The Failed Female Supporting Character [Transmigration] - Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Only three demonkin had been forced out by Ruan Lan’s sword-qi. The demonic energy on their bodies was still unstable; after scrambling out of the forest, they maintained a cautious distance from the group, their eyes flashing with a dark light when they saw Liu Cheng.

“I was wondering why our luck was so rotten.” One of the demonkin stood up and stared at Liu Cheng with a cold sneer. “So, it turns out Senior Sister Liu wanted to claim credit and specifically came out to clean up us ‘traitors’?”

Liu Cheng stepped out from beside Feng Qi, her expression unchanging as she said, “You three betrayed the Lingyun Sect and turned to the demonic path. As a righteous cultivator, is it not my natural duty to slay demons and eliminate evil?”

“Slay demons and eliminate evil?” The demonkin scoffed. “I think you’ve just got your eye on the items we took from the Lingyun Sect.”

Liu Cheng’s eyes narrowed slightly. “I will return the items you took to my Master myself,” she said in a heavy voice.

Between their back-and-forth exchange, the entanglement between them became clear. These three demonkin were originally disciples of the Lingyun Sect. However, unlike Liu Cheng, who was close to the Sect Leader, their days in the sect had not been good. Eventually, they stole sect treasures and immortal stones, fled, and turned to the demonic path.

Yu Qi’s light sword traced mark after mark on the ground. She frowned impatiently; the feeling of being used made her want to simply sheath her sword and leave.

Ruan Lan was much more decisive than her. She sheathed her light sword immediately and strode back to Feng Qi’s side. Meeting Liu Cheng’s confused gaze, she said coldly, “The Misty Valley finds it inconvenient to interfere in the domestic affairs of the Lingyun Sect.”

Liu Cheng’s smile was strained as she tried to persuade her, “But these three have betrayed the Lingyun Sect. They aren’t members of my sect anymore—they are demonkin!”

“Resolve it yourselves.” Ruan Lan remained unmoved. These three demonkin were not yet stable in their transformation, and their cultivation levels weren’t very high. The people Liu Cheng brought along were perfectly capable of handling them.

Furthermore, these three held secret treasures of the Lingyun Sect. Ruan Lan, who had never trusted Liu Cheng’s character, had no desire to get involved.

Liu Cheng was unwilling to give up and wanted to argue further, but after Yu Qi also sheathed her sword and returned, Ruan Lan grabbed Feng Qi’s wrist and led her away.

They left decisively. Liu Cheng watched their departing backs, her face darkening. Once they were out of sight, she frowned and said to the people beside her, “Finish them off. Throw the corpses off the cliff and leave no trace.”

The nearby disciples rushed toward the three demonkin. After a while, one person stepped forward and handed three storage stones to Liu Cheng, asking hesitantly, “Senior Sister, should these be handed over to Master?”

Liu Cheng opened the storage stones and took a look. She said softly, “Why hand them over? Wouldn’t it be better if we split them among ourselves?”

“But, what if we’re discovered…”

“We won’t be.” Liu Cheng patted his shoulder gently and said in a soft voice, “Don’t worry, Senior Sister is here.”

What was there to fear in being discovered? She hadn’t lifted a finger from start to finish. Liu Cheng gripped the storage stones, her eyes downcast. It was a pity, though; it would have been better if she could have framed the people from Misty Valley.

Liu Cheng tossed two of the storage stones to the others for them to divide, while she examined the sole treasure inside her own. As she was looking it over, she suddenly sensed something. She glanced sideways toward the woods, said something to the others, and strode inside.

The demonic energy in the woods had been completely purified. A cultivator, looking disheveled and showing deep exhaustion in his eyes, was leaning against a tree trunk resting with his eyes closed. He opened them slightly upon hearing Liu Cheng’s footsteps, his voice raspy. “Are the people from Misty Valley with you?”

Liu Cheng crossed her arms and looked him up and down. She said softly, “Without the Wanyao Sect backing you, you really are in a pathetic state.”

Zhao Xiu, who hadn’t even returned when the Wanyao Sect was under siege by the demon realm, said with a grim face, “Even if I am pathetic now, killing you would only take a little effort.”

Liu Cheng lowered her arms. “What do you want from me?”

“Misty Valley…” Greed flashed in Zhao Xiu’s eyes. “Those cultivators must have good things in their hands.” After the collapse of the Wanyao Sect, his cultivation resources were completely cut off. To make matters worse, he had the misfortune of encountering demonkin who severely injured him; he still hadn’t fully recovered.

He had to obtain a certain amount of immortal stones to resume his cultivation.

“Ruan Lan’s cultivation is too high; you can’t handle her.”

“My target isn’t her.” Zhao Xiu closed his eyes and rubbed his brow, saying in a low voice, “You saw her little disciple, didn’t you? Decked out in high-level treasures… it’s enough to make one jealous.”

Liu Cheng’s eyes flickered. “Your target is Feng Qi?”

“As long as you lure Ruan Lan and the others away, I will give you ten Water-Spirit Pills plus half of everything I get.”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

Completely unaware that she was being eyed like a fat sheep, Feng Qi spent the entire walk back whispering bad things about Liu Cheng into Ruan Lan’s ear. “Master, she was trying to pump me for information just now, and she wanted you to deal with the Lingyun Sect traitors. She clearly had an ulterior motive.”

“Do you not like her?”

Feng Qi was somewhat surprised. “Of course I don’t.”

Ruan Lan gave an “en” and said softly, “Then stay away from her.”

Feng Qi promised earnestly, “I will.”

“If you can’t do it, next time you will transform into your original form and stay by my side.”

This sentence carried a heavy tone of distrust, which Feng Qi took very much to heart. “I’ve followed Master’s requirements every single time.”

Ruan Lan didn’t speak, but merely glanced pointedly at Ji Manqiu, who was not far behind. Feng Qi followed her gaze and gave a dry laugh. “That’s not my fault; she’s the one who keeps pestering me.” She didn’t know if it was a coincidence, but every time she went to chat with Ji Manqiu, she would get caught by Ruan Lan upon her return.

The group returned from outside the city to the inn. Ruan Lan and Feng Qi went straight to their room to rest. With nothing to do, Yu Qi wandered around the city. By the time she returned, the sky had already darkened. Just as she was about to open her door, she caught a glimpse of red light out of the corner of her eye. She instinctively looked down and saw the little fox scurrying out from somewhere.

Yu Qi looked around but saw no sign of Ji Manqiu. Frowning slightly, she picked up the little fox and said in a low voice, “Where is your master?”

The little fox buried its head in her arms and nuzzled her, its tail gently brushing her arm in a pampered manner. Yu Qi stared at it for a while before finally turning and bringing it into her room.

Although this little fox looked cute and cuddly on the outside, Yu Qi had seen its ferocious side; it was a fox capable of biting a Nascent Soul stage cultivator to death.

“What exactly are you?” Yu Qi placed the little fox on the table and said curiously, “Are you a Spirit Beast?”

“Your master… is also so mysterious…” Yu Qi had a momentary lapse in thought as she thought of Ji Manqiu, murmuring softly to herself, “She probably doesn’t have a Dao companion yet.”

The little fox lay on the table, its head touching Yu Qi’s arm, quietly listening to her self-mutterings.

Ji Manqiu never came to fetch the little fox. Yu Qi hesitated, but instead of taking it back proactively, she kept the fox overnight. The next morning, she carried the drowsy little fox to Ji Manqiu’s door.

The little fox was thoughtfully covered with a small blanket. It was still a bit dazed when its original owner picked it up. Ji Manqiu stroked its head and watched the direction Yu Qi had left, her red lips curving slightly.

Such a duplicitous person really makes me want to tease her, she thought.

One would have thought that after the unpleasant encounter outside the city, Liu Cheng wouldn’t proactively visit again. However, she appeared the very next day, acting naturally with a faint smile still on her face, appearing cordial and relaxed toward Ruan Lan and the others.

“Senior Sister Ruan, I’ve already had a returning disciple report to the Sect Leader. I expect there will be a reply before long.” Liu Cheng sat opposite Ruan Lan and said with a smile, “It was really thanks to you all that we successfully caught those traitors last time.”

“Didn’t you say last time there were five or six? There were only three yesterday.” Feng Qi felt a bit of regret remembering it; she had expected a big feast, but it turned out to be just a few substandard small shrimp.

“The group of demonkin I spoke of weren’t those three traitors.” Liu Cheng sighed and said, “I don’t know if that group has left, but they haven’t been found yet.”

Feng Qi clicked her tongue and said with regret, “What a pity.”

Liu Cheng didn’t know that Feng Qi’s “pity” wasn’t what she thought it was, so she nodded in agreement. “It is a pity. With Senior Sister Ruan here, if we encountered them, we could wipe them out in one go.”

Because Feng Qi was still talking to her, Liu Cheng didn’t feel too awkward. She chatted a bit more before mentioning her actual purpose. “On Green Mountain, there is a Transformation-stage demonic beast. Its inner core happens to have the dual attributes of Water and Earth, which is very suitable for Senior Sister Yu’s cultivation.”

Besides being absorbed for cultivation, a demonic beast’s inner core could also remove impurities from spiritual roots. For someone with the same spiritual root attribute, it was even more effective than immortal stones. Thus, Yu Qi’s interest was piqued. “What kind of demonic beast is it?”

“It’s a Qingniao (Green Bird),” Liu Cheng said with a smile. “It’s been hiding on Green Mountain. There are no disciples with Water-Earth dual spiritual roots in the Lingyun Sect, so the Sect Leader never sent anyone to hunt it. Since you all were a big help yesterday, this inner core can serve as a thank-you gift from the Lingyun Sect.”

“An inner core is a bit too valuable for a thank-you gift, isn’t it?”

“If you feel it’s too valuable, you can exchange immortal stones for it.” Liu Cheng thought for a moment and gestured to a number. “I believe the Sect Leader would agree to that.”

They had obtained many immortal stones at Nanshan, so stones weren’t an issue. Yu Qi pondered for a moment before turning to Ruan Lan. “Senior Sister…”

Ruan Lan nodded. “We can go take a look.”

If they could truly obtain a Water-Earth dual-attribute inner core, Yu Qi breaking through another level wouldn’t be a problem.

The time agreed upon with Liu Cheng was three days later. Back in the room, Feng Qi lay by the window watching Liu Cheng’s departure as she disappeared down the street. She couldn’t help but say, “Master, aren’t you worried there might be some conspiracy in this?” She still felt that Liu Cheng wasn’t that kind-hearted.

“The Qingniao beast does indeed exist, and it truly does have a Water-Earth inner core.” Ruan Lan walked to Feng Qi’s side, glanced outside, and said softly, “Just get the core; don’t worry about anything else.”

Simply put, with Ruan Lan’s strength, she didn’t care about any conspiracy Liu Cheng might have.

However… Ruan Lan’s gaze slowly moved from the window to Feng Qi’s face. Seeing her face slightly flushed from the sunlight, she lowered the window. “Take this.” She handed the Qingyun Sword to Feng Qi.

Feng Qi held the sword, a bit stunned. “What are you giving this to me for?”

“It can protect you.”

Ruan Lan didn’t care about any conspiracy aimed at herself, but she was worried about Feng Qi’s safety.