After I Failed to Reform the Female Lead of a Tragic Novel - Chapter 8

Although the system had little authority and its golden finger was useless, when Gong Dongling first activated the control panel, she had once seen the time displayed on that panel deliberately designed to look like a Windows desktop. Though it was not the time of this world, it could still be used as a timer.

If she could use it to record the time each successful refinement took, she would be able to quickly grasp the exact moment a pill matured.

Even the system admired her ability to exploit loopholes, but there was nothing it could do. After all, the desktop was right there. It had thought that since the time was fake anyway, no one would care. Who would have expected it could be used for alchemy…

Following the instructions, she stuffed the whole handful of immortal spirit grass into the furnace and checked the time.

At first, there was no change in the base where she had placed the spiritual fire. But the instant the furnace lid was closed, the body of the spiritual fire released a faint red glow. The light climbed gradually along the walls of the furnace and finally covered the ingredients. The entire furnace looked as if it had been wrapped in red plastic, making it impossible to see the materials inside with the naked eye.

But in the very next second, an exceptionally clear view of the inside of the alchemy furnace appeared in Gong Dongling’s sea of consciousness.

Her body seemed to be within the range of that red light as well. She could sense the “temperature” of the spiritual fire. Only the right temperature made her feel warm. If it was too low or too high, she would feel either cold or hot.

In this way, Gong Dongling could adjust the temperature of the spiritual fire through her own perception.

Because this was her first time refining pills, she did not know what it meant for the fire to be just right. She could only keep a constant eye on the changes in the immortal spirit grass.

It looked as if it were being cooked. Its color gradually deepened from pale green, bit by bit turning into the gray-black commonly seen in pills. The shape of the grass leaves also scattered into a mass, making it impossible to recognize their original form.

It should… it should be about done, right?

As if able to predict it, her perception sent back such a message. Gong Dongling was afraid that if she kept refining it, it would burn, so she tried to gather the medicinal dregs into the shape of a pill.

But no matter how she commanded it with her mind, that layer of red light only jumped weakly twice. It showed no sign of condensing into a ball.

Seeing that the color of the medicinal dregs was already starting to look faintly wrong, Gong Dongling wished she could go up and roll the thing into a ball herself.

Unsurprisingly, that lump of medicinal dregs burned.

Gong Dongling even smelled a familiar scent. It was exactly the same as the traditional Chinese medicine she used to drink for conditioning in the past.

This unfavorable start made Gong Dongling very unconvinced. Clearly, the process had felt good to her, so how could it fail just like that?

She picked up the old book and studied it carefully for a while longer. Only then did she see a line of annotation at the end of the first chapter. It told the reader that every step required the alchemist to concentrate. The more complex the operation, the more one had to focus their mind to control it in order to succeed. If refinement failed, it was very likely because one’s consciousness had not been focused on the pill.

Gong Dongling thought it over and felt that the problem lay there. The earlier operations had not been difficult, causing her mind to slacken. Then, when she noticed something was wrong, her emotions became unsettled and affected her performance. In that case, failure was normal.

However, this attempt was not entirely without gain. After all, even while panicking, she had not forgotten to check the time, and she had remembered it.

It was only the most basic Spirit Grass Pill. With the lesson from last time, even though this was her first time refining pills, Gong Dongling easily succeeded once she concentrated her mind.

Looking at the formed pill in the furnace, she picked it up. Unable to resist her curiosity, she struggled for a long time before finally daring to take a bite.

It had no taste at all. Even the fragrance of the immortal spirit grass itself had completely vanished. As Gong Dongling put down the pill she had only bitten once, she wondered how cultivators could treat something so bland as food.

Of course, making only the most basic pill was not enough to satisfy Gong Dongling, so she continued trying the formulas further on.

In any case, she had nothing else to do. She stayed home for three full days, trying many different formulas.

Naturally, many formulas did not succeed on the first try. Fortunately, there were plenty of heavenly treasures in her storage ring, and medicinal ingredients were everywhere, enough for her to experiment and squander like this.

One of those attempts involved a major mistake. Because she had misidentified the medicinal ingredients, she put two mutually conflicting substances into the same batch. The alchemy furnace could not bear the burden and exploded on the spot, blackening half the room. If Gong Dongling had not sensed it in advance and dodged in time, her sea of consciousness might have been affected as well.

From then on, Gong Dongling no longer dared to be even slightly careless with alchemy.

By the third day, she had already completed more than twenty common low-grade pills and advanced to the level of a beginner third-rank alchemist.

However, this did not mean Gong Dongling was already a third-rank alchemist, because alchemists had to pass the examination and certification of the authoritative alchemy organization before they could “work with a license.”

At this moment, Gong Dongling was refining the “Foundation Establishment Pill,” which increased the success rate of breaking through before the Foundation Establishment stage, when an unexpected visitor arrived outside her door.

She frowned and was distracted for only a moment, then immediately focused again on inspecting the pill. This was already her third attempt. She could not fail again.

Whether one could refine the Foundation Establishment Pill was an important marker of advancing from beginner to intermediate level. It was equivalent to a beginner-level “graduation exam.” After all, among all pills, the most precious ones were those that could increase the success rate of breakthroughs.

Aside from that, there was another reason she was determined to refine this pill.

It seemed someone happened to need it.

The difficult stage of adjusting the heat had already passed. Now it had reached the final crucial moment of condensing the pill.

Gong Dongling closed her eyes tightly. She bit her lip as fine beads of sweat seeped from her forehead. She gathered all her strength to concentrate her consciousness, but the pressure fed back by the materials was immense. For a time, the two sides were locked in a struggle.

Her strength was still superior. Bit by bit, the red light fused the medicinal dregs together, and the shape of the pill gradually formed. There was even a faint golden glow within it.

“Just a little more… the last little bit!”

Finally, at the moment the pill formed, golden light burst out in all directions, leaking through the gaps around the furnace opening.

But at the same time, before Gong Dongling could even take a look at what this legendary Foundation Establishment Pill looked like, she felt an extremely familiar dull pain in her heart.

It was the feeling of her heart disease acting up in her previous life…

She clutched her chest and collapsed to the ground, curling up as she gasped for breath.

Fortunately, the pain only lasted a short while. She remained kneeling on the ground, her face frighteningly pale, her entire body drenched in cold sweat as if she had just been pulled out of water.

【Warning! The female lead’s blackening value has increased! If the female lead is allowed to continue blackening, the punishment will become even more severe!】 The system began sounding its own alarm.

“My heart just now… was that the punishment for Xie Yu’s blackening?” Gong Dongling asked weakly.

Thinking about it, that made sense. The reward for succeeding in the mission was returning to the real world with a healthy body. Naturally, there would be punishment for failure. It was just that this feeling was far too much like her previous life.

After calming down, Gong Dongling carefully placed the Foundation Establishment Pill into a small box and tucked it into her sleeve. Without even having time to tidy up the scene, she went to open the door for that unexpected visitor.

The person waiting outside was the original novel’s male lead, Ji Yuran, who had not appeared in quite some time. When Gong Dongling saw him, she was visibly startled. She had almost forgotten this person was the male lead.

The situation had come suddenly, and Gong Dongling was also in a hurry to find Xie Yu. She had no time to get entangled with this black-hearted lotus. She only wanted to send him away quickly. Leaning against the doorframe, she asked coldly and distantly, “Is something the matter?”

Ji Yuran stared silently at Gong Dongling. For some reason, he found himself unable to speak.

He and Gong Dongling had been childhood sweethearts. Though he had once been the golden lotus beneath the Buddha’s seat and was originally without emotion, after being demonized, he had also gained the seven emotions and six desires. When he first transformed into human form, the person he met was Gong Dongling, so naturally, he regarded her as his white moonlight.

In truth, ever since Gong Dongling returned from the Far North, she no longer treated him as intimately as before. Especially during their confrontation last time, he kept feeling that she seemed to hold some faint hostility toward him.

Holding on to this question, Ji Yuran thought about it alone for several days. In the end, he could not hold back and came over under the pretext of asking Gong Dongling about the Xuanji Grass, intending to probe her attitude.

Who would have thought that this time, Gong Dongling would not even bother pretending? Her disregard for him was written directly on her face.

Setting aside his doubts about Gong Dongling’s attitude, Ji Yuran suddenly noticed that her complexion was wrong. She looked as if she had just suffered a serious illness.

“Senior Sister Ling’er, what’s wrong? Did the cold energy act up again?”

“I have something urgent to do. Don’t waste my time.” Gong Dongling frowned, already somewhat impatient.

Ji Yuran hurriedly said, “I heard Senior Sister is going to the Ruoxu Illusion Realm to search for the Xuanji Grass. I’m naturally sensitive to plants, so I thought I could go with Senior Sister to help search. I came to ask whether Senior Sister would be willing.”

“Thank you, but there’s no need.” Gong Dongling politely refused and began sending him away. “If you’re done, please go back. I really am in a hurry.”

Since she had already said it to this extent, Ji Yuran no longer had the face to remain. He awkwardly said goodbye and left, though a strange, sinister sharpness flashed through his eyes.

From beginning to end, what Ji Yuran wanted was nothing more than other people’s attention and admiration. When someone treated him well and worshiped him as their salvation, he ignored them. Once they shifted their gaze away, he eagerly stuck his face forward again to seek attention.

Gong Dongling did not care about any of that. She immediately set out, following the system’s guidance and flying on her sword in one direction.

This shouldn’t be happening…

Logically speaking, according to the original plot, there should not have been any blackening point in this section. No matter what, it should have waited until the Xuanji Grass plot. Gong Dongling could not help suspecting that perhaps because she had changed the plot, the entire story had begun to change as well.

When the sword flew close to the tall peak before her, the memories in Gong Dongling’s mind finally awakened. This place seemed to be Eldest Senior Brother Qiu Yan’s residence.

Gong Dongling landed in a panic. Before she even touched the ground, another dull pain struck her. It seemed even worse than before. She spat out a mouthful of blood and stumbled off the sword, falling to the ground.

【Warning! Warning! The female lead’s blackening level has deepened! Warning…】 The system’s voice exploded beside her ears.

She knew how wretched she must look right now, but she could not care about that anymore. She casually wiped the corner of her mouth with her sleeve and sprinted to the door. Without thinking, she pushed it open and burst inside.

When she saw the scene within, she cried out in alarm.

“Stop!”

…

After Xie Yu received the news from Gong Dongling that the mysterious person might be Qiu Yan, she did not fully believe it, but she still kept it in mind. Once she returned, she began investigating.

Qiu Yan traveled outside for years at a time and rarely returned. His residence was on a nameless peak to the south. Not only was it unguarded, almost no one ever set foot there.

With this in mind, Xie Yu developed a crooked idea. She wanted to sneak in and see whether she could find the rice paper the mysterious person had sent her.

She spent two days scouting and figuring out the route. For two full days, Xie Yu did not see even half a figure on the peak. This gave her a little more courage. On the third day, she finally slipped in through the unlocked back door.

There were not many furnishings in Qiu Yan’s residence, but each item was understated and luxurious, seemingly objects he had brought back from his travels.

Xie Yu did not find what she wanted in the outer room, so she headed toward the study inside.

But she had never imagined that the moment she opened the door, the first thing she would see would be a portrait of herself hanging high on the wall. Yet the person in the painting had an arrogant expression and looked down on all living beings—an expression that had never appeared on her face.

Xie Yu’s heartbeat quickened. In the silent room, it was especially clear, calling her back to herself. Only then did she realize that she was reaching out to touch the painted person’s cheek.

She withdrew her hand as if shocked by electricity. Her eyes turned solemn, and confusion filled her heart.

Why was there a portrait of her here?

What was even more shocking was that there were more paintings pressed down on the desk, a thick stack placed beneath an inkstone.

Xie Yu took a deep breath, lifted the inkstone, and opened them one by one.

They were all portraits of her.

Each pose and posture was different, but what never changed was that gaze looking down on the world. It seemed as if it could see straight into one’s heart. Qiu Yan appeared dissatisfied with all these paintings. The ink marks he had casually smeared across them destroyed the beauty of the entire picture.

After seeing these, Xie Yu increasingly felt that although the person in the paintings looked similar to her, it was certainly not her. At least, not the current her.

When she flipped to the final painting, Xie Yu found a booklet of rice paper at the very bottom. It looked especially familiar.

Xie Yu took the rice paper folded into a square from her sleeve and carefully compared them. Even the patterns and grids were identical. As expected, they came from the same booklet.

The person who had been giving her information was Qiu Yan. And it seemed he had been paying particular attention to her…

Silently, she opened the rice paper booklet. It was densely filled with many recorded events, every one of them related to her. The earliest could even be traced back to two months after she first came to Buzhou Mountain.

For the first time, Xie Yu learned that—

The reason Xuanling had acknowledged her as its master was because Qiu Yan had secretly collected her blood and dripped it onto the sword.

The reason she had been isolated by so many inner sect disciples was because Qiu Yan, as the eldest disciple, had summoned several mountain leaders and assigned the task.

Even those people who had shown her kindness only to betray her soon after had all been arranged by Qiu Yan…

So it turned out that up until now, most of the suffering she had experienced on Buzhou Mountain in the name of “fate” had all been deliberately orchestrated by others.

Xie Yu fell into a strange calm. She stood there, her ink-black eyes dark and heavy. The pure black of her pupils spread outward, like violent winds and raging waves rising within them.

The demon inside her body seemed to have awakened, greedily devouring Xie Yu’s emotions and letting out low whispers from time to time.

As if sensing something, she turned her head and calmly met that person’s eyes.

“Oh dear, I’ve been seen. And I clearly hadn’t played enough yet.”

Qiu Yan’s secret had been discovered, but he only gave a bright laugh and spoke without the slightest concern.