After Kissing the World-Weary Female Supporting Character [Transmigration] - Chapter 83

Song Xingzi bolted south, traveling on the wind. She quickly passed through the man-high bushes and stepped into a forest shrouded in thick fog.

Bizarrely shaped trees, white mist that obscured vision, sharp and eerie bird cries…

Everything was strange. The little squirrel’s heart hammered like thunder, her nerves taut. On one side was a belated sense of fear, and on the other, an intense, directional worry: someone very important was nearby, and that person was in great danger; she was waiting for her.

The little squirrel confused her emotions, thinking it was anger. She leaped through the forest, stepping on branches, muttering to herself: “It must be you, the thief who dug out my inner core. I warned you not to let me catch you, or you’d be finished. How dare you come to the Demon Realm! I’ll make sure to get rid of you!”

Song Xingzi followed the strong presence, heading deeper into the forest. The white mist thickened, and the strange trees grew exceptionally tall, blocking out the sky. Song Xingzi didn’t know how far she had walked, but she, a demon, began to feel exhausted. Her foot slipped, and the whole squirrel fell into a teleportation point. She tumbled down a smooth, gold-stone mountain, and suddenly the area opened up before her, revealing the blazing sun and the Clearer Water River.

“No grass, no trees, mostly gold and stone, and the Clearer Water flows out,” an infant’s crying sound echoed in Song Xingzi’s ear. “Its sound is like the cries of a baby. Darn it, the core thief is so unlucky! They entered Mount Lùwú! Then I really am suffering from a Gǔ Diāo’s (Monster Bird’s) pecked-out inner core!”

Mount Lùwú was originally the habitat of the man-eating monstrous bird, the Gǔ Diāo. When the Spirit Realm fell, it destroyed a large part of the Demon Realm, including Mount Lùwú. Most of the Gǔ Diāo died, but the remaining one couldn’t change its cannibalistic nature, so the Great Demons threw it and the remnant veins of Mount Lùwú into the Confusing Wind Formation as one of the obstacles.

The Gǔ Diāo has an enormous appetite, specializing in devouring humans. It wakes up once every ten years, consuming thousands of humans each time, making it one of the absolute overlords of the Confusing Wind Formation.

“This is difficult,” Song Xingzi rubbed her sore backside from the fall and peeked at the small hill piled high with white bones. “I wonder how strong the core thief is? If she’s swallowed by the Gǔ Diāo, should I just laugh twice and leave, or should I greet the Gǔ Diāo and ask him to spit the person out?”

The baby’s crying became sharper, subtly carrying a tone of despair and grief. With a loud crash, Song Xingzi watched the hill of bones collapse outward. The brittle bones scattered like heavy stones, raising a sky full of white dust.

“Cough, cough, cough! No way! Oh my gosh!”

Song Xingzi waved her paws to clear the dust, completely shocked by the sight before her: The sun shone through the fine bone ash, showing the direction of the light. After the dust settled, the Gǔ Diāo, the desolate overlord whose feathers were as tough as steel, lay in a pool of blood. A frail human, covered in blood, ragged, and looking like a battle-scraps novice, was stumbling, supporting herself with a piece of leg bone as a cane, and staggering toward her.

“Darn it! Oh my gosh, is this core thief actually a thousand-year-old demon in disguise? One punch per Gǔ Diāo? That’s too powerful! How can I get revenge now? Should I go up and be cannon fodder for her to pick out of her teeth?”

The image of a pitiful, weak, and helpless little squirrel being grabbed by the hind leg by a grinning human and swallowed whole—bones and all—unsuitably flashed through Song Xingzi’s mind.

Holy cow, this is too, too, too terrifying! I haven’t lived enough yet! I don’t want to die! Don’t come here! Don’t come here! Can’t I just give up the inner core?

Song Xingzi covered her mouth to prevent herself from screaming. She didn’t look at the tottering human and turned tail, running desperately up the smooth, gold-stone mountain.

“Screech—”

Her paws scraping against the metal-like stone emitted a harsh sound, and Song Xingzi slid back down.

“Xīngxīng (Star), Xīngxīng…”

The human woman’s voice was filled with both grief and despair, like the strings of a long-neglected qín (zither), struggling to play one last tune.

Aaaahhhh—You big freak, what are you calling? Don’t come here! Don’t come here! You can’t be this ruthless! I don’t want the inner core; just consider it a tribute to you, okay?

Song Xingzi was terrified, her four limbs trembling as she clung to the smooth stone, using all her strength to climb up.

Darn, darn, darn! Heavens! Someone save me! Little Pine Nut is going to die at the hands of this big demon today!

“Xīng…”

“Plop—”

It was the sound of a heavy object falling into the water.

What’s going on? What happened to the big demon? Song Xingzi was overwhelmingly curious and couldn’t help but turn to look. Distracted, she lost the two steps she’d gained, and the entire squirrel slid down the mountain.

“Ouch, that hurts!” Song Xingzi rubbed her butt, which felt like it had split into eight pieces, and gasped. “Oh my gosh! No way! That strong, strong, strong big demon is gone just like that? Fell into the Clearer Water?”

The Clearer Water is the birthplace of the Gǔ Diāo. Although the water is shallow, it’s low in oxygen, and no living creature besides the Gǔ Diāo can survive in it. If a human falls in and can’t climb out for so long, they’re definitely a goner.

“Hahahahaha,” Song Xingzi laughed up at the sky. It was good news—two birds with one stone! The malicious wolf she had feuded with was suddenly killed by a hunter, meaning she was saved and her revenge was taken. “Look how capable you are, you can’t even cross a river.”

“Ngh, ngh.”

Song Xingzi lay by the bank of the Clearer Water, about to poke the human submerged at the bottom, when a feeling of suffocation suddenly struck her.

I… I can’t breathe? Darn it! Is it because my inner core is in her hands? I… I can’t take it! If I don’t fish her out, I’ll be going to meet the King of Hell with her.

Song Xingzi clutched her throat with her paw, channeling spiritual power, and fished the woman out of the water, throwing her onto the bank. “Cough, cough, cough! I can finally breathe! I was about to die! This core thief is simply too wicked, isn’t she? Stealing my inner core is one thing, but binding our feelings? It’s an outrage!”

As Song Xingzi complained, she looked at the woman lying on the ground. The emerald green river water and the warm, white jade-stone ground gave the entire space a lifeless, metallic-stone texture. However, bloodstains spread out beneath the woman. The dried bloodstains on her white shirt were soaked by the river water, leaving a dark streak as they faded. Her black pants were indistinguishable from their original color, covered in patches of blood that had congealed and dissolved again.

Song Xingzi trotted over the jade-stone ground, dā dā dā, knowing the principle of taking advantage of an illness to deal a fatal blow.

“Ah!!! Is this a joke?!”

Closer now, Song Xingzi clearly saw the woman’s face. She wasn’t wearing makeup. The blood on her cheeks had blurred, and her tangled black hair partially covered her dark eyebrows, beautiful eyes, and upturned nose. She was unconscious. Her slightly downturned eyes showed complete aloofness and world-weariness. The dark circles under her eyes and the congealed blood added a touch of fragility.

Even though the other party was unconscious, covered in blood, and most of her face was covered by dirty, knotted black hair, Song Xingzi was absolutely certain: this big demon who could one-punch a Gǔ Diāo was the female celebrity, Jì Rúyuè, that she had briefly glimpsed! She was also the main subject of the fanfiction she read, the Jì Rúyuè she had been a fan of for over a year! (Although one hundred ninety-nine days of the two hundred days she had been a fan were spent cultivating…)

“What’s going on?” Song Xingzi poked Jì Rúyuè’s face with her paw. It was surprisingly soft and elastic, with the warmth unique to humans. “How can Jì Rúyuè be here? Is she the core thief? Impossible! She’s bold and bright, has the right values, is wealthy, and is adored by countless fans. She’s nothing like a pervert who sneaks into a rental house late at night to harm an innocent girl! It doesn’t make sense! My Older Sister couldn’t do such a thing!”

“And she called me Xīngxīng! She’s so devoted! How could she be a scummy woman who cheats people out of their feelings and their inner core?” Song Xingzi wiped Jì Rúyuè’s face clean, smiling like a flower at the face that perfectly hit all her favorite traits. “What’s more, my Older Sister has never even seen me before. Why would she, who has everything, care about my three or five hundred years of cultivation? Our feelings are even bound now; if my Older Sister drowns, I can’t breathe either! Someone must have framed her! They even used outdated information to trick her into the Confusing Wind Formation, intending to kill my Older Sister! How truly evil! The human heart is treacherous! The world is in decline!”

The more Song Xingzi thought about it, the more convinced she became. Not only did she ignore the fact that her inner core was currently lying in Jì Rúyuè’s arms, but she also pulled out elixirs from her spatial bell and poured them into Jì Rúyuè’s mouth as if they were free.

“Jì Jì, these are Elixirs for Vitality and Foundation specially refined for me by Aunt Qīng. The spiritual power is rich, and the effect is amazing! You’ll definitely be fine right away after taking them!”

Song Xingzi dragged the woman to the edge of the Clearer Water, carefully controlling the stream to wash Jì Rúyuè’s hair, face, and body. She then lavishly conjured the True Samādhi Fire, keeping it at a distance to dry the moisture from the woman’s body.

Song Xingzi, breathless, finished her work and lay on Jì Rúyuè’s face, blowing on her nose: “Hoo, hoo. The wounds will heal right up, and Older Sister will wake up.”

Perhaps the Qīngluán bird’s spiritual medicine truly was unparalleled, or perhaps Jì Rúyuè’s will to survive was immensely strong. Despite having many bone-deep wounds, she actually reacted to Song Xingzi’s breath. Her thick black eyebrows furrowed, and she clutched the ring on her chest with one hand, muttering: “Xīngxīng… Where are you, Xīngxīng?”

Jì Rúyuè’s voice carried a natural hoarseness, like the residual smoke after winter fireworks have scattered, or the sudden cry of a bird startled by the light in a deep, ancient forest.

Just hearing that one sentence sent shivers down Song Xingzi’s spine. A faint electric current traveled from her ear canal all the way to her heart, making the little sparrow in her chest flutter desperately.

“Hey, I’m right here!” Song Xingzi poked Jì Rúyuè’s soft cheek, muttering with distress: “Oh dear, why is Older Sister so skinny? There’s hardly any flesh on her face. Why don’t you come back to Qīngqiū with me? I’ll fatten you up properly.”

She’s calling me Xīngxīng! Song Xingzi, Xīngzi (Star), Little Star! Jì Jì must be calling me! I don’t care! Song Xingzi cupped Jì Rúyuè’s face and, while the human was unconscious, she planted a big kiss on her cheek.

“Xīngxīng, I can’t find you,” Jì Rúyuè mumbled painfully, warm liquid seeping from the corners of her eyes. She gripped the ring tighter, and blood dripped from her clenched hand. Song Xingzi’s heart ached. While replying, “I’m here, right next to you,” she forcefully tried to pry Jì Rúyuè’s hand open.

“Let go, Jì Jì, be obedient. I’m right here. Let go of your hand, or your hand will be ruined.”

Jì Rúyuè seemed to sense the words and obediently relaxed her grip. Song Xingzi took the opportunity to pry her hand open and finally saw the treasure inside: a blue moon ring lay quietly on Jì Rúyuè’s chest, reflecting a cold blue light under the scorching sun. The coldness made Song Xingzi shiver, and tears spontaneously streamed down her face.

“Jì Jì?”