A Consequence of Opposing the Heroine’s Halo (GL) - Chapter 15

After the initiation ceremony, Bai Tong went to the Earth Class to learn cultivation techniques, while Liu Sanye went to the Yellow Class to learn the written language.

On the first day of class, the teaching elder tossed her a stack of books that, when piled up, were as thick as two bricks. Then, he simply turned and left. Confused, Liu Sanye had no choice but to ask a classmate.

“What is the deeper meaning behind the Elder’s actions?”

The student, who was busy memorizing, glanced at her. “New here, aren’t you?”

Liu Sanye nodded repeatedly. “I just arrived today.”

The student replied, “I thought so. There’s no ‘deeper meaning.’ Just memorize.”

What? Memorize?! Liu Sanye broke into a cold sweat looking at the two “bricks” of books on her desk. She tremulously opened one of them, and upon finding it filled entirely with “Martian” hieroglyphics she couldn’t understand, her eyes nearly rolled back into her head.

She wailed with a long face, “My god, it’s this thick and it’s all written like this? What do these characters even mean? Why are there no Chinese annotations?”

“The Elder said no annotations are needed. Once you’ve truly memorized them by heart, you will naturally understand their meaning.”

Memorizing symbols until you naturally understand their message? As expected of the cultivation world—even the alphabet was unique.

However… Liu Sanye thought in despair, Memorizing symbols… I wouldn’t finish even by my next life!

The classmate looked at her as if seeing his former self and shook his head. “Accept your fate…” Then, he went back to memorizing.

After her desk-mate stopped paying attention to her, Liu Sanye began observing the “Martian” text herself. She noticed many parts of the characters looked similar yet different. A simple horizontal stroke could have dozens of variations in curvature and weight. It was terrifying to think about.

On her first day of cultivation, Liu Sanye tragically realized one reality: she might not even be able to cross the threshold of basic literacy.

Day 2: Liu Sanye accepted reality and began memorizing symbols by rote.

Day 3: She could finally write one symbol from memory, but she had no clue what it meant.

Day 4: After pondering for nearly a day, as evening approached, she miraculously realized she knew the symbol’s meaning. The squiggly lines actually represented “Vibrant Springtime.”

Day 5: Ever since learning that symbol, everything she looked at in the world seemed a bit greener.

Day 6: For some reason, every other symbol she looked at resembled the first one she learned. She couldn’t even manage to memorize a second one.

Day 7: Liu Sanye still hadn’t learned a second character. At this point, the teaching elder came to check their progress.

The first to be checked was her desk-mate. The young elder asked him, “How many words have you learned?”

The desk-mate replied with some pride, “Ten.”

Hearing this number, Liu Sanye looked at her desk-mate as if he were a god.

The teaching elder didn’t react much. He manifested a piece of white paper out of thin air and told the student to write down all ten words. The student complied with ease, finishing in a few minutes.

However, the elder looked at the ten words and shook his head. “Still not focused enough.” With that, he sent the student outside to stand as punishment for a day.

What?! He learned ten words and still got punished?! Liu Sanye felt her heart was about to jump out of her chest. She was doomed—she had only learned one!

One by one, the students in the class dwindled, all of them grumbling as they stood outside. Some had learned seven words, some eight, some twenty or thirty. Even the one who learned the least had three.

Finally, the elder stood before Liu Sanye, the last one left. Her shoulders slumped; the pressure was immense.

“Your turn.”

Liu Sanye let out a slow breath and picked up the brush with feigned composure. To hell with it—just write something. With a “broken jar” mentality, she wrote down the symbol for “Vibrant Springtime.”

After writing that one word, she stopped. She expected the elder to snap at her, but instead, he nodded. “Mhm. You may rest for the day.”

Liu Sanye’s head was filled with question marks. She pointed at herself blankly. “Elder, you mean… I can go back?”

The cold, aloof elder nodded.

Liu Sanye grabbed her little bag and bolted for the door. Once outside, she still felt uneasy and tip-toed back. “Elder, I’m really leaving?”

The elder nodded with extreme patience. “Yes. Go back and rest well.”

And so, Liu Sanye walked out in a daze, passing her punished classmates with a subtle expression. Seeing her come out under the scorching sun, they looked at her like a fellow sufferer, expecting her to join the line. Instead, she walked right past them!

Her desk-mate, Shi Zheng, was the first to react. “Where are you going?”

Liu Sanye clutched her bag. “Back to my room.”

“Back to your room?” Shi Zheng was shocked. “Didn’t you only memorize one word? Why aren’t you being punished with us?”

As soon as he said this, everyone turned their eyes on her. Liu Sanye became the target of public scrutiny. She decisively shifted the blame: “I don’t know! Don’t ask me! I’m confused too! Ask the Elder, he told me to go!”

Just as she finished, the teaching elder, Hao Mingjun, walked out slowly. He was pale and thin, making his Daoist robes look particularly oversized. Smoothing his sleeves, he muttered as if to himself, “It seems you are all quite unconvinced.”

The disciples didn’t answer, but their faces were written with defiance.

“Very well.” Hao Mingjun manifested the paper Liu Sanye had written on. “Today, I will show you what true literacy is.”

He flipped the paper over, letting the sun shine directly through the rune. Under the sunlight, the symbol actually shimmered with green light, and a tiny, vibrant green vine sprouted from the ink, full of life.

This “words-sprouting-vines” trick didn’t just shock the disciples—it terrified Liu Sanye.

Hao Mingjun looked at his students coldly. “Did you really think Celestial Script was just words? Do you understand now?”

The disciples shook their heads repeatedly, then nodded repeatedly. They understood now—there was a “mystic mechanism” hidden in the words. Even if they didn’t know what it was, nodding was the right move.

Hao Mingjun left them with an indifferent look and swept away. Once he was gone, the classmates swarmed Liu Sanye, chirping incessantly.

“Sanye, Sanye, can you write another word for us to observe?”

“Sanye, Sanye, would you mind telling us the secret you discovered?”

“Sanye, Sanye, how did you do it?”

Squeezed until she could barely breathe, Liu Sanye shouted, “Don’t push! I’ll tell you!”

She shared her learning experience: you couldn’t miss a single detail. Every stroke’s path and weight had to be reconstructed perfectly in the mind. Once the reconstruction was complete, the meaning would reveal itself, and you could write it.

The classmates were so grateful they gave her many gifts—mostly food. Thus, seven days into her schooling, Liu Sanye became the class favorite.

At dusk, Liu Sanye returned to her courtyard with a bulging bag and a happy face. She found Bai Tong waiting for her—the first time Bai Tong had returned earlier than her.

“Come see what delicious food I brought back for you!” Liu Sanye called out happily.

As Bai Tong hobbled toward her, Liu Sanye realized with a jolt: Bai Tong didn’t have a cane. She had been walking to school for seven days without a cane!

Horrified, Liu Sanye tossed her bag onto the stone table and ran to her side. She looked at Bai Tong’s hands—they were red and covered in scrapes. She pulled up Bai Tong’s sleeves and pant legs to find her arms and knees covered in wounds. The cuts on her knees were still bleeding.

Liu Sanye was both annoyed at her own negligence and angry. “Don’t you know to just pick up a random branch on the road?!”

Bai Tong turned her head away unhappily.

“Why are you angry?” Liu Sanye asked.

“There are no branches around,” Bai Tong replied. “And you said you would give me back a new one.”

The word “give back” reminded Liu Sanye of her promise to give Bai Tong a dozen canes…

“Ahem!” Liu Sanye cleared her throat and helped Bai Tong up. “The seniors gave me many things today, including medicine for wounds. I’ll help you inside and apply it.”

She helped Bai Tong into the house and then retrieved the bag. After cleaning the wounds, she said, “I have lots of food in the bag. Open it and take a look.”

Bai Tong silently held out her hands—the fair, delicate palms were a mess of scrapes. It was a miserable sight.

Liu Sanye felt the phantom pain just looking at it. She gave in. “Fine, I’ll feed you.”

So, after tending to the wounds, Liu Sanye took on the duty of “feeding the casualty.” Rummaging through the bag, she asked, “What do you like to eat?”

Bai Tong thought for a moment. “I like most things.”

Liu Sanye pulled out a glutinous rice cake, unwrapped it, and fed it to her. Bai Tong took a small bite, and her nose crinkled in discomfort. “So sweet.”

“You don’t like sweets?” Liu Sanye wordlessly stuffed the rest of the cake into her own mouth, saying muffledly, “I’ll find you something salty then.”

She ate the cake while searching and finally found a salted duck egg. She peeled it and fed it to Bai Tong. This time, Bai Tong winced from the saltiness. “So salty, so salty!”

“Is it that salty?” Liu Sanye asked, stuffing a large piece into her own mouth before Bai Tong could stop her. Immediately, she joined Bai Tong in shouting from the saltiness: “It really is salty! Water! Water!”

“Water’s here.” Bai Tong hurriedly handed her the water.

After a big gulp, Liu Sanye suddenly laughed. “It really was salty.” Bai Tong facepalmed—she had literally just said so.

After the feeding was done, Liu Sanye took a cleaver and went out to cut a stalk of bamboo to serve as a cane. Bai Tong loved it so much she even held it while sleeping that night.

That night, both of them fell asleep accompanied by sweet dreams.