Volume 3, Chapter 407 – The Female Lead Is Disgusted By This

Qin Qingfen gripped Chi Xiyan’s shoulders tightly.

The force of her grip brought a film of moisture to the young Chi Xiyan’s eyes.

“Aunt. I’ve remembered. Chi Jingwen is my enemy. I will avenge my father and mother!”

Only then did Qin Qingfen release Chi Xiyan’s shoulders, a satisfied smile spreading across her face.

“Good child. Your parents’ spirits in heaven will surely be proud of you!”

Lu Zhuxin watched the two of them, her brow furrowing into a knot.

The scene shifted again.

This time, Chi Xiyan had grown a little older still.

The scene became the Chi family’s main hall, one Lu Zhuxin had seen before.

Chi Xiyan stood in the center of the hall, surrounded by a crowd of Chi family elders.

She carried a bottle of freshly completed pills and walked up to Chi Jingwen.

“Father, Xiyan has done it.”

“This is the three streak spirit gathering pill. Please have a look, Father.”

Chi Jingwen took the pill bottle from Chi Xiyan’s hands, his face full of shock and disbelief.

He took out one of the pills and examined it.

“It really is a three streak spirit gathering pill!”

The elders around them all wore looks of astonishment.

“A pill born with three streaks, each streak turned to flowing dragon lines! This is clearly a sign of great success in pill tribulation!”

“Twelve years old! A twelve year old three streak pill master!”

Read on КаtReaԁiոɡСafе

“Even among the disciples of Medical Immortal Valley, very few could achieve this at such an age!”

The elders all looked at Chi Xiyan, their faces filled with amazement and admiration.

“To think the eldest miss’s talent isn’t limited to the sword. Her gift in alchemy is just as astonishing.”

“Truly, the young are not to be underestimated!”

“Family Head! To have an heir like this is truly a great fortune for the Chi family!”

“Mm.” Chi Jingwen held the pill bottle in his hands, a flicker of complicated emotion crossing his eyes.

However, that trace of emotion was quickly suppressed. He looked at Chi Xiyan and smiled. “Well done, Xiyan.”

“Since you have such talent for alchemy, I will place the Chi Family Pharmacy under your management.”

“That way, whatever materials you need for your alchemy, you may draw on at any time.”

The crowd was surprised, but no one raised any objection.

The pharmacy was an important asset of the Chi family, one that should not, in principle, be managed by a twelve year old girl.

But when they thought of Chi Xiyan’s talent, and her status, no one dared voice any opposition.

Chi Xiyan bowed to Chi Jingwen, her expression carrying a composure well beyond her years.

“Thank you, Father. I will manage the pharmacy well and will not disappoint you.”

Lu Zhuxin understood now. This was the first time Chi Xiyan had gained control over one of the Chi family’s assets.

The scene shifted once more.

This time, Chi Xiyan had shed the fine silks of a noble young miss and put on a plain gray cloth jacket, her hair tied back with a strip of coarse hemp cloth.

She had disguised herself as a humble healer, setting up a wooden table in front of the City God Temple with thirty six compartments of medicine laid out, and began offering free treatment to the common people of the city.

At the third quarter of the hour of Mao, a lame old farmer leading his coughing, wheezing grandson was the first to step forward.

Rеαⅾ οn КаtRеαⅾiոɡСаfе

“Three qian of loquat leaf, two pieces of licorice root, decocted with morning dew.”

She wrapped the crushed herbs in oiled paper and, smiling, tucked a piece of rock sugar into the boy’s hand.

The old farmer led his grandson away, thanking her over and over.

Before the hour of Chen had passed, the line had already stretched to the stone lion at the end of the street.

Under the blazing midday sun, she used acupuncture to bring down a feverish woodcutter’s temperature, then used her spiritual power to draw the poison out of a hunter who had been struck by venom.

By the end of the afternoon, the last patient, an old woman with an eye ailment, had her wound dressed with ointment, her clouded eyes gradually clearing.

The medicine she had brought from the Chi family soon ran dry.

Chi Xiyan smiled and declined every gift the villagers tried to give her in thanks, accepting not a single coin.

Lu Zhuxin stood among the crowd the whole time, watching Chi Xiyan silently from the perspective of a bystander.

The surroundings shifted again.

This time, the view returned from outside back into the noble household.

Lu Zhuxin watched as Chi Xiyan grew up bit by bit, gradually earning Chi Jingwen’s trust.

The one known as “Fairy Xiyan”, unmatched in both alchemy and swordsmanship, slowly rose to fame throughout Beihe Commandery.

Lu Zhuxin saw everything Chi Xiyan had gone through along the way.

She had encountered betrayal. She had encountered setbacks.

She had also had moments of youthful pride and brilliance.

All of it, piece by piece, now unfolded as scene after scene of dream, laid bare before Lu Zhuxin without reservation.

It continued all the way up to the moment the two of them fled the Chi family together.

Rеaⅾ oո ΚatReαⅾіnɡСαfе

Silence.

Lu Zhuxin was quiet for a moment, then lifted a finger and gently pressed it against her brow.

She murmured, “Is the dream created by the Illusory Heart Formation really the thing a person fears most in their subconscious?”

No one could answer Lu Zhuxin’s question.

“So.” Lu Zhuxin lifted her eyes. “The thing Chi Xiyan fears most in her subconscious is everything she has lived through since childhood?”

“Heh.”

She let out a cold laugh.

“Is that all this is?”

“A classic beautiful, strong, and tragic female lead?”

“She was raised from childhood as the daughter of the wealthiest family, wrapped in fine clothes and rich food. All kinds of resources ordinary people could never touch fell into her hands with ease.”

“But none of it was what she wanted.”

“Growing up in a household of merchants devoid of any warmth, her adoptive father never loved her, and even her one blood aunt saw her as nothing more than a tool for revenge.”

“She fought with everything she had to climb upward, striving to seize control of the Chi family’s assets, all for a single goal that Qin Qingfen had drilled into her since childhood, to avenge her dead parents.”

“But that was never her own wish. It was forced upon her by Qin Qingfen.”

“The purpose of her life, the meaning of her very existence, was never her own to begin with. It was false, a lie maliciously fabricated by someone else.”

“So, in her subconscious, she feels nothing but disgust for it.”

“Heh heh.” Lu Zhuxin raised a hand to press against her forehead, her fingers sinking into her own hair.

“For those starved of love, coldness is only a mask. It’s a shell built up in the subconscious to protect oneself.”

“She craves being loved. She craves attachment. She craves the ordinary happiness that other people have.”

Rеaԁ oո KаtRеаdіnɡСafе

“She fears her own past. She despises that hollow goal of hers.”

“Hahaha.”

Lu Zhuxin burst into laughter, laughing without restraint.

“What kind of nonsense is this?”

“Boring!!”

“So unbelievably boring!!”

“Chi Xiyan, are you the lead of some angsty coming of age drama or something?”

“Hah.” Lu Zhuxin drew in a deep breath.

After her fit of unrestrained laughter, an excellent idea suddenly came to her.

The corner of Lu Zhuxin’s mouth curled into a wicked smile.

“This formation, according to Wei Ziqing, can draw out a person’s deepest subconscious fears and desires. Its true purpose is to let the one undergoing the trial see their own true heart clearly and face their fears head on.”

“Since that’s the case,”

“Then let me, the original author, weave you a new one!”

With that, Lu Zhuxin pressed her palms together.

Behind her, nine fox tails rose and swelled against the wind.

In an instant, they transformed into nine shadowy silhouettes vast enough to blot out the sky, completely enveloping Chi Xiyan’s dream bubble.

And at that moment, the countless scenes and images laid out before Lu Zhuxin began to shift and reassemble rapidly.

Before the demonic power of an eighth realm fox demon, Chi Xiyan’s illusion had no ability to resist at all.