I Snatched the Male Lead’s "Cool Novel" Script - Chapter 30

“Dream Lotus Flower…”

Shen Nanxing’s body fell backward onto the ground. She clutched her shattered crystal core, breathing heavily and with difficulty.

Her consciousness grew more and more blurred. In a daze, Yan Yu’s voice overlapped with that of a certain woman in her memories.

That was once her favorite dream.

The place where her consciousness had been born.

The woman had a wife whose health was not very good. She could not be exposed to wind or rain. Every day, she lay on a rocking chair and coughed. Only occasionally would she lift her thin, withered arm to tease a bird.

That bird was clever and lively. The fine feathers on top of its head curled slightly backward, and from time to time it would mimic the words of the two women, making them burst into laughter.

At first, Shen Nanxing was not skilled at entering dreams and was always afraid of being discovered by humans, so she only dared to secretly steal a few of that bird’s dreams to eat. But very quickly, she discovered that its dreams were unexpectedly delicious.

Sweet and soft, like fluffy cloud marshmallows one could bury oneself in.

She thought it was probably because this bird had no worries about food or drink in the hands of those two people and lived foolishly happy every day, so it could dream such tasty, beautiful dreams every night.

But a bird’s lifespan could never compare with a human’s. Before long, it died.

Perhaps because of this, the woman and her wife quickly sank into gloom. Every morning after waking, they always habitually dragged their slow steps to the birdcage, then stared blankly at the empty cage in a daze.

And so, Shen Nanxing transformed into a physical body, taking on a form similar to that parrot. Every day, she lingered around their house and continuously cried out the words they had once taught that bird, trying to draw their attention.

The woman quickly discovered her and said this must be the dead bird reincarnating to find them. She happily brought her home.

Every day, they fed her, carefully groomed her feathers, and always spent much patience and time teaching her new playful phrases.

But what made Shen Nanxing happiest was that as long as she casually chirped a few times, she could make the two of them laugh.

She also began living a life where she fell asleep every night accompanied by sweet dreams. For a while, she even thought that if she could live like this forever, then instead of being a Dream Demon, being a parrot was also fine.

The woman’s wife always suffered from insomnia at night.

Later, the woman heard that placing fresh Dream Lotus Flowers at the head of the bed had a calming effect, so she specially went to find Dream Lotus Flower seeds and began fiddling with them in the courtyard.

The woman’s wife liked the scent of Dream Lotus Flowers.

So did Shen Nanxing.

Because only when people fell asleep would she have sweet dreams to eat.

Dream Lotus Flowers were pale purple, and delicious dreams were too.

But good times never lasted long. Two years later, the woman’s frail and sickly wife also left her.

Shen Nanxing still accompanied the woman every day. She wanted to cheer her up, but the woman’s smile was always strained.

One day, she finally gathered her courage and entered the woman’s dream. What one thought of during the day appeared in dreams at night; Shen Nanxing wanted to see what exactly the woman was thinking.

But the woman’s dream, which Shen Nanxing had thought would be full of the sour taste of tears, actually tasted even sweeter than the parrot’s.

The woman seemed to remember only her wife’s good points.

Or perhaps, she only wanted to remember her wife’s good points.

Every night, she repeatedly replayed in her dreams the time when she and her wife had met, known each other, and accompanied each other.

Shen Nanxing became somewhat addicted to her dreams. Like someone with a sweet tooth, after eating the first piece of chocolate, she could not help emptying the entire plate.

One morning, the woman woke up and sat at the head of the bed, staring blankly at the empty rocking chair. She sighed softly.

“Last night, I didn’t dream again…”

Shen Nanxing froze.

The woman was very strong, but from that sigh, she still heard loneliness.

She finally understood the reason the woman was so unhappy.

Shen Nanxing smiled and greeted her, but the woman gave no reaction.

So she moved over that rocking chair, sat on it herself, and imitated the woman’s wife, lowering her head and coughing.

“Not alike. You’re not her.” Shen Nanxing heard the woman say this to her.

“But I look exactly like her. Please don’t be unhappy anymore.”

The woman shook her head.

“She had the scent of Dream Lotus Flowers on her.”

“I have it too.”

“The scent on her wasn’t as faint as yours.” The woman looked at her face, as if seeing through her to something that existed only in emptiness. Then she added softly, “Nor was it as strong as yours.”

“What does that mean?” Shen Nanxing did not understand. Wasn’t this nonsense?

“It means you are not her.”

The woman had given Shen Nanxing the answer, but it took her a very long time to truly understand.

The scent of flowers was not important.

What mattered was that she was not “her.”

…

As the dreams inside her crystal core escaped one after another, Shen Nanxing’s consciousness gradually drifted away. In the end, she turned into a wisp of pale-purple smoke and dissipated before Yan Yu’s eyes.

With her disappearance, the surrounding barrier was lifted as well. The people who had fallen into dreams slowly woke up. Yan Yu finally relaxed, released her strength, and lay on the ground, closing her eyes to rest.

“Does it hurt?”

A shadow covered her from above. Yan Yu’s lashes trembled, and she struggled to open her eyes.

She knew that right now, in Yin Beiqing’s eyes, she must look terribly disheveled. And this was only the result of fighting a low-level Dream Demon.

She really was too weak.

“It hurts.” She squeezed out the word with difficulty.

Aside from the external injuries caused by Shen Nanxing kicking her, maintaining beast form for too long was the real culprit that had consumed so much of her stamina. This feeling of exhaustion was like her lungs were about to explode with every breath.

Yin Beiqing crouched beside her. Her fingers touched Yan Yu’s chin and used slight force to pry it open. “Open your mouth. Breathe deeply.”

Yan Yu blinked in confusion and tried to do as she was told. As a result, because she inhaled too fiercely, she immediately felt as though someone were continuously scraping a knife through her throat and lungs. The pain made her cough nonstop, and once she coughed, it pulled at the other wounds on her body. The pain was so severe that for a moment, she could not even breathe.

“Remember this feeling. Even if it hurts so much you want to die, you still have to win. You have to survive.”

Yan Yu no longer had the strength to answer. She weakly stared at the sky, her breathing gradually becoming lighter.

She had won, but she did not feel very happy.

Because it had only made her face once again the fact that she was very weak.

“But you did very well.” Yin Beiqing suddenly smiled. Her gaze fell on Yan Yu’s pale lips. She reached out and pressed a finger against them, heavily smearing open the trace of blood at the corner of her mouth. Her voice softened for the second half of her sentence. “You were the one who protected us, Lady Goddess.”

She had long since noticed Shen Nanxing’s identity. It was only because the other party’s combat ability was not even worth looking at that she chose to close her eyes and ignore it.

Just now, inside the barrier, although she had fallen into a dream, a trace of her spiritual awareness had still remained outside her body. As long as Yan Yu chose to open her mouth and ask her for help, she could immediately take action.

But Yan Yu had not.

She had known it. The woman who dared to hold a hairpin to her neck and threaten her was no ordinary kind soul.

She was looking forward more and more to the future, when she would see Yan Yu become like herself, both hands stained with blood.

What could be more exciting than personally watching a holy goddess fall into the mud as an executioner?

Yan Yu looked at her in surprise. She had ended up like this just from fighting a Dream Demon, and Yin Beiqing was still praising her?

She remembered very clearly that this person’s requirements for her subordinates were almost comparable to those of a national defense army.

The original book had given an example. Once, Teng Jingjie had gone out on a mission and fought a Special-rank evil spirit, accidentally losing one hand before returning. Yin Beiqing punished her by making her clean toilets for three months.

There were many similar incidents. In summary, Yan Yu felt that according to Yin Beiqing’s normal standards, her performance today would not have been enough even if she swept toilets for half a year as punishment.

“Then are you willing to teach me spiritual arts?”

“To be of service to the goddess is naturally my greatest honor.”

“…” She understood. This person’s brain must have short-circuited again today.

“Can you get up?”

Yan Yu’s eyes moved. She very much wanted to retort, What do you think?

But very quickly, Yin Beiqing seemed to have a tacit connection with her and extended a hand before her.

Yan Yu did not hesitate. She raised her hand, whose fingernails were stuffed full of mud and bloodstains, and gripped Yin Beiqing’s firmly. Borrowing her strength, she stood.

“Hiss—”

“Master, does it hurt a lot?” Panpan, which had already released beast form, jumped down and ran to her side. “I’ll heal you. It’ll be quick.”

Just as it stood on tiptoe and raised its paws, about to cast Healing Arts on Yan Yu’s abdomen, it suddenly discovered that a certain woman behind Yan Yu was staring at it coolly.

That expression seemed to say, Try moving.

Panpan withdrew its paws pitifully. It had just been about to say, You don’t know Healing Arts, so why are you stopping me? Then it saw the other party cast it a disdainful glance, lower her head, and press her palm to Yan Yu’s injured abdomen.

The way she stretched both arms forward looked like she was gently hugging Yan Yu from behind. Those who knew would see that she wanted to treat her wound. Those who did not would think she was taking the chance to hug and flirt.

Yin Beiqing did not know Healing Arts, but she could transfer her own soul power to Yan Yu through her palm to increase Yan Yu’s self-healing speed. Ice-element spiritual arts could even help relieve pain.

The little fatty was so angry it wanted to roll on the ground. But even after it nearly tore its ear fur to pieces, it still could not think of an effective way to counterattack this awful woman. It could only sit angrily to the side, one bear sulking.

With Yin Beiqing’s help, Yan Yu soon felt the pain begin to ease, and her breathing finally smoothed out. She patted the other woman’s hand. “That’s enough. Stop. Thank you.”

She still remembered that Yin Beiqing had only just gone through a fierce battle during the day and had already consumed a great deal of soul power. There was no need to add more burden for her sake.

But Yin Beiqing did not stop. Only after transferring until she felt it was enough did she order, “Open your mouth.”

Yan Yu instinctively obeyed. Then a Fou Pill was pinched by the person behind her and stuffed into her mouth.

Thinking of how expensive this pill was, she could not help wanting to say there was no need to waste it like this. But just as she was about to speak, Yin Beiqing pinched another one and stuffed it in.

“Wu—” She had not even swallowed the first one in her mouth when another was unexpectedly stuffed in. The Fou Pill was large, puffing her cheeks up until she could not speak clearly.

“Open your mouth.”

“No need… wu—”

This time, it seemed to be some other nourishing pill. Yan Yu did not even see it clearly before she was forced to open her mouth and eat it.

“Open your mouth.”

“Actually… wu—”

Was this ever going to end?!

Yan Yu’s heart ached terribly. She thought that if Yin Beiqing became a doctor in modern times and prescribed medicine this recklessly, she would definitely be reported by patients until she was suspended.

While she was being continuously fed all kinds of pills here, the villagers who had woken up on the other side also immediately gathered around after hearing Yin Beiqing’s words.

“Goddess? You’re the goddess?” someone asked first.

“No… no way. Miss Shen said she was the goddess.”

“But didn’t we all faint because of Shen Nanxing? Even after that, you still believe her?”

When they had woken up just now, they had all seen Shen Nanxing turn into smoke. This meant she definitely was not human.

And now, Yin Beiqing, a Beast Arts Master, was calling Yan Yu the goddess. It was difficult for them not to overthink.

“Look!” Li Zhao shouted from behind. “These corpses are the same as my father!”

The corpses here had been buried for at least two or three months at the longest, yet they were still as “clean” as if they had just been buried, without the slightest sign of rot.

Even ordinary people knew that this was impossible.

“Could the god… could Miss Shen be an evil spirit?” Li Zhao guessed softly. “These corpses were drained dry by her!”

“She isn’t an evil spirit,” Yan Yu said. “Only a Dream Demon.”

“Dream Demon…” Clearly, they had heard stories about Dream Demons. “Dream Demons fear gold. No wonder, before, when my father wanted to give Miss Shen coins to thank her, she avoided them like snakes and scorpions.”

The output of gold in this world was very high. In particular, the Jin Kingdom had abundant gold mines. Therefore, the coins of various denominations circulating in the Jin Kingdom were all made by mixing an equivalent value and weight of gold with other ores and metals according to their currency value.

In other words, as long as they were coins circulating in the Jin Kingdom, they contained gold.

But the tribe members had all thought Shen Nanxing refused consultation fees because of kindness and principle.

“Speaking of which, ever since Miss Shen came to our tribe, I’ve rarely dreamed,” someone suddenly remembered.

There were still some who were unwilling to believe it. “No. Miss Shen was such a good person and helped us so much. How could she be a monster?”

“No matter what her identity was, at least these corpses drained dry by evil spirits cannot be unrelated to her.” Yan Yu’s words awakened everyone.

The tribe members lowered their heads and began talking among themselves again.

Li Zhao was the first to run over. “Sister, then now that you’ve eliminated the Dream Demon, does that mean my father can come back?”

“Li Zhao.” Yan Yu patted her shoulder and sighed. “The dead cannot come back to life.”

Beside her, Yin Beiqing’s gaze lingered for a moment on the hand she had placed on Li Zhao’s shoulder, then she turned back expressionlessly. “We’re leaving.”

Li Zhao blinked at her. “Where?”

Yin Beiqing pinched the sleeve at Yan Yu’s arm and pulled her to her side, lowering her eyes to look at Li Zhao. “None of your business, little one.”

Li Zhao: I somehow feel like I’m being disliked.

…

Yin Beiqing’s group split into two. Zhongpu went back to the small house to pick up Xueji, while the rest all went toward the broken bridge.

With Shen Nanxing gone, the barrier she had built on the broken bridge should also have disappeared. That way, their path to Yaochi Mountain would have no obstacles.

But the closer they got to that place, the more unsettled Yan Yu’s heart became.

For some reason, she had an uneasy feeling.

Everything had ended too easily. Had she forgotten something? Why did she keep feeling that the You tribe settlement still gave off an eerie aura everywhere?

And when she raised her head under Teng Jingjie’s reminder, she finally received the answer to all of it.

“Look, what is that!”

Beside the Sacred Spirit Monument before the broken bridge, a “black aura” barrier more than ten zhang tall solidly blocked their path.

Even standing at such a far distance, they could clearly smell the foul miasma released from this barrier.

This miasma was not only dense; its composition was also extremely complicated, like the smell of many evil spirits gathered together. Its concentration was much higher than that of the self-healing evil spirit from before.

Even Teng Jingjie, who had fought countless battles, had never seen such a scene.

Just from smelling a trace of it from afar, some You tribespeople with poor tolerance had already lost control of their emotions and begun harming themselves.

“Take your people and run.” Yin Beiqing’s expression was rarely grave.

The clan chief made a prompt decision, knocked out the frenzied tribe members, and worked with several strong female tribe members to organize the crowd’s evacuation.

“Everyone, follow me!”

Among the retreating crowd, only one tall woman moved against the flow toward Yan Yu and the others.

The person who came looked anxious. Her usual steadiness was nowhere to be seen.

“Zhongpu?” Yan Yu asked in confusion. “Where is Xueji?”

“Xueji… Xueji is missing!”

…

On this side, Shen Nanxing knew nothing of the movement behind her. Having lost her physical body, she drifted all the way forward, her only thought being to quickly find a place with Dream Lotus Flowers, settle down, accumulate dreams again, and then transform back into a physical body.

Suddenly, a tall woman appeared ahead. She stood in the middle of the road, just blocking Shen Nanxing’s path, quietly looking at her—her, who should not have been sensed by humans.

The woman had golden eyes and golden hair. Her hair was very long, almost reaching her ankles, and under the moonlight, it gave off an excellent glossy sheen. Her feet were bare, and a bell hung on her left ankle. Every step she took toward Shen Nanxing produced a crisp sound.

Ding-ling… ding-ling… ding-ling…

The bell only rang three times, yet the woman had already crossed the long street and stood before Shen Nanxing.

Shen Nanxing, in mist form, could not speak. But this woman carried a threat that made her instinctively feel afraid. Just as she was about to scatter and flee in all directions, the other woman laughed softly.

“Where are you going?” Her tone was casual, as if merely asking what she had eaten tonight.

Then she extended a pale, slender finger and touched that clump of mist. Shen Nanxing once again turned into human form.

“Yu Fusang… you lied to me!” Shen Nanxing was angry and afraid. “You said the goddess was only a fictional existence in stories and wouldn’t exist. But why did someone who looks exactly like the one in the prophetic dream appear?”

The woman stood steadily in place. Her bare feet seemed to touch the ground, but in reality, they hovered a short distance above it, so her feet remained clean and fair. Yet this cleanliness was extremely at odds with the aura around her.

Because Shen Nanxing knew that Yu Fusang was like a black-water swamp. No matter who touched her, they would be dragged down heavily by her. The pool beneath one’s feet was unfathomably deep, and by the time one realized it and wanted to call for help, it was already too late.

She herself was now in precisely this despair of just having awakened, yet having no one to ask for help.

“Is that so?” Yu Fusang replied in a faint, lingering tone. Suddenly, she approached Shen Nanxing, her slightly narrowed golden eyes moving close to her face to examine her carefully.

Shen Nanxing nervously swallowed, and several drops of cold sweat unconsciously fell from her forehead.

“Don’t… don’t kill me.”

“Heh…” Yu Fusang laughed extremely softly. She raised her hand and stroked Shen Nanxing’s hair again and again, as if treating a beloved pet. But her tone carried a careless air. “My poor Nanxing, how could I do that to you?”

Shen Nanxing had just been about to breathe a sigh of relief when, in the next second, Yu Fusang’s slender hands suddenly clamped around her neck. Her hands rapidly burst out with a powerful strength completely inconsistent with their frail appearance, choking Shen Nanxing until her eyes bulged and her entire face turned the color of pig liver.

The woman curved her lips in a smile, her eyes staring unblinkingly at Shen Nanxing’s pained expression, as if admiring her final struggle before death.

“No! Don’t—don’t!” Shen Nanxing’s feet kicked wildly in the air as she desperately tried to escape.

“Shh.” Yu Fusang glared at her reproachfully. “Always so noisy and unstable. Of course everyone would discover you were a fake.”

Shen Nanxing closed her mouth, but tears began falling nonstop from the corners of her eyes.

Before this absolute gap in strength, she finally realized that all her struggles were futile.

Shen Nanxing’s tears fell onto the back of Yu Fusang’s hand, but she immediately flung them away with a face full of disgust. With her other hand, she took out a small wooden box from behind her, undid the latch, and lifted the lid.

The things inside the box surged out one after another, clumps drilling into Shen Nanxing’s body.

The blue veins beneath her skin began bulging one by one. Something wriggled and swam continuously through her body, until finally it rushed up through her limbs and into her brain.

Shen Nanxing’s eyes snapped shut. When she opened them again, her entire person had changed.

Her skin was a ghostly purplish-blue. Her lips had turned a terrifying blood-black. Her gaze was cold and vicious, and a third eye had actually grown on her forehead.

“Hahahahaha! Murder! Murder! Hahahaha…” She recited word by word in a strange, cold tone. Her voice grew sharper and sharper, as if it would forcibly pierce a person’s eardrums. Only after Yu Fusang slapped her face to the side did she barely quiet down.

“Let’s go, my Nanxing.” Yu Fusang lightly raised her arm, and her entire body rose into the air. Her long hair floated behind her in the night wind like a golden flower blooming at her back.

She lifted her chin and looked toward the source of the screams, watching the crowd scatter like birds and beasts. Her face showed yearning anticipation.

“Let us go meet the legendary, invincible Lady Goddess.”

Author’s Note:

Yan: Don’t touch me!

Yin: Don’t touch her!

(Little hint: the line “Murder! Murder!” should sound pretty familiar, right?)