Do You Like Me That Much? Miss Villainess

Not long after, Mu Qinglan entered the room.

Because this involved confidential matters that might concern the succession of the saintess position, everyone present had no intention of staying. After smiling as they delivered the good news, they filed out through the back door.

For a moment, the inspector's emotions fluctuated.

Saintess...

These officials from Canghai City had truly delivered her a great achievement.

Mu Qinglan wore red and white satin, leaning against her wheelchair like a curious little girl, looking left and right, then blinking at the inspector and smiling:

"You must be the Inspector, right? I'm Lou Qing."

"I'm called Lou Ming. Just call me Sister Ming."

The inspector's voice was incredibly gentle as she pointed to the seat beside her, indicating for her to sit down. The more she looked, the more pleased she became.

Within the demon clan, although there wasn't such a rigorous KPI system, whether unconnected people could get promoted depended not only on strength but also very importantly on achievements.

Promoting a saintess was a tremendous achievement.

"This is my second time coming to Canghai City recently."

Lou Ming said simply. After Mu Qinglan sat beside her, she asked with a slight smile in a testing manner: "Guess when I last saw you?"

Mu Qinglan said: "Two days ago."

"You're indeed clever." Lou Ming tidied up the desk briefly before saying: "The declarations you made in the marketplace before, including those arrogant remarks—were they well thought out too?"

Mu Qinglan shook her head firmly: "I'm completely loyal to the clan. All my remarks came from the heart."

No matter what, appearances had to be maintained.

Lou Ming had no intention of getting to the bottom of it, brushing off this topic with a smile. Anyway, the council of elders had investigated—this Lou Qing had a clean background, just hadn't been well-known before. A minor issue.

Geniuses... always had some peculiar ideas.

They needed tolerance.

Mu Qinglan interlaced her fingers and placed them on the desk, asking: "Sister Ming, did you need something from me?"

"Little fox spirit." Lou Ming gave her a gentle glare.

Mu Qinglan smiled proudly, her tail swaying without saying a word.

"It's about the fox clan saintess position. Sister Ming is looking for me—have I already been selected?" Mu Qinglan breathed a sigh of relief.

Lou Ming nodded: "The council of elders has decided. It's you."

"I heard the council of elders are all old fossils. They agreed so easily? Well, Sister Ming saw me in action before and probably kept evidence. With your status, convincing them must not have been difficult."

Mu Qinglan subtly flattered her.

"You little..." Lou Ming chuckled and said: "Let's talk business."

The white-haired girl straightened up slightly.

Lou Ming's gaze shifted as she took several papers from beside her and placed them on the table, saying:

"You've been a candidate saintess for almost half a year now, so you understand the role. In short, in a few days you'll need to go to Qingqiu. The triennial ancestor worship also requires you as the main officiant."

Mu Qinglan picked up the papers, listening while reading, nodding occasionally to show she wasn't distracted.

"I'm the main officiant?"

As a player, Mu Qinglan had some understanding of demon clan ancestor worship. Several side quests were related to it, all describing it as the demon clan's grandest activity that every demon clan participated in.

Lou Ming's expression was calm: "Don't worry, all five major demon clans will send out a main officiant."

"The previous saintess defected, seemingly because something went wrong with the ceremony, though I don't know the specifics."

"Mm."

Mu Qinglan nodded and agreed without hesitation, not worried at all about any potential dangers.

—After all, she was running away today.

Whatever Lou Qing promised you had nothing to do with her, Mu Qinglan.

"You reached seventh rank in just half a year—such talent is rare in a century. Don't worry."

Lou Ming offered comfort, then added: "But you can't become arrogant either. I've seen certain divine beasts leap to seventh or sixth rank just upon reaching adulthood. That's truly..."

Her expression showed some emotion.

"Divine beasts?" Mu Qinglan asked.

"Dragon breeds, phoenix breeds, certain spirits of heaven and earth—as long as they live long enough, they can steadily become third-rank divine beasts without even experiencing the trials of the Three Gates..." Lou Ming said enviously.

"No need to experience the Three Gates?"

"Right, among the twelve paths, only those born as divine beasts have this privilege...

Of course, there are gains and losses. Most divine beasts' upper limits are fixed, mostly at third rank, unable to match our demon clan's infinite future possibilities."

Lou Ming gave an example:

"Like our fox clan's previous saintess [Nine-Tailed Heart Fox], with the innate destiny trait of Ancestral Reversion—once in a millennium. Her future advancement to second-rank demon saint or even first-rank constellation was a certainty, but unfortunately she still ran away. She left a tail with the council of elders, so her destiny trait is probably incomplete now."

When she spoke of this, she looked somewhat regretful and didn't hide her subtle dissatisfaction with the council of elders.

Mu Qinglan understood—she probably wanted to show they were on the same side.

Too bad.

She was casting pearls before swine.

Mu Qinglan propped her elbows on the desk and leaned forward: "What about the ancestor worship? Five major demon clans jointly worshipping ancestors—who is the object of worship...?"

"Normally I shouldn't say..." Lou Ming hesitated: "But since it's you, you're qualified to know."

Mu Qinglan listened attentively.

Seeing this, Lou Ming looked around to ensure no one was eavesdropping, then said with a solemn expression:

"The object of worship is the ancestor of all our demon clans, the master of the demon path, the ancestor of all demons..."

"Demon Lord Chen."

...

"Demon... Lord Chen?" Mu Qinglan looked very confused.

"I don't know the specifics either." Lou Ming looked around furtively and whispered: "Don't tell anyone. The council of elders might tell you the details later. Just pretend you never heard what I said today."

"Mm."

Mu Qinglan nodded like an obedient child.

But her mind was already filled with various schemes. Actually, as a hardcore gamer, Mu Qinglan's understanding of the secrets of the "Heavenly Mandate" world even exceeded many second-rank demon saints and martial saints.

As the ultimate background setting of the game, she knew about the Celestial Administrators.

She just hadn't bothered to mark targets so far in advance before, being too distant from such things.

Celestial Administrators governed time periods.

Although not explicitly mentioned in the game, many plot-studying "fate scholars" on player forums had proposed a common viewpoint.

That is—

The Twelve Celestial Administrators were intimately connected to the twelve paths, and even had mysterious unknown connections to the twelve time periods.

That was too distant and didn't concern her much.

However, the fact that the [Nine-Tailed Heart Fox] fled because of the demon clan ancestor worship and left a tail with the council of elders...

This was the first time she'd heard of it.

Mu Qinglan's eyes flickered slightly as she recalled that silly fox's combat performance. Indeed, there seemed to be a slight gap compared to other prestigious innate destiny trait holders.

Players had thought it was just the game company running out of budget.

Who knew there were hidden circumstances!

'I remember the silly fox first appeared in Heyang's West Mountain, then headed west into the western Dao Province. Hmm... this intelligence could be useful in the future.'

'Mm, now it even involves Celestial Administrators, troublesome…'

Mu Qinglan's thoughts raced while her expression remained unchanged.

After a while, Mu Qinglan and Lou Ming chatted leisurely, building rapport. Having become demon clan saintess, there wasn't much else to do.

[One quarter-hour remains until this Human Gate ends]

[Please prepare, ceremony participants]

Mu Qinglan's ears twitched slightly, her smile becoming more gentle as she continued chatting naturally, refreshing as spring breeze.

She should leave now, find Zhu Yan, and then depart together.

"Oh right, look at my memory, I almost forgot!"

Seeing her about to leave, Lou Ming slapped her forehead in annoyance:

"I haven't given you the Saintess Token yet! I spent so long persuading the council of elders for this. Without it, you can't even prove your saintess identity!"

Mu Qinglan looked at her meaningfully. Thɪs chapter is updatᴇd by noⅴelfire.net

If she couldn't get this thing, wouldn't she fail to perfectly complete the mission of becoming demon clan saintess? Who knew if this mission required this saintess token!

She could naturally see this woman was doing it deliberately.

This was emotional manipulation!

First show some goodwill, then say something frightening to intimidate others, then release more goodwill, then show one's harmless side...

This was a worn-out routine from Grandmaster Mu's playbook.

"Moreover, the Saintess Token also contains a sealed full-power strike from Demon Saint Qingge!"

Lou Ming's voice was very excited, which Mu Qinglan also noticed.

She calmly accepted the token and calmly asked: "Lord Qingge is...?"

"Our fox clan's only second-rank demon saint!"

Mu Qinglan nodded lightly, a cold glint flashing in her eyes. When she looked up again, her face wore a smile as enchanting as poison.

She was Qingge's person? So that was it.

Then there was no being friendly with you.

After all, Qingge had killed her once, and she held quite a grudge.

Well then.

The account of Lord Qingge previously sending people to assassinate me with demon blood—let's start settling it with you. Perfect, the knife was handed right to me. Not trying it would be impolite.

She wouldn't die anyway.

"May I ask, how is Lord Qingge's power used? If I use this power, will Lord Qingge know?" Mu Qinglan's tone remained gentle.

She also made tea, the scalding water rushing into the teapot, heating the tea leaves until they curled and rolled.

"Just infuse it with demon power. Anyway, this is the Saintess Token—no one else can touch it."

Lou Ming smiled very relaxedly:

"As for knowing? Though Lord Qingge is strong, she's not omnipotent. At most she can sense that the power in the Saintess Token has been consumed, but she absolutely cannot know how you use it."

Mu Qinglan put down the tea, saying easily:

"Then I'm relieved."

Holding the Saintess Token against the light, she squinted her beautiful eyes and smiled softly:

"This little woman urgently needs to break through and would like to borrow something from Sister Ming."

"What thing?"

Lou Ming didn't care much.

Mu Qinglan's smile was faint, but her voice was like a venomous snake's hiss, making one's heart turn cold:

"Borrowing your head for use."

As her words fell.

Before Lou Ming could react, she suddenly felt an extremely terrifying aura.

That aura was fierce and brutal, with overwhelming power like an invisible giant hand thrusting directly into her body, gripping her heart, making cold sweat pour from her entire body as she instantly became alert.

It was the Saintess Token she had just handed over.

It had been activated!!

"You...!"