After the Villainess Awakens

After Hua Yanyue left, Leng Mushi sat by the table until dawn. She watched as the sunlight appeared outside, the rays of light slowly penetrating the room. The warm yellow light felt warm, yet it made her shiver with cold.

She now completely understood why the law said she would regret it.

Hua Yanyue had actually told her that if she wanted to be happy, she could take another path. She gave Leng Mushi two pills. The name of the pills was interesting: Soul-Forgetting Pills.

Not Heart-Forgetting Pills, not Worry-Forgetting Pills, but Soul-Forgetting Pills.

They dissolved in water, colorless and tasteless. Hua Yanyue had once refined them for herself and Xuanzhu.

But she had shamelessly chosen to continue suffering in this mortal world. Xuanzhu's choice was the same as hers, even though they were destined to never see each other again in this lifetime.

These pills would make Xiao Mian and Leng Mushi strangers again. It wasn't about forgetting past feelings, but rather, whenever they met, they would forget each other completely after turning around.

This way, no matter what fate awaited them, before those things happened, they were just carefree disciples of Mount Tai Chu, focused on their cultivation.

As the sky brightened, Xiao Mian knocked on the door but received no response. He opened the unlocked door and entered the room, only to see Leng Mushi sitting alone by the table.

"Why did you get up so early?" Xiao Mian asked, the corners of his mouth curling up. A night had passed, and he was still happy that Leng Mushi had taken the initiative to tell Hua Yanyue and Xuanzhu that she liked him yesterday.

Therefore, even in such an environment, while he mourned the dead disciples and felt sorry for the injured ones who survived, he was also grateful that he and Leng Mushi were still safe and sound.

Leng Mushi turned to look at him. He walked towards her in the morning light, the warm yellow light reflected from the window paper making him as beautiful and warm as a dream, both within reach and incredibly illusory.

Leng Mushi only felt her vision blur, unaware that she was shedding tears.

Xiao Mian panicked and stepped forward. His slender fingertips wiped away her tears, and he cupped her small face and kissed her, asking with heartache, "Why are you crying? Are you feeling unwell somewhere?"

Leng Mushi closed her eyes. Xiao Mian caught her fluttering eyeballs through her eyelids with his lips and kissed them forcefully.

"I'll go prepare breakfast for you," he said, turning around to pull Leng Mushi up. "Go wash your face. Did your master say something to you last night? Were you crying for a long time?"

It was at this moment that Leng Mushi crushed the Soul-Forgetting Pills Hua Yanyue had given her.

Xiao Mian had no soul, so what was there to forget?

The flowers and leaves of the other shore flower never met, so what?

Even if it turned out to be a fleeting dream in the end, heartbreaking and painful, she still wanted to keep this touch of warmth in front of her before her life ended.

After all, fate had been too cruel to her. She had so little in her hands, and whoever tried to snatch it away, she would bare her fangs at them. So what if she was a demon?!

Once she made up her mind, she was no longer afraid of the unpredictable future.

In fact, she and Xiao Mian had always had the same mentality. Even without this demon incident, they had never imagined that they, or either of them, would one day reach the end of the path of cultivation and ascend to immortality.

They had always thought that they would stop wherever they went, as long as they had each other along the way, nothing else mattered.

The crushed pills fell from her fingertips like dust. After Xiao Mian pulled her to the washroom, she hugged his waist tightly from behind.

They were only a year apart in age, and Xiao Mian was about a head taller than her. His back, between that of a teenager and a young man, was not yet broad enough to bear too much heavy burden. But Leng Mushi pressed herself against him, burying her face in his back and inhaling his pleasant scent, feeling safe and warm.

"Hmm?" Xiao Mian tried to wash her face, but she buried herself in his back and wouldn't come out. "What's wrong? Don't want to wash up? Then let's cast a cleaning spell."

With that, Xiao Mian cast a cleaning spell on both of them. Leng Mushi hugged him for a long time before letting him go to get food and drinks.

In the early morning, the barrier to the Demon Realm Ruins opened once more. The last wave of elders and disciples who had entered to rescue others also returned.

They were led by an elder from the Huan Xi Sect, dressed in red gauze but with a face full of sinister energy. His masculine aura was so strong that it almost burst out of his body, even the red gauze couldn't restrain his chest muscles and physique. The other leader was Elder Qu Yang, the Sixth Elder of Mount Tai Chu.

Their group was quite lucky and suffered almost no injuries. However, they still returned empty-handed and brought back even heavier news: the number of advanced demonic beasts inside was increasing.

To prevent their cultivation from advancing too quickly and escaping from the Demon Realm Ruins, everyone had to return to their respective sects to report and ask their sect leaders and powerful figures to come out and set up a demon-slaying formation to kill these out-of-control demonic beasts.

As noon approached, the sects briefly met and then left Wanbo Town with their disciples, rushing back to their respective sects.

At the same time, the ground of Blood Demon Mountain trembled faintly. As the disciples of Mount Tai Chu were taking the injured disciples back to the sect, the effects of the Five Elements Pill that Leng Mushi had previously given Xiao Mian were almost exhausted, and the demonic energy within him began to intensify.

Leng Mushi had been constantly monitoring Xiao Mian's condition with the Kunlun Plate in her hand. Seeing the rise of demonic energy within him, she couldn't wait to return to the mountain before doing anything. So, she and Hua Yanyue used the excuse of searching for spiritual herbs in a mountain and took Xiao Mian away from the group.

They settled down in a relatively secluded mountain village. After nightfall, Hua Yanyue knocked Xiao Mian unconscious, and Leng Mushi set up the mustard seed cauldron.

Hua Yanyue threw all the herbs she had found along the way according to the prescription given to Leng Mushi by Yin Yi, the Shadow Sect cultivator, into the cauldron. Finally, she placed her hand on top of Leng Mushi's head, pursed her lips, and asked again, "Have you made up your mind? It will be difficult to turn back once you've decided."

Leng Mushi looked up at Hua Yanyue and then at the unconscious Xiao Mian not far away. She nodded and said, "Master, I still want to give it a try. Don't worry, I know when to let go."

Hua Yanyue actually had a lot to say to dissuade Leng Mushi, but she didn't say anything in the end. After all, she herself knew her fate but couldn't accept it. She just couldn't help but say, "No wonder the Shadow Sect cultivators dabble in the taboo of life and death, yet they still have many powerful figures and are not troubled by heart demons. It turns out that they rely on such an unorthodox method. I'm afraid that if word gets out, it will cause an uproar in the entire cultivation world."

"Tampering with the soul, not only can one not achieve immortality in life, but even in death, one cannot enter reincarnation," Hua Yanyue said. "I don't know why there are so many people in this world who can't think things through. Why bother?"

After sighing, she suddenly illuminated the small hillside as bright as day with the spiritual light from her hand. Several thin soul threads were extracted from the top of Leng Mushi's head. She bit her lip in pain, and blood flowed down the corner of her mouth.

Leng Mushi knelt on the ground, drenched in cold sweat, motionless.

When Hua Yanyue threw the soul threads into the cauldron, Leng Mushi suddenly collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath and trying to prop herself up with her arms, but she felt like her limbs wouldn't obey her.

"Don't be afraid," Hua Yanyue said without turning her head as she poured spiritual energy into the cauldron. "It will be fine in a while. It's just that if you die in this lifetime, you're afraid you won't be able to enter reincarnation and will have to fill the River of Forgetfulness."

This time was different from the last. The soul thread extracted during the last refinement of the Five Elements Pill was extremely thin, without consciousness, and it was a life-saving pill for Leng Mushi. After she took it, the soul thread naturally returned to her body.

But this time, it was several soul threads visible to the naked eye, something Leng Mushi could sense. She quickly sat up, gritted her teeth, focused, and tried to control them.

The Shadow Sect's pill formula was extremely unorthodox. It used the soul threads of others to dispel demonic energy that one couldn't expel on their own. In this way, whether it was a heart demon or something else, it could be easily expelled from the body by these soul threads.

However, these soul threads were also wrapped around the heart meridian. In other words, one's own soul had to accommodate the soul of another, constantly residing in a vital spot. Therefore, the entire Shadow Sect was exceptionally united, and their actions were inevitably strange, so they never interacted closely with other sects.

This might sound like it had all the benefits and no harm. Even during battles, they didn't need to transmit their voices and could instantly understand each other's thoughts, achieving perfect cooperation.

As a result, the Shadow Sect had grown significantly in recent years. Their cultivators frequented the royal families of various countries, and the inner sect possessed countless rare treasures, making it the most luxurious of all sects.

The Shadow Sect cultivators, connected by soul threads, were like ships tied together facing a hurricane at sea. They could withstand strong winds and waves, advance together, and their combined strength was boundless.

But the downside was that they were as close as family. If one died, the living one would also have to go through a period of life-and-death torment.

Everyone uncontrollably shared the sadness and joy of others. The path of cultivation emphasized peace of mind and abandoning worldly thoughts. As a result, although the Shadow Sect was growing stronger and producing many powerful figures, they were also extremely prone to falling, and the reason why they couldn't produce world-shattering experts was found.

And Leng Mushi, having obtained this unorthodox pill formula, also glimpsed into an incredible secret of the Shadow Sect. Naturally, she couldn't reveal a single word of it, otherwise, she would be hunted down by the entire sect.

This was clearly written on the pill formula that Yin Yi had given her.

The reason Yin Yi needed pills that could seal techniques was so that during battles, in the gap after a teammate's death, when their heart meridian was affected, they could still use techniques without being affected, reducing casualties from sneak attacks during that vulnerable moment.

And the reason why Leng Mushi was able to suppress the already demonically possessed Xiao Mian, who was destined to awaken according to the plot, with the Five Elements Pill before wasn't that she had suppressed the Heavenly Demon Pill with the spiritual power of the Five Elements Pill as she had thought.

It was a fluke, because of the strand of soul thread belonging to her in the Five Elements Pill.

Although that soul thread only had an extremely faint connection with her, it was still driven by her heart's desire and wrapped itself around the Heavenly Demon Pill. This prevented the demonic energy of the Heavenly Demon Pill from coming into contact with the demonic energy that had entered Xiao Mian's body through his claw wound, causing the awakening of the Heavenly Demon to remain dormant.

And now, in order to continue delaying the awakening of the Heavenly Demon within Xiao Mian, Leng Mushi needed to draw out her soul thread again and completely wrap it around the Heavenly Demon Pill.

But how could extracting a living soul be so easy? Even though only a small amount was extracted from Leng Mushi, it was just as Hua Yanyue had said. When the time came and this soul thread couldn't return to her body, if she died, she wouldn't be able to reincarnate and be reborn.

Leng Mushi gritted her teeth, closed her eyes, and sensed her soul thread being refined in the cauldron, being tempered into strands of thread containing rich spiritual energy, and then woven into the shape of a pill.

Xiao Mian lay on the ground, oblivious. Leng Mushi sensed her soul thread, her entire body drenched in cold sweat. In the end, she fainted from the pain. Before she lost consciousness, she couldn't help but apologize to her mother in her heart.

I'm afraid that after this, I won't be able to be your daughter in my next life.

But then Leng Mushi thought, maybe she really wasn't like her cold and heartless father, but like her mother. She could actually go to such lengths for the love she had feared like a tiger and wolf not long ago.

She just didn't know if this foolishness would bring her the result she desired.

Leng Mushi woke up before Xiao Mian. The refined pill was as bright as glass. Leng Mushi held it and looked at it for a few times. The thin threads entwined and flowing inside had an indescribable intimacy with her. It was her soul thread after being refined.

Just as she was about to put the pill into the mouth of the still unconscious Xiao Mian, Xuanzhu, who had transformed back at some point, grabbed her wrist.

"Think carefully! It's still too late to eat it yourself," Xuanzhu said. "Why are you doing this for him? Is he worth it? What's so good about him?!"

Leng Mushi looked at Xuanzhu and smiled weakly. "Then, Senior Brother, what do you think is so good about Master?"

Hua Yanyue was obsessed with alchemy and wasn't born with a gentle and charming appearance. Her personality was fierce like fire, without a hint of romanticism, and she didn't understand the slightest bit of love.

But Xuanzhu still couldn't let go, even willing to warm her with his own body, to keep her, to the point where she was almost taking over his nest.

Xuanzhu gradually loosened his grip. He wanted to say something more, but in the end, he didn't say anything.

He was just a small bug trapped in the web of the mortal world, who was he to advise others?

"If our roles were reversed," Leng Mushi smiled and pinched Xiao Mian's chin, throwing the pill into his mouth, "I believe he would make the same choice for me."

Xuanzhu didn't say anything. If there was anything wrong with Xiao Mian, he would have driven him away long ago. How could he have let him into the Cang Sheng Courtyard as if it were his own disciple's courtyard?

But good people really didn't get rewarded in this world. Xiao Mian wasn't even a real person, just a wisp of consciousness, and he could make his Junior Sister like this. Xuanzhu still felt uncomfortable.

However, no one could make decisions for others. While Xiao Mian was still unconscious, the pill in his mouth automatically turned into soul threads. Leng Mushi closed her eyes and manipulated those soul threads, drilling into his meridians and finally attaching themselves to his core, tightly wrapping around the Heavenly Demon Pill, concealing its presence.

The moment she opened her eyes, the tremors of Blood Demon Mountain, thousands of miles away, caused by the imminent awakening of the demon general, slowly subsided. Everything briefly returned to calm.

Leng Mushi squatted by a mountain stream in the morning, scooped up some water with a leaf, and woke Xiao Mian up before feeding him the water. Xiao Mian, whose consciousness hadn't fully recovered, obediently drank a lot of water with Leng Mushi's help.

In the entire mountain, there were only Leng Mushi, Xiao Mian, and Hua Yanyue, who had already left.

Before she left, she told Leng Mushi, "I feel Xuanzhu is angry that I extracted your soul thread."

She smiled and shrugged indifferently. Leng Mushi would have thought they were a pair of enemies before, but now looking at them, she only felt sad.

They couldn't even quarrel. This kind of inseparable bond, who would really want it?

Therefore, Leng Mushi cherished every minute and second she spent with Xiao Mian. This state of not knowing the road ahead, not asking about the future, actually made her find a long-lost sense of peace and joy.

They couldn't handle the matters of the Demon Realm Ruins with their current cultivation levels. As for treating the injured disciples, there was the Hall of Healing Herbs. She and Xiao Mian were in no hurry to go back, so they simply bought two ordinary horses in the nearest village and wandered back.

By now, more than a month had passed since they came out to train. It was late October in the human world, the beginning of winter, and the weather was getting cold. Last night, Leng Mushi and Hua Yanyue were busy refining her soul threads according to Yin Yi's pill formula and hadn't paid attention to the desolation and coldness of the mountains.

But as she and Xiao Mian slowed down and rode their horses along the small road in the countryside, they felt the chill of early winter.

"The sky is gloomy. Let's find an inn to stay in the town ahead. It's going to snow," Xiao Mian said. "You're dressed too lightly."

With Leng Mushi's current cultivation level, even if she couldn't shake mountains and rivers with a single sword strike like ordinary peak Moon Realm cultivators, she could at least circulate her spiritual energy to resist the cold. She turned to look at Xiao Mian's serious expression and smiled, nodding. "Okay, I'll listen to you, brother."

"Riding horses is too slow after all. Why don't we travel by sword? Where is the town with the spiritual herbs? Did Second Elder tell you?"

Leng Mushi didn't turn her head when she heard this. The spiritual herbs at the foot of Mount Tai Chu were a lie that Leng Mushi and Hua Yanyue had come up with last night to trick Xiao Mian into traveling alone with her.

As for what kind of spiritual herbs Second Elder asked her to find, it was just a lie Leng Mushi made up to make the story believable. She just wanted some alone time with Xiao Mian in the end.

Thinking of the result of their discussion last night… Leng Mushi's eyelashes trembled slightly. A tiny snowflake landed on her eyelashes and quickly melted into water droplets due to her body temperature.

"It's snowing, brother." Leng Mushi looked up at the gray sky, then turned to Xiao Mian and smiled. "I know you're in a hurry to go back to the mountain, but bear with me for a while. We'll travel by sword soon. Maybe we can catch up with the injured disciples who can't travel by flying artifacts."

Before Xiao Mian could say anything, Leng Mushi pouted and said, "I just want to walk alone with you for a while. Actually, I lied about looking for spiritual herbs. My master didn't say anything."

Leng Mushi knew Xiao Mian's personality and knew that he was eager to go back to the mountain to help. But they were the ones who were "unable to take care of themselves" right now. Seeing his troubled expression, Leng Mushi decided to tell the truth.

"I asked Master to leave first, brother." Leng Mushi turned her horse around and rode to Xiao Mian's side.

The light snow had begun to fall more heavily. She smiled, the tip of her nose red, her eyes clear and without a trace of gloom.

She acted coquettishly towards Xiao Mian. "We barely made it out of the Demon Realm Ruins alive. I want to spend more time with you. We're also heading towards Mount Tai Chu, just following behind the other disciples. It won't delay anything. It's rare that Master agreed…"

Hearing her say this, Xiao Mian pursed his lips and thought about it. The disciples who were lightly injured would travel by flying artifacts, and those who were seriously injured would also travel by ordinary carriages. They would travel in groups anyway, so whether he followed them or not wouldn't make much difference.

Xiao Mian sat on his horse. The two horses were also rubbing their ears against each other, so they were very close, very close.

He leaned over and brushed the snowflakes off Leng Mushi's head, pulling her hood up. "Alright, I'll do as you wish."

Leng Mushi smiled sweetly. The two of them rode towards the nearest town in the falling snow. Before sunset, they arrived at the nearest town. They didn't put up a barrier against the snow, so their hair and cloaks were a little wet. They dismounted at an inn and handed their horses to the waiter, then entered the main hall, bringing in a gust of cold wind and snowflakes.

"Two upper rooms, please." As Xiao Mian reached for his storage bag, Leng Mushi pulled her hood over her face, revealing only her lively eyes. She met the innkeeper's kind gaze, then pressed her fingers on the two keys on the table, slowly pushing one back.

"One room," Leng Mushi said, muffled by her hood.

Xiao Mian's hand froze as he was about to pay. His ears turned red in an instant. Just as he was about to speak, Leng Mushi pinched his thigh hard. He cried out in pain, and the innkeeper's cloudy but kind eyes narrowed. He put away one of the keys and accepted the payment for one upper room.

Xiao Mian scratched his head, his back stiff, and went upstairs with one key and Leng Mushi, who had wrapped herself up so tightly that only her eyes were visible. Although they had lived together before and had done some intimate things, checking into a room together while traveling always gave people a different feeling.

As if… as if they were about to do something extraordinary.

Xiao Mian tried to compose himself and opened the door. Leng Mushi bumped into him from behind, causing him to stumble into the room.

The door closed behind them. Leng Mushi took off her cloak and said calmly, "Brother, it's better that we don't separate when we're away from home. What if this inn is run by a monster in disguise?"

The pink lotus, which was recovering after absorbing Leng Mushi's blood and had been stuffed into Hua Yanyue by Leng Mushi, inexplicably sensed its master calling it.

But the feeling soon disappeared.

Because Leng Mushi was already sitting there drinking tea with a look of detachment, not showing any signs of guilt.

On the contrary, it was Xiao Mian who had uncontrollably had some improper thoughts earlier and was now feeling even more embarrassed. He even condemned himself for having such impure thoughts. Although they were a man and a woman alone in a room, although they were partners, they had spent so many days together in the valley before and had gotten along naturally and harmoniously, hadn't they?

Xiao Mian smiled and quickly returned to normal. He went to get food for the both of them, and then he was busy again, casting cleaning spells on Leng Mushi's clothes, making the bed, and folding the quilt, as gentle and considerate as a virtuous wife.

But Leng Mushi was not as innocent as Xiao Mian thought. When she pushed back the key earlier, if she didn't have any ulterior motives, she wouldn't have wrapped herself up like those shadowy figures from the Shadow Sect.

So, in the middle of the night, when Leng Mushi saw Xiao Mian meditating with his legs crossed, she asked the waiter for bathwater. Halfway through her bath, she "accidentally" knocked over the screen.

"Brother, can you come and help me?" Leng Mushi lay on the edge of the bathtub, half of her face buried in the water, muttering something inaudible. She squatted in the bathtub, only her eyes and the upper half of her head visible, following Xiao Mian's long legs as he walked over.

Xiao Mian didn't suspect anything and walked over without looking sideways. He quickly put the screen back up, then dried Leng Mushi's wet clothes with a cleaning spell and neatly placed them on the screen. He reminded her, "Come out when the water gets cold. You've been washing for a long time. Don't catch a cold."

Then, just as he was about to leave, Leng Mushi suddenly stood up.

Xiao Mian: … He didn't mean to look, but Leng Mushi stood up too suddenly! He turned around subconsciously!

He quickly averted his gaze, his entire body burning like boiling water in the bathtub, emitting white steam.

He hurriedly apologized, "I'm sorry, I… I'll go out now."

He had fallen into Leng Mushi's trap the moment he came in. How could he leave so easily? Leng Mushi quickly stepped out of the bathtub, grabbed her clothes, and blocked Xiao Mian in this narrow, makeshift washroom separated by a screen.

Her clothes were only draped over her shoulders, just an outer robe, not even pulled together in front. She hugged Xiao Mian head-on.

Xiao Mian's breath hitched. The water droplets on Leng Mushi's body quickly soaked through his clothes as well.

Both of their breathing became erratic.

Leng Mushi tightly gripped Xiao Mian's waist. As Xiao Mian's hands were raised, unsure of where to put them, she lifted her head, her chin resting against his. Her wet hair and steam-reddened eyes made her look like a seductive water ghost.

She said, "Brother, only through the union of yin and yang will one lose their vital essence. Have you read any romance novels?"

"What… what?" What romance novels?

Xiao Mian's entire body was so numb that he could barely speak.

"I mean, actually…" Leng Mushi said, her hands already holding Xiao Mian's waist sash at some point. She flung it away, and it landed by the bathtub with a thud.

"Actually, there are many other ways we can make each other happy." Leng Mushi untied Xiao Mian's collar and kissed the blood-red cinnabar mole on his chest.

"People say that the pleasure of lovemaking is fleeting," she said in a soft and low voice, coaxing him, "Why don't we try them all?"

I haven't read any romance novels… Before Xiao Mian could finish his sentence, Leng Mushi pushed him towards the bathtub.

The bathtub wasn't big enough for two people. It was a tight fit, leaving them no room to move away from each other. Water overflowed, and the floating clothes concealed everything beneath the surface.

This small space was filled with the sound of rising steam and the occasional splash of water dripping from the bathtub.

Xiao Mian only felt that this wasn't a bathtub, but a large pot that could cook people alive. He had become the frog waiting to be boiled in the pot. At first, he didn't feel the heat, but by the time he realized it, his skin and flesh were already falling apart, his internal organs cooked through. He no longer had the strength to jump out and escape, and could only be tossed and turned by the boiling water.

In the dead of night, the two lay in bed. Xiao Mian hugged Leng Mushi tightly and apologized, "I couldn't control myself. I'm sorry… Did I hurt you?"

Leng Mushi couldn't breathe properly being held so tightly and let out a helpless sigh.

After a while, she finally managed to say, "It's just my leg that's a little red. I'm not hurt. I'm a peak Moon Realm cultivator after all. The redness only lasted for a short while and disappeared after you stopped. But if you keep strangling my neck like this, I might really die from suffocation."

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