Chapter 2
So what if she was inside a book? She was a living, breathing person in this world!
Earlier, when the medical cultivator at Guangji Hall examined her injury, she couldn’t help drawing a sharp breath. She said it was a miracle that the wound hadn’t killed her.
Therefore, leaving the mountain was her best option. She would get as far away from that well-connected bully as possible and enjoy a carefree, peaceful life! She would leave leveling up, fighting monsters, and saving the world to the male and female leads! She certainly wasn’t going to risk her life!
Still, that female medical cultivator really was beautiful!
Shen Zhouxing bent over to look in the mirror. Seeing a face identical to the one she’d had in her previous life, she couldn’t help sighing.
Why were other people so beautiful?!
She had finally gotten a second chance at life. Couldn’t she at least have been given a prettier face?!
Still, she ought to be satisfied. Shen Zhouxing didn’t consider herself ugly. It was just that she’d spent so much of her previous life bedridden, and in this life, she’d apparently been either beaten or starved, leaving her looking somewhat gaunt. But after seeing such a beauty, she couldn’t bring herself to compliment her own appearance.
Anyway, although cultivators might consider this body useless, only Shen Zhouxing knew that it was the healthy body she had always wanted!
With that thought, Shen Zhouxing prepared to fetch some water for a bath. Sigh, there wasn’t even a water heater or anything like that, but she could manage!
She had more or less figured out her circumstances, and since she’d read the novel, she wasn’t completely in the dark.
Shen Zhouxing picked up a bucket and was about to fetch water, but the moment she opened the door, she nearly collided with someone. What a lovely fragrance… It was a scent Shen Zhouxing had never encountered before.
“Sorry about that…” Shen Zhouxing raised her head and met a pair of cool, distant eyes.
Shen Zhouxing froze.
The person standing before her wore blue-and-white robes, with her beautiful hair tied up by a blue ribbon. Her eyes were bright, her teeth pearly white, and her face was free of makeup. Every feature, from her brows to her eyes, seemed perfectly proportioned.
None of the beautiful celebrities Shen Zhouxing had seen in her previous life could compare to the woman standing before her. Even the medical cultivator she’d met earlier was a few degrees less beautiful.
“It’s all right.” Ye Lan took a step back. “I’m on duty at the Law Enforcement Hall today. Junior Sister Lin told me someone had been injured in an assault, so I came to investigate.”
“Are you… Ye Lan?” The figure Shen Zhouxing had seen from afar earlier gradually overlapped with the person before her, so she tentatively asked.
“Yes. And you must be Junior Sister Shen Zhouxing, correct?”
Aaaaaah! It really was Ye Lan! As expected of the female lead, she really had been given all the best attributes!!!
Shen Zhouxing couldn’t help cursing inwardly again. The female lead had everything going for her! Fine, so she herself had defective spiritual roots, but couldn’t she at least have been given something else to make up for it?
“Junior Sister Shen?” Seeing that the other woman had fallen silent, Ye Lan thought she might have frightened her.
“Ah… Right, the assault…” Shen Zhouxing finally snapped out of her daze and answered absentmindedly.
“Who injured you? When did it happen? How were you injured? May I examine the wound?”
“Oh, sure!” As Shen Zhouxing spoke, she lifted the gauze covering the area behind her ear, revealing the scabbed wound.
Although it had already scabbed over, it was still obvious how deep the wound was.
“Three days ago. Um… Li Xiang did it…” Although Shen Zhouxing gave Li Xiang’s name, she wasn’t expecting much to come of it.
Li Xiang’s paternal uncle was Li Qingshan, an elder of Lixiao Peak. Since the peak master had been in seclusion for years, Li Qingshan was currently the one in charge.
He was extremely protective of his own people, and Li Xiang was exceptionally talented. All that remained was next month’s sect competition, after which Li Qingshan would accept him as a disciple.
Ye Lan examined the wound and gently covered it with the gauze again. Her gaze met Shen Zhouxing’s distracted eyes. Shen Zhouxing blinked uneasily, looking troubled. She had been full of energy when she opened the door, but now her eyes were filled with hesitation.
Ye Lan had heard a little about the situation. As one of the most outstanding disciples of this batch, Li Xiang was practically guaranteed a place on Lixiao Peak. With Elder Li Qingshan protecting him, the matter would most likely be downplayed until it amounted to nothing.
“How did he injure you?”
“Uh…” That question stumped Shen Zhouxing. After thinking for a long time, she could only answer that she didn’t know.
“Has your memory been affected?” Ye Lan was somewhat surprised. It was only today that she had learned this disciple had suffered bullying for years. Now that she had seen her, she realized just how serious her injuries were.
Ye Lan frequently served at the Law Enforcement Hall, yet she had never heard about any of this. If her junior sister hadn’t informed her today, this disciple would likely have continued suffering the same abuse.
“Yes, yes. There are a lot of things I can’t remember clearly.” Shen Zhouxing was secretly delighted and hurriedly agreed. Of course! She could use that excuse to muddle through!
“How is your injury?” This made the assault even more serious.
“They said it would heal as long as I took good care of it, and they gave me some medicine. I just need to keep it away from water for the next few days.” With the questioning finally over, Shen Zhouxing relaxed and began admiring the beauty standing before her.
Ye Lan stood perfectly straight, her bearing dignified and composed. She truly deserved to be the female lead! Her presence was completely different from that of modern people.
“Were you about to fetch water for a bath?” Ye Lan sounded somewhat apologetic as her gaze drifted toward the bucket beside Shen Zhouxing’s feet. “Aren’t you supposed to keep the wound away from water?”
“Ah… I’ll just be careful. I won’t get it wet. I haven’t bathed in three whole days…”
Before Shen Zhouxing could finish speaking, Ye Lan disappeared.
Cultivators really were something else, huh? They could just fly away whenever they wanted. And a cool, aloof female lead really was different, huh? She could leave without even saying goodbye.
Shen Zhouxing shrugged and headed outside with her bucket.
But before she even reached the courtyard, a figure suddenly appeared before her with a whoosh, startling her.
Looking closely, she realized it was Ye Lan again.
Ye Lan took out a small white pearl and handed it to Shen Zhouxing.
“This is a Cleansing Pearl. I’ve just filled it with quite a bit of purified spiritual spring water. You can use it for bathing from now on.”
Huh? There was such a convenient thing?
Shen Zhouxing accepted the Cleansing Pearl. It was pure white and only about the size of her thumb.
“You only need to activate it with spiritual energy,” Ye Lan explained, noticing Shen Zhouxing’s confusion.
Huh? Spiritual energy? Did she even have any of that?
Shen Zhouxing didn’t dare ask, so she could only pretend to channel her power.
Sure enough, after three seconds of pretending, absolutely nothing happened. Shen Zhouxing was just about to use her earlier excuse and say she had no spiritual energy when she suddenly felt a warm current in her palm.
Looking closely, she saw the warm current gradually take shape. A stream—no, a tiny wisp of something resembling smoke emerged from her palm. Was this spiritual energy?
With a thought, she directed the spiritual energy into the Cleansing Pearl, and warm water immediately gushed out!
Shen Zhouxing was overjoyed. “Senior Sister Ye… I activated it!”
“Your spiritual energy is very weak, but activating the Cleansing Pearl shouldn’t be a problem.” Meeting her delighted smile, Ye Lan nodded.
“Junior Sister Shen, Li Xiang may not receive the punishment he deserves this time.” After some consideration, Ye Lan couldn’t bear to let this outer sect disciple hold on to false hopes, so she decided to tell Shen Zhouxing the truth. With Li Qingshan around, Li Xiang would receive nothing more than a minor punishment or warning at most.
“Oh, I know. It’s fine.” Shen Zhouxing wasn’t particularly bothered. After all, she’d already made up her mind to leave the mountain as soon as possible and stay far away from that Li Xiang.
Ye Lan felt a little guilty. With nothing more to say, she nodded and took her leave.
“Thank you anyway, Senior Sister! I appreciate your help! And thank you for the Cleansing Pearl!” Shen Zhouxing thanked her while waving the pearl.
Ye Lan said nothing more. She turned around and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Shen Zhouxing heard that Li Xiang had been confined as punishment. Over the following days, she leisurely explored every corner of the outer sect. After asking around, she learned that one low-grade spirit stone from the cultivation world was worth three taels of silver in the mortal world. If she wanted to leave the mountain, she would need to save up plenty of spirit stones.
However, outer sect disciples received only a few spirit stones each month. Fortunately, she had discovered another way to earn money—gathering spiritual herbs on the back mountain and exchanging them for spirit stones.
She had even encountered two deer, one large and one small. The little deer was absolutely adorable!
“Senior Sister Shen! Senior Sister Shen!”
“Huh? What’s wrong?” Shen Zhouxing snapped back to reality.
“Why aren’t you nervous at all? You can’t keep being so careless every day! The sect competition is only three days away!” Cheng Jin said.
Whenever Shen Zhouxing attended lessons, her eyes would go completely vacant. Cheng Jin hadn’t expected her to remain distracted even after class. She had been chattering away for quite some time before realizing that Shen Zhouxing hadn’t been listening at all.
Cheng Jin was an outer sect disciple who had joined just a few days earlier and lived next door to Shen Zhouxing.
Back then, Cheng Jin had been short of money and asked to borrow some from her. Shen Zhouxing had casually lent her the money without a second thought. Unexpectedly, Cheng Jin had been overwhelmingly grateful. Ever since then, she had urged Shen Zhouxing to study and practice every day, seemingly determined to prevent her from “giving up on herself.”
“Oh, it’s just a competition. So what? It’s not like I’m hoping to enter the inner sect.” Shen Zhouxing genuinely didn’t care much. If everything went smoothly, she’d be leaving the mountain before long.
“Besides, I heard that anyone who passes the sect competition on their first attempt is a genius among geniuses. You don’t need to be too nervous either, Cheng Jin.” As Shen Zhouxing spoke, she patted Cheng Jin on the shoulder.
“So if you don’t pass, that’s perfectly normal. But if you do pass and enter the inner sect, that means you’re a genius among geniuses!”
“The top ten in this sect competition will get to compete against inner sect disciples. I heard Lord Yanqing will be participating this year too,” Cheng Jin said, sharing the information she had gathered.
“Wow, whoever gets matched against her is going to be unlucky.” She was the female lead, after all. Wouldn’t she defeat these low-level outer sect nobodies in a single move?
Although Shen Zhouxing didn’t have much understanding of the differences between cultivation realms, she knew all about character rankings and story settings.
“No, no, no! Last year, Senior Brother Chang Dai from Xunxiao Peak faced Lord Yanqing. She deliberately guided him through their exchange of moves, and he advanced two levels right there on the spot! That’s why everyone is hoping to face her.”
Cheng Jin’s words were filled with admiration for the eldest senior sister.
“Is that so?…” The female lead really was the female lead. Not only was she beautiful, but she was kindhearted too.
“Oh, right, um… Li Xiang’s confinement has ended. You… should be careful. I heard he’s the most promising disciple in this sect competition. He’s already reached the Foundation Establishment stage.” Cheng Jin had also heard about Li Xiang bullying Shen Zhouxing and was somewhat worried.
“I’ll just avoid him. It’s fine, really!” Seeing Cheng Jin’s worried expression, Shen Zhouxing hurriedly reassured her.
She had almost forgotten about that. It seemed she really did need to be careful. Li Xiang had frequently made trouble for the original owner of this body. Not only had he beaten her, but he had also stolen her spirit stones.
Shen Zhouxing certainly didn’t want to get beaten, much less have her spirit stones stolen!
Time to head to the back mountain and earn some money. Once she got back, she’d hide her spirit stones!
Having made up her mind, Shen Zhouxing said to Cheng Jin, “I’m heading to the back mountain! I won’t be walking back with you!”
Cheng Jin was still wondering whether she should invite Shen Zhouxing to stay with her for a few days. Otherwise, if Shen Zhouxing were beaten again, they could certainly report it to the Law Enforcement Hall and have Li Xiang punished once more. But with the sect competition approaching, wouldn’t an injury only make things worse for Senior Sister Shen, whose spiritual energy was already so weak?
Yet Senior Sister Shen seemed completely unconcerned. She had already walked quite a distance away by the time Cheng Jin finished thinking. Cheng Jin could only call after her, “I live right next door! If anything happens, remember to call me!”
“Got it!” Shen Zhouxing waved without turning around.
Shen Zhouxing had gathered quite a harvest today. After working hard for some time, she sat beside a stream, took out a spiritual fruit, and fed it to the little deer that faithfully came to meet her every day.
Looking at the large bundle of spiritual herbs beside her, Shen Zhouxing felt thoroughly satisfied. She fed another spiritual fruit to the little deer, then pulled a money pouch embroidered with a white fawn from inside her robes.
Apart from using spiritual energy to activate the Cleansing Pearl every day, Shen Zhouxing hardly ever used it. Even so, after activating the pearl just once, she would feel as though her spiritual energy had run out of power.
Not only was a storage pouch outrageously expensive for someone in her current circumstances, but she also seemed to lack the spiritual energy needed to use such an item frequently.
“Little deer, look! This is the money pouch I just finished embroidering. The design is you!” Shen Zhouxing waved the pouch in front of the little deer.
Shen Zhouxing had always loved handicrafts in her previous life, and embroidering a simple pattern was a piece of cake for her.
Inside were all her worldly possessions, along with the Cleansing Pearl Ye Lan had given her. Everything of value she’d acquired since arriving in this world was contained in that pouch.
The little deer didn’t understand a word she said. It only had eyes for the spiritual fruits.
“It won’t be long before I’ve saved enough money. Then I’ll be heading down the mountain. I probably won’t be able to come feed you fruit every day anymore!”
Shen Zhouxing glanced at the sky and realized that the sun was already setting behind the mountains.
It was probably too late to go to the Medicinal Herb Pavilion and sell her spiritual herbs. She would go tomorrow instead.
With that thought, Shen Zhouxing headed straight back to her courtyard. However, she hadn’t expected to find three people standing outside.
She was so absorbed in thinking about where to hide her spirit stones that by the time she snapped out of it, the three people had already noticed her.
“Well, well, look who’s back. Isn’t it our little cripple? I thought you hardly ever went outside before?”
The man leading the group immediately broke into a mocking smile when he saw Shen Zhouxing. He crossed his arms and spoke to her with an arrogant, condescending air.
Oh, crap. This was probably Li Xiang.
She had been so lost in thought that she hadn’t noticed them at all. It was already too late to avoid them!
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