After I Failed to Reform the Female Lead of a Tragic Novel - Chapter 16

Of course Gong Dongling knew why Xie Yu wanted one room. It was obviously to save money. But why was this inn attendant getting so worked up?

She exchanged a glance with Xie Yu and saw the same confusion in the other girl’s eyes.

“Why would renting one room be better? Shouldn’t the inn want to earn more money?” Gong Dongling asked without revealing anything.

The youth realized he had misspoken and stammered out an explanation. “Immortal ladies, you may not know this, but there are rumors that ghosts haunt the area around our town. Because of that, once night falls, everyone hides indoors and doesn’t come out. Since the guests are two young ladies, I thought it would be better for you to share one room so you could look after each other.”

“It’s fine. Catching ghosts and exterminating demons happens to be our specialty. If it’s only a rumor about ghosts, then it’s nothing much.”

“Don’t listen to his nonsense!” The female innkeeper jabbed Xiao Chun’s temple with one sharp fingernail, then turned to face the two of them, her face piling up with smiles. “Xiao Chun always likes repeating rumors he hears. There’s no such thing! If the two guests want two rooms, that’s perfectly fine. I’ll arrange them right away.”

Xie Yu gently tugged Gong Dongling’s sleeve and frowned, shaking her head to signal that she had something to say.

It was rare for Gong Dongling to see her with such a serious expression, so she guessed this was definitely connected to the matter. She said, “One room, then. My younger sister is afraid of ghosts. Although it’s only a rumor, I’ll feel more at ease keeping watch over her. Otherwise, she definitely won’t dare close her eyes tonight.”

The innkeeper had nothing more to say. She could only glare fiercely at Xiao Chun before leading the two upstairs to their room.

The inn seemed to have gone a long time without renovations. Night had only just fallen, but there were barely any lanterns lit along the wooden staircase. Everything was pitch-black. Gong Dongling’s night vision had always been poor, and although she carefully felt her way up the stairs, she still stepped onto a broken stair and nearly fell flat on her face.

Just then, Xie Yu wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled Gong Dongling back. But that soft sensation seemed to strike Xie Yu like an electric shock, making her jolt.

Once Gong Dongling had steadied herself, Xie Yu immediately withdrew her hand. Her voice was a little unnatural. “Be… be careful.”

Gong Dongling stood there, still shaken. She seemed not to notice that Xie Yu had just held her waist. Instead, she leaned a little closer to her, her tone carrying a hint of dependence and coquettishness. “A-Yu, can you lead me by the hand? I can’t see things at night.”

In the past, whenever she encountered this kind of situation, her uncle-like assistant had always led her along, so she had developed a conditioned sort of dependence.

Xie Yu froze in place. Her dark eyes looked at Gong Dongling’s obediently extended hand, and for some reason, a strange thought appeared in her heart.

When she finally came back to herself, she used a spell to summon a light. Looking somewhat troubled, she carefully spread both hands and examined them. Only then did she muster up the courage to tentatively grasp Gong Dongling’s sleeve with a few fingers. She lifted her face and looked at Gong Dongling. “Senior Sister, is this… okay?”

Seeing that Xie Yu had not held her hand, Gong Dongling felt a little disappointed for some reason. “Then you have to hold on tight.”

As the two of them climbed the stairs together, Gong Dongling could not help glancing at Xie Yu’s hand from time to time. She bit her dry lips and suppressed the urge to take Xie Yu’s hand in return. It seemed that after transmigrating into the book, that “illness” of hers had grown even worse…

Compared to Gong Dongling’s restraint, Xie Yu was tense all over. One hand pinched Gong Dongling’s sleeve while the other guided the glowing ball of light. Fine sweat seeped from her palm.

She was clearly no longer the little beggar she had once been. So why did she still not dare get close to others?

Afraid Gong Dongling would misunderstand, Xie Yu tried her best to act more natural. She tightened her grip on Senior Sister’s sleeve and even gave her a reassuring smile.

The moment they reached the room, the two of them separated as if by reflex. Gong Dongling brushed her sleeve with one hand, touching the lingering warmth there, while Xie Yu twisted her hands together, looking dispirited. Both were frustrated by their own strange reactions just now.

Only the innkeeper leaned bonelessly against the wall, smiling as she watched them. “Why are the guests standing outside? Go in.”

…

“A-Yu, didn’t you have something to tell me just now?” Gong Dongling coughed lightly, breaking the strange atmosphere among them.

Only then did Xie Yu suddenly return to her senses and toss aside that little mishap from earlier. After thinking for a moment, she said, “I smelled a familiar scent on those two. I can’t say what kind of smell it is exactly. It’s just somewhat like the aura of demonic beasts or monsters I’ve encountered during training…”

“Could they also be demonic beasts or monsters in disguise?” Gong Dongling froze, though an answer had already formed in her heart.

She thought of Xiao Chun’s abnormal, timid reaction, and her heart tightened. Then she asked, “Can you tell exactly who it’s coming from? Now that I think about it, they are rather suspicious.”

Naturally, Gong Dongling suspected the female innkeeper even more. She just did not know what was going on with the young man who had shown them a bit of kindness.

But Xie Yu shook her head. “I can’t. I can only tell it came from their direction.”

“If you’re scared, we can still leave through the window now and fly on the sword to another inn.” Gong Dongling did not know whether the other party would make a move tonight, but she could not circulate spiritual power right now, which basically cut her strength in half. She had to be more cautious.

“What would Senior Sister do? Stay and exterminate the demon, or leave first?” Xie Yu also knew those two were suspicious. Most likely, they were either demons or monsters. For them to harm passing travelers in the middle of the night was practically basic behavior.

“I would stay, as long as I could guarantee both our safety. We’ll see if we can force them to reveal their true forms. If we can eliminate them, of course that would be best. If not, we can still retreat safely.” A confident smile finally appeared on Gong Dongling’s face.

For Gong Dongling to say something like this meant that she truly had a foolproof plan. As she spoke, she took several things out of her storage ring.

Two of them were a copper bell and a net. They were useful, strange little items she had sorted out from her pile of miscellaneous objects.

The copper bell was a small bell hanging from a red string. It was actually a door-locking spell. Although it was somewhat useless in that it could only block one attack against the door, when it blocked the attack, the bell would also let out a huge sound, waking the sleeping people in the room—just like a modern alarm.

As for the net woven from silver thread, it was a demon-binding net. It could trap evil things like demons and monsters inside for a period of time. Only after the spiritual power used to counter the evil energy disappeared could the thing inside break free. However, it had one advantage: within range, it would lock onto evil things and attack automatically.

As Gong Dongling introduced them to Xie Yu, she set the traps on the door handle and the floor.

As long as that thing broke in tonight, the demon-binding net would instantly catch it, and the two of them could take the opportunity to either exterminate the demon or run.

Of course, if the monster’s power was too strong, Gong Dongling had also prepared a divine artifact for instant escape. This thing had been passed down in the original owner’s family by her parents, who had died early. It could be counted as one of the original owner’s life-saving treasures.

It was a palm-sized rhombus mirror. The instant it was activated by intent, it could create a mirror-space, suck the designated people inside, and transport them to the location of the main body—Gong Dongling’s residence.

In short, a divine tool for running away.

But even a divine artifact could not be used casually. This thing awakened only once a year. After it was used, it would enter a long standby period. If they encountered an even more dangerous situation later, they would not be able to use it again.

Any one of these three things was extremely expensive, especially the final space-time mirror. Divine artifacts comparable to it were all ancestral treasures of major families and sects. If one appeared at an auction, it would shock the entire cultivation world.

It was precisely because her relatives had sacrificed themselves in that war, leaving Gong Dongling as the last member of her family, that she possessed such a precious treasure.

Xie Yu had never come into contact with magical artifacts like these before. Her eyes were full of astonishment. During this period, Senior Sister had been so approachable that Xie Yu had almost forgotten the vast difference between them.

Just like now, Senior Sister always seemed to have everything under control. Nothing was unexpected in her hands, which gave people an extraordinary sense of security.

But unlike before, Xie Yu did not feel inferior anymore or think herself unworthy of standing beside Senior Sister. Instead, she wanted to cultivate properly, exterminate demons, earn money, and become someone who could fight alongside Senior Sister.

The night deepened, and the two of them also woke from cultivation.

There was only one bed in the room, so naturally, they reached the eternal debate of who should sleep on the bed.

“Junior Sister, you go sleep on the bed. I’ll keep watch here. If someone breaks in, I’ll be alerted immediately.” Gong Dongling sat on a redwood chair, her eyes half-lidded as she looked lazily at Xie Yu.

Xie Yu hurriedly said, “No matter what, Senior Sister should be the one sleeping. I’ll keep watch. I don’t sleep much normally anyway…”

Gong Dongling thought of the stone slab bed in Xie Yu’s room and immediately felt sympathy. “A-Yu, why didn’t you tell me earlier? Is that bed of yours even meant for sleeping? Say no more. Tonight, I absolutely have to let you experience what a real bed feels like!”

“Th-Then… let’s sleep together…” Hearing Gong Dongling’s tone that left no room for discussion, Xie Yu somehow grew anxious and blurted out such a sentence.

But the moment the words left her mouth, she immediately regretted it.

How could Senior Sister possibly lie in the same bed as her?

Yet before Xie Yu could take it back, Gong Dongling immediately made the decision. “Then let’s sleep together. This bed isn’t small either.”

Although she said it so naturally and reasonably, Xie Yu somehow felt that she had agreed a little too eagerly. On that usually calm face, there seemed to be a trace of anticipation dancing.

Xie Yu’s face instantly flushed red. “N-No, maybe we should…”

“We’re both women, so what’s there to be shy about? It’s not like I’m going to do anything improper to you.” Gong Dongling propped her chin in her hand, looking utterly sincere as she blinked innocently.

Xie Yu’s unfinished words got stuck in her throat.

How could a beauty like Senior Sister possibly do anything improper to her? If anyone were to do something improper, it would be her! Ah, no, no, she would never do anything to Senior Sister either…

By the time she was muddled and fighting herself from both sides, she had already been invited onto the bed by Senior Sister and was lying there stiffly like a corpse.

Gong Dongling carefully pulled the brocade quilt over the two of them and lay down comfortably. “Junior Sister, why do you look so worried? Don’t worry. The bell will ring at night. We won’t sleep through anything.”

She raised a smile, her little canine tooth faintly visible.

In truth, Gong Dongling had a strange habit.

She liked skin contact with others, especially soft, sweet-smelling girls. Of course, this habit was intermittent and most often triggered when someone else touched her first.

Just now, in the corridor, when the two of them had drawn close and Xie Yu held her around the waist—

She had acted up.