Side Character Survival Guidelines Chapter 8

In the end, I still got carried on the back by Zhu Jue who is one size smaller than me after the bleeding is stopped. I'm still dizzy, but right now is not a good time to just faint and hope everything works out. Still, Zhu Jue might still be small, his shoulders are quite wide. Not even my shoulders were that wide when I was 14, so he will probably be taller than me after he grows up.

… Should I give Zhu Jue less milk from now on?

Though I'm only just having idle thoughts. Kids should grow as tall as they can. I'm also 1.78m tall right now, not too short myself. I probably shouldn't give him a hard time over this. I'm quite generous on matters like this.

Zhu Jue carries me while walking into the cave. As there is no lighting in it, I take my hand out to light a small speck of light. It's not particularly bright, but it's enough to luminate the grounds we step on. Still Zhu Jue stops, saying, “s.h.i.+xiong?”

“Mm?”

“You don't need to light up. I can see.”

So it turns out our protagonist has night-vision. But I can't see, and being in complete blackness is making me a bit scared… Maybe people cultivating shouldn't be afraid of ghosts and spectres. Still… I'll get the s.h.i.+vers. It's not that costly in spiritual power to light up.

“s.h.i.+xiong? You've lost so much blood already, you shouldn't waste any more spiritual power.”

“Oh, I don't think this uses up that much of it…”

And then our vision clears up after walking a while. A dense jungle appears in front of us, and a small path without much vegetations is right there in the lush and dense trees. Zhu Jue stops for a moment before continuing to press on. I also understand how it is meaningless to stop here, but since we've been walking for a while after all, I ask, “Jue, are you tired?”

Zhu Jue shakes his head.

Though perhaps it is a forest after all, and under my little bit of lighting the bushes look even more terrifying, but I don't dare turning it off. Luckily there's Zhu Jue here, or I would probably have legged it. No, I think I wouldn't even have been able to take care of my wounds because of anaemia.

Life sure is quite hard.

After walking for a bit longer, the scenery does not change much. I know that there will be a home of a master pract.i.tioner in the middle of the forests awaiting our arrival, but I know it's still a long way off. Making the protagonist carry me like this makes me feel as if I'm abusing a minor, and that I've stolen the female lead's part. Though it's probably just a false feeling, since this is not supposed to be a BL novel.

… At least, the author shouldn't have that kind of inclination.

Then suddenly I hear Zhu Jue asking, “s.h.i.+xiong, are you afraid?”

“… What has led you to that incorrect conclusion?” I ask, expressionless.

“… Um, s.h.i.+xiong aren't you shaking?”

“I'm cold.”

“But s.h.i.+xiong you're sweating.”

“I'm hot.”

And then Zhu Jue stops talking, but his shoulders are shaking. It seems he is trying to suppress a laughter. The posture is such that it's difficult for me to beat him up, so I strangle his neck with a poker face.

I can't beat you up, so I'll strangle you to death instead.

So Zhu Jue is trying to hold his breath in while holding his laughter in, and his whole person is shaking like flowers in the wind (?).

“Is it really that funny?”

Zhu Jue who finally gets a bit room to breath explodes in laughter, “I'm just thinking how different your appearance and personality turned out to be.”

This is called contrast-moe you understand! Moe, do you understand! Understand?! -stand?!

I'll strangle you!

At last we arrive at where the legendary master pract.i.tioner is supposed to be. This is actually a palace hidden in the forests. It has a red amber ceiling with golden pillars. Though it seems like n.o.body has been here for a long time, but there isn't even a speck of dust in the tiniest corner. It's the palace of a master, after all, so it must be quite different from those of normal people, and it's understandable there's no dust. Zhu Jue does not seem to notice that the sole of his shoe is full of dirt thanks to having just traversed a forest, and just stomps ahead confidently. While I feel pity for the clean floor, but I won't possibly stop him. Or rather, I'm more worried about Zhu Jue instead. With how long he's been walking, I'm sure he's tired.

This master pract.i.tioner should have left a whole bunch of inheritance just coyly waiting for Zhu Jue to deflower. It's Zhu Jue's opportunities, after all, I know I won't be able to enter. It's times like these that make me especially jealous of Zhu Jue.

And then we crash into something. Or more specifically, I crashed into something and Zhu Jue pa.s.sed through it safely, then, seemingly having forgotten that there is such a wall in the air smash me heavily onto it. I can feel my face distorting and then falling onto the ground. Zhu Jue is stupefied for a second before looking at me in shock. I was already spinning and then getting smashed like that resulted in me completely losing all sense of direction. When Zhu Jue lifts me up I couldn't say anything and was just lying on him, almost puking onto him. I know according to the plot Zhu Jue shouldn't know there's a wall in the air here, but given we're in a novel world all characters should be aware of the plot to come. So either Zhu Jue is pursuing a great visual effect or he's toying with me. But that expression that appeared on Zhu Jue when he saw that both my forehead and the back of my head were swollen after I fell didn't seem fake, I'll a.s.sume he has forgotten about it.

I know that the road in front is a path Zhu Jue will take alone.

Zhu Jue looks back at the place where there is nothing, but clearly he doesn't see anything. Of course I can't see anything either, but I know that the words ‘Limited to owners of Beijing citizens.h.i.+p protagonist halos only.' Zhu Jue looks at it for a while before asking me, “what was that?”

“A barrier, maybe.” The author doesn't say it explicitly, but there's often such things in palaces of master pract.i.tioners. Since if the things that are for the protagonist were taken away by someone else it would be bad.

Zhu Jue looks at the barrier, silent for a moment, before standing up, “I'll try to break it open.”

“The one who made the barrier is clearly much higher in rank than you. Since you can go in, though, there might be something inside. I'll stay outside, go in and see what you can find.”

“I won't leave you behind.” He furrows his brows.

“But I can't go in.”

“Then I'll break it open.”

“You can't. You can't even touch it.”

I look at Zhu Jue while sitting on the ground, and he looks at me with his brows creased. I do not move at all and neither does he. We stand off like that, and Zhu Jue doesn't look like he's going to concede. Given the plot, however, neither will I. In the end we spend so long here I'm about to fall asleep. In the end, Zhu Jue gives up, kneeling in front of me, saying, “you'll stay here and not do anything?”

“Mm.”

“Wait for me here. I'll be back.”

Though my bone is snapped, I'm still a cultivator. Lying here for a while and recovering my SP will probably be enough for me to treat my wounds to some degree. I know he will get the inheritance from the master inside. He'll be made to faint and absorb it for about a month, so it is clearly impractical to wait for Zhu Jue to come back. While Zhu Jue is saying that earnestly, it is something that cannot be helped. So I'll have to crawl back out myself later.

Zhu Jue walks inside, turning back to look at me every step of the way. Before he goes he even took the bedsheets out from his s.p.a.ce and put it into the corner, laying me onto it. When I'm sure he can't see me anymore I just lie flat on the ground. I really can't move anymore, so I just lie down. When I lie down I want to sleep. I know Zhu Jue will be back in a month, and I'll no longer be here then. I don't know what will happen afterwards because the updates haven't reached that far. I'm still far from pigu, so I can only let Zhu Jue come out alone. I'll try to crawl back somehow. In the end, wrapped in the quilt, I really did fall asleep.

I was shocked awake by a sudden gust of wind blowing towards me. My instinctive reaction is to swing my sword in front of me and then jump up. This saved my life, because someone did push their knife to the front of my chest in one swing. I couldn't remain standing, however, given my leg is still crippled. Now that I stood up my wounds seem to have reopened, and I can feel the blood oozing out of the bandages. Before that, I already half-bent down because I couldn't keep my balance. The person opposite me did not speak during all that. I raise my head, before discovering who's standing there is the boss who we met on top of the cliff. Given how unfocused his eyes looked I'm not sure if he saw me, since he is highly nearsighted. Yet clearly he knows someone is here. I hear him ask, “Zhu Jue?”

“… Xuanyuan Mufeng.” I hold tightly onto my sword.

He pauses, then says, “I didn't imagine you to still be alive.”

“Of course we are.” Since the protagonist has his halo, and I haven't had my revenge for my background story yet, so none of us will be dying for now.

“That kid… is he inside?”

“You won't find him.”

“Yeah, I probably won't be able to see him even if he stands in front of me.” Our boss suddenly says dejectedly.

I was stunned for a moment.

“What?” He continues, “we're outside the plot anyway. You aren't going to follow the settings are you?”

Certainly it is. While I don't know what's going on, but he's not displayed that much malice TL: (except trying to kill you???) anyway. It's hurting so badly I'm having cold sweat too, so I sit down. Leng Muyu's ears move, “what's wrong with your leg?”

“It's snapped.”

“Mm? I thought Zhu Jue was supposed to be the one wounded?”

I also think I might have did myself in. I don't know whether the plot might change because of this.

“But that's fine then.” Though I can't see his face, I can hear laughter in his voice. It gives me an ominous premonition.

And then my premonition is immediately verified. He lifts me up to his shoulders, “I'll carry you back like this.”

“Let me go!” I start to struggle.

But because I'm physically exhausted it wasn't much use. I can only see Leng Muyu singing while tearing apart the bedsheets Zhu Jue laid on the ground, and then pours red liquid onto it from a small bottle he took out. It smells of rusted iron, and I imagine it's blood, although I don't know what kind of blood it is.

“What are you doing?”

“Kidnapping you.” He's still laughing.

And then he smacked me on the back of my neck, and I finally faint for real.

TL's notes: Well, uh, I guess I should have expected this, but people don't exactly like this kind of novel huh. Oh well, it's a good thing I'm just translating novels I like as a side hobby here. I would probably be crying tears of blood if this were my job and my livelihood depended on the views hehe.