The Heroine Made a Pact With Senior Sister (GL) Chapter 35

“This…” Ruoying raised her eyes to Huixue. “When did this happen?”
“On the day the spirit bird delivered the message to Martial Uncle Shadow.” Spiritual light moved faintly in Huixue’s palm, and the note instantly turned into flakes of snow that scattered into the wind. “It was not only me. Everyone in Hanyou Valley above me received one, but Martial Uncle Shadow did not.”
The reason someone would target Ruoying was obvious. Ruoying wandered outside the cultivation world, but her behavior had never matched the cultivation world’s etiquette and rules. She also disdained following so-called worldly manners. In the eyes of some conservatives, she was willful and reckless, and many people regarded her as a thorn in the eye. Add to that the fact that Ruoying had shocked the continent with her genius when she was young. The name of genius itself was a kind of original sin that made enemies, whether one chose it or not.
“You sealed it?” Ruoying smiled and took a flake of snow. The snow quickly turned into water in her palm. “If I am not wrong, this would have turned to ash at three quarters into Si hour, right?”
Huixue nodded. “Exactly.”
To Mu Yinfeng’s surprise, Ruoying seemed to have sensed this already. She turned her back and looked toward the cold pool, where cold waves rolled, then sighed faintly.
“There are plenty of people who want to kill me. If I went to find them one by one, at least half of the cultivation world would collapse. How could I possibly do something like that?” Ruoying straightened the moth crown on her head by looking at the cold pool’s surface and said faintly, “But if they could succeed, they would not have let me live until now. What you should be thinking about is not what will happen to me, but the Immortal Sects Assembly coming next. Senior Sister’s disciples will not lose.”
Just then, Mu Yinfeng heard a thin buzzing sound above her head. She helplessly raised her head. The flapping wings confirmed her bad feeling.
A messenger spirit bird.
“Third Junior Sister, why have you not come to find Senior Brother in so long?”
“Third Junior Sister, why are you keeping such a stiff face? It is like Senior Brother owes you a lot of money. A young girl who keeps a stiff face for too long will not look pretty.”
“Third Junior Sister, this time, bringing Senior Brother down the mountain is only natural…” Chang Zui glanced slyly at Huixue behind him and lowered his voice. “Why did you bring Senior Sister along?”
“No one will think you are mute if you do not speak.” Mu Yinfeng could not endure it anymore and finally answered.
If not for this cursed worldview coming out to cause trouble again, she would never have walked out of Hanyou Valley alone. Calling Huixue along was the same. She had not even remembered Chang Zui, the male lead who had been offline for so long.
The fact that he had not died last time was pure luck. If Abi’s medicine cultivator line had not carried life-saving teleportation talismans and happened to pull him along to escape at the instant the illusion realm descended, Mu Yinfeng did not think Chang Zui would have survived the attack of butterflies filling the sky.
When could Chang Zui die? Did the plot have to follow the rules?
Mu Yinfeng twisted her hands together, feeling deeply bitter. If they had to follow the plot, she would not be able to shake Chang Zui off for years. If she really married Chang Zui and completed the wedding night… Thinking of this, Mu Yinfeng hurriedly shook her head. Impossible. It did not exist. If Chang Zui dared step into the room, Huixue would not need to act. Mu Yinfeng would personally take his worthless life.
All along the road, they listened to Chang Zui chatter. Huixue followed behind like a ghost, and Mu Yinfeng could not say much. In front of Chang Zui, she also could not act too close to Huixue. Because if she said even one sentence, before Huixue could answer, Chang Zui could cut in with ten or twenty. Once Chang Zui finished speaking, Huixue naturally had no desire to talk.
The three walked in silence all the way to their target, Qionglin Town. Qionglin Town was one of the most prosperous places under Yongning Prefecture. Because of that, the Yongning prefect took this matter especially seriously. Though they strongly refused, the prefect still sent people to escort them to Qionglin Town. But when they stood on Qionglin Town’s street, all of them began to suspect at the same time that something was wrong with their eyes. People came and went in crowds along the street. Shouts of vendors and sounds of bargaining came without end. Children’s laughter was everywhere. There was not the slightest sign of anything unusual.
“Candied hawthorns for sale!”
“Tofu, tofu for sale!”
“Fortune-telling and divination, three coins a reading, every reading accurate!”
“Miss, would you like to look at this new cloth? It would make beautiful new clothes…”
Mu Yinfeng found it noisy, so she simply covered her ears, closed her eyes, and gathered her mind. Her spiritual sense spread out and swept across all of Qionglin Town. After pondering for a long while, she found that with her mental power, she had not detected anything unusual in the town.
Could this evil being hide from her mental power scan? One had to know that even Jian Shu had not been able to completely hide her tracks from Mu Yinfeng’s mental power. Could this be an evil being that specialized in blocking mental power?
That did not seem right either…
The dossier wrote it very clearly. When this evil being caused chaos, it used the most cruel method of slow slicing to wipe out an entire household. This was a foolish method that almost seemed afraid of not being discovered. Evil beings who specialized in mental power would normally give up part of their physical attack strength accordingly, and they usually looked down on bloody methods like this. Most importantly, using mental power to control things was much easier than personally going in to do this. Unless an evil being’s mind had something wrong with it, no one would use such a troublesome and dirty method.
“Yinfeng, look at this.” Huixue, who had been silent, suddenly spoke. She pulled Mu Yinfeng away from Chang Zui and handed her a map.
Chang Zui did not dare approach and could only stand to the side, stretching his neck as long as possible.
“A map?” Mu Yinfeng finally let out a breath of relief. “The one attached to the dossier?”
“Yes. The place drawn on the map is Qionglin Town, but this part is not quite right.” Huixue pointed to a house in the upper-left part of the map. A large circle had been drawn around the house with cinnabar, bright red and dazzling, marking the evil being’s location. “I came here a few years ago. This place was only an ancient tomb.”
People of the current dynasty cared greatly about feng shui. Even if they had to sleep on the street, they would not live on top of an ancient tomb. Even if someone was not afraid, the neighbors would do everything they could to stop them. After all, what would be moved was the feng shui of an entire town. No one would dare take such a great risk.
“Senior Sister means… a false report?” Mu Yinfeng asked quietly.
Huixue shook her head. “I do not know either. But Guiyuan Tower’s rating for this evil being has already come down.”
The two exchanged a very tacit look and thought of Ruoying’s matter at the same time. If someone wanted to make this possible, then a piece belonging to that hidden hand had to be planted inside Guiyuan Tower.
“Earth-grade Wu rank?” Huixue slowly said, “It does not look too troublesome.”
That Butterfly Spirit had not looked troublesome. The Heaven-grade Mao rank had not looked very troublesome either… Mu Yinfeng was amazed at these evil beings’ ability to hide their strength. Were evil beings now all so good at concealing their light?
Was this not clearly drawing her into a trap before unleashing something big?
It seemed… yes… Mu Yinfeng tried hard to recall the book’s plot and reached this conclusion. These evil beings were more or less, or perhaps certainly, targeting her on purpose. Because of that, not one of the ratings she received had ever been accurate.
“With your ability, telling whether this is true or false should be easy.” Huixue stared at Mu Yinfeng. She knew Mu Yinfeng’s Linglong Heart Method. “You only need to meet the client.”
In the previous life, Huixue had seen Mu Yinfeng’s almost eerie heart method. As long as Mu Yinfeng looked at someone once, no secret could escape those clear, fire-seeing eyes. There was only one way to avoid being seen through by her: one had to avoid meeting her gaze.
Mu Yinfeng from the previous life seemed to stand before Huixue’s eyes again. She held a pipa, smiling with enchanting beauty. Threads of yin energy circled around her, flowing soundlessly. When she raised her eyes, Huixue could faintly see strange, mottled colors inside them. “Senior Sister, you still remember me. I truly thank you. But the Linglong Heart Method cannot let me see through Senior Sister’s heart, because the Linglong Heart Method targets hearts that are still alive. Senior Sister’s heart is sealed in ice. How am I supposed to see through it?”
Huixue had to admit that Mu Yinfeng was the most beautiful woman she had ever seen. That kind of bewitching charm was not something ordinary people could learn. She found that most of her memories of Mu Yinfeng stayed on the image of that demoness. The current Mu Yinfeng always gave her an unreal feeling. She was Mu Yinfeng, yet did not seem like Mu Yinfeng.
Huixue had thought Mu Yinfeng liked Chang Zui. Although Chang Zui had evil intentions, once a girl fell in love, it was very hard to see the other person’s flaws. This time, leaving Hanyou Valley had also been something Mu Yinfeng took the initiative to invite Chang Zui for. If Huixue had not known Chang Zui’s intentions were impure, she would have wanted to withdraw. Unexpectedly, Mu Yinfeng took the initiative to keep her there. The way she raised her eyes slightly, wanting to speak yet stopping, made Huixue understand the girl’s thoughts without any effort.
In the previous life, had Mu Yinfeng ever been like this?
Or had she sensed something because Huixue’s deliberate care for her future made her feel it?
Mu Yinfeng’s perception had always been sharp. Huixue had noticed this when she fought Mu Yinfeng back then.
“There is no client.” Mu Yinfeng’s voice pulled Huixue back to the town before her. Mu Yinfeng held the map with a defeated look and let out a long sigh. “Because on the second day after this client reported the matter to Guiyuan Tower, he drank himself to death.”
At the end of the dossier, the five large words client deceased were written plainly, with a long explanation beside them saying it had not been caused by an evil being.
Mu Yinfeng was also troubled. In the book, this evil-removal case had only cause and result. After writing that she and Chang Zui left Hanyou Valley together, the text turned to someone else. By the time it remembered to write her again, she had already returned to Hanyou Valley.
So this counted completely as content she had to improvise.
Mu Yinfeng shut the dossier and put it back into her storage ring. “Forget it. Let us go in and look. Thinking outside is useless.”
“That is exactly my thought.” Huixue agreed. “But Yinfeng, this matter itself is very strange. Have you ever seen a client put a map into a dossier?”
“I do not think so, but we cannot rule out the client suddenly having a strange idea.” Mu Yinfeng pressed her hands together and clapped once. “We should go in and look. Who is there?”
“What is wrong?”
“It seemed like there was something.”
Mu Yinfeng quickly swept her gaze around. The crowd was still the same, noisy and lively, full of the air of ordinary streets. She could not see anything unusual.
“Are you all immortal masters? Here to Qionglin Town to remove an evil being?” An old man passing by saw Mu Yinfeng looking around as if searching for something and kindly came over. “In Qionglin Town, actually, nothing happened. It was all that drunkard Sun being greedy for wine and seeing flowers before his eyes. Sorry to trouble the immortal masters to come out. The sky is already late now. Immortal masters, please return.”
“Old sir, you are clearly human. Why speak for an evil being like this?” Mu Yinfeng asked softly. “Old sir heard legends about the evil being in Qionglin Town when you were young. The place where the evil being appears is the site of the previous dynasty’s ancient tomb, right?”
Hearing this, the old man hurriedly gave an apologetic smile. “As expected, nothing can be hidden from the immortal master’s eyes. There is an evil being in Qionglin Town, but this… this evil being does not appear to harm people. Tell me, can an evil being that does not cause evil still be counted as an evil being? Immortal master, for the sake of all beings being equal, please let them go.”
The old man’s second statement was not false. In the more than sixty years he had seen, there really had been no record of the evil being harming people. On the contrary, although this evil being often appeared in Qionglin Town, the most common reason it showed itself was harmless jokes and pranks. It did not count for much at all.
Could an evil being like this commit a massacre that wiped out a whole household? No one would believe it.
Mu Yinfeng was now completely confused. Plot content improvised without the script was like original episodes made by an animation studio she had once watched. She could never understand the producers’ train of thought.
It seemed they could only go to the scene of the case. Mu Yinfeng secretly planned, then glanced at Chang Zui beside her and smiled faintly.
“What are you smiling about?” Huixue saw Mu Yinfeng smile at Chang Zui for no reason. Before her eyes appeared the scene of Chang Zui holding a dagger, about to stab down at Mu Yinfeng’s back. Her heart tightened in alarm, and she hurriedly used her hand to cut off Mu Yinfeng’s line of sight.
“Nothing. Let us go look.” Mu Yinfeng blinked at Huixue.
“Do not use Yin Charm Art on me. It is useless.” Huixue felt her action just now seemed somewhat improper, so she hurriedly composed herself and warned Mu Yinfeng solemnly.
“Of course I know, Senior Sister.” Mu Yinfeng’s eyes seemed to reflect the bright moonlight, clear and shining. Huixue nearly froze at the sight, but luckily, she had always shown others a cold expression, so Mu Yinfeng did not notice anything unusual.
“Senior Sister, Third Junior Sister, have you… cough, finished talking?” Chang Zui awkwardly came over. He had thought that when he and Mu Yinfeng left the valley, Huixue would be the extra one. Now he discovered that he seemed to be the extra one.
“Naturally.” Mu Yinfeng adjusted her expression and tone in an instant. She was almost a different person from the little girl who had faced Huixue just now. First, she thanked the old man and promised to investigate clearly and handle the matter fairly. Only then did she turn to Chang Zui and say lightly, “We will stay in Qionglin Town tonight so we can observe the evil being’s movements at any time.”
“Stay where?” Chang Zui had finally been answered once and immediately chased the question. “There are many inns in Qionglin Town. Third Junior Sister…” He felt Huixue’s icy gaze fall on him and immediately changed his words. “Senior Sister, where does Senior Sister want to stay?”
Huixue pointed casually.
“What?” Chang Zui cried out in surprise.
Mu Yinfeng looked in the direction Huixue pointed. “!”
“Huanhua Pavilion.” Seeing that both of their expressions were not quite right, Huixue hurriedly looked carefully at this inn. She saw male and female guests being welcomed in and sent out, carriages and sedan chairs flowing like woven threads, and all the visitors wore either expensive or romantic clothing, with precious incense sachets and jade pendants. Music came from inside, laughter never ending. It looked like nothing more than an ordinary place of wealth and pleasure, with nothing unusual. “Is there a problem?”
Chang Zui immediately covered his eyes to show that he would not look at what was improper. “This is…”
“…A brothel…” Mu Yinfeng tugged Huixue, who was still carefully examining Huanhua Pavilion. But it was already too late. The madam watching expressions at the door had already led several girls out gracefully, heading right toward Huixue.
They actually worked together this perfectly. Something in Huixue’s heart seemed to break open, releasing bitter juice that slowly soaked through her whole heart. Mu Yinfeng’s quick change in front of Chang Zui just now was probably to match Chang Zui’s preferences, right?
“Let us go quickly, Senior Sister. Do not get tangled up with them.” Mu Yinfeng was a little panicked. She had at least watched countless costume dramas and knew very well how clever a brothel madam’s tongue could be. If word got out that Hanyou Valley’s Senior Sister visited a brothel during an evil-removal mission… Even kneeling at Frostfall Cliff for a year would not clear Mu Yinfeng’s sin.
“What are you afraid of? If you want to leave, leave. I will not.” The more Huixue thought, the angrier she became, and the words left her mouth before careful thought. “What can they do to me?”
Mu Yinfeng was startled by Huixue. Could it be that Huixue did not fail to know what a brothel was, but was doing this on purpose?
At that moment, a strange aura came over. It was exactly the same as the faint wrongness she had sensed earlier.
It was a faint ghostly energy.
But people still moved back and forth along the street, lively and busy, without the slightest sign of anything unusual.
The shouts beside her ears still sounded, mixed with children’s laughter and adults bargaining.
“Candied hawthorns for sale!”
“Tofu, tofu for sale!”
“Fortune-telling and divination, three coins a reading, every reading accurate!”
“Miss, would you like to look at this new cloth? It would make beautiful new clothes…”
The same tone, the same voice, the same order. It was like a tape rewound and played in a loop countless times.
Mu Yinfeng’s fingertips went cold. She stood on tiptoe, wrapped an arm around Huixue’s shoulder, and lowered her voice beside Huixue’s ear. “A domain.”
Outside Qionglin Town stood two figures, one tall and one short. Both were wrapped in thick black cloaks, and no one could see their faces.
The short one sighed. Her fingertip moved, and faint silver-white spiritual light circled in her palm, lighting the black night. This light fell completely on the tall figure across from her, making even the moonlight dim. “Do you really plan to choose her as your inheritor? That child is not bad. Do not trick her.”
The tall figure’s hand hung outside her sleeve, revealing pointed nails. Half of each nail was dyed red, gorgeous and piercing to the eye. She gently lifted her hand. Her sleeve fell, revealing a blood-red bracelet around her slender wrist.
“I never said I would make her my inheritor.” Yimu spoke slowly. “The current her is not worthy to be my opponent yet.”
“Worthy or not, how do you know? The Yin-Yang Reversal Array itself greatly damages cultivation. Besides, during Yin-Yang Reversal, she sealed her own power as the price. The day all the seals break will be…”
“She cannot bear to.” Yimu played with the blood-vine bracelet on her wrist. Her pale, long fingers were as slender as five jade shoots. “If she could bear to break the seals, she would have broken through long ago. She does not belong to this human world, but staying here is her choice. I have no right to stop her.”
“She has already broken one seal now.” The short one was interrupted by Yimu, but she was not angry and only followed Yimu’s words. “The Linglong Heart Method. Judging from her familiarity with it, she should already be at the tenth layer.”
“I know that. Without predicting the other side’s actions, how could she have beaten Little Vermilion Bird? Little Vermilion Bird was the Jian family’s number one genius. That was not just empty talk. Unfortunately, there was still no fate.” Yimu raised her other hand. Spiritual light flashed in her palm, and a bottle appeared there. “She was ruthless enough. She directly scattered Little Vermilion Bird’s soul. I used a soul-calling spell and only found one soul and one spirit. Who would have thought Little Vermilion Bird would suffer such a big loss? Forming enmity with those above was not what I wanted.”
“Those above?” The short one tilted her head slightly and stared at Yimu’s face. “You have acted as you pleased for so long, and now there are people you fear?”
Yimu felt a little embarrassed. She coughed softly and hurriedly changed the topic. “Do not worry about so much. If she can face me without breaking the seals, only then can she be called my opponent.”
The short one sneered. “Forget it. Who does not know your reputation, Yimu? Even if the Geng and Xin divine envoys joined hands, they probably…” For some reason, the short one suddenly lowered her eyes, as if remembering something, and stopped speaking.
The evening wind blew softly. Yimu raised her eyes. Her gaze landed on what looked like an extremely prosperous town. Buildings stood in rows, and even in the middle of the night, songs and music drifted on the wind. But the white fog surrounding it added a sense of illusion, as if it were a mirage of smoke and clouds.
“Your Myriad Manifestations Domain is very useful. Why use a blood-vine leaf to ask the dream ghost family for help?” the short one suddenly asked.
“Myriad Manifestations? I cannot use similar methods on her. As long as I have used a method on her once, the second time, she will notice it easily.” Yimu put the blood vine back on her wrist. “The dream ghost family does not harm the people. But if someone hungry for achievement came along, they might kill the dream ghost family and go to Guiyuan Tower to claim credit. Guiyuan Tower’s one-cut-fits-all method was never suited to this reality, which is not simply black or white. My mental brand is on the blood-vine leaf. If some ignorant person wants to touch the dream ghost family, I would like to let them taste my methods.”
“Do you just want to find an excuse to kill people?”
“After killing too many people, it becomes boring. Over these years, if not a thousand, then eight hundred have died by my hand. Among them were plenty of Guiyuan Tower’s so-called famous righteous sect members.” Yimu sneered. “There have also been many people who surrounded me to kill me. But have you ever seen me let more than one living person go back?”
The short one pondered for a long while and let out a long breath. “So every time, you deliberately let one person go back just to report the news?”
“I do not want them to count wrong.” Yimu slowly withdrew her gaze. “The dream ghost family combined should be above Earth-grade Si rank, but still cannot reach Chen rank. Still, that is enough for her to face. After all, she has a burden beside her.”
“…Chang Zui?”
“I do not care whether this one is Shao Zui or Chang Zui. In my view, he is simply not on the same level as her. With this one’s strength, he cannot even beat a slightly stronger Wu-rank being.” Yimu did not hide the mockery in her voice. “What do you think?”
“He is still Bing Ling’er’s second disciple. Leave him some face when you speak.” The short one was somewhat speechless. “Bing Ling’er favors him greatly. Although Chang Zui’s strength is poor, the spiritual artifacts he wears are all high grade.”
“Spiritual artifacts depend on who uses them. If someone lacks strength, even giving him a god-level artifact would be virtue unworthy of position.” Yimu tugged the short one. Her hand accidentally touched the short one’s shoulder, and the short one suddenly shrank back. Yimu laughed. “People in the cultivation world fear me. Do you fear me too?”
The short one’s voice sounded a little huffy. “I do not fear you.”
“Then let us see whether you fear me later.” Yimu smiled faintly. “For now, we only need to watch the battle. If the blood vine could acknowledge its master now, I would not need to appear. Although she successfully used the blood vine against Jian Shu, that was only because the blood vine had to reluctantly obey her arrangements to protect itself. She is still far from controlling the blood vine on her own.”
“What are her chances of victory?”
“One tenth.”
“What?”
“One tenth is enough for her.” Yimu said softly, “Even impossibility cannot easily stand against her. She was always someone skilled at creating miracles.”
“You noticed?” Huixue’s face was expressionless. Mu Yinfeng could not tell whether Huixue was blaming or mocking her. She could only feel that the emotion Huixue sent her was negative.
Mu Yinfeng truly did not understand why Huixue was angry again. She sighed inwardly, then raised her head and saw the madam arrive before them. The scent of powder rushed at her. Before speaking, the madam revealed a three-part smile, and even knowing this was an illusion, Mu Yinfeng could not help feeling chilled.
“Two fairy-like young ladies have descended to earth. Why not come sit in our Huanhua Pavilion?” the madam said sweetly. “Huanhua Pavilion is the largest pleasure house in all of Yongning Prefecture. Many immortal masters and fairies visit every day.”
“What would we visit Huanhua Pavilion for? Do you have anyone in Huanhua Pavilion who can dual cultivate?” Creations in an illusion were the most troublesome, because unlike normal people, they had no feelings. They would only act according to orders and would not stop until they reached their goal. Thinking of this, Mu Yinfeng had no time to think too much and hurriedly grabbed Huixue’s hand. “Senior Sister, let us go quickly. Do not get entangled with them.”
The longer one stayed in an illusion, the harder it became to find its flaws. It was like the time they entered Yimu’s Myriad Manifestations Domain on Yongmu Peak. At first, one might feel a little wrongness, but after staying in the domain for a long time, even if one knew it was a domain, finding the flaw would be difficult.
The key now was finding the domain’s flaw.
But to her surprise, Huixue coldly shook off her hand and turned to the madam. “No need to keep talking. I will go into your Huanhua Pavilion and look.”
What!
The madam immediately beamed. “This fairy-like young lady clearly has taste. I wonder what kind of girl you like, so this old woman can have the girls come serve you.”
Huixue looked coldly at the madam. “It does not matter. As long as she can be looked at.”
“That will not do. Huanhua Pavilion has all kinds of girls. Fairy young lady should still…”
“No way. Senior Sister really plans to go to this kind of place?” Chang Zui, shocked speechless, pulled Mu Yinfeng’s sleeve. “Third Junior Sister, are you not going to persuade her?”
Mu Yinfeng looked back at him. “You go?”
Chang Zui immediately wilted and muttered, “Who would dare persuade Senior Sister? I am afraid she would cut me down with one sword…”
“Then it is best to shut up.” Mu Yinfeng shook Chang Zui off. “Right now, we are inside an illusion domain. You had better be careful. Do not touch things carelessly. If something goes wrong, I cannot take care of you!”
“How could that be? How could I let Third Junior Sister protect me?” Chang Zui immediately said, “Do not worry, Third Junior Sister. I will definitely protect you well.”
Mu Yinfeng was anxious about Huixue’s abnormal behavior and only paid attention to the situation over there. She casually answered Chang Zui a few times and secretly rejoiced that she had finally brushed him off. Just then, Mu Yinfeng saw Huixue point at her and say impatiently, “Someone like her will do.”
Mu Yinfeng was utterly baffled.
In the end, all three entered Huanhua Pavilion. Mu Yinfeng had to watch Huixue’s movements, while Chang Zui followed her like a sticky plaster. No matter how Mu Yinfeng drove him away, he would not leave.
Mu Yinfeng took a deep breath and told herself to endure. Endure a few more years, wear Chang Zui to death, and her merit would be complete.
The decorations in Huanhua Pavilion were gorgeous. A winding stream connected the various rooms inside the pavilion, and most rooms were separated by pearl curtains and screens, making them especially elegant. The silk and bamboo music was pleasing to the ear, accompanied by the gentle sound of flowing water, giving everything a refined air.
The madam led them to a room and hurried out to call several girls in. Their brows and eyes were all somewhat similar to Mu Yinfeng’s. Mu Yinfeng wanted to cry but had no tears. She could only stand beside the window and feel the wind, waiting for Huixue to choose.
“Truly strange. Senior Sister is actually this kind of person. You really cannot judge by appearance…” The sticky plaster clung over again and chattered on.
But Mu Yinfeng turned this chatterbox into a silent gourd with one sentence. “Why do you not say that in front of Senior Sister?”
Chang Zui did not dare speak again. He stretched out a hand, wanting to wrap an arm around Mu Yinfeng, but Mu Yinfeng dodged away from his claws with one sidestep. A plan formed in her heart. While avoiding Chang Zui, she tilted slightly and, amid the startled cries of the girls, directly crashed into Huixue’s arms.
Huixue saw that someone had suddenly appeared in her arms. “…”
Mu Yinfeng hurriedly avoided Huixue’s gaze. “…”
Chang Zui: “…”
He increasingly felt that he was serving as some kind of extra component. But clearly, Mu Yinfeng was his… Chang Zui looked at the two of them unwillingly, gathered his courage, and walked over. “Third Junior Sister, do not be like this. You are disturbing Senior Sister’s good…”
Before he could say interest, Chang Zui suddenly felt two gazes as cold as knives stab into his face, as if they wanted to slice him to pieces alive.
He hurriedly retreated and silently repeated three times: my little life matters, my little life matters, my little life matters.
Provoking Huixue was never wise at any time. As for this Senior Sister who sometimes did not even give Bing Ling’er face, he was not tired of living.
“These will not do. Bring another group.” Huixue snorted coldly, waved her hand, then pinched Mu Yinfeng’s face. She turned to the madam. “Bring someone like this.”
“These are already very similar…” The madam said helplessly. “These girls are all…”
“I do not care what they are. Find one just like this one.” Huixue interrupted the madam and casually tossed a high-grade spirit stone onto the table. “Even for your top girl, one spirit stone should be enough, right?”
As she spoke, as if afraid the madam had not seen, she heavily pinched Mu Yinfeng’s face again.
“Senior Sister, be gentler!” Mu Yinfeng rubbed her pinched face and bared her teeth.
Huixue raised her brows, as if saying, Do you have an opinion?
Mu Yinfeng did not have the slightest opinion. She had just wanted to get up, but Huixue pressed her back down.
The madam to the side watched this scene and inwardly thought it was exciting, but showed nothing on her face. She hurriedly dismissed the girls and ordered someone to invite Miss Mingzhu, Huanhua Pavilion’s top girl.
As soon as Miss Mingzhu entered the room, Mu Yinfeng suddenly sensed a faint trace of ghostly energy leak out, but it disappeared quickly. She had just wanted to stand and investigate, but suddenly felt a chill at her waist. At first, she thought Tianbing was causing trouble again, so she reached toward her waist to try to take Tianbing off. Instead, she touched a hand.
That hand quietly turned and clasped her wrist. Mu Yinfeng suddenly felt a spiritual current silently pour into her body, just like what Ruoying had done to her that time, sealing her acupoints at once.
“Do not act rashly. This is someone else’s territory.” Huixue’s voice suddenly sounded in her sea of consciousness. “Did you also sense that ghostly energy?”
Mu Yinfeng nodded. “Senior Sister, you mean you did all this to investigate that ghostly energy?”
“More or less. I can sense it too.” Huixue’s hand firmly held Mu Yinfeng’s wrist, while her other arm wrapped around Mu Yinfeng’s waist and stopped her from moving at all. “Do not move. I can only connect our seas of consciousness when our bodies are touching. Look at the newly arrived Mingzhu.”
Mu Yinfeng followed Huixue’s instruction and looked at the veiled beauty standing before them. Her expression changed slightly. This beauty’s appearance was not like any person they had seen just now. If someone who did not know Mu Yinfeng well saw her, she could almost pass for the real thing.
Was Mu Yinfeng’s face really that common? It was one thing for the Butterfly Goddess statue to look almost exactly like her, but how could even a girl in a pleasure house look eighty or ninety percent similar to her?
“Those that cannot be arranged in advance are basically transformed by the evil beings themselves. Only that way can their speech and answers flow smoothly.” Huixue’s gaze never left Mingzhu, who had entered. “The more similar the transformed appearance is to the true body, the stronger the evil being’s cultivation. This Mingzhu should be one of the evil beings’ masterminds.”
“How can you tell?”
“Look at her hands.” Huixue stared at Mingzhu’s hands. Tianbing had already wrapped around Huixue’s arm, ready to attack at any time. “Even if evil beings transform, they will keep some marks from when they were alive. Unless they have already reached Heaven-grade, they cannot be perfect. Yinfeng, look. Her hands clearly are not hands used for playing qin or flute. They are hands that use a blade. The left hand is slightly larger than the right, so she should be left-handed.”
“This is Miss Mingzhu. May I ask if the fairy young lady is satisfied?” Seeing no change in Huixue’s expression, the madam hurriedly asked.
Mingzhu covered her lips and smiled, her smile carrying a somewhat unclear seduction.
Huixue nodded. Seeing that she finally agreed, the madam hurriedly ordered wine served and had people play a little song to add to the mood.
Mingzhu personally poured wine and offered it to Huixue’s lips.
Huixue accepted the cup and drank it down with her head raised.