I Failed to Reform the Protagonist [Transmigration] - Chapter 8

Chu Junyu glanced at him, then lowered his head again. “Let me see.”

Pei Jing secretly pinched a red mark onto his own arm, rolled up his sleeve, and said piteously, “Look, it’s all red from the fall. It hurts so much.”

For a moment, Chu Junyu didn’t know what to say.

Seeing his silence, Pei Jing felt the urge to tease him. He grinned. “So, do you want to blow on it for your savior?”

He only said it to distract Chu Junyu, but to his surprise, after a brief pause, Chu Junyu actually reached out. He grabbed Pei Jing’s wrist, pulled it toward him, lowered his eyes, and blew a gentle breath over the skin.

Chu Junyu’s hands were ice-cold. Upon contact, Pei Jing felt a shiver run through him.

As the breath brushed against his skin, Pei Jing was dumbfounded. He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. This kid really doesn’t follow the script, does he?

“Hahaha, stop, it tickles. I was just joking with you.”

Hearing this, Chu Junyu’s expression returned to its usual coldness, and he pulled his hand back.

The ghost on the well wall had already crawled halfway out of the stones. It looked like a child who had drowned in the well—hairless, bloated, with a pale blue face and empty eye sockets. It opened its mouth, grinning at Pei Jing. The ghost child had no teeth and no tongue, making the sight quite eerie.

Pei Jing pressed his hand against Chu Junyu’s shoulder, pretending to lean on him. “Let me use you for balance.”

Then, in a spot Chu Junyu couldn’t see, his fingers moved rapidly to draw a fierce, blood-red talisman, which he slapped onto the ghost’s face from a distance.

The ghost infant let out a terrified shriek and shrunk back in fear. Even the venomous snake sensed a dangerous aura; its tail curled up in fright as it retreated into the corner, shivering.

Seeing that they were now behaving, Pei Jing sat up straight against the wall and smiled. “Looks like we’re spending the night here.”

Chu Junyu asked, seemingly nonchalantly, “Do you regret it?”

Pei Jing: “Hmm?”

Chu Junyu looked him straight in the eye. His eyes were like pale glass—pure and freezing.

“You knew they were no match for me, so you sent them away. You knew I would be injured if I fell, so you followed me down to protect me. It was actually unnecessary. I wouldn’t have killed them, and I wouldn’t have died from the fall. All the injuries you’ve sustained now are for nothing.”

Pei Jing: “…” He was so angry he laughed. This kid really doesn’t know how to talk to people.

He really wanted to give the boy a good knock on the head, but given his current identity, he could only look dazed. He scratched his head with a dry laugh and said, “Ah? I didn’t think that much at the time. I just got swept up in the moment and jumped down after you.”

The corners of Chu Junyu’s lips curled into a very faint, slow smile—sarcastic and cold. “When will you ever learn to restrain this reckless kindness of yours?”

His sarcasm dissipated quickly, and even the smile was gone in an instant. He turned his head away, returning to his usual lonely and indifferent self, staring at the space in front of him. It was impossible to tell what he was looking at.

Pei Jing: “…”

This is truly the most eccentric child I’ve ever met. His values are definitely skewed; he needs me to properly temper him.

Just you wait. Let’s see who influences whom first.

The two youths sat side-by-side at the bottom of the well. Pei Jing spoke first: “Don’t talk about me. I actually wanted to ask—back on the bridge, when that person was about to fall, you could have pulled him back just by reaching out. Why didn’t you help?”

Chu Junyu answered instantly: “I didn’t want to.”

Pei Jing choked on his words and rubbed his nose. “…Fine.”

As the Acting Sect Leader, it was time to spread the Yunxiao spirit of saving the dying and exterminating demons among the new disciples.

Pei Jing tried to convince him with logic: “Have you ever thought that if you pulled him back and let him enter Yunxiao, he might bring you a significant ‘karmic opportunity’ in the future? After all, the cultivation world emphasizes cause and effect.”

Chu Junyu let out a short laugh. “Then you truly overestimate him. With a Triple-Element Root like his, I would be embarrassed to even step into the cultivation world. Any ‘opportunity’ he could bring would likely be as useless as chicken ribs.”

Hearing his arrogant tone, Pei Jing really wanted to beat him up to show him that there is always a higher heaven. But if he lost the identity of “Zhang Yiming,” it would be difficult to sneak close to Chu Junyu again later.

To maintain his persona, he had to endure.

Pei Jing squeezed out a difficult smile and said cheerfully, “Ah, so that’s how it is. So, when you carried me on your back earlier, was it because you saw my extraordinary potential and thought I was destined for greatness?”

Chu Junyu didn’t speak. He closed his eyes as if he wanted to sleep.

Pei Jing said with a fake smile, “Truly, thank you again. For the grace of saving me, and the grace of your appreciation.”

Chu Junyu said impatiently, “Shut up.”

Pei Jing was incredulous. “No way, you can actually sleep here? Aren’t you afraid something will jump out of the well? Like a ghost or a snake?”

Annoyed by the noise, Chu Junyu opened his eyes, turned around, and reached out to cover Pei Jing’s mouth.

Pei Jing hadn’t allowed anyone to get this close to him in a hundred years. The moment his lips touched that cold palm, he froze.

Under the moonlight, the black-clad youth had a pair of exceptionally pure, pale glass-like eyes. When he gazed at someone, it felt as though he could see through all appearances. He leaned in slightly, looking down at Pei Jing, and warned coldly: “You are the only one afraid of snakes.”

Pei Jing felt like he would eventually be driven mad by this kid.

What do you mean ‘only I am afraid of snakes’? Your Senior Brother Pei is afraid of nothing EXCEPT snakes. Brat, do you know how to respect your elders?

However, he didn’t harass Chu Junyu after that.

He could sense that Chu Junyu was truly exhausted. It was a strange kind of weariness, like someone who hadn’t slept for hundreds of years and had finally found a moment of drowsiness.

The bright moonlight shone into the dry well. The youth in black had a face as pale as frost and snow. With his eyes closed, his eyelashes cast long shadows on his face, giving him a cold, refined, and noble beauty.

The youth in the brown tunic next to him felt bored. He put his hands behind his head and stared blankly at the sky outside the well.

Suddenly, he realized something—Wait? How did Chu Junyu know he was afraid of snakes? That was an embarrassing secret that only his Master knew. Was it just a lucky guess?