Chapter 3: Lost All Strength and Means
【Novice Mission (1): Now that your internal injuries have been stabilized, it’s time to check on your disciple.】
“Does this mean I should end her punishment?” Li Yu looked out the window at the unfamiliar world blanketed in snow, a sense of resistance rising within her. “But I don’t know the way.”
—With all this snow, do I really have to go out?
As Li Yu hesitated, the yellow exclamation mark dissolved into tiny particles of light, eagerly hopping off the bed and flowing towards the door, forming a faint, guiding line within seconds.
The answer was obvious. The system had already planned the route for her.
Li Yu sighed, put on her shoes, and followed.
Stepping out the door, the expected cold didn’t arrive.
It seems this body is more capable than I thought. Although that massive skill tree is locked, the basic constitution of being impervious to heat and cold, and not getting tired from walking, is still there.
The snow was thick on the mountain. Li Yu followed the system’s guidance. Her footprints appeared behind her, only to be erased by the wind and snow moments later.
“How much longer do I have to walk?”
【Almost there!】
Li Yu always maintained a healthy skepticism towards the phrase “almost there.”
But this system seemed honest. It really was almost there.
Just a few minutes after she asked, the much more energetic guiding line bounced around a corner and into a courtyard.
Li Yu, the Exalted Immortal in the novel, had a very laissez-faire approach to raising her disciple. They rarely saw each other, leading Li Yu to believe they lived quite far apart.
Now, it seemed they lived much closer than her daily commute to work, only about a twenty-minute walk. Yet they managed to barely see each other all year!
If I knew someone who lived that close in real life, we’d definitely be meal buddies, eating together every few days.
This master is a failure. No wonder the disciple stabs her later.
Lost in thought, Li Yu unconsciously stepped into the quiet courtyard.
The next second, the bouncing guiding line transformed into specks of light and vanished before she could react.
She looked towards where the guidance had disappeared and saw a figure dressed entirely in white kneeling in the snow.
The heavy snow almost completely covered her.
If it weren’t for the slightly thin figure still trembling beneath the snow, she would have thought someone had built a snowman!
Li Yu gasped.
Si Qinglan said “she” had punished her too severely. Could it be because the original owner made this girl kneel in the snow for three days and three nights?!
What kind of good master punishes their injured disciple by making them kneel in the snow?
Li Yu instinctively wanted to help her up, but after taking two steps forward, she worried about the impact on her character compatibility.
After a brief hesitation, she lowered her voice and said as sternly as possible, “If you know you were wrong, then go back inside.”
As she spoke, she glanced at her character compatibility.
Neither increasing nor decreasing, reassuring.
But why wasn’t the little snowman moving?
Could it be that she was still defiant?
Hmm…
Actually, it makes sense for her to be defiant.
She doesn’t know the danger hidden within her.
From her perspective, she was the one maliciously injured during the Cloud Platform Trial, and she was the one punished in the end. Anyone would be resentful.
This was awkward. How could she rephrase her words to get the protagonist back inside without contradicting herself?
In a few seconds, Li Yu considered more than ten possibilities.
Finally, she took a deep breath, walked over, and imitating the stern yet secretly soft-hearted parents in period dramas, patted the little snowman’s back.
Li Yu: “It’s windy out here. If you must kneel, kneel inside.”
This pat proved effective, but the result was very different from what she had imagined.
The little snowman fell over…
She simply, directly, rigidly, and without any warning, collapsed face-first into the thick snow from that gentle pat!
Li Yu’s mouth hung open, her hand still hovering in midair.
—She was stunned.
After a brief moment, she crouched down and frantically flipped the person in the snow onto their back.
The young girl’s lips were purple, her flushed face covered in frost. Her already thin body was now numb from the cold. Holding her felt like holding an ice sculpture.
Original owner, original owner, you deserved to be stabbed!
Killing you wasn’t about hardening her heart. If I were the protagonist, I’d be overjoyed to kill you!
This little protagonist is going to become a world-destroying demon lord in the future.
If I don’t save her now, things won’t be easy later!
【Novice Mission (2): The wind and snow are too strong in the courtyard. Quickly carry your disciple inside.】
Li Yu instinctively assessed the size difference between herself and the girl in her arms.
Doesn’t seem that much different.
Carry her inside quickly?
—Me?
…
Have you ever taken care of a completely drunk colleague?
Getting them home and into bed is definitely several times harder than carrying a sober person—actually, a frozen person isn’t that different.
Li Yu was incredibly grateful that Chaoxi Pond was a secluded place.
As long as it was secluded enough, no one would witness the scene of Li Yu, the Exalted Immortal, who should be as aloof and ethereal as the moon in the high heavens, gritting her teeth, using all fours, practically straining every muscle to drag her frozen, corpse-like disciple back to bed, then collapsing onto the floor, gasping for air.
She thought she had been wrong.
Her outlook on life was too optimistic.
She was just a lowly office worker, weak, unskilled, lazy, ignorant of practical matters, whose only real talent was slacking off at work!
A mere novice mission had drained her of all strength and means, leaving her sprawled on the floor like a dog, panting—how was she supposed to stop the protagonist from destroying the world?
Was she supposed to rely on the maternal love of a 27-year-old peony, a love that might never awaken?!
“Seriously, is this really my job?”
“Fine, the powerful moves are locked, but not even giving me any basic skills, isn’t that too much?”
“Are you just going to exploit me like this? Do you think I’m some kind of pushover?”
However, these heartfelt questions received no direct answer from the system.
All she got was a new mission step.
【Novice Mission (3): Your disciple is already seriously injured, and now her heart meridian has been attacked by the cold. She likely needs some spiritual medicine. Send a message butterfly to Qingke Hua to request some.】
“What? What flower?”
【Qingke Hua, located north of Chao Yao, is the residence of Lingyao Revered One, Weisheng Xuanzhu!】
So, the flower is actually a place.
Since this mission involved Weisheng Xuanzhu, it also involved his disciple, the male protagonist of the novel.
Great, first punish, then beg for medicine. After all this roundabout nonsense, isn’t this just a way to get the “protagonist is so pitiful” message to the male protagonist, triggering the subsequent “daily care” plot?
Plot demands.
Got it, I get it!
Li Yu: “So, what should I do?”
【Host, please raise your hand.】
Huh? Just raise my hand?
Confused, Li Yu raised both hands piously, like receiving a red envelope.
After a brief moment of bewilderment, she saw a glimmer of spiritual light in her right hand, which suddenly drew an incomprehensible rune in the air.
The next second, a pure white butterfly appeared within the mysterious rune. It lingered on her fingertip for a moment before fluttering away into the swirling snow.
“I didn’t even say anything…”
【It’s all written in the rune.】
“So that’s how it is!”
Li Yu lowered her hands and pondered for a moment, a nagging feeling growing within her.
The system can clearly assist me with spells, but it didn’t lift a finger when I was struggling to carry her…
—Excuse me, is this really fair?
【Congratulations to the host for completing the novice mission and allowing the main storyline to proceed smoothly!】
【The system has unlocked partial assistance for basic spell usage. To avoid suspicion, the host should only attempt to use them when no one is around.】
Fine, I got the reward, so what more can I say?
The person still needs saving. There’s no point in nitpicking over details.
Thinking this, Li Yu turned to look at Mu Tao, who was still unconscious.
The young girl had curled up into a ball at some point, clutching a corner of the blanket. Her frostbitten hands seemed to have nowhere to go, wrinkling the blanket in her grip.
Her brows were furrowed, her eyes slightly wet. Her small, red ears twitched occasionally, as if she were trapped in a bad dream.
Li Yu sighed again.
This little protagonist is stubborn. The person who punished her to kneel didn’t show up once in three days, and she didn’t even think to go inside.
She almost froze to death in the snow.
Fortunately, the room had a protective barrier against the cold, and her physique was stronger than ordinary people. Now, with the snow brushed off and tucked under a thick blanket, a hint of color was returning to her face.
In the novel, the protagonist’s cultivation was low in the early stages. She couldn’t even fully maintain her human form, a fact that both Chao Yao disciples and mountain spirits loved to mock her for.
Those pointy little ears are quite cute, though.
Fluffy, I kind of want to touch them.
Li Yu stared at the ears for a moment.
She shifted her position, moving closer to the head of the bed.
After a brief hesitation, she extended a finger and touched the ear closest to her.
Soft, slightly cold.
So nice, just as comfortable as I imagined.
It would be even better if the owner of these ears hadn’t opened her eyes…
The moment their eyes met, Li Yu felt the intense awkwardness of a cold CEO caught red-handed playing with an employee’s daughter’s plush toy.
Although she wasn’t cold, nor a CEO, and this wasn’t even remotely the same situation, given the original owner’s special status, the feeling of not knowing what to do was quite similar.
Just as she was hesitating whether to withdraw her hand, the small head nuzzled into her palm.
“Master, I was wrong,” Mu Tao said, her voice soft and weak, like a whimpering puppy, tears welling up in her eyes. “Don’t leave… I’ll be obedient… Don’t abandon me…”
Li Yu: “I…”
【Warning! Warning!】
【The host’s character compatibility is decreasing!】
Seriously?! I haven’t even said anything!
Li Yu glanced at her compatibility, which had suddenly dropped to 82%, and immediately engaged in some intense self-reflection.
The problem might be with how I addressed myself.
“This Master…”
—81%
Seems wrong.
“This Revered One?”
—80%
Huh? That doesn’t work either?!
“…”
—79%
This is ridiculous! It drops even when I don’t speak!
How can someone beg me not to leave while simultaneously doubting I’m me?!
System! Tell me!
Do I even deserve to live in this world?!
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