Flirting with the Villain's Mother - Chapter 42

Shen Su didn’t put Wei Nanyi down for a simple reason: Wei Nanyi’s legs were injured, making it impossible for her to stand. Even if Shen Su released her, Wei Nanyi would still need to lean on her for support, which would allow Wei Nanyi to easily see Shen Su’s flushed face.

Why hasn’t my tail retracted yet?

The more Shen Su circulated her spiritual power, the longer her fox tail grew.

Gritting her teeth, Shen Su’s mind was consumed by urgency.

If this tail won’t retract, I might as well transform completely into a fox. At least then I could escape this embarrassing situation.

At this moment, Shen Su no longer cared about her half-demon identity. She even wished she could fully transform into a fox, use her sharp claws to dig a hole, and bury herself in it. As she embraced her fox traits, more and more fox fur sprouted across her body.

A flash of red light, and the human figure vanished, replaced by a fox roughly four feet tall.

Its fur was a vibrant, glossy red, swaying in the cold wind like burning flames. Its pupils glowed with an eerie green light in the darkness, both dangerous and alluring.

A slender woman clung to its back.

This fox was none other than Shen Su.

Shen Su never imagined that her idle thoughts would actually transform her into a fox—and not just any fox, but one with an imposing presence.

She lifted her front paw in disbelief, then immediately began digging a hole in the ground.

Even the well-versed Wei Nanyi had never witnessed a complete demon transformation. Perched on the fox’s back, she felt bewildered and uncertain.

Logically, a half-demon’s bloodline should be impure, allowing only partial demon transformation rather than full metamorphosis. Moreover, Shen Su’s bloodline wasn’t even half fox demon; the Mirror Quilt bloodline should have been dominant. So where had Shen Su’s other demon transformation form gone?

Before Wei Nanyi could ponder this further, she saw the tall, strikingly beautiful fox begin clawing at the ground.

She froze for a moment, then realized what was happening. The blush that had finally faded returned to her cheeks, though thankfully the fox didn’t turn around.

Wei Nanyi gently tugged at the fox’s fur and leaned forward slightly. “Miss Shen, we still need to reach the Divine Temple. Can you sense anything unusual?”

She deliberately avoided mentioning the recent incident, and the hole-digging Red Fox obediently stopped.

The Red Fox’s pupils flickered in the darkness, its ears twitching with the wind. Suddenly, it darted forward to the right.

It seemed Shen Su had found the way.

Wei Nanyi had been right all along.

Her remarkably keen hearing might indeed stem from her fox ears. After fully transforming into a fox, Shen Su discovered that the demonic aspects of her body had become controllable. Her hearing and vision had sharpened, even growing stronger with her spiritual power and remaining under her command.

This made sense. Though she had heard Wei Nanyi’s sobs even before her fox ears emerged, her bloodline had awakened the moment they met.

The Red Fox, carrying Wei Nanyi on its back, leaped through a Light Barrier, leaving the forest behind.

Gone was the endless expanse of dense woodland. In its place stood a magnificent, golden-roofed temple, its rear connected to a towering mountain.

Wei Nanyi glanced up at the temple. Though she detected no immediate danger, she leaned forward slightly, reaching for the Jade Pendant at the Red Fox’s neck. She twisted the pendant into its sword shape, concealing Shen Su’s form. Shen Yiwen’s Full Star Jade, while capable of suppressing cultivation in its crescent moon form, was designed to lock onto targets. The other two forms, however, covered fixed areas, thus concealing Wei Nanyi, who was clinging to the Red Fox’s back.

Wei Nanyi didn’t rise. Instead, she slowly rubbed the cord of the jade pendant between her fingers. The cord gradually reddened in her palm, and in an instant, it transformed into two identical jade pendants. Wei Nanyi reshaped the extra pendant into a bamboo leaf, concealing both her and the Red Fox’s forms and shadows.

With this done, Wei Nanyi sighed in relief. “Miss Shen, you can speak now. But these two forms can only be maintained for the time it takes an incense stick to burn.”

After Wei Nanyi manipulated the jade pendant, Shen Su dared not move a muscle. She had never imagined that Shen Yiwen’s Full Star Jade could be split apart, let alone that Wei Nanyi knew how to use it. It seemed Shen Yiwen respected Wei Nanyi even more than she had thought, having shared every detail of the Spirit Tool’s design with her before its completion.

Shen Su remained silent. The Red Fox, without a word, carried Wei Nanyi toward the temple. Wei Nanyi knew Shen Su was likely still dwelling on what had just happened and sighed helplessly. She hadn’t taken offense, but this Fox, though physically large, clearly had a narrow mind.

“Miss Shen, how did you find the exit just now?” Wei Nanyi asked.

Shen Su hadn’t heard anything unusual, but she had clearly seen clusters of green light converging in one spot. Staring intently, she could faintly discern shadowy figures within the luminous mass.

On a whim, she had charged toward the coalescing green lights, never expecting it to actually be the exit.

Hearing Wei Nanyi’s question, Shen Su immediately became talkative, eagerly recounting her encounter with the woman and the green lights.

Wei Nanyi quickly grasped the situation. “So half-demons can possess two innate abilities after all. Miss Shen, you must have not only exceptionally keen hearing but also a spiritual eye.”

Demons develop unique innate abilities upon gaining sentience. The stronger a demon’s innate talent, the more powerful its associated abilities. Some exceptionally gifted demons even possess two formidable innate abilities. For example, Shen Su’s ancestor, Mirror Quilt, possessed both the ability to peer into human hearts and the power to seize the bodies of demonic creatures—both extraordinarily potent abilities that testified to Mirror Quilt’s exceptional talent.

Demons and humans have always been at odds. This animosity deepened over a thousand years ago when the demons of Wild Goose Jade Mountain feigned surrender to the Four Great Sects, only to steal their sacred treasures. This betrayal plunged relations between the two races to an all-time low, making romantic relationships between humans and demons universally condemned. As a result, half-demons were ostracized by the Cultivation World, forced to conceal their demonic nature and live in hiding. Wei Nanyi had encountered relatively few half-demons and knew little about their unique traits.

She never imagined that half-demons, like their demonic counterparts, would possess varying numbers of innate abilities based on their inherent talent, though they lacked the innate cultivation methods of full-blooded demons.

Shen Su’s two abilities were remarkably strong.

“A spiritual eye?” Wei Nanyi asked.

Wei Nanyi nodded. “Yes, Miss Shen. You can perceive Spirit Bodies. As your Cultivation grows, you’ll be able to see increasingly more Spirit Bodies, even residual souls. I’ve only ever read about such an ability in the archives of Approaching Immortals Mountain.”

Wei Nanyi’s words implied that Shen Su possessed Spirit Communication abilities, and not just through her eyes. Her ears had clearly heard the woman’s voice moments ago.

In the Cultivation World, Spirit Communication seemed largely useless.

After all, most Cultivators and Demonic Creatures perished with their souls scattering into nothingness. Even if a remnant soul miraculously survived, it would quickly dissipate.

Shen Su, deeply reliant on Wei Nanyi, voiced her thoughts immediately: “Madam, the spiritual eye doesn’t seem very useful.”

Wei Nanyi gently shook her head and asked softly, “That’s not quite right. While the spiritual eye has no offensive capabilities, Miss Shen, when do you think Cultivators and Demonic Creatures most often meet their end, aside from combat?”

Shen Su mentally reviewed the book’s plot and quickly replied, “Treasure hunting!”

“Exactly, treasure hunting,” Wei Nanyi said, her voice remaining soft and measured, punctuated by occasional coughs. “Cough… Since they died seeking treasures, any surviving remnant souls would cling fiercely to their obsessions, endlessly haunting the spiritual artifacts. Cough… In essence, the greater the concentration of Spirit Bodies, the more treasures there will be. Many Sects even equip their disciples with high-grade Spirit Tools that can detect Spirit Bodies before sending them into Secret Realms for treasure hunts. Miss Shen, your innate ability to see Spirit Bodies must be the envy of countless cultivators.”

In the original novel, the male lead, Yu Muhan, relied entirely on his protagonist’s aura to find treasures. Wherever he went, treasures seemed to follow him.

Shen Su was hearing this for the first time. Her eyes lit up. “So, I can find treasures faster than anyone else? Then I can avenge Madam sooner!”

Ever since learning about the hatred she carried, Shen Su had been determined to seek revenge.

Because Shen Su had been honest about her intentions, Wei Nanyi knew that Shen Su was, in a sense, a gift left to her by Mirror Quilt—a vessel carrying Mirror Quilt’s desire to repay her kindness. However, Jiang An was not an easy target.

Wei Nanyi had always been one to bear her burdens alone. Stroking the fox’s soft fur, she coaxed, “Miss Shen, even with the ancestral legacy on your shoulders, you should think of yourself first. Let’s not talk about revenge anymore, shall we?”

“Madam, but this is what I want,” Shen Su murmured, unable to suppress the words. She glanced away. “Miss Jiang can’t kill her own father. Wouldn’t it be best if I did it?”

Wei Nanyi fell silent for a moment before speaking again, though she avoided the topic of revenge.

“Miss Shen, because you possess the spiritual eye, the woman you saw earlier was likely the soul of a woman devoured by demons here.”

Shen Su wasn’t foolish. With Wei Nanyi’s guidance, she quickly pieced together the cause and effect of the situation.

The animal souls she had seen in the oil lamp weren’t the result of a cultivation technique, but rather her own innate power. The animals had been used as lamp oil, having died recently with their souls still intact, allowing Shen Su to see them so clearly.

However, her spiritual power was still weak, limiting her to perceiving only complete souls. The woman’s soul was incomplete, and the green dots likely represented fragmented souls. It was their combined energy that allowed Shen Su to glimpse the woman twice, albeit briefly, and guide her direction.

It seemed they hadn’t arrived quickly enough. The demon had already devoured some of the villagers.

With their auras, voices, and forms concealed, Shen Su easily led Wei Nanyi into the temple.

The temple hall door stood ajar, and the sound of arguing drifted from within: “Cry, just cry! What’s there to cry about? To be chosen as offerings and servants to a Divine Being—that’s their good fortune!”

Shen Su hurried Wei Nanyi to the hall, the Fox pressing its eye against the door crack.