At that moment, what I was experiencing felt even more disgusting than someone sticking a finger down my throat.
I still had one shred of reason left, so I didn't throw up everything I'd just eaten in front of a crowd.
Mainly because... I couldn't bear to.
Damn it, that was a feast I'd just eaten!
My stomach kept churning, and I could barely suppress the dry heaves. I pulled out a handkerchief and pressed it over my mouth. The middle soon grew damp.
Ye Qingxian reacted faster than Yue Wuhua.
She caught my body as it started to go limp, keeping me from crumpling straight to the ground.
Actually, I felt like crouching might make me feel a little better.
I kept shaking my head, signaling them not to talk to me.
One of the female cultivators at the table suddenly said, "Junior Sister Xiaoyao's symptoms seem a little like—"
Before she could finish, she met the Female Protagonist's emotionless gaze.
The Female Protagonist was gentle when the moment called for it, but she had all the authority and methods expected of the highly esteemed Senior Sister of Heavenly Sword Peak. Otherwise, how could she command the respect of others?
Ye Xiaoyao was her junior sister, after all.
They were in public, and Ye Qingxian knew what mattered most.
Unlike Heavenly Sword Peak, Bright Moon Peak had many Direct Disciples. A female cultivator in a water-blue Immortal Skirt named Qi Yue chuckled and picked up the thread. "Peony Junior Sister, you can't just say things like that. Junior Sister Xiaoyao is still so young. If even a hint of gossip gets out, Heavenly Sword Venerable will have a hard time explaining it. Maybe she's just got an upset stomach or caught a chill. Besides, Junior Sister Xiaoyao is only at Qi Refining Third Layer. Her body is no different from an ordinary person's, so it's perfectly normal for her to feel unwell now and then. Don't you agree?"
Yue Wuhua took out a pill and fed it to me.
At last, I started to feel better.
That was intense. This little one was no ordinary baby.
The Female Protagonist's genes were too fierce.
We'd barely been at it for a month, and already the baby was putting me through the wringer.
This was my first baby, and it wasn't that I didn't care about the baby itself or that I saw it entirely as a tool for improving my talent.
Most of the female cultivators accepted the explanation.
With Heavenly Sword Venerable keeping an eye on things, Junior Sister Xiaoyao wouldn't do anything scandalous.
In truth, only a few of Ye Qingxian's disciples knew that Heavenly Sword Venerable might as well not exist. He never interfered in anything.
Heavenly Sword Peak was no different with or without him.
Under this explanation, only Ye Qingxian looked thoughtful.
The Female Protagonist's suspicious gaze stayed fixed on me. My head felt heavier by the second. I was one step away from writing "I'm not pregnant" across my face.
I thought, How could I be this unlucky?
One unexpected thing after another. How many times had this happened now?
Every time I didn't want the Female Protagonist to learn something, Ye Qingxian just happened to catch me in the act. Could I go back to my previous life and buy a lottery ticket or what?
I suppose I was just unlucky.
The smell of crab roe alone had brought on pregnancy symptoms.
In theory, pregnant women shouldn't eat crabs.
But I was cultivating immortality. What was the big deal about eating a crab?
Ye Qingxian kept staring at me, as if waiting for an answer.
At this point, all I could do was steel myself and give an awkward smile beneath the Female Protagonist's increasingly heavy suspicion. "It's my first time eating so many delicacies. My stomach's not used to it."
Yue Wuhua suddenly understood, and her heart ached for me all the more.
What kind of life had a person lived to never have eaten food infused with Spiritual Energy? Had things been so bad that she nearly threw up the first time she tried it?
The fairy, more radiant than moonlight, sighed again. "The life you've had at Heavenly Sword Peak doesn't seem like the life of a... Never mind. Come to Bright Moon Peak. I'll ask Master to take you in as my junior sister. I won't let anyone bully you from now on."
Yue Wuhua held the same status at Bright Moon Peak as Ye Qingxian did at Heavenly Sword Peak.
It wouldn't be hard for Bright Moon Venerable, who already had many Direct Disciples, to take one more junior sister.
But Ye Qingxian slowly set down her cup and said blandly, "There's no need to trouble yourself."
The air seemed to crackle with lightning as their gazes met briefly.
A peculiar battlefield unfolded—not one of complicated feelings, but of compassion and dignity. It even brought Ye Xiaoyao into the limelight among the fairy-like cultivators.
Ye Qingxian's reasoning was simple.
If people from Bright Moon Peak took Ye Xiaoyao away, who knew what rumors would spread about Heavenly Sword Peak?
A Direct Disciple was different, after all.
As Senior Sister of Heavenly Sword Peak, Ye Qingxian instinctively defended the dignity of her lineage.
Yue Wuhua's offer left me dumbstruck.
Me... go to Bright Moon Peak?
That was actually an option?!
I could get away from the Female Protagonist, that future madwoman. I wanted to agree with both hands and feet, but my excitement was doused with a bucket of cold water when the Female Protagonist's emotionless gaze slowly turned toward me.
I gulped hard.
What was that look?
If I accepted, would the Female Protagonist draw her sword and hack me to death on the spot?
"See? My junior sister doesn't agree." Ye Qingxian's hand was as smooth as jade, her fingers long and elegant as she picked up her tea and took a light sip.
Yue Wuhua didn't reply. Instead, she turned to me. "Don't be afraid of her. If you're unhappy at Heavenly Sword Peak, just say so. I'll stand up for you."
Stand up for me...?
How were you supposed to stand up for me?
I gave her a smile more painful than crying.
Even if you're powerful, could you really be more powerful than the Female Protagonist?
If the Female Protagonist got angry and decided she wanted me dead, who in this world could stop her?
"No."
Yue Wuhua didn't press me. She only said, "Come to me if you need anything."
I nodded along on the surface.
Meanwhile, my thoughts had already wandered far away.
I'd better not ask you for help. I was afraid you were such a good person that I'd feel bad secretly making you give birth to my child later.
Now that was the kind of evil line befitting a great villain!
I—I was just that wicked.
Once this baby was born, would I really switch to someone else?
The instant the thought crossed my mind, I dismissed it. Two question marks couldn't hold a candle to the importance of three. Better to keep the Female Protagonist wrapped around my little finger for now.
Before the Male Lead appeared, every last opportunity was precious.
I couldn't waste a single one.
The flower-viewing banquet finally ended. I didn't dare eat anything else afterward, though I spent a long time staring longingly at the pile of delicacies.
To my surprise, Ye Qingxian packed some food for me.
"Take it back and eat. Don't let yourself go hungry."
Ye Qingxian shook her head helplessly at her junior sister. When no one was nearby, she suddenly asked, "I'll ask you one more time. Are you sure you haven't been in contact with that person again?"
"You're still young, so you may not understand how things work. But you must never look down on yourself. Do you... understand?"
Now that she knew she had a junior sister, Ye Qingxian had a responsibility as Senior Sister. She couldn't stand by and watch her junior sister go astray.
Another reason was that she was finding a way to protect Heavenly Sword Peak's dignity.
If people found out that the only four Direct Disciples of Heavenly Sword Peak had done something as outrageous as getting pregnant before marriage—
Ye Qingxian's gaze darkened.
Master would surely clean house himself and expel Ye Xiaoyao from the sect.
"No, no." I shook my head like a rattle drum. No matter how cute my face was, I could still spout nonsense with a perfectly straight face. "He doesn't even have his Ghost Fire Flying Sword anymore. I, Ye Xiaoyao, wouldn't give him a second glance."
"..."
Ye Qingxian was utterly speechless.
Had this child been brainwashed by ghost fire? Her head was full of nothing but ghost fire, ghost fire, ghost fire.
How could a little girl be so easy to fool?
Ye Qingxian still hadn't completely set aside her doubts. When she thought that someone might actually lay a hand on a girl this young—and such a tiny little thing, too, small enough to lift with one hand—she felt as if she were looking at an animal.
Oh, right.
In the Cultivation World these days, eighteen was officially adulthood, and anyone under fifty was called a little girl.
"Having a Ghost Fire Flying Sword wouldn't make it okay, either," Ye Qingxian said crossly. She stuffed a bag of delicacies into my arms and glanced at my ten black-painted fingernails. "Spend less time reading those edgy storybooks. You're a pretty little girl, so why do you go around dressed in black all the time?"
Ye Qingxian soon left.
Dressed in black?
What would you know about being a villain, Female Protagonist? If you don't understand, don't judge.
This was the signature color of a great villain like me.
I instinctively tugged at my fluffy skirt. A lock of pale-pink hair fell naturally over my arm, making my already fair, jade-like skin look even whiter.
I stopped worrying about my color scheme and stared at the bag of delicacies instead, swallowing hard.
I—Ye Xiaoyao—was a great villain, sure, but I wouldn't let anyone humiliate me by feeding me.
But the Female Protagonist was different.
This wasn't being fed. It was an apology for the future.
She was the one who'd go crazy in the future and insist the Male Lead kill me.
I gave a couple of smug little snorts, feeling especially pleased.
This was all compensation for her future transgressions.
I ate with a clear conscience.
My cave abode was quiet and still. I sat on the swing, enjoying the rare peace. My palm-sized feet dangled in the air. Just as I was about to swing them, I suddenly realized something.
Before leaving, the Female Protagonist had repeatedly reminded me to be careful.
And she'd kept giving me those furtive, suspicious looks.
Oh no. What if she still hadn't put her doubts to rest?
If I got caught pregnant, what would I do? Waaah.
At that moment, my smile didn't feel like a real smile at all. Whose face had my smile ended up on, anyway?
Could it really be true that I'd made all of this up?
Had I conjured up a scumbag father for the child in my womb out of thin air?
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