Chapter 57: Demonic Breath Part 2

Bo Xuenong: “After we met, notice what Ji Caiyan kept saying.”

Feng Jin: “What?”

“She kept saying ‘if you dare to do it, why not admit it,’ and about Shibo Ye treating her as a human cauldron. I dare say if there was only dual cultivation without what followed, she definitely wouldn’t be angry.”

Feng Jin covered her mouth, suppressing the urge to scream.

She had thought Bo Xuenong’s thinking was too linear, but now it seemed she was the foolish one.

Feng Jin gradually became convinced. “Eldest Senior Sister, I think you’re smarter than me.”

Bo Xuenong raised her chin. “No need to say it. Master praised my cleverness long ago.”

Thinking of how Shen Yanting had pushed her out of the carriage, Bo Xuenong felt a bit depressed again. She wasn’t angry at Shen Yanting’s attitude; she just feared Shen Yanting was truly upset with her.

Feng Jin didn’t know Bo Xuenong’s thoughts had circled back to Shen Yanting so quickly. Having a child’s body after all, no matter how long she had lived, she was still somewhat confused about emotions. Her empathy was far better than Bo Xuenong’s, though.

She couldn’t help sighing lightly. “Senior Sister Ji is so pitiful. If she really likes Shibo Ye and learns that the one who dragged her into dual cultivation wasn’t Shibo Ye but another soul, how heartbreaking that would be. If she doesn’t like Shibo Ye, then for her always-respected master to do such a thing to her, how devastating that would be.”

Bo Xuenong thought differently and grew increasingly annoyed the more she considered it. “She was just showing off earlier. Her master kissed her, must have touched her too.”

“…” Feng Jin now felt Bo Xuenong’s linear thinking was spot on again. She could twist anything back to Shen Yanting. Feng Jin’s sigh grew heavier. “Eldest Senior Sister, that soul definitely wasn’t Shibo Ye’s.”

“I still haven’t heard any inner voice.” Bo Xuenong coldly swept a glance at Feng Jin and said seriously, “And even if the soul wasn’t, the body was… My master hasn’t even kissed me. Feng Jin… what does it feel like to be forcibly kissed by one’s master? I can’t quite imagine it.”

A hint of grievance entered her tone, her depression evident.

Feng Jin covered her face, wanting to shout: I’m still a child, don’t tell me these things!

Since sound transmission couldn’t reach Shen Yanting’s ears, Bo Xuenong still guiltily glanced behind her.

Seeing Bo Xuenong’s heart completely back on Shen Yanting, Feng Jin couldn’t help marveling. “Eldest Senior Sister, if only you had a bit more empathy.”

“Oh.” Bo Xuenong responded lightly, then suddenly said, “Then I should curse you now on Ji Caiyan’s behalf.”

Feng Jin: “Why?”

Bo Xuenong: “Because if another soul was controlling Shibo Ye’s body, that’s the mess you and the System caused.”

“…”

Feng Jin couldn’t refute and could only lower her head.

When she glanced at Ye Zhiyao again with the corner of her eye, guilt appeared in her gaze.

The System still gave no prompt, but she instinctively believed another soul was controlling Ye Zhiyao’s body. She felt the extremely face-conscious Ji Caiyan wouldn’t do such a thing.

—

After the carriage slowly entered Divine Moon City, Feng Jin slowed its speed several times. Considering the three who needed to recuperate, she drove straight to the largest inn in the city.

As soon as they arrived at the inn, Bo Xuenong’s gaze was drawn to a fortune-telling stall in the corner.

The stall owner had just been a man, but upon second look, it was a woman—and somewhat familiar.

Feng Jin got off the carriage and saw Bo Xuenong still sitting motionless inside. She quickly asked her, “Senior Sister, what’s wrong?”

Bo Xuenong pointed at the fortune-telling stall she had just been staring at.

This point left her stunned, but after a short while, the stall owner changed back to the initial male form, as if the female stall owner she had seen earlier was just a trick of her eyes.

Strange.

Ye Zhiyao also got off the carriage. She saw Bo Xuenong keep pointing at that stall and subconsciously wanted to step forward to investigate.

Ji Caiyan happened to lift the curtain and step down from the carriage. She coldly glanced at Ye Zhiyao. “A cultivator consulting a fortune teller? Ridiculous.”

She had made up her mind to oppose Ye Zhiyao.

She would mock her from time to time.

Ye Zhiyao stopped in her tracks. She turned her head to look at Ji Caiyan, who now wore a mask to hide her identity. The mask covered her face but not the icy gaze in her eyes.

Her breath hitched sharply, and she painfully closed her eyes.

Xiang Yu got off the carriage and saw Ye Zhiyao swaying unsteadily, on the verge of falling. She hurriedly reached out to support her. “Elder Ye.”

Ye Zhiyao instinctively leaned against her. Ji Caiyan’s gaze grew even colder. “I didn’t expect a golden core peak cultivator to not even be able to walk on her own.”

Feng Yingbo was helped down from the carriage by Shen Yanting. Before she could borrow Shen Yanting’s support to walk inside, she inexplicably got scolded. She tried to shake off Shen Yanting, who insisted on holding her. “Senior Sister, I’m a nascent soul cultivator. I can walk by myself.”

Shen Yanting glanced at Ji Caiyan, then at Feng Yingbo, somewhat speechless. “She wasn’t talking about you.”

Feng Yingbo stubbornly pulled away from Shen Yanting’s support anyway.

She rushed ahead of Bo Xuenong and the others into the inn, as if to prove something.

Feng Jin took a couple of quick steps to catch up with her.

Ji Caiyan suddenly grabbed Xiang Yu and forcibly dragged her into the inn first. “She’s no good. Junior Sister Xiang Yu, you should stay away from her.”

Her words were truly harsh.

Ye Zhiyao’s body swayed, nearly falling.

Shen Yanting quickly grabbed her arm. Ye Zhiyao clutched Shen Yanting’s hand like a lifeline. “Junior Sister Shen, I didn’t… I don’t remember.”

Every time she tried to defend herself, she only received colder looks from Ji Caiyan. The denial on the tip of her tongue turned into not remembering.

Ye Zhiyao was compromising, yielding to Ji Caiyan’s memories.

This was wrong.

What kind of master feared her own disciple like this?

Bo Xuenong was always like this. She could always find flaws in other masters, but Shen Yanting was flawless.

She wasn’t too invested in the matter between Ji Caiyan and Ye Zhiyao. She neither understood Ji Caiyan’s anger nor Ye Zhiyao’s timidity.

At this moment, however, she gradually grew anxious for them. She wanted to clear Ye Zhiyao’s name, to let her stand tall and tell Ji Caiyan: That wasn’t me.

A master should have a master’s dignity.

Bo Xuenong perked up her ears slightly, her gaze fixed intently on Ye Zhiyao’s chest.

She wanted to hear the voice of another soul from there.

No heart voice.

Still no heart voice.

This wasn’t right.

Bo Xuenong’s initial assumption that the Otherworld Soul was sleeping in Ye Zhiyao seemed about to be overturned. They had reunited for several hours now. A sleeping soul should have woken up by now. The Otherworld Souls she had seen before never needed rest. No matter the state of their host, they were always exceptionally clear-headed.

The heart voices of ‘Guan Caimei’ and the others had hardly ever stopped. Ye Zhiyao’s situation was far too abnormal.

Could it be that Ye Zhiyao had no Otherworld Soul at all and had been acting from the start? She was acting too convincingly if so.

She didn’t mind deceiving others deliberately, but she hated being deceived by anyone other than Shen Yanting.

Bo Xuenong couldn’t help but probe Ye Zhiyao. “Shibo Ye, He Xin was a Demonic Sect disciple. Her coming to the Imperial Serenity Sect must have been with ulterior motives. Killing her actually solved a problem for the sect. You don’t need to feel guilty. As for making Second Senior Sister dual cultivate with you, I think she was quite willing. She just minded being treated like a human cauldron. An apology would fix it.”

“Absurd!”

Ye Zhiyao coughed lowly twice, her pale face appearing even more fragile.

Compared to Ye Zhiyao’s stern and proper rebuke, Shen Yanting followed her words and asked, “How did you see that she was willing?”

Bo Xuenong puffed out her chest, her back ramrod straight. “Because I understand her.”

Shen Yanting stared at the suddenly proud Bo Xuenong, her face subtly cooling. “You understand Caiyan from before. Why don’t you first guess what I’m going to ask you later?”

Bo Xuenong’s expression turned grave. She vaguely felt that something was seriously wrong.

Was it about her bloodline?

Or had her feelings been discovered?

She no longer had time to meddle in Ye Zhiyao and Ji Caiyan’s affairs. She turned into Little Tail, sticking close to Shen Yanting’s side. “Master, are you angry with me?”

Shen Yanting said nothing and led Ye Zhiyao inside.

Bo Xuenong caught up to the two of them. Regardless of why Shen Yanting was upset, she immediately apologized. “Master, I know I was wrong.”

Shen Yanting gave her a flat look. “What did you do wrong?”

Bo Xuenong lowered her head dejectedly and tugged at a corner of Shen Yanting’s sleeve as she followed her inside. “I made Master unhappy.”

She didn’t really want to hear that.

Shen Yanting glanced at Ye Zhiyao beside her but ultimately didn’t question Bo Xuenong right then.

She sighed faintly. “Xuenong, you did nothing wrong. I was the one who was wrong.”

Bo Xuenong looked up in horror. Hearing this from Shen Yanting’s mouth shocked her far more than the story of Ji Caiyan and the others. She was badly frightened. “Master, only I can be wrong. You can’t be wrong. You never make mistakes. You’re absolutely the most right. You…”

Shen Yanting pressed her index finger to Bo Xuenong’s lips, signaling her to be quiet.