A Consequence of Opposing the Heroine’s Halo (GL) - Chapter 38

Early the next morning, as the first light of dawn broke through the mist, Jun Yining rode his flying sword into Liu Sanye’s cave dwelling. At that moment, Liu Sanye was still sprawled on her crystal bed, fast asleep.

Seeing this, Jun Yining reached into his storage bag without a word, pulled out a copper gong, and struck it right above Liu Sanye’s head.

CLANG!

The deafening sound formed a sonic wave that rippled out from her crown. The piercing noise startled the birds into flight, filling the sky with colorful feathers. Liu Sanye, taking the brunt of the sonic attack, was shocked into a daze. Her first reaction wasn’t to roll out of bed, but to freeze like a wooden statue. For at least six seconds, her eyes were wide open without so much as a blink.

After a long while, her eyes finally regained focus. The bastard who had scared her gradually shifted from a blur to the clear image of Jun Yining.

Liu Sanye’s knuckles cracked as she clenched her fists. “Senior Brother Yining, what are you doing?”

This fellow, Jun Yining, felt absolutely no guilt for disturbing her beautiful dream. He tucked the gong back into his storage bag and pulled a large, red-crested fierce chicken out of his spirit beast bag. “Without rules, there is no order. On our Green Wood Peak, you must wake up earlier than the chickens. If Master finds out you’ve slept until now, at best you’ll get a bottle of Crane Top Red [poison], at worst you’ll be thrown straight into the Toxic Wood Abyss!”

As he spoke, Jun Yining made a terrifying face, and even the fierce chicken in his hand imitated the expression to intimidate her.

Liu Sanye wasn’t scared by Jun Yining, but she was startled by a chicken capable of making human expressions. She pointed at the red-crested bird. “Just talk! Why do you have to bring out a chicken!”

Jun Yining tossed the chicken into Liu Sanye’s arms. The rooster flapped its wings with a frantic “cluck-cluck-cluck.” Terrified, Liu Sanye threw it aside. The rooster seemed offended by being thrown; it chased after Liu Sanye, pecking at her, sending her running all over the room in a panic.

Seeing this, Jun Yining laughed until he was out of breath. “This is the Morning Chicken responsible for waking you up. Every new disciple gets one. It’s its job to wake you every day, so you’d better take good care of it. If it gets thin from hunger, Master will kill you.”

Liu Sanye felt like crying. “I’ll wake up early, but why set a chicken on me? Its pecks really hurt!” Just then, the fierce bird flapped its wings, flew up, and pecked her hard on the thigh. Liu Sanye howled in pain. Angry now, she turned and grabbed the chicken, making a move to pluck its feathers.

Jun Yining stopped her immediately. He pulled a manual from his storage bag and read: “Green Wood Manual, Rule 23: Those who harm small animals shall be punished with three bottles of Crane Top Red, ten bottles of Itching Water, and nine dozen crates of Seven-Orifices-Smoking Powder.”

After reading, Jun Yining shook his head with a “tsk-tsk.” “The punishment isn’t light. As your Senior Brother, I advise you to think twice.”

Liu Sanye looked at the thick little manual, and a terrifying thought occurred to her. “Does Green Wood Peak have a lot of rules?”

Jun Yining nodded and tossed the manual into her arms. As she reached to catch it, the rooster took the opportunity to flap its wings and “cluck-cluck-cluck” its way out of the room.

Liu Sanye flipped through a few pages and found them filled with dense rules. Among them was the punishment for stepping on ants or other small crawling insects: step on one, and it’s a bottle of Crane Top Red; step on ten or more, and it’s a full-service tour of the Toxic Wood Abyss—one day for every ten ants.

This rule terrified her. God knows how many ants she had stepped on in her life! But that wasn’t even the scariest part. Later on, there was a rule that you couldn’t even step on grass!

“Those who injure grass: Crane Top Red, Itching Water, Seven-Orifices-Smoking Powder, Nine-Nine Heart-Breaking Pills, Eight-Eight Crying-Wanting-to-Die Pearls, One-Day Baldness Needles, Half-Day Obesity Talismans… a full-set tour!”

Liu Sanye knew from the original book that Feng Zhu was a background character with a bit of a strange temper, but she never imagined it was this bizarre! Looking at these rules, she figured she might as well not walk at all—she’d have to fly.

Jun Yining patted her head with immense sympathy. “Don’t be sad. This is just the beginning. It gets worse later.”

Deeply frustrated, Liu Sanye brushed his hand away. “I’m not sad! And why were you able to barge into my room? Doesn’t this dwelling have a barrier?”

Jun Yining laughed. “You have to be at least at the Foundation Establishment stage to claim ownership of a dwelling. Before then, anyone can walk in.”

Liu Sanye pouted unhappily.

Jun Yining widened his eyes. “Hey! You aren’t actually looking down on me, are you?”

Liu Sanye turned her head away. “I’m not looking down on you.”

Jun Yining wasn’t an idiot; Liu Sanye’s face was practically a billboard for the words “looking down on you.” Fortunately, he had a good temperament and didn’t hold it against a child. “Think what you want. Later on, you’ll realize just how good I am compared to Master.”

With that, Jun Yining summoned his long sword. “You must be able to recite the Green Wood Manual backward; I’ll conduct random inspections. Now, we have to go to the Sacred King Tree to see Master.”

“Sacred King Tree?” Liu Sanye was confused. In the original novel, Feng Zhu was a minor character, let alone the specific locations of Green Wood Peak.

Jun Yining explained with a smile, “The Sacred King Tree was planted by Ancestor Hegui himself. It’s been over a hundred thousand years; it’s the soul of our Green Wood Peak. There is a Heaven-rank Spirit-Gathering Array inside it. The disciples of Green Wood Peak usually cultivate there.”

Liu Sanye nodded, imagining a very, very large tree. Seeing her dazed, Jun Yining urged her, “What are you standing there for? Get on, come with me to see Master.”

“Get on?” Liu Sanye looked at Jun Yining’s small flying sword and swallowed. “I think your sword is a bit small. I’m afraid it won’t fit me.”

Jun Yining gestured with his sword. “Small? I’ve expanded it to the limit!”

Liu Sanye waved her hands in refusal. “Forget it, I’ll just ride my big flying carpet.” With that, she pulled a massive wool blanket out of her storage bag.

Looking at the blanket, several drops of sweat appeared on Jun Yining’s forehead. He twitched his mouth for a long while before squeezing out two words: “So ugly…”

Liu Sanye: “…”

So what if it’s ugly! It’s not like it’s eating your food! Our blanket is clearly very cute!

The blanket nodded its corner frantically. Liu Sanye, standing on its edge, felt her eye twitch in fear.

Sitting on the blanket, Liu Sanye followed Jun Yining with trepidation. Before long, they arrived at the Sacred King Tree. It was much larger than she had imagined. After a hundred thousand years of growth, its trunk was like a small mountain. Its branches spread out like a giant umbrella, and every aerial root that hung down grew into a new tree, supporting the massive canopy. This formed a dense forest network centered on the main trunk.

Countless treehouses were built into the branches, neatly distributed throughout the network. Almost every house contained a cultivator in deep meditation.

The main reason the Sacred King Tree could exist for so long without decaying was the Heaven-rank Spirit-Gathering Array at its core. The array constantly replenished it with wood spiritual qi, and the tree, after absorbing the qi, produced even more to feed the array. One could say they were mutually dependent.

The moment Liu Sanye entered the canopy’s shadow, she saw countless flecks of fluorescent light scrambling to enter her body. The Wood-Devouring Technique within her actually began to operate on its own.

Because there was too much external qi, she felt her body losing control. Her face turned bright red. She could clearly sense the external qi entering her spiritual veins and spontaneously converting into her own spiritual power, filling her dantian in no time.

While she struggled to manage her cultivation, she followed Jun Yining through the interwoven branches. After flying for about the time it takes for three incense sticks to burn, Jun Yining finally found his master, Feng Zhu, in a small treehouse near the main trunk.

Feng Zhu wore green robes, with his sleeves and hair wrapped in white cloth strips. He looked clean and handsome—appearing even younger than Jun Yining by several years.

Feng Zhu was currently frowning, focused on refining a pill. The small house was filled with bottles and jars. Jun Yining was so terrified of them that he didn’t speak for a long while; he seemed to have a massive psychological shadow regarding these items.

While Jun Yining had a shadow, Liu Sanye did not. She kept peeping at them and noticed the liquids inside the jars were like paint—every color imaginable. Some were bubbling, others were on fire!

After she had observed for a while, Jun Yining finally composed himself and said with a smile, “Master, I’ve brought Liu Sanye.”

Feng Zhu stared at the pill in his hand with a frown, then pulled a small furnace from the bottom of a crate. He lined up a row of collected fire-seeds on the table, picked one, and tossed it into the furnace. He slapped a talisman onto the furnace and dropped the pill inside.

He replied without looking up, “Oh. I know.”

Jun Yining reminded him carefully, “Master, is there an apprenticeship ceremony?” He had seen other martial uncles hold them.

This question seemed to anger Feng Zhu. He suddenly grabbed a jar and threw it at Jun Yining. “Get out!”

After roaring this, he blasted them both out and sealed the door.

Jun Yining was neither angry nor sad. Instead, he immediately pulled out an antidote and swallowed it. Witnessing the whole process, Liu Sanye’s heart went half-cold. She murmured, “This Feng Zhu is so fierce.”

Jun Yining quickly covered her mouth and didn’t smile until they were far away. “Now you know how good your Senior Brother is, right?”

Liu Sanye nodded frantically. Heavens, this new master was a hundred times more brutal than Elder Hao!

She suddenly felt pity for Jun Yining. “Senior Brother Yining, are you okay?”

She had watched the jar hit him and felt the pain just looking at it. Jun Yining shook his head. “I’m fine, I’m sturdy. Master isn’t usually fierce, he just likes to toss poisons at you for no reason. Maybe I said something just now that angered him.”

Liu Sanye bit her hands in fear. This isn’t fierce? This Senior Brother must have been beaten stupid! Mommy, I want to go home! Elder Xun, where are you? Take me back to the outer sect! I can’t stay on Green Wood Peak! Tongtong! I’m afraid I won’t live to see you again!

Jun Yining led her through the maze of the Sacred King Tree. He sighed helplessly. “Well, Master didn’t give instructions, so I’ll have to keep looking after you. I’ll find you a treehouse for cultivation first.”

Seeing him get hit yet still helping her despite his “injuries,” Liu Sanye was moved to tears. “Senior Brother Yining, I was wrong. I’ll never look down on you again.”

Jun Yining laughed. “So, you finally know how good I am? Are you moved?”

“Yes, yes, yes, yes…” Liu Sanye nodded frantically, saying “yes” at least a dozen times. Since he was such a good brother, she definitely wouldn’t let him die like he did in the original plot!

With this promise in her heart, she grabbed his hand. “I’m so moved my tears are about to fall.”

Jun Yining looked at her eyes—which didn’t have a single spark of a tear—and chuckled. He pinched her cheek. “You little liar. Saying you’re moved, yet not a single tear.”

Liu Sanye felt wronged. “I’m not lying, I really am moved!”

Jun Yining wouldn’t believe the little liar again. They searched for a while and finally found an empty treehouse. Entering the room, Jun Yining reclined on a vine chair. “This will be your cultivation spot from now on. By the way, you must have many questions. Ask them now, or the opportunity is gone.”

Liu Sanye was puzzled. What questions could she have? But since it was a free opportunity, she thought for a long while before finally squeezing out a very boring question: “I just want to know… who wrote that terrifying Green Wood Manual?” It was such a trap.

Jun Yining laughed. “The rules were written by our Ancestor, Su Lin. But the punishments were added extra by our Master, Feng Zhu.”

Hearing the name Su Lin again, Liu Sanye couldn’t help but ask out of curiosity, “I often hear about Ancestor Su Lin’s deeds, but was the Ancestor a man or a woman?”

Jun Yining was surprised. “You don’t know if the Ancestor was a man or woman? She was the number one beauty of our Hegui Sect a thousand years ago!”

With that, he looked at her cryptically. “I have a crystal image of the Ancestor here. Do you want to see?”

Liu Sanye was interested immediately. She replied just as cryptically, “I want to see.”

Jun Yining pulled out a specialized storage bag filled with crystal images. He searched for quite a while before finding it. Liu Sanye grew excited looking at the old crystal.

“Although the Ancestor was a Wood-Earth root, her combat power was exceptionally fierce. During the war a thousand years ago, the Demon Sovereign Fen Yan died by her hand,” Jun Yining said admiringly as he channeled spiritual power to open the image.

It was a snippet of a battle. In the image, a woman in green attire controlled tens of thousands of “Berserk” plants, charging without regret into a roaring, heaven-blotting inferno. Then, the earth shattered, and the image cut off.

There was no shot of her face, but seeing just her back, one knew this was a brave and resolute woman, worthy of the title of “Number One Beauty.”