A Consequence of Opposing the Heroine’s Halo (GL) - Chapter 13

Seeing the two of them standing there dazed for quite a while, Xun Qiu couldn’t help but squint her eyes and ask, “Why aren’t you picking anything?”

Only then did Liu Sanye move. She chose a set of clothes that seemed to fit her size, and since she was worried Bai Tong couldn’t see, she picked up a set for her as well.

Xun Qiu nodded with satisfaction. Then, with a wrap of her long tail, the three of them left the storage space and arrived at a bamboo courtyard surrounded by beautiful mountains, clear waters, and celestial mist. In front of the small courtyard was a clear pond and a waterfall, encircled by green trees—quiet and pleasant.

“This will be your residence in the outer sect from now on.”

Having said that, Xun Qiu tapped her toes and floated into a pavilion by the pond. She stood on the railing, hands behind her back, looking quite impressive. “Well? This place isn’t bad, is it?”

Liu Sanye nodded.

Xun Qiu continued, “There is an abundance of Water and Wood spiritual qi here, which happens to meet the needs of both of you.”

Liu Sanye was puzzled, thinking to herself: How does she know that one of us has a Wood root and the other a Water root?

As if reading her mind, Xun Qiu drifted from the pavilion railing to stand right in front of Liu Sanye in the blink of an eye. Startled, Liu Sanye saw Xun Qiu covering her left eye while staring at her with her right. Her right pupil was a golden vertical slit, flashing with a sharp intensity that made Liu Sanye stumble back several steps.

She cried out in shock, “El… Elder, what are you doing!”

Xun Qiu said, “Wondering why I know your spiritual roots? Because I have trained in the Eye of Insight.” With another blink, she retreated. She laughed, “Not only do I know your spiritual root attributes, I also know you are a Top-tier Heavenly Spiritual Root.”

Liu Sanye wasn’t just puzzled now; she was shocked. The original novel never mentioned this fox was so powerful. Had she triggered a hidden skill by following them here?

Xun Qiu continued, “With your spiritual root grade, you shouldn’t have come to my outer sect. Plus, coming from Loushan Village, you should have at least been considered a ‘potential disciple’ and sent to the Sect Leader’s Heaven-Reaching Peak…”

Xun Qiu paced in circles above the pavilion. “I know Chu Danxue’s character; she would never do anything to harm the sect. So I suspect…” She turned back to look at Liu Sanye. “You must have lied to Chu Danxue! Isn’t that right?”

“I…” This definitive accusation terrified Liu Sanye. She didn’t want to admit it. If she did, would this little fox send her to Heaven-Reaching Peak?

Heaven knows how much she didn’t want to be the male lead’s disciple! That’s right—the Sect Leader of Hegui Sect, Yun Yixian, was the male lead of this story!

The little fox giggled. “Look how scared you are. I’m not going to do anything to you.”

“You just need to tell me: why did you lie?”

Liu Sanye racked her brain to fabricate a reason, but before she could speak, Xun Qiu spoke for her: “I bet it’s because you didn’t want to leave your friend.”

Liu Sanye thought this was a great excuse and quickly nodded.

To her surprise, Xun Qiu began clapping excitedly. “Sacrificing a great future for a friend—the depth of sisterhood! Excellent, I like it!”

Liu Sanye felt Xun Qiu’s fox eyes were glowing. For some reason, she felt she had triggered yet another hidden trait of Xun Qiu’s.

After clapping, Xun Qiu put her hands back behind her. She said, “Don’t worry, I won’t report your matter for now. But the truth always comes out eventually; paper cannot wrap fire forever.”

Hearing that Xun Qiu wouldn’t tell, Liu Sanye breathed a massive sigh of relief. This meant she could stay by the heroine’s side to steal her luck. Overwhelmed with gratitude, she bowed. “Thank you, Elder.”

“What ‘Elder’?” Xun Qiu said, displeased. “My name is Xun Qiu. Call me Elder Xun. What an ill-mannered little brat.”

Liu Sanye was forced to repeat: “Thank you, Elder Xun.”

Xun Qiu finally nodded in satisfaction. She gave Liu Sanye a meaningful look. “Good, good. Make sure to seize the opportunity, little girl.”

Liu Sanye was left confused by that look. What opportunity?

Xun Qiu gave no further hints. Her light figure drifted from the pavilion onto the surface of the water. Only then did she get to business: “That’s enough for today. Rest first. After your initiation ceremony tomorrow, I will take you to a few places.”

With that, Xun Qiu’s figure vanished from the water—coming like mist, going like wind, leaving no sound behind.

After Xun Qiu left, Liu Sanye felt that the development of events was a bit off. The plot of the original book seemed to have… warped.

She looked back and saw Bai Tong with a complex expression. Worried the heroine might overthink, she quickly explained, “Actually, I didn’t lie because of you. Do you… believe me?”

Bai Tong frowned, looking somewhat… sad? As if she was sad that Liu Sanye had given up such a great opportunity. “Then why did you do it?”

“Well…” Liu Sanye twiddled her fingers. “I just… simply didn’t want to be so… um…” At this point, she had a sudden stroke of inspiration. “I just didn’t want people to treat me like a genius!”

What a pale and weak excuse.

Bai Tong seemingly took Liu Sanye’s explanation as a form of comfort, as if Liu Sanye was telling her not to be sad for her. Bai Tong smiled. “Thank you.”

Liu Sanye wanted to cry. Are you even listening to my explanation?! Why does it feel like the more I explain, the more it gets misinterpreted!

Liu Sanye didn’t want to give up and tried to explain further, but Bai Tong quickly shifted her attention. She naturally took Liu Sanye’s hand.

Liu Sanye stared at the hand holding hers. Since when were we this close? Holding hands just like that—did you get my permission?!

Just as she was about to tell Bai Tong sternly that they weren’t best friends yet and to please not hold hands so casually, she saw Bai Tong’s mood suddenly drop. She looked as though she had remembered something distressing.

Seeing Bai Tong like this, Liu Sanye also quieted down. She asked, “What’s wrong?”

Bai Tong replied, “Eldest Senior Sister got such a heavy injury because of me. I wonder how she is now.”

This was the first time Bai Tong had bared her heart to someone. Only then did Liu Sanye realize that Bai Tong had been worrying about Chu Danxue all along; she had just hidden it too well for anyone to notice.

Liu Sanye wasn’t worried about Chu Danxue. She knew from the original book that Chu Danxue would turn this disaster into a blessing, breaking through her realm to form a Nascent Soul. She would become a prodigy who successfully formed a soul before reaching a hundred years of age, shocking the world.

Chu Danxue was the number one figure among the younger generation of Hegui Sect before the heroine matured; how could she possibly just fade away?

So, Liu Sanye kindly comforted Bai Tong: “Don’t worry, Eldest Senior Sister will be fine.”

Bai Tong nodded, though it was unclear if she believed her.

After Xun Qiu left, Liu Sanye examined the courtyard. The eaves were covered in bamboo leaves, but there wasn’t much dust. She swept the leaves into the bamboo forest with a broom and then took a basin to fetch water from the clear pond.

The water was bone-chillingly cold. Standing by it for too long made her feel a sense of desolate sorrow. She didn’t stay long, heading back to the house once the basin was full.

The room was simple: two beds, a tea table, and two bamboo stools. She set the water down and noticed several yellow talismans on the table with writing she couldn’t understand. She wondered for a long time what they were for until she remembered that Bai Tong, coming from the prestigious Bai family, should recognize the celestial script.

“Bai Tong, I found five talismans on the table, but I don’t know what they say.”

Bai Tong said, “Write it on my hand.”

Liu Sanye was delighted. “You can recognize them?” Bai Tong nodded.

Liu Sanye traced the characters on her palm. Bai Tong read: “It’s the word ‘Pure’. These are Dust-Purifying Talismans.”

Liu Sanye played it up with exaggeration: “How did you know? You’re so amazing!”

“This is common celestial script in the cultivation world; all cultivators know it. You know I was a cultivator before,” Bai Tong replied. She added, “Dust-Purifying Talismans are used for cleaning. Try sticking one in the room.”

Liu Sanye stuck one on the wall. A magical scene unfolded: circles of dust on the table and beds vanished instantly. In the blink of an eye, the entire room was brand new.

“This… this is incredible!” A brilliant idea struck her. “Since that’s the case…” She stuck a talisman on herself. “If it’s this powerful, it should work for bathing too.”

As the talisman took effect, Liu Sanye and her clothes became significantly brighter and cleaner. She checked herself over, paused, and then happily rolled onto the bed. “This is bliss! I never have to take a bath again!”

Bai Tong: “…”

“And it’s super clean! I feel like the dirt in my pores is gone!” Liu Sanye didn’t want to be the only happy one. She stood up and slapped a talisman on Bai Tong. Instantly, Bai Tong’s unwashed hair became smooth and silky; even the straw tie couldn’t hold it, and it slid down to her shoulders.

Liu Sanye was dazed. Bai Tong was already beautiful, but now, washed clean, she looked even more like a little fairy. Liu Sanye had loved Barbie dolls as a child; seeing the “little fairy” with such flowing hair made her hands itch. She threw away the straw, stepped up, and began to style Bai Tong’s hair.

“What are you doing?” Bai Tong asked, confused.

Liu Sanye smiled mischievously. “Just braiding your hair. It’ll be done in a second!” With practiced hands, she finished a French braid in no time. Since she had no hair tie, she tore a strip from her outer disciple belt to tie it.

“Perfect!” Liu Sanye snapped her fingers. Bai Tong touched her “hairstyle” and said with a smile that she liked it.

Then she added, “Do you… need me to braid your hair?”

Bai Tong didn’t know how to braid hair at all; she was just being polite. To her surprise, Liu Sanye agreed! Liu Sanye loved having her hair braided. She nodded eagerly, “Sure, sure!” She sat on a small stool in front of Bai Tong, as docile as a kitten waiting for its head to be petted.

Bai Tong knew she was in trouble but had to forge ahead, trying to recall how Liu Sanye had done it.

The result was predictable: Bai Tong failed. She turned Liu Sanye’s hair into a single, vertical, frizzy “twist” of a braid. Bai Tong felt a deep sense of helplessness. Worried that Liu Sanye would be angry, she said nothing for a long while. She could only “stare” as Liu Sanye reached up to feel her hair.

The air went silent after Liu Sanye felt the “hairstyle.” Then, a burst of clear laughter broke the silence. Instead of being angry, Liu Sanye laughed happily.

“You lost! Your braid isn’t as pretty as mine!”

Bai Tong smiled back. “Yes. I lost.”