After My Faked Death Failed, My Ex-Wife Came Chasing After Me - Chapter 16

“Don’t blame me, Senior Sister! Your clothes fell off on their own~”

The air seemed to freeze for a second.

Lin Zheng’s eyelashes trembled slightly. She raised a hand to rub her brow, feeling a splitting headache. When she finally managed to see clearly who was pressing down on her, the blood rushed to her head, and fury instantly surged through her. She flipped over abruptly, throwing Lu Ting’an off her, and hissed through gritted teeth, “What are you doing?!”

“Ouch!” Caught off guard, Lu Ting’an slammed hard onto the floor, hissing as she inhaled a cold breath of air from the pain.

Lin Zheng’s chest heaved with rage at this frivolous behavior. Just as she was about to get off the bed to confront her, she propped up her upper body only to feel something slide gently off her chest. She looked down, and her entire being froze instantly.

Sometime, somehow, her clothes had vanished into thin air, leaving only a thin quilt to barely cover her body.

“Lu Ting’an!!”

Hearing the roar from above, Lu Ting’an scrambled away in a panic. She hadn’t run two steps when she heard Lin Zheng’s sharp voice behind her: “Stop! Give me back my clothes!”

“Oh, okay, okay, wait a second.” Lu Ting’an spoke incoherently as she scooped up a pile of clothes from the side table and tossed them toward her haphazardly, not daring to let her eyes wander in that direction.

Lin Zheng quickly dressed herself. Feeling her sanity finally returning a little—though her heart was still filled with fury and a strange sense of shame over Lu Ting’an’s actions—she shot her a cold glare and asked, “What exactly were you trying to do just now?”

Lu Ting’an turned around slowly, swallowed nervously, and said, “No—nothing! We are both women, what do you think I could do? You suddenly shrunk into your fox form and fainted on the ground, and your clothes fell off by themselves. I was afraid you’d be exposed, so I wrapped you in the quilt. What if someone else had seen you?”

“Nonsense! Then why were you on my…” Lin Zheng’s teeth ground together with a clicking sound. For a moment, she didn’t know how to continue, only squeezing out two words after a long pause: “…top?”

Lu Ting’an scratched her head awkwardly and said sheepishly, “It was an accident. Look, you’re so much taller than me and heavy as lead; how could I possibly carry you? I just happened to trip and fall. Luckily, we fell onto the bed, or else you’d definitely have a huge bump on the back of your head.”

Lin Zheng stared at her coldly without a word, seemingly weighing the truth of her statement.

Lu Ting’an hurriedly changed the subject: “Hey, it’s good that you’re awake. I’m starving after all this tossing and turning. Go down and tell Jin Youdao to prepare some food and wine.”

Lin Zheng’s face was so dark it looked like it could drip ink. she stepped forward quickly, cornering Lu Ting’an against the wall and forcing her to look up. She said coldly, “By the way, I haven’t asked you yet—how did I end up poisoned by Purple Sun Powder for no reason? Did you do something behind my back?”

The pressure she exerted was so intense that Lu Ting’an was terrified Lin Zheng would pull out her blade, Suiyue, and hack her into eight pieces at any moment. She almost dropped to her knees in fear, but she had to maintain her “Little Junior Sister” persona. She could only give the other woman a rough shove and say with a slightly trembling voice, “Why are you yelling at me? I am the eldest miss of the Baiyun Luying Sect; how could I resort to such tricks? Do you really think I’m that despicable?”

Lin Zheng nodded with deep conviction.

Lu Ting’an almost laughed from anger. She put her hands on her hips and looked at Lin Zheng with a haughty, side-eyed glance, saying, “Heh, think whatever you want. Even if it was me, so what? If you don’t like it, then leave. Just don’t show up in front of me ever again.”

“You…” Lin Zheng looked at her in disbelief, pointing at her for a long time without finding words. Finally, she dropped a harsh sentence—”Inherently unreformable”—and swept out of the room.

The door slammed shut with a “bang.” Lu Ting’an felt as though all her strength had vanished, and she slowly slid down the wall to sit on the floor.

The system popped up at the perfect time: 【Congratulations to the Host for completing the second plot node! Heroine’s Blackening Value +5. Current Blackening Value: 38%】

【Original Plot Progress: 10%】

Lu Ting’an was slightly surprised. She remembered that the last node, “Publicly Whipping the Heroine,” had only increased the value by 3%. This time it went up by 5%; it seemed Lin Zheng really did care more about her dignity.

But for some reason, when she thought of Lin Zheng’s words “inherently unreformable,” her heart felt a wave of inexplicable, dull pain. Even though she knew Lin Zheng was scolding the “Little Junior Sister” from the original book, Lu Ting’an felt strangely sad.

I have to find a way to make it up to her. Lu Ting’an covered her face helplessly, deciding to wait for her by the table. Unfortunately, Lin Zheng did not return for a long time. Combined with the exhaustion of the previous night’s ordeal, she couldn’t hold out and eventually fell into a deep sleep.

In the middle of the night, Lu Ting’an suddenly felt an itch on her face. She mumbled a few words and reached up to rub it, only to touch a patch of warm, sticky liquid.

Lu Ting’an’s heart jolted, her sleepiness vanishing instantly. She sat up abruptly, but her forehead slammed hard into a stiff object. The pain was so intense she almost screamed, only to discover that her mouth was tightly bound with a cloth strip, making it impossible to produce any sound.

“Where am I?”

A sudden chill swept through Lu Ting’an’s heart. She tried to stand up, but her legs felt as if they were nailed down, unable to move. Looking down in a panic, she saw her hands and feet were tied securely. The coarse rope bit deep into her skin, stinging like fire with every struggle.

The space was cramped and enclosed, like a small wooden box. The only thing she could see was the nearby curtain of a sedan chair, covered in dense talismans that swayed gently in the dark night. From outside came heavy, eerie low growls.

Lu Ting’an immediately realized where she was.

“No way? Again?!”

Lu Ting’an’s mental state collapsed. She had been kidnapped by those Soul-Eating Ghosts again!

She struggled to twist her body, inching outward. Through the semi-transparent curtain, she could faintly see a line of blurry black shadows outside. Those Soul-Eating Ghosts were carrying the sedan chair, their heavy footsteps treading on the forest path. The moonlight was filtered into jagged pieces by the dense trees. The sedan chair swayed with the bumps, slowly climbing up a rugged mountain path.

Where were they taking her? Lu Ting’an was terrified. She suddenly remembered what Lin Zheng had said—these Soul-Eating Ghosts had a master. Could some evil cultivator have set their sights on her and sent them to kidnap her for some nefarious purpose?

Lu Ting’an took a deep breath, thinking she couldn’t just sit and wait for death. Unfortunately, her cultivation level was too low, and none of the treasures she had brought with her were of use right now. Just as she was despairing, she remembered something and felt a surge of joy: “I have it!”

She silently recited an incantation. The universe bag at her waist began to shake violently. With a “pop,” a mirror glowing with flowing light sprang out of the bag and landed by her feet.

At the same time, the “porters” outside the sedan chair halted their steps. Rustling sounds emerged from the surroundings as if something was approaching the sedan. Lu Ting’an broke into a cold sweat and whispered, “Void Light Mirror, Open!”

The Void Light Mirror on the floor suddenly emitted a blinding white light. The mirror’s surface turned into a swirling vortex, and an invisible hand seemed to reach out. In the next instant, the force yanked Lu Ting’an entirely inside.

At the very moment the mirror’s light swallowed her, the sedan curtain was violently torn open. In her peripheral vision, she caught a glimpse of a pair of giant, golden vertical pupils lunging toward her.