After the Villainess Awakens

The scene was dead silent.

If life could be repeated, back to the moment before she opened the door, Leng Mushi would choose death.

But the reality was that in the strange silence, Xiao Mian looked at Leng Mushi with an unreadable expression. He glanced at the cylindrical Chenshou jerky in her hand, then raised his arm, quickly closed the door, and even pushed Leng Mushi, who was leaning against the door frame, into the room.

He ended this awkward and deadly scene in an extremely simple and crude manner.

Leng Mushi had just endured a bout of soul-searing pain. Her whole body was weak, and Xiao Mian's push made her sit on the ground with a thud. Her arm failed to support her, and she fell flat on the ground.

She simply lay on the ground without getting up, burying her face in her arms. Her earlobes were burning as if her whole head was on fire.

What a mess!

There was no more sound outside. Leng Mushi heard the footsteps of the crowd leaving in silence. After about a quarter of an hour, Leng Mushi recovered some strength and returned to bed.

Another quarter of an hour later, she tidied herself and the bed, sat on the bed solemnly and ceremoniously, opened the food box Zhu Rong had given her, gathered the Chenshou jerky from both the upper and lower layers, and then laughed silently.

Looking at the jerky in the basket, with varying lengths, thicknesses, and sizes, Leng Mushi almost thought she was looking at the jade toys she had seen in the cabinet of a sister in the brothel.

No, it should be said that they were even more complete in size than jade toys.

Zhu Rong was also a warrior. She dared to say that she made these herself and even took them out to give them to someone… to eat?

It was feared that no matter which lover she gave them to, the lover would have to flee on his sword under the stars and the moon.

Leng Mushi reached out and poked the arm-thick jerky that she couldn't even bite into today, put it back in, and then put it all into the storage bag.

She couldn't eat it, but this thing could kill someone if thrown. Maybe it would come in handy someday.

Leng Mushi put the empty food box aside, planning to find an opportunity to return it to Zhu Rong and persuade her not to cook and harm people in the future. Then she was going to the dining hall to find something to eat.

As soon as she opened the door, she was startled by the person standing at the door.

Xiao Mian was just about to knock on the door when it suddenly opened. He was stunned for a moment, then put down his hand and carefully looked at Leng Mushi. Seeing that her clothes were not messy or loose, he let out a sigh of relief and said, "I brought you some food."

When Leng Mushi saw Xiao Mian, she subconsciously stepped back and wanted to close the door, but she stopped halfway through.

It was okay if it was Xiao Mian.

Leng Mushi didn't feel much shame in front of him, or rather, she basically didn't feel any. Anyway, there would be a lot of shameless things in front of Xiao Mian in the later plot, so it didn't matter.

But this time, she looked cautiously behind Xiao Mian and didn't see anyone else. She reached for the food box and casually asked, "Where are Senior Brother Yi Tu and Senior Brother Xing Zhou?"

Xiao Mian handed the food box to Leng Mushi. Hearing this, he paused and said lightly, "They were probably scared by you and left first."

Leng Mushi's hand froze as she took the food box, and her face flushed red. "That's not what it looked like!"

Xiao Mian didn't let go of the food box. "That's not what it looked like?"

He looked at Leng Mushi, his indifferent eyes hiding the depths beneath them with doubt. His voice was as clear as a spring. "Then what was it like?"

Leng Mushi: "…"

"It wasn't like that! You go!" She snatched the food box, pushed Xiao Mian out, and slammed the door shut.

Then she went back to the table with a frown on her face and finished two large bowls of rice in frustration. She also ate all the side dishes in the basket.

After eating, perhaps because her full stomach had squeezed out all the space in her heart, Leng Mushi no longer felt so upset, leaving only the satisfaction of being full.

After licking the last grain of rice covered in soup from the bowl, Leng Mushi thought to herself that the amount of food Xiao Mian brought was just right. She couldn't eat another bite, and she would feel unsatisfied if there was a bite less.

After eating, Leng Mushi went to sleep. Those who had not yet entered the Tai Chu Sect did not need to cultivate or attend classes, and they were not even allowed to run around outside the Fei He Courtyard.

However, everyone was trying their best to get close to the inner disciples, or to please the disciples who arranged their accommodation and visited them every day. They even tried to ask where they could buy Dao Enlightenment Pills during mealtimes, or find ways to test their spiritual roots in advance.

Anyway, no one was idle, and they were all racking their brains to stay in the Tai Chu Sect after a month, even as an outer disciple.

Even Leng Tian Yin made a few good friends, and some people who admired her claimed that even if she didn't have spiritual roots, it didn't matter. They would marry her when they returned to the mortal world and treat her well for the rest of their lives.

Only Leng Mushi basically didn't go out except to eat. She didn't socialize with the inner disciples, nor did she try to please anyone. She didn't even plan to make friends. All these things were told to her by Fen Lian, who had already started to wander around.

Fen Lian had completely become a piece of skin, or rather, a piece of human skin paper. After not sucking the blood of living creatures for a long time, she had no demonic aura on her body. There were no powerful artifacts in the Fei He Courtyard to detect demons and evils, so she would shrink into a small piece of paper every day and wander around at night, sticking to every window.

Leng Mushi initially let her follow her with the intention of exposing her and getting rid of her. After all, humans and demons walked different paths. If she hadn't done anything evil or stained herself with karma, the Tai Chu Sect would at most lock her up.

But as Fen Lian said, how could there be no feelings after being together for a long time? Although it had only been a little over a month, Fen Lian's constant chatter and strong presence made Leng Mushi feel as if they had been tied together for a long time.

Leng Mushi knew that she didn't suck the blood of living creatures and that she would be in pain and hungry at night, but her ability to restrain her demonic nature gave Leng Mushi a strange, sympathetic thought.

If she could always restrain her demonic nature, just like she could always bear the soul-searing pain without harming the lives of others, wouldn't they be the same in the end?

Moreover, Leng Mushi was extremely bored, and she relied on Fen Lian to inquire about the messy things in the Fei He Courtyard for entertainment.

In the blink of an eye, a month was about to pass. The day of the entrance test was just around the corner. In two days, it would be the first of October.

Some people in the Fei He Courtyard had found their way and were already confident. Some became more and more anxious, like ants on a hot pan, their feet not touching the ground all day long, chattering and unable to find a good way out.

Leng Mushi rarely went out this day. She wandered around the courtyard and was caught by Leng Tian Yin, who was returning from outside.

She usually strictly forbade Leng Tian Yin from looking for her and deliberately ate at different times from her, just to avoid seeing her. She didn't expect to run into her at this time!

Leng Tian Yin grabbed Leng Mushi's wrist with a nervous look and pulled her away. "Sister, come with me. I have something good for you!"

Leng Mushi scoffed. What good things could you have? You're not a good thing yourself.

Leng Mushi didn't want to have anything to do with her outside the plot, but she couldn't help it. This time, Leng Tian Yin's strength was surprisingly strong, and her expression was very determined, obviously determined to speak.

Leng Tian Yin dragged her under a lush dwarf tree and then took out a handkerchief from her arms. Opening the handkerchief, there were a bunch of small pills inside.

"Sister, the day after tomorrow is the spiritual root test. This is a pill that can make spiritual roots purer. If you eat them, you might be able to worship a good master!"

Leng Tian Yin stuffed all the pills into Leng Mushi's hand and grabbed her hand. "It's been a month, and Fifth Elder hasn't seen us. I asked Brother Xiao, and although Fifth Elder is our living ancestor, he doesn't intend to protect us. Saving our lives is probably just to cut off the last bit of earthly attachment. We have to rely on ourselves!"

Leng Mushi looked down at the small pill. It was white as jade and emitted spiritual energy. It looked like a real elixir, but… why did this thing look similar to the thing that suppressed spiritual roots described in the plot?

"Where did you get these?" Leng Mushi thought of the plot, her expression serious.

Sure enough, even if she didn't follow the plot, the plot would always twist itself back.

Leng Tian Yin was afraid that she would be angry, so she quickly waved her hands and explained, "Sister, don't be angry, I… I bought these with money, I…"

Leng Mushi grabbed her wrist and found that the longevity bracelet she had been wearing since childhood was gone.

It was carved by her father, who had specially ordered skilled craftsmen to use warm jade from the South China Sea. Of course, the warm jade came from Leng Mushi's mother's dowry.

At that time, Leng Mushi, who was still young, didn't know what jealousy and hatred were, and she even pestered her father to make her a pair of such beautiful bracelets. In the end, she was severely reprimanded for it.

Recalling the past, every single event made Leng Mushi's heart turn cold. It was impossible for her to have a true sisterly relationship with Leng Tian Yin. She didn't want to see her and only hoped that one day, she would be free from the plot and never have to interact with her again.

But she also wouldn't allow Leng Tian Yin to be bullied like a fool.

"You traded your longevity bracelet for this?!" Leng Mushi said, "You bought it from that rich young master in Courtyard No. 4, right? Did your nanny not watch you when you were young and your head got caught in the door? If this thing really worked, wouldn't he keep a lot of it for himself? Look at his gold and silver, does he need your two bracelets?!"

"But… but, but many people bought it, and Senior Brother Li Nan, who arranged our accommodation, also acquiesced that it was effective…"

Leng Tian Yin had been saving up for a long time and didn't dare to go to Leng Mushi. She thought of giving it to her just before the test. Leng Tian Yin had specifically asked, and eating a lot at once had the same effect as eating one pill a day.

"Sister…" Seeing that Leng Mushi's face had completely darkened, Leng Tian Yin's voice became as soft as a cat's. She stood there, her eyes full of helplessness.

Looking at her expression as if she was offering a treasure, Leng Mushi's eyes heated up, but it was not touched, but resentment.

She resented that she couldn't control her own destiny, and she resented Leng Tian Yin even more for not knowing her place and swaying in front of her.

Did she really think that after the family fell and their father died tragically, after they had lost everything and changed places, they could really reconcile?

Leng Mushi couldn't use sisterly love to cover up the bitter experiences of the past. She could forget the pain and resentment, but she couldn't forget her mother, who had died miserably because of the intervention of Leng Tian Yin's mother.

She gritted her teeth, put away the handkerchief and the pills, closed her eyes, and said, "This is a pill that suppresses spiritual roots. If you eat it, no matter how pure your spiritual roots are, they will become turbid and erratic. If you eat too much, they will even be abolished. You'd better not have eaten it."

Leng Tian Yin's lips parted slightly in shock, but she quickly shook her head. "I didn't eat it, but how could that be? Many people ate it…" She had been saving them up and hadn't been willing to eat a single one, just so she could give them to her sister.

Because Leng Tian Yin knew that Leng Mushi had the overly chaotic five spiritual roots. She had already inquired about it. In this Tai Chu Sect, even outer disciples rarely had such mixed spiritual roots.

"Don't worry about this. Stay in your room these two days and don't run around!" Leng Mushi put the pills into her arms and turned back to her room.

Leng Tian Yin obediently returned to her room, but she felt extremely sad. She believed Leng Mushi's words almost without a doubt because, since she was a child, her sister had never played with her, leaving her alone and ignoring her, but she never allowed anyone to bully her.

But she had done something wrong again. Leng Tian Yin sat on her bed, twisting her fingers in distress and crying.

Ever since she was sensible and knew her status and situation, she had been persuading her mother not to be ostentatious.

She didn't dare to get close to her father, didn't dare to do whatever she wanted, didn't dare to laugh out loud, didn't dare to make a single mistake, and lived like a model of a well-behaved young lady, but it was all in vain…

Leng Tian Yin was not stupid. She naturally knew that Leng Mushi wished she could never see her again, dead or alive. Perhaps they were not wrong as children, but they were both forced to grow up too early.

Blood relatives should have a strange, natural attraction, but they suppressed their childish nature and never played or interacted with each other. From birth, they stood on two parallel paths that would never intersect. Even if she tried to catch up again, she would eventually go their separate ways, getting farther and farther apart…

While Leng Tian Yin was sad in her room, Leng Mushi took out the unconventional things she had gotten from her wanderings in the past from her storage bag.

Finding a small piece of incense that could make even a warhorse weak in the limbs after smelling it, Leng Mushi went to the dining hall to eat her fill and then waited for nightfall.

She would give him a taste of his own medicine. If that kid from Courtyard No. 4 dared to do it, he should dare to bear the consequences.

At midnight, Leng Mushi covered her face with a handkerchief and took the antidote to the incense in advance. When she approached Courtyard No. 4, Fen Lian became unprecedentedly excited.

Fen Lian transformed into a piece of paper the size of a leaf and stuck to Leng Mushi's body, chattering non-stop. "I knew you weren't a good person. Most of the things you took out just now were in my previous brothel! You little girl, you play quite a lot! Are you going to deal with that kid?!"

Leng Mushi didn't speak. Fen Lian then said, "Give me the incense, give me the incense, I'll go, I'll go…"

Leng Mushi was so annoyed by her that she really gave it to her. Fen Lian held the small piece of incense and flew straight to the room of the rich young master in Courtyard No. 4.

Leng Mushi approached from the side and poked a hole in the oiled paper window. She saw that the young master was already lying on the ground with his mouth open in horror. He couldn't move or shout. Fen Lian was standing on the table, smaller than a teacup, bouncing with excitement.

Leng Mushi had planned to act alone, but she didn't expect Fen Lian's help to make things so much easier. She entered without much effort. The young master was sprawled on the ground by the table. When he saw her come in, he moved his mouth in horror, but could only make a faint sound.

Leng Mushi didn't waste any words. There was nothing to say. The villains in the storybooks all died from talking too much.

She half-kneeled on the ground, her face covered, revealing only a pair of fox-like eyes. At this moment, her eyelashes were lowered, and her expression was ice-cold, making her look inexplicably gloomy.

She took out the small pill and directly stuffed it into the young master's mouth. He was briefly dazed. After realizing what it was, the shock in his eyes turned into despair. Tears and snot flowed wildly. He refused to swallow and tried to push it out with his tongue in vain.

Leng Mushi took out the prepared wine from her arms, pinched his mouth, and poured it directly inside. After all the pills were poured in, Leng Mushi put the wine pot on the ground, then searched his body and bedding for many unsold pills, and forced him to swallow some more.

After making sure that his spiritual roots, no matter how pure, were directly abolished, Leng Mushi poured the remaining wine in the pot all over him, poured another cup into the teacup on the table, and finally smashed the teapot in his room.

After getting up, Leng Mushi looked down at him coldly, meeting his hateful gaze, then suppressed her voice and said the only sentence.

"Remember how you feel now. This is the price of doing bad things, the taste of retribution."

After returning to her room, Leng Mushi washed off the smell of alcohol and destroyed the incense and other things in the storage bag. When she destroyed them, Fen Lian kept shouting, "What a pity, what a pity." Finally, Leng Mushi only kept the Law Stone and the jerky before going to bed.

Early the next morning, there was only one day left before the spiritual root test.

Today, there would be inner disciples who would take everyone to visit the disciple courtyards of the various elders of Tai Chu Mountain. This way, after the entrance test and the spiritual root test, not only would the elders choose their disciples, but the disciples also had the right to choose which elder to worship as their master and where to live in the elder's disciple courtyard from then on.

However, early in the morning, after the servant of the rich young master discovered that his master had been dealt with, things blew up.

Several inner disciples came, but the rich young master didn't recognize Leng Mushi at all and couldn't point out who it was. Moreover, he couldn't even get up now, and his mouth wasn't working properly.

Unlike other courtyards, the Fei He Courtyard didn't have any formations that could trace back the scene in a short period of time. Those who hadn't cultivated couldn't rashly extract the divine sense to search for souls and evidence. Therefore, Leng Mushi opened the window, narrowed her beautiful but wickedly upturned fox eyes, rested her arm on the windowsill, and leisurely swayed her calves as she watched everyone discuss.

Soon, the inner disciples didn't find out who had harmed the rich young master, but they found many pills that suppressed spiritual roots and a lot of mortal money and jewelry in his room.

After the inner disciples said that the pills were not used to strengthen spiritual roots, but to suppress them, all those who had secretly bought and eaten the pills stood up. The wall fell, and everyone pushed it down. The victim instantly became the perpetrator who had harmed himself after getting drunk and losing his mind.

Leng Tian Yin also went over there. When she passed by Leng Mushi's window, she turned her head and looked at her with guilt.

Leng Mushi stopped her and said, "That pair of longevity bracelets of yours were made from my mother's dowry. You've been wearing them all this time, and I really find them an eyesore."

Leng Tian Yin paused, her shoulders slumping slightly. After a moment, she silently turned back and returned to her room.

This matter caused quite a stir, and it also exposed other problems. The relative of that rich young master, who was under the tutelage of the Pill Dao Elder in the sect, was also exposed. Li Nan, the inner disciple who had arranged their accommodation, was also punished for aiding and abetting the evildoer.

Finally, before the Immortal Sect test, the Fei He Courtyard sent down a large group of people.

Naturally, this included those who had secretly bought and eaten the pills, trying to purify their spiritual power so that they could pass the test and enter the sect.

When these people went down the mountain, they happened to bump into the group of prospective disciples who were heading up the mountain to visit the various elders' disciple courtyards at the entrance of the Fei He Courtyard.

One group going up, the other going down. From now on, it might be two paths, one of life and death, the other of the Great Dao and longevity. Many of those who were sent away were unwilling. Most of them had red eyes, and some even cried.

Naturally, this included the rich young master who was still being supported by his servant.

His eyes were filled with resentment and venom as he carefully searched among the prospective disciples. However, Leng Mushi didn't cover her face today.

Leng Mushi met his gaze, her eyes filled with innocence, reverence, and excitement for the Immortal Sect, without a trace of the coldness and gloom from yesterday's revenge.

The scar on her left cheek had now scabbed and fallen off, no longer as hideous and ugly. It looked a bit like a half-blooming pink lotus. It wasn't exactly beautiful, but at least it didn't look ugly anymore, like a flower钿 that was painted in the wrong position. Even if that kid looked from afar, even if he gouged out his eyes and threw them into the crowd, he wouldn't be able to recognize her.

Leng Mushi followed the group of prospective disciples who hadn't been caught up in the elixir incident and walked up the mountain. The first place to visit was Fifth Elder's disciple courtyard.

At the entrance of Fifth Elder's Tian Xu Courtyard, the inner sect senior brother who was leading them handed them over to Xiao Mian, who was waiting at the entrance. It was Xiao Mian who led them into Tian Xu Courtyard.

The group of people walking towards Tian Xu Courtyard with Xiao Mian whispered to each other, most of them feeling relieved. Naturally, they were talking about those who had been sent down the mountain this morning. They were glad that they hadn't been blinded by greed and bought that bullshit elixir. Few of them were really in the mood to look at the environment of Tian Xu Courtyard.

Leng Tian Yin's eyes would well up with tears whenever she saw Leng Mushi now. It was all thanks to her sister stopping her this morning. Otherwise, if she had rashly gone to claim the bracelet, she would have definitely been sent down Tai Chu Mountain on the spot for having an improper mind.

She tried to talk to Leng Mushi several times, but Leng Mushi turned her head away. When they passed through Tian Xu Courtyard, bypassed the main hall, and entered Fifth Elder's disciple courtyard, everyone finally stopped talking and started to look at the environment. Leng Tian Yin was also pulled by two female companions to look at the fish that looked like frog legs in the flower pond of the courtyard.

Leng Mushi stood alone by a corridor in the courtyard, lacking interest.

Whether she looked or not, she wouldn't be able to enter the inner sect anyway.

She was thinking about how to go to the outer sect to sweep the floor and how to proceed with the plot later on, not noticing when Xiao Mian had quietly stood beside her.

"I looked for you last night," Xiao Mian said seriously.

Leng Mushi's heart skipped a beat.

Half of her body stiffened. Just as she was about to laugh dryly and say she didn't know, that she had gone to bed early yesterday, Xiao Mian turned to look at her, his eyes carrying a hint of reproach. "You weren't in your room."

She cursed loudly in her heart.

Author's Note:

Leng Mushi: Being a vicious female supporting character, I'm professional.

ʕ•́ᴥ•̀ʔっ

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