章 5: Time For A New Fiancé
Luo Ran's pupils shrunk as her skin faded to white that even her pale foundation was darker than her original skin tone.
She scoffed and responded confidently, "You sure like to make assumptions. Have you never heard of perfume?"
"Oh really? You must love the pungent scent of Yan Dou herbs so much that you made my tea smell exactly like you. If I was Master Xiao, I would vomit on the spot."
"What? You! How would you know?! You were just a slave that the master bought! Don't think that just because you're engaged to the head of this village, you're suddenly all smart!"
Yu Xuelan noticed she was still trying to shake off her grasp and realized the woman's fingers were unusually dirtied with what seemed to be soil. Luo Ran noticed the girl peering at her discoloured fingers and aggressively smacked off Yu Xuelan's grip.
She laughed in disdain, "So what if I put something in your tea? Even if you tell others, no one would believe you because this entire village thinks you're a dumb dog with no status. Have you forgotten that you used to steal all my clothes and jewellery?"
Luo Ran laughed mockingly as if she was looking down at a sewage rat attempting to run away from a tiger, "You were so passive and obedient before. Why are you acting like you're suddenly a new person? Even though I only came to this village a few months ago, I can tell you're acting even more suspicious than me!"
Yu Xuelan slightly twisted her lips and formed a half-smile. There was no life in her eyes, only this dull disinterest that fogged itself through a pool of grey clouds that utterly held strange, elusive complexities. Seeing how provoking the woman provided Yu Xuelan with so much information regarding Lin Yuhe's image in this village, she could not help but feel delighted.
"I give you all the credit. You have inspired me to pursue a career as an actor," she sarcastically replied.
Even if Lin Yuhe might've been in the wrong for stealing or committing villainy, it didn't stop the fact that she wanted this woman to be dead. Yu Xuelan couldn't care less about Lin Yuhe's backstory and just wanted to do her job, which was to get rid of those who this ex-slave hated.
And that was all.
"You!" Luo raised her arm, bringing it down to smack the girl, but Xuelan grabbed her wrist again and twisted it down, causing Luo Ran to shout in pain.
"So why do you want me dead?" She asked and instantly straightened back her lips as Luo Ran furrowed her brows with her question, "You see, I am just curious, that's all."
"You! You're just a slave. Who do you think you are to treat me like this? Do you really think we stand on the same level? You use to always take my belongings just to impress the Master. But after you succeeded, he has been wavering in his decisions on who to take as the madam of this village!"
Yu Xuelan stared at her in disbelief, feeling quite disgusted by the conversation. However, a loud cry from a servant resonated throughout the hall, interrupted their 'heart-to-heart' chat.
"HELP!!"
Both Luo Ran and Yu Xuelan whipped her head in the yell's direction.
"The ma, master!!"
Yu Xuelan walked out of the room, looking in the scream's direction as a servant came running down to her, sweating and panting.
"Lady Lin!"
"What's wrong?"
"Master Xiao has..."
The servant fell to the ground and trembled. His weak knees failed to support his upper torso as his face turned pale like he had seen a ghost, possibly even paler than Luo Ran's and Lin Yuhe's skin combined.
"THE MASTER HAS DIED!"
Yu Xuelan and Luo Ran followed the servant as he led them to the second gate where the unidentifiable corpse of what seemed to be Master Xiao lied. The lump of flesh reeked of a putrefactive odour as it mixed with a tinge of sickening sweetness, forcing others to slow their breathing to prevent the nauseating scent to enter their noses.
Luo Ran fell onto her knees helplessly, trembling with fear as she covered her mouth with both her palms. Cold sweat and tears dripped down her pale cheeks, like a waterfall that could even wash away her thick makeup.
"Demon? Mur, murderer...?" Luo Ran quivered.
Yu Xuelan pushed through the small crowd of servants that surrounded the lump of flesh and walked closer to the corpse. She lowered her eyes, examining the body nonchalantly.
"Lady Lin! You shouldn't be here!" A servant called, but Yu Xuelan ignored his words.
She grabbed the commandment note she hid in her pocket and noticed that a quarter of the paper had been burnt.
It didn't surprise her that Master Xiao was one of the people Lin Yuhe directed her resentment energy towards, but even if one had disappeared, there were still three more. Although she was sure that Luo Ran was also one of them, the other two were still unknown.
Yu Xuelan sighed as she rubbed her forehead with her fingers, lowering her eyes to the corpse.
"This is definitely the work of a Counter ranked demon," she mumbled to herself as she crouched down.
She attempted to reach out her hand to touch the blood that splattered on the ground but stopped as she heard a certain voice.
"And why would you say that?"
With her eyes still lowered onto the corpse, Yu Xuelan's heart thumped as her breath slightly stopped, causing her body to freeze. She slowly looked up and stared at the figure in front of her, only to feel her fingertips become cold.
It was the last person she expected to see.
The young cultivator from before, Long Rei, stood next to the woman with his hands behind his back. The sleeves of her green robes fluttered amongst the wind along with her brown hair that seemed to be an even lighter colour because of the sunset's glow.
It was Long Wen, the first daughter of the Zheng Long Sect Master.
She was one of the most skilled martial artists in the cultivation world. Long Wen always tied her thick, curly hair in a high ponytail as people always said that her hair resembled a lion's mane when let down, which made her quite unapproachable to others. However, under that cold image, she had always been a kind girl.
She was also Yu Xuelan's childhood best friend.
Until the incident of the conference when they labelled Yu Xuelan as a runaway rebel who ultimately disappeared from the cultivation world, their friendship slowly died out. Actually, it was more like Yu Xuelan wanted to avoid her as much as possible, so she avoided all the places she knew Long Wen would be.
However, one thing that Yu Xuelan clearly remembered about her dear friend was that...
She was possessive.
Even when Yu Xuelan was deemed to be evil, she never stopped chasing her. Though Yu Xuelan couldn't remember every single detail, her feelings towards Long Wen were rather tentative.
"Why would you say it was the work of a Counter demon?" Long Wen repeated, and Yu Xuelan's mind returned to the situation.
"Ah, yes, well... if it was a Mercenary or a Fallen demon, they would've devoured the entire body or left the corpse in a cleaner state due to their skilled precision," Yu Xuelan responded, avoiding eye contact with Long Wen by pretending to be analysing the body.
Long Wen rubbed her chin. "That's true. Are you a cultivator, miss?"
But before Yu Xuelan could respond, Luo Ran cried, "How can you act so calm?! Is a demon really roaming in this village?!"
"You must be the fiancée of Master Xiao?" Long Wen asked and walked towards Luo Ran with her face looking stern as ever.
"Young Madam Long, it's that lady over there," Long Rei said and looked over at Yu Xuelan.
"No, no, no, I'm not. That lady over there is," Yu Xuelan pointed towards the woman, who was sulking from fear on the ground.
"What?!" Luo Ran exclaimed in confusion.
"Yeah, didn't you want to marry him so badly? I'll give him to you and even hand you his will," Yu Xuelan confidently professed.
Long Rei and Long Wen stared at each other in confusion before watching the two maidens talk passive-aggressively.
"It doesn't matter who is the fiancée or who is not. I just wanted to inform the head of this village that I'll investigate this area to hunt down the demon," Long Wen informed and walked away.
クリエイターの想い 
xbemoo
xbemoo Don’t worry. Luo Ran will be gone soon.
Summary
HaiShen Yu:
Yu Xuelan (Daughter of the late Sect Master)
Yu Yang (Current Sect Master and Yu Xuelan's uncle)
Zheng Long:
Long Wen (Daughter of the Sect Master - Yu Xuelan's childhood friend)
Long Rei (inner disciple)
ShenMing Wu: ???
Shu: (Won't be mentioned till Book II)
Thank you for reading! Votes and comments are appreciated :D
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