Stepping in for the Heroine to Crush the Protagonist Group [Transmigration] - Chapter 47

“Young Highness, I have one more matter to discuss.”

After hearing Gu Sheng’s words, “I was the one who seduced her,” Chen Yidong barely suppressed the urge to explode on the spot. Her entire being radiated an icy chill as she declared, “The Spring Arrival Festival is in two days. I hope you will accept my challenge and compete with me then.”

Spring Arrival Festival? Gu Sheng rubbed her thumb against the base of her palm, a plan forming in her mind.

“Very well, I accept,” she replied.

Chen Yidong’s grip tightened on her sword. “In that case, I will await you in two days, Young Highness.”

With that, she turned and departed, vanishing from sight in moments.

Gu Sheng stood motionless, gazing at the empty road where Chen Yidong had disappeared. She then stepped into the courtyard.

Hu Li walked beside her, unable to contain her curiosity. “What’s the Spring Arrival Festival? Why are you participating?”

Having grown familiar with Gu Sheng’s temperament, Hu Li knew she never acted without purpose. So when Gu Sheng suddenly announced her participation in the festival, Hu Li instinctively assumed she had another scheme in mind.

But Gu Sheng simply replied, “We’re bored anyway. Might as well join the festivities.”

******

With that, she quickened her pace, crossed the bamboo steps, and entered the house without another word of explanation.

Frustrated by her unanswered curiosity, Hu Li turned her attention to Hu Si, a local of the Fox Clan.

“Hu Si, what’s the Spring Arrival Festival? Tell me about it!” Hu Li grabbed the young girl, who was about to follow Gu Sheng into the house.

Hu Si stopped, her eyes meeting Hu Li’s eager gaze. Suddenly, her talkative nature was unleashed.

She pulled Hu Li down to sit on the bamboo steps and pointed to the young Fox Demons moving about outside the courtyard.

“The Spring Arrival Festival falls in the middle of the third lunar month every year. It symbolizes the arrival of spring and is the most important day for the Fox Clan. During the festival, the King leads us in many activities.”

“The most important of these is the Bamboo Forest Maze trial. Young Fox Demons enter the maze to hone their skills, preparing them to inherit their elders’ mantles in the coming years and shoulder the responsibility of protecting the Fox Clan.”

“Moreover, the Champion of the trial is honored as the leader of the young generation, so everyone takes the competition very seriously.”

“But ever since the Young Highness fell ill fifteen years ago, she hasn’t participated in any trials. I wonder what’s changed her mind this time.”

Hu Si trailed off, her brow furrowed in confusion. Unable to contain her curiosity, she rose and went inside to ask Gu Sheng directly.

Hu Li, meanwhile, remained seated on the bamboo steps, pondering Gu Sheng’s reasons for entering the Bamboo Forest Maze.

After half an hour of contemplation, as darkness fell, she still couldn’t make sense of it. Reluctantly, she decided to put the matter aside for now, planning to follow Gu Sheng into the Bamboo Forest Maze during the Spring Arrival Festival to see what she intended to do.

Inside, Hu Si had already prepared a table laden with dishes. As Hu Li entered, she gestured for her to sit down.

The Fox Clan’s cuisine was typically light and mostly vegetarian. Hu Li, a self-proclaimed carnivore, had initially worried she wouldn’t enjoy it. To her surprise, the flavors proved unexpectedly appealing.

She ended up devouring five bowls of rice, much to Hu Si’s delight. Having failed to impress Gu Sheng, Hu Si happily piled several more dishes onto Hu Li’s plate.

After the meal, Hu Li’s energy had already drained by half.

********

These past few days, Hu Li had been either battling monsters or rushing from place to place. Now that she finally had a moment to rest, she collapsed onto the dining table, exhausted.

Seeing this, Gu Sheng exchanged a glance with Hu Si, who was clearing the dishes. With a calm demeanor, Gu Sheng scooped Hu Li up horizontally and carried her to the bedroom on the second floor, gently placing her on the bed.

After settling Hu Li, Gu Sheng rose to leave.

But Hu Li’s hand, which had been dangling off the edge of the bed, suddenly shot up and clutched at the hem of Gu Sheng’s skirt.

Gu Sheng froze, bending down to pry Hu Li’s hand loose. But each attempt only made Hu Li grip her skirt tighter.

“Mother… Li Li knows she was wrong,” Hu Li murmured softly in her sleep.

Hearing this, Gu Sheng paused, her hand still on Hu Li’s. After a moment, she sighed and sat down beside Hu Li.

Sensing that the person she was holding wasn’t leaving, Hu Li relaxed in her sleep, her breathing gradually evening out. Her grip slowly loosened until her hand slid down to rest beside Gu Sheng’s.

This time, Gu Sheng didn’t push Hu Li away. She sat quietly beside her until late into the night, when she herself drifted off to sleep beside Hu Li.

******

The two women were truly exhausted. They slept for two full days, not waking until the Spring Arrival Festival. Hu Si had to come upstairs to rouse them from their deep slumber before they finally stumbled out of bed and hurried to the Bamboo Forest Maze, which was about to open.

The maze stood at the mouth of the valley. When Hu Li and Gu Sheng arrived, they found the vast bamboo forest completely deserted, devoid of any signs of festival activity.

“Do you think we’re too early or too late?” Hu Li asked, glancing around.

Gu Sheng, her eyes scanning the bamboo forest, observed the distribution of the surrounding stalks. “I suspect we’ve already entered the maze.”

Hu Li’s eyes widened in surprise. “Already entered?”

Gu Sheng nodded.

The bamboo forest had subtly shifted at least three times in the past fifteen minutes. It seemed they had been drawn into the maze the moment they stepped inside.

Gu Sheng’s gaze drifted to the thickening white mist behind Hu Li. Silently holding her breath, she watched calmly as the dense fog gradually enveloped Hu Li.

When the mist dissipated, the two women had vanished from the bamboo forest.

********

When Hu Li opened her eyes again, she found herself standing before a bamboo house, still surrounded by the bamboo forest, but Gu Sheng was nowhere to be seen.

Her brow furrowed slightly. She pinched her arm. It stung. This wasn’t a dream.

A bamboo fence encircled the house, and the half-open gate creaked against the fence in a gust of wind, swinging fully open.

Hu Li stood rooted to the spot, staring at the bamboo house for a long moment. Then, as if compelled by some unseen force, she stepped into the courtyard, walked up the bamboo steps, and pushed open the door, which was already ajar.

The interior of the bamboo house was eerily familiar.

From the large furniture to the smallest decorations, every item, every detail, was identical to the bamboo house Gu Sheng had lived in on Tingfeng Cliff.

Even the placement of objects—their exact positions and orientations—were identical, sending a chill down Hu Li’s spine.

She took a deep breath, turned to leave this unsettling place, but a voice stopped her.

“Li Li.”

It was the same voice she had heard when she was trapped in Gu Sheng’s nightmare.

******

Hu Li turned mechanically toward the woman emerging from the inner room. Her pupils constricted to pinpoints, unable to conceal her shock.

“Y-you… are you me?” Hu Li stammered, staring at the red-robed woman who looked exactly like her. “Or are you the Original Host?”

Hu Li recalled the Original Host whose body she had possessed.

“The Original Host? No, not at all,” the red-robed woman replied with a smile, stepping closer.

Hu Li noticed a subtle difference between this woman and the remnant soul of the Original Host she had seen when she first transmigrated. It wasn’t in their appearance, but in their aura.

The red-robed woman exuded a profound sense of weariness, like autumn leaves falling from a tree, leaving a hollow ache in one’s heart with a single glance.

The Original Host, as Hu Li remembered the remnant soul, had been domineering and arrogant, a wild horse running free.

“So who are you? Why are you here?” Hu Li asked, slightly relaxing the tension in her mind.

The red-robed woman took another step closer, reaching out to grasp Hu Li’s hand with a gentle smile. “I’m someone who no longer matters. You don’t need to know who I am.”

********

With that, she led Hu Li to a vanity mirror shaped like a flower, gently pressing Hu Li’s shoulders to make her sit.

The mirror’s clear, bright surface reflected the woman behind her and a pair of hands holding a wooden comb.

A faint throbbing pain pulsed in Hu Li’s head. The scene felt strangely familiar, as if she had experienced it countless times before. Yet when she tried to recall the memories, they remained shrouded in a white fog, impossible to discern.

The woman in red noticed Hu Li’s unease.

Her hand paused mid-stroke, and she placed the comb in Hu Li’s hand. Then, from the vanity, she picked up a jade brush tipped with what appeared to be red pigment.

“Li Li,” the woman in red murmured softly.

At the sound of her name, Hu Li’s thoughts snapped back from the past. She looked up and saw the jade brush hovering just above her forehead in the mirror.

“Mother?” Hu Li blurted out, but the word caught in her throat as realization dawned.

Hu Zhizhi steadied Hu Li’s body. With the jade brush in hand, she slowly painted a flower on Hu Li’s forehead, its petals mirroring the shape of the mirror itself—vivid and beautiful.

“Li Li, this flower will protect you,” Hu Zhizhi said as she finished the last stroke and returned the brush to the vanity.

******

As Hu Zhizhi spoke, her figure gradually faded, like a setting sun disappearing over the horizon.

Hu Li’s hands, resting on her lap, clenched slightly as she tried to break the Restriction Hu Zhizhi had placed on her, desperate to hold onto the other woman. But no matter how hard she struggled, her efforts were futile.

A crimson flower bloomed vividly on her forehead, its petals lifelike and vibrant.

A corner of her sealed memories had been breached, yet they remained stubbornly bound, even more tightly restrained than before. Worse still, those memories that had finally begun to take shape were once again sealed away in some forgotten corner of her Sea of Consciousness.

Hu Li gritted her teeth and let out a strangled cry. Instantly, the surrounding scenery shattered, vanishing from her sight.

The bronze mirror before her shattered as well, a shard flying out and slicing across her eye. A searing pain surged through her body, as if she were being torn apart.

“No! Don’t go!” Hu Li cried out in agony, forcing her eyes open.

The illusory world shattered completely. Hu Li gasped for breath, her mouth wide open. Then she realized she was no longer in the Bamboo House, but in a bamboo forest shrouded in white mist.

*******

Around her lay many unconscious Fox Clan youths, their faces contorted in pain, as if trapped in some terrible nightmare.

Hu Li steadied herself, then surveyed her surroundings.

She was suspended high in the air, bound by three intersecting emerald bamboo stalks, her feet dangling a considerable distance above the ground.

The pain she had felt earlier when she pinched her arm came from thorny vines that had sprouted from the bamboo, their barbs piercing her skin.

Gritting her teeth, Hu Li wrenched her right hand free from the vines. She then drew the Red Jade Hairpin from her hair, transforming it into a sword. With a single slash, she severed the bamboo stalks binding her and landed firmly on the ground.

Turning back to examine the bamboo cage, Hu Li discovered that Gu Sheng was not inside.

Nor was Chen Yidong, the Fox Clan protector.

Her grip tightened on the sword. She frantically poked the System in her Sea of Consciousness, which was still reeling from the recent mental earthquake. “Quick, get a fix on Gu Sheng’s location. Help me find her!”

The System clutched its interface and casually tossed Hu Li a location map.

With this clue, Hu Li hastily dispersed the fog and rushed toward the flashing red dot in her Sea of Consciousness, completely ignoring the small landmark marking the dot’s location:

Cemetery.

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