Chapter 50: Bao Er Turns Dark (Part 1)

A voice slipped from Bao Er’s mouth—familiar, yet wrong. It carried an eerie chill that made Song Wei Chen’s blood turn cold.

Her pupils snapped wide. She locked up, as if an immobilization spell had pinned her to the ground.

Bao Er leaned back and stared at her. Then her lips curved into a smile no child should ever wear—sharp, delighted, and cruel.

“I was going to toy with you a little longer,” she murmured, “but I’ve wanted to see this expression for far too long.”

She lifted one finger. “Shh… don’t make a scene.”

“You…” Song Wei Chen’s voice shook. “What did you do to Bao Er?”

A soft laugh escaped—light as breath, cold as ice.

“I didn’t do anything to her. Inside me, there’s a puppet—her own mother. Even like this, she still tried to protect her child.”

Bao Er tilted her head, as if admiring the body she wore. “In this cave, every child was drained and turned into lamp fuel—except this one. Lucky for me. She was left with a whole soul and a whole spirit. Otherwise, what would I have used?”

She raised a thin arm and turned it, inspecting it like an object. “This will do. Barely.”

Song Wei Chen forced air into her lungs. “How do you leave her body?”

Bao Er’s big eyes curved into a bright, innocent smile, as if they were having a friendly chat. “Since you care about her so much, why don’t we make a deal?”

“You take me out. You won’t need to say a word—once I’m outside, I’ll leave on my own.”

Around them, grievance-breakers hurried past, tending the wounded and combing the cave. To anyone watching, it only looked like White Robe Venerable chatting with a child—laughing softly, even.

Song Wei Chen’s nails bit into her palm. “You’re so powerful. Why would you need me to take you out?”

“Don’t play dumb.” The smile stayed, but the air turned colder. “With Dust Warden Office methods, if I hadn’t reacted fast and hidden inside this child—so you couldn’t spot me immediately—I’d already be shattered to nothing. Dead beyond dead.”

Song Wei Chen’s heart hammered. So there was weakness. There was fear. And that meant there was room to bargain.

“Why do you think they’ll let you slip away just because you stick close to me?”

Bao Er’s gaze glittered. “I don’t know why White Robe chose a useless little nobody like you, but… who would suspect the child you’re protecting with your life?”

“You know I’m White Robe,” Song Wei Chen said, forcing steel into her voice. “If I shout once, you won’t get away. I can still save her.”

Bao Er didn’t argue. She only watched her, smiling—certain, patient, predatory.

“Try it,” she whispered. “Go on.”

Then she sighed, as if in pity. “Too bad you couldn’t protect her that night. And now you’ll watch her die right in front of you. Will your conscience eat you alive for the rest of your life?”

“Stop trying to provoke me,” Song Wei Chen snapped. “If I take you out, you can still kill her. You’ll leave me guilty forever.”

“For her mother’s sake,” Bao Er said smoothly, “if you take me out, I won’t touch her.”

Song Wei Chen’s thoughts knotted tight. If she took Nian Niang out, the chaos wraith escaped—and the consequences would be endless. If she refused, Bao Er would die, and Song Wei Chen would never scrub that blood from her hands.

And the cave was already being cleared. Time was bleeding away.

Deep in the winding, claustrophobic passages, Mo Ting Feng moved as if he’d memorized every twist by heart. He followed the Bagua bearings, disarmed a hidden crossbow trap, and reached the place he’d been tracking.

The main soul lamp.

But the skull that should have sat beside it was gone. Only a single strand of black hair floated in the lamp oil, dark as night.

Mo Ting Feng’s gaze sharpened. With one spell, he extinguished the main soul lamp. At the same instant, the other soul lamps stopped draining the children’s living souls. He drew the black hair from the oil and sealed it in a special pouch marked with the character for “dust,” his movements careful to the point of reverence.

Why was there no skull?

Had someone taken it before they arrived? Or had the enemy gone to such lengths for something else entirely? Mo Ting Feng’s brows drew tight. Whoever he was facing, they were more dangerous than he’d expected.

He cast another search spell for traces of the chaos wraith. Black threads of strange qi still clung to the air—proof it had been here only moments ago. And within three li of the cave, Dust Division restraints had already been set: Heaven Net and Earth Net, tight as a cage. It shouldn’t have been able to escape.

As he prepared to pursue, Ye Wu Jiu arrived.

“Lord,” Ye Wu Jiu reported, “we searched the entire cave and didn’t find the chaos wraith. It likely fled the cave, but it won’t get out of the barrier. I’ve already sent men outside to expand the search.”

Mo Ting Feng gave a single nod. “The children?”

“All six have been found. One boy lost too much blood—his condition is critical. The others each lost one or two yang souls. It will affect them, but it shouldn’t kill them.”

Ye Wu Jiu hesitated, then added, “Only the child named Bao Er is unharmed. She’s with Brother Wei.”

“Only Bao Er is unharmed…”

Mo Ting Feng repeated it, and something ugly flashed across his mind. His blood went icy.

“Damn it.”

His head snapped up. “Where is Wei Wei?!”