Chapter 4

"Yes, he definitely doesn't know. If he knew, how could he possibly have written these words?"

"Ah, this person is so bold, daring to call the Song Emperor a waste, a foolish ruler."

"Are kings, marquises, generals, and ministers born to their titles? Well said."

"Oh no! This person also wants to be king and dominate — wouldn't that clash with Cousin's grand enterprise of restoring the kingdom?"

Seeing this, Wang Yuyan instantly became deeply worried.

She knew full well how great Murong Fu's obsession with restoring the kingdom was; to make him give it up would be absolutely impossible, and once he stood opposed to the diary's owner...

Wang Yuyan had always had confidence in Murong Fu, believing him to be the foremost young talent of the age, but now, facing a mysterious transmigrator who possessed a diary system, she truly had no confidence.

But no matter how anxious she was, there was nothing she could do, so she could only patiently continue reading.

The next moment, her pink cheeks faintly flushed, and she spat: "I thought he was some hero or great man, I never expected him to be a lecherous philanderer as well."

"And he actually... actually ranked me and Mother on the list too — does this person harbor some improper designs?"

But before Wang Yuyan could dwell too long in embarrassment and annoyance, she suddenly thought of something, and her face went deathly pale in an instant.

Her gaze fell upon that "Tian Long Ba Bu" beauty list, and that line: "More than half of them are connected to Duan Zhengchun — either wives, lovers, or illegitimate daughters."

At first glance, Wang Yuyan felt nothing much about it, at most she thought that Duan Zhengchun was simply too fickle-hearted!

But then, she recalled how her mother always utterly despised the people of Dali, and the Duan clan happened to be the most famous in Dali.

Then this Duan Zhengchun — could he be from the Duan clan of Dali?

From this, a terrifying conjecture sprouted in her heart.

She did not wish to think about it, but that thought kept lingering in her mind, hovering and refusing to dissipate.

"No! I must go ask Mother!"

Wang Yuyan had made up her mind.

However, she did not rush to set out, and instead continued reading.

"Among the three peerless beauties that Wu Xia stories can never avoid, there's actually me? I'm the Fairy Sister?"

Seeing this, even Wang Yuyan, usually unmoved by favor or disgrace, could not help but feel a surge of joy.

Because she knew full well how much weight that carried.

But before she could be happy for long, Wang Yuyan, who had once again discovered hidden information, froze.

Plap!

The diary copy slipped from her palm and dropped to the ground.

004. Xiao Longnu: He wants to ride me?

The diary copy slipped from her hand, yet Wang Yuyan seemed utterly unaware, the whole person dazed and foolish, rooted to the spot.

Even when she had suspected her own origins earlier, she had not lost her composure like this.

Because the diary said she was the number-one heroine of Tian Long, and the number-one hero of Tian Long was Duan Yu.

Not Murong Fu!

According to the convention of storybooks, the male and female leads were generally a pair.

Didn't this mean that the man she would marry in the future was not her cousin, but a person called Duan Yu?

"Impossible! Impossible!"

Wang Yuyan repeated in a daze, murmuring to herself, unwilling to accept this result.

She had worshipped and admired Cousin Murong Fu since childhood, longing with all her heart to marry him as his wife — how could she possibly shift her affections and marry another?

Unless... unless the problem did not lie with her.

"Could it be that Cousin... he... he doesn't want me?"

Wang Yuyan came up with such a conjecture, and immediately her heart sank to the bottom.

Because she thought of all the coldness Murong Fu had shown her in daily life.

This left her truly without the courage to say that Cousin must certainly love her.

Thinking of this, Wang Yuyan felt a sharp pang in her chest, her limbs suddenly went limp, and she collapsed weakly onto the bed.

Her originally clear and beautiful eyes grew misty with a hazy fog, and crystalline pearl-like tears rolled down her flawless fairy face in a string.

Her heart was filled with desolation and despair, and she had no mood even to read the content that followed in the diary.

……

Shanzhou, Mount Zhongnan, the Ancient Tomb.

Xiao Longnu held the diary copy in her hands, staring unblinkingly at every word on the page.

Upon learning the truth of this world, even though she had cultivated the "Jade Maiden Art" since childhood, severing the seven emotions and cutting off the six desires, and would not easily be emotionally stirred, she could not help but change color.

But very quickly, she adjusted herself back.

Because all of this, for a homebody like her, was simply too far away.

Including what the truth of the world was like — it was not all that important either.

She could view life and death with equanimity, so whether she was fictional or real, what difference did it make?

Having figured this out, Xiao Longnu's heart-lake once again became calm.

However, the diary copy — a novel thing she had never seen before — also piqued her curiosity, and Xiao Longnu, who lacked entertainment, continued reading on.

Divine arts, treasures, golden fingers... she cared for none of them.

Until she saw herself listed as one of the "three women Wu Xia stories cannot avoid," and according to the diary's owner, she was one who could make men go through fire and water for her.

Seeing this, Xiao Longnu's beautiful eyes stirred slightly, she gently parted her vermilion lips, and her cool, ethereal, heavenly voice echoed through the dim tomb chamber: "He would go through fire and water for me?"

The Gumu Sect had a rule: as long as a man was willing to die for this disciple, she could leave the mountain and follow him.

Judging from the meaning between the lines of the diary, it seemed the diary's owner could do exactly that.

In other words, she could leave the mountain right now.

"Go down the mountain?"

Xiao Longnu's spirit flickered momentarily.

This term was truly alien to her, for she had never left the mountain since childhood.

Now that the condition for leaving the mountain had suddenly been met, Xiao Longnu could not help but wonder: what was the world beyond like?

Yet in the end, the mindset of a homebody prevailed; Xiao Longnu shook her head and quashed the thought.

She continued reading, and her gaze instantly sharpened!

She would be defiled?

By a man named Zhen Zhibing?

And did the matter somehow involve Yang Guo and Ouyang Feng?

Xiao Longnu's delicate brows furrowed; her once still, deep-well heart stirred with ripples.

Though she had nearly severed all emotion and desire, treating life and death as equal, it did not mean she would disregard a woman's chastity.

This Zhen Zhibing dared to take advantage of her vulnerability and defile her—this she could not tolerate.

"Sun Nu," Xiao Longnu called softly.

Not long after her words faded, an ugly old woman entered: "Miss, what do you need?"

Xiao Longnu asked: "Do you know a man named Zhen Zhibing?"

"Zhen Zhibing?" Sun Nu blinked in surprise: "Why are you asking about him all of a sudden?"

Xiao Longnu did not answer, but countered: "Do you know this man?"

Sun Nu nodded: "I don't know him personally, but I've heard of him—he is the top disciple of the third generation of the Quanzhen Sect."

"So he's one of those stinking Quanzhen monks," Xiao Longnu's brows tightened further.

Because the founder of the Gumu Sect, Lin Chaoying, had loved but never won the heart of the Quanzhen Sect's founder, Wang Chongyang, and ultimately died of sorrow, the two sects, though both dwelling on Mount Zhongnan and living side by side, were bitterly hostile.

They had not spoken to each other in generations.

Even if they met, they would not exchange so much as a word.

Xiao Longnu had grown up immersed in this hatred and held not the slightest fondness for the Quanzhen Sect.

She never imagined that the one who might one day ruin her purity would be the very stinking monk she despised most.

Suddenly, Xiao Longnu recalled how, while gathering honey in the back mountain, she had often sensed watching eyes.

"Could it be him?" Xiao Longnu mused.

Before, she had ignored him because she thought he posed no threat—but now it was different.

Thinking that the stinking monk had been scheming against her all along, Xiao Longnu decided: next time she caught him, she would run him through with a sword!

Sun Nu, seeing the rare shift of expression on Xiao Longnu's face, worriedly asked: "Miss, what's wrong?"

Xiao Longnu came back to herself slightly and replied coldly: "I'm fine. Sun Nu, do you know Yang Guo?"