradually spread out.

The mountains were quickly enveloped by this grey mist. When Su Mingxiu realized what was happening, she felt the spiritual energy in her body being constantly absorbed by the mist. She knew something was wrong, but she found that the demonic energy in the cannibalistic demon was being absorbed even faster. In the blink of an eye, it turned into a… dried-up husk.

And the grey mist, as if sentient, dissipated contentedly.

It no longer resembled the starving ghost from before, frantically counterattacking and trying to devour her whole whenever she touched it.

Su Mingxiu felt a sense of understanding. She turned around and saw that although Gui Mian’s clothes still bore traces of the battle, the wound on her head had completely healed.

She sheathed her sword and returned to her little disciple’s side. After a long silence, she chuckled softly, murmuring in a voice only she could hear: “This appearance can’t be seen by others, my good disciple.”

Then, with a wave of her ink-stained sleeve, she took Gui Mian to a nearby town.

If she was at the Great Ascension stage, Su Mingxiu could have brought Gui Mian back to the Sword Sect with a single thought. But now, with her cultivation greatly reduced and her hidden injuries acting up, using teleportation to return to the Sword Sect, which was thousands of miles away, wasn’t that simple.

Besides, given Gui Mian’s current condition, it wasn’t appropriate to bring her back to the Sword Sect just yet.

The little disciple recovered quickly. The next day, she came to her as if nothing had happened, asking where they were going to slay demons next.

Su Mingxiu raised her hand and smoothed out the wrinkles on her new clothes, which had been crumpled from a night’s sleep. Then, she asked indifferently: “Are you feeling any discomfort?”

Gui Mian shook her head.

Not only was she not feeling any discomfort, but she felt exceptionally different today.

For example, now, she stared intently at the ink strokes on her master’s robe, vaguely discerning some talisman patterns. But after staring for almost fifteen minutes, she felt dizzy and had to look away.

Looking out the window, Gui Mian said softly: “That leaf is so clear.”

Su Mingxiu reached out and touched her wrist, her spiritual energy flowing only through Gui Mian’s meridians, avoiding her sea of consciousness. She felt that the spiritual energy stored in her meridians was more abundant than before. At the same time, the system’s notification of completing the small mission rang in her mind.

She withdrew her hand and said to Gui Mian: “Rest here for two days, then we’ll return to Mount Lingyu.”

Gui Mian always listened to her arrangements and nodded obediently in agreement.

But the little girl couldn’t stay put in the inn. After only half a day of meditation, Su Mingxiu opened her eyes and found that Gui Mian’s neck was almost sticking out of the second-floor window, reaching towards a tree outside, seemingly watching something interesting.

After some thought, she decided to take Gui Mian out for a walk.

“Master, why are those little animals being scooped up? Are they edible at such a small size?” Soon, Gui Mian tugged at her sleeve, pointing at a stall in the distance and asking with confusion.

Su Mingxiu raised her eyelids and saw someone scooping up fish fry and baby turtles from the river, putting them in translucent glass tanks for sale, attracting a crowd of children.

Compared to the fish and turtles that could be found everywhere in the river, perhaps the glass tanks were what the vendor really wanted to sell. However, Su Mingxiu wasn’t interested in buying the container and discarding the contents.

“They’re not for eating,” she said as she approached. “They’re for keeping.”

“Keeping them until they grow bigger to eat?” Gui Mian followed closely behind her, continuing to ask.

Su Mingxiu, lost in thought, asked the vendor for the price. Silver appeared in her palm, and she bought everything on the stall. As the vendor laughed happily, she looked down at her disciple and explained: “You don’t eat them even when they grow bigger. They’re pets.”

“Do you want to keep a pet?”

Gui Mian leaned against the glass tank, her gaze meeting the motionless little turtle at the bottom. Only when the turtle retracted its head into its shell did she look away and meet her master’s eyes again: “What’s a pet?”

“It’s something that, as long as you treat it well, maybe just feed it and give it water—” Su Mingxiu said, “It will stay with you forever and never betray you.”

Hearing her explanation, a flash of understanding appeared in Gui Mian’s eyes.

“Even if I don’t know how to love it, will it still stay with me?”

At some point, the immortal in the ink-stained robe had gently picked up the little turtle and placed it in front of Gui Mian. As if imagining the scene of Gui Mian raising the little turtle, she couldn’t help but smile and continue: “Yes.”

“Even if you never learn how to love, it will love you in its own way and always stay with you. That’s what a pet is.”

The little disciple looked at the tiny creature in Su Mingxiu’s hand, its head and limbs retracted into its shell, leaving only a round, smooth carapace. For some reason, she was very careful when she reached out to take it, as if it was heavy despite its small size.

She stared at the little turtle’s eyes, hidden inside its shell, for a while. Then, as if remembering something, she suddenly looked up at Su Mingxiu, her eyes sparkling: “If I learn how to love—”

“Can I be Master’s pet too?”

“Pfft!”

The vendor, who had just finished counting the money and hadn’t left yet, accidentally overheard their conversation and spat out his tea. Then, he quickly covered his ears, as if afraid that the money he hadn’t even warmed up would be taken away by these two distinguished-looking guests. He added superfluously: “I didn’t hear anything!”

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.”

***

Chapter 25: The Destined-to-be-Abandoned Good-for-Nothing (5) p2

“Gui Mian?”

Fifteen minutes later, at the Hundred Herbs Hall.

Gui Mian was sitting on the steps, watching a few ants carrying half a grain of spiritual rice in the grass beside her. Seeing the anthill in the distance, she reached out and picked up the rice, placing it by the entrance of the anthill. Then, she heard a greeting from beside her.

She looked up and tried to smile. “Senior Sister Qiongying.”

“Why are you here? Are you injured?”

Qiongying pulled her up, thinking that the external injuries she sustained on the Platform of Enlightenment should have healed by now. She was about to check if the little girl had any new injuries when her gaze fell on her brand new clothes and the two dust marks on her lower back. She sighed and bent down to pat them clean. “Look at you, you changed into new clothes and didn’t even pay attention.”

Gui Mian let her do as she pleased, her mind still on the previous question. She replied earnestly: “I’m not injured, I’m here to get medicine for Master.”

Hearing this, Qiongying’s smile widened. “It’s great that Elder Lingyu trusts you so much now. I won’t have to worry about you being bullied in the sect anymore.”

The little girl tilted her head. “What’s bullying?”

“I won’t tell you about that.” Qiongying didn’t want her to know what the past actions of those disciples meant, afraid that one day, when she understood emotions and desires, looking back on her experiences in the Sword Sect would cast a shadow on her memories. She quickly changed the subject: “There’s a lively event happening at the foot of the mountain tomorrow. The mortals are holding a Dharma assembly. If you’re free, why don’t you come down the mountain with us and have a look?”

Seeing the confusion and incomprehension in Gui Mian’s eyes, Qiongying patted her shoulder. “Anyway, meet us at the mountain gate tomorrow at Xu hour (7pm-9pm), remember to come.”

“Oh…”

Gui Mian nodded, indicating that she had remembered.

Since the path to immortality in this small world was closed a thousand years ago, the spiritual energy had become increasingly scarce, and the natural disasters and calamities experienced by mortals had become more frequent. They had also heard the legends about immortals.

But they still wanted to pray for peace in their own way. It was said that the last immortal to appear in this world did so in April—

So every year, at the turn of spring and summer, mortals would hold a grand Water and Land Dharma assembly, praying for the immortals who had ascended from this world to bestow their blessings and protect the world’s peace.

The Dharma assembly lasted for four days and four nights, the same amount of time it took that immortal to overcome their tribulation.

During these four days, mortals would take out the food and wine they had stored during the previous winter, hold flowing feasts, and invite musicians and dancers to perform on the streets. It was a very lively event.

Gui Mian followed Qiongying and the others down the mountain. Although she had seen various scenes of the mortal world while on missions, it wasn’t every year that they got to see the bustling Dharma assembly.

Qiongying was more composed, but the younger girls who came with her, some were descending the mountain for the first time, some had just come out of seclusion. After walking less than a mile on the crowded road, she had already lost three of them.

Gui Mian was one of the missing members.

Qiongying: “…”

Someone tugged at her sleeve. It was the girl who had stopped her on the Platform of Enlightenment and later prevented Changsheng and Changqi from going too far. “Senior Sister, why worry? This is at the foot of our Sword Mountain, and our junior sisters are not ordinary people. What could possibly happen?”

Qiongying thought for a moment and sighed: “I’ll go find Gui Mian. She’s so naive, if she encounters bad people, she’ll definitely be tricked.”

Half an hour later.

By the Sishui River in the mortal world, Qiongying saw the little girl being glared at by a couple. She quickly stepped forward, pulled Gui Mian behind her, and asked: “What happened?”

The little girl poked her head out from behind Qiongying and pointed to the river: “I asked them why they were putting lanterns on the water. They said they were praying for blessings, so I wanted to see what they wrote for their prayers. I had just opened one when you arrived, Senior Sister.”

Qiongying: “…”

She looked at the couple in front of her, who were clearly angry but still holding hands tightly, and guessed whose wish Gui Mian had just opened.

She apologized to them: “I’m sorry, my junior sister is not very sensible, she disturbed your good fortune—”

Qiongying apologized sincerely. Perhaps sensing her extraordinary aura, the man, who had raised his fist, lowered it and only said: “Little girl, don’t come here to cause trouble, what do you know?”

After they left, Qiongying sighed, turned around, pointed at the lotus lanterns floating on the river, and explained to Gui Mian: “These prayers written by mortals are for the immortals. If someone opens them, they won’t work anymore, understand?”

Gui Mian understood now: “I’m not an immortal, so I can’t look.”

Qiongying nodded with satisfaction.

Then, she heard Gui Mian ask: “But what do you do when you pray for blessings? What do you write, and what kind of blessings do you pray for?”

“You write whatever you wish for… Mortals write their wishes on lotus lanterns, put them on the water, and wait for them to drift to the Milky Way in the sky.”

Qiongying paused, then added: “As for the blessings, it could be good health, smooth relationships, success in your career, anything like that.”

Gui Mian, who had been nodding vaguely, suddenly thought of something and said: “Then I want to write one too.”

Qiongying hesitated for a moment and said: “We cultivators don’t need to do that.” Cultivators, if they wanted something, they should work hard to achieve it themselves, not pray for others’ pity.

She tried to explain this to Gui Mian, but the little girl pouted and muttered: “But that’s too slow…”

It would take a long, long time for her wishes to come true.

Gui Mian stared at the lanterns slowly drifting down the river, a rare look of disappointment in her eyes. But in the end, she only nodded and agreed with Qiongying: “Alright.”

“Cultivators can’t fold lanterns, we have to rely on our own abilities.”

Half a month later.

Su Mingxiu, with the help of the medicine from the Hundred Herbs Hall, had almost recovered from her injuries. Thinking about the mission of helping the protagonist reach Foundation Establishment, she left her cave abode and appeared on the peak of Mount Lingyu.

The mountain had become more colorful in the half month she had been away.

She took a few steps and arrived at the frozen lake. Countless red and pink lotus lanterns were floating on the melted spiritual spring, pushing the true lotus, which had only grudgingly sprouted one leaf, to the edge. Sensing her presence, the lotus leaf trembled slightly, as if whispering complaints about what her beloved disciple had been doing for the past half month.

Su Mingxiu felt a rare sense of confusion. She walked to the edge of the spring, bent down, and summoned a lantern to her hand. She saw a line of childish handwriting on it: “The fortune teller said I’m missing something in my five elements the other day. I thought about it hard and finally realized, I’m missing you in my five elements. Be my destined wife, Erhua.”

Signed: Wang San.

Su Mingxiu: “?”

She was taken aback by the overwhelming tackiness, her expression becoming even more confused. She placed the extinguished lantern aside and picked up another one. This time, the handwriting was more graceful: “I heard that you’re a good housekeeper. This humble girl would like to learn from you for the rest of my life.”

Signed: Sun Guihua.

Su Mingxiu: “???”

She put this lantern down as well, losing interest in examining the other lotus lanterns.

Just then, Gui Mian, who had finished practicing swordsmanship on the Platform of Enlightenment, appeared in the distance. Seeing an extra figure by the spiritual spring, she quickened her pace, almost running to Su Mingxiu’s side. “Disciple greets Master!”

“Is Master’s injury better?”

Su Mingxiu hesitated for a moment, then nodded. After straightening up, she pointed at the lotus lanterns crowding the spring and asked: “What are these?”

Hearing that her master’s injury had healed, Gui Mian raised her head even higher and explained earnestly: “These are my wishes.”

“What?”

Seeing her master’s confusion, the little girl recounted what had happened on the day of the Water and Land Dharma assembly. Then, she said: “The frozen lake is much higher than the Sishui River. I put all these wishes here, so they’ll definitely reach the Milky Way first, and the immortals will bestow their blessings on me—Senior Sister Qiongying said there are a lot of blessings in these.”

It took Su Mingxiu a lot of effort to understand her logic.

Gui Mian knew that cultivators couldn’t write lotus lanterns, so she had taken all the lanterns written by mortals and brought them to the spiritual spring, thinking that these stolen wishes were now hers.

At this moment, Su Mingxiu understood why mortals signed their names on their wishes.

—There must have been other scoundrels who did this before.

She felt both amused and helpless. She reminded Gui Mian: “Have you seen what’s written on these lanterns?”

“Only immortals can see.” Gui Mian earnestly explained the principles of praying for blessings.

Su Mingxiu didn’t bother arguing with her. Her dark eyes reflected the little girl’s serious face. The displeasure from a few days ago had long disappeared. Now, facing this innocent and naive little disciple, she smiled faintly and said in the gentlest tone, with a hint of arrogance: “It’s better to ask me than to ask the immortals—”

“Tell me, what are your wishes?”

Gui Mian looked up at her, her eyes filled with the same trust as always, her attitude unchanged. The wind carried her wish to Su Mingxiu’s ears: “I want Master to be healthy and live a long life.”

Remembering how, at the Hundred Herbs Hall, she had heard Elder Tian Nanxing sigh worriedly while preparing the medicine, “This injury has been lingering for so long, and she won’t let anyone examine it. I wonder how many years she has left,” Gui Mian looked at the immortal-like figure in front of her and asked: “Will my wish come true?”

The smile on Su Mingxiu’s lips froze.

She stared at the little girl for a long time, seeing the mud stains on her new shoes, now frozen by the wind and snow of Mount Lingyu. She wondered how many trips this girl had made up and down the mountain to bring back so many lotus lanterns.

…They were so numerous that they filled the entire spiritual spring.

Su Mingxiu could even imagine how seriously this child must have carried out this task, using the most righteous expression while doing something that would make mortals chase after her with sticks.

“Why?”

She asked.

Why make such a wish?

Clearly… she didn’t understand emotions and desires.

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.”

Chapter 24: The Destined-to-be-Abandoned Good-for-Nothing (4) p2

That night.

Su Mingxiu wasn’t cultivating. Instead, she sat by the frozen lake, her feet submerged in the icy water, but she didn’t feel any discomfort. This frozen lake on Mount Lingyu was originally formed from a spiritual spring that the original owner had specifically sought out to heal her old injuries from the celestial lightning. The coldness, imbued with spiritual energy, could effectively soothe the pain in her meridians.

The night was windless, and the world was silent, with only the bright moon hanging high in the sky. The silver light illuminated everything on the mountain peak even more brightly.

Gui Mian had just brought the day’s medicine from the disciples of the Hundred Herbs Hall. She should have fully recovered after drinking it. As she passed by the lake, she saw the figure sitting by the frozen lake, as straight as a pine or bamboo, her ink-black hair cascading down like a waterfall. The bold ink strokes on her outer robe seemed to fade in comparison to her dark hair.

Gui Mian, holding the medicine bowl, stopped in her tracks. She stared at the scene before her for a while and couldn’t help but wonder:

Why am I standing here?

Unable to figure it out, she simply greeted Su Mingxiu. After her master responded with an indifferent “Hmm,” she continued walking towards the Untainted Abode with the medicine bowl. But after catching a glimpse of Su Mingxiu’s face and seeing a patch of green beside her legs submerged in the icy water, she stopped again.

It was the only green amidst the vast expanse of snow on Mount Lingyu.

Gui Mian’s eyes widened. “Master, what did you plant?”

Su Mingxiu opened her eyes and looked at the lotus plant by her knees. It had been soaking in the spiritual spring for a long time but had only grudgingly sprouted a single green leaf. Her long eyelashes lowered as she replied casually: “Just a little something.”

Actually, when Gui Mian used to practice on the Platform of Enlightenment, she had overheard the other disciples chatting, saying that there was a special spiritual spring on Mount Lingyu that only those with high cultivation could benefit from. Mortals and those with low cultivation, if they fell into it, their spiritual energy circulation wouldn’t be fast enough, and they would easily freeze into ice sculptures.

Now, seeing the small green seedling beside Su Mingxiu, Gui Mian quickly understood that it was most likely a spiritual plant.

All spiritual plants needed a place with abundant spiritual energy to thrive.

Although Gui Mian didn’t know why her master had planted this, the books said that a good disciple should always be helpful. She stared at the green leaf in the lake thoughtfully, an idea forming in her mind.

———

“What are you doing?”

Early the next morning.

Su Mingxiu had spent the entire night in her cave abode, poring over ancient books, researching Gui Mian’s condition of “unawakened consciousness and lack of emotions and desires.” She was about to go out and check on her when she saw the little girl squatting by the spiritual spring she had soaked in last night, pouring brown medicinal liquid from the bowl in her hand—

All over the delicate lotus leaf.

If she didn’t know that her disciple was special, Su Mingxiu would have already labeled her a troublemaker and given her a good beating.

The little girl, caught red-handed, subconsciously shrank her neck.

Su Mingxiu glanced at the medicine bowl in her hand. She knew that Gui Mian had already recovered. This was a tonic that Elder Tian Nanxing had specially concocted to strengthen Gui Mian’s body, seeing that she was finally showing some care for her disciple. But she didn’t explain this to the little girl.

Standing on the other side of the frozen lake, she curved her lips slightly, giving the illusion of gentleness, and asked: “Don’t want to drink it anymore?”

If someone who knew her well was there, they would have recognized that this expression was a precursor to her anger.

Although Gui Mian didn’t understand her emotional changes, she had an innate sense of danger. She quickly shook her head, her round, doe-like eyes looking at Su Mingxiu. “N-no, Master, I… I was saving it.”

She pointed earnestly at the small lotus leaf by the lake.

The imposing aura around Su Mingxiu dissipated without a trace. She took a few steps forward, her boots crunching on the ice. As she moved, the frozen lake that had been frozen all night began to melt again, forming ripples around her boots.

“Oh?”

Gui Mian didn’t seem to consider the consequences of her words being taken as nonsense. She said to Su Mingxiu with her usual earnestness: “Disciple… wanted to help Master water this spiritual plant this morning, but as soon as I got close, half of it turned yellow and wilted. I thought it was sick, so I wanted to give it medicine to save it.”

As Su Mingxiu approached, she saw that, apart from the brown stains of the medicinal liquid, half of the lotus leaf was indeed wilted.

And the moment she reached the edge of the lake, the lotus leaf, as if sensing her presence, tilted its leaf towards her, seemingly trying to please her.

The wilted half of the leaf slowly regained its green color and vitality the moment her fingertip touched it.

The immortal in the ink-stained robe frowned slightly. She pinched the thin stem of the lotus leaf and asked, as if to herself: “What are you?”

But the lotus leaf remained motionless.

Gui Mian carefully called out to her: “Master?”

Su Mingxiu looked up at her, not blaming her for causing the lotus leaf to wilt. Her expression returned to its usual calm indifference. “Spiritual plants are different from humans. Your medicine is useless to it. From now on, you must finish all the medicine sent by the Hundred Herbs Hall, every last drop.”

The little girl blinked and replied with an “Oh.”

Just then, the system suddenly jumped out: “Please help the female lead improve her strength as soon as possible! Make her reach the Foundation Establishment stage within three months! Failure penalty: Your meridian pain will increase tenfold during cultivation for one month.”

Then, seemingly casually, the system added: “Friendly suggestion, life-or-death situations are the easiest way for the female lead to improve her strength. For example, there’s a demon wreaking havoc in a village a hundred miles from here, and it’s at the middle stage of Foundation Establishment.”

Su Mingxiu listened to the mission details with an impassive expression. After the system finished speaking, she asked:

[Her inability to improve is clearly due to her chaotic consciousness and her inability to sense the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Why would fighting a demon in a life-or-death situation help her improve?]

System: “That’s not for you to know.”

[Oh.]

So, right in front of the system, as Gui Mian finished the last drop of medicine in the jade bowl, Su Mingxiu reached out with her left hand, grabbed the bowl, and tossed it aside. With her other hand, she grabbed Gui Mian’s collar, lifting the girl with her cheeks still puffed out—

A surge of dense spiritual energy emanated from her body, completely melting the frozen lake beneath her feet. A cold, white mist of spiritual energy appeared, swirling around her robe.

“Circulate your spiritual energy.”

Su Mingxiu instructed indifferently.

Gui Mian quickly swallowed the remaining medicine in her mouth and obediently circulated her spiritual energy. But soon, she was enveloped by the mist from the spiritual spring. Water droplets condensed on her eyelashes and skin. Even though she hadn’t fallen into the spring, it was as if she had been thoroughly soaked. Even her newly changed clothes were completely wet.

This scene didn’t look like she was about to be thrown into the water, but rather like she had just been fished out by Su Mingxiu.

The concentration of spiritual energy was too high. The little disciple felt like she could barely breathe, her cheeks quickly turning red, her eyes becoming hazy. Only her instinct remained, following Su Mingxiu’s instructions, diligently circulating her spiritual energy.

Su Mingxiu couldn’t teach her any better techniques or methods of circulating spiritual energy while holding her like this.

After some thought, she sat down by the edge of the spring, expanded the lotus leaf with her spiritual power, and placed Gui Mian on it, separated by the spring water and enveloped in the spiritual mist. She was about to turn Gui Mian around so that her back was facing her, but as she reached out, her hand was suddenly caught and bitten by Gui Mian.

“Hmm?” She looked down at the limp figure lying on the green lotus leaf. Her clothes were soaked through, revealing the slender lines of her body. Her exposed skin, due to years of malnutrition, was pale and dazzling. And now this person was biting her finger.

It wasn’t just biting, but gnawing like a small animal.

Her fingertip was enveloped in a warm softness. Su Mingxiu couldn’t take it anymore and said in a low voice: “Let go!”

Gui Mian’s consciousness was hazy, her gaze meeting Su Mingxiu’s for a long time before she seemed to remember something. She loosened her grip on Su Mingxiu’s fingertip and muttered softly: “I finished it, every last drop.”

Su Mingxiu: “???”

She couldn’t help but glare at her little disciple, her anger turning into amusement. She was about to ask if the girl knew what she was saying when she suddenly realized something.

The next moment.

Su Mingxiu, with a complicated expression, lifted the finger that had been bitten by her disciple and brought it to her nose. As expected, a faint scent of the medicinal herbs lingered.

…Was it from when she moved the bowl away for her earlier?

She casually dipped her fingertip into the spring water and raised her other hand, wanting to help Gui Mian sit up from the lotus leaf. But the little one, dazed by the spiritual mist, swayed back and forth like a noodle, then fell back into Su Mingxiu’s arms.

Her wet clothes clung to Su Mingxiu’s robe.

The little disciple’s eyes, as if also affected by the mist, became hazy. She called out to her with a hoarse voice: “Master…”

But as soon as she opened her mouth.

That faint medicinal fragrance wafted out again.

Su Mingxiu’s eyelashes trembled uncontrollably. Her left hand, submerged in the spring, moved restlessly, splashing the water more vigorously, as if trying to wash away those traces that shouldn’t be there.

Chapter 24: The Destined-to-be-Abandoned Good-for-Nothing (4) p1

A new mission appeared on the Sword Sect’s demon-slaying board.

The mission mentioned a malevolent spirit with a beautiful appearance lurking below the mountain, disguised as a female celestial, specifically targeting innocent young girls and using evil techniques to drain their vital energy. It called for Sword Sect disciples to swiftly descend the mountain and eliminate this demon.

However, many disciples accepted the mission and staked out the mountain town for months, yet they never encountered the demon.

As time passed, only a few simple missions remained on the demon-slaying board. This particular mission remained at the top, becoming a legend passed down among the inner disciples.

All of this had nothing to do with Mount Lingyu.

That day, as Su Mingxiu brought Gui Mian back to the mountain, before they even reached the cave abode, she felt her robe being tugged—

She turned around and saw Gui Mian, who had fallen face down at some point. The little girl had been fine when they first left the town, but as they reached the foot of the mountain and walked all the way up, her face had become flushed red. As she collapsed unconsciously, her cheek slid against Su Mingxiu’s robe and landed in the snow.

At first, Su Mingxiu thought that the succubus’s poison hadn’t been fully purged. She bent down, her jade-white fingertips touching Gui Mian’s neck through her clothes, and found that her temperature was alarmingly high. After a moment of thought, she took off her outer robe, wrapped Gui Mian in it, and carried her to the Hundred Herbs Hall of the Sword Sect.

When it came to treating injuries, the Hundred Herbs Hall of the Sword Sect was undoubtedly one of the best in the land. The reason was simple: nine out of ten sword cultivators were martial fanatics, constantly seeking to challenge those stronger than themselves or seeking breakthroughs in dangerous situations. They would often return to the sect with strange internal and external injuries. Over time, the Hundred Herbs Hall of the Sword Sect became renowned throughout the world.

Seeing Su Mingxiu, the disciples of the Hundred Herbs Hall immediately realized that something was wrong. After all, the Jade Elder hadn’t set foot in the hall for hundreds of years. Even when she failed her tribulation, she had only closed the gates of her mountain and cave abode, announcing that she was in secluded cultivation to heal her injuries.

What kind of injury could have brought her to the Hundred Herbs Hall?

The disciples who saw her along the way were all surprised. In less than fifteen minutes, the head elder of the Hundred Herbs Hall, Tian Nanxing, hastily excused himself from the Sect Master’s presence and returned to the hall. Seeing Su Mingxiu, he immediately asked: “Is it your old injury acting up?”

Tian Nanxing was one of the few people in the Sword Sect, besides the Sect Master, who had a close relationship with the original owner. He, Lingyu, and the current Sect Master were all disciples of the same master. However, since a few hundred years ago, when the Jade Elder came to consult him about a spiritual herb recorded in an ancient book and later developed the sinister method of “extracting spiritual roots and digging out Golden Cores,” she had started living in seclusion to avoid attention.

This elder of the Hundred Herbs Hall was one of the few who knew that she had suffered hidden injuries from her tribulation, which had hindered her cultivation progress for hundreds of years. Seeing her now, a look of concern appeared on his face. Then, he noticed the bundle in her arms.

Tian Nanxing: “This is…?”

Su Mingxiu briefly explained the incident with the succubus and handed over Gui Mian, who was still unconscious and clinging to her arm.

After a brief moment of disappointment, Tian Nanxing shifted his attention to the unconscious girl in Su Mingxiu’s arms, her face half-hidden. He paused, then seemed to remember something. “Is this your new disciple?”

Tian Nanxing led her to the inner chamber and had her lay Gui Mian down. As he examined the girl, he glanced at Su Mingxiu and said softly: “My senior brother, the Sect Master, was just talking about your disciples today. He said that if you continue to neglect them, Mount Lingyu will soon have no successors. Your reputation as a master has been somewhat… In any case, it’s great that you finally have a disciple you’re willing to protect.”

The person standing beside him only lowered her eyes, her profile breathtakingly beautiful. But there was no emotion in her eyes, making anyone who glanced at her feel a chill to the bone.

Tian Nanxing wasn’t sure if she had heard his words. He could only sigh and fetch some herbs to test for the succubus poison.

Soon, he breathed a sigh of relief. “It’s just a simple fever.” Then, he asked curiously: “How did you detoxify her?”

He didn’t believe for a second that Su Mingxiu, with her seemingly emotionless and detached demeanor, would use that method on her disciple…

But after Su Mingxiu explained, his eyes still went blank for a second.

“This…”

“As expected of you.”

Within half a day, the entire Sword Sect was buzzing with rumors. Gui Mian from Mount Lingyu had somehow won the favor of the Jade Elder. Just a simple fever had made her master rush to the Hundred Herbs Hall.

As the rumors spread, the final version became: Gui Mian, in order to learn swordsmanship from the Jade Elder, knelt in front of her cave abode for three days and three nights. Her persistence moved the most heartless elder of the Sword Sect, who decided to take her on as a closed-door disciple and even rushed to the Hundred Herbs Hall in the middle of the night, begging Elder Tian Nanxing to tell her the location of the legendary “Sentient Grass” recorded in ancient books. She wanted to awaken Gui Mian’s consciousness, open her emotions, and teach her the most powerful swordsmanship.

Su Mingxiu, hearing this rumor: “…”

As expected of the Sword Sect.

In any case, Gui Mian, through a simple fever and a period of unconsciousness, had successfully transformed from “the easily bullied nobody of the Sword Sect” to “the beloved disciple of the Jade Elder.”

After realizing that the instructions she had given to improve Gui Mian’s living conditions were being carried out even better than she had requested, Su Mingxiu decided to let the rumors run their course.

The system, however, had something to say: “If you knew this would happen, why did you resist so much when you were doing the mission before?”

It knew that, faced with such a face, Su Mingxiu wouldn’t be able to bear it. As long as she couldn’t stand to see Gui Mian suffer, she would inevitably develop a protective instinct towards her.

The more guilty and caring Su Mingxiu felt towards Gui Mian, the better it would be for completing the final mission. The system thought smugly, if Su Mingxiu felt guilty about her actions in completing the mission later on, how could she possibly try to trick the female lead into falling in love with her in those ninety days?

Ignoring the system’s words, Su Mingxiu carried the medicine that had been brewed and delivered by the Hundred Herbs Hall to the bedside.

This “Untainted Abode” wasn’t big. Compared to the spacious cave abode the original owner had created for cultivation, this place was at most a small bamboo hut. In her memory, it was specifically reserved for another person.

Later, after her beloved was injured, the Jade Elder spent all her time either cultivating to heal her injuries or searching for treasures from heaven and earth for her beloved. Moreover, Mount Lingyu rarely had visitors, so she didn’t bother maintaining the bamboo hut.

The eight disciples she had taken in later all held a sense of awe towards the original owner and didn’t dare to touch the furnishings of the hut. They relied on their cultivation to keep warm in winter and cool in summer.

Until now, a hint of warmth finally appeared on the perpetually snow-covered peak.

Su Mingxiu glanced at the temperature-regulating formation set up in the corner, and saw that the sheets and blankets covering Gui Mian were all made of fine silk. Finally, her gaze landed on a tattered patch on Gui Mian’s sleeve and lingered there for a long time before moving away.

The medicine bowl in her hand was only slightly warm, but the little girl under the quilt hadn’t regained consciousness, still sound asleep. The high fever had caused her lips to crack and peel, making her look even more pitiful.

Su Mingxiu placed the bowl aside, gathered the medicinal liquid with her hand, and used her spiritual power to turn it into a brown mist, directing it towards Gui Mian’s face.

The moment the mist touched her skin, it silently entered her bloodstream under Su Mingxiu’s guidance.

After the entire bowl of medicine was absorbed, Su Mingxiu touched Gui Mian’s forehead with the back of her hand and felt that her temperature had gone down a bit. Just as she was about to get up and leave, the little girl lying on the bed seemed to have regained consciousness, her limbs thrashing under the quilt.

The brand-new quilt slid to the floor, revealing the grey ink-stained robe that had been covering her.

The long, wide sleeves of the robe were more than enough to cover the little girl’s small frame, leaving only her flushed face exposed. The translucent gauze, with its bold and unrestrained ink strokes, seemed to bind her tightly like chains of ink.

Su Mingxiu blinked slightly, walked over, bent down, picked up the quilt, and carefully covered Gui Mian again, tucking it in tightly.

However, as she spread the quilt, her fingertip caught on something, pulling out a tangled red thread that wrapped around her wrist. As she moved away, a long length of thread trailed behind her.

Outside was the icy white snow, and the bamboo walls of the room had long faded. The light-colored quilt, the pale wrist, and the single red thread wrapped around Su Mingxiu’s wrist stood out in stark contrast, incredibly eye-catching.

Her black eyes reflected the intertwined red thread. Su Mingxiu followed the thread with her gaze, only seeing the soft quilt. She looked away and stood there for a long time.

Then, she raised her hand and formed a seal, making the red thread float out of the quilt. It automatically rolled into a small ball in mid-air and landed silently beside Gui Mian’s pillow.

As dawn broke.

Gui Mian rubbed her eyes and sat up from the bed. At first, she thought she was still in the town below the mountain. But when she looked out the window and saw the icicles hanging outside, she belatedly realized that the only place in the Southern Realm where it still snowed in April was Mount Lingyu.

She looked at the quilt covering her with confusion. Before she could figure out why the fabric was in the Untainted Abode, she saw a light outer robe slipping off the quilt.

She recognized this!

It was Master’s!

Gui Mian suddenly felt a sense of security. She grabbed the robe and got out of bed, rushing outside. However, before she could even leave the room, she almost bumped into someone. Her shoulder was caught, and a voice came from above: “Where are you going?”

She looked up and saw Su Mingxiu. A smile immediately appeared on her face as she held out the robe with both hands: “Master, your robe was left in my room.”

Su Mingxiu was still holding a medicine bowl in one hand. She took the robe with her other hand and handed the bowl to Gui Mian: “Drink it while it’s hot.”

Gui Mian let out an “Oh” and, without asking what it was, opened her mouth and gulped it down. However, after taking two sips, her face scrunched up, and she asked in a muffled voice: “What… is this?”

“Medicine,” Su Mingxiu replied. Just from the original owner’s memories, she could guess that this child had never been cared for and didn’t even know if she was sick, relying solely on her strong constitution to endure. So she explained: “You fainted when you first came up the mountain because you were sick.”

The little girl repeated the words “sick” a few times, looking confused. She picked up the bowl again and took another sip with a frown.

Su Mingxiu, rarely seeing such a lively expression on her face, raised an eyebrow and asked: “Is it bitter?”

Gui Mian nodded. She knew what bitterness was. She had been force-fed all sorts of strange things in the Sword Sect’s kitchen by her senior brothers. It was Senior Sister Qiongying who had stepped in and told her what was edible and what wasn’t.

Bitter things were not.

Thinking of this, she secretly glanced at Su Mingxiu, a rare look of hesitation appearing on her face.

Su Mingxiu had just put on her robe again. She didn’t know if it was because the room was too warm or because the robe had been warmed up in the other person’s bed for too long, but it still held a lingering warmth, which felt strange against her skin.

She was about to form a seal with her hand when she noticed Gui Mian’s expression. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Senior Sister said that bitter things can’t be eaten; Master said that bitter things are medicine…” The child’s face was full of confusion. But before Su Mingxiu could answer, she came to her own conclusion: “So only when you’re sick, you eat bitter things, right?”

Su Mingxiu’s movement of summoning wind with a seal slowed down for a second. After a while, her expression softened, and she replied with a hint of helplessness: “I guess so.”

Gui Mian had learned something new. This time, without frowning, she finished the bowl of medicine in one go.

After observing her expression for a while, Su Mingxiu didn’t notice anything unusual. She originally wanted to take out the candied fruits that the disciples of the Hundred Herbs Hall had sent along with the medicine, but she changed her mind.

She turned around and walked back into the snow and wind outside, leaving only a faint sentence: “Rest well.”

The wind and snow on Mount Lingyu howled, whipping at the corners of her robe. The lingering warmth that had bothered Su Mingxiu earlier instantly dissipated in the freezing air, leaving no trace.