I Really Like the Male Supporting Character (Quick Transmigration) - Chapter 26
“Lin Luoyin, are you even listening to me!?”
A sudden push sent Ah Luo stumbling back a few steps before she barely managed to steady herself again.
She raised her eyes and saw a beautiful girl dressed in pink standing not far away from her. The beautiful girl glared at her with disdain and warning in her eyes.
“I told you to stop clinging to Brother Xingjue. Did you intentionally ignore me?” (2-1)
Surrounding the girl were several others, both male and female, who immediately chimed in to berate Ah Luo.
“Junior Sister Li, I saw her heading up to Jianya Cliff this morning to find Senior Brother Gu. She’s so shameless.” (2-2, 2-3)
Ah Luo shook her head and hurriedly explained, “No, I wasn’t there to see Senior Brother Gu—”
Someone interrupted, sneering, “If you weren’t there for Senior Brother Gu, then were you up there to practice swordplay? Lin Luoyin, you’re nothing but a waste. You haven’t even reached the Foundation Establishment realm yet. You probably can’t even lift a sword yet.” (2-4)
“She’s nothing but a disgrace. If not for her sister, there’s no way she’d have gotten into Guiyuan Sect.”
“Yeah, she’s seventeen years old and still stuck at the seventh level of the Energy Refinement realm—who’d want to admit they’re from the same sect as her? It’s humiliating.” (2-5)
Ah Luo tried to explain that she was actually looking for her sister, Lin Qingyun, not Senior Brother Gu. However, none of them gave her a chance to speak. They looked at her with malice and bombarded her with mockery.
Li Jiaojiao—the girl in pink, lifted her chin and flicked her hand. A fiery whip appeared in her grip, and it flashed red with her power. She said, “It doesn’t matter who you’re looking for. If I see you near Senior Brother Xingjue again, I won’t let you off easily. Let this be a lesson.”
The fiery whip shot toward Ah Luo before she could even react. She was about to close her eyes and brace for the blow when the sound of clashing metal rang out. The expected pain didn’t come.
Ah Luo slowly opened her eyes and saw Li Jiaojiao flying backward, her lackeys around her all pale-faced and kneeling.
An invisible force had somehow appeared and pinned Li Jiaojiao and her followers in place. The air around them grew deathly cold, and a thin layer of frost spread across the ground within a half-mile radius.
“Hmph.” A cold, deep voice echoed through the clearing. The voice carried a chilling detachment and arrogance. “Elder Li Yu of Dan Peak’s daughter, is it? I, Lu Cang, will remember this.”
Li Jiaojiao, who had acted very arrogantly just now, turned pale. She couldn’t say a word in reply to the cold voice. The others were trembling; their faces were now slick with cold sweat.
After three long seconds, the oppressive aura dissipated, and the group finally emerged from their brush with death. They collapsed to the ground in relief.
“You got lucky, Lin Luoyin! Just wait and see, I’ll get you next time!” Li Jiaojiao shouted.
She was the first to come back to her senses. Her expression clearly showed that she was fearing for her life. She got up in much embarrassment, and after tossing those words in false bravado, she gathered her entourage and hurried off.
Ah Luo silently released the jade pendant she had been clutching and let out a long sigh of relief. She had sent out a burst of spiritual energy in desperation, though she hadn’t expected any response from the other end—but he had indeed answered.
She stood there and took a moment to organize her thoughts and memories.
In this life, she was named Lin Luoyin, and she was the younger sister of the female protagonist in a cultivation novel. Her task was to form a bond with the voice she had just heard—her sister’s and her own master, the most powerful figure in Guiyuan Sect, and a renowned Daoist master of the realm, Lu Cang.
Lin Luoyin’s sister was named Lin Qingyun. The two sisters had been born into a family of officials in the mortal world. However, their family had fallen victim to a massacre done by demons when they were young. Daoist Master Lu Cang, who was hunting down a powerful demon at the time, passed by and rescued them.
He recognized that he had a predestined master-disciple bond with Lin Qingyun, so he decided to take her as his disciple. Her only request had been to bring along her younger sister.
Since then, the two sisters had entered Guiyuan Sect as Lu Cang’s only disciples.
However, unlike her prodigious sister, Lin Luoyin was an undeniable ‘waste.’ By the age of twenty, Lin Qingyun had already achieved the Golden Core realm. (2-6)
Meanwhile, Lin Luoyin, who was just three years younger, remained at the seventh level of the Energy Refinement realm—she was not even close yet to breaking into the Foundation Establishment realm.
Having a legendary master and an extraordinary sister didn’t save Lin Luoyin from her mediocrity. She herself had likely accepted this reality; she rarely appeared in her master’s presence or bothered him with requests. Today had been the first time she had used the jade pendant to call on him.
When she returned to Wandao Peak, Ah Luo lingered outside Lu Cang’s residence for a while.
While she was still hesitating on what to do, his familiar cold voice rang out, as if piercing straight to her heart. “Come in.”
Ah Luo’s heart skipped a beat. Truth be told, Lin Luoyin was somewhat afraid of her master. Every time she heard his voice, she couldn’t help feeling nervous.
She took a deep breath to steady herself and suppress her fear, then pushed open the door and stepped inside.
The vast hall was shrouded in a dark blue layer of cold ice spirit stones covering the floor, radiating a chill that intensified with every step she took. The biting cold quickly drained the color from Ah Luo’s face and slowed her pace until she finally came to a stop. (2-7)
She lowered her head and noticed a figure draped in a white robe before her. She then hurriedly knelt and kept her posture low.
“Master, t-thank you… for saving me today.”
As she spoke, she realized her teeth were chattering from the cold.
Her cultivation was far too weak to withstand the frigid aura surrounding Lu Cang, one of the most powerful cultivators in the world. At only a hundred years old, he had reached the Grand Ascension realm and was expected to transcend within fifty years. (2-8)
Lu Cang possessed a rare ice spirit root, which made him practically immune to the extreme cold permeating the hall. However, Ah Luo found the cold nearly unbearable. (2-9)
As she thought this, the chill around her suddenly dissipated, replaced by a warm, spring-like sensation. It was a small change but one that held a silent care. The lingering fear within her melted away like ice under the sun.
Maybe, she thought, her master wasn’t as frightening as she’d imagined.
She dared to lift her head slightly and sneaked a glance at him.
The hall was dim. Everything seemed as if they were covered in grey veils, except for the figure before her. He emitted a soft white glow that illuminated his surroundings.
Lu Cang sat cross-legged on a tall, milky-white jade throne. His eyes were closed and his hands were resting casually on his knees. His snowy white robe was pristine, and his black hair cascaded down his back and pooled on the dark floor.
His skin was an icy pale, devoid of any warmth, while his hair and brows were pitch black—so dark they almost seemed like they were absorbing the light. The stark contrast between his white skin and dark hair made him appear like a snow-capped mountain or a distant, untouchable moon.
This was Lu Cang.
He was the strongest cultivator of his age and was revered throughout the cultivation world.
Ah Luo stared at him blankly. Somehow, she couldn’t tear her gaze away.
The white clothes that he was wearing gave her a sense of nostalgia—she felt like it was familiar, and her memories hinted at someone else who also loved wearing white. However, the thought slipped away just as quickly as it had appeared.
She was, after all, a wandering consciousness. Each time she left a world, she only carried away her essence, and she buried any human emotions that she had alongside the body of her former vessel.
Perhaps she had stared too long, for he suddenly opened his eyes.
His eyes were deep and piercingly cold, like an endless abyss, frigid as the farthest reaches of the north. Beyond the constant white snowfall, there was no other color there.
Ah Luo felt herself drawn into that vast, frozen realm.
The world within his gaze was boundless, filled with bitter cold and blinding snow. She staggered through it, battling fierce winds and biting snowflakes while shivering to her core.
“Close your eyes. Focus and steady your mind.”
Just as she felt herself nearly freezing to death, an emotionless voice pierced through the swirling snow and pulled her back from that world.
Hearing his command, Ah Luo closed her eyes and recited her meditation techniques. She circulated her spiritual energy until the bone-chilling cold finally faded.
She no longer dared to look directly at him, and immediately lowered her eyes. She could feel her cheeks heating slightly as she murmured embarrassedly, “Apologies, Master, and thank you… again.”
The gap between her cultivation level and his was vast. A single glare from someone like Lu Cang could kill her. She had foolishly looked directly at him without preparation, and the force of his Daoist aura had nearly shattered her.
If he hadn’t intervened, she might have been frozen to death within his icy domain.
Lu Cang remained calm and only nodded slightly. “Mm. Anything else?”
Ah Luo felt a pang of disappointment. Still, she bowed her head and pursed her lips—which felt dry from how nervous she was, and replied softly, “No, Master.”
“Then you may go,” he said coldly.
With that, Ah Luo slowly exited the hall, but before closing the door, she couldn’t help but glance back.
In the dim hall, his pale figure sat upright, unwavering. He seemed like an indomitable jade statue. His presence alone radiated an unyielding strength.
Ah Luo wondered if Lu Cang had noticed her gaze, though she doubted he would care even if he had.
To the world, Daoist Master Lu Cang had only one disciple: Lin Qingyun, the prodigy who was born with a natural aptitude for sword fighting. No one paid attention to his other disciple, Lin Luoyin, who remained almost invisible.
In fact, Lu Cang himself seemed to invest most of his guidance in Lin Qingyun. He left Lin Luoyin to study by attending classes in the sect’s junior disciple lecture hall alongside young disciples who had just entered the sect.
Ah Luo left in dejection. However, unbeknownst to her, Lu Cang’s mind was lingering on her. There was a hint of curiosity in his gaze as he thought of her.
Before today, he had never truly looked at this disciple of his.
In his memory, Lin Luoyin was a small girl with clear, almond-shaped eyes from their first meeting. However, he hadn’t been able to recall clearly what she looked like these days, after she had grown up.
When the jade pendant lit up, he had assumed it was Lin Qingyun contacting him.
However, he instead heard a sweet, unfamiliar voice—a young girl’s timid and helpless words under attack.
It was then that Lu Cang first remembered he had another disciple, one whose ordinary aptitude left her vulnerable to such humiliations.
However, no matter how weak she was, she was still his disciple.
So, with a simple gesture, he intervened and drove away those who had bullied her.
It was a small act to him, yet she had restrained her fear and came to see him. Despite her body trembling all over, she still insisted on thanking him personally for that small act.
She had knelt on the ground even though she was trembling from the cold spirit stones. Her voice had quivered as she called him ‘Master.’ For some inexplicable reason, he had dispersed the cold around her.
The small, frightened girl had then, in turn, looked up at him. Her dark eyes were wide and curious, brimming with a mix of awe and warmth.
At that moment, Lu Cang was oddly reminded of the white-furred leopard cat spirits that many female cultivators favored as pets.
There was the same innocent curiosity and quickness in her gaze as there would be in a little white leopard cat’s eyes.