The Passerby Female Supporting Character – Chapter 63
by Little PandaHelplessness
Only when the opening time was imminent did Song Linlin remember a crucial problem: because of the Secret Realm’s special nature, one needed something that could act as a key to enter.
And the Sect, in order to prevent unrelated individuals or people from the Demonic Path1 from mixing into the Profound Yin Realm, wouldn’t completely open the entrance. Instead, they issued identity tokens to all disciples entering this time. The tokens possessed spatial properties and could bring a person directly inside the Secret Realm.
But Chi Qianning wasn’t a registered disciple of the Xuanyun Sect, so naturally, she wouldn’t be issued an identity token. Song Linlin thought about it—as for just taking out a disciple on the spot right now and taking their token, wasn’t that kind of thing just too immoral…
Too much like villain behavior.
Song Linlin glanced left and right, seeing no one dared approach their side. Only then did she lean close to Chi Qianning’s ear and ask in a low voice only the two of them could hear, “Right, how are you going to get in later? At the Secret Realm entrance, you need an identity token to enter.”
As she spoke, Song Linlin pointed to the item hanging at her waist. This was the identity token she had received earlier. Its surface looked smooth and round, made of a stone material Song Linlin didn’t recognize. It felt cool and smooth to the touch, and it was engraved with Song Linlin’s name.
Chi Qianning saw Song Linlin’s worry. Such a small matter wouldn’t trouble Chi Qianning. She spoke nonchalantly, “Relax, I can get in even without this thing.”
“Oh, okay then.” Song Linlin nodded. Since the other party was confident she could get in, she wouldn’t worry too much about it.
When the opening time for the Secret Realm finally arrived, following the command from the Elder at the very front, the Profound Yin Realm opened. The group of people closest to the entrance vanished in an instant, having entered the Secret Realm’s interior.
The disciples behind immediately followed, starting to walk forward. Song Linlin took Chi Qianning’s hand, preventing them from being separated by the crowd constantly pushing forward, and also stepped forward. “Let’s go.”
Although Song Linlin was extremely reluctant to go in, the two of them were already standing here. It was a situation where the arrow was already on the bowstring and had to be fired2; they could only follow the crowd inside.
After a dizzying sense of weightlessness, Song Linlin’s vision blurred3. When she opened her eyes again, she saw a completely different scene from before. They had already entered the Profound Yin Realm.
This time, the teleportation seemed to randomly select landing spots. Song Linlin looked around; the people beside her weren’t the same group as before. Fortunately, the tactile sensation in her hand remained—Chi Qianning was still standing beside her.
Song Linlin looked up again and realized she couldn’t see the sun in this place. A faint mist permeated the air above, blocking the light and making the entire interior of the Secret Realm rather dim.
No sun meant Song Linlin couldn’t determine her current direction; she only knew she was in the surrounding area, and the teleportation entrance was behind her.
The moment Chi Qianning entered, however, she could feel a direction exerting an extremely strong allure on her. She subconsciously turned her head, squinting her eyes as she looked towards a certain spot.
This kind of thing was rare. Even the air was filled with a pleasant scent. This aroma was like some fatal, hidden fragrance had been added; just smelling it made her develop the urge to seek out its source.
Fortunately, Chi Qianning was still in the peripheral area. The scent, diluted by the air, was only a few faint wisps. For Chi Qianning, it was easy enough to ignore the effect it produced.
This was Chi Qianning’s first time being so close to the Tongyou Fruit. She had previously only seen descriptions of it in a few ancient texts. It was said that this thing held an extremely strong attraction for snake-type beings. Unexpectedly, it was actually true, and the intensity of the attraction exceeded her expectations.
“What are you looking at?” Song Linlin noticed Chi Qianning staring fixedly at one spot. Following her line of sight, she saw nothing but dense forest, so she asked curiously.
Chi Qianning retracted her gaze, shook her head, and said lightly, “Nothing. Let’s leave this place first.”
“Okay.”
Since she couldn’t see anything, Song Linlin didn’t press further and nodded, agreeing with the suggestion. “Let’s go.”
This wasn’t because Song Linlin was eager to explore the interior, but simply because the Profound Yin Realm was teeming with demonic beasts. Unlike humans, demonic beasts had highly developed senses of smell. This place was the teleportation entrance, and a large number of humans were currently gathered here. The human scent emanating from them must be exceptionally strong.
The nearby demonic beasts must have already noticed the abnormality in this area. If they stayed put, they might very well encounter a pack of demonic beasts, and being besieged by a large number of them would be no laughing matter4.
In short, while danger hadn’t arrived yet, it was best to slip away quickly. Even if they had no intention of exploring deeply, they had to leave this place now and hide somewhere farther away to avoid trouble.
The gathered crowd scattered. Song Linlin led Chi Qianning in a direction where no one else was heading. However, Song Linlin didn’t dare to be careless enough to walk straight down one path. She frequently circled around or changed direction as she moved forward. This action was, of course, to prevent potential followers and to confuse any demonic beasts trying to track them by scent.
Compared to their starting point, they had already ventured quite deep into this forest area. Song Linlin’s actions were still very cautious; relative to the size of this Secret Realm, they were still within the peripheral zone.
Chi Qianning silently followed Song Linlin forward. The alluring fragrance in the air here had undoubtedly grown stronger. Her thoughts began to drift towards the Tongyou Fruit again. Thinking about what Song Linlin had said earlier about someone coming to snatch the Tongyou Fruit, she spoke to Song Linlin ahead:
“Song Linlin, you said…”
“Hm?”
Hearing Chi Qianning call her name from behind, Song Linlin turned her head and looked at her quizzically. Then she saw Chi Qianning looking towards a certain direction again, slowly saying, “That person you mentioned, will they really try to snatch the Tongyou Fruit?”
“Definitely!”
Song Linlin was a woman who had read the plot, and she firmly believed in her prediction. After all, hadn’t all those plot points described in the book happened already? This time surely wouldn’t be wrong either!
Seeing Chi Qianning was still somewhat curious about this matter, and recalling that Chi Qianning had previously entertained the idea of snatching the Tongyou Fruit herself, Song Linlin was terrified she might still be eyeing the Tongyou Fruit now. She immediately said:
“The Secret Realm has just opened, that person definitely won’t make a move so quickly. They’ll wait a few days before trying to snatch the Tongyou Fruit. We’d best not let our guard down these days and try to stay far away from the central area.”
Song Linlin watched Chi Qianning nervously. Fortunately, after hearing her words, Chi Qianning didn’t express too many thoughts, just nodded lightly. This allowed Song Linlin’s suspended heart to settle back down.
Chi Qianning nodded only because she felt Song Linlin’s words made some sense. After all, the Xuanyun Sect was a major sect; security on the first day the Secret Realm opened would surely be extremely strict. Anyone with half a brain wouldn’t choose to stir up trouble on the first day.
Anyone truly wanting to cause trouble would definitely choose the middle period or towards the end. By that time, many disciples within the Secret Realm would surely have approached the central area. They could blend in among these disciples and then strike together, catching everyone off guard.
Anyway, the Profound Yin Realm would be open for nearly half a month this time. Chi Qianning wasn’t in a hurry to snatch the Tongyou Fruit on the first day either.
She hadn’t forgotten that she had, after all, promised Song Linlin not to “casually” snatch the Tongyou Fruit before someone else made a move. Since she had promised, she should definitely keep her word. Besides, Chi Qianning was also very curious about just what kind of person dared to come and snatch this thing.
“Relax, I won’t casually snatch things,” Chi Qianning said with a light laugh, seeing through Song Linlin’s thoughts.
Receiving her assurance, Song Linlin undoubtedly relaxed a lot more. She was truly afraid Chi Qianning would head straight for the central area to snatch the Tongyou Fruit right after entering. Once the core of the Secret Realm was stolen, forget about the villain Hong Ye coming to cause trouble later; the first ones to come settle accounts with them would definitely be the people from the Sect.
She was currently within the Sect’s territory, and so many experts were gathered within the Sect. Once they snatched the item, they definitely wouldn’t be able to stay within the Sect anymore. They’d have to flee to the outside world and would be hunted down as wanted criminals by the Sect.
Chi Qianning was so powerful she might not mind being wanted, but Song Linlin was only at the Golden Core Stage, and a flashy but useless one at that—completely unable to fight. If she really became wanted, she’d have truly terrible luck5.
Not to mention that villain Hong Ye; upon hearing the news, who knows, maybe she would also come hunt the two of them down. If they really encountered such a situation, they would have offended both the righteous and demonic paths.
No matter how you thought about it, the consequences wouldn’t be good.
As for intervening when Hong Ye came to snatch the Tongyou Fruit, the result would likely not be much different from the first scenario. In short, Song Linlin really didn’t want to get involved in such huge trouble. Her ideal was just to be a salted fish6 within the Sect. Encountering this kind of situation, naturally, she wanted to hide as far away as possible. Not everyone could get involved when big shots fight; one careless move and you could easily get caught in the crossfire7.
“It’s good you can think that way!” Song Linlin nodded, deeply feeling that Chi Qianning’s thinking had improved greatly. Being able to correctly assess the situation was a rare quality.
Chi Qianning was deeply aware of Song Linlin’s fear of death. She had already anticipated her reaction. Unwilling to dwell on this topic with Song Linlin any longer, she deliberately spoke up, “Mm, let’s get going first. Demonic beasts are coming.”
“Holy crap! Why didn’t you say so earlier?”
Song Linlin was predictably startled, then immediately pulled Chi Qianning along, quickening their pace. Instantly, she lost the mood to continue the previous topic, muttering and complaining as she walked quickly:
“That’s the bad thing about this place, too many demonic beasts. The ones that aren’t very strong appear in groups, and the ones that appear alone are too strong—one can take on a whole group of the others.”
“But the environment here is much more comfortable than the outside world. As soon as I came in, I felt like I could breathe much more smoothly, and the temperature is cooler than outside too.”
Chi Qianning explained, “That’s because the Yin Qi8 here is very heavy. Staying here, you’re naturally more like a fish in water9 than outside.”
The Profound Yin Realm used the Tongyou Fruit as its core, and the power of the Tongyou Fruit permeated the interior. Although it was only a very small part, the changes it brought were enormous.
The two had already covered quite a distance by now. Song Linlin had the leisure to turn back and look at Chi Qianning, her eyes widening slightly. “Is that so? Doesn’t that mean my cultivation here will also get twice the result with half the effort?”
“That’s right!” Chi Qianning nodded, looking at Song Linlin with gratification in her eyes. This person had been lazy for so long; it was truly rare for her to want to cultivate diligently for once.
Song Linlin just nodded silently, pretending not to see the expectation in the other’s eyes. She turned her head to look elsewhere, saying listlessly, “Ah… so tiring. Let’s just forget it.”
As her gaze shifted, Song Linlin’s sharp eyes spotted a river not far from them. So, she continued nonchalantly, “Hey, look, there’s a river over there. It’s almost lunchtime, and I’m hungry. I wonder if there are any fish in the river. How about I go catch some fish and make grilled fish for you?”
Chi Qianning looked at Song Linlin. Song Linlin blinked innocently back at her. In the end, Chi Qianning could only sigh helplessly. She had long known what kind of personality this person Song Linlin had. Sure enough, one really couldn’t hold unrealistic expectations for such a lazy bum.
Chi Qianning said helplessly, “Alright, go ahead.”
The author has something to say:
Will start adding extra chapters tomorrow, the identity reveal10 plot point will happen in the next day or two.
Footnotes
- 魔道 | Módào | Lit. “Demon Path/Way,” refers to unorthodox, often malevolent, cultivation paths or practitioners in contrast to the righteous path (正道 | zhèngdào).
- Original: 箭在弦上，不得不發 | jiàn zài xián shàng, bù dé bù fā | Lit. “The arrow is on the bowstring, it cannot not be fired.” Meaning the situation has reached a point of no return; one is committed.
- Original: 眼前一花 | yǎnqián yī huā | Lit. “the view before the eyes blurred/flowered.” An idiom describing sudden dizziness or blurred vision.
- Original: 玩笑可就開大了 | wánxiào kě jiù kāi dà le | Lit. “the joke would be opened big.” Meaning it would become a serious, dangerous situation.
- Original: 倒大黴 | dǎo dà méi | Lit. “fall into big misfortune/mildew.” Meaning to have extremely bad luck.
- 鹹魚 | xiányú | Slang term for someone lazy, unambitious, or just wanting to lie around doing nothing, like a dried salted fish.
- Original: 閃到自己的腰 | shǎn dào zìjǐ de yāo | Lit. “sprain one’s own back/waist.” Used figuratively to mean getting hurt or suffering negative consequences oneself while others are engaged in conflict or strenuous activity.
- 陰氣 | yīn qì | Yin energy/aura, associated with darkness, cold, and the feminine principle in Chinese philosophy and cultivation settings. Often beneficial for certain cultivation paths or types of beings.
- Original: 如魚得水 | rú yú dé shuǐ | Lit. “like a fish getting water.” Meaning to be in one’s element, thriving in a suitable environment.
- 掉馬 | diào mǎ | Lit. “fall off the horse”; internet slang for having one’s identity or secret persona accidentally revealed.
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