After Rebirth, the Love-Struck Cannon Fodder Woke Up - Chapter 9

Chapter 9: The Ghost King

◎ Misunderstandings Abound, Falling into Danger Again ◎

Her intuition told Du Lianxin that she could not travel with Feng Ruo.

However, if she refused, where should she go after leaving Donglin Town, if not back to the sect?

Just as she was hesitating, Shen Anlan spoke.

“Since a friend is in distress, Fellow Daoist Feng should not delay here. It is better to leave soon. Junior Sister Du is under my protection. If Junior Sister wishes to return to the sect, I will send her back first and then proceed with handling the situation in Donglin Town.”

Feng Ruo did not respond to this but gazed intently at the girl. Seeing that she neither refuted the idea nor offered any other statement, Feng Ruo felt a rare sense of disappointment.

The voice message was indeed from her mother, and she genuinely could not delay for too long.

Before leaving, Feng Ruo gave the girl a deep look.

The future is long. We will meet again.

After Feng Ruo left, Shen Anlan looked at the girl beside her and asked gently, “Does Junior Sister Du want to return to the sect immediately?”

Du Lianxin understood from her tone that Shen Anlan truly intended to specially escort her back.

There were many cultivators within the Clear River Sect who admired Shen Anlan. If she did this, she would surely attract countless animosities upon returning to the sect.

If her own strength were sufficient, she naturally wouldn’t care. But the key was that she only had a Qi Condensation Level Seven cultivation. If she attracted hatred because of Shen Anlan and was harmed by others, losing her life, she would have nowhere to complain.

The current situation was vastly different from her previous life.

In her past life, although she was also weak and clung to Shen Anlan, Shen Anlan never gave her a pleasant look, and her fellow disciples knew this well, so no one cared.

Considering this, Du Lianxin cautiously spoke: “I currently have no pressing matters and can return to the sect slowly by myself.”

Shen Anlan disagreed with this approach. “Donglin Town is quite far from the Clear River Sect’s base. If Junior Sister travels alone, she might encounter danger on the way. It is better for me to use an artifact to send Junior Sister back.”

“No… Senior Sister already has a mission. It wouldn’t be right to trouble Senior Sister with an extra trip because of me. If Senior Sister doesn’t mind, let me stay here for now. Once the matter in Donglin Town is resolved, I will return to the sect with Senior Sister.”

“That works too.”

Shen Anlan nodded in agreement, then took a spatial pouch hanging beside her and handed it to the girl.

“This is the ten thousand spirit stones reward for breaking the illusion array. Junior Sister, please take it. Just stay close to me later, and remember not to wander off.”

Du Lianxin acknowledged with a “Yes” and reached out to take the item offered to her.

Shen Anlan observed her expression: respectful and nothing else. For some reason, a wave of displeasure welled up in her heart.

She knew she shouldn’t feel this way, yet she couldn’t control her emotions.

Du Lianxin keenly noticed a chilling aura emanating from Shen Anlan and was instantly confused.

Senior Sister Shen is angry?

She hadn’t done anything out of line, had she? She had always maintained her distance and hadn’t been offensive in any way. There didn’t seem to be anything that could have displeased Senior Sister.

Could it be… that Senior Sister thinks the reward she gave me is too much and regrets it?

This… would Senior Sister haggle over this? Should I return some of it?

Du Lianxin felt a pang of heartache. After being reborn, she no longer held any hope for romance, only wishing to earn more spirit stones for cultivation.

It was truly painful to have to give back what she had already received!

She sighed inwardly for a while, eventually hesitatingly offering the spatial pouch back.

Shen Anlan’s brow furrowed at her action, and the chilling aura around her intensified instantly.

“What are you doing, Junior Sister?”

Du Lianxin stammered, “Was Senior Sister angry just now because the reward given to me was too much? Senior Sister, please take some back, and don’t be angry, okay?”

As soon as the words were spoken, the surrounding air seemed to go silent for a moment.

Shen Anlan was furious. She stepped forward and firmly grasped Du Lianxin’s right wrist.

“Is this how Junior Sister sees me? What kind of person do I appear to be in Junior Sister’s eyes?”

Shen Anlan was already taller than Du Lianxin. The sudden forceful grip compelled Du Lianxin to tilt her head up.

In that instant, she saw Shen Anlan’s slightly red-rimmed eyes.

Did I misunderstand Senior Sister Shen’s meaning?

But she truly didn’t know why Senior Sister was suddenly angry.

She wanted to speak but didn’t know where to start.

Just then, her wrist loosened. Shen Anlan released her, turned around, and walked straight ahead.

Du Lianxin did not follow. She slowly walked to an old house nearby and squatted down against the wall.

She didn’t understand what was going on.

In her past life, she shamelessly clung to Shen Anlan and was met with her cold face.

In this life, she had clearly maintained sufficient distance and harbored no inappropriate thoughts. Why was Shen Anlan still acting this way?

Did she really dislike her that much?

Dislike her so much that everything she did was an eyesore?

If so, why didn’t she let her return to the sect alone earlier?

If she left here, wouldn’t she be out of her sight?

Du Lianxin couldn’t figure it out. Since her rebirth, she had long decided to stay away from everything in her past life. Why was this still happening?

In that moment, she felt immensely wronged.

Large tears dripped continuously from her cheeks. All she wanted right now was a good cry.

Due to her unstable emotions, her vigilance dropped, and she failed to notice a red figure slowly approaching from a distance.

The next moment, Du Lianxin’s vision went black, and she lost consciousness.

Before her body could fall, it was lightly caught by the red-clad woman who had drifted to her side.

Upon closer inspection, one could see that the woman’s feet were off the ground, and her face was utterly bloodless.

On the other side, Shen Anlan, consumed by anger, walked alone for a distance.

The former her was always rational in dealing with anyone or anything, but Du Lianxin was the exception.

This Junior Sister always managed to easily provoke her emotions.

Shen Anlan wanted to regain her composure, but the moment she thought of the returned spatial pouch, an unnamed fire instantly flared up, making it impossible for her to calm down.

In Junior Sister’s eyes, was she the kind of person who would casually break a promise?

Promising a reward beforehand, only to regret it afterward?

She wasn’t short on these few spirit stones. Even if she were, she wouldn’t do such a thing!

Shen Anlan was filled with indignation. She walked forward for a long time, and after a while, realized Du Lianxin hadn’t followed.

Thinking that evil spirits were still troubling Donglin Town and had not been eradicated, her heart sank. She immediately turned back to look for that familiar figure.

However, after a long search, she found nothing.

Realizing that Junior Sister Du might be in trouble, Shen Anlan’s initial anger immediately vanished, replaced by panic.

She forced herself to calm down, stopped where she was, formed hand seals, and performed a tracking secret art.

To successfully execute this type of secret art, a related object must be used as a medium.

The lotus jade hairpin in Du Lianxin’s hair could serve this purpose.

As the secret art continued, Shen Anlan got a clue. She tapped her foot on the ground, instantly flying into the air and rushing toward the only thousand-year-old house in Donglin Town.

A moment later, she arrived at the destination, finding the entire old house shrouded in a very special restriction.

If this restriction were forcibly broken from the outside, everyone inside would, without exception, suffer a backlash.

According to the tracking secret art, Du Lianxin was currently inside the old house. To avoid harming her, Shen Anlan had to find another way to dissolve the restriction.

Although she had some understanding of various restrictions in the cultivation world, faced with a type she had never encountered before, it was impossible to solve it quickly.

Shen Anlan was consumed by anxiety, yet helpless.

To rescue her Junior Sister as soon as possible, she once again forced herself to calm down, eliminate emotional interference, and concentrate on observing the restriction’s structure…

Before Du Lianxin was attacked and lost consciousness, she thought her life would end there. In that instant, many regrets flashed through her mind.

Regrets that she would never have the chance to become a powerful cultivator who could fly through the sky; regrets that she hadn’t properly appreciated the scenery of the Grand Profound Realm; and even more so, regrets that she had failed her master’s expectations.

She hadn’t expected to wake up again.

The moment her consciousness returned, she felt like she was in an ice cellar, enveloped by an extremely cold aura.

Opening her eyes, her vision gradually cleared.

A woman in red, with delicate features, was sitting in front of her. Seeing her wake up, she affectionately called out the name “Wanyun.”

Du Lianxin was utterly bewildered. “Lady, you have mistaken me for someone else. I am not Wanyun.”

By now, she had realized that the woman before her was a ghost, not a human.

According to Shen Anlan, evil spirits were causing trouble in Donglin Town. Could this be the one?

Du Lianxin tried to release her divine sense to briefly probe her, and her face gradually turned pale.

In her perception, the red-clad female ghost’s cultivation had reached the Ghost King realm, equivalent to a cultivator’s Nascent Soul stage.

With such a vast difference in strength, was it possible for her to escape safely?

The red-clad woman’s beautiful face twisted for a moment upon hearing Du Lianxin’s words. She reached out and firmly grasped her shoulders.

“You are! You are Wanyun!”

A sharp pain shot through Du Lianxin’s shoulders. Knowing she couldn’t provoke the other party further, she played along with the woman’s words and asked, “Senior, why are you so certain?”

“Don’t call me Senior! Have you forgotten? My name is Qingdai, and you, Wanyun, gave me that name. You said the two characters, Qingdai, represent vitality, gentleness, and amiability. Don’t you remember any of this?

We loved each other for many years, only having each other until the end. I was frail and died before you. After becoming a soul body, I only saw you starving yourself, wasting away day by day. I wanted to stop you and persuade you to live well, but I couldn’t communicate with you. I watched you pass away with my own eyes, but I never found your soul!”

Seeing signs that the Ghost King’s emotions were becoming unstable, Du Lianxin simply fell silent, not daring to speak again, lest she say something else that would provoke her.

If everything the Ghost King said was true, their affection was indeed deeply moving, but she was not Wanyun and could not respond.

At this point, the red-clad Ghost King waved her delicate hand, and a scroll of painting instantly materialized.

In the painting, a woman of extraordinary grace, holding a flower basket, sat on one side of an ancient pavilion. The breeze stirred her skirt, and her long black hair fluttered with it.

A closer look at the woman’s appearance revealed a slight resemblance to Du Lianxin, but she was certain the person depicted in the scroll was not herself.

Why was the Ghost King so certain?

Was she mentally confused and mistook her for someone else? Or was there another reason?

In this instant, Du Lianxin recalled the attack she encountered inside the illusion array.

Although she had no evidence, her intuition told her that neither the withered claws emerging from the ground nor the giant skull that later condensed were the work of this Ghost King.

Then, was it possible that this Ghost King was also controlled by the mastermind, her mind blurred, causing her to mistake Du Lianxin for her lover?

And the enemy did this to achieve some ulterior motive?

Du Lianxin considered herself to be only a Level Seven Qi Condensation cultivator. It was highly unlikely that the enemy would set up such a complex trap just to deal with her.

Although she didn’t know the mastermind’s specific identity or cultivation level, judging by the methods they displayed in the illusion array earlier, if they truly wanted to kill her, it would have been effortless. Why go to all this trouble?

Excluding this possibility, only one reasonable explanation remained.

The person the mastermind truly wanted to deal with was Shen Anlan, and she, Du Lianxin, was most likely being used as a hostage to restrain Shen Anlan.

Figuring this out, she smiled bitterly inwardly.

She had initially thought the enemy was mysterious and skillful, but now it seemed they were also foolish.

In her understanding, whether in her past life or this one, Shen Anlan only felt impatience toward her, not an ounce of care.

Using her as a hostage? They might as well grab any random fellow disciple. The probability of success would be higher…