Miss Loser is too enchanting

The Fire Spirit Pearl at the mountain peak was also paying attention to Dugu Qianye’s situation. Seeing her perseverance, the fiery red pearl spun around, its thoughts unknowable.

The Wood Spirit Bead, which had always served as the messenger between them, looked at Dugu Qianye’s feet, yearning to go down to help her.

"Stop!" the Fire Spirit Pearl spoke through their connection, halting the Wood Spirit Bead.

"Big brother, I want to help our master," the Wood Spirit Bead’s tender voice rang out, sounding like a young, adorable girl if she were to take human form.

"You are not permitted to go!" the Fire Spirit Pearl said, "Let her come up by herself!"

"But big brother, look at our master’s condition, I..." The Wood Spirit Bead, called to a halt, was on the verge of tears.

"If you go down and help her, even if she makes it up here, I will not acknowledge her as my master!" The Fire Spirit Pearl’s adamant stance brought the Wood Spirit Bead’s body, eager to rush down, to an abrupt stop.

"Big brother!" the Wood Spirit Bead shouted in anger.

"I’ve already said it, you decide what to do," the Fire Spirit Pearl said.

The Wood Spirit Bead looked at the Fire Spirit Pearl, then down at Dugu Qianye struggling to walk, and forcefully stilled its body.

Dugu Qianye’s feet were virtually devoid of a single millimeter of healthy skin; with every step she took, a bit fell off, until at the end only her clean, golden bones remained.

She looked down at her feet and gave a bitter smile. Does this make me a white skeleton demon?! No, not a white skeleton demon, but a golden one!

She gritted her teeth, thankful that her meridians and bones could still barely hold out a while longer!

The Fire Spirit Pearl, seemingly feeling that Dugu Qianye hadn’t suffered enough, willed a wall of fire to suddenly rise up in front of her. Seeing the wall of fire, the Wood Spirit Bead cried out, "Big brother, what are you doing?!"

"To have me recognize a master, it’s not something just anyone can do," the Fire Spirit Pearl said, "If not for the fact that you all have acknowledged her as your master, I wouldn’t even bother considering it. If she fails to pass my test, then such a master is not worth having!"

"Big brother, do you not know that she is..." The Wood Spirit Bead attempted to reveal Dugu Qianye’s identity but was interrupted by the Fire Spirit Pearl.

"Except for our former master, all are the same, do not speak further!" the Fire Spirit Pearl thought of the Creator God, recalled her demise, and how they had been scattered from their siblings, feeling somewhat sad.

"Big brother, she is actually..." The Wood Spirit Bead tried to disclose Dugu Qianye’s identity but, seeing Dugu Qianye make a move, became so anxious that she flew down without finishing her words.

Dugu Qianye looked at the wall of fire in front of her, the flames dancing in her eyes. She took a deep breath and lifted her foot...

Zi Xiao watched Dugu Qianye get ready to cross the wall of fire and couldn’t help but leap downward, but was blocked by a thin membrane outside the mountain.

"Fire Spirit Pearl, let me in!" Zi Xiao said, clearly frustrated.

But the thin membrane did not budge, and the Fire Spirit Pearl acted as though it did not hear his words.

Zi Xiao stepped back and with both hands condensed spiritual power, then launched a spiritual power sphere at the membrane, but the membrane only dented inward before bouncing back. Zi Xiao narrowly dodged by turning his body to the side.

"Fire Spirit Pearl, don’t think that because you were once hers I wouldn’t lay hands on you!" Zi Xiao, seeing that his spiritual power had failed to break the membrane, said coldly.

The membrane was not afraid of Zi Xiao, and upon hearing his words, it even flashed a red light, as if to mock him.

"Master, don’t do it!" the Wood Spirit Bead urgently flew over, shouting desperately in her mind. But Dugu Qianye couldn’t hear her voice, she could only see her frantically spinning in front of the flame.

She lifted a foot as if to step directly through, but then withdrew it. The people on Roc’s back, including Zi Xiao, breathed a sigh of relief when they saw her retract her foot.

"Qianye, if we can’t get it, let’s just forget it! Please come back!" Qie Yue yelled toward Dugu Qianye.

Dugu Qianye looked up at Qie Yue, saw their anxious expressions, and watched Zi Xiao struggling against the membrane.

Zi Xiao felt Dugu Qianye looking up and stopped his actions, his face full of concern as he looked at her.

Dugu Qianye managed a weak smile and said softly, "Don’t worry, I’m fine!"

Her voice was faint like a mosquito’s buzz; Zi Xiao couldn’t hear what she was saying, but could make out from the shape of her lips that she was saying she was okay and asked him not to worry.

"Little Yeye..." Zi Xiao’s gaze shifted to the mountaintop, where a red pearl was smugly watching him.

Dugu Qianye took out a jade bottle and poured all the elixirs into her mouth, tore her skirt hem, and then tied up her water sleeves. Her actions made everyone’s breath catch.

"Qianye, don’t!" Qie Yue shouted loudly, rushing to Zi Xiao’s side.

Zi Xiao’s tightly clenched fist dripped blood down onto the membrane, then it rolled off with a ’gulu’ sound.

After Dugu Qianye had secured both sleeves, her eyes locked onto the flames. At the lowest point of the flames, she used spiritual power to form a protective barrier around herself and crossed through.

"Hiss—" The flames didn’t burn her body, but because she moved too abruptly, her right foot’s bone just grazed a stone on the other side of the flame. The weight of her body snapped her little toe’s bone! The pain made her involuntarily gasp for air.

Little Baiqiu, protected by the Water Spiritual Pearl, was unscathed. Seeing the broken half of the little toe on the ground, its tears streamed down. "Keke, let’s go back, okay? We don’t need that Fire Spirit Pearl, okay? If bad people bully Keke, I will help you bite them! Let’s go back, okay?"

Dugu Qianye shook her head and said, "Qiuqiu, some things can’t just be avoided because we don’t want to face them. Sometimes when moving forward, there is no way back! I can’t put you in danger because of my lack of perseverance. I want to protect you all, protect my family, just like you want to protect me! It’s not a dead-end, it’s just that there are thorns on the way. As long as we keep going, there will be results, we have to move forward, you understand?"

"I don’t understand, I just know that Keke is in great pain right now, and I am very sad!" Little Baiqiu cried.

Dugu Qianye smiled and said, "You’re still young now, you’ll understand later." With that, she glanced at her toe still radiating golden light on the ground, lifted her foot, and continued moving upward, leaving the half of her toe there, the golden light painfully stinging the eyes of everyone in the air.

Faint couldn’t utter a word, though his lips moved. But he had already decided in his heart that upon returning, he would accept punishment, double the punishment, willingly!

The Fire Spirit Pearl floated at the mountaintop, watching Dugu Qianye continue climbing, its red light brightening. It spun faster for a few rounds, and a person in red clothes with red hair, red eyebrows, and red eyes appeared in its place. With a move of his hand, the Wood Spirit Bead following Dugu Qianye flew back into his hand.