The Villain Is Soft and Clingy [Transmigration into a Book] - Chapter 17

This question was truly a little difficult to answer.

After weighing it for a moment, Xia Zhitao said, “To be honest, I’m not sure… but it should have been an outer disciple named Yuan Shuang.”

For now, she could only say that. In her heart, Xia Zhitao silently apologized to that unknown woman in black, thinking that if she ever had the chance to meet her again, she would definitely have to award her a Lei Feng medal.

Honestly, this whole “doing good deeds without leaving a name” behavior really was not good. If that woman in black had left a name card or something, how would Yuan Shuang ever have gotten the chance to jump out and steal the credit?

What she did not know was that if the woman in black had really left a token behind, then the entire Yashan would probably have been shaken from top to bottom. Everyone would have mobilized together and panicked for ten days to half a month.

“Outer sect?!” Wang Yan’s voice instantly rose by eight degrees as she exclaimed in surprise, “Even Master would have to work hard to break through the Ruoshui. An outer disciple actually managed to save you?”

I know that too, Xia Zhitao silently complained inwardly. She smiled and said politely, “According to Disciple Yuan, she used an immortal rope to pull me up.”

“So that’s what happened,” Wang Yan exclaimed. “So smart!”

Everyone: “…”

Xia Zhitao: “…”

Mu Si’s slow voice drifted out. “Difficult.”

Although the explanation could barely make sense, everyone present was somewhat unconvinced.

What, did they think an immortal rope came with its own GPS navigation system and could automatically find Xia Zhitao in the vast Shuijing Lake, then pull her up without tearing her wound open further?

Wang Ze smiled helplessly and said, “In any case, it’s good that Senior Sister Xia is all right. Yesterday, we helped the masters and grandmasters search for a long time, but there was never any progress. We were all terribly anxious.”

Her little junior sister, who had not spoken for a long while, suddenly reached out, tugged at Xia Zhitao, and muttered softly, “That’s why I said Yashan’s masters don’t do anything. They’re completely useless—”

Hey, hey, you can’t just say things like that!

Xia Zhitao quickly covered her mouth and said, “It was truly my own carelessness that made everyone worry. Let me apologize first.”

Zhang Lan blinked her big eyes hard in protest, but Xia Zhitao remained unmoved and calmly kept covering her mouth. “Today, it was also thanks to everyone helping us out of this situation. We are deeply grateful.”

“Not at all. As fellow disciples, this was only what we should do,” Wang Ze said gently.

Xia Zhitao and Wang Ze exchanged polite remarks for a long while. Wang Yan watched curiously from the side, Zhang Lan had her mouth covered and was not allowed to speak, and Mu Si stood there with a wooden face, silent as air.

After a while, Qin Zhi walked over and said something about how two days had been wasted and they had to seize the time to train. Without mercy, she swept away the line of little radishes.

Xia Zhitao was stopped by Huai Ruishi, and together with Lu Guo, she remained at Jingtang Peak for a while longer, explaining in detail what had happened that day.

Jingtang Peak truly deserved to be the judicial peak. Xia Zhitao felt as if she were at a police station giving a statement, pressed by the person across from her and forced to carefully repeat what had happened that day over and over again several times.

When she turned her head to look at Lu Guo, she saw that the other woman also looked like she had nothing left to live for, answering the fifth round of questioning with a numb expression.

By the time Jingtang Peak finally released them, the sun was already slanting westward. Xia Zhitao looked at the gradually sinking sun and silently sighed.

She had clearly made up her mind to cultivate properly, improve every day, and strive to escape with her whole body intact next time… but looking at it now, it seemed she had wasted another day.

.

Xia Zhitao was mentally exhausted. Yawning, she returned to her little wooden hut, cast a cleansing spell, and prepared to rest.

At night, Yashan was incomparably quiet. All things seemed to have withdrawn their sounds, leaving only one or two empty cicada cries.

Her room had been lively all day, and now that it was suddenly this deserted, she was actually a little unaccustomed to it.

At this time, all was silent, and the moon had just risen. It was actually a good time to cultivate, but after Xia Zhitao tried meditating for a while, she still could not calm her heart.

She had just walked once through the gates of life and death, so it was inevitable that her thoughts were complicated. Xia Zhitao sat on the bed with her long hair loose, staring blankly at the spiritual candle burning quietly.

Who exactly was that woman in black who had saved her?

Ruoshui was known as the “water of the Heavenly River.” Like quicksand in the desert, even the slightest contact could instantly devour most of one’s spiritual power.

Wang Yan had also said earlier that even Yashan’s masters would find it difficult to break through the Ruoshui’s restrictions. Since that woman in black had been able to find her, her strength was certainly not shallow.

Maybe she was reinforcements called by the grandmasters?

But if she was reinforcements, then why be so secretive and unwilling to reveal her identity?

Xia Zhitao thought about it again and again but still could not come up with a reasonable explanation. In the end, she simply lay down to sleep.

She lay on her side, her thoughts wandering. For some inexplicable reason, she suddenly remembered that embrace beneath Shuijing Lake.

Extremely light, extremely gentle, so careful as she drew Xia Zhitao into her arms…

Her cheeks heated for no reason. Xia Zhitao abruptly pulled the quilt over her head and closed her eyes to sleep.

.

Over the next few days, she cultivated much more seriously. The spiritual energy inside her body flowed increasingly smoothly and was already faintly approaching a bottleneck.

Human cultivation was divided into ten realms in total: Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Soul Departure, Hollow Void, Integration, Tribulation Crossing, Great Completion, and Spirit Transformation. Each realm was divided into five ranks, and the difficulty increased with each rank. Crossing from one realm to the next was the most arduous and time-consuming step.

As the number one great sect under heaven, Yashan was naturally very proud. Not only did it recruit disciples only once every ten years, but it refused those with low comprehension, refused those with inferior roots, and even had rather strict requirements for spiritual roots.

The roots of this batch of disciples were all fairly good, but most of them were still lingering at the stage before Qi Refining, called Hearing the Dao. Only a few outstanding disciples like Mu Si and the Wang siblings had reached Qi Refining.

So, for her little junior sister to be at Foundation Establishment from the very beginning was simply arrogantly talented—

The only issue was that she could not circulate spiritual power. She had a whole body of high cultivation, but could not use it, causing everyone to think she had not even reached Qi Refining.

“Zhitao, come here for a moment.”

Hearing Bearded Grandmaster call her name, Xia Zhitao stood and walked over. “Grandmaster.”

“I see your spiritual power has been stagnant lately,” Hu Zi said after sizing her up twice. “Have you reached a bottleneck?”

Xia Zhitao nodded. “This disciple is already at the fifth rank of Foundation Establishment. It’s just that crossing realms is truly difficult, and I feel somewhat powerless.”

“The Golden Core stage is crucial. If the Golden Core you condense has flaws, it will have an adverse effect on your future cultivation,” Bearded Grandmaster said. “This matter cannot be rushed. It must be taken slowly.”

Xia Zhitao bowed slightly. “This disciple will remember your teachings.”

“How about this? In a few days, it will be the trial assembly. At that time, not only will you have to fight as a disciple of Shuijing Peak, but afterward, you will also have to lead a team as a senior sister and participate in the entry trial…”

Bearded Grandmaster frowned and thought for a while before saying, “Stay at the fifth rank of Foundation Establishment for now. After the assembly ends, focus on advancing.”

Grandmaster’s words made some sense. Staying at Foundation Establishment meant she would still fight as a Foundation Establishment disciple and would not have to fight Golden Core disciples. Xia Zhitao thought about it and agreed. “Then I will follow Grandmaster’s advice.”

Great. She had said she would cultivate properly, but now she had a perfectly legitimate reason to slack off again. Xia Zhitao hummed a little tune, stepped onto the Jiyan Sword, and planned to return to her hut to shut herself in.

Because she took a shortcut, as luck would have it, she passed by that cold and deserted Shuijing Lake again.

Now, the moment she saw lake water, she felt psychological trauma. She wished she could make a detour around it, and her speed increased quite a bit. She only wanted to leave this place as soon as possible.

Ever since she fell into the lake, Grandmaster had placed restrictions around Shuijing Lake. People regularly patrolled the outer perimeter to stop disciples from approaching.

Logically speaking, there should have been no one inside the restriction. Xia Zhitao casually glanced inside, only for a tall, well-proportioned, slightly blurry figure to suddenly enter her sight.

Someone was standing by Shuijing Lake. A few strands of her ink-black hair were lifted by the wind as she lowered her head and looked at the calm, rippleless surface of Shuijing Lake, thinking who knew what.

Author’s Note: Someone: I am thinking about how to dismantle Shuijing Lake.