Your Majesty - Chapter 3
Something's not right, she thought. The world of Mary Sue shouldn't be like this.
Shouldn't this handsome young man have fallen in love with me at first sight and become my childhood sweetheart? Even if he's arrogant and domineering, he's at most a stubborn little tyrant, and he should have endless, unspoken love for me!
Why? Is he going to rush out and kill me? (The key is that he really wants to kill me.)
Why? He wants to become a woman? (He even knows he won't have a genitals!)
At that time, Pang Wan didn't know that the sea of suffering was boundless, and that the world of Mary Sue was a place where one should turn back to the shore.
She was just guessing, in a very confused way, that maybe this was a very different Mary Sue story—"When Heaven is about to place a great responsibility on a person, it will first test their will, strain their muscles and bones, starve their body, empty their resources, and disrupt their plans..."
Pang Wan relied on these beliefs to get through many of the calamities and setbacks that followed.
Well, we have to say, she's actually quite optimistic.
Nanyi Brother
The handsome young man Nan Yi did not eventually become a woman because he was the only son of the leader of the Moon Worship Cult, and the leader needed him to continue the family line.
But this marked the beginning of his feud with Pang Wan.
He hated Pang Wan, hated this girl who appeared out of nowhere for stealing his secret manual and his father's love for him. For the next six years, he would always find a chance to poison Pang Wan's food, put snakes in her bathwater, and stuff razor blades into her pillow—in short, everything he did was aimed at killing Pang Wan, and he would do whatever was most cruel.
At first, Pang Wan almost went insane. She cried to the cult leader and protested to everyone, but everyone looked at her with helpless expressions.
This is a demonic cult, where right and wrong are reversed, and there is no regard for morality or justice. The actions of the Southern Barbarians are perfectly normal in the eyes of the Moon Worship Cult members. After all, one of the Moon Worship Cult's doctrines is to kill without regard to the opponent's status or strength. As for Pang Wan, since she is the destined Holy Maiden, she should naturally be able to counter each move and survive all kinds of attacks unscathed.
For six years, thanks to the clever and resourceful Aunt Rong by her side, Pang Wan managed to save her life in countless struggles; otherwise, she would have died seventy or eighty times over, her body turning over and over again.
"In one month, the Holy Maiden will be leaving the sect for training. I wonder what kind of task the sect leader will assign her then?"
Aunt Rong inserted the pearl flower into her thick, lustrous hair, smiled at her reflection in the mirror, and the hair-combing ceremony was complete.
Looking at the distorted, pitted image on the brass mirror, Pang Wan was not in high spirits and replied listlessly, "Probably found some treasure!"
She thought of the hidden mercury mirror, which the cult leader had casually brought back from the Persian religion.
"It's also possible that they'll bring back the head of someone from a respectable family."
Aunt Rong smiled softly and almost imperceptibly.
"Ah, Holy Maiden, whose head do you think we should choose? The abbot of Shaolin? I'm afraid a bald man's head is hard to take; the leader of Wudang? It seems they always have disheveled hair, we'd have to braid it for them first..."
Whenever Pang Wan saw Aunt Rong's dreamy expression, she felt a chill run down her spine, like goosebumps crawling up from the soles of her feet.
"Aunt Rong, isn't it a bit too early for me to go and kill all the sect leaders now?"
Pang Wan looked at Aunt Rong with a cautious, bitter expression that seemed to be able to squeeze out bitter herbs.
"Silly child, what are you saying? Two years ago, when the young master of the Southern Barbarians went down the mountain to train, didn't he bring back the heads of the leaders of the Kongtong Sect and the Qingcheng Sect?"
Aunt Rong glanced at her with a look of utter disbelief and disappointment.
"I am the Holy Maiden of the Moon Worship Church, so I must kill someone with an even greater background! In order to help you make a name for yourself, the leader sent his followers to spread the word half a year ago that you had personally killed hundreds of people at such a young age, and now you are very famous!"
The more Pang Wan spoke, the more depressed she became.
There are two kinds of fame: a good reputation and a bad reputation. Judging from this situation, the cult leader is going to drag her down a road where she will be spat on and trampled by thousands of people, with no intention of turning back.
"...I wonder if there will ever be a hero in the future who can see through this vast lie and see through the bitterness and loneliness deep in my heart?"
Pang Wan, manipulated by fate, murmured sadly to himself.
She deeply, deeply missed her previous life when the whole world unconditionally loved the heroine.
"Is Saintess worried about not having practical experience?" Aunt Rong asked, noticing her troubled expression. "It's alright if you haven't experienced it. You can ask others. It's always good to be prepared... Oh, right!" Her eyes lit up. "I heard that Lu Wei just returned from his training yesterday. Saintess could go and ask him for some experience!"
Lu Wei is one of the twelve guards of the Southern Barbarians, and is considered a promising young man in the sect. Because he briefly served as Pang Wan's sparring partner, he has always been quite friendly towards Pang Wan.
After thinking for a moment, Pang Wan, under Aunt Rong's arrangement, took a basket of fruit and gracefully left the Sacred Heart Pavilion, heading towards the small south building where Lu Wei was.
When they were still fifty meters away from Xiaonanlou, Pang Wan suddenly stopped.
She saw a familiar figure standing in front of the South Building.
Half a year had passed, and the man seemed to have become even more mature and handsome, with a tall and slender figure, intently wiping the sword in his hand.
—Weapon unchanged, black clothes unchanged, earring unchanged;
—That wicked heart, alas, without a doubt, hasn't changed.
Just as she turned to leave quietly, a sharp, cold light pierced the sky behind her and hurtled towards her.
"Again?" Pang Wan said with a bitter face, and dodged the attack with a somersault.
Before she even landed, countless sword blossoms burst open on the ground like bamboo shoots after a spring rain, leaving her nowhere to stand. Just as she was about to be torn to pieces, she flicked her sleeve, and a white streak flew out from her sleeve, firmly wrapping around the tree above her head, fixing her at a safe distance of about half a zhang from the sword blossoms.
Just as he was about to catch his breath, a cold light flashed in the air again, and sword energy rushed straight towards the white ribbon. Pang Wan gritted his teeth, pulled on the white ribbon, swung his body, and landed steadily on the treetop after a 180-degree spin. At the same time, he quickly pulled the white ribbon back into his sleeve.
The entire movement was fluid and seamless, and the posture was graceful and light.
Clap clap clap, someone gave her a few scattered and insincere claps.
"It's been half a year, and the Holy Maiden's skills have improved considerably."
The man slowly walked towards the tree.
Pang Wan's eyebrows shot up, her eyes fixed on the slowly approaching black figure, and she felt an urge to tear him to pieces and chop him into dumpling filling.