A Consequence of Opposing the Heroine’s Halo (GL) - Chapter 16

Ever since Liu Sanye memorized her first symbol, every subsequent symbol looked exactly like the first one, no matter the angle. Consequently, for the next month, she spent most of her time standing in punishment because she couldn’t memorize a single new character.

One day, while standing in punishment alongside her fellow senior brothers and sisters, Shi Zheng complained to her: “Liu Sanye, I feel like we’ve all been tricked by you.”

A series of exclamation points and question marks floated through Liu Sanye’s mind.

Shi Zheng continued, “That method of yours is useless. If you can’t remember, you just can’t remember. I strongly suspect now that the first time you wrote that word, it was just a blind cat stumbling upon a dead mouse.”

Liu Sanye found herself unable to argue, because she also felt like a blind cat that had stumbled upon a dead mouse.

She wanted to cry. Why was the Liu Sanye in the original novel so terrifyingly talented that she reached the Golden Core stage in just ten years? To this day, the current Liu Sanye hadn’t discovered a single trace of so-called talent.

While she was hanging her head in a dejected existential crisis, Hao Mingjun, who was sitting in a pavilion enjoying the shade, waved at her to come over. Thinking he was calling her to rest, her eyes instantly lit up.

She trotted to his side, her eyes sparkling as she asked, “What does the Elder need?”

Hao Mingjun tilted his head. “Stretch out your hands.”

Liu Sanye thought it was odd, but she slowly extended her hands anyway.

Hao Mingjun continued, “Now, raise them over your head.”

Upon hearing this, Liu Sanye’s confusion turned into a daze, but she obeyed nonetheless.

“Palms up.”

She obediently turned her palms upward, and immediately, a basin of water appeared on her hands. She realized then that he didn’t want her to rest; he was increasing her punishment!

Hao Mingjun waved his hand. “Hold it up and go back.”

Liu Sanye protested in dissatisfaction: “Why is my punishment heavier?”

Hao Mingjun replied, “Though the others don’t understand the meaning, they can at least write. You can’t even write a single one—what do you think?”

Utterly aggrieved, Liu Sanye had no choice but to resign herself to fate and carry the basin back. When the others saw her return with the water, they offered their condolences: “You’re really pathetic.”

Is that supposed to be comforting?!

After standing for a long time, not only did Liu Sanye’s legs go soft, but her hands were shaking as if she had Parkinson’s. Her excessive trembling caused the water in the basin to splash out like rain, soaking her surroundings.

Because Hao Mingjun was watching, the seniors around her didn’t dare move; they could only silently endure the frantic battering of the “rain.”

Dizzy and blurred, Liu Sanye watched the splashing droplets, and suddenly, a symbol related to water manifested in her mind. In that instant, it was as if the dark clouds that had loomed for days were swept aside.

In the next second, Liu Sanye dropped the basin and sprinted toward Hao Mingjun’s pavilion. He wasn’t surprised to see her and simply asked, “What is the matter?”

Liu Sanye didn’t care for his “matters”! She rolled up her sleeves, and while shaking out her aching arms, she declared, “I know how to write the second word!”

Hao Mingjun didn’t waste words and produced paper and brush. He raised an eyebrow. “Write.”

Because he had just punished her, Liu Sanye was particularly annoyed with this Elder. She huffed, “I’ll write it right now!”

She picked up the brush, but in less than half a second, her hand shook—it was both sore and shaky. she laughed awkwardly, “Elder, how about we wait a moment?”

The aloof Hao Mingjun remained unmoved. “A promise is a promise.”

Liu Sanye: “…” I’ve decided to hate this Elder for a whole month!

Provoked by the heartless Elder, Liu Sanye’s competitive spirit flared. She closed her eyes, recalling the patterns of the symbol while sweeping the brush across the paper. In the blink of an eye, a celestial character imbued with Water spiritual power took shape.

Hao Mingjun nodded, looking somewhat satisfied. He put away the stationery and waved her off. “Fine, you can go back and rest.”

The word “rest” instantly extinguished the fires of Liu Sanye’s rage. The girl who had just decided to hate him for a month immediately broke into a smile. “Thank you, Elder!”

After learning that second word, it was as if her wooden head had finally “clicked.” She went from learning one word a week to one word a day. Three months passed, and she reached the point where she could learn a character with just one glance.

Her learning speed was so fast it left the entire class speechless. Thus, Liu Sanye once again ascended to her throne as the class favorite; gifts to curry favor with her didn’t stop for months.

Since her speed had increased, Hao Mingjun stopped micro-managing her. Occasionally, when he was in a good mood, he would give her a day off. Liu Sanye took advantage of these breaks to scout the locations where Bai Tong might fall off the cliff in the original plot.

On a refreshing morning, Liu Sanye carried large bags, small bags, long ropes, and short ropes to the cliffside she had finally identified after extensive consideration.

She looked at the sky, then shaded her eyes to look around. Seeing the boundless sea of clouds and the brilliant morning glow, she decided this was a “lucky spot”—this had to be the place.

She dumped her gear on the grass, knelt down, and rummaged through her bag for a compass a classmate had given her. While searching for her bearings, she muttered: “North is up, South is down, West is left, East is right.”

She dropped the compass facing North and raised her left hand. “To the left of the Hegui Sect is Sunset Water Valley, and to the right is the Illusion Array Valley. Bai Tong falls into Sunset Water Valley, so it must be this direction.”

With that, she grabbed her gear and ran toward the west. Reaching the edge of the cliff, she saw that the abyss was obscured by celestial mist, but she could vaguely see brilliant light reflecting from below—the reflection of the water in Sunset Water Valley. This was definitely it.

Identified and confirmed, Liu Sanye rolled up her sleeves to prepare her climbing tools.

However, while the plan was beautiful, reality was skeletal. She secured the rope and climbed down for a while, only to realize a severe problem: the abyss was so thick with clouds and mist that she couldn’t see her own hand in front of her face, let alone a hidden cave.

Moreover, her rope wasn’t long enough!

Eventually, after using up most of her rope and finding no cave, Liu Sanye decisively gave up. It took her two hours to climb down and another two to climb back up. Once back on the cliff, her legs were so soft from height-induced terror that she had to lie on the grass for two hours to recover. Just like that, the day was gone.

At dusk, she dragged her exhausted body back to the courtyard.

What she didn’t know was that at the edge of that cliff, a pre-arranged screen had been watching her the entire time. On the other side of the screen was a woman with an indifferent expression.

The woman had delicate features, but her eyes were cold, devoid of her usual public gentleness and poise. It was Gu Panlian, the Teaching Elder from the initiation ceremony.

She stared intently at the screen glowing with pale yellow light, murmuring to herself: “No wonder she didn’t come to Heaven-Reaching Peak; she is also a Luck-Stealer.”

At this, she began to laugh. “How naive. How can the luck of the Child of Heaven be stolen?”

“The only way is to make the Heavenly Dao abandon her.”

In the darkness, Gu Panlian shifted between calm composure and a troubled frown. She whispered softly: “I wonder if this Liu Sanye is a friend… or a foe.”