When the Cannon Fodder Male Supporting Role Picks Up the Script - Chapter 23

The slanting rays of the setting sun fall on the snow-colored, flowing hair of the Penglai immortal, casting a soft golden light. With a gentle wave of his wide sleeves, a crystal-clear jade branch floats up to the second-floor windowsill, lightly and slowly landing beside Yun Zhuoran. 

The jade branch, resembling ice and jade, is made of a hard material that exudes a refreshing spiritual aura. Yun Zhuoran reaches out to receive it, his gaze shifting as the coldness of his frost-like appearance suppresses the excessive delicacy and beauty of the jade branch.

The Penglai immortal gazes at the figure upstairs, whose face rivals his own, and a hint of expectation emerges in his light brown eyes. He smiles and says, “I find this little friend quite likable. I hope you accept this small token of our first meeting.”

Yun Zhuoran looks over.

The Penglai immortal’s smile grows more charming as he adds softly, “My name is Xian’er. I live in the inn across the street. You can come to play with me anytime. I really think you are a perfect match for our Penglai.”

Everyone present is shocked by his words. At first, no one expects the Penglai immortal to notice the people upstairs, but he takes the initiative to greet them. Before those who recognize Yun Zhuoran and Li Jianming can react, the Penglai immortal gifts Yun Zhuoran the jade branch and invites him to Penglai… 

Does he know that the person he likes is Yun Zhuoran, Yun Peiran’s younger brother?

Many present know that Yun Zhuoran is currently under the supervision of the Tiandao Sect and the Tianqing Sect, with the other two sects silently monitoring him. It can be said that until Yun Peiran is found, Yun Zhuoran cannot be free.

Even if the Penglai immortal is indeed very strong, without Gu Shenshu overseeing things and without Yun Peiran to counterbalance, he may seem like the first in the immortal path, but would the Tiandao Sect agree to let him take someone back to Penglai?

Qin Zheng, the leader of Qinghe Peak, laughs and says, “Penglai Immortal, this is my disciple from the Tiandao Sect.”

“Oh?” The Penglai immortal tilts his head, looking at him with innocent light-colored eyes. “But your Tiandao Sect is a remote place. Without Gu Shenshu, no matter how good the materials are, they will go to waste. Isn’t it better to give them to Penglai?”

Qin Zheng remains unbothered, wearing his usual genial smile, and patiently explains, “If you want to pick some people to bring to Penglai to boost your popularity, that’s fine, but not him.”

The Penglai immortal wears a confused expression, looking up at Yun Zhuoran, who looks down at him coldly from above. His heart races, and his eyes brighten, yet he persists. “But I want him.”

“He is Yun Peiran’s younger brother. He must be imprisoned in the Tiandao Sect until Yun Peiran returns.” The tone is cold and discordant. 

Everyone turns to see Shen Lingshu, who has been ignored for some time.

Qin Zheng coughs slightly, using his eyes to remind Shen Lingshu to be polite to the Penglai immortal.

Shen Lingshu ignores him and replies with a cold expression, “He can’t go with you.”

The Penglai immortal’s attitude toward Shen Lingshu is far from polite; he sneers in response. “Then just imprison him on Penglai Immortal Island.”

Li Jianming, who is upstairs, snaps back to reality, reluctantly pulling his gaze away from the jade branch. He surveys the scene of the brewing argument downstairs and lets out a sigh. “Shen Lingshu has gone too far. He outright said you were a prisoner.”

Shen Lingshu’s face grows colder at the Penglai immortal’s indifference and rudeness. “I would like to thank the Penglai immortal for his kindness to my junior brother. But I will personally guard him.”

This statement seems to strike a chord with the Penglai immortal, who laughs and then looks up. He sees Yun Zhuoran’s calm expression, which shows no intention of speaking. The immortal frowns, lightly snorts, and then slumps his head, waving his hand dismissively. “Fine, I was just joking. Shen Xiaoyou is taking this too seriously.”

Shen Lingshu’s smile becomes stiff; he wants to point out that it is the Penglai immortal causing trouble and shifting the blame onto him.

The Penglai immortal quickly turns to his disciples behind him and says, “It seems there’s nothing fun outside of Penglai. Sigh, I’m tired. Let’s head back to the inn.”

The four boys and girls respond in unison, their movements and manners surprisingly uniform and elegant. 

Is the Penglai immortal mocking him? Shen Lingshu opens his mouth, his sleeves tightening suddenly as he turns to face Qin Zheng, who shakes his head at him, signaling him to endure it.

The wheelchair, hanging a foot above the ground, turns toward the inn across the street. Before leaving, the Penglai immortal glances back at Yun Zhuoran and winks. “Remember to come and play with me!”

Yun Zhuoran, who has been silent for a long time upstairs, pauses before answering, “Okay.” The Penglai immortal seems pleased, humming an unknown melodious tune as he leads his group away.

Shen Lingshu, left behind, raises his head, looking puzzled and somewhat displeased at the window, only to find that the person standing there has already walked away.

Shen Lingshu frowns, ignoring Qin Zheng and the other companions who are bidding farewell beside him.

“I suspected early on that once Master Yun steps out of the sect, he would definitely attract quite a bit of attention,” Qin Zheng sighs meaningfully after sending everyone off.

Shen Lingshu agrees, “Indeed.”

Seeing that he seems lost in thought, likely feeling slighted after being the center of attention in his usual surroundings but then overlooked in front of the Penglai immortal, Qin Zheng shakes his head helplessly and speaks softly, “The Penglai immortal has never left Penglai, so he doesn’t understand human affairs. He has no past relations with our sect leader, so you don’t need to take his words to heart.”

Shen Lingshu pauses and slowly nods.

At that moment upstairs, after confirming with Yun Zhuoran that the jade branch given by the Penglai immortal is indeed the rumored Penglai jade branch, Li Jianming is already going crazy with envy.

“I want one too!”

Yun Zhuoran casually sits back down by the window and places the jade branch on the table. “It’s just an ordinary local product from Penglai, not precious at all. It’s a bit more useful for medicine, but practically useless for refining weapons. At most, it might slightly improve the flexibility of a spirit sword, but it’s still not as good as those sword blanks that your senior brothers damaged. There’s no point in you taking it.”

“Even if it’s an ordinary product, I still want it!” Li Jianming drools over the Penglai jade branch. “This was personally given by the Penglai immortal! Yun Zhuoran, if you don’t want it, just sell it to me!”

Yun Zhuoran thinks of his heart demon when he sees Li Jianming drooling, but his little heart demon is napping in his pocket, clearly uninterested in such things.

Seeing that Li Jianming’s face is almost pressed against the jade branch, Yun Zhuoran quickly snatches it back. “No way.”

Li Jianming goes frantic. “Wuwuwu, I want the local product from the Penglai immortal so badly… Ah, cough! What local product? This is a treasure from Penglai!”

Yun Zhuoran has no intention of dealing with him at all.

Just then, Shen Lingshu comes upstairs, and this time, he actually remembers to knock on the door. “Junior Brother Yun, is Fellow Daoist Li here?”

Li Jianming recognizes Shen Lingshu’s voice and hurriedly responds, “Not here!”

There is a moment of silence outside the door, then it pushes open to reveal Shen Lingshu standing there.

Li Jianming frowns and asks unhappily, “Why did you come in by yourself?”

How could Shen Lingshu not hear that the other party does not welcome him? However, knowing the other person’s character, he only replies, “Fellow Daoist Pei is waiting for you downstairs.” Then he turns to Yun Zhuoran, “Junior Brother Yun, are you getting used to living here?”

Li Jianming leans toward the window and looks out, and sure enough, he sees his elder brother standing in front of the inn with a sword in his hand. He raises his voice and says, “Don’t wait; I’ll stay here tonight!”

Shen Lingshu states, “It seems that Fellow Daoist Li has not informed our Tiandao Sect about this matter.”

Li Jianming happily waves to the sword cultivator downstairs, completely ignoring Shen Lingshu. He still remembers to ask Yun Zhuoran, “Brother Yun, will you let me see the Penglai jade branch again, just for one night?”

Yun Zhuoran feels a jolt at being addressed as Brother Yun. After struggling for a moment, he still hands over the jade branch under Li Jianming’s eager gaze.

Li Jianming cheers and takes it very carefully.

Shen Lingshu looks helpless, as if watching a child at play. He then says seriously, “Junior Brother Yun, what I said downstairs just now was merely to deal with the Penglai immortal. Don’t take it to heart; I’m just worried that his intentions toward you may not be pure.” He speaks with a serious expression. “This is the first time in three hundred years that the Penglai immortal has left Penglai. No one knows why he is here or why he specifically wants disciples from the Immortal Palace to participate in this experience. He is indeed very strong and also quite strange.”

Li Jianming happily hugs the jade branch and sucks it wildly. He doesn’t know what he is sucking. “You’re overthinking it. The Penglai immortal island hasn’t lacked people entering the world in the past; they even contributed last time during the battle against the demon sect.”

Shen Lingshu asks calmly, “Then what about the Penglai immortal’s behavior?”

Li Jianming has no idea.

So, Yun Zhuoran nods and says, “I understand.” 

Seeing that he is taking it seriously and not overly concerned about the jade branch, Shen Lingshu lets out a sigh of relief and continues, “The Penglai jade branch is a rare item in the world; it can be used for both medicine and weapon refinement. However, the Penglai immortal also mentions to many people at the city lord’s banquet that he finds them pleasing to the eye. This jade branch is not only given to you but also to Daoist Luoying from Ling Mountain Sect, Daoist Pei from Kunwu Sword Sect, and Master Juefei from Tianqing Sect. Junior Brother Yun, feel free to accept it without worrying too much.”

From this perspective, it seems the Penglai Immortal gives jade branches to whoever is good-looking? 

Noticing Shen Lingshu’s empty hands, Yun Zhuoran guesses something, suddenly becoming interested. He asks, pretending not to know, “Does Senior Brother Shen have one too?”

Shen Lingshu’s expression stiffens, and he lowers his head to adjust his sleeves, self-mockingly saying, “Perhaps my face just doesn’t appeal to the Penglai immortal; I didn’t receive a jade branch.”

“Pfft.” Li Jianming bursts into laughter. “It seems that you’re the only one among the four major sects who doesn’t get one, right?”

Yun Zhuoran remains silent.

Shen Lingshu thinks for a moment and sighs with a smile, “It’s nothing. This jade branch is probably just a welcoming gift from the Penglai immortal to the four major sects. Junior Brother Yun receiving it means that our Tiandao Sect has received it too; it’s all the same.”

Li Jianming laughs heartily, and before he can say anything else, Shen Lingshu continues, “The preparations for the trial in the Beast Forest are ready. We will enter the Beast Forest in three days, so Junior Brother Yun should prepare well.” He then politely addresses Li Jianming, saying, “If Fellow Daoist Li wants to stay, then I won’t disturb you here reminiscing about old times.”

Hearing this news, Li Jianming loses the desire to expose Shen Lingshu for forcibly elevating the Penglai immortal’s gift to Yun Zhuoran as a collective honor for the sect. Excitedly, he moves closer to Yun Zhuoran and says, “We’re entering the Beast Forest in three days! That’s great! Yun Zhuoran, let’s team up; I want to take you to hunt demon beasts!”

Yun Zhuoran flatly refuses. “No.”

Li Jianming insists, “No, think about it carefully. If you and I join forces, we’ll definitely be the most dazzling team in the Forest of Ten Thousand Beasts!”

Yun Zhuoran remains disinterested, even retracting the Penglai jade branch. Li Jianming, momentarily distracted, babbles anxiously, begging Yun Zhuoran to let him touch the treasure given by the Penglai Immortal.

Yun Zhuoran has always been very quiet, yet he is close to noisy friends like Li Jianming and Jiang Zhi Bai, which adds to his popularity and makes him seem less aloof than in his dreams.

After staying in the room for a while, Shen Lingshu’s gaze moves back and forth between Yun Zhuoran and the jade branch, and he silently exits the room, truly leaving the space for them.

Unbeknownst to him, at that moment, the heart demon mocks him wildly in Yun Zhuoran’s ear, “Brother, doesn’t he look like he’s fleeing in embarrassment?”

Seeing that Shen Lingshu has actually left, Yun Zhuoran’s indifferent eyes hold a hint of a smile as he hands the jade branch to Li Jianming. Li Jianming cradles it like a treasure, muttering that he wants to absorb some of the Penglai Immortal’s energy.

Yun Zhuoran wonders, “Didn’t your master say that the Penglai Immortal is not an immortal, but a human?”

Li Jianming, immersed in the aura of the Penglai jade branch, replies with displeasure, “Why are you cursing people?”

Yun Zhuoran looks at him as if he is an idiot.

After thinking for a moment, Li Jianming asks, somewhat doubtful, “Then what is the Penglai immortal?”

Yun Zhuoran, who has not left the Tiandao Sect for ten years and considers himself a country bumpkin, gazes at Li Jianming silently for a while, surprised that anyone could be more naive than him. 

“The Penglai immortal’s name is Xian’er. He is the spirit of Penglai Immortal Island, but he is not the master of Penglai.”

Li Jianming pats his chest in fear and hugs the Penglai jade branch tightly. “I thought he was a demon! But that’s okay. I have to take the opportunity to absorb the aura of the Penglai Immortal and ask him to bless me so I can become a little sword immortal as soon as possible!”

Li Jianming’s earnestness confuses Yun Zhuoran. Isn’t the spiritual energy of the jade branch something everyone can access? Could it be that the origin of the name Penglai Immortal goes beyond just being named Xian’er, and that he is truly an immortal?

Li Jianming inhales the spiritual energy and asks curiously, “Then who is the true Lord of Penglai?”

Yun Zhuoran’s expression pauses, and he turns his head to look out the window, where a bright moon is rising. 

“He is missing.”