THE YILING MATRIARCH

Chapter 3 : False Accusations

After all the excitement Meifeng had been able to experience so far since her reincarnation, she took the opportunity of finally being alone to wash away the layers of dried and uneven makeup in one of the many ponds that littered the grounds until she felt soft skin underneath her touch. 

Staring at the water's reflection, which was clouded white now, she was a little surprised and had to admit that Mo Xiemei had a perfect heart shaped face and a good complexion for a crazy person. While Xiemei was a little plain looking compared to the beauties from the other major clans, she was pretty enough to desire a second glance. "Not bad, not bad, but why did you paint your face to look like a ghoul? Is it to cover up this face? It could look a little bit like that of someone deranged if you wanted to." Meifeng murmured under her breath, making faces in the mirroring surface, only to laugh at herself in the process.

Brushing some dirt from her skirt, Wei Meifeng stood up and began planning what she would do now in her predicament. If she really was to do away with the Mo Family while a team of Lan Cultivators were present, her appearance had to stay as someone non-threatening if she was to avoid suspicion and get away without any problem afterwards.

Speaking of her revenge against the Mo Family, she looked again at the deep lacerations on her arm, and she had to surmise that they represented the three main people who had brought Mo Xiemei into believing she had to sacrifice herself to bring Meifeng back to life. Based on what Meifeng had observed so far, she had a pretty good idea who they were, and the world would surely not miss people like them.

Despite the thoughts now running through Meifeng's mind, her main concern wasn't her plans to avenge Mo Xiemei, but instead was the fact the self-sacrificing ritual was supposed to have disappeared from existence after she had died initially. In fact, none of her creations should still be around, yet she had seen both the flags and the ritual were still being used. Nothing was making sense. Even back in her first life, more than once she had heard the whispers that had flown about how anything to do with the Yiling Matriarch was evil. After her death, there was no reason for the clans to allow her creations to remain on this earth and tempt others to follow in her footsteps, so how could Mo Xiemei have performed it?

Instead of debating too heavily on these questions, Meifeng let out a great big yawn and decided that a short cat-nap was just what she needed at this moment, so she found an empty room and curled up against an outside wall, letting her eyes close shut. All of that running beforehand had tired Meifeng out more than she had initially realized, and she surmised her weariness possibly stemmed from returning from the dead; people were not meant to come back after dying after all, so there was the matter of gaining the strength back she had lost in death.

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Finding herself waking up about half an hour later, the parts of the estate that was not swallowed by the night was lit with the warm glow of hanging lanterns that swayed in the gentle breeze. Stretching out rested limbs not unlike a well-rested fox, Meifeng debated on whether she'd wander to see what the kitchens had or if she went ahead and fulfilled Xiemei's revenge on the unsuspecting Mo family, only to remember that now would be the perfect time to see how the disciples from the Lan Gusu Sect and Summoning flags were faring so far. One apple, a few slices of bread, and one cup of fruit wine later that she snatched from the meeting hall, Meifeng found herself in the open back courtyard where black flags could still be seen even in poor lighting against the starless sky.

Suddenly hearing an ominous wet, squelching sound coming from under her left foot, Meifeng followed the trail of dark liquid to see what it was while silently preparing a spell if she needed a quick get-away. As Meifeng rounded one of the larger shrubberies, she peeled back the thick branches and saw a corpse that looked to have had all the liquid rung out of it. Remembering what she had heard about ghastly zombies in the area, Meifeng quickly crouched down to see if it was one of them, but the clothing of the corpse was strangely familiar to her. Thinking back on who the victim could've been, Meifeng finally recalled that she had seen this clothing belonging to none other than Mo Ziyuan!