Chapter 20 Jealousy Leads to Seduction

He even called out "Junior Brother," what triggered Xiao Bumian's reaction?

Mingjian wanted to pretend he hadn't heard and play dead to get away with it.

System: [Host, please note that the villain's redemption value is currently decreasing, currently at 5%]

Mingjian: ? ? ?

Can anyone tell him what exactly happened?

[Waaaaah, Host, what did you do? Where are my redemption points? I finally raised them to eight percent! It must be because Xiao Bumian was upset that you wouldn't answer this question that my redemption points dropped.]

Mingjian's mind was buzzing; he was even more confused than the system.

Is this question really that important? Did Xiao Bumian really have to lose so many redemption points?!

Mingjian brainstormed and frantically searched for compliments.

Seeing Mingjian's expression, Xiao Bumian smiled with a good mood, but his chest was still filled with a bloodthirsty impulse.

He recalled Mingjian's flattering words to Gu Zhi earlier, and inexplicably felt an urge to sew Mingjian's mouth shut, stitch by stitch. He didn't want Mingjian to die, but he also didn't want to see him always smiling at others. It would be better to turn him into a puppet, binding his hands and feet with the best puppet strings, so that he wouldn't talk to or smile at anyone.

And I won't always make him angry.

He smiled gently, "Junior brother, don't say anything unpleasant."

Mingjian: "..."

He is now somewhat desperate.

The system emitted a piercing scream: [Aaaaaah! Host, host, it's dropped to three percent! The current target's killing intent is sensed at eighty percent!]

Mingjian remained silent for a while, then began to curse inwardly.

Damn it, you yandere! What kind of good person would kill someone they couldn't have? He just refused to answer a death question, so why is he still going to die?

Mingjian made up his mind that once this redemption mission was completed, he would definitely give Xiao Bumian a good kick.

Seeing that he wasn't sure what the yandere was thinking, he tentatively asked, "For example?"

“Hmm,” Xiao Bumian smiled and raised the corners of her lips for Mingjian to imitate, “for example, being upright and honest, compassionate to all living beings, having the heart of a bodhisattva, being knowledgeable and well-informed.”

Mingjian: "..."

He's already said everything he wanted to say, what else can he say?

System: [Ah! Ah! Two percent!]

Mingjian was wondering whether he should kowtow to Xiao Bumian and beg him to spare his life.

"Junior brother, have you finished speaking and can't find anything else to say?"

The person behind him slowly moved closer, near his ear, their voice as gentle as ever. A breath, colder than usual, tickled the back of his neck.

"What kind of person do you think Immortal Venerable Hanwei is?"

Ming Jian paused for a moment, his mind racing, and finally managed to utter only a few words, "A good person, the Immortal Venerable is a good person."

system:"……"

The system was practically in tears; its code felt like it had grown a heart, pounding deafeningly. When it finally saw Mingjian's answer, it instinctively sat up straight, but upon hearing it, it instantly died within Mingjian's consciousness.

[051 is offline. May the host find their own good fortune.]

Mingjian: "..."

"A good person?" Xiao Bumian paused for a moment, then repeated softly. After a long while, he laughed.

He always found Mingjian very interesting.

So, someone like him can be considered a good person?

"Junior Brother is really something." Xiao Bumian smiled and raised his hand to rub Mingjian's fluffy head like he was petting a cat.

Mingjian's heart tightened.

Damn it!

Xiao Bumian isn't going to twist his neck, is he?

No, he felt he could still salvage the situation.

Xiao Bumian looked at Mingjian, who was frozen in place, and smiled gently, "Interesting."

Even when scared, it's like a cat, too afraid to move.

After leaving this secret realm, he first needs to go to Medicine King Valley to see if his heart is sick, and he also needs to go to the Ghost Realm to ask if it is possible that the cat from a thousand years ago will re-enter the Six Paths of Reincarnation a thousand years later and be reborn as a cultivator.

He let go, smiled faintly, and said nothing more.

After a while, the system logged back in: [Wow! Host, what did you do? Your redemption points have increased to nine percent again!]

Mingjian hadn't fully recovered yet, mainly because Xiao Bumian spoke without taking a breath, and he was still shaken.

"hehe."

Who knows what crazy thing Xiao Bumian is up to this time?

"That's why I always say never date a madman. What happened to your promise of Xin Yue? You really want to kill me."

[Many people like the yandere type these days.]

Mingjian didn't want to deal with the system anymore. What did it have to do with him, Mingjian, that so many people liked him?

Fortunately, he survived. After he completed the redemption mission, although it was almost impossible, he really wanted to beat up Xiao Bumian.

The people standing nearby didn't quite catch what the two were saying, and their faces were clearly pale. In contrast, Xiao Bumian seemed to be in a good mood, with a smile still playing on his lips and his eyes slightly curved.

Gu Zhi, who was closest, overheard a few words.

He glanced at Xiao Bumian, then at Ming Jian, and felt that the way the two interacted was quite strange.

The second half was unusually quiet.

No matter how much Gu Zhi tried to entice Ming Jian with elixirs, he remained unmoved. Gu Zhi chatted with the others for a few minutes, but then found Ming Jian more interesting and simply stopped talking.

The cold pool was deep and dark, seemingly without end.

The group walked and stopped, traversing through the cold mist for two days and two nights. All around them were trees with a faint fluorescent blue hue and bottomless pools of water, making even the passage of time seem blurred.

Just as the group was about to lose their patience, a whole sheet of ice suddenly appeared on the steep mountain wall not far away.

Those ice flowers did not grow in rock crevices, but rather condensed from inside the mountain wall. Their petals were as translucent as glass, and their stamens were entwined with a cold, eerie blue light. They stretched for hundreds of feet, like an ice sculpture waterfall frozen in the darkness.

Gu Zhi couldn't help but exclaim, "So beautiful!"

He was about to go forward to pick some when Song Heyu stopped him.

"Be careful," Song Heyu said in a low voice, drawing the dagger from her waist. "A rare and precious creature like the Ice Lotus should be protected by a high-level magical beast, but we haven't seen one along the way. It's really strange."

Song Heyu pursed his lips, the cold glint of the dagger in his hand reflecting his solemn expression. "Without companion beasts, there are only two possibilities: either they've hidden themselves away."

“Or,” Song Heyu’s voice turned somber, “there is something here that is more terrifying than the companion beasts, so much so that they dare not even approach it.”

Reminded by him, Gu Zhi quickly took a few steps back, "Why does this place feel so eerie?"

Ming looked around and indeed saw no trace of other creatures. "We'd better be careful," he said.

He had a terrible memory and had already selectively forgotten that Xiao Bumian had almost tried to kill him. Face was irrelevant when it came to his life, so he silently took a few steps closer to Xiao Bumian.

Xiao Bumian glanced at him, raised an eyebrow slightly, but said nothing.

“Everyone, please proceed with caution. If you notice anything amiss, immediately crush the jade talisman in your hand,” Song Heyu said.

Unaware that the teleportation talisman had expired, the group nodded upon hearing this and summoned their natal swords, heading towards the mountain wall.

Gu Zhi stuck a few talismans on his body, turned around and said, "Mingjian, you are only at the sixth level of Qi Refining. Standing here is just being a sitting duck. It's safer for you to stay by my side than by Xie Hanwei's side."

Mingjian moved a few steps closer to Xiao Bumian without making a sound.

Guzhi: "..."

He rolled his eyes at Mingjian speechlessly, "I don't know why you like being around him so much."

Ming was all smiles and didn't explain.

But in his heart he thought, because actually, Xiao Bumian is both the most dangerous and the safest person in this secret realm.

As long as this yandere doesn't go crazy, he won't die even if he lies dead.

Xiao Bumian blinked gently and said mildly, "You'll have to ask Junior Brother about that."

Ming Jian got goosebumps all over. Why hadn't Xiao Bu Mian appeased him yet? He was still calling him junior brother.

Hearing those three words sent a chill down his spine.

Fortunately, Gu Zhi didn't say anything more.

Song Heyu glanced at Xiao Bumian and then at Mingjian, looking knowing, and said considerately, "You two are both at the Qi Refining stage. We don't know what that companion beast is yet. It would be too dangerous for you to go there. Why don't you explore the area around here?"

Seeing that he didn't have the habit of going out of his way to cause trouble for others, he replied, "Thank you, senior brother."

Song Heyu smiled, her eyebrows curving upwards, "Junior Brother, please be careful."

Mingjian frowned slightly as he watched their retreating figures. He wondered what kind of restriction the merfolk had placed in the cold pool, as it was impossible to fly on a sword here.

"You're worried about him."

Suddenly, Xiao Bumian's voice came from behind.

Mingjian was startled and almost fell into the pool, but fortunately Xiao Bumian pulled him out and prevented him from actually falling in.

He felt that his mental resilience had improved by more than one level.

He had gotten used to it by now, and was certain that Xiao Bumian was doing it on purpose.

Mingjian was afraid that Xiao Bumian would get jealous again. After all, he had learned from his previous experience that to deal with a yandere like Xiao Bumian, he had to try his best to go along with him.

“It wasn’t him,” Mingjian corrected, “it was them.”

them.

Xiao Bumian pondered those two words for a moment, then chuckled softly, "You worry about so many people."

He originally only wanted to kill Furuie.

He was the one who first told the little good-for-nothing that this was a merman's ruin, but the little good-for-nothing didn't say those nice things to him. Instead, he talked a lot to Gu Zhi.

Although he had heard those disgusting words before, he still found them really offensive.

Now those little good-for-nothings are talking about them again.

Killing one person is troublesome enough, but killing so many people is too much trouble.

We might as well just kill them all.

Xiao Bumian still wore that gentle, jade-like smile on his lips.

He suddenly blurted out, "The writing system of the merfolk royal family is different from that of ordinary merfolk."

After saying that, he turned and left.

Mingjian, his head full of question marks: "..."

What?

How did we suddenly get onto this topic?

A short while later, Song Heyu returned and said, "I didn't find anything wrong."

Gu Zhi also said, "Me neither."

“This space only came to life after we entered. Perhaps we just misheard the sound of water that day. There are no magical beasts here,” Mingjian said.

Song Heyu shook her head, "I don't know, but as of now, there are no problems."

"Can we pick the Ice Flowers now?" a female disciple asked cautiously. "I... I'm a little scared. I feel like this secret realm is different from the ones I've been to before. After we pick the Ice Flowers, we can leave, right?"

Song Heyu paused, then comforted her, "Junior sister, don't be afraid, of course it's possible."

The female disciple was relieved and said, "Let's go then. I was afraid something might happen, so I didn't dare touch those ice flowers."

Their task this time was to pick one hundred Ice Lotus blossoms. However, these Ice Lotus blossoms were delicate and could not be picked using spiritual power; they had to be picked by hand. Many inner disciples found it troublesome and were unwilling to do it.

When Gu Zhi and the others went to receive their missions, this was all that was left, so they had no choice but to accept it.

However, picking the Ice Lotus was not their initial goal. They never expected to enter the Yin Realm. At this moment, they did not even know where this realm came from, let alone find their own opportunities. They only hoped to complete this task and then crush the jade talisman to leave the realm.

Mingjian picked two flowers, but didn't see Xiao Bumian.

Turning around, I saw Xiao Bumian standing quietly at the edge of the cold pool, gazing at the deep bottom, his snow-white robes motionless in the dark blue mist.

He jumped down from the stone steps and looked in the direction of Xiao Bumian's gaze, but could see nothing but the bottomless pool.

"Is there something here?" Mingjian asked as he moved closer.

Xiao Bumian's eyes softened, and she shook her head slightly, "Not yet."

Now?

Mingjian blinked, his brain racing, "So there aren't any now, but there will be later, right?"

Xiao Bumian withdrew his gaze and stopped looking.

Mingjian: "..."

Tell him he's going to die.

Xiao Bumian seemed to sense his emotions, chuckled softly, and left with an ambiguous statement, "Perhaps."

After saying that, he tilted his head to look at the ice lily in Mingjian's arms.

"Is this for me to eat too?" he asked.

He sometimes couldn't understand some of Mingjian's behaviors, but if he replaced Mingjian with his cat, he could understand them.

He remembered that back then, the cat also liked to catch fish and then carry them in its mouth, circling around his calves.

Xiao Bumian recalled the fruit Mingjian had given him to eat last time and understood that Mingjian wanted him to eat it again.

Before Ming could stop him, Xiao Bumian had already plucked a petal and put it in his mouth.

Xiao Bumian took a bite. The moment the ice lily shattered, the cool fragrance of the petals floated in the air. He ate slowly, his thin lips slightly parted, his teeth grinding over the patterns on the petals. His long, thick, curled eyelashes drooped down, making his eating manners quite elegant.

Mingjian stared at him blankly, unconsciously holding her breath.

Alarm bells rang in her mind, constantly reminding herself: Yandere! Xiao Bumian is a yandere! Falling for a madman is bound to bring misfortune!

"So that's not how it was?" Xiao Bumian curled his lips, looking at the little good-for-nothing whose face had inexplicably turned red.

Mingjian didn't know if he had lost his mind, but he piled all the palm-sized ice flowers in his arms into Xiao Bumian's hands, saying, "They're for you."

Ancient Branch, who had observed everything from afar, thought: "???"

What are those two doing?

Something feels off.

Xiao Bumian lowered his eyes to look at the two ice flowers in his arms, and after a while smiled and said, "Thank you, junior brother."

The word "junior brother" directly pulled Mingjian's runaway soul back to reality.

Mingjian: "..."

He's absolutely insane.

Xiao Bumian plucked another petal and held it to Mingjian's lips, "You should try some too."

The owner feeds the cat.

As long as Xiao Bumian thought about it this way, he would feel an indescribable sense of satisfaction, just like the feeling he had when he killed someone. It was very comfortable.

Mingjian: "Can I refuse?"

"cannot."

Mingjian remained silent for a while, but thought to himself, "A scholar can be killed but not humiliated."

He still opened his mouth and ate it.

"Is it delicious?" Xiao Bumian asked.

"It's alright."

Aside from the unique fragrance of the Ice Lotus, its taste is similar to that of ordinary flower petals. However, Song Heyu mentioned that these petals can be used to make antidote pills, so they might fetch a good price outside.

Therefore, Mingjian decided that after he finished collecting the ice flowers needed for the sect's mission, he would pick some more to sell.

I don't know if I can still find Blood Spirit Grass. If not, I'll have to save up more spirit stones and try my luck in the black market to see if I can buy some.

Seeing that he was not interested, Xiao Bumian did not force him and put the remaining ice lilies into his mustard seed space.

"I'm going to sleep," he suddenly said.

Before Mingjian could react, a white shadow flashed before his eyes. When he looked up again, Xiao Bumian was already leaning lazily against a tree trunk high up, his moon-white robes hanging down and swaying gently in the wind.

Mingjian was at a loss for words.

Why does Xiao Bumian always fall asleep after eating a little bit?

Unfortunately, the system cannot answer this question either.

When asked, they stammered and said that it wasn't written in the original plot.

Ming smiled without saying a word, and increased the force with which he chiseled the ice lily.

Seeing that he was the only one who came, Gu Zhi asked, "Where is Xie Hanwei?"

Mingjian pointed to the nearest tree, "Up there."

Gu Zhi said sarcastically, "He seems quite comfortable."

"Mmm." Mingjian nodded in agreement.

He thought so too.

The two of them, one cursing and the other nodding wildly, got more and more excited as they talked.

Song Heyu said, "Forget it, he didn't come with us in the first place. If it weren't for Junior Brother Xie, he would have left long ago."

Mingjian seemed to have his fate choked, and he said nothing more.

No one spoke to Gu Zhi. Gu Zhi said a few more words, but then, finding it tiring and pointless, he fell silent.

Two hours passed in the blink of an eye.

Song Heyu placed the ice lilies that everyone had picked into a special Qiankun bag and said, "Let's rest for half an hour first, and then we'll leave the secret realm."

Seeing that his hands hurt from chiseling, he rubbed his wrists as he walked towards Xiao Bumian.

"Xie Hanwei, wake up."

Xiao Bumian kept his eyes closed.

Mingjian shouted a couple more times, then, tired of shouting, sat down on the spot, leaned against the tree trunk, and took out a few fruits to eat.

He wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but Mingjian felt a sharp pain in his back from the tree trunk. He frowned, turned around, and pressed his palm against the rough bark.

The texture doesn't feel right.

The wood, which should have been hard, had an eerie softness. Mingjian was stunned for a moment, and leaned closer to see it more clearly, but then he heard Xiao Bumian's voice from above, "Don't look if you don't want to die."

Upon hearing this, Mingjian was startled, took a few steps back, and quickly covered his eyes.

Xiao Bumian jumped down from the tree, saw Mingjian's reaction, and laughed out loud, "It's alright now."

Having been deceived by him for so long, Mingjian opened her hands that were covering her face and cautiously peeked out through the gap, only to be caught off guard and meet Xiao Bumian's gaze.

Xiao Bumian leaned down to look at him, reached out and pulled his hands apart, and slowly said, "How stupid."

Mingjian: "..."

You're the stupid one, your whole family is stupid!

Just then, Gu Zhi's voice suddenly came from afar.

He frowned and asked, "Song Yao, what happened to your neck?"

Mingjian looked up in their direction, unaware that as he spoke, Xiao Bumian beside him smiled.

Song Yao covered his neck, his eyes darting around. "It's nothing, it's just that the injury I sustained a few days ago hasn't healed yet."

"Nothing wrong?" Gu Zhi grabbed Song Yao's wrist and yanked his hand away, coldly saying, "You call this nothing wrong?"

The moment his hand was pulled away, Song Yao suddenly screamed and struggled frantically as he rushed into the woods, only to be kicked back to the edge of the pool by Song Heyu beside him.

"Brother, save me, save me!" Song Yao pleaded, spitting out a mouthful of blood.

Song Heyu's face darkened, and he took out a Xuan Guang Pearl from his Qiankun Bag. Only then could everyone see that the wound on Song Yao's neck was covered with bluish-gray scales, and the torn flesh was filled with countless transparent fish eggs. The eggs pulsated with his pulse, and dozens of pearl-sized eggs contained faintly visible young sharks.

Several disciples couldn't help but feel a surge of emotion upon seeing this.

Mingjian wasn't much better off.

He couldn't help but recall the scene a few days ago when Song Yao couldn't help scratching his neck, and suddenly felt even more uncomfortable.

And... where did all those mermaid eggs come from?

Before he could figure it out, he noticed Xiao Bumian trembling slightly beside him. He instinctively turned his head and saw Xiao Bumian's shoulders shaking slightly, a suppressed laugh escaping his throat. His eyes were bloodshot, and excitement and pleasure filled his heart.

Mingjian: "..."

Why does Xiao Bumian seem so much like a villain?

Xiao Bumian said softly, "They're here."

Mingjian immediately sensed something was wrong. He suddenly remembered Xiao Bumian's ambiguous statement a few hours earlier, "Not yet."

The moment he finished speaking, space suddenly tore apart centered on Song Yao, and countless dark blue cracks spread like a spider web, cutting the entire secret realm into a shattered mirror world.

In different mirror worlds, Mingjian saw Shi Lian standing in front of Xie Linzhao, saw Lu Lingyue whom he had met once before, and saw the disciples of the Hehuan Sect fighting against demonic beasts...

At one moment, the fragments of the mirror briefly overlapped, and everyone was simultaneously in the same space. Mingjian felt a sudden darkness before his eyes, and then fell into a long sleep.

A note from the author:

----------------------

No, Mianbao, you really do look like a villain [laughing and crying with face covered]

(Because it might be going to be a paid chapter soon, I'll be giving away small red envelopes for leaving comments on the recent chapters~ Thank you for your support, my darlings [waving hand][orange heart][green heart])