Chapter 37

Xie Yu’s gaze lingered on the shallow and deep scratches across Gong Dongling’s feet. They had been scraped when she tripped over the reef rocks. If Senior Sister walked back barefoot like this, she would probably suffer again. Thinking of this, Xie Yu sighed softly and said to Senior Sister, “I’ll carry you back.”

She had clearly decided to be a little harsher toward Senior Sister, to make her suffer until she came asking on her own. But in the end, her attitude still softened.

Seeing that Xie Yu was no longer as oppressive as she had been just now, but instead carried a few traces of helplessness and softness, Gong Dongling felt as if this was how the two of them had gotten along before. After experiencing Xie Yu’s abnormal behavior, this version of Xie Yu felt especially reassuring.

And so, Gong Dongling finally wrapped both arms around Xie Yu’s slender neck, her body gently pressing against Xie Yu’s back.

“A-Yu, you’re so good to me.”

Xie Yu had carried Senior Sister before, so she had long known that Senior Sister was light and seemed to weigh almost nothing. But this was the first time she felt, against Senior Sister’s thin and frail body, that soft sensation. Almost instantly, the graceful outline of the girl’s body formed in Xie Yu’s mind.

Her throat went dry, as if every moment of contact was burning over fire.

Gong Dongling’s feet had left the ground, so she subconsciously tightened her arms around A-Yu’s neck, entrusting her full weight to Xie Yu with particular dependence.

A strand of black hair secretly wound its way down Xie Yu’s long, slender neck, bringing with it Senior Sister’s unique fragrance. As their steps swayed, it brushed intentionally or unintentionally against Xie Yu’s skin, making Xie Yu’s throat roll for a moment. She lowered her eyes, deliberately hiding the emotion inside them.

As Xie Yu walked forward, Gong Dongling lightly rested her head on A-Yu’s shoulder and quietly bailiantales.com lifted her gaze to look at the side of her face beneath the moonlight. It was clear and crystalline, as if glowing. In this stillness, something began growing in the depths of her heart again.

Xie Yu entered Gong Dongling’s room and placed her on the bed, but did not leave.

The reason Gong Dongling had sat barefoot on the rocky shore was simply because the moonlit scene had been so quiet and artistic. Now, because she had stepped on reef stones and lake water earlier, her bare feet only dangled over the edge of the bed. She secretly curled a few toes, planning to wash her feet once Xie Yu left.

Who would have known that this small movement would once again draw Xie Yu’s attention? In the next second, Xie Yu reached out and caught that lightly swinging, restless ankle.

The action startled Gong Dongling, making her tremble by reflex. Then, remembering that the soles of her feet were still a little dirty, she felt far too embarrassed and insisted on pulling her foot back no matter what.

“Don’t fuss. I’ll wipe it for you.” Seeing Senior Sister subconsciously resist her again, Xie Yu frowned slightly, her tone carrying some helplessness.

She pulled a silk handkerchief from her sleeve and carefully wiped away the specks of sand on Senior Sister’s sole. The pad of her finger brushed intentionally or unintentionally against one round, full toe, but she did not do anything extra or improper. After bandaging the scratches, she let go.

After all, she had already acted strangely several times today. If she did anything else, she would draw suspicion.

After Xie Yu left, Gong Dongling immediately buried her face in the pillow on the bed. Thinking back on everything that had happened between her and Xie Yu that night, as well as that “little punishment” that had suddenly landed on the tip of her ear, her cheeks and ears heated rapidly again. Fortunately, they were buried in the pillow, where no one could see them.

She felt that Xie Yu had become completely different from before. For example, that pressure. But when she thought about it carefully, it also seemed like something done in a fit of anger. Afterward, when Xie Yu sent her back, she had once again been the same considerate little angel as before!

As she thought and thought, she reached the root unauthorized copy of all evil—the false information provided by the system. She could only admit defeat and mutter sullenly, “Embarrassing. Too embarrassing.”

Perhaps because it heard Gong Dongling’s heart full of complaints toward it, the system suddenly said, 【Host, this system can confirm that the alert was not wrong. At least the character Ji Yuran was following the plot. The problem lies with Xie Yu. She has completely become an independent personality. Even the original novel, with the highest authority, can no longer control this character.】

Gong Dongling was shocked.

Thinking of Xie Yu’s recent changes, the shadow of the original novel’s version of her had indeed been growing fainter and fainter. Xie Yu’s way of doing things, as well as the events that had happened recently, were all outside the original novel. Was this not precisely proof that Xie Yu had awakened?

Ever since she transmigrated into this book, although she had never treated the characters as paper people, she could still see traces of the original novel’s restrictions on almost every character.

Only Xie Yu, under her influence, had truly grown into an independent and complete individual personality. That was why she could transcend the plot correction.

In other words, within this false world inside a book, only Gong Dongling herself and Xie Yu were real.

Gong Dongling was not surprised by this result. From the moment she sincerely devoted herself to protecting Xie Yu, she had no longer treated this merely as a mission. Instead, she had truly become Xie Yu’s senior sister, accompanying her as she grew and sheltering her from wind and rain.

She had discovered, behind Xie Yu’s character setting in the book, a personality and preferences no one knew about. In the end, she had also gained Xie Yu’s trust.

One could say that she had come for Xie Yu alone, and Xie Yu had awakened because of her alone.

The bond between the two of them was also the only real connection in this false space-time.

Thinking this, a warm current flowed through Gong Dongling’s heart, instantly dispersing the gloom that had risen from her worries over the past few days. Wuwuwu, she no longer had to worry about A-Yu being harmed by the angst-novel plot. A-Yu could finally truly live for herself!

Seeing Gong Dongling instantly brighten, the system swallowed the second half of what it had wanted to say.

It had originally wanted to remind the host that Xie Yu’s recent state was not right. She clearly had obvious signs of blackening, but no fluctuations in her blackening level could be detected. However, it was still too early to say these things. After all, it did not know when headquarters would reply. Once the report came out, it would have evidence when it spoke, which would be more accurate.

The confusion on this side was finally resolved. Meanwhile, on the other side, after Xie Yu returned to her room, she took out the Dream-Congealing Pearl she had tricked out of Gong Dongling.

But one problem troubled Xie Yu. She had only seen its function in a book and did not know how to use it.

After studying it for a very long time, the pearl still showed not the slightest reaction. Xie Yu did not dare rashly tamper with the Dream-Congealing Pearl either. Unexpectedly, she was stuck at the very first step, unable to find the method.

Xie Yu, who had held intense anticipation, was drenched by a bucket of cold water the moment she began. Her entire aura cooled completely. She put away the Dream-Congealing Pearl and turned to cultivation instead. In any case, the pearl was in her hands. One day, she would be able to open it. There was no need to rush.

…

Xie Yu successfully completed the mission. Immortal Lord Nandou had said he would take her to an auction to buy a sword, so a few days later, the Immortal Lord brought the two of them to Canglong Mountain.

Some time ago, Canglong Mountain’s previous mountain master failed his tribulation and died beneath heavenly lightning. His only daughter, Lu Congshuang, inherited the position of mountain master. As soon as she took the position, she sorted through the inheritance and held a grand [bailiantales.com]auction at Canglong Mountain to auction off some of her father’s precious collections.

Lu Congshuang made every aspect of this auction extremely lavish and sent invitations to all powers across the cultivation world. Rather than calling it an auction, it was more like the three fires of a newly appointed official: first meeting all the big figures, so they could interact more easily in the future.

Immortal Lord Nandou naturally received an invitation as well. However, he usually would not leave Wuwang Island lightly. This time was different. Lu Congshuang had something in her hands that he cared about very much.

Gong Dongling was also brought along by the Immortal Lord. He said it was the perfect chance for her to take the alchemist certification exam, which would make it convenient for her to sell pills and earn money.

She did not know why, but no matter how she explained, the Immortal Lord seemed convinced that she was the alternate account of some great expert who did not wish to reveal her name. From time to time, he would even discuss new pill prescriptions with her.

Although all of them were extremely obscure and difficult to understand, Gong Dongling still grew rapidly while being forced to communicate with this great expert. She was no longer limited to that book of pill prescriptions. She could even innovate on her own according to the effects of different herbs, adjusting their proportions herself.

Aside from this, she spent nearly a week shutting herself in her room to refine pills, finally thoroughly grasping that high-grade prescription for suppressing cold energy and producing a decent finished product.

With the help of the cheat given by the system, her strength could indeed touch the threshold of high-grade alchemy. However, because of her technique and experience, the process of working through the prescription had still been extremely difficult.

After taking the pill, its effects were indeed outstanding. The meridians that had never flowed smoothly since she came here seemed to have their Ren and Du meridians opened all at once. Her whole body felt comfortable, and her spiritual power surged as if about to overflow. Every part of her announced that she could finally stop being useless!

But compared to the Xuanji Grass, it could only temporarily suppress the cold energy, not completely remove it. She would still need to take one pill every half month to maintain the suppression.

After all, the Xuanji Grass had to be left for Xie Yu to rebuild her spiritual root. She wondered how many ​read the original at bailiantales.com​of the materials Xie Yu had gathered by now…

Thinking this, Gong Dongling could not help looking toward Xie Yu, who stood on the other side of Immortal Lord Nandou. At this moment, she wore white gauze robes and a veiled hat on her head, covering her overly outstanding and recognizable appearance.

The three of them were fully equipped for this trip. After all, because of the provocation last time, Xu Ruozhen had completely flown into a rage out of humiliation. He had issued a pursuit order for the two of them on the cultivation world’s most famous bounty list. If any cultivator could capture them and bring them before Xu Ruozhen, or provide information on their whereabouts, they could obtain a huge bounty.

The reward for the two of them together had even ranked within the top twenty on the bounty list.

When Gong Dongling saw her name listed alongside those utterly wicked demonic cultivators and their deeds, she was speechless. She only felt that Xu Ruozhen must have gone insane. Wasn’t this just running away from home? Was this really necessary?

For some reason, even through the layer of veiled hat, Gong Dongling could feel her gaze meeting Xie Yu’s in the air. But Xie Yu naturally turned her head to the other side.

Only belatedly did Gong Dongling realize: Had A-Yu been looking at her just now?

Ever since that night, they had each been busy with training and had not run into each other for several days. Now that they met, an indescribable atmosphere seemed to float between them.

Immortal Lord Nandou seemed not to notice their awkwardness. He only took out a small bottle of golden powder and evenly sprinkled it at the soles of the three people’s feet, drawing a perfect circle. In the next second, the three of them landed at the foot of Canglong Mountain, an unimaginable distance away from Wuwang Island.

This golden powder was an extremely precious raw material for teleportation arrays. However, the Immortal Lord had countless magical treasures and did not care much about such things. With the Immortal Lord present, they did not even need to fly there laboriously on their swords.

At this moment, they were in the bustling market before Canglong Mountain’s main gate. From afar, they could still see cultivators flying on swords and landing on the ground. Some cultivators also wore veiled hats [Read on BaiLianTales]and masks, while others made no attempt to cover themselves.

Gong Dongling was looking around when several people wearing gray veiled hats brushed past her. But in that instant, Gong Dongling froze completely.

She saw the familiar blood-red gemstone bone ring on one person’s hand.

That was Mu Chenlin!

Author’s Note:
Senior Sister has finally opened her Ren and Du meridians!