Chapter 43 043 The Great Time Magic, Three Years Later
After the winter solstice, Lu Yuanyuan had basically integrated into life in Shushan.
Time flies like an arrow, flowing away silently.
Seasons change, heat and cold alternate. A thousand days and nights slipped away unnoticed through her fingers.
.
Three years later.
The summer sun is blazing.
Deep within the Shu Mountains, on a towering, rugged mountain, a cave's protective barrier suddenly unfolded, shimmering with light.
Lu Yuanyuan moved with the speed and lightness of the wind as she walked out of the cave.
The mountains were lush with vegetation, and the cave entrance had been deserted for many days. Vines grew wildly, blocking out the light and obstructing the way out. Lu Yuanyuan narrowed her eyes slightly, then suddenly raised her hand and unleashed a short burst of light.
With a "crack," the spiritual energy severed the vine at its root.
Upon receiving satisfactory results, Lu Yuanyuan's pupils lit up. She looked down at her palms and slowly clenched her fists.
After three years, she finally formed her own golden core!
In Shushan, every disciple who reaches the critical point of Core Formation will come to this mountain to find a quiet cave where no one will disturb them, and peacefully enter into meditation to pass through the Core Formation period.
Two months ago, she suddenly felt her core area intermittently burning, and the scattered spiritual energy of heaven and earth seemed to be gathering. Based on her experience from her previous life, she immediately knew that she was about to form her core.
In her past life, due to her mediocre talent, it took her ten years to form her Golden Core. But in this life, because she has been secretly cultivating the "Three Arts of Bewitching Hearts," her Golden Core has formed a third faster than previously expected.
The spiritual energy that had been locked away was unlocked with the formation of the Golden Core.
Lu Yuanyuan took a deep breath, stretched her neck, pushed aside a few swaying branches at the entrance of the hole, and crawled out.
The cave was dark and gloomy; she hadn't seen anyone else for two months.
However, once a person emptys their mind and immerses themselves in cultivation, they will enter a mysterious state and become even less aware of the passage of time.
The long-awaited warm summer sun shone on her delicate face; even with her eyes closed, she could still feel the heat and soreness. Like supple, verdant leaves unfurling, a vibrant life force welled up within her.
The golden elixir within her abdomen was warm and full, pulsating with a continuous flow of spiritual energy. It could obey her commands, going to any part of her body as freely as controlling the movement of her own hands and feet.
Once her eyes had adjusted to the light, Lu Yuanyuan shielded her eyes from the sunlight and walked out of the cave and stone forest along the stone steps. Reaching the mountainside, she saw a large group of people standing in the open space ahead. They had been whispering amongst themselves. Seeing her standing there alive, they all showed expressions of disbelief.
After acquiring the Golden Core, Lu Yuanyuan's hearing improved significantly. However, even without consciously straining her ears, she knew why these people were gathered there and what they were discussing.
It's important to understand that in Mount Shu, disciples who start as outer disciples and achieve Core Formation in about three years are considered top students. Those who take less than three years are extremely rare. Duan Lansheng of the Sword Sect is one, and Qi Chang of Danqing Peak is another. She only started about six months later than them.
If she were a descendant of a minor family in the cultivation world, that would make sense. But she was born a mortal woman. No mortal has ever formed their core so quickly. This speed is nothing short of astonishing.
So, two months ago, when she had just gone into seclusion, some people in the sect were secretly discussing whether she would fail to form her core and slink out of seclusion on the day she emerged.
Seeing that she was unharmed and had gotten what she wanted, everyone looked at her with disbelief.
At this moment, a young female cultivator ran out from the crowd, first respectfully cupping her hands, then straightening up and saying in a clear voice, "Congratulations, Senior Sister Lu, on forming your Golden Core! Lord Yin asked me to convey a message that you should go see her as soon as possible after you leave seclusion."
After spending three years in the Shu Mountain sect, and with many outer disciples joining the sect, Lu Yuanyuan can now be called "Senior Sister".
Lu Yuanyuan paused for a moment, then nodded: "I understand."
She walked along the mountain path toward the bell-ringing point of the Qilin Boat, her mind flashing back to the events of the past three years.
Over the past three years, the plot of "The Enchanting Fairy Tale" has gradually become a reality—Duan Lansheng's reputation in Shu Mountain has improved, and his popularity has grown steadily, making him a highly sought-after figure among the new disciples, admired and curious about by word of mouth. Last year, he also officially became a personal disciple of the Sword Sect.
Nothing particularly dramatic happened to her that changed her fate. Her life unfolded exactly as described in the book—she was always on missions where she and Duan Lansheng faced life-or-death situations together, attended classes together, celebrated holidays together, she concocted elixirs and medicines for him, cared for him deeply, and always prepared gifts for him on holidays…
These actions are naturally caused by the system's manipulation.
The original novel of "The Enchanting Fairy Tale" consistently attempts to portray her as a simp through these actions. In order to prevent the path of friendship from being wasted, she has to rack her brains every time to steer all these gifts and flattery onto the track of friendship, and if she can't steer them, she desperately tries to fool them.
As it turned out, she was quite successful, because Duan Lansheng still regards her as a close friend and has no aversion to her.
At the same time, because she always tries her best to avoid those bizarre and outrageous behaviors in each plot development, her image within the sect is not as universally hated as described in the original work; in fact, she has even made a few friends.
Unfortunately, the system's plot not only urges her to be good to Duan Lansheng, but also prevents her from being detrimental to him.
Over the past three years, she had tried various underhanded tactics to hinder Duan Lansheng's meteoric rise. However, none of her actions could fundamentally harm him, and she even paid the price of having her life points deducted.
Lu Yuanyuan lowered her eyes, sat on the Qilin Boat, and gazed at the vast misty clouds of Mount Shu.
When she first arrived at Mount Shu, she was filled with resentment and her thinking was far too naive and childish. In fact, although she could foresee the future plot, being controlled by the plot, she was completely unable to shake the world's protection of Duan Lansheng.
After several consecutive failures, she became somewhat numb due to the blows of frustration, disappointment, and resentment.
Fortunately, she later discovered that all her efforts to become Duan Lansheng's friend hadn't been in vain. Following the original "simp" storyline only earned her Duan Lansheng's disdain and disgust. But in this life, following her own modified storyline brought her many tangible benefits.
After all, Duan Lansheng is the male lead, and missions involving him have exceptionally high reward drop rates. Although he is aloof, he is very generous when dealing with friends he trusts and respects.
She often gets good things because of him.
When it's cold, remind him to wear more clothes; before a mission, tell him to be careful in everything; during holidays, give him some gifts that are supposedly carefully selected but are actually worthless and impractical for cultivators, such as clothes, shoes, or calming sachets... and you will receive a return gift that is hundreds or thousands of times more valuable, such as storage rings, pills, rare cultivation materials, and so on.
Thanks to this, she managed to accumulate a room full of valuable items that others couldn't obtain even after twenty years of completing tasks in just three years.
It appears to be a stable and sustainable path to wealth. With a small investment, one can reap huge profits.
According to the original plot, the next major turning point in her life will occur two years later, when she will force herself on Duan Lansheng.
After this incident, there are no further records of her life. Theoretically, from then on, she could do whatever she wanted.
If she can avoid this part of the story and nothing happens between her and Duan Lansheng, then she can continue to stay in Mount Shu. At that time, the system's restrictions on her will disappear, and she can then consider her next steps. Perhaps things she couldn't do before will become possible.
The worst possible outcome was that she couldn't escape it. Just like in the original story, she failed in her attempt to force herself on Duan Lansheng and was subsequently expelled from Mount Shu. Therefore, she probably would never have another chance to get close to Duan Lansheng.
If that's the case, what she's accumulated now is enough for her to live a worry-free life for the rest of her days. She could even start her own sect as a rogue cultivator, living a long and carefree life. It would be a much better ending than her previous life.
She only gave herself these two choices.
She will not repeat the mistakes of her past life.
no way.
Before Lu Yuanyuan could react, the Qilin Boat had already landed on Danqing Peak.
She jumped off the boat and landed, walking along the familiar path to the house surrounded by greenery. The door was open, and Lu Yuanyuan stood on the threshold, knocking: "Yuanjun?"
There was no answer, but she noticed a table full of hot dishes on the table opposite the door.
Two months ago, when she entered the cave, she brought plenty of dry rations. But she didn't finish them at all. On the one hand, it was because her body's energy expenditure slowed down after entering a meditative state. On the other hand, the food was rather ordinary, and she would get tired of eating it every day. Now, suddenly smelling the aroma of real food, she actually felt quite hungry.
The young female cultivator beside her said, "Yuanjun said that if she's not here, you should go inside and wait."
"good."
After the young female cultivator left, Lu Yuanyuan straightened her clothes and stepped inside. She had only taken a few steps when she felt someone approaching from behind, then smelled a faint fragrance, and was then picked up by a pair of hands.
In the blink of an eye, she was already being lifted onto the other person's lap.
Seeing her wide-eyed expression, Yin Xiaozhu smiled, his amber eyes scrutinizing her: "Scared?"
Lu Yuanyuan pursed her lips: "I was definitely going to be surprised when you suddenly appeared."
"I just kept my voice down, I didn't hide on purpose. It's just that your eyes haven't recovered yet, so you can't see me," Yin Xiaozhu teased, taking out a silk handkerchief and covering her eyes, saying, "You've been in the cave for two months, it's not good to look directly at the sunlight so soon. Wear it until tonight and then take it off."
“But I can’t see like this.” Lu Yuanyuan tried to pull off the blindfold, but her wrist was grabbed and pulled down.
"I'm holding you, what are you afraid of?"
Lu Yuanyuan wanted to refuse, but she heard the sound of chopsticks hitting a cup and saucer, and soon, a steaming piece of fish was placed to her lips. She hesitated for a moment, then opened her mouth and ate it.
In the past three years, apart from her relationship with Duan Lansheng, the biggest change has been in her relationship with Yin Xiaozhu.
That's right. Although she couldn't influence Duan Lansheng, she did influence the people around him.
For example, thanks to her underhanded sabotage, she took over several missions that originally involved both the senior sister and Duan Lansheng. Perhaps for this reason, in this life, the senior sister's attitude towards Duan Lansheng was far less affectionate than in the previous life, and there was a greater sense of distance between them.
Duan Lansheng also had far fewer opportunities to get close to his "white moonlight" (his beloved). This guy was always very good at hiding his feelings, and it was already difficult for outsiders to see that he secretly loved Yin Xiaozhu. Now it was even harder to detect.
On the contrary, Yin Xiaozhu's attitude towards her became somewhat strange.
Lately, whenever the two of them are alone, he always likes to hold her in his arms like a doll, let her sit on his lap, and even feed her by hand and comb her hair. In short, he doesn't let go easily.
No, to be precise, it wasn't recently, but more than a year ago, that such signs were already emerging.
In Lu Yuanyuan's own mind, even good friends shouldn't hold each other on their laps all the time.
She couldn't figure out why for a moment. The only explanation she could think of was that perhaps Yin Xiaozhu just had unusual tastes and liked to stick together with her best friend like this.
Although her eyes were blindfolded, the fish meat fed to her was boneless. She unconsciously drifted off into her own thoughts, and before she knew it, as she was eating a piece of pastry that was brought to her lips, her lips suddenly touched something cool.
Before Lu Yuanyuan could react, the thing paused, seemingly pressing against her lips unintentionally before withdrawing.
"Looks like they're really hungry, they'll eat anything when they're starving."
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