Cannon Fodder

"But, Junior Sister..."

The man in green before her hesitated and stammered.

Senior Sister was waiting for them. If they could not bring the resources back on time, they would definitely be punished.

Thinking of everything they had experienced along the way, he finally understood why the senior brothers had looked as if they wanted to speak but held back when Junior Sister said she wanted to travel with him.

He had thought Junior Sister liked him, and he had been happy all night.

Now, there was only regret. Next time, he should let Junior Sister play in the sect by herself. This trial had felt a hundred times harder than usual.

Junior Sister was gifted, but her health truly was poor, so they could not be too harsh on her.

He had heard before that Junior Sister opposed Senior Sister at every turn. He had thought it was Senior Sister's fault, that she could not tolerate Junior Sister's existence.

But now it seemed that Junior Sister had been in the sect for so long without being punished by Senior Sister, which meant Senior Sister had already treated her very well. Even their master had been left speechless by Eldest Senior Sister's retorts.

"Go on, Third Senior Brother. I'm only going to take a look. Besides, we're powerful, and there's even a Nascent Soul Realm elder with us. There won't be any danger."

The Nascent Soul elder: ...

The sect master's judgment was truly getting worse and worse. He needed to go complain to the Supreme Elder!

"Third Senior Brother, look."

As he hesitated, he saw the Spirit Slip handed over by a disciple beside him. It contained a plea for help from Chi Yan, the Lord of West River City.

West River City lay within the Flowing Cloud Sect's sphere of influence. Upon receiving a plea for help, they were required to go and handle the matter.

Could something have gone wrong with this beast riot?

"In that case, let's go."

After he spoke, he saw Junior Sister's sparkling eyes. The corners of his mouth stiffly lifted, then he turned away, rubbed his forehead, and sighed.

If only this talent had belonged to a diligent disciple in good health. On Junior Sister, it was truly a waste.

Liu Qingqing did not see Third Senior Brother rubbing his forehead or the helplessness in his eyes. She only saw that fleeting smile before he turned away and secretly felt pleased with herself.

So what if she did not cultivate? Wouldn't her senior brothers still protect her and stand by her side?

So what if Fu Yao was the sect leader's eldest disciple? Weren't her senior brothers and master's eyes still fixed on Liu Qingqing?

She was a transmigrated woman, blessed with a Heaven-grade Water Spiritual Root, and had entered one of the Upper Three Sects through a twist of fate to become a personal disciple.

Wasn't this the standard setup for the beloved junior sister in a novel?

She did not need to do anything at all.

As long as she wanted something, resources would be delivered right before her. She had tested it before and found that everything was exactly as she had imagined, which was why she had continued testing everyone's limits step by step.

She just did not know why Fu Yao had always found her unpleasant to look at. Fu Yao was definitely the vicious supporting female character.

Hmph. Vicious supporting female characters were powerful but brainless. They would always be slapped in the face by the female lead and male supporting characters. Though she did not know why things had not followed the script.

But she quickly figured it out. The male lead must not have appeared yet. Once he appeared, the plot would begin. Then Eldest Senior Sister would lose all reputation, while Liu Qingqing's strength would advance by leaps and bounds until everyone could only look up at her.

Actually, she could not bear it either, but who asked this not to be a real world? It was only a world of paper people.

Thus, she felt no guilt whatsoever. She was merely following the plot. If anyone was to blame, Fu Yao simply had bad luck.

As she thought this, a foolish grin secretly appeared on her face.

Seeing this, everyone rubbed their foreheads even harder.

If they had known that the sect master's final disciple would be such a good-for-nothing who possessed nothing but talent, they should have stopped him.

At worst, they could have kept her in the sect as a lucky ornament. That would still be better than letting her come out and disgrace herself.

"The immortals have finally arrived."

When Chi Yan saw the spirit vessel slowly approaching in the distance, joy surged in his heart, and he immediately went forward to greet them.

The symbol on that spirit vessel belonged to the Flowing Cloud Sect. The Flowing Cloud Sect's disciples were powerful; with them here, there would definitely be no problem.

When Xi Siyu saw the man, he stepped forward. "Are you the Lord of West River City?"

Chi Yan nodded. "That would be me."

"Tell us what happened."

Xi Siyu was pressed for time. He only wanted to resolve the matter quickly, then submit the mission.

He did not want Eldest Senior Sister to punish him by sending him to the Scripture Pavilion. He could neither learn nor understand anything there, but now no one understood the melancholy in his eyes.

Chi Yan informed them of what had happened. They exchanged glances, each seeing a trace of worry in the others' eyes.

They possessed an instinctive sensitivity to such abnormalities. From Chi Yan's scattered words alone, they knew there was something wrong with these demonic beasts.

This was absolutely not ordinary madness. More likely than not, they had been affected by some factor.

"When will the second Beast Tide arrive?"

He asked with a grave expression.

"Reporting to the immortal, the cultivators at the first line of defense heard the beasts' roars last night. They will likely arrive today."

Today?

Xi Siyu silently repeated the word, then ordered the disciples to dock the spirit vessel outside the city. With an elder present, no one would dare steal the resources aboard.

Apart from the Junior Sister traveling with them, all those who had come on this trial were inner sect disciples, and even the weakest had reached the Foundation Establishment Late Stage.

Dealing with these demonic beasts would be more than enough for them.

However, there were many demonic beasts, so they naturally needed the assistance of the local cultivators. With a single command, he arranged for the disciples to head out.

Upon hearing that reinforcements had arrived, everyone immediately calmed down. When Jiang Lu heard that they were disciples of the Flowing Cloud Sect, she could not help thinking of the gossip she had heard that day. By sheer coincidence, Liu Qingqing and the other disciples had been assigned to their group.

Seeing this, the cultivators in the group wanted to step forward and flatter her, but with the crisis looming, they were immediately stopped.

A flicker of dissatisfaction appeared in Liu Qingqing's eyes. She was used to being fawned over, so naturally she felt uncomfortable when it was interrupted.

Jiang Lu happened to catch that flash of displeasure. Looking at Liu Qingqing's gentle, innocent face that carried a hint of curiosity, Jiang Lu could not help shuddering.

No matter when it was, she hated this sort of person most—one face before others, another behind their backs.

This Junior Sister was not someone to provoke. Jiang Lu decided she absolutely must not offend her. She only needed to muddle along in the back. After all, the standard setup for a beloved junior sister was, first, good fortune, and second, the suffering of cannon fodder around her. Clearly, their entire group was cannon fodder now.

As roars and oppressive pressure rolled toward them one after another, everyone immediately prepared for battle.

Jiang Lu secretly put Cangchen and Chi Li into her spatial storage. The two were adorable, and if Liu Qingqing took a liking to them, Jiang Lu was not confident she could keep them.

Moreover, she vaguely felt that Liu Qingqing must not discover their existence.

The instant Jiang Lu put them into her spatial storage, Liu Qingqing's gaze suddenly turned toward Jiang Lu's direction. There was nothing there.

Only Jiang Lu stood there, merely at Qi Refinement, Fourth Level, with nothing on her except an ordinary storage bag.

Liu Qingqing shifted her gaze elsewhere. She was only an ordinary disciple, not worth any extra thought. Still, Liu Qingqing felt as though she had missed something. Perhaps she was overthinking it.

What troubled her most was her completely unreliable sixth sense. Whenever it told her she was about to gain or lose something, it always made a joke of her.

As time passed, she stopped believing in it.