The "little wounded dog" Bai Lingling had so brazenly adopted was, in fact, not a dog. At all. While she slept, the tiny black furball shimmered and expanded, transforming into a massive, majestic black panther that took up half the room.
Mo Lingxu stared down at the sleeping girl, utterly baffled. Is she an idiot? he thought, his tail flicking in irritation. Who picks up a legendary night panther and calls it 'kitty'? Everyone who knew who he actually was always ran away from him.
Mo Lingxu, feared by everyone, avoided by everyone.
Yet this girl grabbed him like he was some street cat.
But for some reason even when they had carried this girl to this remote city, she kept holding on to him while unconscious.
She acted boldly last night, but In sleep, all her boldness vanished. She looked... small. Fragile. Her hair was tangled and half of it covered her face, but he could still see the ugly, raised scar marring her left cheek.
Hmph. A fierce little thing on the outside, a broken bird on the inside. How... inconveniently intriguing.
He wondered if life was hard on her, but he already made up his mind to stay in this small place with her hiding his Identity till he could fish out his enemies.
On the hard wooden floor, Bai Lingling snorted and kicked in her sleep. "Mmmph... five more minutes, heaven you cheat..." she mumbled, then rolled over and whacked her elbow on the floor. "Ouch! Gah, why is my bed made of rocks? Did I get thrown into a prison?"
Mo Lingxu stared at the arrogant Bai Lingling who kept tossing and turning with interest, then as if feeling a strong gaze on her Bai Lingling's eyes snapped open. He immediately transformed back.
She was met with two glowing golden orbs staring right into her soul. "Wah!" she yelped, scrambling back and bonking her head on the wall. "You! You're... oh. You're still tiny." She blinked, the memory dawning. "Right. I adopted a feral loaf of bread. Good morning, Mr. Murder Mittens."
"Ah?" Bai Lingling let out a confused sound as the memories from last night flooded her mind.
She remembered being rushed into the carriage after she passed out and then nothing else but what surprised her most was that she was on the cold ground.
She looked around her room and saw nothing in it. Slowly she got up, ignoring the strange intent gaze of the little beast by her side.
She was much concerned about how she had passed out and did not even notice she had been transported to another city until now.
She squinted at the beast. It was licking its paw with an air of supreme boredom. "Pfft. It's just an animal," she told herself, puffing out her chest. "Probably can't even understand human speech. Right, Fluffy? You're just a cute little dumb-dumb, aren't you?"
Mo Lingxu's ear twitched in profound offense.
But Bai Lingling barely noticed as she brought her hands up to her chest.
"Oh no this is really bad" Bai Lingling muttered under her breath. Her core was badly damaged, even more than she had actually imagined.
She immediately thought of the coral space, she had when she had been cultivating in the past life, she wondered if it had transmigrated with her in this past life.
She could only pray it did. Bai Lingling closed her eyes and searched, when she finally sensed it her eyes lit up and she immediately searched for a pill that could stabilize her core for the time being and hopefully she found one.
The pill in her hand was not that good, but she swallowed it anyways. "This will have to do till I start cultivating again" Bai Lingling said under her breath as she finally look back at the little beast that looked like a dog.
She got up ready to go tease the beast, before she would finally step outside and explore this new place.
"Alright, Fluffy-Pants! Time to explore our new..."
But before she could take another step her gaze stopped in front of the mirror before her and she screamed in horror.
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!! WHAT IS THAT?!" Her scream was so high pitched and sudden that Mo Lingxu, who was mid-yawn, nearly bit his own tongue.
The next moment the men from last night brust into the room, panic was written on their faces.
Why did their little miss suddenly alarm the whole place? They almost thought she was in trouble only to see their little miss staring at her reflection like she was seeing a stranger.
"Little miss, what is the matter?" Uncle Shen was the first to as while everyone simply nodded murmuring.
But Bai Lingling? Bai Lingling was far gone, everywhere became blurry as she started at the scarred disgusting looking face in the mirror.
"T-this, t-this" Bai Lingling could not form her words properly. It was one thing to be transmigrated as a weakling. It was another thing to be transmigrated as an ugly weakling.
Heavencheated me, I took it
I was transmigrated as a weakling, I took it
But now fate also decided to play with my looks?!
That I will NOT take.
Bai Lingling's expression turned angry, the voices and concern in the room were now a distant blur.
Now that she thought of it. The original owner of this body was always bullied because of something other than the Phoenix vein fragment.
And that something was her scarred face that was giving to her by her so called cousin. Now it was Bai Lingling problem to fix this face.
Because if there was one thing Bai Lingling could not accept apart from injustice it was being ulgy.
A terrifying calm settled over her.The tears dried. A slow, sinister and slightly wobbly smile spread on her... scarred face. Fine. You want to play? she thought, her eyes gleaming with newfound resolve.
I'll cultivate. I'll get strong. I'll fix this face. And then... then I'll find every single person who ever looked down on Yun Qingqing, and I will make them eat their words. Literally. Maybe I'll make them eat dirt. Dirt is good for the skin, right?
Her revenge plans were still a work in progress.
A concerned voice drifted into her ears again.
"Young—"
"WHAT?!"Bai Lingling screamed as she spun around, snarling like a wet cat, only to come face to face with a room full of very concerned, very burly men.
Her ferocious expression melted into instant, over-the-top sweetness. "Oh! Uncle Shen! Everyone!" she chirped, her voice an octave higher.
"Good morning! I just... saw a, uh, a very big spider! On my face! In the mirror! All gone now!" She laughed, a hollow, tinny sound. Play it cool, Lingling. You're just a normal, scarred, not-at-all-reincarnated cheated snake demon who definitely didn't just declare war on heaven.
She wiped her eyes, as she cleared her throat. She could not allow them find out she wasn't the original Yun Qingqing.
Madam Liu had managed to find out last night that was why Bai Lingling was determined to not let her escape.
So for now Bai Lingling simply had to act normal.