Transmigrated as the Villain’s Sword - Chapter 54

The silence in the hall was so heavy that one could hear a pin drop. Even Ling Chenyan’s mind went blank for several seconds. When she finally processed the words, she felt her right hand suddenly tighten in a painful grip.

Seeing Guan Luowei’s expression shift instantly into a state of panic and unease, she steadied herself and gently patted the woman’s hand, whispering pitifully, “It hurts.”

Guan Luowei’s expression flickered, and she immediately lightened her grip, yet she still held on firmly, refusing to let go, as if the girl might vanish the moment she released her.

Ling Chenyan felt a bit helpless. She looked up at Medusa and asked, “Your Majesty, I wonder if I might use the Heart-Seeking Mirror as well?”

Medusa nodded, hesitating for a moment before adding, “What I saw was merely by chance. Anything involving the secrets of heaven is difficult to glimpse. You must be prepared before you enter.”

The secrets of heaven concern the future and are naturally not easily seen. Therefore, even after entering the Heart-Seeking Mirror, it was highly possible to see nothing at all.

“Furthermore,” Medusa said, “the trial of the Heart-Seeking Mirror is not easy. A moment’s lapse in judgment can give rise to a heart-demon.”

Ling Chenyan nodded. “Then I’ll go and see what’s going on first.”

Before she could take a step, Guan Luowei pulled her back, her gaze determined. “I’ll go first.”

With that, she let go of Ling Chenyan’s hand and strode forward. Ling Chenyan knew the woman was worried about her; she also knew that once Guan Luowei was determined, there was no stopping her, so she let her be.

Guan Luowei held the golden, shimmering mirror in her hands and closed her eyes. Her face was reflected in the glass; even with her eyes shut, her tension was visible. Soon, the surface of the mirror rippled like a stone cast into a lake. With a flash of light, Guan Luowei’s figure vanished from the hall.

Ling Chenyan’s heart beat rapidly. Seeing this, Hua Niang gently patted her shoulder to comfort her. “Relax, Miss Guan is very strong.”

Ling Chenyan offered a small smile and nodded. She looked at Medusa and asked, “Your Majesty, what exactly was the vision you saw in the mirror?”

Medusa recalled for a moment and said, “Soul dissipating, never to enter reincarnation.”

Ling Chenyan’s eye twitched. Great, so I don’t even get a chance to be reborn.

She immediately asked the System in her head: [Sys, did you hear that? I won’t end up being beaten into soul-scattered dust by the true villain, will I?]

[I don’t know about that. But if your soul truly dissipates, it means your mission has failed.]

[Ah, do I really have to stab Guan Luowei to death for the mission to count as a success?]

[…I don’t know either.]

Fine. It felt as though things had already spiraled beyond the plot they both knew. But surely what is seen in the Heart-Seeking Mirror isn’t necessarily the absolute truth, right?

[It is real,] the System said. [The Heart-Seeking Mirror can indeed see a certain degree of the future, but the future it shows is not necessarily destined to happen.]

[You mean the future can be changed?]

[That is the case,] the System replied. [In the original text, the male lead saw the female lead die in the mirror. He saved her later and changed the ending.]

Ling Chenyan felt a wave of relief, yet she still felt somewhat discouraged. [But I’m not the female lead, and Guan Luowei isn’t the male lead. How is anyone going to save me?]

The System let out a long sigh. [Host, haven’t you noticed? From the moment Jinjin refused to recognize the original female lead as his master, the gears of fate have already deviated from their original tracks.]

[Are you saying… I might be the ‘female lead’ in the true sense now? And Guan Luowei is the one to save me?]

[It’s just a guess. Neither of us can be certain of what the future holds.]

[…A bit absurd, yet strangely logical.]

After her conversation with the System, Ling Chenyan felt a bit more confident. If she truly possessed the “luck” of a protagonist now, she shouldn’t die so easily.

The hall fell quiet. Medusa had other matters to attend to and left things to Hua Niang. Hua Niang ignored her duties and stayed by Ling Chenyan’s side, smoothing her “fur.”

After an unknown amount of time, Guan Luowei finally reappeared before Ling Chenyan.

Ling Chenyan’s eyes lit up. She was about to ask her questions when Guan Luowei suddenly averted her head, avoiding her gaze. Ling Chenyan was stunned. She stepped forward to grab her hand. “Highness, are you alright?”

Recalling her experience in the mirror, Guan Luowei felt her throat go dry. She retracted her hand and said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t see anything regarding your future.”

Ling Chenyan’s hand remained suspended in the air; the residual warmth in her palm had already vanished. She realized something was wrong. Retracting her hand, she looked at the woman with a warm, steady gaze. “Highness, whatever you experienced in there, it was fake. Only the ‘me’ standing before your eyes right now is real.”

Guan Luowei’s knuckles tightened until they were white. She nodded slowly, but her gaze still refused to meet the girl’s. A flash of disappointment crossed Ling Chenyan’s eyes, but she still smiled. “Alright. Then it’s my turn to go in.”

With a flash of white light, Ling Chenyan’s figure vanished.

Seeing Guan Luowei like this, Hua Niang rolled her eyes at her. “What’s the matter? You go in for a bit and come out refusing to recognize your partner? Little Yanyan was out here worried sick for you, and you come out acting like this? So you didn’t see the future—big deal. Little Yanyan isn’t blaming you.”

Guan Luowei’s knuckles grew even whiter. Her throat rolled repeatedly, but in the end, she couldn’t say a single word.

On the other side, Ling Chenyan opened her eyes to find herself in a vast, boundless golden space. She couldn’t see the edges or feel the path beneath her feet.

While she was wondering, the lazy voice of a young man rang out: “Yo, a sword spirit?”

Ling Chenyan looked all around but saw no one.

“Stop looking. I’m over here.”

White light suddenly rippled in the space ahead. A tall, handsome young man strolled out, stretching. He looked a bit sluggish, as if he had just woken up. He opened his eyes to survey her. “Hmm? Not a sword spirit. You aren’t from this world.”

He looked at Ling Chenyan, and she looked back at him. “You are the artifact spirit of the Heart-Seeking Mirror,” she said slowly.

Ling Chenyan knew that the spirit of the mirror could read memories effortlessly, so she wasn’t surprised by his words. The young man casually praised her, saying “Clever,” before adding with a look of surprise: “Hmm? I didn’t expect you to actually have a relationship with the woman who just came in.”

Ling Chenyan’s gaze shifted. “Is your trial just about exposing people’s secrets?”

The young man laughed. He leaned back into the empty space, and a chair suddenly appeared beneath him. He sprawled on it, looking at her playfully. “Of course not. But you are different from the others. So, I think we can skip the trial. Whatever you want to know, I can tell you.”

Ling Chenyan’s eyes darted. “What are your conditions?”

The young man shrugged. “I have no conditions.”

“You’re being that kind-hearted?” Ling Chenyan snorted, crossing her arms to see what trick he was playing. She didn’t have a shred of goodwill toward this culprit who caused Guan Luowei to ignore her, and she certainly didn’t believe he was being “helpful.”

The young man sighed helplessly. “You actually don’t believe me.”

“However,” he added, his eyes twinkling with mischief, “I can indeed tell you what you want to know. But you can only choose one question for me to answer.”

Ling Chenyan wore a look that said I knew it. “Go on.”

The young man: “…” Who’s the one asking the questions here?

He looked at the girl with interest. “The first thing—which is what you want to know—is whether the fragments of the future you saw are real. As for the second…” His smile grew more playful. “I bet you really want to know what that woman who was just in here experienced to make her treat you like that once she got out, right?”

Seeing no change in the girl’s expression, the young man raised an eyebrow. “So, choose. Your own future, or the relationship with your partner?”

Under his playful and expectant gaze, Ling Chenyan looked up. “I choose the first one.”

The young man froze, then burst into a loud laugh. Once he finished, he said, “It seems you’re just like that woman—you don’t care about the other person that much either. How interesting.”

Ling Chenyan’s hands tightened instinctively. What did he mean, “just like her”?

“However, I’ve changed my mind,” the young man said, curling his lips. “I insist on telling you the answer to the second question.”

He looked at the girl’s pale face and clenched fists, wearing a look of pleasure. “Are you angry? Sad? Hahahaha! As you heard, your partner doesn’t care about you as much as you think.”

He laughed arrogantly, then stood and walked to her. “Before I tell you, let me ask: did you know she actually knows you are an ‘outsider’?”

Boom. Ling Chenyan’s mind went blank. Guan Luowei knows? When did she find out? How?

The young man smiled with satisfaction at the stunned girl. “As I thought. She really kept it from you. Hahahaha!”

Ling Chenyan took a deep breath and stared at him. “And then?”

“And then?” The young man smirked. “In her memories, I saw the sword spirit who stayed by her side until death in her past life—Yinye.”

By now, Ling Chenyan had a bad premonition. “What did you do?”

“Nothing much. I just wanted to see who she would choose between her ‘new love’ and her ‘old flame.’ So, I created an illusion where ‘Yinye’ and you were trapped together. I made her choose: save one, and the other dies.”

The young man’s voice wasn’t unpleasant, but in this hollow space, his words were full of cruelty and delight. “Guess who she chose to save?”

His reckless laughter echoed through the space, sounding chilling and eerie. He looked at the girl, whose head was lowered, his face full of enjoyment. Just as he was about to reveal the answer, the girl suddenly looked up at him.

Her face showed no anger or sadness from being betrayed. She wasn’t even numb; she was looking at him with a strange, slow smile.

“So, this is your trial.”

A blank look crossed the young man’s face. The girl continued, as if talking to herself, “From the moment I entered, you set a trap for me, guiding me step-by-step to choose to ask about Guan Luowei. Those two options were just tools for you to enjoy my agony. No matter what I chose, you were going to tell me about Guan Luowei anyway. That’s why I intentionally chose the first option. As expected, you went back on your word and insisted on telling me the second one.”

The young man’s face was calm. “You doubt me?”

“Yes. To be precise, I started doubting you the moment you asked the second question,” Ling Chenyan said flatly. “You know what’s happening outside. I assume even without us entering the mirror, you can read our memories. Or, to put it another way…” She looked at him with a sudden sharpness. “Whether it was Medusa seeing a glimpse of my death, or Guan Luowei’s trial—you designed it all from the start. Medusa was just a tool you used to guide us into the mirror. Even if she hadn’t said she saw the ‘future,’ you would have found a way to get us in. To be precise, to get me in. Am I right? Can you tell me what your goal actually is now?”

In the vast space, Ling Chenyan’s words were loud and firm, leaving the young man speechless for a moment. After a long while, his lazy expression vanished. He gave a half-smile. “How did you know? Just from one question?”

“No,” Ling Chenyan looked straight at him. “I guessed.”

The young man: “…”

“But your reaction tells me I guessed right.” Ling Chenyan curled her lips. “I’m curious. Every word of yours was meant to guide me into thinking Guan Luowei doesn’t care about me. And I bet no matter what choice she made in the trial, you were going to tell me she chose ‘Yinye,’ weren’t you? You really look forward to seeing me suspicious, doubtful, and distant from her. Why?”

The young man hadn’t expected the girl to deduce so much from such tiny clues and see through his true purpose. He let out a heavy sigh. After his initial surprise, there was a sense of realization. He stepped closer to her. “You are indeed clever. Let me re-introduce myself. My name is Wenxin (Ask-Heart). My purpose is—”

“I’m not interested,” Ling Chenyan glanced at him. “Goodbye.”

No matter what Wenxin’s goal was, he had genuinely made Guan Luowei suffer. She could guess Guan Luowei’s thoughts; the woman was likely struggling with whether she and “Yinye” were the same person, and whether her love was because of Yinye or for her true self. But only a dummy like Guan Luowei would doubt herself. Who would fall in love with an artifact spirit who hadn’t even transformed or spoken more than a few words to her?

Undeniably, maybe Guan Luowei was good to her at first because she was “Yinye,” but later—at least from the moment she knew her true identity and still liked her—it meant the person she truly loved was her.

Guan Luowei couldn’t figure it out, but she didn’t blame her. After all, someone who had just discovered emotions couldn’t handle such complexity. But Wenxin was unforgivable.

Upon exiting the mirror space, the first person she looked at was Guan Luowei. Seeing the woman wanting to approach but hesitating, she felt an inexplicable surge of annoyance.

Just as she was about to walk toward Guan Luowei, the young man’s figure followed her out. He spoke with some dissatisfaction: “Hey, hey, hey! You really don’t want to know my purpose? Don’t you know who I am? You’d better be careful, or you’ll regret treating me like this.”

The three people in the hall fell silent. Guan Luowei, in particular, stiffened her body when she saw the young man.

Hua Niang pulled at Ling Chenyan’s arm, confused. “Who is he?”

“An idiot.”

“The artifact spirit of the Heart-Seeking Mirror.”

Two voices rang out simultaneously. Hua Niang was stunned, touching her ear to make sure she hadn’t misheard.

As for Wenxin, he pointed at Ling Chenyan with a trembling finger, disbelieving. He turned his head in a huff toward the golden-eyed woman walking in. “At least this little snake has better judgment.”

Ling Chenyan ignored him and merely nodded in thanks to Medusa. “Thank you, Your Majesty.”

Medusa glanced at her as an acknowledgment, then turned her gaze to Wenxin. A wisp of light flashed in her golden pupils. “What did you call me?”

Wenxin, completely oblivious, curled his lips. “Little snake. What of it?”

As soon as the words left his mouth, a massive snake tail swung toward him. Wenxin couldn’t dodge in time and was flattened into the floor. After a moment of silence, Ling Chenyan slowly gave Medusa a thumbs-up.

Medusa moved her tail away to look at Wenxin in the pit. He wasn’t hurt, but he was in shock. He was a Divine Artifact spirit!! Just as he was about to explode, his eyes shifted to Ling Chenyan and widened.

“The Deceptive God Zither actually recognized you as its master too?!”

Ling Chenyan narrowed her eyes. “Too?”

Wenxin cleared his throat and said seriously, “Well, of course, because I, the spirit of the Heart-Seeking Mirror, am also preparing to recognize you as—”

Before he could finish, he was once again sent flying by a massive object. The culprit, Ling Chenyan, held the Deceptive God Zither she had summoned and gave a look of disgust at Wenxin, who was now embedded in the wall.

“Keep your unlucky words to yourself, or I’ll swat you away again.”

Wenxin: “…”

Everyone else: “…”