Cuddling with the Cold Female Protagonist – Chapter 86

Volume 4: The Perils of the Jianghu

Phoenix bathed in blood

The man was exceptionally beautiful.

Not handsome, not dashing, not even comely, but beautiful.

            

His skin was porcelain white, his lips like red roses, and his features were sharply defined as if carved by a knife. There was a touch of crimson at the center of his brow. He wore an attire of cicada-wing thin gauze, a tall hat, and wide sleeves embroidered with phoenixes and lotuses, giving him an ethereal, fairy-like appearance​¹.

He stood before the lush green plants, his expression indifferent and cold, so transcendent he seemed like one of the immortals enshrined in a Three Pure Ones Daoist Temple​².

When he looked at Su Yi, his eyes held no sorrow or joy. The coldness in their depths made Su Yi feel as if he were looking at unfeeling plants.

            

“Who are you? Why are you here?”

Su Yi glanced around and realized that Gancao, who had been following her, was gone. Even the soldiers who had been making a fire and cooking nearby had vanished.

Her heart skipped a beat, and she became wary of this suddenly appearing man.

            

The man looked at her with pity, forming a hand seal like that of a Daoist disciple. “Young lady, you ask me, but why not ask yourself?”

Su Yi was inwardly alarmed. Could this person be a Daoist practitioner skilled in divination, knowing that she had transmigrated here? “What do you mean?”

“You do not belong here, do you?” The man looked down at her, his voice cool. “Since you do not belong here, why not find a way to leave? I have a way to send you away from this place.”

            

Send her back? She had come here after a sudden death. Was he going to send her back to reincarnate?

Su Yi wasn’t buying it. “I am indeed not from here, but I’ve been here for over a decade. Even if it’s by a points-based household registration​³, I’ve accumulated enough points to be considered a local, right?”

The man clearly didn’t know what “points-based household registration” meant, but he knew it was Su Yi’s verbal tactic. Although Su Yi was a woman, she had the ability to talk a dead thing into life​⁴. If he followed her line of reasoning, he would likely fall into her rhetorical trap.

            

Therefore, the man sighed softly. “Young lady, your persistence in error​⁵ truly makes things difficult.”

“Is that so?” Su Yi sneered. “Which rat hole did you crawl out from? Always advising others, yet you yourself are so secretive, not even telling anyone your name. Then you play the victim blaming others​⁶, saying they persist in error—are you perhaps a fool?”

Despite Su Yi’s barrage of words, the man didn’t get angry. He smiled faintly. “Young lady, you truly are eloquent. It’s a pity your body is too weak.”

            

He looked at the bound idol, made another Daoist hand gesture, and smiled. “Young lady, we shall meet again.”

“Wait, what’s your name—”

Before Su Yi could ask clearly, the man strangely vanished on the spot. The bound idol, the half-phoenix, half-woman statue, suddenly became engulfed in flames. Its dark eyes snapped open, its beak slowly parted, and a cry like shattering jade​⁷ came from its mouth.

            

The phoenix’s cry was sonorous, the divine fire blazed.

“Shriek—” It cried mournfully, flapping its wings, attempting to break free from its bonds.

But the bonds tightened, even cutting into its body until it bled.

            

Su Yi couldn’t bear to watch and wanted to step forward to help. Suddenly, the phoenix lowered its head and swept its wings towards her, as if refusing her assistance.

A flash of flame passed before her, the heat wave scorching. Su Yi jumped back in fright, instinctively taking a step back.

The phoenix stopped struggling. It looked at Su Yi quietly, the sorrow in its eyes as deep as ink. Blood dripped from its dark eyes and beak, quickly soaking the ground.

            

When it seemed the last drop of blood had fallen, it lowered its head. As it lay dying, the bonds seemed to sense it no longer had any life force and loosened their grip.

The air was thick with the smell of blood and a lingering aura of death. The plants around the phoenix instantly withered.

Su Yi wanted to go check on it, but then something unexpected happened—

            

The phoenix’s head and hands slowly transformed back into the appearance of a human woman.

And that face was exceptionally familiar to her, covered in blood—it was Ji Qingchi!

“Ah—” Su Yi was thoroughly frightened and stumbled back several steps, still unable to process the scene before her.

            

“Miss, wake up! Miss, wake up!”

She wanted to go see how the woman was, but she felt someone pushing her body, and an anxious voice calling out beside her ear.

“Miss, Miss, wake up quickly!”

            

Unable to bear the clamor by her ear, she slowly opened her eyes—Gancao’s anxious face came into view.

“Gan…cao?”

“Aiyo, Miss, you’re finally awake!” Gancao’s little face was deathly pale, tears welling in her eyes from anxiety. “Just now, you suddenly stood up, walked straight ahead, and then just fainted! You scared me to death!”

            

“Did you see a man in white clothes just now?”

“No? From just now until now, it’s only been you and me, Miss.”

Su Yi refused to believe it was just her imagination. Supported by Gancao, she stood up and pointed at the plants in front of her. “Right next to this, there was a man standing here, and hidden inside was a white phoenix idol… Huh? Where’s the idol?”

            

“What idol?” Gancao was completely baffled, scratching her head. “Just now, Miss, you suddenly pushed aside these plants, which startled me. There was actually a nest of rabbits inside… Ah, Miss, did you get heatstroke and, in your fever, mistake the rabbits for a white idol?”

Saying so, she reached out to feel the temperature of Su Yi’s forehead. “That’s not right, it’s not very hot.”

Su Yi, unwilling to give up​⁸, walked around the plants by the flowerbed, looking carefully. Nothing. Not to mention an idol, there weren’t even any footprints.

            

She frowned. Could it be that she had just fainted from exhaustion, taken a nap, and had a dream?

“Maybe I was hallucinating just now.” She said no more and sat down again with Gancao.

Hua Wuying had run out of medicinal powder and came back to get more.

            

Seeing her approach, Su Yi remembered Hua Wuying had mentioned knowing people from Huachen Kingdom. So, she told Gancao, “Please ask Miss Hua to come over. I have something important to discuss with her.”

“Yes.” Gancao skipped off to fetch her.

When Hua Wuying arrived, Su Yi told Gancao again, “Stand guard a little further away from us. While Miss Hua and I are talking, don’t let anyone else come near.”

            

Gancao asked, “Does the Ninth Highness count as ‘anyone else’?”

Su Yi said gravely, “Especially her.”

“Oh, okay.” Gancao didn’t quite understand what her Miss meant but obediently moved further away to prevent anyone from eavesdropping.

            

Seeing her so cautious, Hua Wuying asked curiously, “Miss Su, what do you want to talk to me about?”

“I… had a dream just now.” Su Yi recounted the recent events in detail. “I’ve heard that Huachen Kingdom has priests. So, they must have some research on dream interpretation and idols, right? Miss Hua, you’re on good terms with people from Huachen Kingdom. Do you know any inside details about this?”

The smile on Hua Wuying’s face vanished. “To be honest with you, Miss Su, I do know a tiny bit.”

            

“Oh?”

“I don’t know what’s going on with that idol, but from your description, Miss Su, the man who appeared in your dream is very likely a priest from Huachen Kingdom.”

Su Yi murmured, “A priest?”

            

“Correct.” Hua Wuying walked over to her, sat down, and said slowly, “Before I completely lost my martial arts skills, I stayed in the Huachen Kingdom’s imperial palace for over a year. Huachen Kingdom is very strange. Although they have an emperor, the priests in the country seem to have more power than the emperor himself. The emperor doesn’t dare to defy their words. Those priests don’t seem to be from Huachen Kingdom, but every one of them wears the attire you just described, Miss Su. They have their own exclusive palace, and I tried several times but couldn’t get in.”

“Then the man I just described, does Miss Hua recognize him?”

“That’s even harder.” Hua Wuying spread her hands. “That group of priests, regardless of gender, all have snow-white skin and blood-red lips, as if it’s a characteristic of their clan. It’s impossible to recognize them based on appearance alone.”

            

“Gender? That group of priests includes both men and women?”

“Of course. However, the ones in power now are male priests. There are only a very few female priests. Recently, I heard they are going to select someone from among those female priests to marry the Crown Prince of Huachen Kingdom.”

“Didn’t they say the Crown Prince of Huachen Kingdom was having a marriage alliance with the Fourth Princess of Dongli Kingdom?”

            

Hua Wuying was surprised. “Miss Su, you don’t know?”

Su Yi was a bit confused. “Know what?”

“According to the spies in the Tower, the Fourth Princess of Dongli Kingdom ran away from the marriage. Nobody knows where she is now. The Emperor of Dongli Kingdom flew into a thunderous rage and is secretly dispatching guards to find her.” Hua Wuying smiled. “Not bad. As expected of someone tempered on the battlefield; she knows to run when there’s trouble.”

            

“Is that so…” Su Yi frowned. “Then the idol…”

“I really don’t know about that. However, the priests of Huachen Kingdom really do have some skills​⁹. I heard they know some kind of magic arts. Perhaps Miss Su’s dream just now was also the work of those priests playing tricks.”

Su Yi frowned. “Listening to Miss Hua, it seems we’ll have to make a trip to Huachen Kingdom to see what’s going on.”

            

Hua Wuying smiled. “Miss Su, you should get your poison cured first before talking about that.”

Over there, Ji Qingchi had finished scattering the medicinal powder and was coming to find Su Yi.

Hua Wuying found two bottles of powder and stood up. “The Ninth Highness has finished her share. I’ll go scatter mine too. Miss Su, please put aside what we just talked about for now and don’t tell the Ninth Highness yet. I have a friend who also knows a fair bit about these things. I’ll write a letter to ask her. It won’t be too late to tell the Ninth Highness after we figure out the reason.”

            

“Okay.” Su Yi nodded. “I understand.”

Although Hua Wuying didn’t know what was going on with the idol, Su Yi instinctively felt that it was related to Ji Qingchi.

It was written in the original work that Ji Qingchi seemed to have a Nine Heavens Phoenix destiny​¹⁰. Because of this precious destiny, later on, not only did she become the Young Mistress of Xuanji Tower, but even the future emperor of Huachen Kingdom was willing to be part of Ji Qingchi’s harem.

            

Counting Ji Qingchi’s harem, there were at least five. Now, two noble young masters were dead. Apart from the future Master of Xuanji Tower, Hua Wushang, the rumored spy consort sent by the Fifth Imperial Daughter hadn’t appeared at all, and there was no sign of the assassin consort who was supposed to kill her. It was unknown if the Fifth Prince of the enemy country and the National Preceptor​¹¹ who admired her would appear later.

But as members of Ji Qingchi’s harem, these male leads should also be blessed and protected. Why would they still die?

“What are you thinking about?” Just as she was lost in thought, she felt an arm tighten around her waist. Ji Qingchi hugged her from behind, resting her chin on Su Yi’s shoulder, and asked affectionately.

            

“Thinking about the Ninth Highness’s harem.”

“Hmph hmph, isn’t This Palace’s harem just you?” Ji Qingchi buried her face in Su Yi’s neck, nuzzling gently.

Her breath tickled Su Yi’s nape, making her feel itchy. She couldn’t help but push her slightly. “That tickles, Your Highness, don’t move around.”

            

“This Palace isn’t moving around randomly…”

Just then, Yue Ling walked over quickly. “Your Highness, we’ve finished cooking…”

Ji Qingchi’s words were interrupted. She looked up, slightly displeased, and saw Yue Ling’s shocked face.

            

She raised an eyebrow. “What’s wrong?”

“…Your Highness, the food is ready.” Yue Ling struggled for a long time to suppress the shocked expression on her face.

Help me! she thought. Why are there so many people in this Yanxue Kingdom who are fond of women! If I stay here too long, will I be assimilated too? I like men!

            

But speaking of which, I’ve been in this Yanxue Kingdom for quite some time. If I don’t do something soon, I’m afraid those useless brothers of mine will have already become emperor.

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