Competing with the Male Lead for the Female Lead (Transmigration) - Chapter 12
The back mountain of the Wen family stretched for hundreds of miles. Because an underground spiritual vein was contained within, the birds, beasts, flowers, and trees in the mountains were different from those elsewhere.
Although the back mountain was vast, finding one person wasn’t difficult for the ginseng doll.
In less than an hour, it found Wen Wuning’s location.
It stood at the foot of a cliff that went straight into the clouds, stretched out its whiskers, grabbed the cracks in the rock face, and climbed upwards. Green plants grew on the cliff. It climbed and stopped, finally reaching the summit after half an hour.
The ginseng doll hid behind the green plants, gazing at the person sitting cross-legged on a huge rock. The myriad stars above blended into the night. Confirming it was the person it was looking for, it didn’t rush to leave.
The wind was strong up there. It shifted its bottom and sat in a sheltered spot, looking at the forest shrouded in mountain mist below, as if it had returned to Tomb Mountain.
It took out the small jar Lan Feier had given it and sparingly used its whiskers to dip a little into its mouth. The familiar fragrance of the flower dew evoked its homesickness.
A faint fragrance and soft sobbing sounds carried in the cold wind.
Wen Wuning opened her eyes and silently jumped down from the huge rock, finding the ginseng doll hidden behind the green leaves.
But the ginseng doll was still immersed in its homesickness, unaware. It sparingly savored the little bit of its hometown’s flavor that remained.
Wen Wuning didn’t know what the ginseng doll had come for. After thinking for a moment, she went back and sat down.
When she opened her eyes again, the first rays of the sun pierced through the darkness, and the clear wind dispersed the mountain mist. The ginseng doll should also be returning. Before leaving, it glanced at the huge rock. Wen Wuning was still meditating with her eyes closed. It climbed down the rock face the way it had come, feeling relieved.
On its way back, the ginseng doll collected morning dew along the way. By the time it returned to the Wen family, the small jar was full again. Although it wasn’t as pure as the flower dew in Tomb Mountain, it was already very satisfied.
However, it had wasted some time. It cautiously entered the house, thinking it would definitely be scolded again, but it saw Lan Feier lying lazily on the bed, only lifting her eyelids to glance at it before turning over to sleep.
Lan Feier hadn’t slept all night. Using empathy, she had first enjoyed a live erotic show and then witnessed the magnificent scenery of the back mountain of the Wen family.
Lan Feier hugged her pillow, inwardly complaining that Wen Wuning wasn’t really being punished at all. She could stay away from trouble, look at the stars and the moon, admire the night scenery of the mountains, and watch the sunrise.
She wouldn’t mind taking Wen Wuning’s place for such a punishment. Lan Feier yawned and quickly fell asleep.
In the following days, Sheng Baihe stayed in the Wen family until Lin Niaoniao came to the door.
Lan Feier and a large group of Wen family disciples squeezed at the Wen family gate to watch the excitement.
Perhaps because there were too many people at first and she couldn’t bring herself to lose face, Lin Niaoniao still intended to threaten Sheng Baihe to make him return with her. But seeing his face turn cold, she immediately dropped the airs of a young lady and stepped forward to grab Sheng Baihe’s hand. Sheng Baihe tried to shake her off, but she held on tightly, staring at Sheng Baihe and saying, “Baihe, this is my sincerity.”
Feeling a soft piece of silk being pressed into her hand, Sheng Baihe looked at the woman with scrutiny.
Lin Niaoniao looked aggrieved. “Baihe, we have already consummated our marriage. You cannot abandon me. Grandpa has agreed to our marriage. Come back with me.”
Sheng Baihe unfolded the silk in his hand and glanced at it, a mocking smile in his heart. He asked, “Does your grandfather know you told me this?”
“Grandpa doesn’t know, but Grandpa has already agreed for us to be together. He will tell you sooner or later. Moreover, today Grandpa asked me to bring you back.”
“Your grandfather asked you to come?” Sheng Baihe seemed to think of something, his eyebrows curving in a half-smile.
Seeing him smile, Lin Niaoniao nodded quickly and happily.
Sheng Baihe glanced at the silk in his hand. “I’ll go back with you. Wait for me a moment.”
Seeing Sheng Baihe return, the group of disciples blocking the door immediately made way. Sheng Baihe was usually gentle and approachable, unlike Wen Ran and Wen Wuning who had a distant air, so they immediately gossiped and surrounded Lin Niaoniao to ask what she had said to him.
Sheng Baihe smiled kindly at everyone and inexplicably said, “Everyone, eat well tonight.”
Lan Feier, squeezed in the crowd, felt his smile was strangely sinister.
After Sheng Baihe walked away, everyone discussed what Senior Brother Sheng’s words meant. One of them joked, “Senior Brother means you’re all full and have nothing better to do.”
Everyone laughed and dispersed.
Only Lan Feier glanced at Lin Niaoniao, who was still smiling sweetly outside the door, feeling that things were not that simple.
She turned around and followed Sheng Baihe. As a Wen family disciple, even if Sheng Baihe discovered her in broad daylight within the Wen family, he shouldn’t suspect anything.
Following Sheng Baihe, she saw him go to Wen Ran, say a few words, give him something, and then they parted.
Lan Feier continued to follow and found him heading towards the Wen family gate again.
Suddenly, she only blinked, and the person in front of her disappeared. Immediately, a scream was heard. Her heart jumped, and she thought something was wrong. She turned to flee but was also kicked out.
When she fell to the ground, she found another person on the ground beside her.
“What are you two doing following me?”
Lan Feier lowered her head and secretly glanced at the familiar but nameless senior brother beside her. She saw his embarrassed face, and her mind raced. She also put on an embarrassed look.
Seeing the two of them like this, Sheng Baihe guessed that they were just too nosy. He put away his sword, his tone carrying a hint of reproach. “Instead of having this free time, you should cultivate properly.”
With that, Sheng Baihe turned to leave. Lan Feier breathed a sigh of relief. However, this righteous fellow brother beside her shouted loudly, “Senior Brother Sheng, if you dare to let down Senior Sister Wen, I will definitely, definitely not forgive you!”
Well done! Lan Feier gave him a thumbs-up in her heart. His words completely confirmed their identity as mere onlookers.
Sheng Baihe turned his head and glanced at them indifferently. “Mind your own business.”
Lan Feier touched her chin, staring at Sheng Baihe’s back. This person felt different, becoming unfathomable. The only fortunate thing was that he was the high and mighty protagonist, while she was just an insignificant NPC. He wouldn’t notice her.
“Hmph!”
Lan Feier turned her head in confusion and saw the senior brother beside her get up and glare at her before turning to leave.
Lan Feier was bewildered, wondering what she had just done to provoke this senior brother? Little did she know that this senior brother simply thought Lan Feier was an admirer of Sheng Baihe and felt resentful.
Sheng Baihe went back with Lin Niaoniao.
Tonight, countless admirers of Wen Wuning probably wouldn’t be able to sleep, wanting to deal with Sheng Baihe, that “heartless” bastard, for Wen Wuning’s sake.
At night, Lan Feier lay in bed, sorting through all the information she knew, trying to deduce the current situation, but there was too little. She knew too little, and she had no clue at all.
It was still too difficult. With her identity as an NPC, was it still too hard to protect herself in this world?
Could she only choose inaction and let nature take its course?
Lan Feier tossed and turned in bed. In the middle of the night, she got up and climbed onto the roof to feel the wind for a while. Finally, she somehow stared at a certain direction in the back mountain for a long time.
With her identity as an NPC, it was too difficult to get firsthand information, information that touched the core of the story.
But this problem could be solved if she followed Wen Wuning, who was a core character.
However, it was too dangerous. Doing so would be putting the cart before the horse.
After feeling the cold wind for a while longer, it was late at night before Lan Feier came down to sleep. Perhaps the wind had an effect, because this time she fell asleep as soon as she lay down. But in the middle of the night, she suddenly woke up, sensing danger. She rolled towards the inside of the bed, hit the wall, flipped over, and delivered a horizontal kick towards the head of the intruder.
The person by the bed seemed surprised to see her awake, ducked his head, and turned the sword in his hand.
Lan Feier drew her own sword, and the two swords clashed with a *clang* in the darkness.
Lan Feier didn’t ask who the intruder was. Anyone who wanted her life, whoever it was, she would make them die.
The two had similar cultivation levels and both aimed to take the other’s life. However, the intruder wasn’t as ruthless as Lan Feier. He even felt somewhat uneasy for some reason. After a brief entanglement, the other party seemed to realize that he couldn’t take Lan Feier’s life in a short time and had the intention to retreat. But how could Lan Feier let him go!
Although both of them were already injured, Lan Feier was a ruthless person who could endure pain. She pressed forward step by step and finally seized an opportunity when the other party made a mistake, slitting his throat with one sword strike.
Hot bl00d splattered all over Lan Feier.
She stepped forward again and poked a hole in his chest to confirm he was dead. Then, Lan Feier grabbed the person’s hair, lifted his head, and examined his appearance by the moonlight. She didn’t recognize him!
Throwing him to the ground, she ran out of the room and found fighting sounds coming from the other two rooms in the same courtyard. She immediately rushed into one of the rooms, joined forces with the senior brother inside to deal with the intruder, and then went with him to help the other one.
After killing the person in that room, the three senior brothers and sisters from the same courtyard dragged the corpses into the courtyard.
Looking at the fresh corpses on the ground, the bloodlust in Lan Feier’s eyes hadn’t faded. She asked, “Senior Brother, what’s going on?”
The person asked shook his head.
Besides her, there were two other outside senior brothers and sisters living in this courtyard. Looking at their faces, they were also still shaken.
In a few breaths, Lan Feier had calmed down because she understood that this wasn’t aimed at her personally but might be aimed at the entire Wen family. She thought of a terrifying possibility.
But it was impossible. That event was three years later! And how could they be okay?
“There’s an attack. Let’s go out and check on the other fellow disciples,” Lan Feier said.
The two senior brothers and sisters had lost their own judgment at this time. Having someone make a decision, they immediately nodded.
They went together to check the neighboring courtyard. The courtyard was very quiet. They entered the rooms separately and saw their fellow disciples who had already lost their breath on the beds.
They checked several courtyards in a row, and it was all the same. Except for Lan Feier, the faces of the two senior brothers and sisters were very pale, filled with shock, fear, and grief.
As the three continued to investigate deeper, they all noticed something was wrong with themselves. The spiritual power in their bodies was blocked, and they felt dizzy and weak.
The three of them rolled straight off the eaves and fell to the ground, briefly losing consciousness.
When they regained consciousness again, they saw a small figure squatting beside them.
The ginseng doll held the Peacock White Feather, squeaking.
Lan Feier held her head and sat up. After listening to it, she stared at the white flower in its hand.
“What did it say?” the senior sister from the same courtyard asked. They lived together and knew this was Lan Feier’s ginseng doll.
“The Lin and Zhao families have joined forces to deal with the Wen family. They planted a Soul-Devouring Flower in the Wen family. The Soul-Devouring Flower can devour souls and spiritual power. They want to take advantage of all the disciples being affected by the Soul-Devouring Flower to destroy the entire Wen family.”
The two looked fearful. No wonder those fellow disciples had all died in bed, with no signs of fighting in the rooms. “Then, then why are we okay?”
Lan Feier picked up the white feather flower in the ginseng doll’s hand and stood against the wind, thinking of Wen Wuning in the back mountain. “This is a white feather flower. It has the effect of calming the soul and soothing the spirit.”
If things really developed according to the plot, then the entire Wen family would be finished tonight, and Sheng Baihe would leave with the only survivor, Wen Wuning.
But she didn’t believe it!
Something was strange.
“They must have Soul-Devouring Flower roots on them. Let’s go back and get them,” Lan Feier immediately led the two back.
The roots of the Soul-Devouring Flower could counteract its effects. All their attackers would carry them; this was mentioned in the plot.
Returning to the courtyard, they indeed found Soul-Devouring Flower roots on the three corpses. Lan Feier divided the three roots. “Senior Brothers and Sister, I’m going back to see what’s really going on. You decide for yourselves whether to stay or leave.”
They were just outside disciples of the Wen family, living on the outermost periphery of the Wen family mansion. They would bear the brunt of any danger. They had no reason to live or die with the Wen family.
Leaving them to consider slowly, Lan Feier drew her sword and flew towards the depths of the Wen family.
The chubby ginseng doll struggled to follow on the ground. Lan Feier seemed to remember something and turned back to shout at it.
“You go to the back mountain and guard Wen Wuning.”