Chapter 9
When Yu Tai returned to her senses, she was standing somewhere completely unfamiliar.
The plants here were astonishingly large. She stared at the strange tree beside her for a long time before understanding.
That seemed to be a mushroom.
Standing in this vast, bizarre forest, Yu Tai found her thoughts in complete disarray.
She could not tell whether she had shrunk or everything here was naturally enormous.
One moment of distraction was enough to make her feel as though she would lose herself and be swallowed by the forest.
Then a chain clinked at her wrist, followed by a slight tug.
Yu Tai snapped back to awareness.
Shu Li stood beside her. The wind made the chain around his wrist sway gently, while its other end was fastened to Yu Tai.
She had bound them together specifically to keep them from being separated upon entering the secret realm.
The veil hanging from Shu Li’s hat streamed backward in the fierce wind, revealing fleeting glimpses of his mist-fine brows and elegant face.
He stood tall and straight as jade. Even in this strange, suffocating environment, no emotion could be seen on him.
He looked like some Passerby out on a sightseeing trip.
Yu Tai calmed down completely. As the vicious female supporting character, she could not allow her presence to lose to his.
“Let’s go. Don’t be afraid, Senior Brother. Your Junior Sister will protect you properly.” A wicked smile curled Yu Tai’s lips.
The person at the other end of the chain replied with his usual gentle courtesy. “Then I will have to trouble Junior Sister.”
Yu Tai advanced cautiously through the secret realm while estimating that fewer than half the people outside would manage to enter.
Only Yu Tai knew the truth.
The Bishui Secret Realm had gone berserk because this was the last time it would ever open to the world.
It could no longer withstand that thing.
In the original novel, Xia Mo had sensed something unusual inside and dragged the male lead here by force.
While everyone else floundered in confusion, the heroine, which had remained hidden all along, decisively pulled the male lead into the entrance.
Yu Tai remembered that they had landed… in a barren desert.
And that thing was there.
They truly deserved to be the protagonists. Even a random landing placed them right where the treasure was. Now that Yu Tai had come instead, she had no idea where to go.
As her thoughts wandered, Yu Tai’s eyes abruptly sharpened. She turned toward the right.
She hurriedly pulled Shu Li backward. Sure enough, the instant they moved, a bird wreathed entirely in flame shot past them. Its beak looked sharp enough to pierce a body with ease.
Yu Tai jumped.
A phoenix?
“A third-rank Firebird,” Shu Li said softly.
Then he tilted his head toward Yu Tai and asked gently, “Does Junior Sister not recognize it? I remember this demon beast was printed on the third page of the *Illustrated Demon Beast Compendium* studied by every new disciple.”
Yu Tai thought, *Yes, yes. Your memory is wonderful.*
“Of course I recognize it. A Firebird.” Yu Tai answered while dodging its attacks.
Shu Li allowed her to drag him around as she evaded the bird. Suddenly, he chuckled.
“I remembered the name incorrectly. It should be called a Flamebird.”
Yu Tai fell silent.
That bastard.
Focusing on the enemy before her, Yu Tai suddenly remembered that demon beasts advanced by fighting their own kind and cultivating with the beast cores they devoured.
She immediately opened the demon-beast pouch.
“I choose you, Chubby Panda!”
Xia Mo tumbled out in a daze. A piece of the cloud bamboo Yu Tai had stuffed into its mouth before leaving was still hanging from its lips when it heard what she had called it.
“Chirp, chirp!” Xia Mo protested.
You’re the fat one! Your whole sect is fat!
Something flew into the corner of Xia Mo’s vision. Busy cursing Yu Tai, it swatted out without even looking.
Yu Tai watched the formerly ferocious Flamebird go flying. The blow landed squarely on its belly, and a fiery-red inner core burst free with a spray of blood, landing in front of her.
Yu Tai stared.
Tying Xia Mo up in the first place had truly been the wisest decision she had ever made.
After accepting Yu Tai as its master, the rope only restricted killing intent directed toward her. Since it had detected no intent to kill Yu Tai just now, it had not activated.
The sight of the bright red core drew Xia Mo forward. It opened its mouth to swallow, but Yu Tai patted its furry head and shoved it aside.
What was wrong with this unruly child? The thing had fallen on the ground and was covered in blood, yet it still wanted to put it straight into its mouth.
Xia Mo chirped furiously. Yu Tai ignored it, picked up the inner core, and used a spell to rinse it clean with water before stuffing it into Xia Mo’s broad mouth.
“Remember next time. Wash it before you eat it.” Yu Tai flicked its forehead.
Shu Li stood to one side and watched the exchange between Yu Tai and his demon beast without a word.
After teasing the heroine, Yu Tai continued onward.
This time, however, she made Shu Li and Xia Mo walk in front.
It looked aimless, but Yu Tai had an ulterior motive.
With luck like hers, she could hardly expect to find that thing herself. She might as well follow the male and female leads.
The male lead’s luck. The heroine’s strength.
Rule One for Vicious Female Supporting Characters: exploit every available resource and victory will fall into your lap.
Yu Tai was supposedly here to face danger, yet she behaved as though she were on vacation.
Whenever she was tired, the heroine caught fish and beasts while the male lead skinned and roasted them.
The experience could only be described as bliss.
Yu Tai happily gnawed on the meat of some unidentifiable demon beast, her eyes narrowing in contentment.
Ah. Delicious.
I will always love the flavors of mortal life.
Xia Mo, sitting beside Yu Tai and chewing meat, suddenly released a string of growls. Scraps still clung to the fur around its mouth as it turned and roared in one direction.
Unhurried, Yu Tai ate the final morsel from the bone and cast a cleansing spell over her hands.
Several figures suddenly burst from the nearby woods.
Yu Tai remained seated and exchanged looks with the bedraggled group.
The male cultivators were covered in wounds and had plainly survived a fierce battle. The young woman they protected at the center, however, was completely unharmed. Not even the hem of her skirt was dirty.
Yu Tai gave them a cool nod.
The leading cultivator suddenly asked, “Fellow Cultivator, may we rest here as well? Night is almost upon us, and there isn’t enough time to find another place.”
“Senior Brother, why are you asking her? We can just go over there.” The young woman pouted in displeasure.
Her Senior Brother looked at her helplessly. “Junior Sister, we still need to respect the rule of first come, first served. Don’t be petulant.”
“Of course. Sit wherever you like,” Yu Tai said with great “kindness.”
No one knew that the malice within her had already swelled to its limit.
The group chose a reasonably clean place and sat.
Since Yu Tai did not object, Xia Mo did nothing despite its displeasure at being disturbed by strangers. It went to Shu Li and acted spoiled for a while. After he held its head still and wiped its mouth clean, its gaze shifted to the sizzling roasted meat in his hand.
“Little glutton,” Shu Li murmured.
Once the meat had cooled, he gave it to Xia Mo anyway.
Yu Tai was already full. She propped her chin in both hands and watched quietly as Xia Mo hugged the meat and ate until its eyes nearly disappeared.
The aroma soon drifted downwind to the group nearby.
Compared with that enticing smell, the fasting pills in their mouths tasted like wax.
They might be immortals who no longer needed to eat, but they had not lost their sense of taste.
Mo Xiaowei’s lips trembled. Then she began to cry.
She was both the youngest of the group and the sect leader’s daughter. Spoiled since childhood, she had learned that whenever she cried, every problem seemed to resolve itself.
The male cultivator beside her noticed first. “Junior Sister, why are you crying? Are you feeling unwell?”
“Senior Brother, I want meat,” Xiaowei said pitifully.
Why should that bitch Yu Tai get to feast so happily while she had to sit here starving?
Her Senior Brothers exchanged glances.
Perhaps their luck had simply been poor. Demon beasts had surrounded them everywhere they went. They had managed at first, but as their strength was gradually depleted, they had eventually been reduced to fleeing in all directions.
“I’ll ask them.” The cultivator who had first spoken with Yu Tai stood and walked over.
“Fellow Cultivator.”
Hearing someone call her, Yu Tai turned at an unhurried pace. “What does this Fellow Cultivator need?”
The man pursed his lips. “Fellow Cultivator, I am Passerby of the Chengtian Sect. Could you spare us a piece of meat? I’m willing to trade spirit stones for it.”
The Chengtian Sect was the second-greatest sect, ranking just below the Qingshan Sword Sect. The two sects knew each other well.
Rather than answer him, Yu Tai looked across the fire at Shu Li. “What do you think?”
Shu Li calmly paused in what he was doing and nodded.
With a sweep of her hand, Yu Tai sliced an enormous piece of meat from the demon beast beside them.
“Here.”
The man accepted it in delight and paid Yu Tai a pouch of spirit stones.
She opened it and glanced inside.
Oh. How generous.
Before long, Passerby returned. “Fellow Cultivator, none of us know how to roast it… Could we trouble your demon beast who has taken human form to…?”
Yu Tai nodded readily once again. “Of course. Ugly, hurry over and help.”
Ugly was the alias Yu Tai had invented for Shu Li on the spot.
As she watched Shu Li follow Passerby away, the reflection of the fire in Yu Tai’s eyes burned with naked malice.
When people could no longer satisfy their desires with ease, their ugly true nature would reveal itself little by little.