Skinwalker Belle – Chapter 455 – It’s Good to Give the Purebloods a Bit of Trouble

(Trigger: 50 more chapters added!)

The sky was just beginning to lighten.

Lin Fan opened her eyes and glanced at the blackened wooden beam overhead.

The wooden plank bed had been digging into her all night. Though her current body didn’t register low-level feedback like “aching back and sore muscles,” the rough texture still made her uncomfortable.

She sat up, running her fingers across the dark-gold dragon horns at her temples to confirm that the Myriad-Change Witch’s disguise hadn’t loosened in the slightest.

Long Ningshuang’s features were perfectly intact.

Lin Fan picked up the white lace-trimmed ankle socks she’d taken off the night before and put them on, then slipped into her black cloth shoes, tightened the waist sash of her black-and-gold horse-face skirt, and fastened the frog buttons at her collar one by one up to the top.

When she pushed open the door, the maidservant outside started in surprise, nearly dropping the brass basin in her hands.

“Nin… Ningshuang, my lady, would you like to wash up?”

“No need.”

Lin Fan walked past her and followed the corridor toward the front hall.

Long Hui was already waiting there.

Judging by appearances, he’d been waiting quite a while. He’d changed into a clean robe, and the dark-gold dragon horns atop his head had been groomed with oil, gleaming with a subdued luster in the morning light.

Though Crimson Horn City was shabby and poor, there was still no shortage of oil to squeeze out.

Standing beside him was a burly middle-aged tiger clansman—tiger-headed, human-bodied—wearing the armor of Crimson Horn City’s city guard commander.

“Ningshuang, my lady, good morning!”

Long Hui stepped forward, presenting a neatly folded beast-hide document with both hands, along with a dark-red token.

“This is the expedition certificate issued by Crimson Horn City’s lord’s office. The token is the pass for White Bone Pass. Once you arrive, hand both to the military supervisor for registration.”

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Lin Fan took them, flipping open the beast-hide document to scan its contents.

It bore the lord’s seal of Crimson Horn City, stating: “Collateral Dragonkin Long Ningshuang, conscripted by Crimson Horn City to report for duty at White Bone Pass.”

The wording was humbly deferential, just right.

“Don’t lose the token,” Long Hui added. “The patrol squads around White Bone Pass conduct strict checks. Anyone without a pass gets arrested on the spot and put to hard labor—once you’re in, you’re not coming out.”

“Understood.”

Lin Fan stored the document and token in her System Space.

“Ningshuang, my lady.” Long Hui hesitated, then spoke again. “There’s one more thing I should warn you about. Recently, every city has been posting wanted notices. The Council of Elders is looking for a woman with white hair and black eyes—the bounty is ten thousand third-tier Crystals. They say she’s an extremely dangerous individual who killed several high-ranking Dragon Clan members. When you reach White Bone Pass, it’s a mixed bag of characters there, and inspections are even stricter. If you run into anyone suspicious, keep your distance. Don’t get dragged into trouble.”

Lin Fan glanced at him.

“What does she look like?”

“Well…” Long Hui pulled a crumpled wanted poster from his sleeve and handed it over.

Lin Fan took it.

The drawing depicted a woman, clearer than the ones posted outside.

The features captured perhaps seventy or eighty percent of the likeness, but the expression was far too fierce.

The artist had apparently drawn it based on the persona of “a terrorist who killed several elders in succession,” forcibly adding a pair of cruel, three-white eyes and a sharp, mean mouth.

“…Quite ugly.” Lin Fan handed the poster back.

“Haha, well, it’s a wanted sketch—as long as people can recognize her, that’s enough.” Long Hui laughed and tucked it away. “Just remember that face, Ningshuang, my lady. If you ever run into her, don’t try to be a hero.”

“Mm.”

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Lin Fan turned and walked toward the estate gates.

“Ningshuang, my lady!” Long Hui chased after her a couple of steps and called out.

Lin Fan halted but didn’t turn around.

“That place, White Bone Pass… take care of yourself.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Lin Fan stepped over the threshold of the city lord’s mansion, and with a lift of Spirit Energy beneath her feet, she rose lightly into the air.

Her ink-green hair streamed backward in the airflow, and the hem of her black-and-gold horse-face skirt snapped in crisp arcs against the morning breeze.

She skimmed over the rooftops of Red Horn City, her pace unhurried, maintaining the proper bearing expected of a seventh-stage initial cultivator.

A few seconds later, that figure vanished beyond the southeastern horizon.

At the entrance of the city lord’s mansion.

Long Hui stared at the fading silhouette for a while, then let out a long sigh of relief.

The tiger-headed commander beside him leaned in.

“City Lord, who exactly is this Lady Ning Shuang?”

“No idea.”

“And you just let her go like that? Without asking more questions?” The commander scratched his fleshy face. “Those thugs in the city—soon as they heard about White Bone Pass, they scattered faster than rabbits. But her? She volunteered for a slot. Something everyone else runs from, she rushes toward like it’s a death wish. Isn’t that strange?”

Long Hui shot him a sideways glance.

“Is your head clogged with slag? A seventh-stage woman of the Collateral Dragonkin—have you ever seen another?”

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The commander opened his mouth, then closed it. No words came.

True enough. The ceiling of collateral bloodlines was what it was—sixth stage was already the cap. Seventh stage? Across the entire Dragon Spirit Continent, you could count on one hand the number of collateral kin who’d reached that level.

“Someone like that either has a powerful backer behind them, or they carry some extraordinary fortune on their person.” Long Hui clasped his hands behind his back, his tone turning seasoned. “Either way, she’s not something a small pond like Red Horn City can hold.”

“Then what’s she after at White Bone Pass?”

“Who knows.” Long Hui turned and headed back inside. “Either way, our part is done. The expedition certificate from the city lord’s mansion is issued, the person is sent off, and the quota counts as fulfilled. Whether she lives or dies at White Bone Pass, whether she strikes gold or stirs up trouble—none of it has anything to do with Red Horn City anymore.”

The commander followed behind, still a bit indignant.

“That place is full of elites sent from every city. So what if she’s seventh stage? In the eyes of those Pureblood Dragon Clan members, collateral kin will always be a step below. She might even get assigned the most dangerous work.”

Long Hui walked to the center of the courtyard, stopped, and shot back a reply.

“You think I don’t know? Every conscription order from the Council of Elders these years—when have they not used collateral kin and demi-humans as cannon fodder? Last time Red Horn City sent eight people, only two and a half came back alive.”

“Two and a half?”

“One lost a leg. Only counts as half.”

The commander was silent for a few seconds.

“…Then why were you so eager to issue her the certificate?”

Long Hui turned his head to look at him, the corner of his mouth twitching.

“You really think I sent her off out of the kindness of my heart?”

The commander blinked.

“This Lady Ning Shuang—from the look of her, she’s no pushover. Seventh-stage cultivation, volunteering for White Bone Pass, and that calm demeanor… She definitely has her own agenda.” Long Hui lowered his voice. “And that agenda, more likely than not, has something to do with the Pureblood Dragon Clan.”

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The commander mulled it over, and slowly the pieces clicked.

“You mean…”

“I mean nothing at all.” Long Hui smiled and patted the commander on the shoulder. “I only know one thing. If she can cause even a little trouble for those high-and-mighty Pureblood Dragon Clan bastards, that’s a win.”

He paused.

“But you’re right about one thing. Whatever she’s after, that place—White Bone Pass… is no simple matter.”

“How so?”

Long Hui glanced around, making sure no outsiders were within earshot.

“Last night I received a letter from the city lord of the neighboring city. The scale of the mobilization at White Bone Pass this time is far larger than I anticipated. Combined with the forces drawn from each city, over three thousand experts above the fifth rank have already set out for White Bone Pass.”

“Three thousand?!” The commander’s voice changed pitch entirely. “What kind of war are they preparing for?”

“More than three thousand, actually. The letter said that the Council of Elders has dispatched most of the Dragon Clan’s military forces there. And more critically…” Long Hui’s expression turned somewhat subtle.

“Someone of great importance from the Dragon Emperor Hall will be personally overseeing the situation.”

The commander swallowed hard.

Silence lingered in the courtyard for a moment.

“Alright, no point standing around here,” Long Hui said, snapping back to reality first. “Tell the people in the city to go about their business as usual—keep mining, keep paying taxes. What happens at White Bone Pass is far from our doorstep.”

“Yes, sir.”

The commander turned and walked a few steps, then glanced back at the sky in the southeast.

It was empty—nothing there at all.