After Transmigrating into a Book, I Was Entangled by a Crazy and Beautiful Villain - Chapter 53  

In the quiet night, Song Linlin lay in bed with her eyes closed, trying to force herself to calm down and sleep. However, once her eyes were shut, all sorts of bizarre thoughts uncontrollably popped up in her mind.

The more she tried to dismiss these strange thoughts, the more frequently they surfaced. They were truly difficult to untangle, cluttering Song Linlin’s mind like a ball of intertwined yarn, where the thread end couldn’t be found.

Song Linlin, uncharacteristically, suffered from insomnia. She didn’t dare to move, only managing to maintain her rigid posture in bed, her eyes wide open until daybreak.

It’s only when you can’t sleep that you realize how long the night is. Song Linlin felt as if every second stretched out longer. By the time she finally endured until dawn, her eyes were noticeably bloodshot. Fortunately, a Golden Core cultivator could manage fine without sleep for one night; Song Linlin only felt her eyes were drier than usual, but her vision remained unaffected.

The unconscious Zhang San finally stirred after daybreak. She groggily opened her eyes, her memory still lingering in the middle of the night. When she opened her eyes and saw the bright environment, she realized it was now daytime.

Zhang San wiggled her fingers, then used her arms to prop herself up slowly from the blanket. Subconsciously, she raised her hand to touch the back of her neck, but it didn’t hurt, and she found nothing amiss.

“How is it day already?” Zhang San mumbled, still slightly confused.

Seeing that Zhang San was awake, Song Linlin finally threw off the blanket. She finally had someone to talk to and didn’t have to keep lying there pretending to sleep.

Song Linlin also sat up, looked at Zhang San, and tentatively asked, “Are you awake? How do you feel?”

She remembered Zhang San was knocked out by Chi Qianning and wondered if the blow had been too painful.

Zhang San rubbed her shoulder. She had slept in a very awkward position all night and felt uncomfortable all over, but the situation wasn’t serious. She said, “I’m fine.”

Then she stretched her arms. The grogginess of just waking up gradually receded, and her mind became clearer. Then she remembered the scenes she had witnessed before falling asleep.

Zhang San’s movements froze. Even now, seeing the sight of Song Linlin and Chi Qianning from last night was still highly impactful for her. Zhang San’s gaze towards the other two unconsciously became strange.

However, after a whole night had passed, Zhang San felt awkward…

“I’m going to get up first.”

Zhang San felt it was better to leave the tent first, otherwise, the image she saw last night would keep replaying in her mind uncontrollably.

Once Zhang San crawled out of the tent, only Song Linlin and Chi Qianning remained inside. After a night, Song Linlin finally had the courage to turn her head and look at her.

Chi Qianning had also sat up. Her clothes were so tidy, she didn’t look like someone who had just woken up. Her silver long hair was smoothly spread behind her. Song Linlin’s gaze drifted to her neck, seeing only a patch of fair skin.

All the marks she had left last night were gone. Looking at Chi Qianning’s current dignified and aloof appearance, Song Linlin couldn’t help but recall the image of her last night, lying beneath her with flushed cheeks, especially with Song Linlin’s hand in a place it shouldn’t have been.

Song Linlin sat there, staring at Chi Qianning, lost in thought. Chi Qianning noticed the gaze from beside her and also turned her head. Her red eyes met Song Linlin’s gaze, which made Song Linlin snap out of her reverie slightly.

“What are you spacing out for? It’s time to go,” Chi Qianning said lightly, sounding as if last night’s events hadn’t happened at all.

“Oh.”

Song Linlin cast aside her wild thoughts, tidied her clothes, smoothing out the wrinkles. During this, she looked up at Chi Qianning; the other person truly seemed unaffected, showing no signs of embarrassment or unnaturalness.

This attitude confused Song Linlin. After tidying her clothes, she didn’t leave but sat there motionless, staring straight at Chi Qianning’s face.

After being stared at by Song Linlin for a while, Chi Qianning couldn’t stand her gaze anymore. Her dignified and aloof facade successfully crumbled. Her eyes were vividly expressive, glaring at Song Linlin with annoyance. The peace she had struggled to maintain was instantly shattered.

“Song Linlin, what are you looking at?”

Song Linlin chuckled inexplicably, feeling that this was the state the other person should be in. She shook her head, saying with a smile, “Nothing.”

Sensing the other’s displeasure, Song Linlin seemed to have anticipated what Chi Qianning was about to say and threw off the blanket herself. “Alright, I know. I’m going out now.”

Song Linlin crawled out of the tent and put on her shoes. Zhang San was already sitting outside waiting. Seeing Song Linlin take so long to emerge, she was very suspicious that the two people in the tent might have been doing something again while she was gone, which caused the delay.

However, these were just Zhang San’s guesses. She felt awkward asking directly but looked at Song Linlin with a hint of suspicion.

It was now early morning. The mountain air was filled with the smell of dew mixed with various grasses and woods. The three people quietly began dismantling the tent. They needed to reach the town’s ferry crossing by noon, then take a boat back to Yunxin City.

Fortunately, it was still very early, giving them plenty of time to pack up. Once everything was packed, the three lightly began descending the mountain along the path they took upon arrival. Coming up, they were burdened with a mission, and the sky was darkening, causing considerable fear for Song Linlin and Zhang San.

Now that the mission was successfully resolved, and the Moon Poison Scorpion had long since fled to who knows where, coupled with it being daytime, Song Linlin felt the journey down was very much like an outing.

By the time they returned to the town, there was still quite a while before the appointed time with the boatman. After eating lunch, they boarded the ferry again.

The three returned to Xuan Yun City early the next morning. Song Linlin, who hadn’t bathed in two days, felt very uncomfortable. As soon as they got ashore, she immediately led them to rent two rooms in an inn. After the inn staff prepared hot water and adjusted the temperature, Song Linlin immediately soaked herself.

Submerged in the hot water, Song Linlin only had her head above the surface. Relaxing completely in the hot water, she began to contemplate her plan.

Their main mission for this trip down the mountain was actually completed: they successfully collected the Purple Mist Leaves and had a bit of a scenic outing along the way.

However, just returning like this was definitely impossible. Song Linlin still had the task she had taken from the Affairs Hall to complete. She absolutely had to do that mission.

Song Linlin quietly calculated the time they had spent down the mountain. Today was the fifth day since they descended, and the Mirror Moon Secret Realm was supposed to be open for about half a month. Adding the time spent traveling to and from Guanzhong from the sect, it would mean that Ye Tingran and the others should be returning in about twenty days, and Zhang San’s grandfather would definitely be coming back then too.

Earlier, Song Linlin had followed Zhang San to learn alchemy for seven days, but unfortunately, she didn’t have the talent and chose to give up. Their trip down the mountain had now taken another five days.

Zhang San essentially snuck down the mountain with Song Linlin, so she naturally had to return to the sect a few days before her grandfather came back, or there was a risk of being discovered.

Calculating this, Song Linlin realized they didn’t have many days left for this trip before they had to return. They needed to quickly go and complete the sect mission.

Feeling the pressure, Song Linlin ignored the urge to be lazy and got out of the bath pool shortly after soaking. She put on clean clothes and pulled Chi Qianning and Zhang San out with her.

She first went to the apothecary shop that had told her the location of the Purple Mist Leaves. The middle-aged shopkeeper recognized Song Linlin when she arrived.

The middle-aged man clearly hadn’t expected Song Linlin to successfully obtain the Purple Mist Leaves in just two or three days. He thought she was here to inquire about further information. He sat in his chair and calmly took a sip of tea. “Miss, have you come today to ask about something?”

“No.”

Song Linlin shook her head. She set down the two bamboo baskets she was carrying. Only then did the middle-aged man realize she had brought things with her. His gaze landed on the baskets, and he almost spat out his tea, having been calmly sipping it moments before.

He abruptly stood up, looking at the two baskets of Purple Mist Leaves, his face filled with shock. “This, this, this…”

“These are all Purple Mist Leaves? So many?!” The middle-aged man’s expression was horrified.

“Not all.”

Song Linlin shook her head. She and Zhang San hadn’t sorted through anything in the Moon Poison Scorpion’s cave; they just picked everything. However, the quantity of Purple Mist Leaves was the largest. Zhang San didn’t need so much, only taking a small amount, leaving the rest to Song Linlin. Song Linlin had no use for the item, so she naturally planned to sell all of it now.

“There are also some Thousand-Blade Poison Ginseng and Dark Yin Flowers inside, but the Purple Mist Leaves are the most numerous.”

These strange names were naturally told to Song Linlin by Zhang San. Song Linlin didn’t know much about herbs, but since they grew in the Moon Poison Scorpion’s lair, they shouldn’t be common goods.

“Hiss—”

The apothecary shopkeeper couldn’t help but gasp. The latter two herbs were also rare poisonous grasses, expensive and more valuable than Purple Mist Leaves. His gaze towards Song Linlin was now different from before.

Previously, he had thought Song Linlin was a novice who had just started out and casually told her the location of the Purple Mist Leaves, never expecting her to succeed. But now, judging by this situation, the other party had practically emptied the Moon Poison Scorpion’s nest!

Song Linlin didn’t know that she had become a very formidable person in the eyes of others. She just wanted to quickly take the money and leave. She still had to rush to the mountains to do the sect mission later.

The middle-aged man did not dare to neglect her. He immediately ordered his assistant to retrieve a large number of spirit stones and personally handed them to Song Linlin. These were high-quality spirit stones; one was equivalent to a hundred ordinary spirit stones.

Song Linlin took the money, not expecting these medicinal materials to be so valuable. However, time was pressing, and she didn’t have time to dwell on it. She immediately ran out of the shop.

After finishing all their business and staying in Xuan Yun City for another half-day, Song Linlin brought Chi Qianning and Zhang San back to the Xuan Yun Sect. There was news that the Mirror Moon Secret Realm was also closing today, and the group that had gone out was expected to return to the sect in two or three days.