Chapter 56: Departure
“Oh, you! You’ve become the enemy of all the disciples now.”
Fu Yuan crouched down, poking Lü Qingyan’s little nose until the dog collapsed onto the floor.
She then turned her attention to Bai Jingxue, who was sitting upright, her expression wary, as if to say, “What are you going to do?”
Fu Yuan reached out a finger, aiming for Bai Jingxue’s nose, but the cat raised a paw, blocking her. Undeterred, Fu Yuan gently squeezed Bai Jingxue’s paw pad.
“Ooh, so soft,” she murmured.
She felt a surge of happiness. Whoever invented cats and dogs was a genius. They were so adorable.
If only the two little terrors in her room were this well-behaved.
The thought of those two little monsters instantly drained her happiness, her expression turning grim.
Bai Jingxue, her paw withdrawn, glared at Fu Yuan.
Ever since the book incident, the Demon Lord’s little white dog had been blacklisted by all the disciples.
Lü Qingyan was now infamous. Everyone at the Ejian Sect knew about the Demon Lord’s tattletale dog, the one who was currently being pampered by the Sword Saint.
Whenever Lü Qingyan left the mansion, she was met with glares.
She might be a bit oblivious, but even she couldn’t ignore such blatant hostility.
As a result, the happy-go-lucky dog had become reluctant to leave the mansion, forcing her to focus on her cultivation. Bai Jingxue wasn’t sure if she should be happy or annoyed.
Fu Yuan, seeing Lü Qingyan’s dejected state, chuckled. “Don’t worry,” she said. “It’ll blow over eventually. Everything will go back to normal.”
Lü Qingyan’s ears perked up. She remained lying on the floor, but it was clear she was listening.
Bai Jingxue nudged Lü Qingyan’s ear with her paw. “It’s fine,” she said. “I checked. That disciple didn’t even go to the Disciplinary Hall. Luo Nianshang isn’t directly involved in such matters. It’ll be forgotten soon.”
Lü Qingyan, relieved, jumped to her feet. She felt guilty and decided to apologize to the vendor.
Luo Nianshang’s behavior had been rather strange lately. She usually left her door open during her cultivation sessions, but lately, she had been locking her door and even setting up a barrier.
This was convenient. Lü Qingyan decided to use this opportunity to find the vendor.
Her sense of smell was excellent. Finding someone was a simple task.
Fu Yuan had come to deliver their lunch. The disciple who had won the cooking competition had specialized in a dish called “Exploding Kitchen.”
Luo Nianshang had been forced to ask Fu Yuan to continue cooking for them. However, her efforts weren’t unrewarded. Luo Nianshang had been guiding Fu Yuan’s cultivation, teaching her how to conceal her unique constitution.
She would occasionally bestow pills, artifacts, and other treasures upon Fu Yuan.
For an ordinary disciple, even the scraps from the Sword Saint’s table were valuable. Fu Yuan was happy to be their chef.
She wiped the cat and dog’s mouths, then, satisfied with their cleanliness, patted their heads.
Once she was gone, Bai Jingxue touched her head with a paw, sighing. Being cute was a curse. Everyone wanted to pet her.
She wouldn’t grow tall at this rate!
Her obsession with height stemmed from her past life. Lü Qingyan had been slightly taller than her, forcing Bai Jingxue to stand on her tiptoes to kiss her.
It had been humiliating!
She had resorted to wearing platform shoes and thick-soled boots. She hoped she wouldn’t need those in this life.
“Jingxue, will you go out with me?”
Lü Qingyan’s voice was unusually soft, and Bai Jingxue turned to see her, her eyes filled with a pitiful expression.
Her heart, damn it, softened. She had been trying to get Lü Qingyan to focus on her cultivation.
She mentally berated herself for her weakness. “Where to?” she asked.
Lü Qingyan’s eyes lit up. She circled Bai Jingxue twice, then leaped onto her back, nuzzling her neck.
“You’re the best, Jingxue.”
Bai Jingxue, her face pressed against the floor, endured the weight for a moment, then said, her voice cold, “If you don’t get off me, you’ll discover that I’m quite strong.”
They descended the mountain, reaching the area where the outer sect disciples resided. Unlike the inner sect disciples, who had their own private chambers, the outer sect disciples shared rooms.
But the Ejian Sect was a prestigious sect. They weren’t crammed into tiny rooms like sardines.
Four to a room was the standard arrangement. Those with greater potential were assigned to double rooms.
The book vendor, however, clearly lacked talent. She resided in a dilapidated four-person room in the least desirable location.
Most of the outer sect disciples were either working or attending classes, but faint sounds emanated from the room.
The door was locked, but the window was open. A pile of firewood was stacked beneath the window. Lü Qingyan climbed onto the pile, peering inside.
A young woman, her features rather plain, her eyes mismatched, sat at a desk, a brush in her hand, her expression frustrated.
Her face and clothes were covered in ink. She tugged at her hair, her brow furrowed in thought.
“How should I write this?” she muttered. “This is torture.”
She sighed, setting down her brush, then looked up, her gaze meeting Lü Qingyan’s.
She stared at the dog, her initial surprise replaced by anger, then panic as she quickly gathered the pages scattered on her desk.
Lü Qingyan didn’t understand her reaction. She leaped through the window, settling down at the woman’s feet, her tail wagging.
Bai Jingxue followed, jumping through the window and settling beside Lü Qingyan. She raised a paw, languidly licking her fur.
As she groomed herself, she noticed something strange about the woman’s face.
Her eyes were mismatched, her forehead had a small indentation in the center, and there was a tiny mole beside her right eye.
Bai Jingxue suddenly remembered a character from the original story. She had also been one of the male lead’s conquests, but he hadn’t been attracted to her appearance.
She was rather plain, but she possessed a unique ability, which had piqued the male lead’s interest.
She had been naive, falling for his sweet words, believing in his promise of a lifelong commitment. Then, the truth had been revealed, and she had discovered that she was just one of many.
The ending the original story had provided was incredibly frustrating. She had suddenly become a lovesick fool, willingly joining the male lead’s harem.
Bai Jingxue couldn’t help but feel a headache forming. Every female character in the original story, regardless of their initial personality, had ultimately succumbed to lovesickness. The only one who hadn’t been a lovesick fool was the male lead.
“Jingxue, what should we do? I can’t talk,” Lü Qingyan whispered.
Bai Jingxue, snapping out of her thoughts, considered this, then leaped onto the desk. She stared at the ink in the inkstone, then, with a sigh of resignation, dipped her paw into it.
She pressed her paw against the paper, then lifted it, revealing a black paw print. Then she realized another problem.
The written language in this world was too complex for her to write with her paw.
She stared at her ink-stained paw pad, unsure of what to do.
“Wow, a paw print! So cute!”
The woman’s delighted voice reached her ears.
The woman rushed over, her gaze fixed on the paw print. She picked up the paper, her eyes sparkling.
“Hahaha, I know what to write now! Thank you!”
Bai Jingxue meowed, then was suddenly lifted into the air, the woman spinning her around. “You’re my savior!”
Bai Jingxue, her fur bristling, struggled to break free, then dashed behind Lü Qingyan, seeking refuge.
The woman, snapping out of her excitement, cautiously peered out the window, relieved to see that the Sword Saint wasn’t there.
She turned back, her gaze falling upon the black cat hiding behind the dog. Her eyes widened, a new idea forming in her mind.
Her frustration vanished, replaced by inspiration. “A cat and a dog,” she muttered. “That’s an interesting dynamic.”
The more she thought about it, the more she liked the idea. Ignoring the cat and dog, she grabbed her brush, her movements swift as she began to write.
Bai Jingxue and Lü Qingyan exchanged a look of resignation.
“We need to warn Luo Nianshang about this woman,” Bai Jingxue said, her gaze fixed on the woman’s back. “She’s probably She Yuwei.”
Lü Qingyan’s eyes widened. “She Yuwei?” she asked. “But she doesn’t appear until later in the story.”
Bai Jingxue nodded. “She’s still at the Ejian Sect,” she said. “In the original story, she was already a demon cultivator when she appeared.”
Lü Qingyan wasn’t sure, but the woman’s appearance and personality matched the description in the book.
The She Yuwei in the original story, even after becoming a demon cultivator, hadn’t been particularly powerful. She had only been at the Golden Core stage when she had first appeared, a relatively weak cultivator.
However, she had been a crucial plot device, her ability to predict the future and uncover the past influencing the story’s direction.
Her abilities had been so potent that the male lead had eventually abandoned the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion, relying solely on She Yuwei’s insights.
The Heavenly Secrets Pavilion’s divinations came at a cost, shortening their lifespans, but She Yuwei didn’t have to pay such a price. She simply had to write down her thoughts.
But she wasn’t shaping destiny. She was simply observing it, her observations inadvertently influencing its course.
If this woman truly was She Yuwei…
Lü Qingyan shuddered, remembering the stories she had read.
The Sword Saint, a socially awkward and uptight individual, wouldn’t be capable of “fierce love.”
She forced a smile, remembering Bai Jingxue’s promise. If Luo Nianshang and the Demon Lord could reconcile, they could be together again.
What if she convinced She Yuwei to write a story about Luo Nianshang and the Demon Lord? That would give them a fighting chance.
Lü Qingyan’s excitement grew, but she couldn’t communicate with humans yet. She would have to wait until she transformed.
She turned to Bai Jingxue, her expression serious. “Jingxue, I want to cultivate,” she said.
Bai Jingxue’s eyes widened. She wondered if Lü Qingyan had been possessed.
What kind of entity could evade her detection?
She held Lü Qingyan’s face between her paws, her voice firm. “Whatever you are, get out of her!”
Lü Qingyan blinked, her head tilted, her eyes confused. “Huh?”
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