After Transmigrating Into a Pirated Novel to Teach Them a Lesson - Chapter 26

Fu Chenxue could not listen anymore. With a dark face, she directly tossed Liu Changning off her lap and got out of the carriage.

Xue Linglong stared blankly as Fu Chenxue came out of the carriage, then hurriedly sat up straight.

Wait. Had she just heard something incredible?

Seeing Fu Chenxue radiating an aura of “do not go near the inside of the carriage,” Xue Linglong thought it over and decisively chose to sit outside.

And so three people were squeezed outside: the carriage driver, Fu Chenxue, and Xue Linglong.

Liu Changning lay alone on the soft down pillows inside. She curved her lips downward, wondering if she had said something wrong. She did not dare go out and anger Fu Chenxue again, so she could only silently pick up the medicine bottle Fu Chenxue had dropped and apply medicine to herself.

Outside, Fu Chenxue’s mind was in complete chaos. After calming down for a while, she suddenly remembered that she and Liu Changning had once gone to a teahouse together. Back then, there had been a male courtesan selling flowers. Could Liu Changning have learned something bad there?

!!!

That must be it. Liu Changning had been so obedient before and had no chance to learn about these things. Ever since that trip to the teahouse, she had become strange. Children were like that. The moment they heard something, they followed along and learned it, saying it even if they did not understand.

After Fu Chenxue figured it out, she finally breathed a sigh of relief. But this was all Ye Luofeng’s fault. Fu Chenxue had clearly said she did not want to go sightseeing in Ciyin City, yet Ye Luofeng had insisted on dragging the two of them there. Look what happened now. Liu Changning had learned bad things.

Fu Chenxue secretly recorded one debt against Ye Luofeng in her heart.

But she seemed to have acted too fierce just now. Had she scared her disciple? Fu Chenxue had always believed herself to have the image of a “gentle master.” She blocked Xue Linglong’s view, lifted the carriage curtain, and asked with concern, “Changning, does your waist still hurt?”

Liu Changning seemed to have fallen asleep and did not answer. Fu Chenxue went in to look and sure enough, found her sleeping against the inner side.

Fu Chenxue smiled helplessly, took the medicine bottle from Liu Changning’s hand, warmed the wound medicine in her palm again, applied it properly for her, then lowered the hem of her clothes. Only then did she pinch Liu Changning’s soft earlobe. “Master hurt you when I threw you down just now. I’m sorry.”

Fu Chenxue went back out.

The carriage was quite large, so even with three people sitting outside, it was not especially crowded. Fu Chenxue sat on the far right, Xue Linglong sat in the middle, and the driver sat on the left. Xue Linglong swallowed, silently took off the magical robe draped over her, and handed it to Fu Chenxue. “Here, I’m returning it to you.”

Fu Chenxue: “?”

Xue Linglong said, “Your disciple will get jealous.”

Fu Chenxue: “…”

She silently took it back and said, “Changning and I have a normal master-disciple relationship.”

Xue Linglong did not believe her at all. Even if she had never eaten pork, she had seen pigs run. “Don’t you like Ye Luofeng? Why are you also with Liu Changning…”

Fu Chenxue nearly choked when she heard this and hurriedly covered Xue Linglong’s mouth.

Why did this NPC talk so much? She also knew the original owner liked Ye Luofeng?!

Xue Linglong’s speech was muffled. “What are you doing? Are you trying to silence me by killing me…!”

Fu Chenxue listened carefully to the sounds inside the carriage. After confirming that Liu Changning had not woken up, she released Xue Linglong. “I don’t like Ye Luofeng.”

Xue Linglong expressed shock. “Really? You chased someone for several years, and now you can just stop liking her?”

Fu Chenxue wanted to say, what does that have to do with me? The original owner chased her, not me.

Xue Linglong looked as if she had seen through everything and clicked her tongue. “I didn’t expect you to be someone who likes the new and tires of the old.”

Fu Chenxue was too lazy to explain so much. She searched through her Qiankun pouch, preparing to take out spirit stones.

Xue Linglong kept chattering. “You changed to the medical path for her, you know? Do you know how suited you were to being a music cultivator back then? In the end, you started over because of her. Crossing tribulations will be difficult for you in the future.”

When Fu Chenxue heard a phrase that interested her, her hand paused. “Crossing tribulations will be difficult?”

Xue Linglong said, “You’re at the Golden Core stage now, right?”

Fu Chenxue nodded.

“Do you want to advance to Nascent Soul?”

Fu Chenxue thought, could she really say she did not want to? So she nodded again.

“For someone like you, who is so half-hearted in cultivating the Dao, the Heavenly Dao won’t let you pass your tribulation easily.” Xue Linglong looked like someone speaking from experience. “So you’d better prepare yourself mentally.”

Fu Chenxue: “…”

Of course she knew she would not pass her tribulation safely, because she clearly knew that her next plot point was failing her tribulation and switching to the demonic path.

Fu Chenxue gave an “mm,” looking as if it did not matter much. Xue Linglong asked strangely, “Aren’t you scared?”

“It’s just fate. There’s nothing to be afraid of.” Fu Chenxue said calmly, “Since I chose this path back then, I can only keep walking down it.”

Xue Linglong stared at her for a long while. “In the end… you still like Ye Luofeng.”

Fu Chenxue’s ears were about to grow calluses from hearing Ye Luofeng’s name. She summoned Twilight Sky Cold, and it transformed into a golden thread in her palm. Holding the golden thread, Fu Chenxue smiled at Xue Linglong. “I just used this to tie up the civet-cat spirit. Do you want to try it now?”

Xue Linglong waved her hands in refusal. “No need, no need. I’ll stop talking.”

After the time it took to drink a cup of tea, the two did not continue speaking. But the more Xue Linglong thought about it, the more something felt wrong. She kept feeling as if she had forgotten something, yet she could not remember it, and she looked like it was itching at her heart.

Seeing that she would suffocate if she did not speak, Fu Chenxue simply handed the Qiankun pouch to her. “There are spirit stones inside. Remember to give them to the driver later.”

Xue Linglong agreed and turned to watch Fu Chenxue enter the carriage. She scratched her head. What exactly had she forgotten?

Fu Chenxue walked in and saw that Liu Changning was still asleep. The thin blanket on her body had already been kicked onto the floor. Fu Chenxue picked it up and covered her again, then patted her back. “Changning, wake up.”

“Wake up. We’re almost at the Yubing Sect.”

Liu Changning gave a soft sound. Perhaps she was truly tired, because she turned over and continued sleeping.

Fu Chenxue could only wait beside her. Only when Liu Changning vaguely seemed about to wake did Fu Chenxue place her hand on Liu Changning’s head and rub it. “Changning, it’s time to get up. We’re almost at the Yubing Sect.”

Hearing Fu Chenxue’s voice, Liu Changning rubbed her eyes through the white silk. “Master…”

Fu Chenxue took the waterskin. “Are you thirsty? Drink some water first.”

What happened earlier returned to Liu Changning’s mind. She did not take the waterskin. Instead, she caught Fu Chenxue’s hand and asked cautiously, “Master, are you still angry?”

Fu Chenxue said warmly, “Master won’t be angry with you. Get up now.”

The moment Liu Changning heard this, she quickly shrank into Fu Chenxue’s arms. “It’s good that Master isn’t angry.”

Fu Chenxue stroked her back. “All right, stop acting spoiled with Master. How old are you already? Even children of a few years old aren’t as clingy as you.”

But Liu Changning was unwilling to leave this warm embrace. She raised her head and leaned against Fu Chenxue’s shoulder. “Master, my eyes hurt again. Help me look at them, all right?”

Fu Chenxue wondered whether it was because she had forgotten to apply medicine these past few days. She untied the white silk over Liu Changning’s eyes. “Don’t move. Master will look.”

Liu Changning’s eyes were clear and limpid, with no sign of blood-red color. It should not be a major problem.

Fu Chenxue said, “After we go back, use the Firefly-Binding Grass first. Don’t keep rubbing your eyes these next few days, and sleep earlier at night.”

Liu Changning obediently hummed and continued lying against Fu Chenxue’s shoulder.

Suddenly, Xue Linglong’s voice came from outside the carriage. “Chenxue, why can’t I find the spirit stones in the Qiankun pouch—”

Xue Linglong lifted the carriage curtain and came in, just in time to meet Liu Changning’s eyes.

She was so frightened that the Qiankun pouch fell.

“Elder Xue, your thing fell,” Liu Changning heard it and reminded her.

Xue Linglong quickly picked it up, her entire person in disarray. “Um… mm, I’ll go out first. Right, Chenxue, when we return to the Yubing Sect, I have something to ask you.”

After saying that, Xue Linglong hurriedly left.

She finally remembered! Liu Changning’s eyes looked exactly the same as Ye Luofeng’s!

A bad feeling suddenly rose in Fu Chenxue. She released Liu Changning and handed the white silk back to her. “Changning, Master is going out for a moment.”

She walked out of the carriage. Xue Linglong was sitting there. She looked at Fu Chenxue fearfully. “You’re not really going to kill me to silence me, are you?”

Fu Chenxue sat down. “What nonsense are you saying?”

Xue Linglong deliberately lowered her voice. “I kept feeling that I’d forgotten something. The instant I saw your disciple just now, I remembered everything. Why are her eyes exactly the same as that person’s…”

Fu Chenxue: “…”

Seeing that she did not answer, Xue Linglong’s suspicion deepened. “You’re not treating your disciple as a stand-in, are you?”

Fu Chenxue could not bear it anymore. “I am not.”

“I understand now. No wonder you aren’t looking for Ye Luofeng anymore. So it turns out you have a stand-in.” Xue Linglong said, “That’s not very moral of you. Last night you were praising her skin for being fair and tender, and today you’re treating her as a stand-in?”

Fu Chenxue’s face darkened completely. “Stop talking. For the sake of me going to Dingbai Mountain to save you, forget this matter.”

“Of course I won’t tell anyone, but won’t your disciple get angry if she finds out?”

Fu Chenxue answered instinctively, “She cannot be allowed to know.”

Xue Linglong patted her shoulder. “All right, you really are treating her as a stand-in. Fu Chenxue, you’re really something. No wonder back at the disciple-recruitment ceremony, you accepted one disciple and then immediately went into closed-door cultivation. So this is what happened.”

Fu Chenxue could not be bothered to explain to her. She could not even explain things clearly with Ye Luofeng. Now that she was back, she still had to keep explaining to Xue Linglong. She was already tired.

“In short, things aren’t what you think. Changning and I have a normal master-disciple relationship,” Fu Chenxue said. “The things she said in the carriage just now were words she heard at a teahouse.”

Xue Linglong frowned suspiciously. “Really?”

Fu Chenxue nodded seriously. “Really.”

“So that’s how it is. Boring.” Xue Linglong shrugged.

Fu Chenxue asked again, “I haven’t asked you yet. How did you get captured by the civet-cat spirit? Dingbai Mountain is so far from the Yubing Sect. Why did you run there for no reason?”

Xue Linglong’s gaze dodged. “I… I had something to do…”

“What?”

Xue Linglong turned her face away. “Private matters… don’t ask.”

Fu Chenxue had never been someone who liked gossip, but she found Xue Linglong’s evasive attitude really strange. In the original book, Xue Linglong also did not have much text devoted to her, but since she could directly point out that the original owner was cultivating the demonic path, she should have been an unwaveringly principled person. But now, looking at her… it did not seem to be the case.

However, the original owner and Xue Linglong were not especially close. They only greeted each other when they met, and the original owner had especially liked closed-door cultivation, so they did not understand each other very well.

Seeing that Xue Linglong did not want to talk, Fu Chenxue did not force her. She only said, “After we return, go see Sect Master. He has questions for you.”

Xue Linglong agreed.

The carriage swayed back to the Yubing Sect, and the three of them jumped down from it. Xue Linglong wiped away nonexistent tears. “Finally back.”

There was someone standing at the entrance of the Yubing Sect. Fu Chenxue focused her eyes and saw that it was Pei Wuxia.

Pei Wuxia was warm and refined, standing like a graceful bamboo stalk. Wearing a green robe and walking as if carried by the wind, he arrived before the three of them in the blink of an eye. “You’re back.”

“We’re back. Senior Brother, her spiritual energy is weak, so you still need to examine her,” Fu Chenxue said.

Pei Wuxia looked at Xue Linglong. “Back to your Seeking Autumn Peak?”

Xue Linglong gave an “mm.” “Let’s go.”

Pei Wuxia said again, “Go see Sect Master in a while. He wants to understand the full story. While your spiritual meridians were damaged, you ran alone to Dingbai Mountain. You need to give him an explanation.”

Xue Linglong said, “Sect Master is so troublesome… He’s already several hundred years old, yet he’s still so naggy.”

“This time, it was all thanks to Junior Sister Chenxue. If she hadn’t saved you, could you have come back so quickly?” Pei Wuxia frowned. “How much longer did you want to stay in that civet-cat spirit’s cave?”

Xue Linglong’s face flushed red, but she still refused to yield verbally. “I didn’t do it on purpose…”

Seeing the two go back and forth, Fu Chenxue could not get a word in. She simply smiled and said, “If there’s nothing else here, I’ll take Changning back to Winter Peak first.”

Pei Wuxia nodded. “Go.”

Night had already fallen over Winter Peak. The moon was like a silver plate hanging in the pitch-black sky. Fu Chenxue held Liu Changning’s hand, preparing to return to the residence.

Along the way, Liu Changning kept asking, “Master, Master, did you get your magical robe back?”

Fu Chenxue did not know why Liu Changning cared so much about the magical robe, but she still answered good-temperedly, “I got it back.”

Liu Changning was visibly much happier. “Master, go bathe.”

Fu Chenxue gave an “mm.” “What’s wrong? Do I have some strange smell on me?”

Liu Changning quickly shook her head. “No. Master was tired all day today. After bathing, sleeping will be very comfortable.”

Fu Chenxue thought that after running around Dingbai Mountain all day, she really should wash. While praising Liu Changning for being considerate, she stretched lazily. “Then Master will go bathe. You sleep first.”

“I’ll wait for Master to come back so we can sleep together.” Liu Changning said pitifully, “We just returned to Winter Peak, and Master already won’t sleep with me anymore…”

Fu Chenxue: “…”

Fu Chenxue had never had any way to deal with Liu Changning, so she could only say, “All right. Then go play on the bed for a while. Right, apply the spiritual medicine while you’re at it.”

Liu Changning obediently agreed and went to the bed to wait for Master. She lay down, then rolled into the quilt, her cheeks flushed red. The moment she thought that this was the bed Master usually lay in, she became happy.

She took out the Firefly-Binding Grass that had already been made into medicinal powder and slowly applied it over her eyes. Firefly-Binding Grass was cool in nature, but when Fu Chenxue had brewed it, she had added several other spiritual herbs, so now, when it was applied, it felt warm and gentle.

The candlelight on the table flickered between bright and dim, wax flowing down the candleholder. The quilt was too comfortable. After curling up for a while, Liu Changning fell asleep in a daze.

…

When she became conscious, before her eyes was a clear bed and a thin, light layer of white bed curtains. It seemed that someone was lying inside those white curtains.

Liu Changning was dizzy and did not even realize that she could see clearly now, because she smelled a familiar and cool scent coming from inside the bed curtains.

Liu Changning slowly walked over and lifted the bed curtain with her fingertips. Her breathing suddenly became heavier.

She saw a person bound by an Immortal-Binding Rope, with white silk also covering her eyes. At this moment, she was struggling nonstop in the corner of the bed.

That person’s lips were very thin, red and moist, while almost nothing remained of the white clothes on her body. Liu Changning walked over and softly called, “Master?”

When that person heard her voice, she could not help calling softly, “Changning…”

Her voice was gentle and pleasant.

Liu Changning saw that the Immortal-Binding Rope had bound Master very tightly, making the line of her waist appear especially slender. Her eyes were covered by white silk, but her lips were thin and very red, just like what Liu Changning had once touched in the cave.

“Does being tied hurt, Master?” Liu Changning had not known that she truly wanted to see Master tied to the bed by an Immortal-Binding Rope. She swallowed, sat over, and hooked up that person’s soft hair.

She was reluctant to remove the white silk over Master’s eyes so quickly. She liked taking things slowly.

Master turned her face away, seeming very shy. Half a second later, Liu Changning heard her voice again.

“Changning, is my skin… fair?”

Liu Changning felt her blood surge. Her gaze fell on Master’s shoulder. The clothing there had been pulled open, revealing a small patch of porcelain-white skin…

Her voice was hoarse as she said, “Fair.” Then she added, “Master is like snow, fair and smooth, spotless and untouched by dust.”

Author’s Note:

Fu Chenxue: Why am I tied up in your dream?

Liu Changning: currently beating up the civet-cat spirit