THE YILING MATRIARCH

Chapter 31 : The boy who would be shamelessly evil

No one in the room dared to breathe as the man behind them gave a cruel smirk, watching as the people in the room with him began to panic with one hand holding up his head lazily. He hadn't yet looked away either from the woman as he decided his playtime was over with these cultivators, seeing as his true identity had already been revealed, and honestly he had been enjoying himself since the team had entered the town.

With the snap of gloved fingers, Song Lan sprung into action with almost blinding speed, only to appear behind Wei Meifeng with a blade threateningly at her throat. Jin Ling and the other young men wanted nothing more than to step in and help their female companion, but Meifeng quickly stopped them, warning that their skills were nowhere near on par against the zombie.

"Don't move! In terms of swordsmanship, not even all of us combined could be a match against him." At this command, the young men re-sheathed their weapons reluctantly and left the room when the disguised man disrespectfully commented how it was time that the adults spoke alone.

There was nothing they wanted more than for Lan Wangji to be there.

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Alone now with the man, Meifeng watched with uneased caution as she saw the other lounging back into the rotting wall while drinking a self-made antidote for the Corpse-poisoning powder, and a long, content sigh met her ears. "Ah, much better. This is way better than that revolting bowl of congee you made; I can't stand really spicy foods. Not even if they were made by a pretty girl."

No longer could Meifeng find any hint of the act of pretending. Now that his cover was blown, the person who sat in front of her was now comfortable to be himself around her, showing to have no qualms with how dangerous he truly was.

He was Xue Yang, the boy who had become infamously known as a horrible, no-good young man by the time he was only fifteen years old and had further twisted her notorious legend.

However, no matter how big and bad this young man was, he was still a child compared to her, the Yiling Matriarch, and Wei Meifeng did not scare so easily. She did want to know the motivation for why he had gone so far as to do the things he's done, and the first step in that plan was to get him to talk until he spilled something she could go on. Bearing up her courage while even with the sword at her nape, Meifeng looked at the stranger in front of her and spoke.

"That really was quite the show you put on back there, jumping courageously out to fight those walking corpses outside and blocking that sword aimed for Jin Ling. You even led us on to falsely believe you were the real Xiaoxing Chen. Did you do all of that just for us?"

A moment passed, followed by another, before a small sound escaped the man's lips as a raised finger swayed back and forth in front of his mouth as if he were scolding her poor choice of words. "I wouldn't say it was for all of you, just for Big Sis," While his words remained innocent from any accusation, they caused Meifeng to stiffen slightly at what they might imply when her own fears were correct as he spoke again. "All my life, I've heard of the great Yiling Matriarch and all the incredible things that she was capable of, but words cannot compare actually meeting you in person, Wei Meifeng." So her true identity had been found out after all, and while it was flattering that she was rightfully recognized by someone, it made her uneasiness grow exponentially.

This uneasiness only grew further as Xue Yang spoke off-handingly about the large mass of walking corpses in Yi City being under his control that he used to test them the moment Meifeng and her companions had entered the city. Of course, he had been only curious about her since he saw them, and his curiosity had been rewarded when only the Matriarch would've been able to perform such a low-level summoning technique with such power to combat against his undead horde. "So what is it that you want from me? You've taken all those kids as your hostages, so I have no other choice."

Another cocky smile blessed the man's cold lips, reaching into his robes as if to pull something out that he had confined within the folds of his clothing. "That's good to hear. I only want you to help me with something, Senior Sis. It's actually a very small problem, so it shouldn't be too hard for you even in the weak body you're in."

Dangled in Meifeng's face was a small Spirit-trapping Pouch. The pouch itself was definitely well made, the cloth of the bag made out of blue silk, but it wasn't this that really caught her attention. It was instead the pouch's contents, which was the fragmented remains of a soul that not even any amount of glue could piece back together.

When she said this to Xue Yang, his only reply was only to blatantly respond with it not being any fun if the soul would be easy to repair. This plan that could only fail was also the only reason Xue Yang hadn't killed the disciples or her yet, laying a heavy weight on Meifeng's chest as an impossible task was laid for her... it was a good thing she had not come to the desolate city without a back-up plan for the chance something happened.

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The two users in Demonic Cultivation watched with wrapt interest as their own undead soldier fought the other with vicious intent and each other, waiting for the moment that would declare them victor. "Who do you think will win?" Xue Yang asked his senior, looking over at the woman who should've been older than him, yet appeared close to his own age. Meifeng snorted at this, confidently folding her arms under her chest as she peered over at him from the corner of her eyes.

"You even need to ask? Wen Ning shall be the winner, of course. Unlike Xiaoxing Chen, Wen Ning is no longer a mindless puppet with those damn nails in his head, but an unbeatable soldier who can think for himself." Meifeng and Xue Yang bantered back and forth like this a bit more before the two began to fight as well, mirroring their sent fighters in the distance, with Yang taking the offence. None of his attacks, however, made contact with Wei Meifeng as she eloquently weaved back and forth out of harm's way since it was all she could do.

Wei Meifeng might've been in Mo Xiemei's body for a while now, but time had done nothing in raising the level of spiritual power in her possession, and that fact was against her in this fight as Xue Yang shamelessly took advantage of her weakness.

Now breathing in heaves, Meifeng felt her body near the point of breaking despite her opponent not even breaking into a sweat as of yet; the sight very much annoyed her to be this winded already. Backing into the far corner of the small room, several plans of attack fluttered through her mind as she struggled to decide on what she would do.

Her options in backup were very much limited, seeing as how Wen Ning was still fighting against Xiaoxing Chen and the disciples were still held hostage outside with the walking corpses, to only her last one.

She didn't feel bad switching out of her confrontation with the boy so that someone more suitable could fight him equally. Of course, no matter how strong said boy was with several hundred corpses walking around the premises, nothing could match the powerful spiritual energy Hanguang-Jun possessed from his years studying Cultivation.

Before Meifeng left in order to check up on the students, she sent one last glance over her shoulder and, seeing Lan Wangji no longer holding back his strength against the unprepared Xue Yang, silently cheered for his win so that all of them could leave this horrible place once and for all.

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A/N: So here is the update I promised! College will be starting again as of tomorrow, so I'll be busy for awhile learning how to balance both school and work. Whenever I have time to update the next chapter will depend on too much to really set an exact date, but stay tuned and don't lose hope that everything will be ok for Meifeng!