After the Villainess Awakens

Leng Mushi was unaware of Xiao Mian's little thoughts. She rubbed her tired eyes and shook her wrist, which felt much better after Xiao Mian's massage. She continued to look down at the ancient books and took notes.

Xiao Mian rolled on Leng Mushi's bed for a while, then imitated the spider demon, silently pedaling his legs in mid-air. After releasing his happiness, he stood up, put on his shoes, walked behind Leng Mushi, and massaged her shoulders.

Just a few days ago, when Xiao Mian sincerely reached out to give her a massage for the first time, Leng Mushi refused sternly. What did she say at that time?

“You don't have to do this. I'm fine. I can do it.”

As a result, just like now, after enjoying it twice, Leng Mushi accepted Xiao Mian's bullshit reason of "good brothers don't need to be so taboo" without any psychological pressure.

At this moment, as soon as Xiao Mian's hands, with just the right amount of strength, pinched her shoulders, Leng Mushi relaxed and leaned back in her chair, closing her eyes to enjoy it.

“A little to the left, a little harder. Leng Tianyin grabs me harder than you.” Leng Mushi hummed and directed, tilting her neck to cooperate with Xiao Mian. Xiao Mian stood behind her, taking advantage of the fact that she couldn't see him, and the corners of his mouth rose wildly.

He felt that the method he came up with was really brilliant. The way they were, it was really no different from falling in love.

Even if they were in love, they wouldn't be able to be together like this every day, cultivating together, eating together, living together. It was so sweet.

Of course, there were many things they couldn't do. For example, he could use the excuse of massage to help her relieve her fatigue, but he couldn't cross the line and let her notice anything strange. It was indeed a little hard for a young man to be so restrained in front of the person he liked, but Xiao Mian was very satisfied.

He preferred to get along with Leng Mushi like this. He looked at the dim, long-lasting lamp reflecting their intertwined shadows, and had an unspeakable warm illusion.

The illusion that they were already a couple who had been married for many years. On such a night, under the candlelight, she, as his wife, was embroidering something, and he was watching from the side. Of course, this thing must be a gift for him.

Xiao Mian had never had such wishful thinking before, but the longer he spent with Leng Mushi, the more he liked her temperament.

He liked her focus, her cunning and intelligence, her fearlessness of hardship and even torture. Because every time, even when Xiao Mian felt that it was unbearable to test the pills, Leng Mushi always ate them before him without blinking. Even when she was suffering, she could still pick up her pen and meticulously record the efficacy of the medicine.

She used to be just a wild grass that sprouted again after the spring breeze in Xiao Mian's heart, but now, she had grown into a towering tree in his heart.

He really, really had to have her.

He wanted to hear her softly call him Brother Xiao again and throw herself into his arms.

Therefore, in the two months that Hua Yanyue was not in the sect, in the first month, Leng Mushi herself advanced two levels in a row, and the grade of her pills had reached the peak of the beginner level. Not only did she have no wasted pills like Hua Yanyue, but she even created several kinds of pills herself.

The second month was simply Xiao Mian and Leng Mushi living together. Leng Mushi was addicted to alchemy and couldn't extricate herself, and Xiao Mian was addicted to Leng Mushi and couldn't extricate himself.

How could there be such a girl in this world? She was so cute.

Xiao Mian was like a little daughter-in-law. Apart from the time he had to go back to the sect for classes, clean the stone steps, he spent all his remaining time in the Cangsheng Courtyard.

He was also getting more and more involved in Leng Mushi's life. At first, he only helped her test the medicine, then he helped her record, helped her watch the alchemy furnace, helped her raise the demonic beasts, helped her relieve her fatigue, and even…cooked and washed clothes.

One day, Leng Mushi accidentally climbed up from the cellar. She felt that the sun was really good. She hadn't been out for many days, so she went out from the back door to bask in the sun. Then, she saw Xiao Mian holding her clothes and washing them in the bathing pool.

She blinked and smiled, squinting in the sun. “Hey, Xiao Mian, I found you're getting more and more virtuous.”

Xiao Mian was facing Leng Mushi sideways, putting the clothes on the bamboo pole, stretching the hem and shaking it hard. The water droplets suddenly flew up, all flying towards Xiao Mian's face, falling between his eyebrows and eyes.

Xiao Mian turned his head at this time. Under the sun, the fine water droplets on his face refracted his handsome features like a piece of Xuanli stone, a raw material for storing pills, scattering colorful spots of light.

He looked at Leng Mushi, with a hint of blame in his eyes, and said, “If I didn't wash them, you would have left them there to stink.”

Leng Mushi touched her nose with some embarrassment. “I'll wash them too… Besides, didn't I learn the Cleaning Technique?”

Xiao Mian glanced at her lightly and continued to shake the clothes. In fact, he was naturally able to skillfully use the Cleaning Technique. For these clothes, he only needed to bend his fingers to activate the runes.

But he hadn't used the Cleaning Technique for a long time. When he was with Leng Mushi, he found that she was just like ordinary people, cleaning herself and her clothes with water.

Sometimes, she would go out early in the morning to wash her face and come back, her sideburns wet and dripping with water as she entered the house. Xiao Mian would always get lost in her sideburns that were stuck to her face because of the wetness, swimming along the curved, wet arc again and again, but he couldn't find his way out.

So he also fell in love with cleaning with water. Seeing that she took off her clothes and threw them there without caring, and the next furnace of pills hadn't been opened yet, he had nothing to do, so he came to wash them.

Leng Mushi felt like running away from being stared at by Xiao Mian. The main reason was that Xiao Mian gave her a strange feeling. How should she describe it?

It was as if she was a drunk man who came home at night with smelly clothes and was disliked by his little wife.

Leng Mushi shook her head and threw away this terrible thought. Then she saw Xiao Mian continuing to fish for clothes in the bathing pool.

Outer robe, waist seal, long shirt, inner shirt, middle…pants.

Seeing this, the skin on the back of Leng Mushi's neck had tightened up. When she found out what Xiao Mian was still fishing for, her brain suddenly "cracked", as if she had been struck by lightning from the top of her head to her heels, splitting her in half.

“Wait…” Her voice was squeezed out of her throat.

Then she was horrified to see Xiao Mian actually fished out her underwear from the pool.

Leng Mushi exploded.

Her brain exploded.

Th-th-th-this!

She hurriedly ran to Xiao Mian's side, snatched the wet underwear, and stammered for a long time, unable to hide. She lifted her skirt, stuffed the underwear inside, and ran towards the house like a burning iron pillar, jumping up and down.

Xiao Mian's hand was empty, looking at her flushed earlobes and back of her neck, he also felt a little ashamed. He didn't think much of it at first, but Leng Mushi's reaction made him feel embarrassed…

Leng Mushi ran into the house holding her wet, dripping underwear, her mind as empty as if it had been sucked dry by a spider demon.

She closed the door, her stomach coldly pressed against her private parts, curled up like a big belly.

Leng Mushi lowered her head and thought irrelevantly that this level of shame was no different from really stealing someone and getting a big belly.

Was Xiao Mian crazy?!

How could he wash this thing for her? Ahhhh—-

She only wanted to leave it for a day, and she would secretly wash it when she took a bath at night after opening the alchemy furnace.

Who knew that this damned Xiao Mian would touch it, ahhh!

Leng Mushi collapsed in the house, holding her "big belly", learning how to push a millstone like a donkey.

Xiao Mian was standing outside the back door, biting his sleeve, also spinning in circles.

However, he, the "culprit", was always calmer. After calming down, he pretended to be calm and pushed the door open. His eyes met Leng Mushi's. He pointed at her stomach and said, “Give it to me, I'll hang it up to dry.”

Leng Mushi held her stomach and retreated, her eyes as terrified as a pregnant woman who was about to give birth when she saw the executioner.

Xiao Mian couldn't help but laugh. “It's nothing. Aren't we friends? I washed my own, and I washed yours by the way. I didn't think much of it. Your reaction makes me embarrassed.”

His clenched fingers were behind him, and his face was calm.

Every time he was like this, he could fool Leng Mushi, but this time, he really couldn't fool her.

Leng Mushi shook her head. “Stay away from my…clothes. Don't try to lie to me because I haven't read many books.”

Leng Mushi said with a sad face, “I've made so many friends, and none of them have ever rushed to wash my clothes, let alone…such personal clothes!”

Leng Mushi glared at Xiao Mian. “Tell me! Are you still not giving up?! Do you have designs on me?”

Xiao Mian's heart trembled violently, but he was always good at lying without changing his expression, so he pretended not to understand and looked at Leng Mushi. “I just did it conveniently. I didn't think much of it. If you think I offended you, I apologize. But I didn't mean to touch your personal belongings. It's just that you…wrapped them in your outer robe, and I only found out after I put them in the water.”

This was the truth. After all, Xiao Mian wasn't really a pervert.

When he said this, Leng Mushi did remember that she had wrapped her underwear in her outer robe.

Her expression softened slightly, but she was still far away from Xiao Mian.

Seeing that she had dispelled some of her doubts, Xiao Mian boldly stepped forward and grabbed her robe that was wrapped around the clothes. He frowned and said seriously, “Give it to me quickly. I'll go wash it again and hang it up to dry. Why are you holding it on your stomach? It's so cold.”

Xiao Mian was like an old madam from the Emerald Jade House, trying to reason with her. “In a few days, it will be the time for your period. If you ice it like this, your stomach will hurt…”

Leng Mushi was looking at him with suspicion. Seeing that he was so frank, she was about to be fooled by him.

But hearing him mention her period, her face, which had just calmed down, suddenly flushed red again. “You, you…”

“Hurry up and give it to me!”

Leng Mushi snatched her clothes and ran outside. She huffed and puffed as she washed and hung them up to dry. After struggling outside for a long time, she went back to her room, preparing to have a serious discussion with Xiao Mian about the difference between men and women. No matter how close they were, she was still a woman.

She gathered her courage and went in. Xiao Mian was drinking tea at the table as if nothing had happened. Leng Mushi sat down opposite him and said seriously, “Xiao Mian, I think there's something wrong with you.”

Hearing this, Xiao Mian slowly put down his cup and looked at her helplessly. “I didn't take any pills just now. I'm perfectly fine.”

Leng Mushi shook her head like a rattle drum. “You know, men and women are different. No matter how good our relationship is, you shouldn't… You shouldn't…”

She found it difficult to say it out loud. Xiao Mian continued, “I shouldn't have touched your underwear?”

Leng Mushi nodded vigorously. “Yes!”

Xiao Mian's eyes were filled with innocence. “But I explained that it was an accident.”

Leng Mushi held her breath and nodded. Then she said, “Then, then that…”

She gritted her teeth and stomped her foot. “My period! You…”

Leng Mushi roared at the end, “Why do you remember that!”

Leng Mushi broke down and questioned Xiao Mian. Xiao Mian's expression went blank for a moment, and then he said, “Of course I didn't remember it on purpose…”

“Then explain to me, even I can't remember clearly, how can you remember?” Leng Mushi put her hands on her hips and looked at Xiao Mian.

If he didn't give her a reasonable explanation today, this matter would definitely not be over.

Xiao Mian lowered his head, reached out and pinched his earlobe, and then said, “Have you forgotten? When I first started testing the medicine, you once refined a furnace of Five Colors Pills to enhance the five senses for a short period of time. After I took it, the effect was particularly good… I smelled blood on you.”

Leng Mushi opened her mouth, her face as red as a monkey's buttocks. Xiao Mian said seriously, “I didn't understand it at first, but I asked you if you were injured, and you said no. I probed your meridians and didn't find anything unusual, so I looked through some books and learned about women's periods.”

Leng Mushi covered her face, not knowing what to say.

Why did Xiao Mian read such messy books when he had nothing to do?!

Xiao Mian continued, “It's nothing. Men and women are born different. I just accidentally remembered your period cycle and calculated that it would be in a few days. I'm just afraid that you'll catch a cold.”

Xiao Mian said, “There's nothing to avoid. You and I study pills all day long, so we're studying the different effects of pills on people. Men and women have different physiques by nature, and this difference can also be considered a subtle factor affecting the efficacy of the medicine…”

“Yes!” Leng Mushi was still ashamed, but when she heard Xiao Mian's words, it was as if she had been enlightened. She wondered why the effects of the medicine were always different on her and Xiao Mian.

Leng Mushi thought it was because of their different cultivation levels and body sizes. Now it seemed that it should also be because of the natural differences between men and women!

If she could thoroughly study this point, then could she imagine that maybe the pills she developed in the future could also be targeted at men and women!

Leng Mushi immediately stopped talking to Xiao Mian about her underwear and her period. She excitedly squatted by the big box of her notes and began to look for the comparison between Xiao Mian's and her own medication records.

Xiao Mian watched her get busy and slowly exhaled. He really didn't remember it on purpose, but it wasn't right to say that he didn't put his heart into it. He did care about Leng Mushi very much.

Not only did he remember her period, but after being together for so long, Xiao Mian even knew what she ate that could easily upset her stomach, how much water she drank a day, and how many times she went to the toilet.

Of course, he didn't remember these on purpose. He wasn't a pervert. He just couldn't help but pay attention to her, which he couldn't control.

Xiao Mian also felt that this was actually quite good. Leng Mushi was a pill fanatic. It wasn't considered slacking off for him to be her medicine tester. As for the rest of his energy, he was very willing to use it to take care of her.

This short episode passed like this, but because of Xiao Mian's words, Leng Mushi took out most of her manuals and compared them bit by bit, from day to night, from night to dawn, which made Xiao Mian a little annoyed.

“Why don't you eat something before you continue looking?” Xiao Mian said, “Or you can just tell me where to look, and I'll help you.”

Leng Mushi shook her head and turned her stiff neck. “No, you can't understand the scribbles I wrote…”

She couldn't even understand some of them herself, and Xiao Mian wasn't sensitive to pill formulas, so it was easy for him to miss important information.

Xiao Mian could only feed her like a child. He filled a bowl with wontons, walked to her side, and scooped them up with a spoon to feed her.

The food was brought to her mouth, and she naturally opened her mouth when she smelled it. Leng Mushi casually praised, “Delicious.” Xiao Mian was so happy that his tail almost reached the sky.

“I didn't go down the mountain to the Five Grains Hall today. How does this wonton taste? It's made with mushrooms from the backyard of the Cangsheng Courtyard, plus a wild rabbit that strayed into the Cangsheng Courtyard to steal mushrooms as filling.” Xiao Mian said, “This is my first time making it. I'll make it for you again if you like it.”

Leng Mushi didn't listen to what he was saying at all. When she was concentrating, most of the sounds went in one ear and out the other. Even if it passed through her brain, she didn't understand what it meant.

However, after eating a few, Xiao Mian kept saying how fresh the mushrooms were and how stupid and easy it was to catch the wild rabbit. Only then did Leng Mushi realize that something was wrong.

She turned her head to the side and saw Xiao Mian eating the wontons with the spoon she had just used.

Xiao Mian's eyes met hers. He felt guilty and the spoon hit the side of the bowl with a 'ding'. “Wh-what's wrong?”

He had been eating from the same bowl as Leng Mushi a lot lately. It wasn't that she hadn't noticed, but she never showed it. She looked indifferent, so Xiao Mian gradually became bolder.

At this moment, Leng Mushi suddenly looked at him like this, and Xiao Mian became afraid again. He was afraid that she would have a grudge against him because of what happened in the day and would be wary of him.

Leng Mushi just stared at Xiao Mian for a while, then rubbed her eyebrows with her fingers, and asked Xiao Mian, “Did you just say that you made these wontons?”

Hearing her ask this, Xiao Mian immediately heaved a sigh of relief and nodded. He said with a smile, “If you like it, I'll learn something else next time.”

Leng Mushi shook her head. “The mushrooms in the backyard and the rabbit that steals mushrooms on the cliff?”

Xiao Mian nodded. “Yes, there are so many mushrooms in the backyard. I found a few that are edible…”

“They're not edible.” Leng Mushi raised her hand to interrupt Xiao Mian. “Quick, my legs are numb and I can't get up. Go to the bedside and get the antidote pill…”

Leng Mushi's mouth wasn't working well at the moment. “That piece of land in the backyard… the soil was dug up by my master from a secret realm. The things that grow on it all, all contain a strong paralyzing effect. They are paralyzing mushrooms used to catch demonic beasts and draw their blood…”

Xiao Mian was shocked and hurriedly stood up. He was originally half-kneeling beside Leng Mushi to feed her, and he had also eaten a few mouthfuls. But at this moment, when he stood up, he realized that his legs were not working well either.

“Ah…” The bowl and chopsticks containing the unfinished wontons fell to the ground, and he fell back to Leng Mushi's side.

Leng Mushi sighed. Her lips were numb.

Xiao Mian still comforted her with a slurred speech, “It's, it's fine. I'll get it right away.”

Then, he gritted his teeth and tried to stand up again, but he fell back down after several attempts.

The room was very small. The distance between the bed and where the two of them were squatting was only a few steps, but neither of them could get up.

Leng Mushi couldn't even speak. She had eaten more and looked at Xiao Mian struggling in vain with a look of despair. He had only crawled out a little, and he was already sweating profusely from exhaustion.

She slowly lost her grip on the box and slipped to the ground. She couldn't even feel her own breathing, but she couldn't help but think to herself, Xiao Mian really… Not only did he use paralyzing mushrooms as filling, but he also used wild rabbits that ate mushrooms all year round.

That wild rabbit always came to steal mushrooms. Leng Mushi had seen it many times. It relied on the fact that its entire body was infected with medicinal properties and ran rampant among the herd of beasts at the foot of the cliff in the backyard. No one dared to eat it. After all, no matter how powerful a beast was, after eating it, its entire body would be paralyzed, and it would likely become food for other beasts.

Perhaps even the rabbit that ate mushrooms all year round didn't expect that someone would dare to eat it. This…

Leng Mushi lost consciousness. Xiao Mian crawled out a little, but he really couldn't crawl anymore, let alone get the antidote pill from the storage bag on the bed.

Coincidentally, Leng Mushi's storage bag was usually carried with her. It was only taken off in the past two days when she changed her clothes. The antidote was close at hand, but it was as if it was separated from them by a natural chasm.

In the end, Xiao Mian gave up. He couldn't even gather his spiritual power.

He used the last of his strength to turn around, rolled back to Leng Mushi's side, and hugged her, pressing half of her body under his own to prevent the spider demon from taking advantage of their coma to seek revenge and cause trouble.

Before he lost consciousness, Xiao Mian thought, this was good too. Leng Mushi hadn't had a good rest for so many days. She could finally have a good rest this time. It was just that the floor was a little cold. He should have laid down a blanket.

The two of them slept like this from night to day, and from day to evening.

Xiao Mian didn't go down the mountain for class, didn't return to the disciple's courtyard, and didn't even go to the Five Grains Hall to eat. After nightfall, Yi Tu and Xing Zhou began to search for him all over the mountains and plains.

They almost alarmed even Celestial Master Tian Xu. After all, it was no small matter for a disciple to disappear into thin air.

The punishment of sweeping the stone steps was not over yet. There was no one to clean the stone steps, and many dead leaves fell. Leng Tianyin, Xing Zhou, Yi Tu, and the others had no choice but to help Xiao Mian and Leng Mushi clean the stone steps first.

It was late at night, and there was still no sign of Xiao Mian. When Xing Zhou, Yi Tu, and even Xiao Mian's other senior brothers came out to look for him, they only sensed his location the moment the barrier of the Cangsheng Courtyard opened.

He was actually in the Cangsheng Courtyard. As expected, they had suspected the Cangsheng Courtyard during the day, but the Cangsheng Courtyard was not a place that ordinary people could enter. They couldn't even peek inside.

The reason why the barrier of the Cangsheng Courtyard opened for a moment was because Hua Yanyue, or rather, Xuan Zhu, who had been away from the mountain for more than two months, had returned.

As soon as he opened the barrier, he sensed that something was wrong, because the hungry wails of the demonic beasts could be heard everywhere. The Bone Crusher Lizard was about to break the tree, the Red Snake was studying how to eat the Poison Flame Beast, and the small house was quiet.

Xuan Zhu entered and pushed the door open… His pupils constricted violently.

The spider demon on the ground was busy wrapping a huge human shape with spider silk. Xuan Zhu thought that his new junior sister had died and been sucked dry by the spider demon.

But he sensed it and found that there was steady breathing inside the cocoon-like spider silk. Moreover, it was not just one, but two…

Xuan Zhu's evil-looking eyebrows rose slightly. He drove away the spider demon, used his sword to pick open the spider silk cocoon, and then saw two people sleeping soundly in each other's arms.

One was his junior sister, and the other…

Xuan Zhu narrowed his eyes. Wasn't this the annoying guy with a deadpan face under Celestial Master Tian Xu?

Xuan Zhu pulled his junior sister out of Xiao Mian's arms with great force, put her on the bed, wrapped her in a blanket, and checked her. He was surprised to find her cultivation level and the paralyzing drug she had been poisoned with.

He abruptly looked at Xiao Mian on the ground, then his heart burned with anger, almost waking up Hua Yanyue in his body.

Why did Junior Sister improve so quickly? Could it be… Did this deadpan guy trick her into taking the evil path of dual cultivation in the past two months?!

This couldn't be blamed on Xuan Zhu. After all, in the eyes of an alchemist, everything except alchemy was an evil path. Cultivating formations was to trap demonic beasts and obtain materials, cultivating swordsmanship was for self-preservation and obtaining materials, everything was centered around alchemy, and other miscellaneous studies were all in the service of alchemy.

Hua Yanyue was a pill fanatic, and so was Xuan Zhu. He was much more extreme than Hua Yanyue.

Therefore, he was very exclusive, especially under such a misunderstanding at this moment—-

Therefore, Leng Mushi was still unconscious in the warm blanket, but Xiao Mian was stuffed with pills by Xuan Zhu. After kicking him twice, he still didn't wake up. Xuan Zhu coldly took the cold tea that had been left on the table for two nights and poured it all on Xiao Mian's face.

Xiao Mian was jolted awake. He opened his eyes and his arms were empty. He was so scared that he sat up abruptly, wiping the water off his face randomly. Then, he met Xuan Zhu's evil and gloomy eyes right in front of him.

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