(GL) The Supporting Female Character Strategy Manual - Chapter 33

The marriage of the two did not involve great fanfare. They only quietly hung red lanterns outside the house, pasted bright red double happiness characters on the door, and draped some festive red silk, tidying up the entire courtyard. They added a few household items to make the whole house look more lived-in.

Jian Tongyao saw that she still had a length of red silk left in her hand. Catching a glimpse of the demon-slaying sword at Qian Wanyu’s waist out of the corner of her eye, she teased, “Xiuxiu, come here. Let me give you a makeover.”

The sword, which usually flew up with a whoosh at a single call, remained motionless at this time. No matter how she teased it, it didn’t give her any face at all.

Jian Tongyao asked, “Xiuxiu, what’s wrong?”

Qian Wanyu subconsciously stroked the hilt of the sword lightly.

“A few days ago, I scolded it angrily. Perhaps it is throwing a tantrum. It’s nothing, it will be fine after a while.”

After speaking, Qian Wanyu turned her back. The hand holding the lantern clenched until it turned purple.

Jian Tongyao did not suspect anything. She went straight into the room, changed into the bridal gown made in advance, put on the head ornaments, and used the bronze mirror to apply beautiful light makeup. Even so, her lip color was so pale it didn’t look like a normal person’s.

She stared blankly at herself in the mirror. Since waking up, she had deliberately ignored an important question. Why had she become so old?

Wasn’t it said that as long as demons cultivated, they would have decades or even hundreds or thousands of years of cultivation? At least she should not be like this. In the blink of an eye, she was already sixty years old, and in the next moment, she had returned to the prime of her youth.

This was very abnormal.

At some point, Qian Wanyu stood behind her, quietly gathering up her beautiful hair and taking out a comb to comb it.

“One comb to the end, no need to worry about riches and honor. Two combs to the tail…”

Jian Tongyao looked at her solemn lover in the mirror and couldn’t help laughing. “You look like a mother whose own daughter is about to get married.”

Qian Wanyu insisted on finishing the few lines of blessing before smiling.

“I specially found an elder to learn this. They said a girl getting married must have her hair combed properly so that her marriage will be happy and perfect.”

Jian Tongyao asked, “Shouldn’t you be the one getting married?”

In a good mood, Qian Wanyu did not bicker with her over words. She redrew her eyebrows stroke by stroke.

“Today, you are my most beautiful bride.”

Neither had any living relatives, they only had each other. So, facing the empty seats of honor, they simply bowed to heaven and earth. After bowing, they poured two cups of aged Nü’er Hong.

“Drink this cup of nuptial wine, and from now on, even life and death cannot separate us.”

The red candles reflected everything in the room clearly. Jian Tongyao lightly stroked the other party’s deeply affectionate brows and eyes. For some reason, even though it was a festive day, a sense of helplessness and sorrow surged in her heart. She felt as if she had overlooked something.

“Since we are going to live together as wives, there shouldn’t be any little secrets. Are you hiding something from me?”

Qian Wanyu kissed her cheek gently. “Silly Xiao Jiu, don’t cry.”

Was she crying?

Jian Tongyao touched her own face, it was wet. The rouge and powder she had just applied were probably ruined. She tried hard to see the person in front of her clearly, but she didn’t know if the vintage of this Nü’er Hong was too high or its aftereffect too strong. After drinking just a small cup, she actually felt somewhat dizzy.

“System, has the dead end been resolved?”

System 1314 replied, “No.”

The cold and emotionless mechanical voice had no fluctuation, yet it pierced her heart like a needle. Jian Tongyao felt all the strength in her body drain away instantly. She fell backward, trying to reach out, but only managed to grab a few strands of Qian Wanyu’s hanging black hair. The other party’s expression was so gentle it seemed water would drip from it.

“Don’t be afraid. Sleep, and everything will be fine.”

Jian Tongyao was so anxious she wanted to cry, but the more she struggled, the weaker she became. Before falling unconscious, the person before her eyes became increasingly blurry until she couldn’t see clearly at all.

“Don’t…”

Don’t leave.

She slept very unsteadily this time. She dreamed of the little white fox. The little white fox in the dream was not silly at all. It just waved its hand to bid her farewell. After that, she dreamed of Qian Wanyu. The other party, dressed in red, stood not far away, smiling at her. As she smiled, blood began to spill from her eyes, nose, and mouth…

Haa.

She was startled awake by this eerie dream. The first thing she did upon getting up was search the entire house for the person. But the person who usually stayed by her side, almost never leaving her, was gone. The flowers outside the house likely had no one to tend to them. The withered ones had withered, and quite a few weeds had sprouted.

She was a vine demon and knew the growth time of weeds clearly. It was impossible for them to grow so lushly without several days’ time. The only possibility was that she had slept for a long time again. Upon going out to ask, she learned that nearly half a month had passed since their marriage.

Soon, a mad woman appeared in Fushou Town, grabbing anyone she could to ask if they had seen the person in the portrait. She asked day after day, night after night, until finally, everyone in town avoided her and walked around her.

“System.”

“When was the mission completed?”

The system habitually went offline. At the critical moment, this dog system was dead again. Jian Tongyao asked many times, but the other party did not respond. She was completely unclear about when the mission was completed. Only the happiness value was full, and the target character’s name had turned from gold to gray, looking very much like the status of gamers who had disconnected or died.

Jian Tongyao did not believe that the person who kept saying she wanted to walk through a lifetime with her would leave. She thought it must be that the dog system had died…

She lit thirty-two candles for this damn system that did not do its proper job. She then sat withered outside the house for half a year, watching people come and go and waiting for that day to appear.

Half a year later, grass had grown on her clothes.

Jian Tongyao thought she couldn’t continue being passive, so she got up and rushed to Shenji Mountain. As Qian Wanyu had said, Shenji Mountain had been handed over to Jiang Qin to manage. It couldn’t compare to the prosperity when Yan Song was there, but with everyone working together and pulling in one direction, it was more united than in the past.

She waited at the foot of the mountain for a long time, but didn’t wait for Jiang Qin. Finally, just like in the past, she went up the mountain under the cover of night when the guards were lax and found Jiang Qin’s room.

Jiang Qin had her back to her, offering incense to a particular memorial tablet in the room.

Jian Tongyao guessed it might be that incompetent Master Yan Song, but when she saw the name on the memorial tablet clearly, her whole body went stiff.

“Why are you cursing her? She treated you very well.”

If there was any stain on Qian Wanyu, it was knowing her, this little demon.

“You… Why are you here?”

Jiang Qin obviously hadn’t expected to see this little demon on Shenji Mountain again. The hatred in her eyes almost materialized into an attack, but catching a glimpse of Qian Wanyu’s memorial tablet out of the corner of her eye, she turned her face away.

“Considering you, this little demon, haven’t done anything against heaven and reason, leave. Leave quickly, or don’t blame me for being impolite to you.”

Jian Tongyao grabbed the memorial tablet and smashed it on the ground.

“I won’t leave. Tell me where she is. Did you capture her and bring her back?”

Jiang Qin was so angry she almost laughed. The junior sisters outside the door heard the commotion and came up one after another to inquire, but were all blocked back by Jiang Qin.

“Smash it. Smash it with all your might. No matter how much you smash, Senior Sister can’t come back anymore.”

Jian Tongyao smashed whatever she saw without mercy. Only when there was nothing left to smash did she kneel on the ground with a thud.

“You’re lying to me. How could you make up such words to deceive me and even curse her to die? She was so good to you. When you were missing during that time, she looked for you every day. She… she… she…”

They had even gotten married. How could that person leave her alone?

Jiang Qin watched dumbfounded as she cried like a fool. It was also her first time seeing that a demon crying could be quite pitiful. In the end, she couldn’t bear it. “Yes. If it weren’t for those little demons you found saving me back then, I wouldn’t have been able to return to Shenji Mountain. But, you should leave. Senior Sister hopes you live on well.”

Jian Tongyao said, “Liar. I won’t leave. Unless I find her, I will absolutely not leave.”

Jiang Qin couldn’t bear to kill her, so Jian Tongyao pestered her day and night, causing the entire Shenji Mountain to be in turmoil and without peace. The disciples came to complain one after another, annoying her until she had no other choice.

“You were poisoned by that snake demon in Xianyao Town. That snake demon was an extremely rare kind of venomous snake. Not just you, but my Master, and Yan Ying… the abnormalities in your bodies were all caused by that great demon. Unfortunately, the great demon is already dead.”

“Probably because you are a vine demon, the venom acted especially fast in your body. We were all helpless.”

“During the time you were in a coma, Senior Sister went through all the ancient records and searched for all the secret recipes Master left behind. She tried them all. Those methods weren’t effective for everyone. Moreover, my Master exhausted most of his life without being able to cure the poison, at most using Yan Ying’s blood to alleviate it. Yan Ying’s blood was useless to you, it merely accelerated your aging…”

“Later, she met a medical demon from the fox clan. If one could find the legendary Fragrant Fox… using the Exquisite Heart as a medicinal primer, and then having a person with profound internal power exchange blood with you, perhaps your life could be saved.”

When Jian Tongyao learned all this, she felt the sky spinning and the earth turning. After a long while, she said, “Where is she? I want to see her.”

Qian Wanyu’s grave was buried in another mountain forest of Shenji Mountain. The area was secluded and deep, and it was very quiet. If one were to rest in peace here, it would be a good choice.

It wasn’t until Jian Tongyao saw Xiuxiu broken into three pieces in front of the grave that she broke down and wailed, finally believing that the person was truly gone.

Jiang Qin came on the first day and heard her crying her heart out. When she came a few days later, the other party was still holding that sword, crying in front of the grave, but she couldn’t make any sound… Until one day, half a month later, when she came here again, the grave had been dug open. The corpse lying inside, as well as that sword and that little demon, had all disappeared.

In the decades since then, she never saw this little demon again.

She only vaguely heard that in a certain town, a very strange event had occurred. After a mad woman brought back a corpse, a huge fire broke out in their courtyard that very night. Because it happened at night and the weather was dry, the fire was extremely intense. The people in the town were all awakened in the latter half of the night. The young and strong got up one by one to fight the fire. But the strange thing was, no matter how they poured water on that fire, it wouldn’t go out. It burned for a full three days and three nights, turning the entire courtyard into ruins.

Even stranger, that night, someone actually saw two girls holding hands dancing in the fire.

Years later, a young man moved into this house. Whenever night fell, he could always hear someone muttering in the corner of his own wall, “Seventh Sister, Seventh Sister…”