Chapter 87: Slacking Off, Day Eighty-Seven
Mu Xiaoxiao froze.
She raised her hand and touched the bald patch on the crown of her head. The chilly sensation against her scalp felt somewhat alien to her.
Everyone who witnessed this scene couldn’t help but freeze as well.
Even Xu Huang herself paused for a moment.
Although she had missed her intended target, this effect… didn’t seem too bad either.
But it wasn’t enough.
Hair could grow back. Disfigurement, however, was thorough and devastating.
A wicked glint surfaced in Xu Huang’s smile.
She tightened her grip on the short blade again. With spiritual energy wrapping around the edge, she seized the moment of Mu Xiaoxiao’s daze and slashed towards her face once more!
This time, failure is not an option!
Just then, another bird flew over from the sky.
This one might have been a male bird, with no egg to lay, but he dropped a load of bird poop.
Watching the droppings plummet toward her shoulder, Mu Xiaoxiao’s body reacted on instinct, dodging to the right.
Xu Huang’s short blade missed again. This time, it sliced off a patch of hair on the left side of Mu Xiaoxiao’s head.
Mu Xiaoxiao touched the new bald spot on her left.
What is this inexplicable sense of refreshment accompanying the breeze? Why does it feel strangely… satisfying?
The crowd hadn’t even recovered from the first shock when they were stunned again by “Wen Ying’s” second strike.
Damn it!
How did I miss again?!
Xu Huang stopped smiling abruptly. She gripped the short blade tightly and, throwing caution to the wind, began hacking and slashing at Mu Xiaoxiao’s face. One move followed another, looking for all the world like she intended to turn Mu Xiaoxiao’s face into mincemeat!
This time, I refuse to believe anything else can interfere!
However…
A massive flock of birds suddenly flew over from the sky. They dropped eggs, they dropped droppings, and some entire birds even fell straight out of the air.
Mu Xiaoxiao dodged left and right, twisting and turning.
And so—
Every single one of Xu Huang’s slashes missed by just a hair’s breadth.
After a full combo of attacks, Mu Xiaoxiao’s face remained completely unscathed, but there was a massive pile of hair on the ground.
The hair on Mu Xiaoxiao’s head was now virtually nonexistent. Patches of exposed scalp were everywhere, messy and uneven.
Mu Xiaoxiao touched her almost completely bald head and thought about the senior and junior sisters in her own sect…
Suddenly, she felt that this sensation wasn’t actually bad.
It felt like she had suddenly let go of a heavy burden, resulting in an instant sense of relief.
Watching “Wen Ying” strike like this, the crowd was dumbfounded.
Our bodies, hair, and skin are gifts from our parents; shaving one’s head implies becoming a nun or a monk.
Especially for a young woman like Mu Xiaoxiao, it signified severing her romantic ties to the world.
Moreover, a haircut that looked like it had been gnawed on by dogs was, in a sense, a form of disfigurement.
Such methods were indeed somewhat vicious.
But…
How should they put it? Didn’t this method feel a bit too… low-rent?
There was harm done, certainly, but cultivators didn’t care about hair as much as ordinary people did. Besides, if she nurtured it with some qi, the hair would grow back in a few days at most…
Xu Huang was panting slightly, whether from exhaustion or rage was unclear.
She circulated her qi for another cycle, preparing to launch a second wave of attacks, when Mu Xiaoxiao suddenly hopped off the stage on her own accord.
“I concede this match,” Mu Xiaoxiao said, bowing with cupped hands to Xu Mofeng. “I’ve thought it through. I should listen to my Master: shave away the three thousand threads of worry, cut off my mortal connections, and focus entirely on farming. As for winning or losing… since the mundane world no longer concerns me, why should I fight for victory?”
Just now, the moment she let go of those things in her heart, Mu Xiaoxiao suddenly felt an unprecedented clarity.
It was as if she finally understood why the kernels on the corn in her fields were never plump enough, and why her grapes were always a little sour.
Sure enough, the choice made by her Master and so many of her sisters was the correct one.
Only by letting go of worldly disturbances can one focus on doing one thing well.
…
When Wen Ying woke up, she heard the system’s festive, New Year-like voice ringing in her ears.
【Congratulations, Host! Congratulations! The Farming Novel Second Female Lead Mission has been successfully completed, and Series Mission Two has also been successfully completed!】
Wen Ying: “…”
Could she curse?
She had just taken a nap. She hadn’t even had a dream. She did absolutely nothing, so how were two missions completed just like that?!!
【This is all thanks to you shutting off your five senses, Host. We don’t know what dream you were having just now, but you unleashed a chaotic barrage of qi at the ceiling! It startled the passing birds into dropping eggs and relieving themselves. The reaction time and distance were just right to land everything on Mu Xiaoxiao’s head. Otherwise, if you look at the roof now, it’s full of holes.】
【Even more coincidentally, a flock of social “Party Birds” happened to be living right next to your room. They got spooked together, so an entire flock flew away at once.】
Wen Ying glanced at the roof.
The roof was currently riddled with holes, looking like a block of smashed tofu.
The system didn’t seem to be lying to her.
When Wen Ying used a spell to find out what had happened over at the arena, she fell silent.
Although she hadn’t done anything, it seemed she had indirectly caused Mu Xiaoxiao to achieve enlightenment and become a nun on the spot.
Just like that, completely unbeknownst to him, Qian Moshi had lost such a significant girlfriend.
Tsk.
She really shouldn’t have been absent. Absence leads to uncontrollable situations.
However, if Wen Ying were given another chance to choose, she would still choose—sleeping in!
Sleeping in is the best!
Author’s Note:
Qian Moshi: Listen to me, thank you… [referencing a meme song]
Qian Moshi, you should look on the bright side. How wonderful is a no-CP life! Long live being single!
The “Party Birds” are obviously something I made up. You can interpret them as birds that only exist in this fictional world.
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