Stepping in for the Heroine to Crush the Protagonist Group [Transmigration] - Chapter 16

The next day, as dawn was just breaking, the rain outside had stopped.

Hu Li helped Gu Sheng walk out of the bamboo house, parting ways with the woman at the courtyard gate.

As they separated, the woman noticed the two of them heading up the mountain. She quickly grabbed Hu Li, warning, “Esteemed elders, there are man-eating monsters on this mountain. You really shouldn’t go up there.”

She deliberately lowered her voice, her tightly furrowed brow suggesting something hard to speak of, making one intensely curious.

Seeing this, Hu Li stopped. She instinctively brought her hand to her mouth, mimicking the woman’s posture, and whispered, “Big Sister, please tell us the details.”

Last night, unable to sleep, she had organized her thoughts and realized the woman’s presence was highly illogical.

The bamboo house was located halfway up the mountain, close to the summit. But as Hu Li walked up yesterday, she noticed that bamboo shoots mostly grew at the foot or lower slopes. The woman could have easily dug shoots there; there was no need to come all the way up near the peak.

Therefore, after some thought, Hu Li understood: the woman’s intentional approach was because her existence, as an NPC (Non-Player Character), was to provide clues to players like them.

Now that the rain had stopped, it was time to trigger the next plot point.

The woman looked at Hu Li’s bright, eager eyes, momentarily confused. She was talking about a monster, not a treasure. Why was she so excited?!

Even more baffling, Hu Li had somehow pulled out a small notebook and seemed to have been waiting for her to say that exact line.

“Big Sister, please tell me quickly. I’ll write it down,” Hu Li urged, seeing the woman suddenly fall silent.

The woman’s smile stiffened for a moment. Then, under Hu Li’s intense gaze, she suppressed her awkwardness and continued, “There is a man-eating monster at the summit. For every ten people who go up, nine are lost up there. My husband was one of the lucky ones. Although he lost a leg, he at least got his life back.”

She paused here, beginning to lament.

Hu Li resisted the urge to offer the woman a cigarette. She helped Gu Sheng sit on a large rock nearby and quietly waited with her to hear the rest of the story.

“Years ago, the crop yield was poor, and I had just given birth to Huzi. My husband couldn’t bear to see me starve, so he secretly went up the mountain at night, hoping to dig up a treasure at the summit to exchange for silver in town.”

“Who knew that as soon as he got up the mountain, a monster, bigger than the sky and blacker than the night, leaped out from under the cliff and bit my husband’s leg.”

“Fortunately, my husband always carried a stick. He went, ‘Whoosh,’ hit the monster on the head, and managed to escape alive.”

Hu Li listened. Ignoring a few unscientific details, she focused on one key point: the Ink Heart Inkstone might be under the cliff.

This was because the Ink-Devouring Beast was the spiritual guardian of the Ink Heart Inkstone, and the Inkstone was bound to be wherever the Beast was.

“Thank you for the warning, Big Sister,” Hu Li helped Gu Sheng up, bowing in farewell to the woman.

Seeing Hu Li’s resolve, the woman knew further warning was useless. She said goodbye to Hu Li and led Huzi down the mountain.

Hu Li didn’t waste any more time. Supporting the limping Gu Sheng, she hurried toward the summit.

At the summit after the rain, a sea of clouds surrounded them, spreading out across the inky mountains, a sight of magnificent beauty.

Hu Li lifted the sword in her hand, recited an incantation, and the sword transformed into a broom.

Gu Sheng glanced at the broom out of the corner of her eye, perplexed. “Are you going to sweep the floor?”

Hu Li shook her head, stepped over the broom handle, sat down, and patted the space she left behind. “Elder Qi, get on.”

Gu Sheng frowned. “What do you mean?”

Hu Li was succinct. “Have you heard of Harry Potter flying on a broom?”

The corner of Gu Sheng’s mouth twitched. She countered, “Why not ride your sword?”

Hu Li looked sadly at the sea of clouds. “Too dangerous. Let’s stick to the broom.”

The memory of crashing while flying her sword the first time and being charged one hundred spirit stones was still vivid. She dared not repeat the mistake.

Gu Sheng stared at the broom for a long time, took a deep breath, and swung her leg over to sit on it.

Thankfully, there’s no one else here. Otherwise, she would be utterly humiliated for the rest of her life.

Just as Gu Sheng was thinking this, a sound suddenly came from Hu Li’s storage bag, and a song about something like “Above the Moon” began to play.

A bad premonition immediately surfaced in her mind.

Hu Li reached into her storage bag, pulled out the Hand-Iron, and tapped it. A familiar ghostly figure immediately floated out.

“Little Sister!” The Lust Demon’s head popped out of the Hand-Iron, locking eyes with Gu Sheng. But since both Hu Li and Gu Sheng were wearing black robes, he didn’t realize anything was amiss. “Little Sister, I found you a job! See when you’re free to check it out.”

He then moved his eyes down, stopping at the cool-looking broom. He let out a surprised cry. “Hey, Little Sister, your ride is quite unique, isn’t it?”

Gu Sheng turned her head away in embarrassment.

Hu Li moved the Lust Demon’s head toward herself. “Big Brother Lust Demon, I’m over here.”

The Lust Demon’s head shifted to Hu Li, but his eyes were still on Gu Sheng.

“Who is she?” The Lust Demon’s gossipy side ignited. He secretly lifted his brush and wrote: Who is it? Who made the Little Highness of the Fox Clan run away for love.

Hu Li: “My employer.”

The Lust Demon said a meaningful “Oh” and pressed further. “Is that the mysterious Elder Qi?”

Hu Li was about to nod, but Gu Sheng, with a quick move, cut off the Hand-Iron, giving her no chance.

“Focus on the task,” she said.

“Oh,” Hu Li replied. She then mentally controlled the broom, which zoomed off the cliff edge.

Below the cliff, the white, vast sea of clouds pressed in. Hu Li hugged the cliff face, continuously descending, searching for the location of the Ink Heart Inkstone.

“There seems to be a cave there,” Gu Sheng suddenly said, raising her hand and pointing.

Hu Li followed her direction and indeed spotted a cave embedded in the stone wall, hidden among dense branches and leaves.

The cave was small, only about five palms wide. Hu Li steadied the broom, telling Gu Sheng to squeeze in first. Then, gripping the broom handle, she followed close behind.

After crawling through a narrow, cramped passage, the space suddenly opened up.

It was a sealed chamber, covered in inky lines. Hanging on these lines were small, delicate gilded bells, completely motionless.

In the center of the dense array of bells was a slender stone platform. On top of the platform lay a dark, inky inkstone, clear and translucent, like a black lake.

“That’s the Ink Heart Inkstone,” Gu Sheng said, leaning against the dirt wall due to her injured foot, gazing at the inkstone on the platform. “I looked for this artifact several times when I entered the painting, but couldn’t find it. I didn’t realize it was hidden right here.”

Hu Li folded her arms, her gaze sweeping over the inky lines, observing their pattern.

“Elder Qi, you wait here. I’ll give it a try.”

Hu Li watched for a long time, figuring out a method. She changed the broom back into the red jade hairpin and tucked it into her bun. Then, she lifted her foot, stepped over the first inky line, then the second, and the third. She quickly grasped the complete technique and moved effortlessly.

Gu Sheng watched her from behind, her phoenix eyes slightly narrowed, a momentary flash of killing intent passing through them.

The hand she had kept behind her waist slowly extended. After Hu Li had bypassed half of the inky lines, Gu Sheng made a gesture in a specific direction.

The gesture fell, and the pair of green eyes hidden in the darkness swiveled. An inky spike scraped past a bell, letting out a “Clang!” before viciously stabbing into Gu Sheng’s shoulder.

Gu Sheng cried out in pain, a muffled groan escaping her lips. Her head tilted, and she fell directly onto the crisscrossing inky lines.

The bells hanging on the lines began to ring madly with the sudden impact.

The ringing was incessant. Hu Li looked back at Gu Sheng, who had fallen onto the inky lines, her breath briefly stopping. She quickly sealed her sense of hearing, tore the red jade hairpin from her bun, flipped her hand, and grasped the long sword it became.

The bells continuously grew larger, pulling the inky lines down toward the ground.

Hu Li slashed at the inky lines in front of her. The lines landed and immediately vanished. However, countless more lines, carried by the bells, melted into the underground the moment they touched the floor.

The bells fell everywhere, then went silent.

Hu Li frowned, unsealed her hearing, and cautiously scanned her surroundings.

Pat-a-tap— A sudden sound.

Hu Li gathered her spiritual energy, threw the sword in the direction of the sound, the tip pointing directly at the pair of green, predatory eyes.

The pupil of the green eye constricted. It spun away, dodging the long sword, and landed on the opposite side of the stone wall.

“Hoo—” A strange whistling sound rose. The ground began to shake violently.

Hu Li swiftly recalled her long sword, looked down at her feet, and saw the earlier bells rising one by one, transforming into golden, reflective arrows, all aiming at her position.

At the same time, the previously vanished inky lines sprung up from the ground, piercing through everything. In a matter of seconds, they encircled Hu Li, turning into pillars of iron.

“It’s the Soul Cage Array!” The system, which had been ‘playing dead’ in her Sea of Consciousness, leaped up and cried out.

Hu Li’s grip on her sword tightened. She glanced in Gu Sheng’s direction, confirmed her wealthy patron was not trapped inside the array, and then flipped her long sword, transforming it into a fiery red long bow.

Since transmigrating, her demonic power had been constantly suppressed, but now, she could finally show off her skills.

She channeled her spiritual energy, her fingertip resting on the invisible bowstring, slowly drawing it back.

The green eye watched Hu Li’s every move, letting out a sinister chuckle. “This Soul Cage Array can trap even a Nascent Soul expert. Do you think you can escape?”

Found you.

The fox ears peeking out of Hu Li’s hair twitched slightly. She then raised the long bow, released her jade finger, and five arrows shot out from her hand. As they neared the green eye, they converged into a single arrow that plunged into its body.

Pfff! It was the sound of the arrow penetrating flesh.

The green eye cried out in sudden pain, roaring a few times, and fell from the dirt wall to the ground, exposed to Hu Li’s view.

Hu Li’s gaze passed through the iron pillars in front of her and landed on the green eye, her brow deeply furrowed.

It was the woman or rather, the Ink-Devouring Beast.

As for Huzi, he must have been a tool it transformed to lower their guard.

Hu Li hadn’t realized she had invited the Ink-Devouring Beast to be so close to her so early on, and she had been completely unaware.

“Ink Heart Inkstone…” Gu Sheng, who was outside the Soul Cage Array, suddenly spoke.

Hu Li turned her head at the sound, looking behind her. She realized the Ink Heart Inkstone, which had been in the center of the inky lines, had somehow turned into an ordinary rock.

It seemed the Ink-Devouring Beast had deliberately lured them here.

Hu Li cursed inwardly. She was about to confront the Ink-Devouring Beast, but the moment she looked back at it, a golden arrow shot out, piercing her left shoulder and pinning her to the dirt wall.

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