Competing with the Male Lead for the Female Lead (Transmigration) - Chapter 23
In the latter half of the night, one of the three room doors opened silently, and a figure emerged.
Walking through the dark mansion, Wen Wuning constantly felt like something was watching her from the shadows.
When she reached the hot spring, she found that all the lights here were also extinguished. She used her sword to lift the light gauze and walked in.
She walked in a bit before putting away her sword and taking off her clothes.
Just as her hand was about to untie her belt, it felt like a gust of wind lifted the light gauze at the entrance. She waited quietly for a while. It seemed to be just the wind, nothing else, but being cautious, she still took out a small object.
It was a small golden bell. She tossed the bell towards the pool, and the small bell immediately transformed into dozens of bells connected by golden threads. The dozens of bells flew off and disappeared.
If there was even a slight breeze, it would reappear and emit a soft chime.
Having done all this, Wen Wuning finally took off her clothes and entered the water.
After several days of arduous travel, soaking in the hot spring at this moment was indeed comfortable, relaxing her entire body, but it also made her sleepy.
Just as Wen Wuning was dozing off, she suddenly woke up. Everything around her was quiet, but she heard the sound of bells. Turning her head, she saw a tall, slender black figure appear on the shore.
“Who?!”
It was a tall, thin woman carrying a lantern. Her face was snow-white, her two arched eyebrows were extremely slender, her lips were as red as bl00d, her long hair was like black silk, and the corners of her eyes were stained with red. Her appearance was ghostly and bewitching, and a water-blue dress hung loosely on her tall, thin frame, swaying in the wind.
“Why does the guest not sleep at night?”
The soft voice sounded as if it came from a distant expanse, carrying an unreal quality.
Wen Wuning was stunned for two seconds, but in those two seconds, the woman, in a strange posture, leaned her face close to Wen Wuning’s: “Servant will attend to the guest’s bath.”
A strange fragrance entered her nostrils. Wen Wuning dodged to the side and refused coldly, “No need.”
The woman acted as if she hadn’t heard and directly entered the water, taking Wen Wuning’s hand to scrub it.
By the faint candlelight, Wen Wuning observed the woman expressionlessly. This woman, who clearly exuded strangeness everywhere, didn’t seem unusual to her, except for her hands, which didn’t resemble a woman’s.
Wen Wuning lowered her head and looked at the hand holding hers, which was dry, thin, and unusually large.
“Are you the master of this house?”
“Does the guest think servant looks like the master?”
Grabbing the hand that was moving towards her chest, Wen Wuning asked in a deep voice, “Then why did you go out at night?”
She remembered that the servant who led them earlier had said that they were not allowed to go out after the lights were turned off.
This should be a rule set by the master of the house. Therefore, the only people who could go out at night, besides her, an outsider who didn’t take this rule to heart, were possibly the master of the house.
The woman tried to pull her hand away, but Wen Wuning held it tightly. So, she fell into Wen Wuning’s arms.
This tall, thin, and bony woman was taller than Wen Wuning. She pressed against Wen Wuning like a wall.
Wen Wuning felt a moment of disorientation. She hurriedly raised both hands to support the woman and found that her shoulders were hard and bony.
“Guest is so gentle.”
The woman lowered her eyes, her long hair sliding down and twining around Wen Wuning’s wrist like a slippery, cold snake. Wen Wuning endured her discomfort, straightened the woman, and withdrew her hand.
“I’ve finished bathing. I’ll go back first.”
Wen Wuning said, gathering the front of her clothes, and turned to go ashore, but heard a low sob behind her. Wen Wuning looked back.
“Guest, for the sake of servant having served you, please take servant away. Servant doesn’t want to stay here.”
As she spoke, the woman raised her head, and two lines of bright red bl00d tears flowed down her snow-white face.
Wen Wuning was horrified. In a moment of swaying, she suddenly opened her eyes. The surroundings were pitch black, and she was still in the steaming pool. Looking back, she saw a black figure crouching on the shore!
A flash of green light appeared in Wen Wuning’s hand.
“Senior Sister, it’s me!”
A warm, soft hand landed on her shoulder. The green light in Wen Wuning’s hand dimmed. “Junior Sister?”
“Senior Sister, get up quickly. Soaking in the hot spring for too long can make you dizzy.” Lan Feier withdrew her hand.
After discovering that Wen Wuning wasn’t in her room, she and Sheng Baihe had searched the mansion separately. She guessed that Wen Wuning might have come to bathe alone, so she came here to look and indeed found her in the pool, but she hadn’t expected her to fall asleep in the pool.
Wen Wuning glanced around. Besides the two of them, there were no other figures around the pool. Was that just a dream just now? Pressing her faintly aching forehead, she got out of the water. Just as she was about to change her clothes, she suddenly realized there was someone else present. She turned back to Lan Feier and said, “Please leave me for a moment.”
So fussy.
It was pitch black here. Even if Wen Wuning stripped naked, she wouldn’t be able to see anything.
Lan Feier walked out indifferently. “Senior Sister, you’d better hurry, or Senior Brother Sheng will come looking.”
Sheng Baihe wasn’t as easy to talk to as she was.
Thinking of Sheng Baihe, Wen Wuning’s head ached even more. She quickly changed her clothes and caught up with Lan Feier. But as she left, she couldn’t help but look back at the pool. Was that really just a dream?
On the way back, Lan Feier wanted to tell Wen Wuning about the situation in this mansion, to tell her how to avoid getting into trouble, to come and leave safely. But how could she explain to Wen Wuning how she knew all this?
In the end, she decided against it. Anyway, as long as they didn’t violate any taboos in this mansion, they would be fine. She would just keep an eye on Wen Wuning.
After returning to the room with Wen Wuning, Lan Feier simply followed Wen Wuning into her room. Meeting the doubt in Wen Wuning’s eyes, she said calmly, “I’m afraid to sleep alone at night.”
Was she even too lazy to pretend when lying? Wen Wuning asked, “Weren’t you always sleeping alone in the past?”
“This mansion is like a haunted house. I’m really scared.”
Lan Feier didn’t look scared at all, so Wen Wuning didn’t believe her. But thinking back to the tomb mountain, she remembered that her junior sister was truly afraid of ghosts and monsters.
Perhaps her current demeanor was just bravado.
Wen Wuning, who thought she knew the truth, agreed.
She gave the bed to Lan Feier and sat down to meditate. Lan Feier impolitely fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
Later, Sheng Baihe returned, confirmed that Wen Wuning had returned, and also went back to his room to rest.
After such a long ordeal, not having closed their eyes for more than ten days, all three slept very soundly that night.
No one noticed the long, black, strange shadow lingering outside the window.
After a night’s rest, the three were full of energy and in a good mood. After Lan Feier had breakfast, the three prepared to leave. But before leaving, Wen Wuning proposed to thank the master of the house in person.
However, the servant told them that the master was unwell and wouldn’t see guests.
The three had no choice but to lead their horses back and leave this strange mansion, continuing their journey.
Looking back at the mansion shrouded in thick fog after walking a long way, Wen Wuning still felt that something was wrong. But they had been fine overnight and had left safely, so she couldn’t help but think she was being too suspicious.
But the face of the woman with two lines of bl00d tears hanging on her mind couldn’t be driven away no matter what.
Next, they rode their horses if the road was good, and walked if the road was bad. Another half month passed without them closing their eyes.
If it were ordinary people, their bodies would have already collapsed, and their hearts would have been impatient and unbearable or even driven mad. But the biggest difference between cultivators and ordinary people was their ability to endure.
Cultivation took hundreds or thousands of years, so how could they not even endure these mere ten days or half a month?
Although tempering the will was beneficial to cultivation, the toll on the body was real. In this kind of place, they couldn’t rest and adjust, let alone absorb spiritual power to alleviate the damage.
What was worse was that Lan Feier’s food reserves had bottomed out.
She had no choice but to practice Bigu with Wen Wuning and Sheng Baihe.
The three traveled like ascetic monks, without sleep or food, on a long journey. This reminded Lan Feier of the elders Long March.
It was truly admirable and respectable.
Recalling the life of a freeloader she had in the Wen family, it was simply heaven compared to now.
Considering Lan Feier’s cultivation level and physique, Wen Wuning suggested taking a short rest.
The puddles on the ground were gradually decreasing, and the fog in the air was thinning, which meant they were about to leave this uninhabited area, so there was no need to rush at this moment.
They found a small, relatively dry patch of grass nearby. Just as the three of them started a fire, several almost imperceptible sharp whistles entered their ears. The three sprang up on the spot and instantly flew several meters away.
They saw a *swish swish swish* of arrows raining down on the spot where they had been. The three horses that had accompanied them all the way didn’t have time to dodge and were pierced into hedgehogs, neighing and falling to the ground.
Sheng Baihe’s eyes were about to crack, like a firecracker that had been lit, a vicious ghost that had been released from its restraints.
The bushes rustled. The people hiding inside seemed to want to retreat after the first attack missed.
How could Sheng Baihe let them go?
They saw Sheng Baihe fly up, his sword cutting off their retreat. More than a dozen mud figures were forced to roll out of the bushes. He flew into the crowd, reaping lives like a demon.
Sheng Baihe wasn’t bloodthirsty, at most just ruthless. But when a person possessed power and didn’t bother to hide their displeasure, most would act like this.
Wen Wuning knew his true nature, so he didn’t need to suppress his instincts in front of her. As for Lan Feier, in his eyes, she was a dying person, so there was no need to worry.
These people were short and agile but weak in strength. Ambushing was their forte, but facing them head-on, they had no power to fight back.
This muddy wetland was quickly stained red with splattered bl00d.
“Sheng Baihe, stop!” Wen Wuning shouted.
These were just ordinary people. Sheng Baihe was carrying out a one-sided slaughter.
Although they had attacked first and killed their horses, killing those who had no power to resist disgusted her!
Sheng Baihe was blinded by bloodlust and couldn’t hear Wen Wuning’s words at all.
Wen Wuning could only summon her green sword, her body moving with the sword, intercepting the sword that was about to fall on one person.
Sheng Baihe’s face was ferocious) Wen Wuning’s obstruction was like adding fuel to the fire.
“Don’t stop me!” Facing Wen Wuning, Sheng Baihe didn’t hold back, and his swordsmanship even became more vicious.
He valued Wen Wuning, so he couldn’t accept Wen Wuning standing on the opposite side of him for others!
This slaughter evolved into a fight between Sheng Baihe and Wen Wuning.
The person Wen Wuning had saved and another companion dragged a half-dead person on the ground and burrowed into the bushes, wanting to take the opportunity to escape.
Glancing at the two who were fighting fiercely, Lan Feier picked up her own sword and quietly followed the three.
She killed the two who could move freely and dragged the half-dead one back.
Just as she approached, she heard Sheng Baihe’s roar, “They wanted to kill me! If I don’t kill them, should I treat them with courtesy instead?!”
Vindictive, Lan Feier didn’t think there was anything wrong with this principle of dealing with things.