Chapter 26

[First Senior Brother! Second Senior Sister! Third Senior Brother!]

[Where are you all?]

Ye Zhenzhen screamed in her mind, but no one answered. In her panic, she flailed both arms, setting the branches rustling. She was not particularly frightened, but her milk bottle was still with her First Senior Brother. After only a few hours without milk, she already felt so hungry her stomach was stuck to her spine.

"Old friend, you've finally come." An ancient, weathered voice sounded beside her ear. In the darkness, a pair of eyes appeared, flickering as they gazed steadily at her.

Ye Zhenzhen jumped. [Who are you? Come out! Why have you trapped me here and started playing ghost?]

[And who's your old friend? I'm just a baby. Even counting every last day, I've only been in this world for three months. How could you possibly know me?]

"How strange... Truly strange... There's a trace of her aura between your brows, yet your soul isn't as pure as hers. You're greedy, selfish, full of desire. You hold all the greed, anger, and delusion in this world." The voice sounded like that of an elder who had lived for thousands of years, weathered by countless ages. Deep and world-weary, it seemed to see straight through her flesh into her heart.

The mark between Ye Zhenzhen's brows glimmered faintly gold. [What are you talking about? Do you know me? Old friend, since we know each other, let me go. And let my senior brothers and sister go too.]

[It's so dark here. I'm a little baby—I'm scared of the dark, okay?]

"Don't rush, little one. Let me take a closer look at you."

"Ten thousand years ago, I met her once. She saved me from a Demon Beast's jaws and told me to wait here for someone. I waited ten thousand long years, and at last, you've come. Though you haven't grown into your features yet, your crescent brows, shining dark eyes, and red-lotus lips are exactly like hers."

"All things are bound by fate. You are her, and yet you are not."

Ye Zhenzhen: ?

[Who is she? Why am I her, yet not her?]

[What kind of nonsense is that?]

[Come on, speak plainly, will you?]

A deep laugh burst from the aged voice. "She never had your carefree spirit, nor was she as lively and mischievous. When I met her, she wore white robes as light as gauze. Her face was pale as snow, her figure graceful beyond compare. She was like a fairy descended from the highest heavens, yet as cold as a field of gleaming snow. Her face betrayed neither joy nor sorrow, but between her brows lay a grief that would not fade: the burden of duty and compassion she felt for all living beings."

"She should have ascended long before then. But to keep the Evil Drought Demon from scourging the mortal world, and for the sake of the Dao she believed in, she chose to remain here. I haven't seen her in ten thousand years. I wonder how she is now?"

[All right, old man, enough with the mystery. Who exactly is she?] Ye Zhenzhen searched her memory of the original book. It had rambled on for hundreds of chapters, but she could not match that description to anyone. How strange.

"You'll know when you grow up."

It was like being given a riddle she could not solve, only for the answer to be withheld indefinitely. Ye Zhenzhen felt as if ten thousand insects were crawling under her skin, leaving her unbearably itchy. [What the hell? You've piqued my curiosity, but you won't tell me who she is. At least tell me who you are.]

[Don't tell me you're the Ten-Thousand-Year Bodhi Tree?]

"You're very clever. That's right."

[Old man, since I'm so clever, could you give me a reward?] She had worn through iron shoes searching without success, only to find what she wanted without lifting a finger. Ye Zhenzhen suddenly smiled her most ingratiating smile.

"Yes."

[You're agreeing just like that, without even asking what reward I want?]

"Of course."

The space around her shook violently. Dazzling flashes from a Spirit Sword streaked past her eyes. Someone was trying to hack through the branches and force a way through the tangled vines. But whenever those vines were cut, new shoots sprang up. There seemed to be no end to them.

The newcomer spat out a mouthful of blood but refused to give up. As though locked in a personal feud with the branches, he threw all his strength into a furious barrage of cracks and crashes, determined to break through the airtight cage and rescue the person inside.

"Look. The person you want the reward for is here. Perhaps I'll let him in." The Ten-Thousand-Year Bodhi Tree spoke leisurely.

An opening was forcibly hewn through the wooden cage.

It was him, all right: her beautiful, powerful, tragic First Senior Brother, covered in blood, his white robes stained and torn.

"Little Junior Sister, I finally found you!" Ye Qinghui pulled the little sticky-rice dumpling tight against his chest, the knot in his brow slowly easing. When he could not find her anywhere, he had been frantic enough to turn the whole place upside down to bring his precious little junior sister back.

[First Senior Brother, you're finally here! Zhenzhen's starving. Zhenzhen wants milk.] The little sticky-rice dumpling's lips puckered, and she began to sob pitifully.

After being trapped here so long, his little junior sister had not cried from fear of the darkness or sadness at being alone. Yet the lack of milk had brought on a storm of tears. Ye Qinghui could not help laughing. He took out her milk bottle, warmed it, and fed her as she gulped it down.

Ye Zhenzhen drank eagerly until her belly was round and full.

Once she had eaten and drunk her fill, she turned to business. [Old man, a scoundrel tricked my First Senior Brother out of his Inner Core. Without it, his cultivation is unstable. How about lending him your seed?]

"First, let's see whether he's worthy of borrowing it." As the Ten-Thousand-Year Bodhi Tree spoke, a mirror appeared. "Take a look in this mirror first."

A mirror?

Ye Zhenzhen was baffled. [Someone asks to borrow your seed, and you tell them to look in a mirror? What a strange old man.]

She gripped the mirror's handle in her little hand and held it up to her face. She had meant to exclaim, [Oh my, how did I get so adorable?] Instead, she saw mountains of Superior Spirit Stones, each radiating rich spiritual energy that made her reluctant to look away. Then she saw Spirit Plants covering hills as far as the eye could see, and an endless Spirit Spring teeming with countless Spirit Fish leaping over one another.

Ranking List

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Transmigration into a Book

Wish-Fulfillment Fiction

Cannon Fodder

Everyone's Darling