Achieving A Happy Ending With The Tragic Female Lead [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 10

The body, carved from white jade, seemed to gain a sudden suppleness at this moment. The candlelight refracted off the jade statue, casting a pale glow that added a hazy sense of unreality to its exquisite features.

Prostrate on the ground below, the City Lord dared not lift his head. His hurried breaths constantly stirred the dust on the floor; he was a completely different person from the man who had just lost his temper with the shopkeeper.

“Heal… Healing Immortal, this time…” The City Lord swallowed nervously. “The ‘bride’ for this occasion… might… might need to be found anew…”

“Found anew?” The Healing Immortal’s lips did not move, yet the voice that drifted forth was hollow and ethereal, as if pressing in from all directions. A sudden smile played upon those tightly closed lips.

The City Lord and the shopkeeper held their breath, neither daring to make a sound. They felt the surroundings suddenly darken as massive shadows slowly approached, enveloping them completely.

Beads of sweat dripped onto the ground, instantly blooming into dark stains.

“The Blood Talisman chooses its own host. Do you think just anyone will do? Do you think I simply don’t want to find more useful candidates?” The Healing Immortal’s voice wasn’t loud, but it carried a weight that made the heart tremble with fear.

“But… but…” Struggling against his terror and palpitations, the City Lord looked up, only to see that jade face with its distinct features and contours staring directly at him. The color drained from his face instantly.

“I only care about results,” the Healing Immortal’s smile gradually faded. “This is your debt to pay, the bitter fruit of your greed and selfishness. If not for you, how could she have been struck by the backlash of the Heavenly Dao? It is all your fault, all your fault!”

The Immortal’s voice rose with every syllable, laced with hatred, until the final words became shrill and piercing.

In an instant, a wind rose out of nowhere inside the temple. It whipped the bells hanging by the window into a chaotic jangle. The red candle stands along the walls collapsed with a loud crash, the melting red wax flowed across the floor, cooling into shapes that looked like congealed tears of blood from a distance.

Outside, a gale erupted, causing the grass and trees to rustle violently.

Su Mi narrowed her eyes slightly against the wind.

Wanqi Yue had been standing still, focused intently on everything happening inside the temple. When the gust hit, she couldn’t help but blink and then she saw a dark, fuzzy object drop down right in front of her.

The sword cultivator, despite her superior vision, turned pale with fright. She couldn’t make a sound, so she stiffened her spine and pressed herself forward.

Since childhood, Wanqi Yue had been terrified of soft-bodied creatures like this. In the past, a mischievous fellow disciple had used this fear to prank her, scaring her so badly that she instinctively unleashed a lethal sword strike, splitting the schoolroom wall by two inches.

Feeling the unstable fluctuations in her spiritual energy, Su Mi lowered her eyes to silently question her.

Wanqi Yue pursed her lips tightly, looking as if she were on the verge of tears, and mouthed a word.

Su Mi then looked at the leaves beside Wanqi Yue and saw a bristly caterpillar slowly crawling along.

Wanqi Yue looked truly terrified, her eyes pleading with Su Mi.

Without a word, Su Mi reached out, intending to flick the creature off the branch.

But another erratic gust of wind blew. The caterpillar wobbled on the twig, and as it tipped over, it looked certain to land right on Wanqi Yue’s shoulder.

Wanqi Yue was nearly scared out of her wits. She dove headfirst into her Eldest Senior Sister’s embrace taking the approach of “if I can’t see it, it’s not there.”

“…”

Su Mi used her spiritual energy to “send” the caterpillar away before it could fall. “It’s gone.”

Wanqi Yue finally looked up, her eyes still filled with a trace of piteous fear.

Su Mi swallowed the words she was about to say. Perhaps out of guilt for having been harsh earlier, she decided not to make an issue of this contact, instead signaling for Wanqi Yue to focus back on the temple.

Wanqi Yue looked back at the scene inside, but then had a sudden realization.

Where exactly did I just bury my face? It felt… a bit soft.

But her attention was soon recaptured by the events in the temple, leaving her no time to dwell on it.

Inside the temple.

The Healing Immortal stepped barefoot off the lotus pedestal. With every step, a blood-red lotus bloomed beneath her feet.

“Do you think these things you’ve set up have any effect on me?” The jade statue’s once pure and holy face was now filled with cold, malicious energy. The curve of her lips held a chilling sneer.

Faced with such overwhelming terror, the City Lord and the shopkeeper could no longer offer a word of rebuttal. They could only struggle to keep their bodies from collapsing into a heap.

“Healing Immortal… please appease your anger, please appease your anger.”

The two could only stammer those hollow words repeatedly.

“There are three days left. That woman must still bear the lingering traces of the Blood Talisman’s nourishment. Even if you have to dig three feet into the earth, you must find her for me.” The Healing Immortal issued her final ultimatum. Then, as if remembering something, she added, “The other one as well. She is also very important.”

Hearing this, the shopkeeper summoned the courage to speak: “Healing Immortal, that… that second woman is truly no ordinary person. I fear we may not be able to handle her…”

The Healing Immortal raised a jade-colored finger. The intermingled black and red ropes instantly vanished into ash, leaving only the crisp clatter of bells hitting the floor.

“The Mountain Lord will help you.”

After giving her instructions, the Healing Immortal returned to the lotus pedestal, transforming once again into the compassionate and holy jade statue.

The backs of the City Lord and the shopkeeper were soaked with sweat. They rose silently from the floor and walked out without a word.

Su Mi and Wanqi Yue watched the two men disappear into the distance, then looked back at the statue with its lowered, sorrowful eyes. Their hearts were filled with questions.

At that moment, Wanqi Yue lightly tugged on Su Mi’s sleeve. “Eldest Senior Sister, should we go in and take a look?”

Su Mi snapped back to reality and shook her head. “Let’s head back first.”

As she spoke, she glanced toward Fang Yun’s direction, signaling for them to leave.

They took the same route back as they had come. Since the temple was unguarded as before, they didn’t worry about running into anyone.

Once they were far from the temple, the group was finally “liberated” and could speak freely.

However, the three from Qingyang Mountain seemed to have reached a tacit agreement to remain silent about everything they had seen and heard at the Healing Immortal Temple.

Yue Qianzhou wanted to open the floor to “discuss” the dangers revealed, but the three of them were like a stone wall, giving him no opportunity to speak.

He was unable to get even a few words in with Wanqi Yue until they were almost back at the inn.

Seeing they were about to part ways, Yue Qianzhou finally called out to her: “Miss Wanqi, those people seem to have their eyes on you. You must be careful with your safety these next few days. If…”

Su Mi cut him off: “I will protect my Junior Sister myself. If Young Master Yue has such leisure, perhaps it would be better spent worrying about your own sister.”

“If your sister truly disappeared after coming here, then the most important thing for you to do right now, Young Master Yue, is to pursue that City Lord and the shopkeeper, rather than standing here worrying about something that shouldn’t concern you.”

Yue Qianzhou’s expression didn’t change as he offered his thanks: “The Immortal is right. I shall keep that in mind.”

“Then why aren’t you going?”

“It is late now…” Yue Qianzhou still tried to find an excuse.

“Your sister’s safety is paramount. There is no time to lose; you should set off immediately.”

Beside her, Wanqi Yue chimed in: “She’s right! Weren’t you very worried about your sister?”

Forced into a corner by their high expectations, Yue Qianzhou had no choice but to take his leave.

Upon returning to the inn, the disciples of Qingyang Mountain had not yet slept, waiting for their return.

Wanqi Yue had been holding back so many words that she could finally speak them all. Her first sentence went straight to the heart of the matter: “Who is this ‘Mountain Lord,’ and why do they want to capture me?”

This was also what puzzled Su Mi.

The City Lord and his associates clearly had a long history with the Healing Immortal. They had mentioned the Mountain Lord earlier, and now this so-called Healing Immortal had mentioned the Mountain Lord again.

Previously, she had thought they were the same entity, but now it appeared they were not.

Furthermore, why were they so insistent on having Wanqi Yue?

In the original plot, there had been no mention of a second search for the female lead.

She called upon Coal Ball to help look up information regarding the Mountain Lord.

[Master, I can only find some general information. I probably won’t be able to find specific details.]

After a moment, Coal Ball’s voice sounded a bit puzzled.

[Huh? I found that the auxiliary system only marked one BOSS for this mini-instance. The partially unlocked information shows it’s that Healing Immortal, but the system doesn’t have any information on a ‘Mountain Lord.’]

Su Mi suspected its abilities were lacking.

Coal Ball wanted to protest loudly, but Coal Ball didn’t dare.

Fang Yun asked: “Junior Sister, have you ever met the Mountain Lord they spoke of?”

Wanqi Yue was about to shake her head when her eyes suddenly widened. She turned to look at her Eldest Senior Sister: “Eldest Senior Sister, do you remember that mass of black mist on the boat?”

Su Mi immediately understood her meaning: “Are you suggesting that the black mist is the Mountain Lord?”

Wanqi Yue grew angry just thinking about the mist. Although it had no human form, it had shown a mischievous nature, playing with her like prey for its own amusement. If she hadn’t been unable to use her spiritual energy at the time, she certainly wouldn’t have let it act so arrogantly.

They had just seen the Healing Immortal, whose personality seemed nothing like that of the black mist; perhaps that truly was the Mountain Lord they spoke of.

At that moment, Qiao Wuyu suddenly added: “I remember when Junior Sister was little, she used to run around with a sword every day shouting that she wanted to be the King of the Mountain. Later, she snuck a look at the Vice Sect Leader’s leisure books and saw the title ‘Mountain Lord,’ then started shouting that she wanted to use that title instead.”

Wanqi Yue’s face flushed red, and she cried out in exasperation: “Fifth Senior Sister!”

Having such an embarrassing story blurted out so unexpectedly made Wanqi Yue feel like she had “lost face” in front of her Eldest Senior Sister again.

The corners of Su Mi’s mouth curled slightly. Watching them bicker like that, she didn’t find the noise bothersome at all.

The solemn Fang Yun spoke up: “Eldest Senior Sister, they mentioned wanting to find that escaped woman from the Xu family. I will take some people to provide her with some protection.”

Su Mi hesitated slightly but eventually nodded.

Inside the now silent Healing Immortal Temple, a faint black mist rose from the ground, gradually condensing into a mass.

The voice of the disappeared Healing Immortal rang out once more.

“I felt the presence of the Blood Talisman. They were right outside just now. Why didn’t you choose to strike then and keep them here?”

The black mist rose abruptly, circling the jade statue several times before finally settling upon the yellow silk curtains hanging from the rafters. A pair of snow white bare feet emerged from the black mist, swinging gently.

Suddenly, a small insect crawled along the rafter beside her. The person’s body stiffened for a moment before she raised a hand and crushed it.

The young girl fixed her gaze on a spot outside, as if she could still see those two figures from before. Her voice was crisp and melodious.

“I am helping you.”