(GL) The Supporting Female Character Strategy Manual - Chapter 23

The little frog demon looked as if he had seen a ghost the moment he saw Qian Wanyu. He blamed himself for being too ignorant and inexperienced. Not long ago, he had finally caught a chance to beg the Great King to take him to the great demon banquet to witness the domineering side of the great demons. Who could have expected that they would encounter an accident? The great demon banquet turned into a disaster when the boat capsized in the gutter. It allowed him to witness the cruelty of demon hunters firsthand. Even if the other party looked like a banished immortal, it could not cover up the fact that she summoned thunder and wielded a sword to chop a great demon into several pieces.

The little frog demon trembled, and his two legs turned soft as noodles. He knelt down with a plop.

“Great… Great King.”

Jian Tongyao also trembled.

“Shut up, you.”

The little white fox thoughtfully translated for her again.

“Xiao Jiu says for you to shut up.”

Qian Wanyu pointed her sword straight at them, especially at Jian Tongyao and the little white fox.

“I let you off once last time, but I did not expect you to become even worse. Where do you plan to transfer this group of children?”

Jian Tongyao immediately raised her hands in surrender. Her movements were unusually practiced. Unfortunately, lacking the leaves that could act cute, her bare and raised form looked like she was holding up two small electrical wires.

“Xiao Hui, explain to her quickly. We are all a group of principled good demons. We originally intended to send this group of children home without a single one missing.”

Qian Wanyu naturally did not believe it. If the words of demons could be trusted, she would have died countless times over these years. She tapped her sword lightly toward Jian Tongyao and the little white fox.

“You and her. Take the children and come with me.”

Jian Tongyao was speechless.

Is this called a choice?

This completely gives us no way to live.

Jian Tongyao got angry. She placed her vines on her small waist and waved them around. Qian Wanyu glanced at her lightly, and she instantly turned cowardly.

“Xiao Hui, tell the other demons to leave quickly. In the future, they must be principled good demons.”

The little white fox imitated her by placing her paws on her small waist for a moment. She then waved a claw at the rabbit demon and the little frog demon behind her.

“Xiao Jiu says that in the future, you must be good demons with principles. Go quickly.”

This little white fox was completely unafraid when facing the elegant sword. She did not fear her in the slightest and even dared to use her claws to reach for this demon-slaying sword. Qian Wanyu could not help but look at the other party a few more times. She observed for a while and finally came to a conclusion. This fox demon was a fool.

It was distinctly different from the cunning fox Jiang Qin described. Jiang Qin had kept cursing the other party as a treacherous and cunning fox demon, and she did not do so without reason. Yet observing this one before her eyes, it was naturally lacking in courage.

Qian Wanyu felt alarmed as she observed. Two words naturally flashed through her mind, which were body possession.

But she had only seen demons possessing humans. She had never seen a soul possessing a demon. Moreover, the one who took possession seemed to be a fool. She just felt that something was not quite right.

For a moment, Qian Wanyu was also somewhat confused.

The little white fox scratched herself with a claw.

“Xiao Jiu, Xiao Jiu, I want to play with it.”

Jian Tongyao was silent.

The sword was a blade that could chop a great demon into five or six pieces eight years ago. The sword’s body was hard, and its temper was even harder. The reason Jian Tongyao could be on good terms with it relied entirely on the fact that she had shamelessly saved its master’s life back then.

As for building relationships, they were built through interaction.

Right now, facing the little white fox’s sparkling eyes, Jian Tongyao could only resign herself to fate and waved her vine at the Xiuxiu Sword.

“Everything has a spirit. You are a sword spirit, and we are demon spirits. Everyone is essentially the same. Considering that our Xiao Hui is a good demon who has never hurt anyone and even saved so many children, how about… everyone becomes friends?”

Before Jian Tongyao could finish speaking, before the little white fox could finish translating, and while the Xiuxiu Sword was still thinking, a substantial and sharp gaze shot over. That gaze was like the edge of this sword. It was incomparably sharp as if wishing to slice them in two.

Jian Tongyao realized with a delayed reaction what kind of grand principles she had just spouted. She hurriedly covered her mouth.

“Truly domineering. She does not even let people speak.”

The little white fox followed suit and covered her small mouth with her paws while whimpering.

“Xiao Jiu says that you are too domineering. You do not even let us speak.”

The children were also frightened by Qian Wanyu’s appearance, which looked ready to kill even a Buddha if one blocked her way. They all crowded around the little white fox like round meatballs. In the eyes of the children, the little white fox was a big sister and the king of the kids. Once they encountered something scary, they naturally crowded together. Some pursed their lips, wanting to cry, some shouted for the rabbit, some cried about being hungry, and others wanted their parents.

With over a dozen children speaking all at once, the noise made one’s head ache.

The tight expression on Qian Wanyu’s face cracked bit by bit in this moment. She had never encountered so many little carrot heads. Moreover, in her limited understanding, children were especially troublesome, and crying or making noise was a common occurrence. However, she did not want to hear any crying or noise at all.

Jian Tongyao saw her look as if she were about to collapse and laughed with schadenfreude. She laughed until she danced with joy. However, the moment the sword waved at her, she immediately could not laugh anymore. She heard Qian Wanyu threaten her with a voice so cold it could freeze teeth.

“Comfort this group of children well. If another one of them cries out loud, I will chop you once.”

Jian Tongyao fell silent.

Now she felt a little like crying.

To please a group of children, Jian Tongyao took great pains. Fortunately, she had a similar experience. When she was an intern in the past, she had stayed in the pediatric outpatient department. That group of injured children was afraid of injections and afraid of applying iodine to wounds after falling. The moment they saw someone wearing a white coat, without exception, they would make a fuss and cry loudly.

It was a matter that could be coaxed well with one or two candies. If that did not work, then three or four.

But now there was no candy. There was only a yellow-orange vine demon that could not bear fruit.

Jian Tongyao scratched her head. She accidentally glimpsed a shadow dancing with bared fangs and brandished claws under the sunlight. She restrained herself a bit, and the shadow also retracted its claws. Thus, she told the little white fox to lead the children to watch the shadow together. She racked her brains and used the hand gestures from her childhood to perform shapes of flying birds, tigers, lions, dinosaurs, and various other creatures.

The children gathered around to watch and were stunned. A few even chased the shadow to catch it. Naturally, they could catch nothing.

“Ding!”

The happiness progress bar that had not moved for a long time suddenly rose by ten points.

Jian Tongyao was endlessly excited. While making gestures, she secretly searched for the target character among the pile of children. She discovered that Qian Wanyu was leaning against a tree trunk while holding that Xiuxiu Sword. Her cold eyes seemed to be obscured by a hazy light. The corners of her mouth held a smile as she watched that group of children. She was focused and serious, appearing to look at something through the children. The slightly warm light hit her body and instantly dispelled the sense of alienation she carried.

However, the moment she sensed someone watching, all the gentle appearances from just now vanished instantly. Jian Tongyao discovered that Qian Wanyu quickly erected a suit of armor around herself and even raised the sword in her hand toward her. The threatening meaning was quite clear.

Jian Tongyao was speechless.

The target character is probably a turtle. She hits people with her shell at the slightest movement.

After this experience, Jian Tongyao did not seem afraid of her anymore. After all, everyone had a soft spot. Furthermore, as the saying went, everything is hard in the beginning. The ten points of ice breaking just now were the best start.

“Ah, I thought of it.”

“Xiao Jiu, Xiao Jiu, what did you think of?”

Jian Tongyao felt she was thoroughly stupid. Ever since she turned into a vine demon, she had been stupid in various ways. Humans all had soft spots. Humans had weaknesses, let alone demons. She thought of a way to deal with the scheming demon.

Whenever she got excited, she would dance with joy, and her shadow would naturally become one with bared fangs and brandished claws. It looked rather scary. But the children all knew the shadow could turn into all kinds of creatures, so they were not afraid of it at all. Instead, they jumped and hopped happily along with her while cheering in various ways.

Qian Wanyu looked at the children and little demons laughing in a group. She subconsciously rubbed the characters ‘Demon Slayer’ on her sword hilt. The convictions of over a dozen years collapsed for an instant. Everything has a spirit. Sword spirits. Demon spirits.

Jiang Qin, who had split up from Qian Wanyu, did not have her good luck. She visited teahouses, the county office, and her neighbors. She inquired about the recent strange events in Linchuan County. Almost all of them revolved around the disappearance of children. As for the example of the watchman having his blood sucked dry last night, which was a particularly obvious case of a demonic creature causing chaos, there had been only this one case in several months.

“Strange. Could it be that the case last night was the first of its kind?”

She could not be blamed for being so sensitive. They had just arrived in Linchuan County yesterday, and the watchman was sucked dry by this demon. Before they came, Linchuan County had only been losing children. The target demographic had changed. From this, it could be seen that either the demon creature arrived in Linchuan County at the same time as them, or her and her Senior Sister’s appearance provoked this long lurking demon.

But what did they do?

Jiang Qin remained puzzled despite much thought. She could not untangle this thread no matter what.

“Hey.”

“Hey, hey.”

Jiang Qin had heard this annoying voice early on but did not want to pay attention to it. Especially when she was irritable, she really did not want to deal with this burden, which had impure motives. Why run out instead of staying properly in the inn?

“There is a clue.”

“What?”

Yan Ying hugged her chest with both hands and looked at the person who had suddenly turned back with a calm and composed attitude. However, she did not put on airs.

“Benefactor said she investigated a clue about that blood sucking demon. She asked me to wait here for you to notify you. If you do not want to listen, I will go back to the inn first.”

Senior Sister actually found a clue?

As expected of Senior Sister.

Jiang Qin watched Yan Ying really start walking toward the inn and immediately chased after her.

“Wait a moment. You said Senior Sister investigated a clue about the blood sucking demon. Why is it you notifying me about this matter?”

Yan Ying had a face full of impatience.

“Do you want to know or not? If you do not want to know, then wait for Benefactor to return and let her tell you herself.”

Jiang Qin spoke up.

“Then say it and let me hear. What message did Senior Sister ask you to bring?”

Yan Ying recalled for a moment.

“There is a suburb thirty meters to the north. The benefactor said that the demon is hiding extremely deeply. However, she heard someone found the children, so she went to handle the children’s matter first. She said it is best to wait for her so you can act together. That demon is quite ferocious.”

Jiang Qin still had some doubts about her words earlier. Hearing the last sentence, she nodded thoughtfully as it did have some of her Senior Sister’s style.

“Aside from these, did Senior Sister leave any other words?”

Yan Ying shrugged, looking very indifferent.

“How would Benefactor tell me about this kind of thing? I am just a messenger.”

Jiang Qin’s previous 70% suspicion had dropped to 30%. After watching Yan Ying return to the inn, she wandered around Linchuan County for another large half of the day. Seeing the sky gradually turning dark, she thought it over and planned to go check the terrain first. This was to avoid missing the best opportunity to catch this demon when the time came. Judging by this demon’s ferocity, perhaps someone else would be harmed tonight.