The Villainess Always Tries to Seduce Me - Chapter 33

The courtyard was pitch-black. The walls and rockeries stood silent in the darkness, their blurred outlines resembling rows of human figures. The crescent moon above was obscured by a thick veil of clouds, leaving only a hazy halo at the edges.

“It is too quiet here. There is no sound other than the chirping of insects.” As Yun Chuanzhi passed another guest room door, she reached out and knocked. No one answered.

“Cheng Jinshu and Lingshui, they haven’t died, have they?” Yun Chuanzhi turned around slowly, a hint of worry in her voice.

Bai Fenghe had already stepped out of the room. Hearing this, she swept a glance over Yun Chuanzhi as if looking at a fool: “They are both cultivators; why do you need to worry about them?”

“This Seat cast a spell to make them sleep, lest they hear a disturbance and jump out to interfere, ruining This Seat’s plans.”

So that’s why Bai Fenghe suddenly insisted on keeping me by her side, Yun Chuanzhi thought to herself.

“Where are we going now?” Yun Chuanzhi asked.

“To, pay our respects to the deceased,” Bai Fenghe said softly with a faint smile.

Youji City was built against the mountains. The terrain rose and fell with the slopes, creating a complex and vast city of towering pavilions and low courtyard walls. Finding a specific household in such a place was no easy feat.

However, Bai Fenghe acted as if she already knew the way. In less than fifteen minutes, they stood before a residence. One could tell from the two majestic stone lions at the entrance that this manor was worlds apart from the dilapidated Jiang Manor.

Yun Chuanzhi jumped down from Bai Fenghe’s grasp. While rubbing her neck where the collar had left a red mark, she looked up to survey her surroundings.

The first thing that caught her eye was a magnificent General’s Gate. Red-lacquered pillars stood beneath the gate tower, and the flying eaves on both sides were like the giant wings of a divine eagle, extending in powerful arcs toward the sky. Beneath the eaves hung a row of bright, shining lanterns.

On the plaque were four bold, gold-leafed characters written in a flourishing style: “Eternal Generations.” They reflected the lamplight, shimmering with radiant colors.

“Quite the boast,” Yun Chuanzhi read the words aloud. “Looks like a merchant family.”

From top to bottom, the place reeked of money.

Bai Fenghe’s expression remained unchanged, and she did not reply. She grabbed Yun Chuanzhi by the collar once more and carried her through the wall.

Their bodies vanished into the wall like water and reformed on the other side. As soon as they landed, they were hit by the overwhelming scent of rusted iron, mixed with a sweet, nauseating stench of gore.

“Heavens,” Yun Chuanzhi whispered. She took several steps back to keep her toes from touching the blood.

Beside her, Bai Fenghe’s expression wasn’t much better. She seemed slightly nauseated, pulling out a handkerchief and pressing it to her nose before she felt better.

“Another massacre,” Yun Chuanzhi said. Looking at the corpses and bloodstains scattered everywhere, a sense of bitterness welled up in her heart. It had been a long time since she had seen such a scene of carnage, and looking at it now made her feel uneasy.

Bai Fenghe walked along the stone path stained with blood. On both sides were vibrant green greeting pines, and further back were two rockery carvings. Now, three or four bodies lay there. Judging by their clothes, they were all young domestic servants.

One man’s hand had reached the door bolt, but he still hadn’t escaped. He remained slumped against the door in a posture of opening it, his eyes wide with terror.

Using the moonlight that had just broken through the thin clouds, Yun Chuanzhi leaned over to investigate. Judging by the eyes and skin, the death was recent; the complexion hadn’t turned pale yet, and the blood hadn’t fully dried.

“According to what that You Tan said, the victims had their blood drained, but these people clearly didn’t die from blood loss,” Yun Chuanzhi noted.

“Mm,” Bai Fenghe nodded. She waded through the filth without letting a drop touch her. She extended a palm toward a corpse at her feet, and threads of purple light from her palm entered the body’s brow, spreading through the meridians.

She quickly withdrew her spiritual energy, her brow furrowed: “The internal organs are all shattered. This person is imitating This Seat’s techniques.”

Seeing Yun Chuanzhi’s confusion, she explained further: “In my youth, I favored the Nine-Cycle Soul-Shattering Palm created by my Master. After Master passed away, I never used it again.”

“So, the killer is a cultivator?” Yun Chuanzhi lifted her skirt and hopped over the flowing bloodstains.

“Not necessarily.” Bai Fenghe shook her head, turning to go around the second courtyard wall. “It doesn’t look like a cultivator’s method to me. If a cultivator were killing, these mortals should have died all at once, rather than one by one like this.”

Passing through a short corridor led to the inner courtyard, which was even more horrific. Corpses were everywhere the eye could see. Many had been killed while fleeing, their limbs still frozen in the contorted positions of running.

Yun Chuanzhi even saw an infant, not yet a month old, lying lifeless in its swaddling clothes.

What kind of beastly behavior is this, to not even spare a baby? Yun Chuanzhi’s lips were tightly pressed. She picked up the child and placed it beneath a lush old locust tree.

Bai Fenghe also saw the infant. Her gaze lingered for a moment before she looked away without a trace. “It wasn’t the work of a demon or monster either,” she continued.

“What if that demon’s cultivation is higher than yours?”

“Then only the top few Great Demons in the world could achieve this. If such a demon appeared, it would cause a stir across the entire Nine Provinces and Four Seas,” Bai Fenghe said.

If it was neither demon nor immortal, it could only be human. Yun Chuanzhi was astonished. For a mortal to slaughter over a hundred people in a single month, what kind of venomous heart must they have?

Yun Chuanzhi silently chose a body whose death wasn’t too cruel and pulled back the clothing. Sure enough, the character “He” had been stitched there with needle and thread.

She covered the body back up with both hands and stood up with a sigh: “If they ultimately decide it was you who did the killing, what will happen?”

“The same as last time. The three sects will send out all their elites to besiege This Seat and force me to submit,” Bai Fenghe said with a nonchalant smile, standing amidst the mountain of corpses and sea of blood.

Yun Chuanzhi looked at her red lips, which were even more vibrant than the color of blood, and lowered her eyes as she walked deeper into the courtyard.

None of the deceased were cultivators. It seemed only the jade waist token family heirloom possessed spiritual energy. Furthermore, there were no signs of the manor being ransacked. It appeared the perpetrator’s sole purpose was to frame Bai Fenghe.

Finding nothing else, the two flipped over the wall and left. However, they didn’t return directly to the Jiang house. Instead, they transformed into two peasant women and wandered the streets pretending to be going to the market.

The sun had not yet cast its full glow; only the clouds on the horizon were touched by a faint light. On the busiest street, vendors carrying fruits and melons were already calling out. Yun Chuanzhi haggled for a long time before finally buying a basket full of vegetables, fruit, and a whole large black-boned chicken for two spirit stones.

“Could you lend me a spirit stone?” Yun Chuanzhi smiled and nudged Bai Fenghe with her elbow. “I’ll make some soup for you when we get back.”

Bai Fenghe frowned and moved away. Then, with a look of displeasure, she pulled a gold-embroidered lotus purse from her sleeve and tossed it to Yun Chuanzhi.

Yun Chuanzhi opened the purse and nearly cried out at the sight of a bag full of high-grade spirit stones. Her lips parted slightly, and it took a moment to swallow her surprise. Smiling broadly, she picked out the smallest one and handed it to the vendor.

“Give me eight low-grade spirit stones in change,” she said happily to the vendor, extending her hand.

Her carefully researched strategy was indeed correct. As long as she pleased Bai Fenghe, she would not only be safe but also well-fed and provided for.

If Bai Fenghe could give her a bag of spirit stones like this every day, never mind simple harassment, even wandering around riding on her neck every day would be fine.

While she was grinning at the purse, Bai Fenghe was staring at her with bewilderment.

Why can she smile like that over a few broken stones?

Shouting suddenly erupted from the far end of the long street, followed immediately by the sound of many hooves approaching like crashing waves or a whistling hurricane. Those tall horses arrived in an instant. Bai Fenghe pulled Yun Chuanzhi back against the wall.

Dozens of Ground-Walkers dressed in blue-green armor passed by solemnly in the dawn light. Wherever they went, dust billowed. A few night watchmen eating noodles by the road quickly hugged their bowls and hid under the eaves to avoid the dust.

“It’s not peaceful in Youji City. What happened now?” a younger night watchman muttered, holding his gong.

“You don’t know yet? Member Xu’s entire family has been murdered,” an old night watchman with a white beard sighed while eating. “The whole family, young and old, plus forty-five servants. Not a single survivor.”

“Murdered again?” The others gathered around, their expressions filled with dread: “How many households does that make now? Will that demoness ever stop?”

“Is there really no way to stop her? Mount Buxi does nothing, and the Imperial City doesn’t care either?”

“The messenger from the Imperial City enters the city today. Hopefully, the case can be solved soon. Everyone in Youji City is panicking now. When I went out to work tonight, my wife hugged me and cried for half an hour, terrified I’d die out there.”

The white-bearded watchman waited for them to finish their chatter before speaking again: “The one who found the bodies this time was a manure collector named Zhou. He’s actually from my hometown. When he went to collect the waste, no one opened the door for ages, so he got annoyed and knocked a few more times. Guess what?”

“The door opened. He pulled it open, and a shriveled corpse just fell right into his arms! It scared him so much he cried for his parents, and he left a mess all over the floor!”

As he finished, the people around him let out shocked sighs. The sun dispelled the morning mist, revealing its golden light. The street became crowded with passersby.

Yun Chuanzhi and Bai Fenghe stopped listening and walked back to the Jiang Manor carrying the basket. As they entered, an arrow came flying at them again.

Yun Chuanzhi had experience this time. She crouched as she opened the door, and the arrow soared high over her back, thudding into the door with a clack.

This anti-thief mechanism was not very sophisticated. Only one arrow flew out each time; it could stop a gentleman but not a bandit.

Bai Fenghe also stepped inside. Yun Chuanzhi went forward to close the door for her. Halfway through, she suddenly leaned down and moved closer to the gate to investigate.

“What are you looking at?” Bai Fenghe, stuck in the doorway for a while, finally lost her patience and snapped.

“Look at this.” Yun Chuanzhi ignored her, pointing at the arrow that had missed her: “There are two arrows stuck here.”

Seeing her so serious, Bai Fenghe’s anger caught in her throat. Finally, she swallowed her fire. Her body flowed through the door gap like water, and she looked down beside Yun Chuanzhi.

There were indeed two arrows in the door. One was meant for Yun Chuanzhi, stuck near the level of Bai Fenghe’s chest.

But the other was stuck straight and strangely a few inches directly below it.

“This mechanism is aimed at a person’s chest. I am already this short, but the intruder last night was even shorter than me. He was either a dwarf, or”

“He was a child,” Bai Fenghe said softly.

She had only checked the aura and hadn’t paid attention to the intruder’s physical size. But if he could place the waist token on top of the cabinet, how could he be a child?

The two of them, one looking up and one looking down, stared at each other in silence. Then, Bai Fenghe changed the subject: “Weren’t you going to make soup? This Seat is hungry.”

“Alright,” Yun Chuanzhi said. She was about to leave when Bai Fenghe called her back.

“No salt, no onions, no ginger, no garlic,” she instructed.

Why don’t you just drink plain water then? Yun Chuanzhi smiled.

But of course, she didn’t dare say it aloud. She still agreed sweetly, turned, and walked into the kitchen, where she chopped off the chicken’s head with a single crack.

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