After the Villainess Awakens

Xiao Mian was unresponsive.

Leng Mu Shi was waiting for him to thrash around like he always did after taking her pills. She needed to record the effects of the medicine for her master.

She placed her fingers under Xiao Mian's nose, checking again and again. Finally, she realized with a jolt: What happened to Xiao Mian?

He died but didn't come back to life?!

"Xiao Gege, Xiao Gege?!" Leng Mu Shi patted Xiao Mian's shoulder. He remained stiff, eyes wide open as if he had died with grievances.

"Xiao Mian! Xiao Mian!" Leng Mu Shi gripped his shoulders, feeling the coldness of his skin. Her heart turned cold with fear.

"Law! What's going on! Shouldn't Xiao Mian be immortal?!" Leng Mu Shi shook Xiao Mian while slapping his face loudly. "Pa! Pa! Pa!"

The Law remained silent for a moment before saying: Don't be afraid, hit him harder. Xiao Mian won't die so easily.

Pink Lotus didn't know the complicated relationship between Leng Mu Shi and the Law. She initially saw Xiao Mian as a heartless man, a prejudice instilled by Leng Mu Shi.

However, after observing them, Pink Lotus realized there was nothing between this Xiao Xianjun and that silly girl Leng Tian Yin. On the contrary, his heart was set on Leng Mu Shi, even disregarding the injury on her face. He was a rare and devoted lover.

Seeing Xiao Mian lifeless from the pills, Pink Lotus also became anxious. She suggested: Don't just hit him, try blowing air into his mouth!

Leng Mu Shi was sweating profusely, her face flushed from the exertion of slapping Xiao Mian. Hearing Pink Lotus's words, she asked hurriedly: "What kind of breath?!"

Frustrated, Pink Lotus emerged from Leng Mu Shi's body and floated in mid-air. "Blow into his mouth! You claim to have read countless storybooks! Don't you even have this basic life-saving knowledge? In all the stories and plays I've seen, they always say blowing air brings people back!"

Leng Mu Shi's mind raced. She did recall similar scenes of reviving someone with breath, but she never thought it would actually work. Weren't those just excuses for the male and female leads to kiss?!

But Xiao Mian was already getting cold.

His body temperature was dropping rapidly. Leng Mu Shi felt he was as cold as the Bone Lizard in the Cang Sheng Courtyard. She had no other choice. Returning to her master, Hua Yanyue, for the antidote would take too long. By then, Xiao Mian would be long gone.

Leng Mu Shi knelt beside Xiao Mian and pried open his stiff arms that were clutching his own neck. Mimicking the life-saving scenes from the storybooks, she lowered her head towards Xiao Mian's mouth.

Xiao Mian's mouth was slightly open due to the suffocation, making it difficult for Leng Mu Shi to blow air in. She tried closing his mouth a bit, but then air escaped from his nose. So, she pinched his nose shut.

Finally, unable to bear the sight of Xiao Mian's wide-open eyes, Leng Mu Shi closed them.

Pink Lotus, at the most inopportune moment, commented: "Don't close his eyes! Only dead people have their eyes closed like that."

While blowing air, Leng Mu Shi retorted: "Staring with wide eyes is called dying with grievances!"

The Law remained silent, flickering in the nearby bushes, diligently recording this scene that resembled the desecration of a corpse.

Leng Mu Shi felt like she had inflated Xiao Mian's stomach with her breath. Her cheeks ached, but Xiao Mian still hadn't revived. He was still getting colder.

She sat astride Xiao Mian, finally stopping her actions. Looking down at his peaceful face, her head throbbed as if struck by the Red Snake's tail.

It seemed he was truly dead, poisoned to death by her.

Hua Yanyue was truly heartless! She really gave her poison!

"What should I do, what should I do?" Leng Mu Shi tugged at her hair, her fingers digging into her scalp. All she could think about was being discovered by the sect for harming a fellow disciple, her meridians being severed, and being expelled from the sect. She would be left crawling on the ground, covered in blood.

Pink Lotus, frantic, circled Leng Mu Shi, offering one bad idea after another. "How about I eat a couple of people? Once I recover some demonic power, I can turn them all into my puppets, and no one will find out!"

Just as Leng Mu Shi was about to speak, the Law interjected. Since there was no one around, it spoke directly instead of communicating through Leng Mu Shi's mind.

It voiced Leng Mu Shi's unspoken thought: "If you harm anyone, you won't even need to recover your demonic power. The rune barrier of Tai Chu Mountain will be triggered immediately, and you will surely die."

Leng Mu Shi nodded, looking down at Xiao Mian. His face was red from her slaps, not at all like a dead person. But he wasn't breathing, and his body was getting colder.

"Then push him down the cliff," Pink Lotus suggested again.

"No!"

"No!"

Leng Mu Shi and the Law spoke simultaneously.

She lowered her head again and pinched Xiao Mian's mouth, blowing air. Her blood ran cold along with his body temperature. She mumbled through tears, "You can't die, how can you die, you can't die! What should I do if you die? Maybe the world will collapse!"

"So affectionate! I've only heard of such scenes in plays, where they say 'without you, there's nothing left in this world for me' or 'my world crumbles with you'," Pink Lotus commented. "If it weren't for you personally tricking him into taking the poison and killing him, I might believe your affection…"

"Shut up!" Leng Mu Shi snapped at Pink Lotus, who was adding fuel to the fire.

But her efforts were futile. Aside from a slightly inflated stomach, there was no change in Xiao Mian. Leng Mu Shi raised her head, her mind blank. She genuinely didn't know what to do.

Still straddling Xiao Mian, she looked around at their surroundings in a daze. This immortal mountain, with auspicious birds circling and immortal flowers blooming everywhere, even the air was sweeter than the mortal realm. But such a beautiful place, she was probably destined to be forever separated from it.

She hadn't lost hope even with a master like hers, nor after dying and reviving every day. But she had killed someone. Leng Mu Shi thought of her mother, tears streaming down her face. She was both scared and wronged.

Had she finally embarked on this path? Would her mother in the underworld forgive her?

And the one she killed… was the male lead, Xiao Mian. What should she do? Leng Mu Shi cried bitterly, collapsing onto Xiao Mian and resuming her futile attempts to revive him.

"Don't die… Wuuu, I won't live if you die… Wuuuu…"

This time, she truly meant it. She wanted to jump off the cliff with Xiao Mian. She didn't know how to continue in this dreadful world.

But as she sobbed uncontrollably, she suddenly felt someone watching her. Wiping her tear-stained face, she saw the eyes she had just closed, staring back at her.

"Ah!" Leng Mu Shi screamed, thinking Xiao Mian had come back to life. But soon, she felt the rise and fall of his chest beneath her. He was breathing!

"You, you, you're awake! You're alive!" Leng Mu Shi cried tears of joy, this time truly genuine.

She hugged Xiao Mian's neck and shook him. She wouldn't have her meridians severed, wouldn't have to crawl on the ground in misery, wouldn't have to jump off the cliff with him!

Overwhelmed with emotion, she smeared her snot and tears all over his face.

Xiao Mian was still weak, but his eyes held complex emotions. His eyelashes fluttered like butterflies struggling against a fierce wind, desperately trying to fly against the current but ultimately succumbing to the force, swept away to an unknown destination. He closed his eyes.

After taking the pill, Xiao Mian first felt suffocated. Then, he felt his consciousness shrinking endlessly, becoming so small that he entered his own body.

He saw the flow of his meridians, the beating of his heart, the locations of his flaws and impurities, and the blocked pathways of his energy.

He traveled along his meridians, marveling at the genius of the Second Elder in the art of alchemy. Cultivators fought against fate, using spiritual energy to cleanse their bodies that were originally vessels for food and worldly filth. Only by transforming themselves into conduits of spiritual energy could they attain the Great Dao.

However, cultivators faced various inner demons and bottlenecks, the most common being stagnant meridians and slow cultivation progress.

It wasn't a major issue, as every cultivator experienced it. But it was by no means trivial, because unless one's spiritual sense was strong enough to introspect their own spiritual core, it was extremely difficult to break through these subtle blockages.

But those who reached the profound realm of Sun Realm no longer needed to introspect their spiritual core.

Therefore, the stagnation of most cultivators wasn't due to insurmountable inner demons, but rather the inability to perceive these subtle blockages.

Yet, this pill created by the Second Elder could shrink one's spiritual sense to the point of perceiving their own meridians and spiritual core, clearly identifying the areas of stagnation.

Xiao Mian was deeply shaken. If this pill were to be known and used by the world, how many cultivators would soar to greater heights?

But what shocked him even more than this pill, which was akin to a shortcut in cultivation, was… the person on top of him.

Although his consciousness was minuscule earlier, he could vaguely hear what was happening around him. He heard what she said beside his ear. Xiao Mian couldn't fathom the depth of her affection for him.

Not only did she consider him her world, but she was even willing to die for him.

Xiao Mian had memorized the locations of the blockages in his meridians. He should have immediately sat down to meditate and break through to the next level.

One more level, and he would reach the peak of the Star Realm. He had only been under his master's tutelage for eight years, and reaching the peak of the Star Realm in such a short time would make him the fastest-progressing disciple in the entire sect.

But he didn't move. Or rather, he did move, but only to raise his arms and embrace Leng Mu Shi, who was still sobbing with relief at his awakening.

She had saved his life before, and now she had stolen the pill for him.

Xiao Mian didn't know how to repay such kindness…

He closed his eyes and held Leng Mu Shi tightly. She lay on top of him, their faces pressed together as he embraced her.

The mountain breeze carried with it swirling spiritual energy, and the setting sun enveloped the embracing couple. Even immortals would envy this beautiful scene.

Xiao Mian felt his heart pounding erratically, perhaps due to the effects of the pill. His face burned as if he were engulfed in boiling lava.

He felt his bones melting…

Leng Mu Shi, held tightly in his embrace, also felt his rising body heat. He was definitely warmer than a corpse, even feverish!

And there was something strange about him.

Leng Mu Shi breathed a sigh of relief. Since Xiao Mian wasn't dead, she had nothing to fear. And once the fear subsided, she resumed analyzing the effects of the pill. So, Xiao Mian was only pretending to be dead earlier.

Leng Mu Shi was grateful that she hadn't taken the pill herself. If she had pretended to be dead in the Cang Sheng Courtyard, she would have ended up in the Red Snake's stomach or been sucked dry by the vengeful Demon Spider.

If she had taken it outside the Cang Sheng Courtyard, the outcome wouldn't have been any better. After all, Xiao Mian had been cold for a while.

This was a deserted cliffside. It took her so long to revive him, and he was already a skilled cultivator. If it were her body with no cultivation, she would have woken up even later, and by then, she would have been buried alive by Tai Chu Mountain.

Hua Yanyue was truly wicked!

Leng Mu Shi cursed her master inwardly once more. Pushing herself away from Xiao Mian, she broke their embrace and sat beside him. She discreetly aimed the Law hidden in the bushes at them and asked with concern, "Are you alright?"

Xiao Mian slowly shook his head, wiping away the slight moisture on his cheek where their faces had touched. He used the back of his hand and stared at it, momentarily stunned. He felt no urge to cleanse himself with a spell.

"Are you feeling unwell?" Leng Mu Shi asked.

Looking at her concerned expression, Xiao Mian pursed his lips slightly. The discomfort in his chest intensified, a strange sensation spreading from the base of his tongue, like the taste of unripe wild fruit.

But he shook his head slowly and replied in a low voice, "No." It was very comfortable.

Just thinking about the blockages he had seen in his meridians, even before clearing them, he felt a sense of ease throughout his body.

His hair was dishevelled, his cheeks flushed, faint finger marks visible on his skin. There were even blades of grass stuck to his head. Compared to his usual composed appearance, he looked rather dishevelled, clearly the result of Leng Mu Shi's earlier slaps.

Feeling slightly guilty, Leng Mu Shi moved closer and straightened his appearance, using his long hair to cover the particularly noticeable finger marks on his chin.

"It's good that Xiao Gege is alright. You scared me to death earlier. I thought the pill had killed you. I almost jumped off the cliff with you," she said.

Xiao Mian's expression was unreadable as he stared at her with unfathomable eyes. Although he had heard her crying those words while unconscious, he still asked, "Why? If I were dead, wouldn't it be easier to just push me down?"

"How could I do that?!" Leng Mu Shi thought to herself, You are the prized disciple of the Fifth Elder of Tai Chu Sect! With the sect's grand barrier above us, if she were to harm a fellow disciple, it would be impossible to keep it a secret. Searching her soul would reveal everything.

At that time, the best outcome would be what she had imagined - having her meridians severed and crawling on the ground in misery. She didn't want to crawl, so she thought it would be cleaner to jump off the cliff.

Of course, she couldn't say that out loud. A heartless plan, formed just moments ago, took shape in her mind.

She quickly ran through the essence of all the storybooks she had read in her life and spoke with feigned sorrow, "If Xiao Gege were to die because of me, how could I possibly live on alone…"

She grasped his hand with tear-filled eyes and pressed it against her face, letting hot tears fall onto his palm. "My family was massacred. I have no other relatives in this world. If I lose Xiao Gege, what else is there for me to live for…"

"Don't you still have a sister?" Xiao Mian felt an itch in his palm, a sensation that seemed to crawl all the way to his heart.

He quickly withdrew his hand, and Leng Mu Shi choked back a sob.

Pink Lotus, who had returned to Leng Mu Shi's body after Xiao Mian woke up, let out a shrill, pig-like laughter inside her mind. Leng Mu Shi almost lost her composure. She had forgotten about Leng Tian Yin!

She lowered her head, stifling her laughter until her expression contorted. But when she looked up again, tears welled up once more. She poured her heart out to Xiao Mian, recounting her family history and explaining why she and Leng Tian Yin could never be true sisters in this lifetime.

Xiao Mian had been living in the mountains before he could remember. Later, he met his master, Tian Xuzi, who was traveling outside the sect and brought him back after discovering his spiritual roots. Although Xiao Mian didn't understand the concept of parents and family and couldn't fully empathize with Leng Mu Shi, he couldn't help but pity her tragic past after hearing her story.

"It's alright. Now that you and your sister have become disciples of the Second Elder and Fifth Elder respectively, everything will be fine," Xiao Mian consoled her, hesitantly reaching out to pat her head.

"Whether I live well or not depends entirely on Xiao Shixiong!" Leng Mu Shi seized the opportunity, her tears abruptly stopping as she forced a smile. She had never intended to reveal her tragic past, as she despised receiving pity and ridicule.

But she needed Xiao Mian!

"Xiao Gege, you also know that although I was born the legitimate daughter of the Leng family, I was never as favored as my sister," Leng Mu Shi continued. "Although the Fifth Elder is my granduncle, he doesn't show me any concern or care. In the world of cultivation, once one embarks on the path of immortality, half of their mortal emotions are severed. He doesn't care if I live or die."

Xiao Mian wanted to defend his master, as he had always treated him well. But then he remembered how he had pleaded with his master to rescue Leng Mu Shi from the Second Elder's courtyard, but his master had refused.

He frowned, unsure of what to do.

Leng Mu Shi continued her tearful tale. "With my level of cultivation, I thought I was incredibly lucky to be accepted into the Inner Sect. But I never imagined…"

She went on to describe her miserable experiences in the Cang Sheng Courtyard with dramatic flair, portraying Hua Yanyue as a heartless monster who spent all day concocting poisons for her to consume, making her life a living hell and even threatening her with death if she dared to betray the sect.

Xiao Mian had never heard of such cruelty towards a fellow disciple. He immediately declared that he would help Leng Mu Shi report this to the sect leader. However, Leng Mu Shi stopped him, explaining the complex relationships between the elders and the futility of fighting a losing battle.

She didn't want to cause a scene; staying in the Cang Sheng Courtyard was her own choice.

But there was one problem that truly troubled her - the endless supply of pills Hua Yanyue refined every day.

She had already fed some of the pills to the creatures in the courtyard, but Hua Yanyue's cauldron was simply too large. In order to eat more normal food and suffer less, and considering that Xiao Mian was the male lead who couldn't die and could even come back to life after turning cold, Leng Mu Shi decided to trick him into helping her consume some of the pills.

With a combination of tearful pleas, feigned helplessness, and subtle hints of using their shared experience as leverage, Leng Mu Shi spent the rest of the afternoon successfully persuading Xiao Mian.

He agreed to help her test the pills. Before parting ways at dusk, they even made a pact to meet at the cliffside every three days, where Leng Mu Shi would bring the pills she couldn't finish or dispose of for Xiao Mian to consume, while she recorded his reactions.

Xiao Mian wasn't stupid. If he were, he wouldn't be so popular among his fellow disciples and Elder Tian Xuzi, nor would he attract the admiration of so many female disciples.

He was kind, righteous, handsome, possessed pure spiritual roots and exceptional talent. He was always considerate of his fellow disciples during their missions, a model of the noble and virtuous young immortal in the eyes of mortals.

However, compared to Leng Mu Shi, his weakness lay in his sheltered upbringing and lack of experience with complex emotions. He had never encountered someone as cunning and manipulative as her.

He had no idea that someone could switch between playful banter and pitiful pleas so effortlessly, with tears seemingly stored in a magical pouch, ready to be released at will, in whatever size she desired, aimed directly at the softest spot in his heart.

Her tears were scorching hot, leaving Xiao Mian flustered and helpless. He could only nod foolishly, agreeing to her absurd request.

To be her human guinea pig.

As the sun began to set, painting the sky with a breathtaking tapestry of red and gold, Xiao Mian, the fool who had been tricked into consuming poison and even agreed to continue doing so in the future, escorted Leng Mu Shi back to the Cang Sheng Courtyard.

With her biggest problem solved, Leng Mu Shi was in high spirits. Her fox-like eyes crinkled with amusement, her smile bathed in the warm glow of the setting sun, almost blinding Xiao Mian with its brilliance.

"Xiao Gege, you are so kind," she said sincerely, swinging his hand back and forth. Xiao Mian felt dizzy, the effects of the pill still lingering.

URGENT: Our Google Ads account was blocked due to violations. We'd deeply appreciate your support through donations to help us continue our work. Or we won't be able to continue the translations.

ʕ•́ᴥ•̀ʔっ

Love what you read?