“Hey, isn’t that the Beast Taming Sect’s Young Lady, Jiang Nianyao? Word has it she’s been frail and sickly since childhood. The Sect Leader treasures her like a precious jewel, using all sorts of rare treasures to prolong her life. He never lets her leave the sect, so why is she here today?”
“Those fools who dare to leer at her and speak so crudely are just asking for death.”
A male cultivator dressed in exquisite, lavish robes spoke up, playing the role of an NPC introducing the characters.
A bystander noticed a flaw in his story. “Wait, if she never leaves the sect, how do you know her?”
“Oh, because I want to be a live-in son-in-law. I’ve spent a fortune collecting portraits and information on all the sect ladies, just waiting for the day I can pull off a hero-saves-the-damsel scenario. If I can catch their eye, I can skip decades of struggling.”
Hearing this, the people in line turned to look at the man. They had seen people looking to live off a woman before, but never someone so blatant and unashamed about it.
Even Wen Li’s group joined in on the gossip. Looking at him, they had to admit the man was handsome with fair skin—he definitely had the potential to be a pretty boy.
Wen Li couldn’t help but ask, “Daoist, you have such grand aspirations. Have they come to fruition yet?”
Upon hearing someone praise his goal, the handsome Yan Yurong’s eyes lit up as if he had found a kindred spirit.
“Not yet. I’m currently working on ‘accidentally’ running into various sect ladies. However, it seems my chance has arrived! Farewell, Daoist, I shall take my leave first.”
Noticing the commotion at the entrance of the Teleportation Pavilion getting louder and seeing Jiang Nianyao being harassed from afar, Yan Yurong immediately flicked his robes to straighten his clothes. Giving up his spot in line, he rushed forward.
“Miss Jiang, do not fear! I am here!”
He rushed in one second and was rushed out the next.
“Aaah!”
Because of his sudden approach, Jiang Nianyao’s guards mistook him for one of the troublemakers. A kick to the chest sent him flying back, describing a beautiful parabola through the air.
By coincidence, he flew right toward Wen Li’s feet.
Zongzheng Huangyue, fearing this lecher might touch her Master, added another kick the moment he flew over, silently planting her foot into his back while no one was looking.
“Aaah!”
Yan Yurong instantly changed direction and skidded to a halt at Hua Cishu’s feet.
He lay on the ground, slowly reaching out a hand.
“Save... save me...”
His hand instinctively reached for anything nearby, but just as he was about to touch Hua Cishu’s foot, the child turned away as if he couldn’t see him. Clutching Wen Li’s hand, the boy continued forward, filling the space in line that Yan Yurong had vacated.
He lifted his foot and “accidentally” stepped on the back of Yan Yurong’s hand.
“Aaah!”
A miserable cry of pain rang out.
Hua Cishu finally noticed him and hurriedly crouched down to apologize. “Oh my, Big Brother, are you alright? I didn't see you hitting the bottom of my shoe with your hand. I'm so sorry! My bad, let me help you up.”
The small child looked full of remorse as he moved to help him, but a nearby cultivator spoke up in disdain, warning Hua Cishu.
“Little kid, don't bother with him. That's Yan Yurong, a notorious scoundrel in this part of Nanzhang City. If he's not harassing women from good families, he’s scamming people for gambling money. He actually had the nerve to set his sights on the Beast Taming Sect’s Young Lady—he got what he deserved! To think he’d even try to scam a little kid like you, how shameless! Ptu!”
Hearing this, Hua Cishu looked up with an innocent face. “Huh? Really? but he doesn’t look like a bad person.”
That said, he continued to help Yan Yurong up. “Big Brother, are you okay? I really didn't mean it just now; I didn't see you.”
Yan Yurong slowly crawled to his feet, looking at him with touched eyes.
“Little brother, you’re the only good one!” He didn't care about the people pointing and whispering; he was likely used to it.
“Don't mention it, Daoist. We’re all friends when we’re out in the world. It’s almost our turn to enter the array, so we’ll take our leave. Farewell.”
Wen Li silently pulled Hua Cishu to her side. She took the storage bags he had swiped from Yan Yurong while pretending to help him up, emptied the contents into her own bag, and then used her master-thief skills to plant the empty bags on the surrounding cultivators without a trace.
Yan Yurong hadn't even realized his three storage bags were gone; he just nodded gratefully.
“Yes, yes! Farewell, Daoists!”
“Halt!”
Suddenly, a cold voice rang out, stopping the group of cultivators about to enter the teleportation array.
Wen Li looked over and saw that the male cultivators who had been rude to Jiang Nianyao had already been seized by her guards. Now, the group was walking toward them.
A cultivator in brown robes, who had been waiting in line for a long time and was in a hurry, frowned. “Miss Jiang’s business has nothing to do with us. Why are we being stopped?”
Jiang Nianyao was dressed in a pale pink dress. She had a slightly pale, delicate complexion and was extremely beautiful. She didn't speak, but a young cultivator responsible for protecting her looked at Yan Yurong.
“The rest of you can leave. He is the one I want. He spoke insolently about my Junior Sister just now and must apologize.”
Clearly, they had overheard Yan Yurong’s earlier comments about wanting to be a live-in son-in-law.
Yan Yurong’s face stiffened. The other cultivators ignored him and simply watched the show from the sidelines.
Wen Li and her disciples also stepped aside, acting as if it didn't concern them.
“...” Was his reputation really that bad?
A circle cleared around Yan Yurong, leaving him standing there in awkward isolation.
[System, in Xie Tinglan’s plot, is this Jiang Nianyao the second female lead?] Wen Li whispered in her mind.
[Um...] The system sounded weak and listless.
[In the original plot, during the hundreds of years Xie Tinglan was imprisoned by the Beast Taming Sect, he wasn't just bled and carved for research. The Beast Taming Sect Leader, out of love for his daughter, wanted to use his flesh and blood to refine medicine to improve Jiang Nianyao’s health. However, Jiang Nianyao later discovered the great demon imprisoned in the dungeon during one of her excursions. She felt guilty, and while trying to make amends by treating his wounds, she fell in love with him and eventually freed him in secret.]
[Later, Xie Tinglan fell in love with the female protagonist. Jiang Nianyao, as the second female lead, kept chasing after him despite his lack of interest. Knowing that Xie Tinglan was going mad trying to find a way to revive the female protagonist, she offered the only life-saving pill her father had painstakingly refined for her. She wanted to make up for the harm her sect had caused him over the years and told him to use the medicine to save the female protagonist. Xie Tinglan never appreciated her gesture, and Jiang Nianyao ultimately died of her illness without ever taking the life-saving medicine.]
Wen Li’s features scrunched up as she listened. As a pure villain, she really couldn't understand this kind of self-sacrificing behavior that ended in one wasting away from guilt. She didn't understand it, but she respected it.
Regardless, she wasn't the one living out that plot anyway.
More than the plot, Wen Li cared about something else.
[System, did you really go out stealing cattle in the middle of the night? Even your mechanical voice sounds like you’re suffering from extreme exhaustion due to overindulgence.]
The system was too miserable to even cry. It tried to pull itself together to retort, [Host, the cattle I stole were yours.]
[No, I don’t have any cattle. I only have an old hen that became a spirit, abbreviated as ‘chicken essence’,] Wen Li exposed it.
She had thrown all her expired pills into the chicken coop. As a result, an old hen actually became a spirit and came to her bedside in the middle of the night. Instead of crowing at dawn, it pecked her awake.
Oh, normally only roosters crow, right? Well, the expired pills she fed them were slightly toxic, and the rooster had died from overeating. Thus, the old hen had to take over the morning shift.
[Host... just enjoy yourself... I’m going to sleep... so tired...] It felt as if its body had been hollowed out. How strange.
The system had a headache and didn't want to argue with her, fearing it would faint from anger like Wangquan Sheng. It could only beat a weak retreat.
Rate on N.U.
