Page 6

The Kongtong School was on Mount Zhaoyao. Could it be...?

Holy shit. This had been no simple matter from the start. That so-called chance encounter was probably something someone else had planned all along.

The Xingxing raced through the forest like wind and lightning, leaping from one tree to another before stopping atop the tallest Purple Tenuity Immortal Fir. Just as the original book described, it hung the baby shoe in the treetop a hundred meters above the ground.

Senior Sister, get the Beast-Binding Rope ready, then carry me up to catch that Xingxing, Ye Zhenzhen said decisively.

Ye Qingyao immediately rummaged through her Heaven-and-Earth Bag and pulled out an ordinary Beast-Binding Rope. She had not wanted to take a baby like Junior Sister up to such a high treetop; it seemed unsafe. But after Zhenzhen urged her again and again, she held the little one in her arms and flew on her sword toward the Purple Tenuity Immortal Fir's crown.

The Xingxing hid more than ten meters behind the baby shoe, waiting to push Ye Qingyao off when she came to retrieve it.

But while Ye Qingyao appeared to be heading for the shoe, she threw the Beast-Binding Rope the moment she drew near. She meant to catch the Xingxing and teach the prankster a lesson, but her aim was off. The rope veered aside and caught only one of its legs.

This was bad.

The Xingxing struggled desperately to break free of the Beast-Binding Rope, throwing them off balance along with it. They plunged straight down from the tree.

We're not going to be flattened into pancakes, are we...? Ye Zhenzhen thought in despair.

A white figure flashing with golden light sped toward them. The original book's famous scene of the male lead rescuing the heroine, cradling her like a princess and spinning with her, had come after all.

Only now there was also a baby whose expression was all over the place, and a snarling Xingxing.

The male lead gazed tenderly at the heroine, only to make the baby in her arms burst into tears. The three of them and the Xingxing spiraled down and crashed heavily to the ground.

Not a shred of beauty or romance. Just a mess...

Waaah, that scared me to death!

Ye Zhenzhen whimpered miserably, her little face scrunched up.

Seeing this, Shen Xingyan showed his considerate side. He stepped forward at once to help Ye Qingyao up. "Are you hurt anywhere, miss? Did the little girl in your arms get frightened?"

Like his father, he wore a white robe adorned with golden patterns, marking him at a glance as a disciple of the Kongtong School. The difference was that his father's robe bore dragon patterns, while his bore flood dragon patterns.

Shen Xingyan considered himself handsome, graceful, and blessed with a distinguished family. He had always been supremely confident in his appeal, believing himself to be the sort of man everyone saw as

a flower blooming on an unreachable peak.

But Ye Zhenzhen knew he was no such flower. He was a black-hearted lotus in a White Peacock's plumage, rotten to the core just like his father. All to set up a groveling pursuit of his wife, the author had forced a male lead this awful into the story. Some novels were getting harder and harder to stomach.

"She's fine. Junior Sister was frightened just now. She'll be all right in a little while," Ye Qingyao said politely, gently patting Ye Zhenzhen's little bottom to soothe her.

"Don't be afraid, little one. I just brought you down safely, so you don't have to worry about falling anymore." Shen Xingyan leaned in to comfort her too, making sure to emphasize his rescue.

Shen Xingyan's enormous face filled the sky above Ye Zhenzhen, his nostrils like two bottomless black holes. She had nearly stopped crying, but her expression clouded over again in an instant, and she wailed even louder.

That scared me to death!

Her little face flushed crimson, and her whole body trembled as though she had seen something terrifying.

Shen Xingyan: ?

"Is my face that frightening? Ever since I was little, girls have praised me for my dashing looks and peerless beauty. They've even said they wanted to marry me someday."

You White Peacock! You narcissist! Your nostrils are too big and so pitch-black—they look like two man-eating monsters! Aaaah!

Little Glutinous Rice Ball pointed at his nostrils, sniffling and sobbing as though she had suffered a terrible injustice.

So Junior Sister had cried earlier not because she feared heights, but because of Shen Xingyan's nostrils. After Ye Zhenzhen pointed them out, Ye Qingyao looked at them too. They really were big and deep.

She nearly burst out laughing, but that would have been rude. Her expression turned so strange from holding it in that she almost hurt herself.

Now Shen Xingyan felt even more aggrieved. "Shouldn't the sight of a handsome man like me leave you awestruck? What are those looks on your faces?"

Awestruck? He tui! Who's blind enough to think that?

Oh, right, Senior Sister! Don't forget that Xingxing. Draw your sword and pretend you're going to kill it.

Mid-sob, Ye Zhenzhen suddenly remembered the Xingxing lying unconscious on the ground with one leg bound.

Following Junior Sister's instructions, Ye Qingyao made a show of drawing her sword and pretending to thrust it through the Xingxing's heart. "I ought to kill you, you wicked beast!"

Shen Xingyan stepped in front of the Xingxing and declared righteously, "Miss, this is a living creature! It was only playing a joke on everyone. How can you threaten to kill it over such a trivial matter?"

"You're so beautiful, miss. Surely you have a kind heart too. Just teach it a lesson."

A Mary Sue was a Mary Sue, after all. Ye Qingyao was too innocent and kind. Faced with that moral pressure, she immediately felt embarrassed and put her sword away.

Ye Zhenzhen: ?

Senior Sister, don't put your sword away! That scumbag was this close to showing his fox tail!

But Ye Qingyao stood frozen, her hand on the hilt, unable to draw her sword again.

"That Demon Beast nearly caused my Senior Sister and Junior Sister to fall hundreds of meters to the ground. It nearly cost two lives! How is that a trivial matter? Even killing it wouldn't be unjust!"

A boy's voice rang out. It still sounded young, but every word landed with force.

Who's that? He said exactly what I was thinking! Excited, Ye Zhenzhen turned her little head toward the voice. A young boy approached with anger on his face, the tip of his sword pointed straight at the Xingxing's head.

He looked about eight or nine years old. His Auspicious Phoenix Eyes were unlike anyone else's, with especially long outer corners that tilted slightly upward. His lashes fluttered like little butterflies, and his skin glowed white in the sunlight.