After I Failed to Reform the Female Lead of a Tragic Novel - Chapter 11

In the few days after Xie Yu advanced, she and Gong Dongling occasionally stayed in contact, but both were busy with their own affairs. By the time Gong Dongling finally stepped out of her room, several days had already passed.

In light of the business opportunity she had discovered with pills, Gong Dongling decided that once the Xuanji Grass incident was over, she would take an alchemist certification exam and make a fortune through alchemy.

She shared this plan with Xie Yu when the girl came over to thank her. Xie Yu expressed her support and said that the next time she went down the mountain for training, she would help Gong Dongling check the market price of pills.

Today, the Training Hall had issued training assignments for inner sect disciples. Every inner sect disciple on the list received a summons and had to head to the Training Hall within the designated time to confirm the details of the assignment.

Since Gong Dongling knew the plot, of course she knew that the theme of this mission was going to the Ruoxu Illusion Realm. A large part of this was because Xu Ruozhen was having the Training Hall sneak in his own private agenda, making her search for the Xuanji Grass seem perfectly natural.

When she arrived at the Training Hall, she looked around and did not see that familiar figure, so she stood quietly inside and waited.

Noise drifted into her ears. Unsurprisingly, the disciples around her were all excitedly discussing the training mission.

“Did you hear? We’re going to the Ruoxu Illusion Realm this time! I heard most of the spirit beasts and immortal herbs there have illusion-causing abilities. We’ve never had any related training before, so I don’t know why they chose that place.”

“Isn’t there some demoness from the Demon Clan recently who’s especially good at bewitching people’s minds? A lot of cultivators were tricked by her and had their hearts and livers dug out. Maybe they want us to gain some experience through this training.”

Only then did Gong Dongling remember that when the Training Hall issued the mission, they had not told everyone about the Xuanji Grass appearing. That way, even if these disciples encountered the Xuanji Grass, they would ignore it because they did not recognize it.

She could not help muttering inwardly: These old foxes…

At some point, someone noticed Gong Dongling and cried out, “It’s Senior Sister Gong!”

In an instant, Gong Dongling attracted everyone’s attention. Perhaps because she had recently been obsessed with alchemy and had not appeared in front of her fellow disciples for some time, her return this time was especially popular.

Before long, her side was crowded with people coming over to ask after her well-being, forcing Gong Dongling to retreat step by step.

By the time her smile had nearly cramped and she finally escaped from the center of the crowd, she ran straight into Ji Yuran, who had deliberately blocked her from behind.

How on earth did the original owner maintain her white moonlight image in front of so many people every day?!

“Senior Sister, since we’re going on this training mission together, I can only go against Senior Sister’s wishes and stay by your side. Don’t worry. I definitely won’t leak any information about that grass, and I hope Senior Sister can accept my help.”

Ji Yuran had none of the gloom he showed after being rejected that day. His bewitching brows and eyes lifted slightly, practically overflowing with demonic charm.

“I’m also searching for someone else. If you don’t mind, then you can help look for it too.” Gong Dongling was rarely patient. The moment she thought of Ji Yuran possibly offering the grass to her, only for her to turn around and hand it to Xie Yu, whom he hated, a malicious little smile rose on her face.

“Isn’t Senior Sister the one who needs this immortal herb? How could you be searching for someone else? Senior Sister, don’t tease me.” Ji Yuran’s smile froze for a moment.

Gong Dongling gave a cold snort and said nothing more, but her gaze continued searching among the newcomers.

This shouldn’t be right. Almost everyone was here, so why was there still no sign of Xie Yu?

Ji Yuran noticed Gong Dongling’s gaze and immediately followed the thread of conversation. “Is Senior Sister waiting for someone? There’s a list with the steward up front. You can go see whether that person’s name is on it. After all, this mission has a certain level of difficulty. Only disciples at Foundation Establishment and above can go.”

Hearing this, Gong Dongling understood. She nodded and thanked him, then quickly walked over to the steward to look at the list.

Sure enough, Xie Yu was not on it…

Gong Dongling’s heart sank. After all, Xie Yu never liked to show off. No one knew she had already broken through, so they had habitually overlooked her just like before.

Yes. In the original novel, Xie Yu had never been approved to participate in any inner sect disciple training mission. Whether there was a cultivation threshold or not, she seemed forever excluded, an outsider looking in.

Xie Yu could only follow behind the outer sect disciples to the mortal realm and do the hardest demon-subduing work with almost no reward.

There were many reasons for this situation: Xu Ruozhen’s disregard, Qiu Yan’s secret manipulation, the inner sect disciples’ isolation, the Training Hall steward’s indulgence…

But since Gong Dongling was here, she had a duty to help Xie Yu fight for what should have been hers in the first place.

“Senior, this junior dares to ask: has your hall written down the names of all inner sect disciples who meet the qualifications?” Gong Dongling pointed at the scroll and asked the steward. For once, there was no smile on her soft, beautiful face.

She had already been attracting the attention of the disciples present. Although her voice was not loud, the hall seemed to fall silent all at once. Everyone waited for Gong Dongling to continue.

The steward was also stunned. He lowered his head and carefully compared the list before replying to Gong Dongling, “This is indeed the complete list.”

“Then may I ask why my junior sister Xie Yu’s name alone is absent?”

Her words exploded like thunder on flat ground, setting off a wave of discussion. After all, the relationship between Gong Dongling and Xie Yu was the center of gossip and endlessly intriguing.

In everyone’s eyes, Gong Dongling seemed to be deliberately bringing up Xie Yu so she could embarrass her in front of everyone. After all, who did not know that Xie Yu had cultivated under Daofa Zhenren for three years, only to still remain at the Qi Refining stage?

Sure enough, some people had already begun saying with disdain and bitterness, “It’s that useless trash Xie Yu again. She’s such an embarrassment to us inner sect disciples. I see her blending in with the outer sect disciples so well. Why doesn’t she just hurry up and roll over to the outer sect?”

“Say a little less, would you? Aren’t you only at the second level of Foundation Establishment? How do you have the face to talk about others?”

“Bullshit. If I had her resources, I would’ve formed my Golden Core long ago! If you want to act like a saint, go volunteer to teach useless trash. Stop lecturing me here…”

Before he could finish, he met Gong Dongling’s frost-cold gaze. For some reason, he only felt a chill crawl over him. His voice grew smaller and smaller, and he no longer dared speak.

The steward also breathed a sigh of relief and smiled. “Ah, I thought it was something serious. So it’s Xie Yu. Dongling, you may not know this, but this training mission is only open to inner sect disciples at Foundation Establishment and above.”

“Is that so?” Gong Dongling smiled and said word by word, “But hasn’t she already reached Foundation Establishment?”

Everyone present looked at one another, the same doubt rising in their hearts.

When had Xie Yu, who had shown no movement for three years, broken through? Why had they not heard even the slightest rumor?

“We have never heard Xie Yu mention it either. It is normal not to know,” the steward said. He was shocked only for a moment before quickly finding an excuse and explaining in a lowered tone.

“This junior understands. How would I dare blame your hall? I only find it a little strange. This time, you didn’t know her cultivation level. But what about before? Mirror Lake, Flame Domain, Demon Eye Palace—I remember those training missions had no cultivation restrictions, didn’t they? Why was Xie Yu never on those lists either?”

“I’m not blaming you, of course. I’m only curious and asking.”

At the end, she did not forget to add an infuriatingly sarcastic sentence.

This time, the steward could no longer speak. The other disciples in the hall also fell silent one after another. Everyone knew exactly what had happened, but this was precisely the situation they themselves had created.

The disciples who had been mocking Xie Yu without restraint just now now had flushed faces. The facts were laid bare before them. Xie Yu was the one who had never enjoyed the rights of an inner sect disciple at all.

The Training Hall steward was unlike the Law Hall elder from before. His cultivation and status in the sect were not impressive, which was why he had been assigned to such a troublesome and thankless position. Even when facing a junior like Gong Dongling, he did not dare offend her.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead. “This… this was an oversight on the part of our Training Hall. I will add Xie Yu’s name to the list immediately, and we will not overlook her again in the future.”

Before Gong Dongling could speak, a voice cut in at just the right moment.

“There’s no need. Xie Yu isn’t on Buzhou Mountain. She has already secretly gone to the Ruoxu Illusion Realm alone.”

The instant Gong Dongling heard that voice, her eyes sharpened. She turned back and met Qiu Yan’s provocative gaze.

That single sentence contained an enormous amount of information. Not only everyone present, even Gong Dongling had not expected Xie Yu to leave so quickly.

However, Gong Dongling had always hidden her emotions well, which greatly disappointed Qiu Yan, who had wanted to admire her panicked expression.

“The once-in-a-century Xuanji Grass has appeared in the Ruoxu Illusion Realm. I heard Junior Sister needs it. Looking at things now, Xie Yu probably wanted to get there first and take it for herself.” Qiu Yan continued exposing the matter, easily making the two girls’ secret public.

As soon as these words came out, the surroundings seemed to explode. The Xuanji Grass was already an exceptionally precious immortal herb, and the fight between two senior and junior sisters over it was even more exciting—especially since Gong Dongling, who had just been speaking up for Xie Yu, now seemed to have been betrayed.

A disciple loudly asked, “If one of us finds the Xuanji Grass, according to the rules, wouldn’t it belong to whoever found it?”

On inner sect training missions, whoever found a treasure had always owned the heavenly material. It was a resource unique to them.

The steward looked at Qiu Yan, who was wildly revealing secrets, and his knees nearly went weak enough to make him kneel. Daofa Zhenren had specially instructed him before not to reveal the matter of the Xuanji Grass. Now, everyone knew. What was he supposed to do?!

Before he could speak, Qiu Yan decided for him. “Naturally. After all, the inner sect values unity. If someone has too many privileges, that would be difficult to handle.”

Gong Dongling almost rolled her eyes. Being inner sect disciples was already the greatest privilege these people had. And now they wanted unity and cooperation within that privilege?

“Xie Yu knowing about the Xuanji Grass and going there ahead of time is her own ability. Besides, wasn’t she not included in this training mission anyway? So what if she truly went to the illusion realm alone? On the contrary, someone like you, who monitors another person’s movements, is the one who should be condemned.”

Gong Dongling stared at Qiu Yan, her tone unhurried, exceptionally calm and ordinary.

Qiu Yan smiled. “In terms of emotion and reason, of course there is nothing wrong. But what about your personal feelings? You helped her so much, only to receive her selfish betrayal in return. Don’t you feel unwilling?”

With just a few instigating words from Qiu Yan, the surroundings erupted into discussion again.

“I already said Xie Yu was no good. Senior Sister Gong took such care of her, yet she still stabbed her in the back!”

“Senior Sister seems to have been tricked… How miserable.”

“Damn it. She dared treat my goddess like this? If I run into that person in the illusion realm in a few days, she’s dead. Even if I can’t get the Xuanji Grass, there’s no way I’ll let her have it…”

Hearing Qiu Yan’s ill-intentioned words, Gong Dongling instead became even calmer. She was increasingly certain that Xie Yu had not gone ahead to the illusion realm the way Qiu Yan claimed.

Indeed, in the original novel, Xie Yu had seized this kind of advantage and obtained the Xuanji Grass ahead of time. But this time, since she had said they would compete fairly, then she absolutely would not lie.

But only Gong Dongling believed Xie Yu…

Of course Qiu Yan knew he could not so easily drive a wedge between the two of them. He only wanted to expose the matter in front of everyone. After this, no matter which of them obtained the Xuanji Grass, they would be criticized—especially Xie Yu, who was rumored to have gained the upper hand first.

Thinking of this, a sudden idea formed in Gong Dongling’s mind.