Chapter 69
Chapter 69: The Anomalous Entity Escapes
“I quit. I’m done!”
“I’m heading to Bao Er’s place. Coming?”
Mo Ting Feng’s voice came from behind her. The moment she heard Bao Er’s name, her feet stopped on their own.
“Just so you know,” he continued, “you can stop being White Robe. But as a suspect, you’ll still be under house arrest at Dust Warden Manor until the White Robe case is solved—and it’s proven you have nothing to do with it.”
He stepped closer, lowering his voice. “Of course, you could also have Gu Cang Yue come storm Dust Warden Manor again. Let’s see if I let him walk away in one piece this time.”
At the sound of Gu Cang Yue’s name, something in Song Wei Chen’s chest gave a dull, aching twist. “What do you want from me? Why are you doing this to me?”
Her nose stung. Moisture gathered in her eyes.
She didn’t know that Mo Ting Feng had already torn himself apart a thousand times inside. To keep her near, he’d stooped to something this ugly—something that didn’t even feel like him. All he could see was his own pettiness, his own lowliness, his own unbearable face.
“I just want to take responsibility,” he said at last, voice rough. “Wei Wei… I want to be responsible for you.”
He had fought himself for half a day, swallowed the truth for half a day, and in the end it still slipped out.
Song Wei Chen shook her head. “I can’t understand you. Sometimes it feels like you hate me—like I owed you something in a past life, and you’re determined to make me pay.
“And sometimes you’re… good to me. But that kind of ‘good’ scares me.” She looked him straight in the eyes. “Dust Warden Official, I’m not Ruan Mian Mian. I’m not one of your fox sisters. And I have a boyfriend. Could you please stop treating me like this?
“I want a normal boss-and-subordinate relationship.”
The last ember in his heart went dark.
He watched her for a long moment, as if he wanted to carve her into himself. A thousand years later, the ending still hadn’t changed. She was never meant for him.
“I’m sorry,” he said quietly. “I forced you into it. From now on… I’ll try to hold back.”
He bent, picked up the White Robe from the ground, dusted it off, and held it out to her. “Go back.”
Song Wei Chen didn’t take it. “Aren’t you going to Bao Er’s place?”
A beat, then she exhaled. “I’ll go with you.”
They left at once. Song Wei Chen packed some snacks with care and brought them along. Green Mountain Village wasn’t far from the back mountain behind Dust Warden Manor—close enough to walk.
It was her second time stepping into these woods. She glanced around as she went, thinking of the last time she’d slipped here, gotten badly hurt, and nearly died. It felt like it had happened in another life.
Mo Ting Feng remembered it too. That night, he had searched for her like a madman. If he hadn’t found her—if he’d found her too late—his breath caught. His hand reached for hers on instinct, then tightened and pulled back at the last moment.
The past was smoke now. Whether she was Sang Pu or Song Wei Chen, the woman she was today had nothing to do with him.
Song Wei Chen walked a few steps, then realized he had stopped. She turned and saw him standing there, face pale, expression pained.
“Are you not feeling well? Did your internal injuries flare up again?”
She had always assumed the way he vomited blood meant some stubborn illness that wouldn’t heal.
He shook his head, avoiding her gaze as if her concern itself was dangerous. Then he moved forward again without another word.
Song Wei Chen had no idea what was tearing him apart. To her, he was just as moody as ever—hot one moment, cold the next. She pursed her lips and followed.
“By the way… why are we suddenly going to Bao Er’s place? Did something new come up?”
“The hair in the soul lamp is probably Xiu Niang’s,” he said. “That makes no sense. We need to go and confirm it.”
Song Wei Chen stopped dead.
The hair in the soul lamp… Xiu Niang’s?
A ridiculous thought flashed through her mind—some hidden mastermind secretly in love with Xiu Niang for years, unable to win her, still trying to revive her after death to continue a doomed romance.
I must have read too many toxic web novels…
She shook her head hard, chased away the nonsense, and hurried after Mo Ting Feng.
“Sister! You finally came!”
Bao Er bounced over and threw her arms around Song Wei Chen, refusing to let go. Because of Dust Warden Manor, her standing at home had risen. She didn’t sleep in the woodshed anymore—she even had her own side room now.
Seeing her, Song Wei Chen’s mood brightened. She hugged her tight, then pinched her cheek. “You’re too skinny. Eat more, okay?”
She opened the snack box. The little girl’s eyes went round. Bao Er grabbed a handful, offered it to Song Wei Chen, then carefully offered some to Mo Ting Feng before finally nibbling her own share.
“Bao Er,” Song Wei Chen said softly, “we brought you a surprise. Close your eyes first.”
Bao Er obediently shut them. Song Wei Chen carefully spread a portrait flat on the table. “All right—look.”
Bao Er opened her eyes and froze. She reached out with trembling fingers, tracing the face on the paper. Then fat tears rolled down her cheeks.
“Sister… how do you have a portrait of my mother?”
No surprise at all—the hair really did belong to Bao Er’s birth mother, Xiu Niang.
Song Wei Chen exchanged a look with Mo Ting Feng, then pulled Bao Er into her arms and wiped her tears. “Dust Warden officials had it drawn for you. Running into the mountains alone at night is too dangerous. If you miss your mom, you can talk to the portrait instead, okay? Don’t sneak out at night anymore.”
Bao Er nodded quickly and pressed her face against Song Wei Chen’s shoulder, clinging like she might never let go.
As she held her, Song Wei Chen finally noticed a small cluster of white hairs at the crown of Bao Er’s head. It would have been obvious, but her hair had been tied up and covered—so Song Wei Chen hadn’t seen it until now.
“Huh? When did you get white hair here? I don’t remember you having it before.”
“Grandmother thought it was weird too,” Bao Er said, touching the spot. “The day I came home, Grandmother bathed me and it wasn’t there. The next morning when I woke up, it was.”
Song Wei Chen frowned. “How could that happen…? Did anything happen that night?”
Bao Er looked up, thinking hard, then shook her head.
Mo Ting Feng’s expression sharpened. “Bao Er. Can I take a look?”
Bao Er nodded and leaned toward him. Mo Ting Feng lifted a hand, quietly working a spell, and swept his palm over her scalp.
For an instant, he caught something—thin as a spider thread, black-purple, wicked. Then it vanished like it had never been there.
His face turned grave, but his tone stayed gentle. “It’s fine. Don’t be afraid. It’ll go away on its own.”
Song Wei Chen noticed the change in his eyes. She smoothed Bao Er’s hair and pinched her cheek, forcing her voice light. “Eat well and rest. Sister and Dust Warden Official have to go now. Next time we come, I’ll bring you chestnut cakes, okay?”
Bao Er murmured yes, but her arms still wouldn’t loosen.
They only managed to leave after some coaxing. Once they’d reached a quiet stretch of path, Song Wei Chen tugged at Mo Ting Feng’s sleeve.
“That white hair… it’s not normal, right? What did you see?”
“There’s a trace of eerie qi at her Baihui point,” he said. “I suspect something was left behind when Nian Niang’s soul fragment drifted free that day. It used Bao Er’s body to slip out of the boundary, and only made its move after she crossed beyond the barrier. That streak of white hair is from it leeching her qi and blood while it clung to her.”
Song Wei Chen’s throat tightened. “Will it come back and hurt her?”
“It likely only used her to escape,” Mo Ting Feng said. “Still, to be safe, I’ll have someone protect her.”
His gaze darkened, thoughts sinking inward.
What kind of thing could bypass the soul-binding barrier’s warning and walk out of the dungeon attached to a living child?
…Was what escaped with Bao Er not the chaos wraith’s remnants at all?
Could it be that the most important thing in the main soul lamp had never been the obvious part?
If that was true, then Xiu Niang’s hair might have been nothing more than a lure—bait to pull a spirit’s thread.
But it went against everything Yin Mountain’s resurrection methods should allow.
So where, exactly, had it gone wrong?