I Ruined the Long Ao Tian Script-Chapter 54

A Different Kind of Fairyland

The voice suddenly spoke with malice: "What if I let you return to that crossroads and choose the path to Qingyang City?"

Xu Shulou froze for a moment, then lowered her head with a soft laugh. "Why bother?"

The voice, as if finally seizing her weakness, grew excited. "Oh? Do you want to see your little lover? Aren’t you afraid he’d betray you?"

"I can tell you exactly what would happen," Xu Shulou snapped her folding fan shut. "He wouldn’t betray me. He’d treat me well, help me hide my identity, and we’d live happily together, envied even by immortals. For my safety, he’d choose to leave the capital and never return. He’d miss his chance to become a marquis, enter the Wenyuan Pavilion, and leave his name in history as a great statesman. And I… would make sure he never made that choice."

"..." The voice fell silent for a moment. "You seem so confident in him? He’s serving the new dynasty—how do you know he wouldn’t trade you for greater wealth and glory? After all you’ve been through, do you still have faith in humanity?"

"Human nature is complicated," Xu Shulou smiled. "I don’t believe in humanity. I believe in him."

"But if you trust him and he loves you, why can’t you be together, even in my illusion…?"

"You sound almost regretful," Xu Shulou remarked curiously. "Don’t tell me you’ve been treating our story like some romantic tale?"

"Nonsense!" The voice sounded flustered. "Enough about your mutton noodle cravings. Come with me!"

"Where to?"

The voice gloated. "If the past can’t trap you, let’s see the future."

"The future?"

———

"This fairy realm you’ve conjured is a bit too absurd."

As she spoke, Xu Shulou lay on the ground, panting heavily.

In this new layer of the illusion, she had successfully ascended to immortality, becoming a low-ranking fairy in the celestial realm. But as a minor fairy, her life was as fragile as an insect’s—literally.

For some reason, every immortal in this realm towered like giants, the smallest among them standing nearly five stories tall. Xu Shulou had to constantly watch her step to avoid being accidentally crushed.

"What’s so absurd about it?" The voice protested. "I based it on plenty of myths."

"Which myths?"

"Pangu splitting the heavens, Kuafu chasing the sun, Fangfeng’s nine-acre-long body, Chi You’s five-zhang stature…"

"..." Xu Shulou raised a question. "Have you ever actually seen the celestial realm?"

The voice hesitated, then deflated. "No. Do you really think it’s that fake?"

"...It’s fine," Xu Shulou consoled. "Even if it’s fake, we can still explore and find something interesting. That way, the trip won’t be wasted."

"Fine." Soothed, the voice sighed and trailed after Xu Shulou as she wandered around.

Only when it saw Xu Shulou biting into an immortal fruit several times larger than her entire body did it realize something was off. "Wait—who said anything about letting you explore? I’m supposed to be tormenting you!"

Xu Shulou wiped the juice from her face. "What was that? How are you tormenting me?"

"..." ​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​‌‌​​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌​‌‍The voice smugly thought: By making you the lowest of the low in the celestial realm, forcing you to obey their rules, resentful yet powerless to resist. Let’s see if your Daoist heart remains unshaken after this.

Xu Shulou retrieved a normal-sized jade cup from her Qiankun Bracelet—yes, the illusion was so realistic that after ascending, her spiritual power returned, and her appearance reverted from the fifty-year-old mortal in the previous layer back to her youthful cultivator form.

She leaned over the edge of an enormous celestial wine cup, so large she could practically perform a river-crossing stunt on its surface, and scooped up a drink.

After a sip, her eyes lit up. "Now this is celestial wine! Well done!"

"..." Thanks for the praise.

"This wine, though…" Xu Shulou propped her chin on her hand. "I think I’m getting drunk."

"Of course you are," the voice finally brightened. "This is nectar meant for high-ranking immortals. A minor fairy like you can’t handle it."

Xu Shulou flew up to a tree, settled on a leaf, and draped a petal over herself like a blanket. She didn’t dare pass out on the ground—getting stepped on was a real risk.

"Don’t laze around! Get up!" Just as she closed her eyes, a delicate-looking fairy shook her awake. The girl was about her size, clearly another recent ascendant. "We need to go to the eastern Heavenly River to help Weaver Girl with her weaving!"

"Weaving?" Xu Shulou rose, baffled, and followed the fairy. She sat down in front of a loom, utterly lost. "How does this work?" ƒrēenovelkiss.com

"You don’t even know that?" The fairy huffed. "Watch me first."

The looms were sized for normal fairies, not the absurdly large ones, but weaving fabric for the towering immortals still struck Xu Shulou as ridiculous. "How long do we have to weave?"

"Until the moon drifts to our left," the fairy said. "Then we gather lotus seeds in the imperial garden’s pond for tonight’s banquet."

Xu Shulou had a sinking feeling. "And then we can rest?"

"Of course not," the fairy scoffed. "We have to dance at the banquet! Each table will have a drum the size of a palm to the immortals—we dance on them."

"...And then?"

"Then we help the rabbits at the Moon Palace pound herbs. The Lords of Heaven, the Star Lords—they all need help refining elixirs."

"Anything else?"

"We tend the flowers for the Flower Goddess. She says there are bugs in the petals, and we’re small enough to pick them out."

Xu Shulou’s vision darkened. So she wasn’t here to be a fairy—she was here to be a laborer.

Clenching her fists, she felt the itch to act. The voice seemed to sense this and promptly vanished.

Left with no choice, Xu Shulou sat at the loom, mimicking the fairy’s movements. She was a quick learner—even weaving came naturally. Soon, she was humming as the loom clicked rhythmically under her feet.

The fairy shot her a strange look. "You’re enjoying this?"

"Making the best of a bad situation," Xu Shulou replied, stealing glances at the moon. She didn’t understand the "moon drifting left" timing, but at least it was something to look forward to.

When the moon finally crept into position, Xu Shulou sprang up—only to be told they couldn’t leave until Weaver Girl inspected their work.

"No, throw it away," a tall woman soon entered the room. Xu Shulou could only see up to her knees, so she couldn’t make out her face. "Start weaving again tomorrow, and weave an extra bolt to make up for today’s loss."

"..."

Xu Shulou felt like crying. Was this the consequence of disrupting the Cowherd and Weaver Girl’s romance too many times while playing in the illusory realm?

Half-dead with exhaustion, she followed a delicate fairy to gather lotus flowers. The lotuses in the celestial realm were awe-inspiring—some small, meant for picking, while others were so enormous that they held entire miniature worlds upon their petals. Gazing into the distance, the sight truly lived up to the phrase "endless lotus leaves meeting the sky."

Gathering lotuses turned out to be rather enjoyable. The young fairies each floated in wooden basins across the lake, and Xu Shulou even started a water fight. Amid laughter and play, they collected lotus seeds before changing into fresh robes for the upcoming dance performance.

Dancing, however, was far beyond Xu Shulou’s skills. Clad in red, she hesitated awkwardly when suddenly, a male immortal from the opposite seating area bellowed, "Disgusting!"

She turned to look just in time to see him extend a massive hand and slap the drum—along with the dancing fairy atop it—into a bloody pulp. He then casually flicked away the gore from his palm, as if swatting a mosquito.

"..." Xu Shulou froze. This wasn’t an accidental misstep—this was outright murder, committed without a second thought.

What kind of celestial realm had this painting conjured up?

Gritting her teeth, she mimicked the fairies beside her, swaying her sleeves, tilting her neck, kicking her long legs, and twisting her hips.

The enormous blue-robed immortal watching her dance frowned in confusion. "What kind of dance is this?"

Xu Shulou lied through her teeth, "This is the most popular hip-swaying dance of the mortal realm. A royal consort once performed it before the emperor, astounding the world with a single dance."

"Oh? Truly?" The blue-robed immortal seemed gullible enough to believe her—until, in the next instant, he suddenly raised his hand to swat her down. "Liar!"

Fortunately, Xu Shulou had anticipated this. The moment his hand lifted, she pushed off the drum with her toes and launched herself away.

A split second later, the drum shattered. Had she still been standing there, her fate would have been sealed.

The blue-robed immortal didn’t bother chasing her. Instead, he simply resumed drinking, indifferent to whether she lived or died. Killing her had been a whim; failing to do so wasn’t worth his effort.

"..."

Thankfully, the other fairies danced well, and the banquet concluded without further incident. Xu Shulou then followed the group to pound medicinal herbs.

"The herbs are too dry," a giant rabbit suddenly spoke as they approached. Without warning, it grabbed one of the fairies with its paw and tossed her into the mortar, crushing her ruthlessly with the pestle. "Much better now."

"..." The others barely had time to react. Too terrified to even freeze for long, they hurriedly resumed pounding the herbs, careful not to make a single mistake.

But soon, the rabbit paused again and sighed, "Too dry."

"If it's too dry, why the hell don’t you just add water?!" Enough was enough. Seeing it about to strike again, Xu Shulou snapped. Her folding fan transformed into a sword, which she hurled with all her might. She had no idea how powerful this rabbit was, but she had no choice but to stake everything on this desperate attack.

The blade pierced straight through the rabbit’s right eye and out the back of its skull. The delicate fairy it had been clutching slipped to the ground, trembling in shock. After a long pause, she stared at Xu Shulou in disbelief. "You... you saved me. Thank you... but you killed it. How could you dare kill it?"

Wiping the blood splattered across her face, Xu Shulou thought grimly that if this ordeal gave her a lifelong fear of rabbits, she’d burn this damned painting the moment she got out.