The Villain Is Soft and Clingy [Transmigration into a Book] - Chapter 9

The night was cold, and the dew was heavy. The disciples of Yashan waited on the Baiyu Platform for most of the night, swaying back and forth in the cold wind, suffering terribly.

The masters stood on strict guard for half the day, but in the end, the whole thing turned out to be all thunder and no rain. It was completely quiet in front of Yashan’s restrictions, without even a single figure in sight.

—Where was Zhang Kuang?!!

Everyone stayed up until their eyes were red, but the person who had stirred up all this commotion never appeared at all, leaving everyone with the feeling that they had been stood up.

Bah. What kind of lousy Demon Sect Leader was this? She had no credibility! What happened to attacking Yashan and washing the great hall in blood? They had not even seen her shadow. Could it be that she had gone off to capture eighty-year-old men to warm her bed again?

The ten peak masters had probably guessed something as well. After discussing among themselves, they hastily gave a speech, then released the many disciples who had been bitterly waiting on the Baiyu Altar.

Xia Zhitao let out a breath and pinched Zhang Lan, who had already fallen asleep beside her. “Get up. Go back to your room to sleep.”

Zhang Lan’s hair was messy. She sat up, yawned, and looked utterly sleepy. Her voice was soft and sticky. “Don’t want to…”

“Don’t tell me you want to sleep here.” Xia Zhitao pushed her shoulder, rather helpless. “You’ll catch a cold.”

Her little junior sister had slept through the masters’ entire speech and still had no idea what had happened. She mumbled, “What about that bastard Zhang Kuang? Did the masters beat her away?”

Why was she still thinking about this?

Xia Zhitao laughed despite herself and explained, “Zhang Kuang didn’t appear. We’re very safe. Hurry and go back to sleep.”

Her little junior sister nodded. Yawning again and again, she said goodbye to Xia Zhitao at the fork in the road, then slowly shuffled back to her own room.

Unlike inner disciples, who each had their own room, they were newcomers and had to share with several people. However, compared with the outer disciples’ residences, their room conditions were still much better.

Because she had dawdled, the three people living with Zhang Lan had already returned. They were sitting together in a circle, excitedly discussing something.

Seeing Zhang Lan come in, one of the women waved at her and said, “Come here, come here. We’re discussing something important.”

Zhang Lan was too lazy to bother with them. She was terribly sleepy. She walked to the bed, rolled onto it, and pulled the blanket over her head while she was at it.

One of them was a little dissatisfied and whispered, “What’s that? It’s one thing if she usually ignores people, but now we took the initiative to invite her and she still ignores us.”

Another woman raised her brows and gave a disdainful “hmph.” “If she doesn’t want to talk, then forget it. As if we care.”

This person had delicate, pretty features and wore luxurious clothing. Even the spiritual power around her was the strongest among them. She was none other than one of the pair of siblings who had taken first place in the previous trial, Wang Yan.

Wang Yan was surrounded by the other two girls and very much enjoyed the feeling of being admired by everyone. She glanced at Zhang Lan, who had covered herself up, then deliberately raised her voice a little.

“In my opinion, although Zhang Kuang was intimidated by the might of our Yashan today, she absolutely won’t let this go. She’ll definitely think of some method to make a comeback, right, Xiao Zuo, Xiao You?”

The woman called “Xiao Zuo” quickly nodded. “We still have to prepare ourselves.”

“In my opinion, the reason Zhang Kuang has been unwilling to appear is because she’s afraid,” Wang Yan analyzed with perfect confidence. “So she’ll definitely think of some filthy method to launch a sneak attack on Yashan!”

Xiao You became worried after hearing this and said uneasily, “Zhang Kuang is so despicable. What should we do?”

Wang Yan laughed smugly and said loudly, “I have an idea. Listen carefully…”

Before she could voice that “exquisitely brilliant” plan, the person with the blanket over her head suddenly turned over and mercilessly interrupted her in a muffled voice.

“She won’t come.”

Wang Yan folded her arms and gave a “hmph.” “Zhang Lan, you really are naive and childish. The Demon Sect Leader acts vilely and can do anything.”

Xiao You added, “That’s right. How can you make such a claim so easily?”

Zhang Lan kept the blanket over her head and said impatiently, “I said she won’t come. There’s no particular reason. Can you all shut up and let people rest now?”

Xiao Zuo asked suspiciously, “Is the Demon Sect Leader that obedient to you? If you say she won’t come, then she won’t come?”

Zhang Lan curled inward slightly and said coldly, “Believe it or not. I’m going to sleep.”

Because Zhang Lan had entered the sect late, when she was assigned to the same room as the others, the other three had already formed a small group and always excluded her, whether intentionally or unintentionally.

Zhang Lan had never planned to build a good relationship with them anyway. It actually left her free and unbothered, and she was quite comfortable going about alone.

After Zhang Lan mixed a few words into the three girls’ conversation, not only did they show no intention of lowering their voices, they instead grew more and more excited, speaking louder and louder. The noise made the space between Zhang Lan’s brows throb, and she suddenly threw off the blanket and sat up.

“You can keep chatting.” Expressionless, she rolled up her quilt and pillow, then stormed out angrily.

Cold wind rushed toward her face, making Zhang Lan shiver. She walked around while holding her blanket, found an empty little grove, and spread the bedding out beneath a large tree.

“Zhang Kuang, Zhang Kuang, Zhang Kuang,” she muttered. “So what if it’s Zhang Kuang? Didn’t she just fail to hold back and beat someone up? They kept talking about it over and over again more than ten times. Don’t they find it boring?”

Seeing that no one was around, Zhang Lan covered her head with the blanket and took out a rectangular box.

The box was pitch-black like ink. Its whole body was long and slender, and the craftsmanship was extremely exquisite. She carefully opened the lid, her fingertips sweeping over the several pills inside as she counted softly, “…Seven, eight, nine.”

She had used one of the ten pills earlier, leaving nine behind. They lay quietly in the wooden box, giving off a bitter medicinal smell.

“I have to use them sparingly.” Zhang Lan irritably rubbed her hair and muttered to herself, “Maybe I should cut them in half and use them that way. I’m just afraid the effect will also be cut in half.”

She looked worried and sighed deeply. “Madam Gu Ji looks at me like she’s looking at a piece of braised meat. So annoying. I don’t want to go to her.”

The cold wind whooshed through the treetops. Wrapped in her blanket, Zhang Lan turned over and gave a sulky “hmph.”

“Those little girls are so annoying too,” Zhang Lan closed her eyes and muttered under her breath. “Chatting every day and disturbing the peace. If they don’t let me sleep, Zhang Kuang might really get angry enough to attack…”

.

The matter of Zhang Kuang made all of Yashan uneasy. Everyone remained fully focused and on guard for dozens of days, but in the end, everything stayed calm and peaceful. Nothing happened at all.

As the peak master of Zhihe Peak, Qin Zhi was called to the main hall because of this matter and had no choice but to suspend classes, giving the disciples several happy days off.

But vacations always came to an end. As soon as Qin Zhi returned, she swiftly and decisively assigned a pile of coursework, tormenting the disciples until they cried to the heavens.

According to Xia Zhitao’s incomplete statistics, this batch of new disciples climbed Yubai Peak ten times, carried fifty huge vats of water, and ran three laps around the entirety of Yashan.

It could be called inhumanly tragic.

During this time, Xia Zhitao and the other seniors were called over by Qin Zhi several times. Seeing Zhang Lan looking haggard, even her little face no longer as round as before, Xia Zhitao could not help feeling a burst of heartache.

How old were these children? Who tormented people like this?

After everyone finished training, she took advantage of Qin Zhi not paying attention, quickly walked to Zhang Lan’s side, crouched down, and spoke to her.

Zhang Lan blinked at her, her mouth flattening as if she were about to cry. “Senior Sister…”

“You’ve worked hard, you’ve worked hard.” Xia Zhitao patted her shoulder and comforted her. “Senior Sister brought you something.”

As she said this, while no one else was paying attention, she stuffed a square box into Zhang Lan’s arms, then quickly walked away.

Senior Sister gave me something just for me!!

Zhang Lan was so moved she became dizzy. Holding the box, she simply could not bear to open it and carefully carried it all the way back.

Only Xiao You was in the little hut. Xiao Zuo and Wang Yan were both absent. When she saw Zhang Lan holding a box like it was a treasure, smiling so brightly, she could not help curiously leaning over. “What is that?”

Zhang Lan glanced at her coldly and hugged the box tighter. “Go away.”

Fine, if she could not look, then she would not look. Xiao You turned her head away, indicating that she was not interested at all.

Zhang Lan huddled in the corner and opened the box. Inside, four glutinous rice dumplings were arranged neatly. In the middle was a little porcelain rabbit, along with a small card that said “Keep going.”

Senior Sister is so considerate. Senior Sister is so cute. The dumplings Senior Sister bought are especially delicious. Senior Sister’s handwriting is the prettiest under heaven.

That said, there was no way she was going to eat them. Zhang Lan put everything into her storage ring and left only the little white rabbit out.

She stared at the porcelain rabbit, and the porcelain rabbit stared back. After earnestly looking at it for quite some time, she suddenly found herself unable to figure it out.

Why did Senior Sister give me a porcelain rabbit?

—Of course, it was because you were fair, soft, and obedient like a little rabbit.

That was what Xia Zhitao thought, but she definitely would not say it out loud, leaving Zhang Lan to bitterly ponder alone for a long while without understanding the hidden meaning behind Senior Sister’s gift.

Forget it. In any case, everything about Senior Sister was good.

Zhang Lan was holding the little rabbit and grinning foolishly when the wooden hut’s door was suddenly pushed open with a loud bang.

Wang Yan rushed into the room with a terrified expression and shouted loudly at the two of them, “Bad news! Zhang Kuang has attacked Yubai Peak’s main hall!!”

Xiao You’s face went bloodless with a swish, and her voice trembled violently. “She really, really came!”

Holding that little porcelain rabbit, Zhang Lan said in disbelief, “Huh?”

“What are you standing there for?” Wang Yan was terribly anxious. She grabbed Xiao You’s arm. “Xiao You, Zhang Lan, hurry over. We’ll go to the main hall together!”

“…Wait a moment.”

Zhang Lan did not believe Wang Yan in the slightest. In the end, there was no one in this world who knew better than her where Zhang Kuang was right now.

She cleared her throat and said coldly, “What kind of joke is this? Are you really sure that person is Zhang Kuang?”

“Unreasonable!” Wang Yan glared at her angrily. “I saw it clearly. That person is obviously the Demon Sect Leader who commits every evil imaginable!”

Zhang Lan put the little porcelain rabbit away, gathered her sleeves, and quickly followed the two of them over.

Yubai Peak was extremely lively. Countless disciples were standing on strict guard, while a tall black-clad woman with her long hair tied high stood in front of the great hall.

She smiled slightly, stood with her hands behind her back, and declared loudly, “I am the Demon Sect Leader, Zhang Kuang!”

Zhang Lan clicked her tongue inwardly, her face full of displeasure.

…Who are you?!