Flirting with the Villain's Mother - Chapter 44

When Shen Su returned with Wei Nanyi to Sister-in-law Lin’s house, the woman was still kneeling before the Buddhist shrine, praying fervently.

Thick, blue-tinged smoke nearly filled the entire room, seeping into the side chambers. Yet the Immortal Fragrance sticks in the incense burner had barely burned down. Shen Su could no longer see the souls within the oil lamp; the animals’ power seemed to have been completely consumed, and even the lamp’s flame had dimmed slightly.

Now that Shen Su had fully embraced her Fox traits, she could freely control her demonic body.

She transformed back into human form, carrying Wei Nanyi on her back as she entered the house.

“Sister-in-law,” she called out, but there was no response. Shen Su had no intention of trying to persuade the woman; she planned to knock her unconscious and take her away. But as she approached the shrine, the lamp’s flame, which had been flickering weakly, suddenly blazed up, burning even brighter than before.

A continuous stream of blue mist surged toward Shen Su and Wei Nanyi, and a few wisps choked Shen Su’s throat.

Wei Nanyi, still clinging to Shen Su’s back, coughed weakly. “Cough… cough…”

Hearing Wei Nanyi’s cough, Shen Su also choked on two mouthfuls of the green mist.

The moment the mist entered her lungs, a wave of dizziness washed over her. She lowered her head and coughed violently twice, finally expelling the noxious vapor.

If she was suffering this much, how much worse must it be for Wei Nanyi?

Water. Wei Nanyi needs water.

A thought flickered through Shen Su’s mind, and a thin mist began to condense at the nape of her neck. The vaporized moisture rose in a gentle steam, dispersing the green mist around Wei Nanyi. Yet Wei Nanyi felt no relief. “Miss Shen, we need to leave this place immediately.”

Something felt wrong here, something Wei Nanyi hadn’t sensed at all when she was a rabbit.

At Approaching Immortals Mountain, Wei Nanyi had distinguished herself not only through her innate ability but also through her sharp intellect and keen intuition.

Ever since Shen Su carried her into this room, Wei Nanyi had felt a pair of eyes watching her, radiating danger.

Shen Su had also sensed the abnormality. “Agreed,” she replied quickly.

She hurried toward Sister-in-law Lin, but the flames in the room grew fiercer, thick smoke billowing everywhere. Shen Su’s body grew sluggish, her vision blurred, and the dizziness intensified.

Though the distance was short, it felt like crossing mountains and rivers.

Her body felt as if it were bound by countless invisible ropes, each end pulled by an immense force that made every step an agonizing struggle.

Shen Su channeled her spiritual power, instantly transforming into a massive fox. The fox’s towering form closed the distance between her and Sister-in-law Lin. She lowered her head and lunged, but her jaws never clamped down. Just as the fox’s snout was about to touch Sister-in-law Lin’s neck, a black mark flared to life on the back of her neck. The glowing sigil erupted with energy, instantly repelling the fox’s jaws.

“Miss Shen!” Wei Nanyi cried out, her concern for Shen Su evident.

“Madam, I’m fine,” Shen Su replied, lifting a fox paw to rub her slightly distorted snout. Her fox eyes drooped as she glanced at Sister-in-law Lin.

Sister-in-law Lin turned her head as well.

A faint black mist veiled her face, and her features instantly transformed. Gone was the healthy, alluring face; in its place was a delicate, seductive countenance. Her skin shimmered with a faint layer of scale-like powder, and the corners of her eyes tilted upward, each marked with a striking red mole like a drop of bl00d—bright, vivid, and intensely captivating. Her brow arched slightly, revealing the untamed arrogance in her eyes. “Wei Nanyi,” she purred.

The voice that emerged from her throat was not Sister-in-law Lin’s. It was soft and honeyed, yet brimming with hatred.

Shen Su didn’t recognize her, but Wei Nanyi did.

“Mu Ling,” Wei Nanyi murmured, the name of her enemy escaping her thin lips. Surprisingly, she remained calmer than expected.

She had sensed Mu Ling’s presence long ago, so seeing her now held no surprise.

Hatred surged silently into her heart. Beyond the dull, intermittent ache, her strongest sensation was not anger, but a strange unease.

Mu Ling’s aura was weak, barely sustained by Sister-in-law Lin’s body. The two seemed poorly integrated; only Sister-in-law Lin’s face had changed.

The moment Mu Ling’s identity was revealed, her dark, lustrous eyes transformed into pale golden vertical pupils. She fixed her gaze on Wei Nanyi, perched on the Fox’s back, and parted her lips slightly. A scarlet, forked tongue flickered from her mouth, trembling in the air. “What an honor, Divine Maiden,” she hissed, “that you still remember a snake demon slain by your sword.”

As the last word escaped her throat, her face suddenly dissolved, vanishing completely.

Wei Nanyi didn’t fully understand the sudden turn of events, but Shen Su saw more. “Madam, she’s dissolving into green specks of light and heading toward the Buddha statue.”

Wei Nanyi knew Shen Su could see Spirit Bodies, but her spiritual vision wasn’t strong enough to clearly discern weaker souls. These appeared as green specks of light before her eyes. Anything weaker would be invisible. This confirmed Mu Ling was truly dead—what remained was a soul, and an incomplete one at that.

Yet Wei Nanyi was certain she had shattered Mu Ling’s soul completely years ago. How could any remnant still exist? Could Jiang An have intervened? But if he had, why wouldn’t he have restored Mu Ling’s physical body instead of letting her waste time preparing a ritual here?

These questions were destined to remain unanswered. Wei Nanyi felt a dull ache in her chest. “Cough, cough, cough… Miss Shen, let’s leave quickly.”

The Red Fox nodded, grabbed Sister-in-law Lin—who had regained her original appearance but remained briefly unconscious from the snake spirit’s possession—by the scruff of her neck, and darted toward the door.

But flames blocked the Fox’s path, its claws tearing wildly at the surging fire.

“Wei Nanyi!”

Sensing Wei Nanyi’s impending escape, Mu Ling’s voice echoed once more.

This time, her cry was filled with anguish and despair, a far cry from the forced calm she had maintained earlier. Fury and hatred ignited within her in an instant.

The voice didn’t come from the unconscious Sister-in-law Lin, but from the statue behind them.

As Mu Ling’s voice rang out, layers of yellow cloth peeled away from the statue, revealing not the divine figure found in the Divine Temple, but a coiled black serpent.

The serpent’s long body lay coiled, its eyes tightly shut.

Suddenly, the serpent’s eyes snapped open.

A pair of golden, vertical pupils locked onto Wei Nanyi. “Wei Nanyi!”

Mu Ling’s voice grew even louder this time.

Wei Nanyi remembered Mu Ling’s aura, and Mu Ling remembered Wei Nanyi’s scent.

Mu Ling could sense every cultivator who entered the village. The statues enshrined in each household’s Buddhist shrine served as her eyes and nose, tools for her command and cultivation. However, when Shen Su entered the village, she wore a Jade Pendant that suppressed her spiritual power aura. Wei Nanyi, still in her rabbit form, had her original scent masked by the rabbit’s fur, preventing Mu Ling from detecting them.

At the Divine Temple, Shen Su and Wei Nanyi had used the Full Star Jade to conceal their auras, and Mu Ling hadn’t detected them.

However, the Full Star Jade’s willow leaf and small sword forms had time limits. Now that both forms had expired and Wei Nanyi had reverted to her human form, she could no longer mask her scent.

That clear, cold, and delicate fragrance—there was no mistaking it. It was Wei Nanyi’s scent.

Wei Nanyi was not only Mu Ling’s enemy but also her former romantic rival. She had once been the most dazzling light in the Cultivation World, revered as the Goddess not only by disciples of Approaching Immortals Mountain but also by those from other sects.

Everything Mu Ling had ever desired, Wei Nanyi had possessed from the moment she became Shen Yinxue’s disciple. Mu Ling hated Wei Nanyi, but she hated even more that Wei Nanyi could possess such treasures. She would never forget that fragrance—a scent that could pierce through the stench of bl00d and instantly reach her nostrils.

But now, everything was different.

Mu Ling never imagined she would get the chance to humiliate Wei Nanyi. She had sensed it earlier: Wei Nanyi now seemed to be nothing more than an ordinary person.

The statue trembled violently. “To think the lofty Eldest Senior Sister of Approaching Immortals Mountain would be reduced to such a pathetic state. My heart aches for you, Wei Nanyi.”

Hearing her feigned pity, it wasn’t Wei Nanyi who snapped first, but the fox spirit carrying her.

The Red Fox’s fur bristled as she gently tossed Sister-in-law Lin aside, switching from carrying her in her mouth to cradling her with her tail. She bared her sharp fangs at the statue. “Isn’t that all thanks to you?”

A mere fox was beneath Mu Ling’s notice. Had the creature not spoken, she wouldn’t have deigned to glance at it.

The Red Fox’s appearance was decent enough, but her spiritual power was shallow.

Mu Ling cast a disdainful glance at the Red Fox and said coolly, “Wei Nanyi, is this your new demon pet? She doesn’t look like a cunning fox demon at all—more like a loyal, brainless dog.”

Hearing Mu Ling insult Shen Su as a “brainless dog,” Wei Nanyi’s pale face flushed with anger. “Cough… Miss Shen is not my demon pet. She is my benefactor.”

Mu Ling’s curses were far less grating than her mocking of Wei Nanyi.

There was no time to waste.

The Red Fox’s fur glowed with an intense crimson light, which surged forth, shattering the flames blocking her path.

With Wei Nanyi on her back and Sister-in-law Lin coiled around her, the Fox burst out of the house, Mu Ling’s furious voice echoing behind them: “Run! Where do you think you can escape to?”

Most of Mu Ling’s consciousness remained dormant, only a fraction of her mind had awakened. She didn’t expect to kill them with such limited awareness, but she still had her most loyal followers. Mu Ling wasn’t just a mindless serpent; the time she had wasted stalling them had been enough to rouse her servants.

Mu Ling trusted in her servants’ loyalty. They had already slaughtered countless cultivators and animals for her.

After Shen Su and the others left, the statue in the house dimmed, the yellow cloth wrapping around it tightening layer by layer. Yet the oil lamp continued to burn brightly, and the wisps of blue smoke rising from the Immortal Fragrance grew thicker.

After Red Fox rushed Wei Nanyi and the others out of the house, they found a crowd had gathered outside Sister-in-law Lin’s home. At the head of the group stood Seventh Uncle, flanked by Jiang Hu and Jiang Wu.

Their bodies had undergone a grotesque transformation. The flesh around their necks bulged, their faces had become round and swollen with a greenish tinge, and their skin was coated in a layer of viscous mucus that dripped steadily to the ground, drop by drop.

Rather than humans, they resembled humanoid frogs.

The black mist that had been swirling around them grew denser, rapidly consuming their flesh while simultaneously regenerating it. With each morsel of flesh devoured, their internal spiritual power surged.

Perhaps this was the true nature of these monstrous beings—neither human nor demon.

They were utterly hideous.

“Gurgle…” Jiang Wu opened his mouth, and a frog-like croak escaped his throat before human speech followed. “Seventh Uncle, is that the beautiful girl you mentioned? She is indeed beautiful, but she doesn’t look young at all!”

Shen Su had already transformed into Red Fox, and Jiang Wu was referring to Wei Nanyi, who sat on her back.

Seventh Uncle narrowed his eyes. “That’s not her. The fox demon must be the young girl I saw earlier.”

As the saying goes, old ginger is spicier. Seventh Uncle had seen through Shen Su’s disguise at a glance.

Jiang Hu didn’t bother to hide his intentions, his gaze burning as he openly appraised Wei Nanyi. “Where did this beauty come from? Even the goddesses in the heavens can’t compare to her. Seventh Uncle, even though she’s an intruder, if we capture her, can we keep her alive for a few days? I want to have some fun with her first.”

The greed in his eyes was unmistakable. Seventh Uncle chuckled dryly. “You want to keep her all to yourself?”

“No, no, no! Seventh Uncle, you go first,” Jiang Hu said, grinning obsequiously.

Their predatory gazes fell on Wei Nanyi, igniting unprecedented fury in Shen Su. She lunged forward, her sharp fox claws extending instantly, aiming for the hearts of Seventh Uncle and Jiang Hu.

“Gurgle…” The humanoid frogs croaked in unison, the skin on their necks bulging further as their bellies swelled into round, glistening orbs. As Shen Su’s claws struck their bellies, they failed to pierce their skin. Instead, her claws became coated in a sticky, corrosive liquid.

The liquid began to burn Shen Su’s paws.

With a swift mental command, Shen Su transformed her fox claws into water, shaking off the corrosive fluid before reverting to their original form.

Shen Su wanted to retaliate, but Wei Nanyi gently stroked the fox’s fur. “Miss Shen, don’t let them provoke you.”

The fox’s pupils deeply reflected the images of the three figures. Shen Su kicked off with her hind legs, breaking free from the entanglement, and bolted toward the village entrance.

Seventh Uncle and his companions didn’t bother pursuing Shen Su immediately. Instead, they clapped their hands softly, their eyes gleaming with sinister intent.

“Croak… croak… croak…” The croaking of frogs echoed from every house. Soon, Shen Su saw massive humanoid frogs emerging from each doorway, followed by women with vacant eyes and blank expressions. Each woman bore the same mark on the back of her neck as Sister-in-law Lin. Mechanically, they picked up farm tools and hurled them at the Red Fox.

Everything was proceeding exactly as they had predicted.

The men of this village were Mu Ling’s slaves, willingly corrupted by the pursuit of power. Though they appeared human, they were no longer truly human.

The women, on the other hand, had been completely controlled by the Immortal Fragrance. They had lost not only their memories but also their very consciousness, making them easily manipulated.

In an instant, Shen Su found herself surrounded by the humanoid frogs.

The Red Fox’s sharp claws scratched deep furrows into the ground. Her crimson eyes scanned the surroundings, watching as more and more people converged on her. With a sudden burst of movement, she shoved aside two humanoid frogs and leaped onto a rooftop, bounding across the tiles toward the village outskirts.

“Gurgle…” The frogs mimicked her movements, hopping onto the roofs and croaking in raspy voices, “You can’t escape!”

Shen Su’s fox fur suddenly grew rapidly, tightly enveloping Wei Nanyi. The fur on her tail also elongated swiftly, completely encasing Sister-in-law Lin. Having secured them, Shen Su summoned the Azure Flame Twin Blades from her thumb ring. The azure blades hovered in mid-air, weaving into a protective net around the growing fox fur, shielding Wei Nanyi and Sister-in-law Lin from the barrage of scythes and axes hurled their way.

Meanwhile, the Crimson Blade shot out from Shen Su’s side, unleashing a ferocious torrent of flames toward the humanoid frogs. Those caught in the inferno had their skin scorched dry, their dehydrated bodies becoming sluggish and brittle.

Shen Su saw a glimmer of hope, but the sheer number of enemies overwhelmed them. The Azure Flame Twin Blades’ autonomous attacks drained too much spiritual power, leaving Shen Su unable to fight directly.

When not consumed by anger, Shen Su was remarkably clear-headed.

If she were alone, she would have the courage to fight her way out. But she had Wei Nanyi and Sister-in-law Lin with her. Wei Nanyi was utterly helpless, and Sister-in-law Lin, if conscious, would be equally vulnerable.

Shen Su had to protect their lives. The situation demanded caution, not recklessness.

Moreover, she couldn’t rule out the possibility that their enemies had other tricks up their sleeves.

Her understanding of this village remained woefully inadequate.

The unknown only heightened her sense of danger.

Shen Su gently infused the Jade Marrow with spiritual power. Leveraging its ability to rapidly channel spiritual energy, she temporarily replenished the power drained by the Azure Flame Twin Blades. Meanwhile, she searched for an opening to escape toward the village entrance.

Hiss… Something was smoking above her. Shen Su glanced up to see a large patch of fur on her forehead had been corroded away.

It must have been the sticky slime she’d gotten on herself when she collided with those humanoid frogs earlier.

Shen Su cursed inwardly. She quickly transformed the affected area into water, enveloping the slime in droplets and flinging it back at the frogs before reverting to her Fox form.

Thank heavens she had a dual-demon body. Otherwise, that slime would have been enough to finish her off.

Shen Su retrieved the few Medicinal Pills she recognized from her thumb ring and swallowed them. Her spiritual power surged instantly, doubling her speed. She finally managed to create some distance between herself and the humanoid frogs.

As the frogs’ croaking subsided, Shen Su silently thanked Jiang Ruiping in her heart.

The Zhenyuan Pill, a high-grade elixir, could instantly double one’s strength without side effects. The higher one’s cultivation level, the more effective the pill became. But now, consumed by a peak Qi Condensation cultivator, countless alchemists would weep tears of anguish.

Shen Su cared nothing for such concerns. All that mattered was escaping these humanoid frogs.

She sheathed the Azure Flame Twin Blades and fled, releasing Wei Nanyi and the others from the fox fur for some fresh air, though she still shielded them with a thin layer of fur.

In the moonlit night, the towering Fox carried the frail Beauty through the darkness. Its crimson fur shimmered with a silvery glow, billowing majestically in the night wind.

Though wrapped in fox fur, Wei Nanyi’s frail body struggled to maintain her grip. She clutched handfuls of fur, half-crawling across the Fox’s back to stay upright.

Veins bulged slightly on the back of Wei Nanyi’s hand as her voice, fragmented by the wind, reached Shen Su: “Miss Shen, I may have been wrong. Those men… they’re probably food for Mu Ling too.”

Wei Nanyi had once said that snakes favored darkness and preferred to eat women.

But when humanoid frogs appeared before her, Wei Nanyi suddenly realized that frogs were also among snakes’ favorite foods.

Wei Nanyi didn’t know what Mu Ling had done, but she could tell that these people weren’t Demons. Their bodies had gained the power of frogs, and the more they used this power, the more their bodies would transform, gradually turning them into complete frogs—frogs with spiritual power.

Could Mu Ling be planning to devour the entire village?

She certainly isn’t picky.

Shen Su had no time to worry about whether these people would become food. Her only concern was avoiding capture. She took winding paths, trying to disrupt their pursuit toward Goddess Mountain. Though she managed to shake them off temporarily, they always seemed to find their way back to her.

Glancing behind her, Shen Su noticed a faint glow emanating from Sister-in-law Lin.

A mark!

Shen Su froze. She tore off the Jade Pendant concealing her aura from her neck and tossed it gently. The pendant sailed through the air, landing around Sister-in-law Lin’s neck, threading through her fox fur collar. With this done, she finally managed to shake off the villagers.

After escaping the villagers, she raced toward the spot on Goddess Mountain where she had emerged earlier.

Before she reached the location, she spotted a small, thin figure standing there.

Shen Su startled, initially thinking pursuers had reached the entrance first. But as she drew closer, she recognized the small, gaunt figure—a young man with a sallow complexion, the leader of the Little Mountain Bandits: Lin Shui.

She hurried forward and stopped before him.

Lin Shui was momentarily taken aback by the sight of the towering fox rushing toward her. But her gaze quickly fell upon Sister-in-law Lin, wrapped in the fox’s tail. She paused, then took two steps closer to the tail. “Aunt Lin?”

Shen Su handed Sister-in-law Lin to Lin Shui. Once the young man had secured her, Shen Su transformed into her human form.

Wei Nanyi remained on her back.

Wei Nanyi’s health had never been robust, and the rough journey had left her complexion even paler. Shen Su touched Wei Nanyi’s forehead, finding it icy cold. She gritted her teeth. “Madam, it’s all my fault. If only I were stronger…”

“Cough, cough…” Wei Nanyi’s weak coughs and shallow breaths drifted to her ears. “Miss Shen, it’s my own frail constitution.”

Lin Shui watched Wei Nanyi with a puzzled expression but refrained from asking further questions.

His gaze lowered to the still-unconscious Sister-in-law Lin, lingering briefly on the jade pendant at her neck. As he reached for it, Shen Su’s peripheral vision caught the movement. She quickly warned, “Don’t touch the pendant! If you remove it, they’ll track us here.”

Hearing Shen Su’s voice, Lin Shui stopped his movements and said indifferently, “This Jade Pendant was the reason I underestimated you, thinking you were just an ordinary person. It’s the root cause of my mistake.”

The arrogance that had been in Lin Shui’s eyes during their previous encounter was gone. He carried Sister-in-law Lin on his back, his gaze even tinged with gratitude. “Xiao Ruan sent me to retrieve you. Let’s go.”

He pulled out a new token from his robes. The moment the token’s seal touched the air, Shen Su and the others were instantly drawn into the mountain.

Last time, Shen Su had tried everything to escape Goddess Mountain. Now, returning to the mountain, she found the absence of the humanoid frogs’ croaking strangely comforting. She rubbed her ears before asking Lin Shui, “How did Ruan Tong know I would come here?”

Lin Shui didn’t answer her question directly. Instead, he said, “Xiao Ruan pointed you toward the gate, clearly intending for you to bypass the village. Yet you still entered. You shouldn’t have gone there. If not for this Jade Pendant, you would have died the moment you stepped into the village. That snake possesses incredibly powerful perception, and the villagers are her accomplices. They’ve slaughtered countless cultivators and demons. Among them, you were considered weak, yet you were the only one to survive, even rescuing Aunt Lin. You’re truly remarkable. I apologize for underestimating you before.”

“The past is the past. Since I didn’t hold it against you then, I won’t hold it against you now,” Shen Su reminded Lin Shui. “You still haven’t told me why Miss Ruan Tong knew I was here.”

Lin Shui, carrying Sister-in-law Lin on his back, slowed his pace. “It’s not strange. Don’t all demons possess their own innate abilities? This is Xiao Ruan’s ability.”

Shen Su was well aware that demons possessed innate abilities. The stronger the demon’s innate ability, the more terrifying it was. But…

“But you’re not demons.”

“We’re not demons,” Lin Shui paused, stopping in his tracks and turning to face Shen Su.

Under Shen Su’s shocked gaze, Lin Shui tore open his robe, revealing half his body. “But we can’t really be considered human either.”

Lin Shui’s chest could no longer be described as skin. Instead, it was covered in large patches of reddish-brown flowers. The petals were alluring and soft, swaying gently in the breeze as if dancing, and a faint fragrance emanated from his chest.

The roots of the flowers were deeply embedded in his flesh, their originally verdant tendrils now stained crimson.