Shen Qiqi felt as though a fiery tree with silver flowers had passed before her eyes, causing her legs to give out and fall backwards unexpectedly.
Fortunately, Liu Shuang quickly reacted and instinctively caught her in her arms.
At the embrace, Liu Shuang's body stiffened, as if she had been stimulated by something.
It was too hot.
Since she had entered the path of demonic cultivation, her body temperature had been as cold as ice, and she had not been in such close contact with a normal person for over a hundred years. The soft, warm body in her arms felt like a branding iron, burning her heart.
She wanted to push away, but felt it was inappropriate. She could only stand there like a statue.
The former demon lord who once dominated the world was now somewhat at a loss.
Shen Qiqi was in great discomfort and whimpered. Her body seemed to shrink a little, and she fell softly into Liu Shuang's arms, like an unopened little beast, intimately rubbing against the snowy white side of her neck.
Warm breaths swept over her cold skin, one after another.
Liu Shuang trembled all over, closed her eyes, and reached out to grasp Shen Qiqi's slender waist, pulling her away a bit, and whispered, "Junior Sister, wake up."
As she delved into Shen Qiqi's spiritual sea, she found chaos and disorder deep within. Several broken symbols appeared in the air, and as she looked carefully, those square symbols seemed more like a form of writing, but unfortunately, she couldn't understand it.
After calling out several times, Shen Qiqi gradually regained consciousness.
She slowly opened her eyes, and her vision gradually became clear. She saw Liu Shuang's beautiful profile close at hand, as if she hadn't just woken up, she rubbed against it again, and said in a sticky voice, "Senior Sister, you're so cold..." She then reached out and hugged Liu Shuang tighter, as if to warm her.
Liu Shuang: "..." She sighed helplessly, pulled Shen Qiqi off of her, and pinched her cheeks.
Shen Qiqi yelped in pain, and her whole body bounced to the side. She suddenly woke up and saw Liu Shuang standing upright in front of her, with a pair of delicate eyebrows twisted together and her lips tightly pursed into a straight line.
She was stunned for a moment, gradually remembering the stupid things she had done just now, and said apologetically, "I'm sorry, Senior sister."
Oh no, would the female lead think she was teasing her? Would she be angry?
Liu Shuang turned her head and said coldly, "It's alright." Her voice was as clear as a mountain stream, ringing out, but her breath was a little unstable.
Shen Qiqi looked closely and found that her senior sister's expression was calm, but her ears were faintly red.
She was taken aback and couldn't help but think to herself: 'Oh my, I only hugged her, and she's already getting shy! This female lead is just too cute!'
Shen Qiqi suppressed the smile on her face, stood up straight, and said to Liu Shuang, "Thank you, Senior sister, for your help."
Liu Shuang lowered her eyes and said softly, "It's nothing." She felt a bit embarrassed and moved her gaze away. "What exactly happened to you just now?"
After carefully examining Shen Qiqi's body, she didn't find anything abnormal. It was really strange for her to faint suddenly. But looking at Shen Qiqi's expression, it didn't seem like she was pretending.
Shen Qiqi looked bewildered and shook her head.
She didn't know what had happened just now. She only remembered looking at the fish and then getting a headache. Now she couldn't remember anything, only that there was a loud and mysterious sound in her mind.
Shen Qiqi could only answer, "Maybe I didn't get enough rest last night."
Liu Shuang was speechless. If she hadn't used the black bird to investigate last night, she might have believed what she said.
"However, these dead fish are really suspicious," Shen Qiqi said. "What do you think, Senior sister?"
Liu Shuang replied, "Perhaps someone put something in the water that the fish couldn't eat."
The two looked at each other calmly, each with a different answer in their hearts.
Shen Qiqi nodded and didn't say anything more. "Senior sister is right. Let's go back first."
As they walked on the mountain path, they saw many dead birds and deer along the way. The wind blew, and the dark red leaves of the flowers fell down like rain, covering the mountain steps.
Shen Qiqi's face remained calm, but her heart was starting to get excited.
She remembered this part of the plot.
In the early part of the novel, the female lead's cultivation progressed extremely fast. She became the leader of the inner disciples in just three years. However, in the later part of the novel, she was hindered by an external factor that prevented her from advancing.
Which female lead in a power fantasy story doesn't have an external factor that helps them progress? The female lead's external factor was different from others- she had ancient blood flowing through her veins from the demon realm.
The blood of a demon cultivator repels the orthodox sect's cultivation techniques, so she couldn't practice the Clear Ritual Sect's techniques, and therefore couldn't break through to the later stage of Qi Refining.
At this point, Liu Shuang was not aware of her inherent fate, and still had a kind heart that yearned for righteousness. It was not until an unwelcome guest invaded the Qingli Sect that her path towards becoming a demon began.
And these dead animal bodies were the handiwork of those unwelcome guests - people from the demon realm. It was like modern-day tourists leaving their mark behind, reminding others that they were going to cause trouble.
Although the invasion of the demon realm did not cause too much damage to the Qingli Sect, it left an indelible impact on Liu Shuang.
She met the young master of the demon realm, Situ Yun, and sensed a familiar aura from him.
She gradually realized with horror that her desire for cultivating demonic powers was irresistible.
Thinking about this, Shen Qiqi rubbed her chin and glanced at Liu Shuang beside her with some regret. She couldn't help but feel a little sorry for the fact that the gentle and lovely Senior sister would soon become a ruthless demon queen.
Liu Shuang, on the other hand, looked indifferent and suddenly stopped walking. "I'm here, Junior sister," she said, standing in front of Baicaoyuan (Hundred Herbs Garden) and turning to face Shen Qiqi.
Shen Qiqi was taken aback and looked at the plain Baicaoyuan, recalling that this was indeed where the female lead lived. She smiled and waved. "See you tomorrow, Senior sister."
Liu Shuang paused imperceptibly, then reached out to push open the garden gate and walked in silently.
Watching her clear and calm figure gradually disappear, Shen Qiqi withdrew her gaze and hummed a tune as she walked back to her own room.
...
The next day, Shen Qiqi woke up from a good dream and got up energetically from her bed. There was no class this morning, and without the disturbing sound of the green hawk, she slept until the sun was high in the sky.
After waking up, Shen Qiqi rubbed her stomach and prepared to go out to find something to eat. Her body had already reached the early stage of foundation building, so theoretically, she could have already fasted. But this young lady was probably too fond of food and had not specifically practiced fasting.
Shen Qiqi was not dissatisfied, though. With so many delicious delicacies in the mortal world, it would be a shame not to taste them herself.
She walked out of the courtyard and saw a bird flapping its wings in the sky, flying straight towards her. Shen Qiqi was startled and quickly dodged to one side. The bird made a sharp turn and landed right on top of her head, jumping around on her head with its bird claws.
Shen Qiqi: "..." She reached out a hand and grabbed the bird off her head. Upon closer inspection, it seemed to be a pigeon.
This white pigeon was pure white all over, with dark red eyes and feet, and looked very plump and delicious. Shen Qiqi couldn't help but feel a little hungry when she looked at it.
She thought to herself, "Ah, I really miss the pigeon soup my mother used to make..."
Bathed in her fierce gaze, the white pigeon trembled its wings in fear, like an ostrich burying its head in the sand, weak and helpless.
Shen Qiqi, seeing the bird's bright and intelligent eyes, couldn't help but laugh and said, "Don't worry, I won't eat you." She prepared to release it on the spot, but then she noticed something tied to its foot.
She paused, took off the piece of paper, and released the pigeon with a wave of her hand. She then saw the white bird shoot out like a rocket, in a hurry to leave.
Shen Qiqi was speechless. She unfolded the paper and saw that the white paper was empty. She furrowed her brow in distress and said, "Is this a blank piece of paper?"
However, the next second, the paper shone with a golden light, and each word gradually appeared on it, one by one.
"Recently, many disciples have complained that there have been no changes in the internal and external gates for a long time. Therefore, the elders of each peak have agreed to hold a competition for advancement. All inner gate disciples must participate and compete in a friendly manner. The winners will be posted on the Red List, and the results will be announced from top to bottom according to the ranking."
"If outer gate disciples are interested, they can also sign up to participate, and the winner will have a chance to advance to the inner gate."
"The competition will be held 15 days later. Inner gate disciples are encouraged to prepare well and start strong."
Shen Qiqi read each word out loud, and then suddenly realized that it was like a mid-term exam, just a way to assess one's skills through martial arts, with rankings and all... She didn't know how she came up with such a poor and incompetent idea.
However, the "all inner gate disciples must participate" clause was really difficult for her. She didn't know any martial arts now, she only knew one fire-summoning spell and one mind-cleansing technique. What would she do when she went up on stage? Cast a spell, summon fire, and then be knocked off the stage in embarrassment?
Thinking about that scene, Shen Qiqi's face couldn't help but scrunch up in a frown.
To avoid losing too badly, she felt it was time to catch up on her knowledge of cultivation.
However, this knowledge was like finding a needle in a haystack. She remembered that the Qingli Sect had a library, but she didn't know where it was.
Shen Qiqi squeezed the paper in her hand and walked aimlessly, lost in thought. Suddenly, a shout from ahead pulled her back to reality.
She raised her head and realized that she had unknowingly wandered into the Baicaoyuan (Hundred Herbs Garden).
Shen Qiqi hesitated for a moment, then pushed open the gate and walked inside.
The garden was very quiet, with hardly any people in sight. The fields were acres and acres of emerald green, with many medicinal herbs gently swaying in the morning breeze.
The shouting seemed to be coming from the inner room.
Shen Qiqi walked towards the room and heard an old man shouting, "You're crazy today. You actually threw the Flame Grass into the furnace as material?. It's really outrageous!"
Through the paper window, she saw Liu Shuang sitting cross-legged on the ground with a bunch of herbs in her hand, and an old man in rough clothes standing next to her with a dark expression on his face.
After watching for a while, Shen Qiqi couldn't help but call out, "Senior sister!"
Liu Shuang seemed to hear her and suddenly turned her head to see her Junior sister standing at the window, smiling sweetly at her.
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Thank you everyone!
Translator's note: 🙂
To Be Continue!...