After Rebirth, the Love-Struck Cannon Fodder Woke Up - Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Disguise

◎ Peculiar Object Impersonates, Sharp Eye Sees Through ◎

Du Lianxin immediately grew alert, quickly turning around with her sword drawn.

Seeing the woman approaching behind her, clad in a light purple dress and possessing an air of exquisite, cold aloofness, a look of obvious surprise appeared on her face.

“Senior Sister?”

A long time passed, but she received no reply.

Shen Anlan stared at her without blinking, continuing to walk at her original pace.

Du Lianxin subconsciously retreated. For some reason, she felt that Senior Sister was deeply wrong.

She tried calling out a second time, but still received no response.

Knowing that many illusion arts existed in the world and that the person before her might not be the real Shen Anlan, she quickly brought the Azure Steel Sword in her hand to bear on the purple-clad woman as the latter continued to approach.

“Stop!”

This time, the woman finally reacted, a hint of sadness appearing on her face.

“Junior Sister doesn’t recognize me? Why the drawn sword?”

Seeing the woman’s expression, Du Lianxin had a moment of bewilderment.

Shen Anlan was consistently cold and never showed a vulnerable side to anyone.

If she had only been suspicious before, she was now absolutely certain that the person in front of her was not Shen Anlan.

Even if the appearance and physique were identical, the personality and demeanor were vastly different.

However, facing this face, Du Lianxin couldn’t bring herself to strike.

The woman seemed certain of this point and continued to advance.

Du Lianxin kept retreating. Her attention was focused entirely ahead, and her back abruptly hit an ancient tree.

She had nowhere left to go, but the purple-clad woman’s steps did not stop as she continued to approach her.

It was in this instant that a strange scene flashed through Du Lianxin’s mind.

In the vision, the purple-clad woman approached her. Because Du Lianxin couldn’t bring herself to strike, the woman embraced her.

The purple-clad woman then revealed her true face, opened her fangs, bit into her neck, and sucked her bl00d.

The precognitive ability activated at this moment, meaning Du Lianxin was about to face a mortal crisis.

She closed her eyes, hardened her heart completely, and stabbed forward with her sword.

A sound of a sharp blade piercing flesh reached her ears. Opening her eyes again, she saw the purple-clad woman’s clothes stained with bl00d, staring at her with an expression of disbelief, her eyes full of pain and despair. Her body slowly fell to the ground.

Even though she knew the person before her was not Shen Anlan, Du Lianxin was unable to stop the tears from falling at that moment.

The body of the fallen figure slowly dissipated. In just a moment, there was no trace of its existence left.

Du Lianxin suppressed the swirling emotions in her heart, held the bl00d-stained long sword, and cleaved down the ancient tree behind her.

Based on the tree stump’s annual rings and her inner intuition, she chose to head north.

She killed all the venomous snakes that attacked her along the way with her sword.

Although her spiritual power was sealed now, having practiced the sword for nine years since entering the Clear River Sect, she could still execute basic swordsmanship quite well even without spiritual energy.

If she were in the mortal world, she could be called a master of the sword.

The Azure Steel Sword, standard issue in the sect, would be considered an unrivaled divine weapon in the mortal martial world.

So far, besides the peculiar object impersonating Shen Anlan, no demonic beasts had appeared.

Du Lianxin walked through the forest, simultaneously staying alert and dedicating a portion of her mind to recall what happened in Donglin Town.

Before being sucked into this place, she had seen the colossal bronze mirror hovering above the old house.

A treasure whose interior forms its own space, involving the legendary laws of space, must be at least of the Spiritual Treasure rank.

Looking across the entire Grand Profound Realm, only Mahayana-stage cultivators could forge such a treasure.

Moreover… any Spiritual Treasure, once forged, would inevitably attract a heavenly tribulation and could not be hidden from the world.

Yet, neither in her past life nor in this one had Du Lianxin ever heard of any Grand Profound Realm mighty figure forging a Spiritual Treasure with the appearance of a bronze mirror.

Could it be an ancient artifact?

Since the Grand Profound Realm had written records, it had gone through three epochs: Ancient, Medieval, and the current Post-Ancient Era.

If it were an artifact from a bygone era, discovered in some unknown hidden residence, such a possibility certainly existed.

However, this only made the enemy’s identity even more untraceable.

Du Lianxin remembered that the Ghost King Qingdai was not far away when the red light from the bronze mirror enveloped her in the old house.

The other party was also very likely sucked into the world inside the mirror.

As for Senior Sister Shen…

She was hailed as a rare cultivation genius in the Clear River Sect for a thousand years. What stood out was not just her comprehension and talent, but also her ability to adapt quickly during combat, unrivaled among peers of the same stage.

In Du Lianxin’s mind, Senior Sister should have been able to avoid this predicament.

She had no idea that to save her, Shen Anlan had voluntarily entered the world inside the mirror. Due to her higher cultivation, she retained half a percent of her spiritual power.

The environments the two were in were not the same. Shen Anlan appeared inside a strange cave dwelling. Using her divine sense to probe her surroundings, she found a girl lying unconscious in the distance, whose appearance and physique were identical to Du Lianxin’s.

Initially, she mistook the girl for her Junior Sister, but quickly noticed something was wrong.

After the girl woke up, she would intentionally or unintentionally get close to her, and her every gesture carried a subtle hint of seduction.

This was vastly different from the personality of the Junior Sister Shen Anlan knew.

In truth, neither in her past life nor in this one had Du Lianxin ever intentionally tried to seduce Shen Anlan.

In her past life, although she shamelessly clung to the other party, she always adhered to propriety and never overstepped. She only sought her out with various excuses, sometimes to bring food or sometimes to ask for guidance on spells.

Although Shen Anlan always maintained a cold expression, she never explicitly chased her away.

In the eyes of the Clear River Sect cultivators, it was simply Shen Anlan being mindful of her fellow disciple, which allowed Du Lianxin to take advantage.

They subconsciously overlooked one fact.

Throughout history, Du Lianxin was far from the only cultivator who sought to get close to Shen Anlan with various excuses.

Most were seen through by Shen Anlan at a glance and were mercilessly refused.

A few concealed their intentions better, but after a few frequent visits, they were also turned away.

Only Du Lianxin was an exception. Shen Anlan discovered her intentions early on, yet she never refused any meeting, only rejecting her when she confessed her feelings.

One must remember that in her past life, Du Lianxin was an outer-sect cultivator. Based on status alone, she was worlds apart from Shen Anlan.

If Shen Anlan had truly been annoyed by Du Lianxin’s persistence, a single word from her would have ensured Du Lianxin would never seek her out again.

But she never did so.

She not only never turned her away but also specifically instructed the disciples guarding her peak not to intercept the frequently visiting Du Lianxin when they asked if they should.

Only Shen Anlan herself knew how she truly viewed Du Lianxin in her past life.

What others saw was, after all, only the surface, which might be miles away from the truth.

In the world inside the mirror, Shen Anlan was in a strange cave dwelling. After confirming that the girl before her was not Junior Sister Du and had ulterior motives, she initially intended to eliminate her. However, looking at the familiar, beautiful face, she truly couldn’t bring herself to strike.

The girl noticed her hesitation and showed a mesmerizing smile, inching closer to her.

Shen Anlan took a step back. The girl followed one step forward, her eyes filled with deep affection, yet the hands hidden in her sleeves were secretly accumulating power.

“Senior Sister, why do you keep avoiding me? Don’t you like me? Could it be… that Senior Sister never considered having me?”

Faced with the girl’s questioning, Shen Anlan pressed her lips together, remaining silent.

She began to imagine a possibility: if the person before her truly was Junior Sister Du, how would she respond?

This thought instantly popped up and was then shaken out of her mind.

Shen Anlan knew very well that with Junior Sister Du’s personality, she would never ask such a question, nor would she have made the previous gestures.

Making such an assumption was an insult to her Junior Sister!

Thinking of this, Shen Anlan’s eyes turned instantly cold. She waved her sleeve, retrieved her Lifebound magic artifact, the Cloud-Piercing Sword, and tried her best to ignore the girl’s deeply hurt expression, thrusting the sword forward.

The long sword pierced through the heart. The girl stopped her steps, slowly fell to the ground, and her body rapidly dissipated into ash.

Shen Anlan’s right hand holding the sword trembled slightly. She closed her eyes, constantly reminding herself inwardly: This is not Junior Sister. Do not be affected by her!

A fake is always a fake. Even with an identical appearance, it could not compare to Junior Sister in the slightest!

What she didn’t know was that if she had been half a breath slower, the killing move the girl had been secretly gathering would have struck.

In this world inside the mirror, the trap had been set from the moment of entry.

One slip-up, becoming confused by the object transformed into a human, would result in being permanently lost here.

After slaying the girl, Shen Anlan stood still for a long time, gradually calming her turbulent emotions. She then held the Cloud-Piercing Sword and left the cave dwelling.

For her, the most urgent task was to find Junior Sister Du.

Coming out of the cave dwelling, she saw ancient trees reaching for the sky, their ends nowhere in sight.

Just then, a slightly familiar, vague figure entered her line of sight from far away.

Shen Anlan focused her gaze and realized the approaching person was the Junior Sister Du she was looking for.

Because of the previous incident, a trace of doubt still lingered in her mind. She worried that the figure before her was also a transformation of a peculiar object, not the real person.

Therefore, she decided to test her first.

Du Lianxin walked north and saw Shen Anlan.

Similarly, due to her previous encounter, she doubted that the person she saw was the real Senior Sister, so she slowed her pace and secretly maintained her guard.

Shen Anlan slowly walked toward her.

Seeing the lotus jade hairpin, which she had gifted earlier, back in the girl’s hair, she secretly used a secret art to confirm that it was indeed the one she had given.

However, the world inside the mirror was strange and unpredictable. Just in case, she still decided to test her further.

Shen Anlan knew her Junior Sister’s nature. To test her more accurately, as she got close, she cast a spell to knock the Azure Steel Sword out of the girl’s hand and directly embraced her.

Du Lianxin smelled the clean, elegant body fragrance that was so close to her. Her pretty face flushed crimson.

Neither in her past life nor in this one had Senior Sister, who was always aloof, ever done such a thing, let alone that Senior Sister clearly disliked her intensely.

She began to struggle and push away. Because she had no spiritual power, her resistance was limited, and she couldn’t break free immediately.

Du Lianxin was furious and loudly exclaimed, “You wicked creature! No matter how well you impersonate her, you can’t be Senior Sister! Let me go!”

Shen Anlan’s mind immediately settled upon hearing this. She confirmed that the girl before her was the Junior Sister herself and not a peculiar object in disguise.

She slowly loosened her embrace. However, the girl instantly leaped about a zhang (3.3 meters) away like a rabbit, quickly picked up the Azure Steel Sword that had been knocked to the ground, and pointed the sword tip at her.

Shen Anlan knew her action just now was somewhat offensive and was about to apologize, but the girl acted swiftly, attacking her with the sword.

She gracefully moved to the side, dodging the attack. The girl’s sword stance immediately shifted, and she closed in on her…