Training the Villain to Become a Big Sister Obsessed - Chapter 60

“Why make the puppet look like someone else?”

Hearing Lan Shanjun’s question, asked with neither anger nor joy, Feng Sheng’s eyes flicked up. The puppet strings wrapped around her fingers moved like lively snakes between her digits. She said as a matter of course: “If you want a puppet to look real, of course, you have to imitate the features and appearance of a living person.”

Feng Sheng smiled at Lan Shanjun as she spoke: “How is it? Do those eyes look similar?”

“Hmph,” Cang Wu snorted coldly.

Hearing this obvious scoff of disdain, Feng Sheng looked at her: “You think it doesn’t look similar? Then why did you rush over and strike me when I had only finished one eye?”

Cang Wu narrowed her eyes, moving the hand gripping her sword forward.

Lan Shanjun noticed Cang Wu’s movement and subtly shifted her body to touch Cang Wu’s hand. Cang Wu understood her Senior Sister’s meaning—she didn’t want her to fight.

Zhao Chen interjected: “You made the puppet’s eyes resemble Lan Shan’s without permission. Since Cang Wu acted and destroyed the puppet, how about we consider the matter settled?”

Feng Sheng let out a sharp breath through her nose. She scrutinized the Young Hall Master of the Black Tortoise Hall (Xuanwu Dian) again. Her Patriarch had said Zhao Chen was reasonable and upright. Looking at this matter today, she supposed she could be biased. The Feng Family only had some connection with the Black Tortoise Hall among the Four Directions, so she naturally had to give some face.

“Fine.”

Feng Sheng’s expression turned cold. In the end, she had taken a blow for nothing, all because she lacked backing.

Picking up a piece of wood from the side, Feng Sheng started to re-craft the puppet, intending to ignore the others. As wood shavings fell, wisps of fragrance permeated the air, smelling like aged wine and flowers.

Zhao Chen twitched her nose: “Bodhi Wood.”

Feng Sheng’s hands paused for a moment before she continued her work. Zhao Chen raised her hand in a salute and spoke gently: “May I ask where this piece of Bodhi Wood was obtained from?”

Feng Sheng was only a disciple of the Feng Family; without the status of a Young Master or being a descendant of an Elder, even with her exceptional Puppet Arts, she would be suppressed by those of high rank. She never had a good impression of these high-status individuals. Zhao Chen, however, was somewhat surprising. Apart from the earlier bias, she showed proper courtesy toward Feng Sheng, without any air of superiority—just like that other person.

Although she didn’t want to answer anymore, after hesitating, Feng Sheng told her: “I traded for it with someone.” “I made a puppet for her, and she gave me the best Bodhi Wood.”

Bodhi Wood comes from the Bodhi Tree and is excellent material for making puppets.

“I recall the Feng Family has a rule: you cannot privately make puppets for anyone outside the Feng Family,” Zhao Chen paused, continuing: “If you do this, aren’t you afraid the Patriarch will find out and punish you?”

The Patriarch…

Feng Sheng was about to carve the puppet’s eyes when her hand, holding the delicate carving knife over the Bodhi Wood, froze as if she had turned to stone.

“I am no longer a member of the Feng Family. What am I afraid of? The Patriarch… the Patriarch can’t control me anymore.”

Zhao Chen fell silent upon hearing this: “I apologize.”

Knowing that she wouldn’t be able to focus on her puppet-making today, Feng Sheng put down the Bodhi Wood and the knife, looked up at the group, and asked: “You want to know who gave me the Bodhi Wood?”

Zhao Chen nodded.

Feng Sheng spread her hands, helpless: “Then I don’t know either. When she found me, she used a technique to obscure her face; I couldn’t see through it.”

“Then the puppet she asked you to make was this person’s appearance?” Lan Shanjun reached out and pulled a cloud over from the side, which slowly morphed into the likeness of Mu Liu.

Feng Sheng glanced at it and nodded: “It was her.”

The answer was immediate and unequivocal. Lan Shanjun didn’t doubt her words; after all, she hadn’t even seen this person before. Feng Sheng must possess the ability of photographic memory. Feng Sheng’s words were plausible: someone had offered Bodhi Wood in exchange for her making a puppet of Mu Liu, and then used the puppet to trick Mu Fu’an into going out to search for the Heart-Burning Grass (Fen Xin Cao). But why? Why Mu Fu’an specifically? Even with the puppet, why involve Mu Fu’an?

“Bang—!”

“You tricked Mu Fu’an into leading away the Red-Winged Ants!?”

Mu Liu, eyes blazing with fury, slammed Ye Nanyi onto the table, her fist hovering near the woman’s temple. Ye Nanyi didn’t dodge or evade; she looked confused by the aggressive attitude: “Didn’t I help you? Why are you so angry? Didn’t you wish for her death?”

Mu Liu’s eye corners twitched twice. She clenched and then released her fist, her tone displeased: “This is between me and her; you don’t need to meddle.”

Ye Nanyi tutted lightly, the smile in her eyes growing stronger: “So you didn’t want her dead. I was planning to present this as the thank-you gift for you refining ‘Reincarnation’ for me.”

Mu Liu looked at her coldly: “Young Master Ye’s move is truly brilliant. No one would suspect you. You successfully diverted their attention entirely to me and that person from the Feng Family.”

Ye Nanyi chuckled lightly, prying Mu Liu’s hand away and pushing her off: “That’s an unfair statement. I didn’t drag you down. Weren’t you in Yun-Meng-Ze a few days ago? Elder Yu can testify to that; they won’t make things difficult for you.”

Mu Liu sat to the side, but still asked: “Who exactly are you planning to deal with using ‘Reincarnation’?”

The smile on Ye Nanyi’s face gradually faded. Her fingers traced the bite mark on her tiger’s mouth, and her gaze turned cold inch by inch: “You don’t need to know.”

Mu Liu curled her lip and asked no more. She didn’t really want to know either; knowing too much about certain matters was dangerous. If a Young Master like Ye Nanyi needed to use poison to deal with someone, that person’s status must also be significant. Mu Liu only needed to focus on refining the medicine.

Returning to her Cloud Residence from Ye Nanyi’s, Mu Liu saw Mu Fu’an squatting outside the door. Seeing her still wearing that old spiritual robe faintly scented with Bodhi Vine, the anger in her heart flared up instantly. She walked over and slapped her.

“Slap—!”

Mu Fu’an turned her head, her cheek burning painfully, and she tasted blood in her mouth. Mu Liu dragged her up: “Are you brainless? Would I give you my clothes? Let me tell you, Mu Fu’an, even if my spiritual robes rotted away, I wouldn’t give them to you to wear! The thought of it disgusts and sickens me!”

Mu Fu’an blinked and turned to look at her: “Did you burn the Bodhi Tree?”

This was the first time in years that Mu Fu’an had proactively asked Mu Liu about anything.

Mu Liu stiffened, followed by an even greater surge of fury. She raised her foot and kicked Mu Fu’an in the abdomen.

Mu Fu’an rolled over and tumbled into the Cloud Residence, spitting out a mouthful of blood from the corner of her lips. She looked up and saw Mu Liu walking over.

Mu Liu looked down at her: “By what right do you question my affairs?”

Mu Fu’an gritted her teeth and propped herself up, managing only a whisper: “Aunt Mu asked me to watch you. I am your older sister.”

“You are not!” Mu Liu squatted down and pinched her face. “You are just a dog picked up by the Mu Family; you have no right to be my older sister.”

Mu Fu’an was forced to tilt her head back, still persistently asking: “The Bodhi Tree, was it you?”

Mu Liu trembled with anger. She took two deep breaths, tossed Mu Fu’an aside, and spat: “Idiot, what kind of person do you think Elder Yu is?”

After saying that, Mu Liu rummaged through her Cloud Residence for some items, and without a second glance at the fallen Mu Fu’an, she strode out the door.

Not long after Mu Liu left, Mu Fu’an painfully stood up, wiped the blood from her mouth and face, and took off the spiritual robe. She muttered: “It’s a good thing it wasn’t you.” Otherwise, Aunt Mu would worry again. Mu Liu’s last sentence was practically an answer for her: it wasn’t her.

Slowly walking out of the Cloud Residence, finding no one around, Mu Fu’an recalled the group that had dragged her out last night to find the real arsonist. They had left with such spirit and momentum, which made her feel a little sour, mixed with envy. When could she also have a group of friends like that? Mu Fu’an found the thought ridiculous; it was almost a luxury. After a sigh, the Cloud Residence fell silent again.

“Is Feng Sheng’s word reliable?” Lan Shanjun asked Zhao Chen beside her, leaning into the wind.

“She has no reason to harm Mu Fu’an,” Zhao Chen still couldn’t figure that out.

Lan Shanjun nodded; she was considering that too. For now, Mu Liu had been excluded from this matter, but besides Mu Liu, was there anyone else who hated Mu Fu’an this much?

“Let’s go find Ling Guang and the others first.”

“Good.”

Lan Shanjun communicated with Ling Guang via Jade Talisman. A moment later, a thumb-sized, crimson, four-tailed Vermilion Bird emerged from the talisman.

“Lan Shan, is Zhao Chen next to you!?” It was Song Qingcheng speaking, sounding very anxious. The little Vermilion Bird formed by spiritual power flapped its wings with labored sounds.

“Yes, what happened?” Lan Shanjun felt a bad premonition.

“Ling Guang is injured, you all—!”

Before Song Qingcheng could finish speaking, the little Vermilion Bird scattered with a pa, its crimson spiritual power almost completely dissipated. At the critical moment, Cang Wu suddenly reached out and caught that last bit of spiritual power.

Sensing Ling Guang’s spiritual aura, Cang Wu twisted that bit of spiritual power into a thin thread and waved it out.

“It will lead us to them.”

Lan Shanjun was surprised, but before she could react, Cang Wu grabbed her wrist and flew out, with Zhao Chen following closely behind.

As Cang Wu sensed the location of Ling Guang and the others, she said: “They are no longer within the Academy’s boundary.”

Lan Shanjun frowned: “How did they go outside?” Before, relying on the Book Spirit who had read the original book, Lan Shanjun had some idea of how events would unfold, but now everything was beyond her expectations. Just as she thought, this world had come alive and wouldn’t follow the script of a book anymore. But this was too alive.

Lan Shanjun finished thinking, and the three of them had already reached the boundary of Qingyun Academy. The moment they crossed the barrier, they felt a spiritual energy fluctuation tremble not far away, carrying the scent of blood and killing intent.

Zhao Chen said solemnly: “It’s Tu Wushuang.”

Lan Shanjun got a headache. Why was it her? Had this person tracked them down? Could she possibly be the black-robed person who stole the blade? But wasn’t she a Sword Cultivator?

“Senior Sister, this person is very dangerous,” Cang Wu stopped.

Lan Shanjun didn’t understand for a moment: “Then let’s hurry over?”

“You stay behind; Zhao Chen and I will go.”

As soon as she finished speaking, a hand grabbed Cang Wu’s ear, and Cang Wu let out a soft cry, tilting her head sideways.

“How old are you? You’re not an adult yet, yet you dare to order your Senior Sister around.”

Zhao Chen couldn’t help but let out a laugh.

Cang Wu’s face flushed, her ears burning hot, including the ear Lan Shanjun had grabbed.

“Hurry up; Ling Guang and the others are waiting.” Lan Shanjun put on her Senior Sister demeanor and lightly patted her junior sister’s head.

Cang Wu didn’t say anything more, only reaching up to touch the ear her Senior Sister had just held. It didn’t really hurt; Senior Sister’s hand was very soft.

The spiritual energy fluctuation covered a wide area. By the time the three found Ling Guang and the others, they only saw two figures standing facing each other mid-air: Xie Qingshuang and Tu Wushuang. Both had blood on them, but Xie Qingshuang’s complexion was paler, while Tu Wushuang’s eyes were filled with excitement and anticipation. Below them, within a barrier, were the trapped group. The spiritual power of the barrier was unfamiliar; it must have been set up by Tu Wushuang.

Seeing three more arrive, Tu Wushuang said to Xie Qingshuang: “Don’t worry, I won’t let these people interrupt our duel.”

Instantly, a barrier formed, attempting to envelop Lan Shanjun and the others who had just arrived.

“Clang—” A sword was drawn from its sheath.

The collision of spiritual power created a loud noise. The barrier met the sword energy and instantly shattered into pieces. Another wave of sword energy swept out, shattering the barrier trapping the others as well.

The sword energy passed through the barrier and slashed toward Tu Wushuang. Tu Wushuang raised her hand to block, retreating a step. She looked up, and the anticipation and excitement in Cang Wu’s eyes grew even stronger. She had found a better opponent.