Transmigrated as the Little Concubine of a Paper-Thin Man - Chapter 19.2

These people were aggressively pressing her, yet they put on a look of having solid reasons, making her feel suffocated and disgusted!

But, did she really have to go out?

She concentrated, continuing to call out to Yan Ling in her mind, but strangely, Yan Ling had not responded for a long time.

According to Hua Shu, Yan Ling was thousands of miles away at this time, and it would take at least a day or two to rush back. In such a long time, it was impossible for her to stall here with these people.

However, judging by the looks of Hua Shu and the others, they wouldn’t easily let her leave.

For a moment, Shi Yunjii felt caught between a rock and a hard place.

She lowered her head, looking at the black talisman on her wrist. The pain from earlier was still fresh in her memory, and she wasn’t sure if Zhou E would turn hostile and directly harm her life if she passively resisted…

Seeing that she had someone like Hua Shu supporting her, Zhou E’s arrogance grew even stronger.

She took a big step forward, and if not for the restriction blocking her, her fingertip would have almost poked Shi Yunjii’s eye: “This is a Sect’s Young Lady, I’m telling you, no one can protect you now…

“Ah—”

Before she could finish her sentence, she suddenly screamed and was flung out.

This inexplicable force came so suddenly that even Shi Yunjii was affected, hastily raising her hand to shield herself from harm. The next moment, the force disappeared, and she lowered her hand, only to see that outside, apart from Hua Shu who was barely still standing, everyone else had fallen and were sitting on the ground, scattered in disarray. Before she could figure out what was going on, she was swept into an embrace that carried a clean, light fragrance.

The owner of the embrace was not as cold as the light fragrance suggested; the voice speaking to her was filled with deep urgency and concern: “How are you? Are you hurt? I’m sorry, I came back late, I’m so sorry…”

Shi Yunjii had already anticipated it, but when she looked up, Yan Ling’s face, full of concern, deeply moved her.

For a moment, she even forgot the inappropriate occasion, her nose felt sore, and she burst into tears.

Yan Ling’s entire heart was throbbing.

She couldn’t tell if it was the chest pain caused by tearing through space in her rush to return, or if it was the sight of her God crying. At this moment, she felt like she was being torn in half. This concrete pain and her pity for Shi Yunjii quickly escalated into overwhelming anger. As she gently wiped away Shi Yunjii’s tears, she turned her head and glared at Hua Shu with a look reserved for the dead.

Hua Shu’s body violently shook.

Perhaps even Yan Ling herself hadn’t realized that the heart-wrenching urgency and worry made her look somewhat deranged. Fine, dense red blood vessels already covered the area around her eyeballs. The immortal aura that used to surround her was completely gone. If not for her appearance, if someone told Hua Shu that the person in front of her was a Demon or a Devil, Hua Shu wouldn’t have an ounce of doubt.

But precisely because the person in front of her, glaring with red eyes, was Yan Ling, the real Yan Ling, Hua Shu was so afraid that she stepped back.

She had never seen Yan Ling display such an expression.

A genius cultivator who became famous at a young age, every step Yan Ling took on her path to immortality was a legend. It was genuinely hard for Hua Shu to imagine what could have happened to make the immortal-like Yan Ling display this kind of expression.

Soon, her gaze fell on Shi Yunjii in Yan Ling’s arms.

At this moment, a ridiculous thought arose in her heart—the fact that they were still alive was probably all thanks to this little maid. If this maid hadn’t been present, the entire Jade Bell Palace, or rather, the entire Ling Ling Peak, would have been instantly razed to the ground and utterly destroyed the moment Yan Ling returned.

It was only the fear of harming the maid in her arms that prevented Yan Ling from destroying everything with her first move.

Unwilling to believe her own deduction, Hua Shu forced herself to stand upright: “Yan, Yan Ling…” She spoke with difficulty: “Weren’t you in the Eastern Sea? Why, why are you back?”

Yan Ling looked at her coldly. The next moment, an invisible force tightly gripped Hua Shu’s neck and lifted her into mid-air.

Hua Shu tried to break free, but her spiritual energy was completely unusable. She could only struggle, kicking her legs, and letting out hoarse sounds: “Yan Ling… mmph, Yan Ling…”

The surrounding inner disciples were terrified.

Those close to Hua Shu quickly knelt down to plead: “Immortal Master, Immortal Master Ling Ling, is there some misunderstanding here? You, you can’t treat Senior Sister Hua like this, quickly put her down.”

The instant the words fell, he was also lifted by the neck.

Yan Ling looked at the others who dared not make a sound, and finally asked: “What happened?”

Under the extremely oppressive atmosphere, someone finally spoke with a trembling voice: “We, we were instructed by the Sect Leader to deliver an invitation letter to the Immortal Master. Zhao Feng said you were traveling, and we were already planning to leave, but, but…”

He mustered the courage to look up: “We don’t know why, but you suddenly rushed back and attacked the Senior Sisters without asking any questions.” He even sounded a bit angry: “But we didn’t do anything out of line at all.”

Shi Yunjii in her arms had calmed down. Yan Ling could sense that her condition was generally good and that she had not suffered any major harm. Furthermore, the restriction barrier showed no signs of being broken, which proved that these people could not have crossed the restriction to harm Shi Yunjii.

All of this made Yan Ling finally calm down somewhat.

But this did not mean she would completely believe what the other party said. After all, Shi Yunjii’s sorrowful and painful cries for help from thousands of miles away were still fresh in her mind.

Just thinking about those sounds made Yan Ling feel lingering fear. She tightened her arm, securely holding the frail Shi Yunjii in her embrace.

“Knowing I wasn’t here, why didn’t you scram? Why stay here and bully my person?”

That person retorted again: “We were just about to leave.”

He glanced at Shi Yunjii, knowing she couldn’t speak, and after a moment’s thought, decided to conceal the previous conflict, saying only: “Immortal Master, please see clearly, with this restriction barrier here, who could possibly cross it to harm your maid?”

This was also what Yan Ling found strange. So, why was Shi Yunjii in such pain just now?

She looked down at Shi Yunjii, seeking an answer. Shi Yunjii keenly sensed her meaning. She took a deep breath, and in front of everyone and Yan Ling, she raised her hand, lifted her sleeve, and revealed the black talisman.

The sight of the talisman evoked Shi Yunjii’s unpleasant memories from earlier. Her eyes involuntarily became a little moist, and she looked pitifully at Yan Ling.

Yan Ling immediately stroked the talisman.

With her strength, a single glance was enough to know basically what had happened. Although the restriction could prevent all external attacks, the spell power already planted within could not be isolated.

At this moment, Zhou E, who knew she had been exposed, hid at the back of the crowd, wishing she could burrow into the ground.

Unfortunately, she had nowhere to hide—she could use the talisman to inflict pain on Shi Yunjii, and Yan Ling could likewise use the talisman to precisely locate her. Thus, when black flames suddenly ignited on Zhou E’s body without warning, everyone around her was startled.

“What’s going on?” A younger inner disciple cried out in surprise, “Senior Sister Zhou? What, what’s wrong with you?”

Zhou E’s face was distorted by the burning black flames, but she knew that continuing to hide was not an option.

She rushed to the front of the restriction barrier in three strides and knelt directly before Yan Ling: “Immortal Master, spare my life, Immortal Master, spare my life, ah ah ah ah it hurts so much, it really hurts, I beg the Immortal Master to show great mercy and spare me… spare me…”

Watching the black flames that Zhou E had previously controlled with ease now engulf her entire body, Shi Yunjii’s face was cold, thinking that Zhou E finally knew what it felt like to play with fire and get burned.

She gritted her teeth, watching Zhou E grovel and beg for mercy, and tears unconsciously fell from her eyes again.

Yan Ling looked blankly at the moisture on her cheek, nearly losing control and kissing her.

She restrained herself with powerful self-control, used her hand to wipe away the tears, and then pointed at Hua Shu and the others: “Did they… bully you?”

Although Hua Shu and the others had been unyielding just now, they hadn’t inflicted any real physical harm. Shi Yunjii looked up at Yan Ling and honestly shook her head.

“But they didn’t help you,” Yan Ling said instead.

Shi Yunjii bit her lower lip and shook her head with restraint.

Yan Ling observed her expression, then flung her hand, pushing Hua Shu and the other inner disciples (except Zhou E) several meters away, and then said coldly: “Get out.”

Landing on the ground and finally able to breathe freely, Hua Shu clutched her neck and gasped for air.

She glanced at Yan Ling, then at Zhou E, who was kneeling on the ground, suffering from the flames engulfing her body.

Zhou E turned her head, her face covered in tears, pleading for help: “Senior Sister, save me… save me…”

“Yan Ling…” Hua Shu couldn’t help but take a few steps forward.

Yan Ling’s gaze was utterly cold, fixed upon her from afar.

Hua Shu’s steps halted.

She took a deep breath: “Zhou E, Zhou E is an inner disciple after all, protected by my Flying Immortal Sect. If she has committed a crime, it should be judged and punished within the Sect. Your use of private torture on her like this is probably unreasonable.”

Yan Ling sneered: “Then her actions toward my person, are those reasonable?”

Hua Shu gritted her teeth: “She is merely a little maid. Can her status be compared with Zhou E’s?”

She looked at Shi Yunjii, who was tightly held in Yan Ling’s arms, the sourness in her tone practically overflowing: “Even if you highly regard this maid, her status is ultimately low and unsuitable for public display…”

Before she could finish the sentence, Hua Shu was sent flying again, her body heavily smashing against an ancient tree.

This blow was no small matter. Hua Shu felt as if her soul was about to separate from her body. She lay on the ground for a long time, aware that her fellow disciples wanted to help her up, but she simply couldn’t stand.

In a daze, she heard Yan Ling’s voice.

“Hua Shu, don’t think that just because you have the Flying Immortal Sect backing you, I won’t dare to touch you.”

Hua Shu managed to sit up straight.

Yan Ling looked at her with a cold side glance: “You should be glad you didn’t make a move today.”

The black flames, like venom, had already scorched large areas of black rot onto Zhou E’s body.

She was still using her last bit of strength to cry out to Hua Shu for help, but Hua Shu, preoccupied with her own predicament, directly turned her head away. A disciple helped carry her on his back, and she quietly instructed: “Go, return to the Main Peak.”

All the inner disciples responded “Yes,” no longer sparing a glance for Zhou E, turning to fly away on their cloud, disappearing amidst the lush forests of Ling Ling Peak.

After these people left, Shi Yunjii looked down at her wrist.

Her wrist was still grasped in Yan Ling’s hand, porcelain white, and the black talisman was long gone. But the sight of Zhou E struggling in agony on the ground still brought back memories of the pain she had just endured, making her stomach churn with nausea, and her head feel a little dizzy.

Yan Ling caught her discomfort: “Are you feeling unwell?”

Shi Yunjii looked up at her and rubbed her forehead.

Yan Ling squeezed Shi Yunjii’s palm: “Let’s go back and rest.”

With that, she directly embraced Shi Yunjii around the waist, carried her into the air, and instantly returned to the Jade Bell Palace. This time, she also took Shi Yunjii directly into her own bedchamber.

Having gone through the ordeal, Shi Yunjii was quickly exhausted and drifted into a heavy, drowsy sleep.

When she woke up again, she saw Yan Ling sitting at a nearby table, holding a golden invitation. Seeing her wake up, Yan Ling stood up and came closer to check on her.

Shi Yunjii drank two sips of water with Yan Ling’s help. Feeling the atmosphere was a bit heavy, she reached out and pointed at the invitation.

Yan Ling understood what she meant: “It was sent by Hua Yan.

“He mentioned before that he was going to hold a grand assembly to help me clear the truth of Zhou Huaibi’s death, do you remember?”

Shi Yunjii nodded.

She remembered what Zhou E had said earlier and guessed that the others must have been there to deliver this invitation.

In fact, her guess was correct; Yan Ling had retrieved the item from Zhou E’s corpse, which was now completely burned to black charcoal.

“This matter… is a bit tricky…” Yan Ling suddenly said in a low voice.

Shi Yunjii tilted her head to look at her.

She didn’t quite understand. Wasn’t it a good thing to clear her name of the charges?

Yan Ling looked up at her: “The gathering is at the beginning of next month. There will be many people coming and going in the Flying Immortal Sect then.

“Your status is low, and you won’t necessarily be able to stay by my side at all times. I’m afraid that something might go wrong again and cause you to suffer.”

Shi Yunjii, still traumatized, tugged at her sleeve.

She truly never wanted to go through the Zhou E incident a second time.

Yan Ling took in her expression. Although she was secretly annoyed at herself for playing tricks on her God, there was more joy that her scheme was about to succeed.

She suppressed her true emotions and frowned: “I do have a way… perhaps it can make them wary.”

Shi Yunjii looked at her eagerly, urging her with her eyes to reveal the method.

“Would you…” At this moment, Yan Ling inexplicably lowered her head, as if deliberately avoiding her gaze, or perhaps out of shyness.

She took Shi Yunjii’s hand, slowly tracing and squeezing her finger joints one by one, “Would you… consider becoming my Dao Companion?”

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