After the Villainess Awakens

The autumn night was dark, and a cold wind rustled through the trees.

Leng Mushi quietly moved away from the campfire behind the carriages. Squinting, she looked into the forest, searching for the figure who had remained aloof and dignified throughout the journey.

He should be relieving himself. Leng Mushi had been observing him all day. Although it was said that immortals didn't need earthly sustenance after reaching a certain level of cultivation, based on the male protagonist's current level, he still needed to eat.

And everyone who eats, needs to relieve themselves.

Leng Mushi hadn't found a good opportunity all day. Finally, she caught the male protagonist in a moment of need.

The mountain was full of ditches and small cliffs, posing a low risk. According to the plot, she just needed to jump off one of them to complete the task!

She walked around the carriages, using the trees for support. In the dim moonlight, she saw a figure approaching in the distance.

Leng Mushi quickly went to meet him, silently rehearsing the lines from the plot: "Brother Xiao, I've been thinking about you all day. From the first moment I saw you, I felt you looked like my cousin, and it made me feel close to you."

The male lead was indeed handsome. From the first glance, Leng Mushi understood why the rules of the book stated that she, the vicious female antagonist, would go crazy for his love.

He had delicate features but lacked feminine softness. His demeanor was serious but not cold. Of all the people Leng Mushi had ever met, no one, male or female, could compare to him. "Immortal beauty" was an understatement.

He looked even more beautiful under the moonlight. As he approached and seemed puzzled by her presence, his perfectly shaped lips parted slightly. His voice, like a clear spring, flowed into her ears: "Miss Leng, why…"

"Brother Xiao, I've been thinking about your immortal beauty all day, let me get close to you…" Leng Mushi faltered, realizing her mistake. She was too nervous. After all, this was the first time she had ever followed a man who was about to pee.

She messed up the lines she had memorized from the plot and even tried to salvage the situation with, "Let me give you another cousin…"

Xiao Mian: "..."

Leng Mushi: "..."

After a suffocating silence, Xiao Mian pressed his lips together, his eyes widening slightly in surprise. He turned sideways, trying to bypass Leng Mushi and return to the group. But Leng Mushi hadn't finished her lines, hadn't jumped off the cliff. She couldn't let him go. So, she boldly grabbed his wrist.

"Brother Xiao, let me explain, what I meant was, I admire your immortal beauty, and I want to have…"

"Ugh!" Leng Mushi spat on the ground and straightened her tongue. "I meant, you look like my cousin, and I admire you!"

Another awkward silence followed. The night wind carried the sharp chirping of crickets, as if mocking Leng Mushi's tangled tongue.

Perhaps stunned by Leng Mushi's boldness, Xiao Mian finally spoke. Under the moonlight, his features seemed to glow, making him appear even more otherworldly.

He effortlessly shook off her hand with a gentle lift of his hand, as if brushing away a stray leaf.

His voice was calm and steady. "Miss Leng, it's late. This area is teeming with demons. You should return to the group and rest."

Leng Mushi knew she was done for. If she didn't follow the plot tonight, there would be consequences tomorrow. She didn't want to experience that excruciating pain again!

So, as Xiao Mian turned to leave, Leng Mushi grabbed his waist sash. Of course, she meant to grab his arm, but in her panic, she grabbed whatever she could.

Xiao Mian, not expecting such an absurd act from this mortal woman, was caught off guard.

Although Leng Mushi was a delicate woman, she was desperate. He stumbled backward from her pull but managed to grab a tree to avoid falling. However, his sash couldn't withstand the force and snapped with a ripping sound.

Xiao Mian froze, turning to look at the woman who was still running towards the forest. His pristine white robe fell open…

But he couldn't worry about that now. The jade buckle on his sash held something of utmost importance.

Without even bothering to adjust his robe, he immediately gave chase. He grabbed his sword and jade pendant that were falling to the ground because of the broken sash. With a clang, he drew his cold, sharp sword, Shuiyun, and pointed it directly at Leng Mushi's back—

Leng Mushi, a weak mortal woman, was no match for Xiao Mian, the prized disciple of the Tai Chu Sect's elder. Soon, she felt the cold blade against her neck.

"Hey, hey, hey, Young Master Xiao, Immortal Xiao, don't shake, let me explain…" Leng Mushi raised her hands, one still clutching Xiao Mian's sash. "I was just joking with you, really! Please put the sword away, I'm scared."

Xiao Mian's sword, Shuiyun, was personally forged by his master, Tian Xuzi. It was a rare treasure in the cultivation world. Sensing its master's anger, the runes on the blade glowed faintly, and a chilling sword Qi seeped from the blade towards Leng Mushi's skin, sending shivers down her spine.

"Immortal Xiao?" Leng Mushi's senses weren't as sharp as Xiao Mian's. The moonlight wasn't bright enough for her to see his momentary loss of control. But he quickly regained his composure and sheathed his sword. He took the sash from Leng Mushi's hand and checked the broken part. Finding the jade buckle still intact, he finally let out a breath of relief.

If his master hadn't specifically instructed him to safely escort the last of the Leng family to the Tai Chu Sect, and if he hadn't sensed any demonic aura from Leng Mushi, his sword might have actually hurt her.

He sheathed his sword but couldn't re-tie his sash. He hadn't reached the level of cultivation where he could manipulate objects with his Qi, so he couldn't simply reattach the broken sash. However, walking around with his robe open was not his style. He swiftly cut a branch from a nearby tree with his sword and used it as a makeshift sash to hold his robe together.

His movements were swift and precise. Once done, he turned to leave, but this time, he extended a bit of his divine sense to guard against the woman behind him, just in case she decided to do something crazy again.

And she didn't disappoint. She started shouting behind him.

"Brother Xiao! Be my lover!" Leng Mushi had also lost her hairpin while running, and her long hair now cascaded down her back.

Unlike Xiao Mian, who looked effortlessly graceful even with his robe askew, she was just an ordinary woman. Although she wasn't unattractive, her current appearance with her messy hair and the exaggerated expression she was making according to the plot, could only be described as unhinged.

She yelled, "Brother Xiao, if you don't agree, I'll jump from here!"

Xiao Mian was truly offended. He briefly considered that she had been nothing but trouble on this journey, and if she were to jump and get hurt, she would finally be quiet.

But as he sensed Leng Mushi actually moving to jump off the cliff, he quickly assessed her position. In a flash, he turned and flew back, catching her just in the nick of time!

Not here!

She could jump, but not here!

Leng Mushi closed her eyes, ready to fall. She wasn't afraid of getting hurt. After all, according to the plot, as the vicious female antagonist, she would be bouncing around for a while.

The rules stated that she wouldn't get hurt from this fall. Not only that, she would later use this incident to complain to the Fifth Elder of the Tai Chu Sect, Tian Xuzi, who was also her ancestor, and falsely accuse her younger sister, Leng Tian Yin, of pushing her.

Of course, Leng Tian Yin was the female protagonist of this book, and she and Xiao Mian, who was currently holding onto her, were destined to be together… Wait?

Why did Xiao Mian catch her?!

Leng Mushi quickly snapped back to reality. She had said her lines, and now she had to fall to complete the plot!

Why did Xiao Mian come back to catch her after walking so far away? Leng Mushi struggled in his grasp. "Let me go!"

"Let me go, really, I'll be fine, I won't die from falling," Leng Mushi couldn't break free, so she could only argue with him in frustration. "Honestly, it's none of your business if I jump or not. If you keep holding me, I'll scream for help and say you're being indecent!"

Her attitude was atrocious, completely different from her previous desperate confession and the "let's have a cousin" statement.

But Xiao Mian seemed equally determined, holding onto her tightly and trying to pull her back from the edge.

It had taken Leng Mushi two whole days to find an opportunity to advance the plot, and she had finally reached the last step. She couldn't give up now. Unable to break free, she panicked and resorted to acting like a child throwing a tantrum, swinging back and forth while holding onto Xiao Mian's arm and even biting his wrist.

Xiao Mian had never encountered such shamelessness and was caught off guard. Meanwhile, Leng Mushi, seeing that biting didn't make him let go, had an idea.

Desperate times called for desperate measures. She suddenly threw her arms around Xiao Mian and said in a coquettish voice, "Brother Xiao, you're so reluctant to let me jump. Could it be that you've agreed to be with me?"

Xiao Mian had a secret: he hated being touched, especially around his waist, which was particularly sensitive. Naturally, Leng Mushi knew this, as she was privy to the entire plot.

As expected, the moment she hugged him, Xiao Mian felt a shiver run down his spine. He instinctively flung his arm back, throwing Leng Mushi towards the cliff.

Jumping willingly and being thrown were two completely different things. The instinct to survive kicked in, and Leng Mushi instinctively reached out for anything she could grab. As luck would have it, she grabbed the sash that Xiao Mian was holding.

"Ah!"

"Oh!"

In the next moment, both of them tumbled down the gentle slope beside the cliff. It turned out that this wasn't a steep cliff but a gentle incline.

The storage bag in her pocket glowed, and Leng Mushi, lying in a patch of grass, smiled.

This part of the plot was complete!

And she was safe!

Xiao Mian, however, was beyond angry. He sat up and snatched his sash from Leng Mushi, rolling it up and stuffing it into his robes.

Leng Mushi got up too. A moment later, a gust of mountain wind blew past, and she felt something cold and wet on her face and hands.

Confused, she mumbled, "Eh, what is this…"

She instinctively raised her hand to her nose, wanting to smell if it was juice from some fruit she had fallen on or if dew had already fallen.

"Don't!" Seeing her movement, Xiao Mian's calm facade crumbled, and he shouted in panic. He raised his hand and swiftly struck her neck, knocking her unconscious before she could get a whiff of whatever was on her hand.

Under the moonlight, in the mountain gully, the young immortal's face was flushed crimson.

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