Achieving A Happy Ending With The Tragic Female Lead [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 11

Fang Yun moved quickly. She selected several disciples and prepared to rush to the location where the women had been settled that very night.

Su Mi and the others did not go with them. Instead, they stayed at the inn, intending to observe how the shopkeeper and the City Lord, who were about to receive help from the “Mountain Lord” would act next.

As the night grew deeper, Su Mi sent the others to rest while she and Wanqi Yue returned to their room.

The room was a standard single; aside from one bed, there was only a small daybed by the window, too short for one to even stretch out fully.

“Eldest Senior Sister, you should rest on the bed,” Wanqi Yue offered proactively, yielding the only bed and heading toward the daybed.

Su Mi reached out to stop her. “No need. You haven’t rested properly since last night. I will keep watch tonight.”

After returning last night, they had gone to find Qiao Wuyu for the antidote, and it was dawn shortly after. The day that followed had been a whirlwind of activity. Su Mi remembered that before they set off tonight, the female lead had fallen asleep and had a nightmare likely due to exhaustion.

Wanqi Yue looked at her wrist, which was held by Su Mi over her sleeve. “But..”

“Go,” Su Mi said, releasing her hand. She walked with steady steps to the daybed, sat down, and closed her eyes with an air of finality that brooked no argument.

Seeing this, Wanqi Yue could only walk to the bed. Her gaze fell once more on her Eldest Senior Sister not far away, thinking to herself that her sister hadn’t rested properly since last night either. I must be too weak, she thought, to make Eldest Senior Sister worry about me like this.

Eldest Senior Sister is truly too kind.

Thinking of something, Wanqi Yue’s face suddenly flushed red. She dove into the quilts prepared on the bed, making a muffled thud.

“What’s wrong?” Hearing the noise, Su Mi opened her eyes. She saw only a figure curled into a ball hugging the quilt, upon hearing the question, the figure seemed to bury itself even deeper.

Wanqi Yue’s muffled voice came through the bedding: “Nothing!”

Su Mi looked at the “Pleasure Value” above the girl’s head, which had inexplicably risen slightly. She watched her for a moment longer, and seeing that nothing was truly wrong, she closed her eyes again. At this mysterious rate of increase, she might complete her mission sooner than expected.

Closing her eyes again, she had her system, “Coal Ball,” search within its authority for any information regarding the “Mountain Lord” in this world. However, the result was a total blank. After several attempts, she stopped overworking the system and focused on meditating.

The room was silent. Outside, the night wind was slow, stirring a strand of hair resting on Su Mi’s shoulder. Her usually cold features softened slightly, and her breathing became shallow.

After an unknown amount of time, Su Mi’s level brows furrowed. She snapped her eyes open, and the sight before her made her heart tremble.

Wanqi Yue was sleeping peacefully on the bed, her body rising and falling rhythmically. But standing by her bedside was an ink-black shadow. It was slowly leaning down, drawing closer, as faint black mist seeped from its body toward Wanqi Yue.

Suddenly, the shadow paused. As if sensing Su Mi’s gaze, it slowly turned its head.

The face that turned back was covered by a layer of black gauze thick enough to swallow light; only the glint of reflected light from its pupils was visible.

Su Mi didn’t waste time shouting. She reached out and condensed several ice-blue talismans, hurling them forward. The talismans cut through the air with a whistling sound, reaching the shadow in the blink of an eye.

Wanqi Yue woke up the instant the talismans were thrown. She surged upward, summoning her natal spiritual sword with one hand, instinctively sweeping a strike toward the shadow.

The sword qi manifested as a wave crashing toward the dark figure. Before the talismans even touched it, they automatically formed an array. Pinched from both sides, the shadow’s body suddenly turned into formless black mist and retreated, using the lingering mist to block the two attacks before reforming into a human shape a short distance away.

Su Mi took the opportunity to reach the bedside, shielding Wanqi Yue. Blue light filled the room, making it as bright as day, yet it still could not illuminate the stranger’s face.

“Eldest Senior Sister, is it the Mountain Lord?” Wanqi Yue stood sword-in-hand beside Su Mi.

Looking at the figure, Su Mi frowned and whispered, “Likely so.”

However, the opponent was being surprisingly direct, showing up at their door without any attempt at concealment.

Because of the irritation she had been harboring, Wanqi Yue turned her wrist, pointing her shining blade at the enemy. She didn’t forget to ask for permission: “Eldest Senior Sister, can I hit it?”

Su Mi stepped back slightly, watching with composure. “You can.”

Before the words had even faded, Wanqi Yue leaped forward, her sword light blooming out of thin air. When wielding a sword, the girlish innocence vanished from Wanqi Yue, replaced by a sharp, cold edge, as if she and her blade were one. At this moment, Su Mi couldn’t help but be captivated, she finally caught a glimpse of the dazzling brilliance unique to a “Female Lead.”

The massive commotion naturally alerted the other disciples. Sensing them at the door, Su Mi called out, “No one come in.”

The black shadow stood its ground. Seeing the sharp blade lunging toward it, a hand hidden under the black robe moved slightly. A tall, upright sword shadow flickered into existence, but for some reason, the figure changed its mind. In the next instant, it pulled its hand back into a fist, using thick plumes of black mist to form a defensive shield instead.

Faced with Wanqi Yue’s moves, the shadow’s evasions seemed effortless, even predicting the path of her strikes. Its movements carried a hint of playfulness, just like that first time on the boat.

This infuriated Wanqi Yue, making her strikes faster and more murderous.

Standing further back, Su Mi observed everything with growing suspicion. But she had more important things to do. She pre-emptively placed several spiritual talismans in areas Wanqi Yue couldn’t cover. Sharp ice spikes condensed from the talismans, and cold frost quickly sealed off the shadow’s retreat.

The shadow immediately gave up on blocking Wanqi Yue’s sword to dodge sideways. A streak of sword qi grazed its face and slammed into the wall, shaking loose a cloud of dust. It couldn’t dodge all the ice shards, it actually reached out and grabbed a shard aimed straight for its heart. The frost from Su Mi’s spiritual energy instantly spread from the shadow’s palm to the back of its hand.

Pale white steam rose as it clashed with the black mist.

Perhaps because the spell piercing into its spiritual veins was too domineering and painful, the shadow suddenly turned to look at Su Mi, its fingers trembling slightly as they crushed the ice.

Faced with that indiscernible gaze, Su Mi’s expression didn’t change. She simply called out, “Junior Sister.”

Wanqi Yue understood immediately. she rushed forward, found an opening, and landed another strike. She couldn’t help but whisper quickly to the shadow: “What are you looking at? This is my Eldest Senior Sister.”

Her tone was as childish as a toddler protecting a prized possession from an outsider.

Su Mi didn’t know what had been said, but she saw the black mist suddenly explode with a powerful force, blowing away everything within half a meter. The violent mist showed signs of intensifying.

Though Wanqi Yue had high spiritual power, she lacked combat experience for such volatile changes. She lost her balance and fell backward. Seeing the black mist about to reach her, a flash of panic appeared in her eyes.

Su Mi stepped forward, pulling the girl into her arms with one hand while opening her other palm to block the mist with a spiritual barrier.

Wanqi Yue, feeling as though she had survived a disaster, felt a lingering sense of luck. But being of a brave temperament, she tried to pull away from her sister’s embrace to attack again. Su Mi wouldn’t let her go off alone again, the female lead could not be allowed to get hurt. In her urgency, she gripped Wanqi Yue’s sword-hand.

The cool temperature of Su Mi’s hand calmed Wanqi Yue slightly. She realized she had let her temper get the better of her again.

The black shadow sat on the windowsill, watching the two of them standing side by side. Its pale hands braced against the frame, the marks of Su Mi’s talisman spell remained on its right hand, with faint blue runes climbing up its forearm. Its bare feet dangled slightly.

The mist, which had been like a violent storm just moments ago, gradually calmed down.

“You will come looking for me again,” a disguised voice spoke from behind the black gauze.

As it slowly straightened its arms, its body began to lean back and fall. Su Mi tried to use a net of talismans to trap it, but she was a step too late. The shadow turned into formless black mist the moment it fell, vanishing into nothingness.

A tracking talisman floated lazily in the empty air until Su Mi reached out and caught it in her palm.

“It escaped?” Wanqi Yue felt unwilling to accept it.

Sensing that the room had quieted down, the wooden door, scarred from the fight creaked open. Qiao Wuyu was the first to enter.

“My goodness, are you two tearing down the house? Do we have to pay for this?” Qiao Wuyu spoke her usual nonsense, but she didn’t stop moving, coming over to check on them. “Eldest Senior Sister, are you two hurt?”

Su Mi was fine, but she pointed out a scratch on the back of Wanqi Yue’s hand that had occurred during the struggle.

Qiao Wuyu looked at the scratch: “…What a ‘terrible’ injury. It almost healed itself while I was looking.”

Still, she pulled her Junior Sister aside and used her wood-element spiritual power to repair the tiny scratch. Wanqi Yue felt embarrassed, as a sword cultivator who had practiced since childhood, she was used to bumps and bruises. She didn’t expect her Eldest Senior Sister to care so much.

Fifth Senior Sister was wrong, she thought. Eldest Senior Sister isn’t cold at all.

Qiao Wuyu finished the treatment and looked up, startled. “Junior Sister, why is your face so red?”

“I… I just feel a bit hot,” Wanqi Yue said, fanning herself and glancing at Su Mi by the window. Given the fight she just put up, Qiao Wuyu didn’t think twice about her being “hot.”

The wind tore away the last remnants of the black mist. Su Mi stared solemnly at the window where the shadow had vanished. She went to turn back, but her pupils suddenly constricted.

She blurted out: “How long has it been since Second Senior Sister and the others left?”