Love from the Male Protagonist’s Harem

Chapter 104-Saving the Common People

That ‘unknown thought’ mingled with the lingqi, and then permeated the liquid orbs.  White lights flickering, a fragrant aroma came from the dan furnace as two snow-white pills solidified.

The second the dan finished forming, the lingqi scattered, everything went silent, and the fragrance faded away.  Raising her black eyes that still reflected the flames of the furnace, Xia Ge gave Chang Lan and the Jianfeng disciples an ambiguous look.  Despite their glares, the Jianfeng disciples instinctively took a step back.  By the time they realized what they’d done, Xia Ge had already turned her face away.

“He……”

Chang Lan’s hand on the hilt of his sword relaxed, yet his gaze stayed fixed on the two snow-white dan in the furnace, his body slightly trembling.

But Wei Yu wasn’t willing to give up: “Senior Brother, don’t let him fool you, it must be poison……”

Before he could finish his sentence, Wei Yu was fiercely pushed aside by the master who’d rushed back into the room.  His goatee a mess, the master couldn’t hide his excitement: “You’ve refined the Baihun dan?!”

Hearing the master’s words, no one else spoke, instead staring at the spinning snow-white dan like starving wolves who’d found fresh meat.

A green light flashed in Xia Ge’s eyes.

[Ding!  Congratulations To The Host For Refining Xuan-Level Twin Baihun Dan!  Reward Is 100 Points!]

[Ding!  Congratulations To The Host For Officially Upgrading To Xuan-Level Liandan Master!  Reward Is 50 Points!]

[Keep Up The Hard Work, Host!]

Xia Ge bowed to the master: “Thank you for your guidance.  I hope I’ve lived up to your expectations.”

Moved, the master stepped forward and grasped Xia Ge’s hand: “Our Danfeng……finally produced a second Xuan-level liandan master!!”

While Chang Lan, observing the plain-clothed Danfeng disciple in front of him, found himself speechless.

The person suspected of being a Demon Sect spy had just simultaneously refined the Baihun dan that Lingxi desperately needed and advanced to Xuan-level liandan master.

No matter which way you looked at it, Jianfeng’s presence was very much a joke.

After thanking the master, Xia Ge waved a hand.  The two dan flew out of the furnace with a ‘swish,’ pleasant-smelling and heavy with lingqi.  The master then carefully placed them into a box that would prevent any loss of their medicinal properties.

The master gave the box to Xia Ge, saying solemnly: “These are yours.”

Taking the box, Xia Ge walked to the door, everyone reflexively making way for her.  As she passed by Chang Lan, she asked in a faintly mocking tone: “If the true meaning of being a sword master is to kill devils and eliminate evil spirits, do you think perhaps the true meaning of being a liandan master is to save the common people?”

Wei Yu badly wanted to give Xia Wuyin a harsh retort, but he clenched his fists and managed to stay quiet.

Chang Lan’s answer was a long time coming: “No one is asking you to save the whole world.”

Xia Ge laughed softly: “I suppose not.  After all, I might be a Demon Sect spy.”

""

“It must have been quite troublesome for you, Senior Brother, tramping all the way over here to Danfeng in the middle of the night.”

Finished speaking, Xia Ge made her exit, leaving everyone behind her gawking in consternation.

Chang Lan: “……”

System: [What Were You Thinking About When You Refined The Dan Just Now?]

After a second’s thought, the system decided it’d framed the question too casually: [To Put It Differently, Have You Discovered The True Meaning Of Being A Liandan Master?]

“Sure, I found it.”  Xia Ge looked in on Mao Qing, saw that the girl was still sleeping, and lowered her voice accordingly: “It’s saving the common people.”

System: [……]

Feeling the eyes of people upon her, Xia Ge glanced behind her to see a string of people leaving the dan furnace room, all of them staring at her with complex gazes.  Xia Ge ignored them and went to sit by Mao Qing’s bed, gentle moonlight shining in through a window.

“Truthfully, I’m not convinced that’s there any true meaning behind being a liandan master.”

System: [Hmm?]

“Because, at that point, I wasn’t really thinking about anything.”

Mao Qing was slumbering peacefully.  Xia Ge stared out the window for a moment, and then took out the [Command] token, running her fingertips over the carved maple leaves illumined by silvery moonbeams.  Her voice was low: “If I had to say……”

“Right before, I just thought that if I let her down……”

“That wouldn’t be good.”

——Senior Sister had given Xia Ge the [Command] token.  That meant Xia Ge had to be somehow be worthy of it, right?

Besides……she couldn’t let something outstanding be turned into a ‘chicken feather’ by her hands.

Xia Ge murmured: “If that happened, I’d be too angry.”

= =

Chu Yi was no longer helping stabilize the mountain’s protective formation, but had instead made a new record of those disciples injured, poisoned, or both.  When finished, she decided to deliver it to Chang Lan personally.

“Is Senior Brother Chang at Jianfeng?”  Chu Yi asked a random disciple walking by.

The disciple shook their head: “Not Jianfeng……I think he went to Danfeng to catch a spy?”

Chu Yi quirked an eyebrow: “I’ll go to Danfeng then.”

Holding her document, Chu Yi made her way up Danfeng’s bluestone path.  White flowers were drifting down from the trees when Chu Yi saw a familiar place.

Thick and lush Wutong trees swayed over a small cottage, and flowers were blooming all around its doorway.

Chu Yi knew it at a glance.

Xia Wuyin’s lodging.

The protagonist’s residence in the day’s drama Catch A Spy.

About to walk on by, Chu Yi was startled when her bell suddenly rang again!

At the same time, a swell of fierce lingqi came from Danfeng’s academic pavilion!  Without thinking, Chu Yi took out the swaying Wenxian bell and stared in the direction those powerful waves of lingqi had originated.

Was it……a coincidence?!

Or……

Chu Yi felt a surge of excitement.

At the same time, an elder with a goatee hurried past her, breathlessly saying to himself: “Xia Wuyin actually accomplished it!  Our Danfeng finally has a second Xuan-level liandan master……”

Chu Yi knew the elder to be one of Danfeng’s masters.

He’d said……Xia Wuyin?

That meant……the waves of lingqi had been due to Xia Wuyin?

Wenxian bell had already ceased its ringing, even though there were still fluctuations of lingqi coming from the pavilion.  Her brow furrowing, a disappointed Chu Yi didn’t know what to think.

Chang Nian wanted to find his sister, therefore Chu Yi was looking for a girl.  But Xia Wuyin was a boy.

Under a bright moon, Chu Yi stood still in the cool breeze and cleared her mind, telling herself that finding Chang Lan would give her a chance to learn more about Danfeng’s situation.  She almost didn’t notice the strange rustling sound coming from nearby.

Due to his fast pace, the Danfeng master had paid Chu Yi no mind and was already far away.  There was no one else around.  Yet Chu Yi kept hearing rustling noises.

Chu Yi peered into the shadows.

The rustling seemed to be coming from underneath the window of Xia Wuyin’s room.  But its window and door were firmly closed.

In the light night breeze, blades of grass rippled.  Squinting, Chu Yi next waved her sleeve, sending a few silver butterflies towards the window.

Instantaneously!

A tiny piece of cloth, barely the size of a fingernail, rose into the air, gradually lengthening as the wind blew.  In the blink of an eye, it became a five or six foot long blood-stained white cloth, and with a simple swirl it gathered up Chu Yi’s silver butterflies and crushed them to bits!

But before Chu Yi could draw her sword, the stained cloth abruptly let loose one intact butterfly.  No longer silver, the butterfly was now the dark color of dried blood as it sluggishly flew back towards Chu Yi.

A low voice rasped from the butterfly: “……Chu……”

Chu Yi was very comfortable using her silver butterflies for eavesdropping or sending messages.  What she’d never foreseen is that one day they’d used as a tool by a Yimei.

Still, calmly taking one step back, she asked aloofly: “What are you?”

The butterfly’s wings fluttered, its words slow: “I’m probably……something……that can give you what you desire.”

Icily Laughing even as she unsheathed her sword, Chu Yi replied: “That sounds very good.”

“I want……to return to someone’s side.”

“We can……exchange.”

The voice coming from the butterfly was indistinct, remote, and vaguely hopeful.  Chu Yi, on the other hand, was already indifferently calculating how quickly she could chop this Yimei to death.  However the hand that was about to swing her sword froze at the Yimei’s next sentence.

“I can tell you who the real owner of that bell……is.”

Although her body was stiff, Chu Yi’s expression didn’t waver: “But I don’t want to know who she is.”

“Not true……you want to know……”  The small piece of fabric and the dark-stained butterfly were getting closer and closer to Chu Yi.  “I can hear all the dark desires people hide in their hearts, all the depravity they thirst for……”

“Just a moment ago I heard your heart’s disappointment at not discovering the answer you seek.”

The butterfly was very close.

Chu Yi took another step back.

“Make an exchange with me……help me go back to that person.”

Chu Yi: “Who is it that you want to go back to?”

Both the piece of cloth and the butterfly stopped abruptly, as if deep in thought.

Instantly the sword in Chu Yi’s hand flashed, a cold light in the darkness, slicing through the fabric and the butterfly!

Despite the smile hovering on her lips, Chu Yi’s face was emotionless: “It doesn’t really matter who it is.”

“Since I prefer to handle matters without compromise……”

“That naturally means I don’t like being coerced.”

The blood-stained cloth, now in two pieces, drifted down to the ground lightly as a feather, while the trembling silver butterfly gradually pieced itself back together under gentle moonlight.

The low voice came again, now sounding vaguely bewildered: “I want to go back to……the person you’re trying to find.”

The person Chu Yi was trying to find?

Did this Yimei……belong to Chang Nian’s younger sister?

“I can hear the answer in your heart……”

“So……make a deal with me……”

Chu Yi had started walking away, but now she turned around and saw a small vortex had formed around the blood-stained cloth, and it was steadily expanding——

Then a violent wind came out of nowhere, full of vicious lingqi.  The next second, one piece of the Yimei, the silver butterfly, and Chu Yi vanished.  Done swallowing them, the vortex gradually shrunk back to nothingness.

The document Chu Yi had been carried fell to the dirt, while the other piece of blood-stained cloth was carried by a light breeze back to its original position under Xia Ge’s window.  Nothing else disturbed the night.