The Passerby Female Supporting Character – Chapter 17

I won’t help her, but I can help you

Shen Jin spoke with genuine emotion and righteous indignation, his eyes filled with hatred, wishing he could tear that fellow called Xing Jiu into ten thousand pieces.

It certainly didn’t seem fake.

            

However, Ye Tingran still didn’t completely trust him and remained cautious, asking: “What cultivation realm is this Xing Jiu at? What techniques does he excel at?”

Upon hearing this, Shen Jin appeared dejected but didn’t conceal anything, revealing everything he knew: “Xing Jiu is at the peak of late Golden Core stage, faintly touching the threshold of the Nascent Soul realm, equivalent to having one foot in the Nascent Soul stage.”

At this point, Shen Jin paused, as if recalling some unpleasant memories, and continued gravely: “This man is tall and possesses immense strength. He wields a large curved blade with unstoppable force. When I fought him, I was defeated in less than half a quarter hour, and even my weapon was broken by him.”

            

Looking around at everyone present, Shen Jin sighed and shook his head: “Although you can defeat me, forgive my frankness, but I don’t believe you can defeat Xing Jiu.”

After he finished speaking, silence fell over the Mountain God Temple. Song Linlin had already known about the Golden Core late-stage cultivator at the Luofeng Temple, so she wasn’t as shocked, having mentally prepared herself.

However, the others were unaware of the situation, and upon hearing that the enemy had one foot in the Nascent Soul realm, their expressions all turned grim.

            

No matter how they thought about it, they hadn’t expected the sect mission to be this difficult. Usually, only a few teams would encounter early Golden Core stage enemies, but for their team, the difficulty was far too excessive…

After a long silence, Ye Tingran took a deep breath and exhaled, her tone unchanged, “I understand.”

“Since you’ve decided to give up, then let me leave. I’ll pretend I never met you all here today.”

            

Shen Jin also sighed. Regarding the matter with Xing Jiu, perhaps he had held hope before, but the moment his weapon was broken by the opponent, he deeply realized the gap between them.

It wasn’t a gap that could be closed through mere effort; he truly had no chance of victory against that person.

“I won’t release you.” Ye Tingran rejected his proposal.

            

“You…” Shen Jin thought she still wanted to take his life. He could only accept his misfortune – after all, he was the one who got caught by these people – and said decisively: “If you won’t let me leave, then just kill me quickly.”

Ye Tingran shook her head, “Tomorrow, you’ll take me into the Luofeng Temple. I’ll go meet this Xing Jiu.”

“Ye-Shijie!” Zhiyu stared at her with wide eyes full of shock and worry, clearly not wanting her to go.

            

Liu Zhi also had a complex look in his eyes, lost in unknown thoughts.

“You… you really want to go?” Shen Jin couldn’t believe it, his tone uncertain.

“Yes.” Ye Tingran nodded, her gaze determined: “As the team leader of this sect mission, I naturally cannot abandon it. Besides, how would we know if we can win without trying?”

            

Song Linlin silently sighed beside them. Truly worthy of being the female protagonist of this book – while others would think of abandoning the mission and fleeing in such situations, Ye Tingran actually wanted to fight Xing Jiu.

Seeing Ye Tingran’s determination, Shen Jin seemed infected by it and nodded: “Alright! I’ll take you tomorrow morning. The patrol guards at the Luofeng Temple are all my former subordinates. I can lead you to Xing Jiu, but after that, the fight will depend on you alone.”

“I rarely get chances to leave the Luofeng Temple. After collecting money from Mu Tong, I usually spend the night drinking in the city and return at dawn. You still have some time to prepare. I’ll take you to the temple after daybreak.”

            

“Mm, thank you.” Ye Tingran’s attitude toward him improved.

She turned her head and said to Liu Zhi: “Liu-Shixiong, please watch him here. I’ll take Zhiyu and Shimei Song back to the inn to make some arrangements.”

“Alright.” Liu Zhi didn’t refuse.

            

“Let’s go, Zhiyu, Shimei Song, let’s return to the inn.” Ye Tingran turned, showing a faint smile.

Under such circumstances, that smile somehow made people feel melancholic.

“Wait a moment, I need to get my sword.”

            

The sword borrowed from Zhiyu was still lying in the corner, and Chi Qianning remained seated, silently observing others’ conversations.

Song Linlin walked over, first picking up the sword, then raised her head to address Chi Qianning: “Let’s go, I’ll take you back.”

“No need.” Chi Qianning shook her head, stood up and patted off the straw clinging to her body, “Let’s walk together.”

            

“Oh, that works too.”

Song Linlin had no objections – after all, others couldn’t see her, and it would be good for her to walk around. She had been staying in the room for the past two days; it was time for some exercise.

The group walked out of the Mountain God Temple together, while Liu Zhi stayed behind to guard Shen Jin.

            

Ye Tingran led the way at the front, with Zhiyu following behind her. After learning about the situation, her mood was clearly not good, and the usual faint smile that often graced her lips had disappeared.

Song Linlin walked at the back, side by side with Chi Qianning, looking at Ye Tingran’s straight figure ahead, unable to hold back a sigh.

As for the so-called “arrangements,” Song Linlin could see through it – Ye Tingran planned to face Xing Jiu alone, not wanting other members to make meaningless sacrifices.

            

Although she knew that in the original plot, Ye Tingran eventually won, but that was only after being stimulated by the deaths of most of her fellow disciples, breaking through to the Golden Core stage in the heat of the moment, finally defeating Xing Jiu.

But now Ye Tingran planned to go alone, and Song Linlin wasn’t quite sure about the outcome.

Song Linlin turned her head to look at Chi Qianning, carefully asking: “Do you think… she can win alone?”

            

Chi Qianning cast a sidelong glance at Song Linlin, then stared at Ye Tingran’s back, pondering before saying: “Hard to say.”

“Huh? What does that mean?”

Song Linlin suddenly felt uncertain too. According to the original book’s plot, Ye Tingran would certainly win, but after her own transmigration, many things had changed, and this time only Ye Tingran would face the final boss alone…

            

Ye Tingran was the protagonist, she definitely wouldn’t die, right…

Under Song Linlin’s anxious gaze, Chi Qianning slowly explained: “If anyone else dared to do this, they would certainly die without a doubt. However, for this person, it’s truly hard to say.”

“In this world, there are always some people who naturally possess great fortune. Among all the humans I’ve seen, her fortune is the most abundant. Such people often find it easier to create miracles and accomplish things beyond ordinary people’s reach.”

            

Isn’t this stating the obvious? Song Linlin thought. Of course Ye Tingran, being the protagonist, carried great fortune – being heaven’s chosen one was no joke.

Song Linlin felt helpless, feeling like she’d just listened to a bunch of meaningless rhetoric. Her mind was in chaos. Of course she wanted to help Ye Tingran, but with her current strength, it would be good enough not to be a burden.

“You want to help her?” Chi Qianning saw through her thoughts, raising an eyebrow slightly.

            

“Of course I want to help her.” Song Linlin sighed, saying helplessly: “But with my strength, better not.”

After speaking, she looked at Chi Qianning with eyes full of expectation. Although she didn’t have the ability, Chi Qianning did!

Meeting Song Linlin’s expectant gaze, Chi Qianning gave a light laugh and asked in return: “Why are you looking at me? She’s a righteous cultivator, we have no connection, I won’t help humans.”

            

“Alright.” Song Linlin deflated again.

This response was within Song Linlin’s expectations. Chi Qianning was never an easy person to deal with; she really shouldn’t have hoped she would help others.

Song Linlin let out a long sigh: “Ah!”

            

“I won’t help her, but I can help you.” Chi Qianning’s voice sounded beside her.

“Help me?” Song Linlin couldn’t quite understand, eyeing the other suspiciously, “Didn’t you say you won’t help humans?”

After speaking, Song Linlin suddenly realized she’d said something stupid. No matter what, she should at least let the other person finish speaking. Otherwise, with that unpredictable personality of hers, she might withdraw her offer to help.

            

While Song Linlin was rapidly thinking about how to remedy the situation in her mind, the other person spoke first:

“Do you think normal humans would hang around with me every day like you do?”

Song Linlin obediently shook her head. Although Chi Qianning was relatively kind to her, even allowing them to safely share a bed for a night, this was only because Song Linlin was broad-minded enough.

            

If the sect discovered that she was getting cozy with Chi Qianning every day, she would certainly be hunted down and killed.

Seeing Song Linlin shake her head so honestly, Chi Qianning nodded with satisfaction, “You’re naturally not a good person anymore either.”

Why did this feel like a proper lady being led astray?

            

Pushing aside these strange thoughts, Song Linlin looked at her and asked puzzledly: “So how will you help?”

“Want to know?”

Song Linlin nodded vigorously, “Of course I do!”

            

Then, under Song Linlin’s expectant and curious gaze, the other person’s lips curled slightly, her blood-red eyes carrying a playful look, her tone pleased with an obvious lilt at the end, “Beg me.”

“Huh?”

Song Linlin was stunned by these words. What game was she playing now? She was clearly just teasing her!

            

Fortunately, Song Linlin wasn’t someone who cared about face. A true hero knows when to bend and stretch – at a time like this, of course she should beg first and talk later.

She immediately hugged Chi Qianning’s arm, holding it tightly while swaying back and forth, her head nuzzling against her shoulder, her tone unspeakably sweet: “I’m begging you~ Great One, please tell me~ Please, please~”

Chi Qianning truly hadn’t expected Song Linlin to start begging so readily. It seemed she had overestimated the other’s bottom line for shame. She tried to pull her arm away, but the other’s embrace was too tight; she couldn’t extract it at all.

            

“Alright, let go first.”

“Okay!”

Song Linlin immediately released the arm she was holding and looked at Chi Qianning expectantly, “So what is it exactly?”

            

Chi Qianning said two words without changing expression: “Dual cultivation.”

“Dual cultivation?” Song Linlin didn’t quite understand this, curiously asking: “How do we cultivate?”

“You’ll know when the time comes.” Chi Qianning didn’t explain clearly, giving only a vague response.

            

Song Linlin nodded, “Alright.”

Her impression of dual cultivation was still stuck on the TV drama “Return of the Condor Heroes”, where Little Dragon Girl and Yang Guo [楊過 | yáng guò] sat together to cultivate – it should be something similar, right?

But why did it feel increasingly wrong the more she thought about it?

            

The author has something to say:

I’m sick with dizziness and headache that makes me want to die. Although it’s immoral to end it here, I spent a long time writing this while lying in bed today. There won’t be an update on Thursday, probably Friday night (I’ll try, if not then Saturday).

Honestly, I just learned tonight that in some stories, dual cultivation involves doing “that”? I’m still an innocent girl, I really always thought dual cultivation just meant cultivating together. I was shocked when I found out. As for how Song will dual cultivate, we’ll see how I write it later.

            

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LP: So author will do “that” version of cultivation, eh? Ohoho!

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