Senior Sister Is Too Weak and Cannot Take Care Of Herself (Transmigration) - Chapter 33

By the time Tang Huan arrived at the martial arts stage, the last match had just ended at the bottom of the mountain.

The final match was between Ren Jingmu and another sword cultivator. As the protagonist favored by the author, Ren Jingmu did possess one of the greatest talents among the younger generation. His opponent lasted less than fifty moves before cleanly and simply forfeiting. Everyone in the audience could understand the opponent’s choice. It wasn’t a disgrace to lose to Ren Jingmu in sword arts. Besides, there were still three matches for the six losers, who would be divided into three pairs. The three winners, while not able to compete for the top three spots in the sect, would still get a spot in the secret realm. This cultivator naturally had to forfeit early to conserve his strength for the next match.

Tang Huan arrived just in time for the drawing of lots and drew the third match. After she was done, she went back to sit beside Wang Mengyao.

Ever since Tang Huan had reappeared, Wang Mengyao had been incredibly excited. When she saw Tang Huan sit back down, she immediately grabbed her and started asking questions. “Ah Huan, how do you feel now? What happened during your match? Where did the sect master take you…?”

Tang Huan answered Wang Mengyao’s questions one by one. Not wanting to worry her, Tang Huan hid the fact that the Ku Ling Grass poison was still in her body, only saying that she had been drugged. Since Tang Huan hadn’t made a fool of herself in front of everyone, and the Silver Bell Flowers mixed with Nong Grass caused dizziness, which was similar to how Tang Huan had acted on the stage, Wang Mengyao didn’t suspect a thing.

When she heard Tang Huan was fine, Wang Mengyao visibly relaxed. But when she heard that the sect master had taken Tang Huan to Qin Su for healing, a strange light immediately appeared in Wang Mengyao’s eyes. Tang Huan’s brow twitched. Remembering all of Wang Mengyao’s wild storybooks, she couldn’t help but explain. “Mengyao, Senior Sister treats me like a younger sister. She’s so good to me, and I’m so grateful to her. I respect her like an older sister.”

“I know. Senior Sister is truly good to you, even going as far as to end her seclusion early for you. So many people are envious of the way she treats you!” Wang Mengyao chimed in smoothly. “Ah Huan, you have to repay her kindness. Senior Sister is frail, so you must not make her tired in the future.” But Wang Mengyao’s eyes became even brighter, and her voice was filled with a suppressed excitement.

 “Of course, I know you respect Senior Sister. Otherwise, why would you move into her cave, just to take care of her up close?”

At first, Wang Mengyao’s words seemed harmless, but the more Tang Huan thought about them, the stranger they became. She couldn’t help but frown, unsure of how to respond. Wang Mengyao seemed to realize that she had said too much in her excitement and awkwardly cleared her throat, trying to change the subject. “So, do you know who drugged you? And how?”

Tang Huan sighed in her heart. Wang Mengyao’s way of changing the subject is just too clumsy!

Even as she asked this, Wang Mengyao’s gaze had already landed on the male cultivator who had fought Tang Huan earlier, a man named Xu Kui. The answer was already clear. All the winners, except for Shi Yingying, had stayed to watch the matches. Ever since Xu Kui had seen Tang Huan reappear, his face had turned pale. He kept his head down, lost in thought.

But people in front of and behind them were eavesdropping on their conversation. Even though Tang Huan understood Wang Mengyao’s intent, she was afraid that trying to explain it would only make things worse. She also didn’t want to talk about Qin Su anymore, so she went along with Wang Mengyao’s words. “He used a very clever method. I can’t really get to the bottom of it right now.”

Tang Huan could only suffer in silence this time. After all, Nong Grass was a common herb used for external injuries, and without evidence, Xu Kui could just say it was all a coincidence.

“But I already know how he did it, and I’m not going to put up with them anymore.”

“There’s more than one person trying to harm you?!” Wang Mengyao immediately picked up on the key point in Tang Huan’s words. Her face furrowed in worry as she looked at Tang Huan. But Tang Huan had only said that by mistake. She didn’t want Wang Mengyao to get involved in this, so she said vaguely, “It’s nothing serious. Don’t worry. I already have an idea of how to deal with it.”

“If there’s anything I can do to help, you have to tell me.” Wang Mengyao was clearly not reassured, but she knew this was not the time to discuss these things. She frowned, lowered her head, and pursed her lips.

******

At that moment, the matches on the martial arts stage began. To get a spot in the secret realm, the first two matches were very intense and took a long time to finish. Tang Huan knew her match wouldn’t be short, either, since her opponent was the same one who had fought Ren Jingmu and had conserved his strength. Wang Mengyao had told Tang Huan that this sword cultivator was one of the best in this generation. Tang Huan’s strength was on par with his, so her chances of winning were fifty-fifty.

It was already the middle of the night when Tang Huan walked onto the stage. Remembering Senior Sister’s smile under the flower tree and the frustration of being schemed against and losing her previous match, an unprecedented fighting spirit ignited inside Tang Huan the moment the elder announced the start of the third match. She had to win this match!

Her opponent, however, seemed to have an unstable mindset. This was the final match. Whether he would get a spot in the secret realm all depended on this one fight. And since he had just experienced a loss, he was much more cautious in his fighting style.

Perhaps it was the change in her mindset, but Tang Huan’s performance in this match was exceptionally steady. The more she fought, the more powerful she became. At first, she was neck and neck with her opponent, but then her sword moves became more and more powerful, and her sword flowers were so dense they left no room for error, forcing her opponent to retreat again and again.

Tang Huan felt more and more exhilarated the more she fought. The two of them quickly exchanged a hundred moves. To some of the disciples with lower cultivation, their speed was so fast they couldn’t even see them. They could only hear the “thump-thump” of their swords clashing.

Tang Huan’s sword net forced her opponent to retreat to the edge of the stage. He knew he couldn’t keep going like this, so he took a gamble, using a killing blow that went straight for Tang Huan’s vitals. He moved backward to get some distance and fight again, but Tang Huan didn’t let him. Her body arched backward at a very tricky angle, and she thrust her sword toward her opponent’s opening.

Her opponent quickly dodged, but his body lost its balance in the next instant, and he fell off the stage.

The crowd was completely silent. No one had expected the once arrogant Tang Huan to put on such an astonishing performance on the stage. Her soft and sweet face and her powerful sword moves created a strange contrast that left everyone in awe.

With the elder’s announcement of “Tang Huan wins,” thunderous applause erupted from the audience. A broken strand of her hair fluttered down from her cheek and, along with the flying purple periwinkle flowers in the air, landed at Tang Huan’s feet.

A cool breeze blew past her. Listening to the cheers from the crowd, Tang Huan gradually came back to her senses. She had just used a move that the red-robed Qin Su had shown her in her dream. She had always known that the way of cultivation was to survive in dangerous situations, but this was the first time she had tried this move in a fight. Her opponent’s sword had gone right past her face. In that moment, she had instinctively held her breath, and her heart had seemed to stop. But she had won her gamble! The feeling was terrifying, but also incredibly addictive. Her bl00d was pumping, and every pore in her body was screaming with satisfaction.

Her senses slowly returned. Tang Huan’s eyes passed over the audience below. She saw Wang Mengyao’s happy face, Liu Fei standing in a corner, seeming to be reviewing his sword moves, her opponent who had a pale face but cupped his hands in a show of respect, and the sullen faces of Ren Jingmu and Xu Kui. Unconsciously, she had become entangled with all these people in all sorts of ways.

This was the first time Tang Huan had ever truly realized that she had started to integrate into this world and had become a part of it. At that moment, a barrier in her heart silently shattered. Tang Huan felt her spirit and realm align, and her qi flowed freely. The spiritual energy in her body began to circulate at an unprecedented speed. In her empty dantian, a tiny drop of spiritual liquid seemed to be forming.

The elder, who had a smile on his face, noticed Tang Huan’s reaction. He narrowed his eyes and observed for a moment, then couldn’t help but stroke his beard in amazement. “Tang Huan had a breakthrough!”

*******

Tang Huan entered a very mystical state. She continuously absorbed the spiritual energy from the world and expanded her meridians. The spiritual energy gathered in her dantian and began to transform into spiritual liquid. It wasn’t until a thin layer of spiritual liquid had accumulated in her dantian that Tang Huan ended the circulation of spiritual energy and opened her eyes.

When she was in seclusion, Tang Huan couldn’t tell the passage of time. When she woke up, it was already the morning of the third day. She was back in her little house on Baiwu Peak. Through the window, Tang Huan saw Qin Su standing in the courtyard, casually feeding the two little spirit beasts. Probably because of Qin Su’s kind nature, the two little spirit beasts, who were so restless in Tang Huan’s hands, were incredibly well-behaved with Qin Su. The two fluffy animals were curled up next to Qin Su, eating the food she fed them with a look of extreme enjoyment and even a hint of fawning.

Just as I thought, it’s good to be pretty. Even spirit beasts can’t help but want to get close to her. Tang Huan sighed in her heart. She was about to call out to Qin Su, but she suddenly couldn’t bear to break the peaceful and beautiful scene.

Qin Su, who was feeding the spirit beasts with her head down, seemed to have sensed something. She turned to look at Tang Huan. Qin Su looked at Tang Huan with a focused gaze, and a gentle smile appeared on her face. “Congratulations on your breakthrough, Junior Sister.”

Tang Huan was stunned, and then she couldn’t help but smile. She had never expected to make so much progress in such a short amount of time. She had already broken through to the mid-stage of the Foundation Establishment. At this rate, it wouldn’t be long before she reached the late-stage of the Foundation Establishment and could finally go to the mortal world.

Feeling the unprecedented abundance of spiritual energy in her body, Tang Huan’s mood instantly brightened. She couldn’t help but push open her door and sit down in front of Qin Su. Tang Huan was about to reach out and pet the bunny’s ears. The two little spirit beasts had turned to look at her, a hint of expectation in their eyes. But the moment she got closer, the two little spirit beasts grabbed their food and scurried away to a corner.

Am I that scary? They weren’t this afraid of me before. Tang Huan scratched her head, regrettably retracting her hand. She didn’t think too much of it and looked at Qin Su with wide eyes. Qin Su looked thin, but her face was much better than when Tang Huan had left. And Qin Su seemed to be in a good mood. She didn’t usually feed the two little spirit beasts, but she was doing it now.

It’s worth it to be so tired when my precious character is doing so well!

Tang Huan sighed in relief, putting her worries aside. She slumped onto the ground, a motherly sense of pride welling up in her heart. Remembering what had happened during Qin Su’s seclusion, she couldn’t help but speak. “Senior Sister, you don’t know how much I’ve been through…”

Tang Huan hated Ren Jingmu so much at this moment that she told Qin Su everything he had done. She also told her about Xu Kui drugging her. Unlike the cold red-robed Qin Su in her dreams, the white-robed Qin Su was as gentle as water. She listened intently to Tang Huan’s story. With Qin Su’s gentle eyes looking at her with worry, Tang Huan felt like she was floating.

“In short, Senior Sister, look. There are so many schemes within the sect. What’s it going to be like in the secret realm? People’s hearts are unpredictable, and it’s hard to guard against hidden attacks. There are too many opportunities in the secret realm, so it’s inevitable that some people will have evil intentions. Senior Sister, you have to be careful…” Tang Huan said earnestly.

“So many people tried to harm you, but you still got a spot in the secret realm. Junior Sister, you’re so amazing!” Qin Su nodded, a look of relief on her face after listening to Tang Huan. Her beautiful eyes looked at Tang Huan as she spoke softly.

Tang Huan’s lips instinctively started to curl up, but she quickly pursed them. She had no evidence, so she couldn’t say outright that Bai Feng wanted to harm Qin Su. She could only try to warn Qin Su in this roundabout way. Although Qin Su was right that she was amazing, this naive girl was still missing the point.

Tang Huan cleared her throat and put on a serious face, ready to once again warn Qin Su to be careful of backstabbing, but she heard Qin Su continue in her gentle voice. 

“And to be able to have a breakthrough in such a dangerous situation… Junior Sister is truly a rare genius!”

Tang Huan could no longer hold back the smile on her face. She cleared her throat and turned away, waving her hand as if she didn’t care. “I’m just so-so!” But her heart was so happy it felt like a joyful, fluttering little bird.

My precious character worships me!

So what if she’s a little naive? It doesn’t matter that she’s not careful. I’m going to the secret realm anyway, and I’ll protect her from now on…