Chapter 40: Ch 40 - The Perfect Scapegoat

"Young Master, thank you for accompanying me tonight."

"It's late, I think... I should bid farewell to you now..."

Back on the bamboo path outside the mountain temple, Jinyue turned around, putting her hands behind her back, reluctant to say goodbye.

Under the moonlight, the fox girl gently swayed her tail, her cherry-red eyeshadowed peach blossom eyes curved like crescent moons, so charming it could almost be drawn out in strings.

She tilted her head and smiled sweetly, just like the scene when they first met at the martial arts field during the day.

Yino was involuntarily captivated by Jinyue's eyes.

It couldn't be helped; this was the nature of innate succubus charm from her. If one wasn't careful, it was easy to fall under her charm spell!

"Ying... ying ying!"

The nine-colored deer bit Yino's clothes, anxiously tugging, which finally brought Yino back to his senses from the charm spell.

For a moment, Yino blinked, feeling a bit dazed.

Ever since he saved Jinyue, he had been quite relaxed and unguarded around her, but he didn't expect that in less than an hour of interaction, Jinyue would cast an illusion on him again.

However... This time, Jinyue's illusion seemed to have no particular purpose.

She neither made Yino reveal any true feelings, nor did she suggest Yino do anything. She simply made Yino stand under the moonlight, staring blankly at her sweet peach blossom eyes for several minutes.

If not for the nine-colored deer's reminder, Yino wouldn't have known how long he would have continued to gaze at her without blinking!

And as Yino came to his senses, he now inexplicably felt that Jinyue's smiling face was deeply etched in his memory. Even when he closed his eyes, he could still clearly see Jinyue's smiling face in his mind.

"Let's part ways here."

"If fate allows us to meet again in the future, we'll maintain our normal relationship as sect companions."

Yino clasped his hands and bowed, leaving with the little deer, and Jinyue did the same.

However, although Jinyue said goodbye, she actually stopped after taking just a few steps.

Under the moonlight, the fox girl stood still, her crimson enchanting eyes fixated on Yino's gradually receding figure——

"The little princess of Snow Village is truly kind and pure."

"With her around, it seems I'll never have the chance to cast illusions on Yino again."

"However... using illusions to slightly increase his fondness for me is still effortless."

"Moreover, tonight has already been quite fruitful!"

Jinyue spoke expressionlessly, her cold beautiful face curling into a smile.

Seeing that Yino had walked far away, she looked up at the increasingly pale moonlight above.

"Gu Wanglan should have returned by now."

Jinyue lifted her long boots, changed direction, and walked back towards the depths of the bamboo forest—— Searᴄh the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

"Calculating the time, it's already too late to clean up the traces in the dungeon."

"However, if I can't erase the footprints of the battlefield, I can erase the clues in Gu Wanglan's memory."

As the fox girl walked, the white dress on her body burst into flames, transforming into a dark-red Gothic evening gown.

"Let me think——"

"Who should I frame for stealing the deer~?"

The girl's jade finger lightly poked her cheek, feigning an innocent and naive expression.

After a moment of silence, a nearly perfect scapegoat came to the girl's mind, and the corners of her lips couldn't help but curl into a cold smile characteristic of a witch.

...

...

...

"Damn it, I was wondering why my eyelid kept twitching today!"

"This mountain temple is hidden so perfectly; it should be impossible for anyone to discover the secrets here..."

"It must be that dead deer making ghost calls in the middle of the night again, attracting people to such a place!"

Early morning, as the sun was just rising.

Under a pile of ruins at the mountain god temple, a gray-haired man in a trench coat had an unsightly expression, his eyes full of anger.

He walked along the messy cave tunnel, finally stopping in front of a pile of rubble.

Gu Wanglan frowned slightly, raising his hand to pry open a boulder.

Soon, his gaze was drawn to a strand of light red fur pressed under the boulder.

"This is..."

Gu Wanglan picked up the light red fur, narrowing his cold eyes.

"Fox hair?"

His mind raced, but he couldn't think of any fox demon who would be a suspect in stealing from the mountain temple.

There were many fox demons in the world, but Gu Wanglan truly couldn't remember if he had offended anyone, or if there was any fox demon shapeshifter mole within the entire Wuji Sect.

Unless the culprit was causing destruction purely for fun——

"No, it shouldn't be that witch. The Full Moon Sect also belongs to the Western Region faction. She has no reason to come to Wuji Sect and oppose her colleagues."

The more Gu Wanglan thought about it, the more headache he felt.

He continued walking and collecting scattered fox fur along the way, until Gu Wanglan saw the shattered dungeon mechanism, and the black blood everywhere, along with the worm skeletons stripped of scales——

"What kind of background does this fox demon have, to even kill the breeding worms?"

Gu Wanglan stooped down, his fingers touching the bloodstains on the ground, his eyes wide with horror.

He seemed to think of something and quickly got up to run to the upper dungeon.

Sure enough, it was also a mess here, all mechanisms triggered, leaving only an empty iron cage hanging in mid-air.

"The deer was also stolen..."

At this moment, Gu Wanglan's face completely froze.

He clenched his fists and suddenly punched the wall, causing a cracked depression.

"Dead fox, no matter who you are! I will kill you!"

Gu Wanglan's eyes turned red as he drew his sword and slashed wildly at the iron cage, in a fit of impotent rage.

But after a moment of emotional outburst, he keenly recalled a certain detail——

"Right! Since she left blood traces!"

"Using the Full Moon Sect's secret technique to sacrifice her blood to the Mother Goddess, maybe we can locate the deer thief's whereabouts!"

In a flash of realization, Gu Wanglan calmed down.

Taking advantage of the blood on his fingertips not yet drying, he ran towards the cave exit without looking back.

But just as he climbed out of the underground chamber, he felt a chilling gaze on the Buddha statue in the main hall of the mountain god temple.

Gu Wanglan suddenly turned back but found nothing.

An eerie laugh came from above his head. Gu Wanglan looked up and finally saw the red enchanting figure that had been waiting for a long time——

"Senior Brother Gu, I heard you want to seek blood revenge on someone?"