After I Failed to Reform the Female Lead of a Tragic Novel - Chapter 21

“Damn it! How did it fall asleep again?!”

Qiu Yan nearly broke down and shouted aloud. He kept feeling that this treasure-seeking rat was more useless than any he had ever seen before. Not only did it only know how to move in a straight line, causing him to run into obstacles again and again, it especially loved sleeping.

There were countless plants here, hiding many branching paths and dangers. Without the treasure-seeking rat’s guidance, Qiu Yan did not dare act rashly.

As if venting his anger, he stuffed the huge golden rat into his bundle, then simply leaned against a tree trunk and closed his eyes for a short rest, hoping this thing would wake up sooner.

After a while, some discordant sounds destroyed the forest’s silence and instantly alerted Qiu Yan. His eyes snapped open.

Those were human footsteps, rapidly hurrying this way.

Impossible. Other than himself, who had the treasure-seeking rat, who else would take such a remote path?

That was Qiu Yan’s first reaction.

He directly climbed to the highest point of a tree and looked down. Through the gaps between the branches and leaves, he could vaguely see two slender figures wearing Buzhou Mountain’s white uniforms.

It was Gong Dongling and Xie Yu!

How could it be them?! If it were other disciples, they might have stumbled in by mistake. But since it was these two, he could not help thinking further.

Qiu Yan expanded his senses, wanting to eavesdrop on Gong Dongling and Xie Yu’s conversation to see if there was any useful information.

The two had already walked ahead of Qiu Yan. In order to investigate their purpose, Qiu Yan had no choice but to quietly follow after them, a rather dishonorable-looking act.

Xie Yu leaned closer to Gong Dongling and silently mouthed, “He’s here. Someone is following us.”

Hearing this, Gong Dongling slowed her pace, as if deliberately making it easier for Qiu Yan to keep up.

Although this stretch of road was remote, it followed a small creek. The clear water reflected flowing, brilliant colors, like a dreamlike bubble. Many wildflowers grew along the bank as well.

Gong Dongling casually plucked one and tucked it behind Xie Yu’s ear, smiling. “A-Yu is so pretty. Little white flowers suit you.”

Xie Yu reached out to take the flower off. “Senior Sister, don’t tease me!”

The two joked and played along the way, even scooping up water in their hands and splashing it at each other. They looked as intimate as true sisters.

Qiu Yan, up in the tree, was especially speechless. No matter how he looked at them, these two did not seem to be here for anything serious. If the treasure-seeking rat had not yet woken up, Qiu Yan truly would have rolled his eyes and left right then.

But just as Qiu Yan was bored out of his mind, Xie Yu suddenly asked, “Senior Sister, where did you get so much money to buy maps? One map cost a thousand spirit stones!”

“On the day I went to find you, I happened to sell off all my idle pills and whatnot in the market, clearing them out in one go. Right now, I have plenty of spare money.” Gong Dongling did not avoid the topic at all, saying everything that should be said.

Qiu Yan instantly focused his attention on eavesdropping. He had a premonition that what came next would definitely be information he wanted to know.

“Senior Sister went to the black market? Proper shops wouldn’t accept those things…”

Gong Dongling seemed troubled for a long while before finally making up her mind to speak.

“I’ll tell Junior Sister something, but you must not tell anyone else. In the black market, I met someone called Mr. Mu. The reason he bought my pills at such a high price was because he wanted me to work for him—he recognized that I was from Buzhou Mountain! He said that his informant in Buzhou Mountain was about to be reclaimed and hoped I could replace that person and work for him.”

These words shocked both Xie Yu and Qiu Yan into drastic changes of expression. Qiu Yan, especially, who was straddling two tree branches, almost rolled off the tree.

“Senior Sister, you agreed?!” Xie Yu cried out.

But the instant she spoke, Gong Dongling covered her mouth. “Keep your voice down! If someone nearby hears this, I’m dead!”

“How would I dare agree? If I were branded a traitor, what would I do? So I pretended to agree, and after leaving, I immediately threw away the token they gave me for communication!”

Xie Yu was still very worried. “What if those people come looking for you?”

“I’m anxious too. I just don’t know who the previous informant about to be reclaimed is. If I could tell that person this information and let them prepare early, or even cooperate with us to fight against Mr. Mu together, that would be good.”

As Gong Dongling spoke, she even sighed deeply, looking as if she were sincerely thinking for that person’s sake.

After hearing everything from the tree, Qiu Yan was both shocked and furious. The moment Gong Dongling mentioned the word “reclaimed,” he believed her words to some extent.

Because only those within the Demon Clan used the word “reclaim.” When a person was no longer trusted by the Demon Clan, the Demon Lord would issue an order to reclaim them—which meant using a special and cruel set of punishments to execute them.

Qiu Yan knew Mu Chenlin had always hated him, afraid that once Qiu Yan rose up, he would take his position. But he had not expected that man to show not even the slightest master-servant affection and want to eradicate him completely.

By the time he snapped out of his rage, Gong Dongling and Xie Yu had already walked ahead.

Qiu Yan immediately moved to chase after them, but because he was too anxious, he abruptly snapped a tree branch beneath his foot.

Although he barely steadied himself and did not fall straight down, such a huge noise clearly could not escape the senses of the two cultivators ahead.

In that instant, Xie Yu drew Xuanling and said coldly toward the tree, “Who is it?”

Qiu Yan crouched in the tree, not daring to breathe loudly. But in the next second, a cold flash passed, and Xuanling was already at his neck. At some point, Xie Yu had appeared behind him like a ghost.

Knowing there was no longer room to maneuver, he turned his hand and clasped Xie Yu’s wrist, pulling Xuanling away from danger. Then, dragging Xie Yu with him, he leaped down to the ground and looked openly at the two of them, taking the initiative instead. “Why are you here?”

Gong Dongling seemed to finally come back to herself. Her finger trembled slightly as she pointed at Qiu Yan, panic-stricken. “Him! He’s been following us the entire time! He definitely heard what I said earlier. Let’s run!”

That voice was like a signal. Xie Yu immediately wrapped an arm around Gong Dongling’s waist, circulated her spiritual power, used qinggong, and leaped up, carrying Gong Dongling toward the southeast.

Qiu Yan also did not understand what was happening. He only knew he had to keep up with Gong Dongling in order to learn more secrets. He cursed and immediately chased after them.

Although Xie Yu had a solid foundation, carrying Gong Dongling, this dead weight, still slowed her somewhat. She looked back and saw Qiu Yan pressing closer and closer. Gritting her teeth, she said in a low voice, “Senior Sister, forgive the offense!” Then she changed position and carried Gong Dongling in a princess carry.

Once the weight borne by one arm was shared between both arms, her speed finally increased a little.

This was Gong Dongling’s first time experiencing qinggong that let people fly over eaves and run along walls. It was not like flying on a sword. The danger level soared, and the jolting several times made it feel as if she might be thrown out. She had no choice but to tightly wrap her arms around Xie Yu’s waist.

Noticing Xie Yu’s whole body stiffen, her foot nearly slipping, Gong Dongling hurriedly loosened her hands. “A-Yu, I didn’t mean to! I won’t hold you anymore!”

But that movement happened to coincide with a rapid descent, and Gong Dongling almost got left behind in midair.

“…Hold tighter. Don’t fall.”

Xie Yu only said that before focusing again on shaking off Qiu Yan’s pursuit.

“Th-Then… I’m holding on…”

Whether from shyness or embarrassment, rare pink clouds also rose on Gong Dongling’s cheeks.

She carefully tested it twice, then finally reached out and lightly hugged Xie Yu’s waist, hanging from her like a koala.

After they chased and fled for some time, a massive wall of trees finally appeared before them.

Xie Yu let out a breath of relief. Fortunately, the distance was not far. After all, in terms of stamina, she was still inferior to Qiu Yan. Seeing him draw closer and closer, Xie Yu had nearly thought she would fail the mission.

The spectacular tree wall before them was actually a natural maze formed by clusters of tall shrubs. The terrain inside was extremely complicated. If one accidentally entered it, they could forget about getting out for days and nights.

Holding Gong Dongling, she plunged straight into the maze. Qiu Zijian and Qi Tuo were already waiting just inside the maze entrance. They were also wearing the same white uniforms and had let their hair down. From a distance, their backs looked quite similar to Gong Dongling and Xie Yu.

When the four met, both sides only nodded in acknowledgment before splitting into two routes.

Xie Yu and Gong Dongling turned sideways and vanished into the blue-purple shrubs. The two disciples rushed forward, but at the corner, they did not forget to wait a little for Qiu Yan. Their white figures were obviously trying to hide the truth, practically serving as a glaring Qiu Yan bait trap.

The moment Qiu Yan entered the maze, he felt something was fishy. But the white figures were right in front of him. After hesitating briefly, he still followed.

He had thought he would quickly be able to catch the exhausted Xie Yu and interrogate her about that matter. Who would have known that the two people ahead would move fast and slow, sprinting intermittently? Every time he was about to catch up, he was just a little short, and at the next fork, they would shake him off again.

Before he realized it, he had chased them all the way to the central area of the maze. The two people ahead finally collapsed to the ground with a thud, shouting, “Can’t run anymore! Not another step!”

“Gong Dong—”

Before the final “ling” could leave his mouth, Qiu Yan’s panting face abruptly darkened. How were these two Gong Dongling and Xie Yu? They were clearly two grown men, one tall and one short!

“Eldest Senior Brother?!” Qiu Zijian was even more shocked than Qiu Yan. “Why are you the one chasing us?”

Qiu Yan grabbed one person’s collar in each hand and forcibly hauled them up. “Why were you running just now?!”

“We… We saw someone chasing us and were very frightened. We couldn’t help running…” The two trembled as they explained.

Of course Qiu Yan did not believe this excuse, but the process no longer mattered. The result at this moment was that the three of them were trapped in this enormous maze like headless flies!

“Do you two believe I’ll kill you here and destroy the evidence?” Qiu Yan ground his back teeth, unable to swallow this anger no matter what.

Qiu Zijian, who had already been threatened with death several times over the past few days, had reached the point of being a dead pig unafraid of boiling water. He leaned back on the ground and said indifferently,

“To tell Eldest Senior Brother the truth, we’re currently doing something for Senior Sister Gong. The goal is to draw you away so Senior Sister Gong and Junior Sister Xie can escape safely. Our Recording Stones have also been connected with Senior Sister’s the whole time. If you kill us, Buzhou Mountain will immediately know you were the one who did it.”

“Killing us brings you a hundred harms and not a single benefit. If you don’t kill us, we can still help you search for an exit and scout the way.”

He had been played again! Qiu Yan almost laughed from anger. He no longer knew how many times this had happened. He only knew that whenever he faced Gong Dongling and Xie Yu, damn it, he had never won once!

At that moment, the treasure-seeking rat suddenly woke from its deep sleep. Drowsily, it climbed along Qiu Yan’s arm to his shoulder, raised one paw, and pointed straight ahead. “Squeak squeak squeak squeak!” The treasure is straight ahead!

Expressionless, Qiu Yan stared at the endless shrubs directly in front of him, veins bulging on his forehead.

Damn it! He had almost forgotten. This treasure-seeking rat only knew how to move in a straight line!