Flirting with the Villain's Mother - Chapter 5

The girl gave Shen Suping no chance to recover. With a detached air, she drew her longsword, then released it.

As if imbued with a spirit, the sword shook off the bl00d clinging to its blade and floated back into the scabbard on the girl’s back.

A faint golden light flickered, and both sword and scabbard vanished without a trace.

The girl kicked aside the corpse of the horse market owner, now stone-cold dead, and stepped toward Shen Su. Her sharp gaze locked onto Shen Su, her voice icy: “Where’s the horse?”

Though she appeared to be no more than a strikingly beautiful young woman, her aura was chillingly terrifying, like a beast crawled straight from hell. Her cold, sharp gaze seemed capable of slicing through Shen Su’s throat.

Not a drop of the freshly spilled bl00d had touched the girl’s skin, yet Shen Su felt as if her crimson robes were stained crimson with bl00d, exuding a chilling indifference. Overwhelmed by fear, Shen Su could hear the girl’s voice and knew the answer to her question, but her throat felt gripped by an invisible hand, making it impossible to utter a single sound.

The girl, her patience wearing thin, grabbed Shen Su by the shoulder. “Where’s the horse?” she demanded.

The icy words spat from her mouth, each syllable carrying a frost that seemed to seep into Shen Su’s very bones. Shen Su clenched her fist so hard her knuckles turned white, fighting down the urge to flee. She was no criminal, nor had she wronged the girl. She had no reason to run.

Unable to break free from the invisible grip, she could only point weakly toward the house.

The girl was truly ruthless. The moment Shen Su indicated the horse’s location, her hand slid from Shen Su’s shoulder to her throat. She intended to kill not only the horse market owner but Shen Su as well.

As expected, in a dark romance novel, you have to stay far away from the main villain and the Male and Female Leads, Shen Su thought bitterly. I’ve only been transmigrated for a few days, and now I’m about to have my short life forcibly ended.

Just as Shen Su braced for death, the Beauty rushed frantically out of the house. “Xu’er, no!” she cried.

Injured and weak, she had stumbled toward the commotion outside. Each unsteady step reopened her wounds, and as she reached the doorway, she tripped on the threshold, teetering on the verge of collapse.

The moment the young woman saw the Beauty, she immediately abandoned her intention to kill Shen Su. With a light sway, she was instantly at the Beauty’s side, catching her as she stumbled. Supporting the Beauty, she scrutinized her from head to toe, her eyes brimming with delight. “Mother, you’ve turned human!”

Miss Jiang, Xu’er… It was indeed Jiang Xu.

As the icy hand withdrew from her neck, Jiang Xu’s murderous intent vanished instantly. But Shen Su was already drenched in a cold sweat, clutching her chest and gasping for breath. She tried to move farther from the corpse, but her legs buckled, her knees hitting the soft earth, her back curving, and her breathing growing increasingly frantic.

First witnessing a murder, then nearly being killed herself—Shen Su was just an ordinary person, and this was a nightmare beyond anything she had ever experienced.

Bound by demon bl00d, Wei Nanyi was unable to speak or see in her animal form. Only her senses of hearing and smell allowed her to perceive her surroundings and distinguish between individuals. She couldn’t speak to Jiang Xu, nor could she see her.

The method Jiang Xu had found to temporarily restore Wei Nanyi’s human form was extremely limited. In the past, she had only managed to catch fleeting glimpses of Jiang Xu, their conversations brief and hurried. Jiang Xu was devoted to her mother, but she wasn’t particularly skilled at caring for others and tended to be careless. She often forgot that ordinary livestock were easily injured and that, in her current state, even a thorn could prove fatal to Wei Nanyi. As a result, Wei Nanyi had borne countless wounds over the years, fortunate only that Jiang Xu always carried a supply of spiritual pills and elixirs. However, having lost her spiritual power, these remedies meant for Cultivators offered her little relief.

This was understandable. When Jiang Xu had fled Approaching Immortals Mountain with Wei Nanyi, she was barely a teenager herself—still a child who needed care, forced to grow up too soon. Wei Nanyi felt only heartache for Jiang Xu.

Even now, after Jiang Xu had lost her, Wei Nanyi harbored no resentment. Instead, she pitied the child for searching so desperately for her for so long.

As Wei Nanyi stared at Jiang Xu, Jiang Xu stared back, her eyes brimming with joy. Wei Nanyi knew what Jiang Xu was marveling at—she herself had felt the same astonishment upon awakening, though she had quickly regained her composure.

Wei Nanyi yearned to live as a human, but she couldn’t sacrifice Shen Su’s life for it.

Wei Nanyi possessed no spiritual power, yet Jiang An had forced her to drink the bl00d of over a hundred demonic creatures. Jiang An had used every means at his disposal to kill those creatures, and their demon souls had become parasitic within their bl00d, tormenting Wei Nanyi’s soul. This connection also made her psychically linked to those souls, and among the demonic creatures, some were naturally hypersensitive to bloodlines.

Shen Su’s bloodline was exceptionally unique.

The demon souls, powerless, could only harbor endless resentment toward Jiang An and torment Wei Nanyi. Jiang Xu had repeatedly tried to extract the souls from her body, but all attempts failed. Thanks to their influence, many Cultivation techniques proved ineffective against Wei Nanyi, preventing Jiang Xu from imprinting a tracking mark on her to easily locate her if she went missing.

Wei Nanyi possessed remarkable self-control, yet she couldn’t resist the demon souls’ seduction. She stabbed Shen Su, sensing the power of Shen Su’s bloodline. This power could suppress the demon bl00d within her, forcing her to revert to human form. However, Shen Su’s bl00d also proved fatally alluring to the demon souls.

Fortunately, the demon souls couldn’t harm Shen Su directly as long as they couldn’t corrupt Wei Nanyi. Therefore, as long as Shen Su remained unharmed, the souls couldn’t devour her bl00d. Even if she were injured, the moment the wound was covered, the demon souls lacked the power to pry open the embroidered cloth. They were weak, and their torment was reserved solely for Wei Nanyi.

If Jiang Xu knew that Shen Su’s bl00d could suppress the demon bl00d within her, she would have been overjoyed. But Wei Nanyi couldn’t tell Jiang Xu.

She knew Jiang Xu too well. Jiang Xu loved her deeply, and love could make people obsessive. If Jiang Xu learned that Shen Su’s bl00d could help her, she would drain Shen Su dry without hesitation, feeding every drop to herself.

Shen Su was just an ordinary person; Jiang Xu could kill her with ease.

No matter how ruthless and cruel Jiang Xu became, she would always be her daughter, the person she loved most in the world. Wei Nanyi didn’t want Jiang Xu to suffer, but she also couldn’t bear the thought of Jiang Xu harming Shen Su.

As she herself had said, Shen Su had bought her and saved her from starvation. She couldn’t betray Shen Su.

Instead of responding to Jiang Xu’s words, Wei Nanyi said softly, “Xu’er, Miss Shen bought me and saved me from starvation.”

As Wei Nanyi spoke, she instinctively glanced toward Shen Su, only to see her swaying and collapsing. She cried out in alarm, “Miss Shen!”

Jiang Xu had tried to kill Shen Su because she believed the horse buyer would inevitably ride the mare, and she couldn’t bear the thought of such a person defiling her mother’s mount. She hadn’t realized Shen Su was their benefactor. Hearing Wei Nanyi’s words, she quickly apologized, “Mother… I’m so sorry.”

“Xu’er, quickly check on Miss Shen!” Wei Nanyi urged anxiously. She was a kind and pure-hearted woman; otherwise, she wouldn’t have been so easily manipulated by Jiang An. If Shen Su were to die, Wei Nanyi would carry the guilt for the rest of her life.

Jiang Xu knew she had been wrong, but she didn’t particularly care about Shen Su’s fate. To her, only Wei Nanyi’s anger mattered. Seeing Wei Nanyi’s distressed expression and her frail body struggling to move toward Shen Su, Jiang Xu simply wrapped her arm around Wei Nanyi’s waist. With a gentle shift, they were instantly beside Shen Su, who lay several meters away.

“Mother, she’s not dead,” Jiang Xu said coldly.

Wei Nanyi shook off Jiang Xu’s embrace. “Xu’er, one must always repay kindness.”

“Then why didn’t those Approaching Immortals Mountain disciples repay the kindness you showed them? Now they’re trying to kill me, your only bloodline!”

Wei Nanyi knew Jiang Xu harbored deep resentment toward Approaching Immortals Mountain and Jiang An. However, she refused to believe the mountain’s disciples were hunting Jiang Xu solely for a sword. This wasn’t naivety; rather, it stemmed from her understanding that while she couldn’t expect universal respect or affection from the mountain, she maintained cordial relations with at least half its disciples, many of whom she had known for over a thousand years. The bonds forged over such time needed no explanation. Even Jiang Xu understood that if Wei Nanyi spoke out, even without proof, some on the mountain would believe her.

There must be other reasons for their pursuit of Jiang Xu, or perhaps… Jiang An was pulling strings behind the scenes. She had once trusted Jiang An implicitly, but since regaining her clarity, she found nothing surprising about any scheme he might concoct, given his character.

But she didn’t want to argue with Jiang Xu about this now.

The sight of the girl kneeling on the ground, her body trembling uncontrollably, was utterly heartbreaking.

Suppressing her dizziness, Wei Nanyi crouched down, reached out, and gently pressed her hand against Shen Su’s arm. “Miss Shen,” she murmured softly.

The sudden touch startled Shen Su. Her eyes snapped open, and when she recognized the delicate, fair-skinned beauty before her, her lips trembled slightly as she whispered, “Bl00d.”

Shen Su was delicate by nature, but unlike Wei Nanyi, whose frailty stemmed from illness, Shen Su was like a tender bud yet to bloom.

A few drops of fresh bl00d stained her fair face, and her silk robes bore numerous bloodstains—though none of it was her own, the sight still made Wei Nanyi’s heart ache. The stark bruises on Shen Su’s snow-white neck were particularly jarring.

Each thorn pricked Wei Nanyi’s heart. She knew Shen Su had never experienced anything like this before. I’ve brought her misfortune, she thought, a faint pain in her chest triggering a cough. “Cough… Miss Shen, I’m sorry. Xu’er was just worried about me. Don’t be afraid—Xu’er won’t kill you.”

Jiang Xu, unwilling to let Wei Nanyi show too much concern for outsiders, quickly helped her up. He looked down at Shen Su and said coolly, “Thank you. I’ll repay you someday.”

Though he spoke the words of gratitude, there was no warmth in his eyes.

This felt wrong. In the original novel, Jiang Xu wasn’t supposed to be ungrateful. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have fallen for the male lead after he helped him find Wei Nanyi.

Shen Su remained frightened, but her composure gradually returned.

She looked up at Jiang Xu, a hint of confusion in her eyes. But Jiang Xu didn’t meet her gaze. He only gripped Wei Nanyi tightly. “Mother, we need to leave this place quickly. Fallen Moon City isn’t safe.”