The Wicked Side Character’s Guide to Seducing the Male Lead - Chapter 4

Xuan Yi’s timing was excellent. We hadn’t waited long before the secret realm opened.

He took my hand, then, still not satisfied, used an Immortal-Binding Cord to tie our hands together. I stared at him. “Eldest Senior Brother?”

His grip tightened. “There are many dangers inside. This will stop the teleportation from separating us.”

That made sense!

I squeezed his hand back. “Don’t leave me behind.”

His brow relaxed. “I won’t.”

We entered the secret realm without any trouble.

Yellow sand stretched as far as the eye could see.

“…”

Weren’t secret realms usually the former homes of great cultivators who had ascended?

What sort of great cultivator lived in a desolate desert?

I’d never heard of such a thing.

“Eldest Senior Brother? Did we get teleported to the wrong place?”

Xuan Yi merely adjusted my hat. “The wind carries a lot of sand here.”

His calmness helped me relax. “Were the realms you visited before this barren too?”

Holding a compass in one hand and mine in the other, he led me off in one direction. “No.”

“Oh.”

I peppered him with questions about his previous adventures in secret realms. He answered patiently. Before long, I spotted an oasis.

“Senior Brother, look!”

Xuan Yi frowned slightly. He was just about to speak when voices rose nearby. “Huh? Isn’t that Senior Brother Xuan Yi? Eldest Senior Brother!”

“Eldest Senior Brother!”

I turned toward the voices. They belonged to the senior brothers and sisters who’d left the mountain before us. And who was that peeking out from behind them, if not the heroine herself?

I instinctively looked at Xuan Yi, but his face was expressionless. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

“It’s the others, Eldest Senior Brother. And the girl who fell from the sky.”

His voice was soft. “Do you want to go with them?”

“I…”

He tightened his hold on my hand. “Huahua, do you think they can protect you?”

I hesitated for a couple of seconds. In principle, I ought to keep my distance from the hero, bring him together with the heroine, and secure her backing. But we were in a secret realm.

Who knew whether the others could even protect themselves if danger struck, let alone someone as useless as me?

Xuan Yi was different. He was our sect’s genius. Despite his youth, he could already hold his own against the elders. Even Master often praised him, saying he would surpass her one day.

A genius praised by Master, or the other inner disciples…

“No. I’d rather stay with you.”

Xuan Yi straightened the veil the wind had blown aside, then pinched my cheek. “Little schemer.”

I preferred to think of it as knowing which way the wind was blowing.

Grinning, I greeted the approaching group. “Second Senior Brother, Third Senior Sister, Fourth Senior Brother… What a coincidence!”

Second Senior Brother smiled. “Our eldest senior brother really does dote on her most. He said he’d keep her studying, and yet here she is, off the mountain. Clearly, he didn’t trust us to take care of her.”

Third Senior Sister nodded. “It’s her first trip down the mountain. We can all rest easier with him protecting her.”

“Since we’ve been fortunate enough to meet,” Fourth Senior Brother suggested, “why don’t we travel together? We can look out for each other.”

Fifth Senior Brother agreed. “Let me come with you, Eldest Senior Brother. I won’t hold you back.”

Then he tossed me a storage pouch. “Some little things we bought for you on our trip.”

I looked up at Xuan Yi. He raised an eyebrow slightly, then released my hand.

As I rummaged through the pouch, something occurred to me. I glanced up and caught the eye of the heroine hiding behind Ninth Senior Brother. She smiled and waved.

Her eyes were clear and curved into lovely crescents when she smiled. She’d changed out of that bizarre outfit into simple sect robes, which suited her even better.

The heroine seemed to like me. Did this mean I could escape my miserable fate?

I picked up the pouch, intending to share the trinkets with her and deepen our friendship. The instant I started forward, Xuan Yi caught me, his expression stern.

“Why is she here?”

None of the inner disciples could face his cold expression without quailing. Still, frightened as he was, Ninth Senior Brother mustered the courage to step in front of the heroine.

“Her name is Fu Qinghua, Eldest Senior Brother. The Grand Elder examined her origins with the Kunlun Mirror. She isn’t a demon. She’s mortal, but her innate aptitude is exceptional. You know how the Grand Elder cherishes talent—he took her as his disciple.

“Junior Sister Fu is one of us now. The Grand Elder asked me to bring her out for experience. Please don’t…”

Xuan Yi’s expression didn’t change. I, on the other hand, was stunned.

The heroine was the Grand Elder’s disciple?

I’d forgotten plenty of the plot, but she was supposed to become my master’s disciple! That was how Master would later assign Xuan Yi to oversee her cultivation.

If I remembered correctly, spending all that time together was what drew him to her intelligence, talent, and genuine nature, bringing them closer and closer.

“…”

I was baffled. Why was this different from the novel?