Chapter 52: Breaking and Remolding Part 2

She didn’t want anything to go wrong, but the thought of Feng Rong’s body hidden underground left her with no desire for sleep.

The room suddenly brightened as the dusty candle was lit.

Half of Sang Chencao’s face was illuminated by the glow. Perhaps because of the lingering smile on her lips, she still looked eerie and sinister.

Feng Yun’ai had just reached the bedside when she caught a sudden whiff of a strange fragrance. She was startled, but before she could even ask a question, her consciousness slipped away. She fell into a deep, forced sleep.

The woman in white slumped down, half her body hanging off the edge of the bed like a cold spring winding down a mountain, making one want to reach out and scoop up a handful.

Usually, her expression was as cold as could be, her joys and sorrows hidden away. She clearly wasn’t very good at hiding them, yet she insisted on pretending to be unapproachable.

Sang Chencao paced forward and leaned over to study the woman in white. She clicked her tongue and brushed aside the messy hair at the side of the other’s face. “What ‘lofty and cold’? It’s just that you don’t understand the ways of the world and don’t want to be found out, so you put on a front.”

With the hair moved, the same eyes and brows were revealed, but the face was so peaceful in sleep.

Sang Chencao extended a finger and lightly poked Feng Yun’ai’s neck. She chuckled. “But deep down, you’re soft through and through.”

Feng Yun’ai remained unconscious, draped motionless over the bed.

“Hmm?” As if playing a game, Sang Chencao pinched Feng Yun’ai’s clean chin. “No answer? I’ll take that as a ‘yes’ then.”

Her sleeve shifted, and the coiled Black Snake poked its head out. Like a predator looking for a meal, it silently slid toward the side of Feng Yun’ai’s neck.

Before the snake’s snout could touch the skin, it was blocked by a warm palm.

Sang Chencao pulled the Black Snake back, her tone indifferent. “We won’t plant the Gu for now. I’d hate for her to be unhappy.”

It was unclear if the Black Snake understood, but it ducked back under her sleeve and hid itself away completely.

***

When she woke the next day, Feng Yun’ai’s head was heavy. It felt as if a lingering fog still drifted through her mind, leaving her disoriented about her location.

The surface beneath her was swaying, bumping along as if she were riding on a cloud. Then she heard birds chirping and the rumbling of carriage wheels. She wasn’t on a cloud; she was back in the mortal realm.

It took another half-quarter of an hour for the dazed, illusory feeling to vanish. As her focus returned, Feng Yun’ai remembered everything from the night before. She instinctively reached for her sword to confront the Demoness, but the moment she sat up, she realized her blade was no longer at her side.

No, wait—there was a sword, but the one hanging at her waist was not Solitary Gall.

Looking down, she saw black robes and a piece of jade resting against her leg.

The jade was carved with mountain peaks and the three small characters for “Dieshan Alliance.” The craftsmanship was quite detailed.

If she hadn’t seen the mole beneath her thumb—exactly the same as before—Feng Yun’ai would have thought she had somehow possessed someone else’s body overnight.

She was the only one in the carriage. Beside her was an object wrapped in coarse cloth; she couldn’t tell what it was, but a thick, muddy scent drifted from it, as if it had just been dug out of the ground.

Feng Yun’ai reached up to feel her face and realized her features were no longer her own. She didn’t panic; she merely said coldly, “Sang Chencao, what have you done?”

A familiar voice came from behind the swaying curtain.

“Xiuxiu, calling me by that name sounds so distant.” Sang Chencao lifted the curtain, smiling at Feng Yun’ai with a stranger’s face.

Feng Yun’ai knew this was the Disguise Art of the Moonlight Sect. Her eyes shifted slightly as she took in her surroundings. “When did you disguise me? Why are we here? And where is this carriage going?”

“Don’t be in such a rush. The journey is long; I’ll tell you slowly.” Sang Chencao drove the horse leisurely. She picked up a crimson flower from beside her and tucked it into her mouth, sucking on the floral nectar.

Even though the woman was wearing a completely foreign face, Feng Yun’ai felt as if she could see the true countenance beneath the thin skin.

If she were in her original form, the sight of her with a flower in her mouth would surely look incredibly bewitching.

“Speak.” Feng Yun’ai leaned against the carriage wall, her eyes fixed coldly on the object wrapped in coarse cloth. “And what is this thing?”

Sang Chencao spat out the red flower. “Don’t blame me, Xiuxiu. I was afraid you wouldn’t rest well last night, so I took the liberty of lighting some knockout incense. At the hour of the Tiger, I went to the Dieshan Alliance and happened to run into people driving a carriage out of the city. I found out they were heading to Lotus Mountain to pick someone up.”

“Where are they?” Feng Yun’ai looked around but saw no one else.

Sang Chencao continued, “I intercepted them halfway. I used a bit of poison and a small soul-snaring trick to get some information out of them. It turns out they weren’t going to pick up a person, but a flower. So, I hurried back to the coffin shop, hauled you off the bed, and disguised us both.”

“A flower?” Feng Yun’ai seemed to understand the source of the heavy smell of earth.

“The flower was brought from the Northern Regions by two others, roots and soil included,” Sang Chencao added. “I don’t actually know what it looks like yet; I haven’t had time to take a peek.”

“So we have taken the appearance of those two and are now returning to the Dieshan Alliance.” Feng Yun’ai pieced the plan together. “But my eye color…”

“Smart Xiuxiu!” Sang Chencao’s eyes crinkled. “I put some medicinal drops in your eyes. Your pupils are black now, but the effect wears off after two hours. You have to reapply them every two hours. This stuff is rare—only I and Wen Lanxin know the formula. If you use too much, you’ll go blind, so we have to be careful.”

“And the two you knocked out… where are they now? Did you…” Feng Yun’ai paused, looking at Sang Chencao suspiciously.

Sang Chencao huffed, turning back to speak slowly. “In your eyes, Xiuxiu, am I the type to go around slaughtering the innocent?”

“You said it yourself,” Feng Yun’ai muttered, looking away. Ever since she learned that the disguise skin was applied starting from the chest and back, she felt uncomfortable all over.

That would mean… she had to take off her clothes to apply it.

“My, my, Xiuxiu,” Sang Chencao chuckled. “You’re getting more sharp-tongued by the day.”