Transmigrated as the Little Concubine of a Paper-Thin Man - Chapter 25

Halfway there, Shi Yunji attempted to contact Yan Ling using a telepathic message.

“Yan Ling, where are you?”

Yan Ling was trapped by Hua Yan within a black mist.

Despite the urgency of the situation, with a powerful enemy standing right in front of her, glowering, the moment she heard Shi Yunji’s voice, her nerves instantly relaxed, and her entire demeanor changed.

She did not answer the question, instead asking one herself: “How are you? Did anyone go and trouble you?”

“I’m fine.” Shi Yunji asked about the situation on her end while rushing to the conference venue. “Has the Flying Immortal Sect turned against you? Did Hua Yan and Hua Shu attack you? How are you doing right now?”

“I’m also fine.”

Yan Ling sidestepped, dodging Hua Yan’s direct attack, and simultaneously focused her mind to speak with Shi Yunji in as relaxed a tone as possible.

“You don’t need to worry about me. I’ll come find you right after the conference matters are resolved. Just stay safely inside the Jade Bell Palace, go directly to my sleeping chambers. There’s one last restriction/seal there; in a crucial moment, all you have to do is find the jade artifact under the pillow, and you can open the restriction.”

Hearing these words, Shi Yunji’s expression grew even more solemn.

Yan Ling didn’t mention returning immediately at all, but instead told her to hide. This suggested that Yan Ling must have been detained by something, unable even to leave directly.

She looked down at the string of silver bells on her wrist and frowned.

“Are they trapping you? Your Natal Weapon is still with me; you’ll be at a disadvantage against them right now.”

A massive surge of spiritual power struck, and Yan Ling resisted it bare-handed, forced to retreat two steps. She looked at the fiercely glaring Hua Yan in front of her and gave a specific, disdainful smile.

“You think they can put me at a disadvantage? You have too little faith in me.”

Shi Yunji was so anxious that sweat beaded on her forehead.

She had already arrived at the conference venue and found the place in complete disarray. The venue was chaotic; most people looked bewildered, seemingly unaware of what had happened, while a small number of petty individuals were trying to take advantage of the chaos. The presence of these opportunists made the already disorderly situation even more noisy.

In her desperation, she casually grabbed a nearby maid and gestured, asking: “Have you seen Yan Ling?”

It took the maid a while to understand what she meant, then she shook her head frantically: “I don’t know, I don’t know anything. Everything was fine, but then suddenly, the Spirit Bell Immortal Master, the Sect Leader, and several Elder Brothers and Sisters all disappeared.”

Disappeared?

Shi Yunji took a deep breath and continued the telepathic message.

“Yan Ling, did Hua Yan take you away?”

Within the black mist, bare-handed Yan Ling and Hua Yan, who was wielding a saber, had already exchanged blows for several rounds.

Hua Yan had a large area of dark bruising on his left cheek, and his left foot seemed to be injured, causing him to stumble slightly as he moved. However, Yan Ling’s condition was worse—she had several cuts inflicted by the saber on her body, the deepest one winding across her right arm, staining the white gauze of her sleeve crimson.

“Are you sure you want to continue?”

Hua Yan looked at her with cold eyes: “Yan Ling, I admire you greatly, and I don’t want a cultivation prodigy like you to fall here. Just yield a little, marry Hua Shu in the Dao Companion Ceremony, and inherit the Flying Immortal Sect later.

“All of this—things outsiders can only dream of—what exactly are you dissatisfied with?”

Yan Ling narrowed her eyes slightly: “It’s just the two of us here; why bother with the pretense?”

She flicked the blood off her hand: “You and I both know the whereabouts of the ‘Key of Ten Thousand Spirits,’ but I didn’t pursue it. I thought you would understand my meaning. I just didn’t expect your ambition to be so vast that you’d try to control my entire being.

“Unfortunately, you’re going to miscalculate.”

Hua Yan threw his head back and laughed a few times.

“Of course I don’t want to let a talent like you go easily. That’s why I’m even willing to offer you my precious daughter, Hua Shu. Isn’t that a good deal?”

Outside, Shi Yunji received no response and sent another telepathic message: “Yan Ling? Can you hear me? Yan Ling?”

Yan Ling slowed her breathing and replied, “I’m here.” She was slightly puzzled why Shi Yunji kept asking for her location, but then she suddenly realized that Shi Yunji must have already left the Jade Bell Palace to search for her.

“You left Spirit Bell Peak? You’re outside?”

Shi Yunji: “I came to bring you your Natal Weapon.”

Yan Ling was about to advise her to go back when she heard Hua Yan continue from the opposite side: “Stop stalling, Yan Ling, have you thought it through?”

“I’ve already said…” Yan Ling looked at him coldly, “I won’t marry Hua Shu, and I won’t be controlled by anyone!”

“Fine…” Hua Yan shook the saber in his hand, “Since you won’t take the easy way, don’t blame me for being ruthless!”

The two engaged in combat again.

As the Sect Leader of the Flying Immortal Sect, Hua Yan was quite capable. Yan Ling, without her weapon, had to concentrate her absolute best to handle his offensive. Consequently, she could not spare any mental effort to respond to Shi Yunji’s telepathic messages.

Shi Yunji, outside, knew she couldn’t wait any longer.

She thought for a moment, looked at the silver bells in her hand, and spoke, uttering word by word: “Take me to find, Yan Ling.”

She thought she was speaking with great force and felt that she should have produced a sound, but the reality was that only her lips moved, with no vibration whatsoever in her throat.

Shi Yunji was extremely anxious. She pressed her other hand to her throat, repeatedly giving commands to the silver bells—

“Go find Yan Ling.”

“Take me to find, Yan Ling.”

“Go save your, master.”

But these silent commands had no effect; the silver bells remained quietly in her hand, utterly still.

Just as Shi Yunji was sweating with anxiety, a hand grasped her shoulder and forced her to turn around.

She looked up, meeting Hua Shu’s eyes directly.

“It really is you.” Hua Shu’s face was dark. “How dare you leave the Jade Bell Palace.”

Her gaze quickly fell upon the string of silver bells on Shi Yunji’s hand: “Wait… this is… Yan Ling’s weapon? How did you get this?”

Shi Yunji stared at her coldly.

“Did, did Yan Ling give it to you?” Hua Shu shook her head. “No! Impossible!”

She absolutely could not accept what was before her, so she fabricated another explanation: “Fine, you, a mere maid, dare to steal the Immortal Master’s weapon!” She drew the long sword at her waist: “Today, I must kill you, you base servant!”

Shi Yunji frowned and quickly backed away.

She took off the sixth bell from the string; this bell was for defense, and instantly opened a barrier around her, blocking all of Hua Shu’s attacks.

Hua Shu quickly realized this, and she froze completely: “How can you use Yan Ling’s Natal Weapon?”

Shi Yunji looked at her, struggling to speak.

“I am, Yan Ling’s, Dao Companion.”

She spoke with immense effort, word by word, even feeling a faint ache in her throat. For a brief moment, she distinctly felt a tiny, weak sound, which was her own voice, now very unfamiliar to her, being transmitted into her ears via bone conduction.

But from the expressions of the people around her, who were struggling to read her lips, she painfully realized that she still couldn’t speak aloud.

Since she had acquired aphasia due to some reason in her childhood, she had never once felt the urge to speak, the desire to produce sound. The psychologist who had been with her for several years once told her despairingly that if she herself lacked the desire to vocalize, the condition might never be cured. At that time, she had merely smiled faintly, feeling that she could completely adapt to the minor inconvenience of not being able to speak, and even felt that maintaining the status quo was quite good.

But this time, she genuinely and desperately wished from the bottom of her heart that she could speak.

To speak, to command the silver bells to find Yan Ling.

To speak, to announce her relationship with Yan Ling to everyone.

“Who are you?” A rogue cultivator among the onlookers read her lips clearly. “Why do you claim to be the Spirit Bell Immortal Master’s Dao Companion? Are you worthy?”

Someone quickly refuted him: “Why do you care who she is? If she isn’t the Spirit Bell Immortal Master’s Dao Companion, then who is?” That person looked at Hua Shu with a mocking gaze: “Well? Besides her, can you find a second person here who can wield the Spirit Bell Immortal Master’s Natal Weapon?”

The refuted person was enraged: “Nonsense! What do you know?

“The Spirit Bell Immortal Master is the honored guest of the Flying Immortal Sect! Only someone of the status of Fairy Hua Shu is worthy to stand alongside her, not just any maid who happens to show up and claim to be her Dao Companion.”

“Whether she’s worthy or not is for the Spirit Bell Immortal Master herself to decide. Why are you, an unrelated person, barking here?”

The two traded insults, one after the other, and with others joining in, it quickly escalated into a mass verbal brawl. In the end, it was unclear which side drew their weapon first, but the Flying Immortal Sect’s conference, which should have been harmonious, quickly devolved into a large-scale armed conflict, making Shi Yunji’s eyes widen in astonishment.

In the midst of the chaos, a chubby cultivator quietly approached her.

“Are you looking for the Spirit Bell Immortal Master?”

Shi Yunji turned her head and recognized the person as Qin Zhen, a rogue cultivator who had previously come with Zhou Huaibi to deliver materials to Yan Ling.

Qin Zhen was not involved in the Zhou Huaibi incident, so he might be trustworthy. Thinking this, Shi Yunji quickly nodded at him.

Qin Zhen glanced around: “Follow me.”

Having said that, he turned and led the way.

Shi Yunji held the silver bells in her hand, unafraid that he meant her harm, and decisively followed.

Soon, Qin Zhen led her to another part of the venue. Qin Zhen pointed at a patch of black mist in the air: “The Spirit Bell Immortal Master is right there; she’s trapped by that old villain Hua Yan!” He gritted his teeth as he spoke: “How old is that old villain Hua Yan, bullying a young girl! He has no shame. I thought Yan Ling would be able to break free quickly, but I didn’t expect her to have given you her weapon. That was a close call.”

He looked at Shi Yunji: “I’ll keep watch for you. Whatever you need to do, do it quickly.

“If you delay any longer, I’m afraid the Spirit Bell Immortal Master might really be in danger.”

Shi Yunji nodded at him gratefully.

She began to run, approaching the black mist as fast as she could. Once she felt the distance was sufficient, she stopped and forcefully threw the silver bells toward the black mist.

“Yan Ling, I’m here!”

This sentence exploded in Yan Ling’s mind.

Before she could even react, a familiar sensation swept over her mind. She looked down and saw her life-bound Natal Weapon, which was intimately connected to her, appear before her eyes. Yan Ling grabbed it and used the momentum to counter Hua Yan’s next move.

Hua Yan was already at the end of his rope. He couldn’t understand why, despite having every advantage, he couldn’t cleanly defeat Yan Ling.

He was already growing impatient from the prolonged attack; seeing Yan Ling’s Natal Weapon reappear now, he was momentarily stunned.

Yan Ling gripped the silver bells tightly, turned, and curved her lips into a smile at him.

“It’s over,” she said.

Support Transmigrated as the Little Concubine of a Paper-Thin Man