(GL) The Supporting Female Character Strategy Manual - Chapter 25

Perhaps because Yan Ying was a snake demon, her speed in dodging the Xiuxiu Sword was incredibly fast. To the naked eye, she appeared only as a blur of afterimages. Two little demons hid to the side, watching with great interest.

“Xiao Hui, can you tell what Yan Ying’s true form is?”

The little white fox kept scratching at her face with her paws, nearly rubbing herself bald. By the time Jian Tongyao noticed, a pile of grayish-white fur had fallen to the ground.

“What, are you shedding too?”

The little white fox extended her paw and pointed at the distant figures entangled in combat, their forms blurring into afterimages. Then she retracted her claws and stretched her yellowed paw pads toward Jian Tongyao.

“Xiao Jiu, Xiao Jiu.”

Jian Tongyao caught a whiff of the pungent smell of realgar powder. She couldn’t help but sneeze, her whole body shuddering and dropping leaves all over the ground. The little white fox also stretched her paws as far away as possible with a look of disgust, as if those two paws no longer belonged to her.

“Xiao Hui, don’t tell me you think once you touch realgar powder, you’ll grow scales all over your face like a snake demon?”

The more she spoke, the more it seemed to fit.

“Hey, that stuff works on snake demons, not on you. Don’t scratch. I’ll take you to wash it off later.”

The two little demons hadn’t lowered their voices while talking. Yan Ying heard them and shot them a venomous, fierce look. She charged at them, even at the risk of being pierced by the Xiuxiu Sword, frightening the two little demons so much they screamed and ran outside.

The street was already empty of people. The spacious area provided them with an excellent platform to fight.

“Xiao Jiu, she’s so ugly.”

“…”

Girls in this world, whether human or demon, would probably take offense at those words. Jian Tongyao noticed that right after the little white fox spoke, she became Yan Ying’s primary target. The hatred value was pulled to maximum.

How could this brain-damaged little white fox match Yan Ying’s cunning and treachery? The opponent deceived her with several feints and clawed several bloody gashes into her. Jian Tongyao watched with her heart in her throat, more worried about whether the other party had deadly poison.

“Xiao Hui, quickly hide over here with me.”

“Aowu.”

At the same time, Qian Wanyu arrived on her sword. Just as she was about to rescue the two pitiful little demons, two other demons suddenly appeared from all around, blocking her path. One was a majestic yellow-striped tiger demon of enormous size. The other looked like a small rodent demon, palm-sized with an agile body. One large and one small, they attacked her with coordinated advances and retreats.

Qian Wanyu said, “So you were also involved in Jiang Qin’s death.”

Jian Tongyao stretched her vine branches as far as possible to block Yan Ying’s path, completely unafraid of a frontal assault. She even hoped the other party would take the initiative to bite her.

The little white fox hid a meter away from Jian Tongyao, cheering her on.

“Xiao Jiu, you can do it!”

Seeing Qian Wanyu being flanked by these two demons, Jian Tongyao even meddled by extending her vines into their battlefield. Her vine branches moved with ease, successfully blocking that demon who coordinated so well. As a result, the impatient one, that yellow-striped tiger demon who clearly had a violent temper, became furious after being blocked by the vine branches several times. It let out a tiger’s roar and opened its jaws to bite.

“Aowu aowu!”

“Roar!”

After the yellow-striped tiger demon roared, it staggered as if drunk. After a few breaths, it crashed to the ground with a thunderous sound. Its limbs twitched once, and it died completely. Jian Tongyao clutched at herself, hopping on one foot.

“Hoo hoo, it doesn’t hurt, it doesn’t hurt, I’m not in pain.”

The situation changed in an instant. Yan Ying, who had been about to snap the vine demon, quickly withdrew her hand and fled in another direction with the rat demon.

The little white fox hurriedly swept the section of yellow vine that had been bitten off from Jian Tongyao into her pouch, which was already nearly full.

“Xiao Jiu, does it hurt?”

Qian Wanyu used her sword to flip the tiger demon’s body over, confirming the other party wasn’t playing dead. Only then did she turn her gaze back to Jian Tongyao, who was curled into a ball. She belatedly understood what the little white fox had meant earlier when she kept saying “super poisonous.”

Jian Tongyao glanced at her and listlessly waved her vines.

“Yan Ying will definitely come back. Be more careful.”

Though she couldn’t be certain what exactly Yan Ying wanted to do, her target was undoubtedly Qian Wanyu.

The little white fox also waved her paw at Qian Wanyu.

“Xiao Jiu says she’ll continue helping you search for people. Not finding a body is the best news.”

With complex emotions, Qian Wanyu watched the two little demons hop away into the dark night. Only when the demon-slaying sword rang out several times did she remember to collect the demon corpse to avoid frightening the people of Linchuan County.

Jian Tongyao found a damp place and stayed there for several days. The pain from her severed vine finally passed. Not only that, her tender yellow vines gradually turned green. When she went out to bask in the sun, the leaves at the tips left a crisscrossing pattern of green and yellow on the stone wall. Looking at the cave entrance about two meters high, she suddenly exclaimed excitedly, “Xiao Hui, look! Have I grown taller?”

The little white fox jumped up and down but couldn’t reach. After Jian Tongyao forcibly gave her a bath in the water, she transformed into a beautiful white fox. Her paw pads had regained their pink color and her fur was fluffy. She looked particularly pleasant to pet. Except for the bald spots where new fur hadn’t grown back yet, the entire fox was a brand new beauty.

“Great King, you’ve become even more majestic.”

“…”

Jian Tongyao didn’t bother arguing with the uneducated frog demon. She continued listening to his report about recent events in Linchuan County, especially concerning Qian Wanyu. In recent days, she had been searching the county outskirts for Jiang Qin’s whereabouts. As for Yan Ying and the demons who had escaped from the demon-sealing bag, they had suddenly lost all trace and vanished without a trace.

“Notify the other little demons to be extra careful. I’m afraid she’ll strike viciously at you all in her rage.”

“Yes, Great King.”

Jian Tongyao guessed that, given Yan Ying’s vindictive personality, she certainly wouldn’t let this matter rest. What she alone failed to anticipate was that the other party would choose to directly target her.

After all, she had always avoided conflict with the world and was so delicate and easily broken.

The moment she set foot in Linchuan County, she discovered the bustling scene in the county town was different from usual.

“Xiao Hui, something’s wrong.”

If she had simply seen one demon walking on the street, that would have been one thing. As long as they could take human form, most blended into crowds and pretended to be human. But three to five demons appearing on one street, all watching them with predatory eyes, was very unusual.

“Xiao Hui, run quickly.”

“Those two are the demons who kidnapped your children. Catch them.”

Someone shouted loudly. In an instant, many common people carrying torches rushed out from the street corners and alleys. The county office also sent out many knife-wielding constables. They approached Jian Tongyao and the little white fox menacingly.

Among these people were many familiar faces. Jian Tongyao remembered how they had cried and laughed when they found their children. But now the cold light reflected in their eyes was frighteningly strange.

For the first time, she realized her identity was not tolerated in this world.

The little white fox darted left and right. Several times she escaped quickly, but seeing Jian Tongyao being intercepted by the torches, she turned back again.

Watching the encirclement grow tighter and tighter, the entire street illuminated by firelight, and the several demons she had seen earlier hiding in the crowd leading the denunciation against them, Jian Tongyao said, “Xiao Hui, you must escape and find Qian Wanyu. Otherwise, we’ll both die here.”

The little white fox replied, “Xiao Jiu, don’t be afraid.”

Even though she was a well-informed modern person, under siege by so many people, Jian Tongyao still tried to shrink herself, trembling almost uncontrollably. She clearly recognized that this vine’s body feared fire.

“Xiao Hui, I’ll clear a path for you. Go find her.”

“Don’t look back. Run quickly.”

Jian Tongyao no longer suppressed herself and let herself grow freely. The vine branches actively spread out in all directions. The already declining yellow leaves rapidly withered, replaced by lush green leaves one after another. The transformation she had longed for was now exposed before everyone’s eyes.

She was a demon.

Moreover, she was a mutated demon.

The dazzling red firelight reflected the terror in those people’s eyes with perfect clarity. Yan Ying, hiding in the crowd, smiled coldly at her and shouted, “It’s going to attack us. Everyone, throw your torches at it and burn it to death.”

Everyone instinctively threw the torches in their hands at this constantly trembling demon. Jian Tongyao had nowhere to hide and instantly became a burning fire vine. The crackling sound of burning continuously filled her ears. She remained nearly calm, trying to pick out those demons hiding in the crowd, especially Yan Ying. But every vine she extended out never returned.

The group of constables at the front seemed to have gone mad, severing every vine she extended one by one.

The scorching heat and the pain of her body being torn apart gradually made her feel dazed. Her soul seemed to separate from her fragmented body. In a trance, she seemed to see a figure spreading their arms to shield her. Looking back, that person’s lips still curved in a gentle smile, but in the end, like countless specks of dust, they disintegrated and vanished. She urgently tried to grasp them. “Seventh Sister.”

Clang! Clang!

A white figure descended before her like a fairy descending to earth. Jian Tongyao blinked her eyes. After quite a while, she finally made out who this person was.

Qian Wanyu’s face was cold, extremely displeased as she looked at this vine demon, burned ash-gray. A nameless fire in her heart burned hotter and hotter, unable to be suppressed no matter how hard she tried. She swept a cold glance through the crowd and quickly spotted Yan Ying.

The latter smiled faintly at her.

Without waiting for her command, the Xiuxiu Sword shot out with a whoosh, aimed directly at its target.

Qian Wanyu held a yellow talisman and tossed it backward. Rain poured down, extinguishing the fire behind her. Then she opened the demon-sealing bag and put Jian Tongyao inside.

“You’ve all been deceived. She is the demon who loves to drain human blood.”

Qian Wanyu’s face had frequently appeared before the people of Linchuan County recently. Whether the county office constables or others, everyone knew her identity as a demon hunter. No one doubted her words.

Seeing the tide turn against her, Yan Ying immediately fled.

The Xiuxiu Sword chased her frantically for a long distance before returning dissatisfied, swaying restlessly back and forth in front of Qian Wanyu. After Qian Wanyu returned to the inn, she closed the doors and windows before shaking out that severely wounded vine demon. However, beyond her expectations, the vine that should have been covered in wounds lay withered in a ball.

The charred skin peeled off in flakes. The vine that had been burned to a stump trembled and sprouted a new branch. The thin curled branch boldly explored past her wrist, waist, and even her ankle. Every bit of skin exposed was intimately rubbed by this vine at least once.

Author’s Note:

Xiao Jiu: I’m not in pain, I’m not in pain.