Blame the Villain – Chapter 210

Villainous Emperor (10)

After her previous rash advance, Jiang Ruoyu did not dare to enter a state of sleep these past few days. Even when she appeared to be sleeping, she always kept a thread of clarity in her mind—

Having witnessed divine magical arts, she further realized the gap between herself and Song Xuyi. She felt that one day when she woke up, Song Xuyi might just disappear without a trace. Although Jiang Ruoyu understood that staying nervous wouldn’t help, and if Song Xuyi was determined to disappear she had no power to stop it, and even though she knew Song Xuyi had promised not to disappear anytime soon, Jiang Ruoyu still couldn’t control her emotions.

When she sensed the carriage plummeting desperately downward, Jiang Ruoyu opened her eyes almost immediately.

As the carriage swayed in the air and fell rapidly, Jiang Ruoyu’s heart instinctively sank with the falling carriage, while her gaze unconsciously looked outside the carriage—the carriage suddenly became like this, had something happened to Xuyi?

Outside the carriage curtain, there was only emptiness, without any human figure in sight.

“Goddess Sister…” Jiang Ruoyu called out, but there was no response.

Had something happened?

Upon realizing this, Jiang Ruoyu’s heart noticeably sank, and she almost instinctively crawled toward the outside of the carriage—

In the rapidly shaking carriage, it was difficult to maintain balance, which further emphasized the insignificance of human form. Jiang Ruoyu used almost all her strength, yet still couldn’t reach the carriage door.

Looking at the swaying carriage curtain that was within arm’s reach, Jiang Ruoyu felt her entire body becoming unbearably stiff, and she was almost brought to tears: she didn’t believe Goddess Sister would abandon her. Even if Goddess Sister had grown tired of her, given Goddess Sister’s nature, she wouldn’t harm her. Since this situation had occurred, there could only be one possibility—something had happened to Goddess Sister!

The pulling horse, also sensing danger, raised its head and neighed urgently. As the carriage was about to hit the ground, Jiang Ruoyu nearly bit her lower lip until it bled. Her body was “taut like a bowstring” (a Chinese idiom meaning extremely tense), ready to use the momentum to quickly escape the carriage at the moment of impact. However, unexpectedly, the carriage stopped abruptly when it was less than a chi (approximately 1/3 meter) from the ground!

Jiang Ruoyu let out a long breath, watching as the carriage slowly descended to the ground. She bit her lower lip and called out again: “Goddess Sister, where did you go?”

This time Jiang Ruoyu received a response, a voice much weaker than usual sounded near her ear: “I’m here by the carriage door.”

Jiang Ruoyu was stunned for a moment, then immediately crawled to the doorway.

A small, snow-white fluffy figure stood in the shadow of the carriage shaft (the wooden poles extending from the front of traditional Chinese carriages), hidden behind the carriage door, weakly looking toward Jiang Ruoyu…

Jiang Ruoyu widened her eyes, looking in disbelief at this small snow-white fluffy fox, staying dumbfounded for a long while before softly speaking: “Go… Goddess Sister?”

Song Xuyi hadn’t expected to be successfully ambushed by a mortal woman, and even less expected that she would revert to her original form after being severely injured.

Just before losing consciousness, Song Xuyi used all her remaining strength to control the falling carriage, which made her already serious injuries “add frost to snow” (meaning making a bad situation worse). A metallic taste welled up in her throat, and after using her last bit of energy to contact Jiang Ruoyu, Song Xuyi fell unconscious.

When Song Xuyi woke up, it was already the next day.

The bodies of the divine race possessed extremely strong healing abilities, and after one night, Song Xuyi’s condition had improved significantly, at least the feeling of soreness throughout her body had completely dissipated.

Song Xuyi opened her eyes to find herself lying on a pillow in an inn, half of her body buried under the blanket, her fur had been extremely well-groomed, and her body felt warm and comfortable.

Close by was a familiar beautiful face; every time she saw Jiang Ruoyu’s stunning countenance, Song Xuyi would be momentarily stunned.

And almost immediately after Song Xuyi opened her eyes, Jiang Ruoyu opened hers as well.

In Jiang Ruoyu’s eyes, Song Xuyi saw her own reflection—a beautiful little white fox with sleek, glossy fur.

Her original form wasn’t considered old among her clan, and when transformed into a fox, she appeared like a little milk ball. Her original form had currently cultivated two fluffy large tails (in Chinese mythology, the number of tails a fox possesses indicates their level of spiritual cultivation and power).

“It’s over!” Song Xuyi, looking at her childlike appearance, closed her eyes unable to face it, and spoke to the System with frustration, filled with regret: “The lofty divine image I’ve been trying to maintain in her mind has probably shattered just like this…”

“Look at how she’s staring at me, she clearly wants to pet my fur!”

The System thought to itself that while Song Xuyi was unconscious, Jiang Ruoyu had already taken many opportunities to pet her fur under the pretense of grooming, especially those two fluffy tails.

But the System, being a cat, could understand the temptation that beautiful, smooth fur held for most shallow, hairless humans. Therefore, the System kindheartedly understood Jiang Ruoyu’s desire for fur and didn’t expose her actions to Song Xuyi. Instead, it proudly puffed up its chest and said to Song Xuyi: “Who told you to have such irresistibly attractive fur? She’s still young, naturally she can’t help herself…”

Song Xuyi bit her lower lip, remembering her own desire to pet the System’s fur, and felt the System’s words made sense, but this didn’t mean Song Xuyi would allow Jiang Ruoyu to pet her fur.

Song Xuyi had prepared to jump away at the first sign of Jiang Ruoyu reaching out, but Jiang Ruoyu showed more restraint than Song Xuyi had imagined. Although her eyes clearly showed her desire for Song Xuyi’s fur, she ultimately lowered her head and softly inquired about Song Xuyi’s condition: “Goddess Sister, what exactly happened last night?”

“It’s none of your concern,” Song Xuyi pursed her lips, too embarrassed to say that her divine consciousness had infiltrated Guozhou last night, and was even successfully ambushed by a mortal. She vaguely replied: “In any case, Guozhou is more dangerous than we imagined. I’m severely injured now and probably won’t be able to help you much afterward. If you want to enter Guozhou, you need to be fully prepared—”

“I understand.”

Seeing Song Xuyi’s vague response, Jiang Ruoyu’s eyes dimmed, but she didn’t pursue the matter further, appearing as calm as usual, and looked at Song Xuyi with a shy smile: “I’m actually a bit anxious, but as long as Sister is by my side, I’ll have a “heart-settling pill” (meaning something that provides reassurance).”

Jiang Ruoyu carefully wrapped Song Xuyi’s body in a cloak, held her in her arms, went downstairs to check out of the inn, and returned to the carriage with Song Xuyi.

At this moment, Song Xuyi was extremely grateful for her fur coat, which perfectly concealed her reddening cheeks, preventing Jiang Ruoyu from noticing her embarrassment: Song Xuyi had never imagined there would be a day when she would depend on Jiang Ruoyu.

Yet Jiang Ruoyu appeared extremely calm and composed, not even glancing at the soft white ball in her arms. Only after placing Song Xuyi inside the carriage did Jiang Ruoyu lower her head to meet Song Xuyi’s gaze—

“Goddess Sister, please remember to call me if you need anything.”

After seeing Song Xuyi nod, Jiang Ruoyu adjusted Song Xuyi’s collar and tucked her cloak around her. When her gaze fell on Song Xuyi’s tails, Jiang Ruoyu’s eyes darkened for a moment, but she immediately took a deep breath, tucked Song Xuyi’s two snow-white large tails under the cloak, and returned to her position on the “carriage shaft” (the front beam of a traditional Chinese carriage where the driver sits) to continue the journey.

This Jiang Ruoyu was far more considerate and sensible than Song Xuyi had imagined.

After sitting in the carriage, Song Xuyi also breathed a sigh of relief and began circulating spiritual power to heal her injuries…

As the two traveled farther from the capital, the scenery along the road became increasingly desolate. Although in recent years under Song Xuyi’s efforts, Jiang Kingdom had experienced favorable weather, and people weren’t forced to trade children for food, but due to harsh taxes and years of warfare, most common people lived hand-to-mouth (meaning uncertain life), struggling between meals. Along the way, they helped some pitiful people who had neither young nor old to rely on (describing complete destitution), while in many others’ eyes, a carriage with only two women was like a fat sheep (meaning an easy target).

Previously, when encountering danger, Song Xuyi would always help Jiang Ruoyu resolve it first. However, this time, Song Xuyi could barely take care of herself, immersed in healing. Only after some time did she belatedly realize: Jiang Ruoyu had already resolved all problems encountered on the road.

Only then did Song Xuyi truly feel that Jiang Ruoyu had grown up, no longer the little girl who used to hide under the altar to pray. Jiang Ruoyu possessed a keen ability to discern human nature, capable of distinguishing between good and evil and responding accordingly.

Under Song Xuyi’s day and night cultivation, her magical powers finally gradually recovered, and on the day before reaching Guozhou, Song Xuyi finally succeeded in transforming back into human form.

During this time, Song Xuyi had been pondering about the force that attacked her, unable to understand how such powerful energy could exist in the mortal realm.

Song Xuyi first thought of the Yin Shen that had absorbed the world’s negative energy, but the Yin Shen had already been subdued by the male protagonist. If the Yinyue Sect had cultivated another evil deity, it would undoubtedly be a catastrophe for the Three Realms.

Song Xuyi had originally wanted to request outside help for investigation.

However, her original form had focused solely on cultivation, having no close friends in the divine realm, and the bonds with her siblings were weak. Her parents were also in closed-door cultivation during this time. After much consideration, Song Xuyi could only investigate Guozhou herself.

But this time, Song Xuyi had raised her guard.

Maintaining human form only required basic magical power, but if a deity truly resided within the Holy Maiden of Guozhou, then a deity who had absorbed the entire faith and offerings of Guozhou would naturally possess overwhelming magical power. Song Xuyi didn’t dare to confront them directly.

After some thought, Song Xuyi decided to conceal her aura and pretend to be a mortal, entering Guozhou’s territory together with Jiang Ruoyu.

Jiang Ruoyu had been driving the carriage outside all this time. During this period, she had fully played the role of a disciple who was close to Song Xuyi yet dared not overstep boundaries, noticeably becoming more composed, and Song Xuyi had clearly become more intimate in her treatment of her.

However, when Jiang Ruoyu stopped the carriage before Guozhou’s city walls and saw Song Xuyi restored to human form, her composure finally broke—

“Sister, you’ve returned to human form?” Jiang Ruoyu’s tone carried joy, but in her heart she felt extremely regretful: she could no longer righteously hold Goddess Sister in her arms anymore…

But soon Jiang Ruoyu became happy again—

That Goddess Sister whom she had been restraining herself to be close to, nodded at her, and as if remembering something, suddenly spoke softly: “Ruoyu, my surname is Song, given name Xuyi. When we enter Guozhou, let’s pretend to be cousins (specifically female cousins from the father’s side)…”

Whatever else Song Xuyi said, Jiang Ruoyu could no longer hear.

“Xuyi…”

She repeated Song Xuyi’s name in her heart, her smile growing wider and wider, happiness like overflowing water, gradually filling her entire heart.

—After knowing each other for so many years, she finally learned Goddess Sister’s name!

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The author has something to say:

Many years later, the nine-tailed fox Little Song finally grew all nine tails.

Little Song was extremely happy and couldn’t help but raise her tails to show off to the System in her mind: nine pure white fluffy tails spread out together, framing her back like blooming flowers…

Little Song didn’t know that someone was watching all of this.

That night, poor Little Song was compelled to grow fox ears and had to give a ‘special experience report about tail thickness’ (a playful euphemism for intimate activities).

Little Song cried softly while biting the corner of her blanket, never expecting that someone would have so many creative ideas. She secretly vowed in her heart never to show all nine tails again in this lifetime~^_^

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LP: Re-translated on December 05, 2024

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