The sliding doors rattled to the base of their foundation as Li Meirong stormed out of Mo Cheng's quarters, her chest heaving up and down with the intensity of her emotions. Both Shu Qianqian's cries and Mo Cheng's voice screaming her name echoed loudly from behind.
As she passed through the garden's pond area, she stopped in her tracks to stare at her own reflection in the still water. What she saw made her grimace. She didn't recognize the woman staring back from the water.
She had been in this body for several years so far, and had already grown accustomed to her countenance, but even so, she thought that she had never looked this way before. She looked enraged, scary even.
She traced the outline of her face with her fingers, as if to make sure what she saw was real. Her eyes were narrowed and gleamed like obsidian, and her lips seemed a darker colour than usual, sticking out of a chalk pale skin and reflecting a harsh, scowling face. Not a speck of dust or dirt could be seen on her. Not even a hair could be found out of place.
Not a single thing showed that she had just thrashed someone. Her narrow shoulders slightly trembled, but not from fear. Her heartbeat was drumming in her ears and a strange, exhilarating sensation was coursing through her body.
Li Meirong closed her eyes and took in a deep, calming breath. 'This isn't me.' was the resounding thought that pounded through her mind. She had never sought to challenge anyone before, and had always been striving to avoid conflict as much as possible. When trouble came knocking on her door, she ardently defended herself, but hadn't gone looking for more trouble. She had never sought revenge from anyone, nor had she wished to.
Back when No Eyebrows, the deceased Captain Liang, had bullied her, she had cowered, but had managed to stay alive. Li Meirong had never even entertained the thought of confronting her head on.
After the Jiangshi Master, Sheng Jing Wu, had thrown her into the lava at the Thousand Beasts Forest, she hadn't thought of paying him back for his actions. Rather, she had tried keeping a low profile so that he wouldn't come after her again.
Yet, despite all of Li Meirong's talk of wanting to live a peaceful life, she had still been coerced into joining a fighting tournament.
Furthermore, in a moment of sheer folly, thinking herself powerful enough to finally face her enemies undaunted, or possibly due to her state of inebriation at that time, she had knowingly jumped right into the trap Shu Qianqian had concocted along with Captain Liang. It was a foolish, egotistical mistake that had nearly cost her life.
If that wasn't enough, she had just beaten Shu Qianqian to a pulp, and didn't feel an ounce of remorse about her actions. In fact, she wanted to beat her up some more! Once she had seen how easy it was for her to retaliate, she didn't want to stop. It was the shock of her own growing thrill at harming another that made her bolt away from the violent scene.
"What happened to me?" Li Meirong whispered the words, slowly opening her eyes and staring at her own reflection in the still waters. As she traced a finger over her cheek, the smooth skin underneath began to crack.
"Still waters run deep!" She heard Feng Huang snickering behind her.
Li Meirong turned around to face the beaming Turtle Demoness. "What do you mean by that?" she asked, raising one delicate eyebrow as she directed her gaze in the turtle's direction.
"I'd have never expected you to be so aggressive. You really shocked my little heart! It's so very unlike you, but I do like this kind of change!" said Feng Huang, who was floating so closely over her shoulder that the cold scales of her feet brushed against the juncture of Li Meirong's neck and collarbone.
Li Meirong remained quiet, musing over Feng Huang's choice of words as she gave the Turtle Demoness an affectionate tap on her crystal-filled shell. There she was, lamenting over her situation, while her contracted pet sounded ecstatic about it. Until times like these, it was easy to forget that her pets had their own moral principles that they lived by, and their mindset was quite different than her own human one.
Snowball silently and unhurriedly stepped through the sliding doors in that instant, capturing both Li Meirong and Feng Huang's attention. His almond eyes curved into crescent moons as he peered at Li Meirong. For a moment there, it seemed to Li Meirong as though her fox spirit's long snout was smiling up at her in a gloating smirk.
Li Meirong rubbed her temple. "Let's get out of here," she mumbled to her companions.
"Let's," replied Snowball, raising his front legs in the air, expectantly waiting to be picked up.
As soon as Li Meirong lifted Snowball into a hug, she felt his soft paw pad caress her cheek, as a torn leaf of skin broke off, only to float creepily to the ground.
"Master, your skin is falling apart!" he warned in a concerned tone.
With a loud groan, Li Meirong stepped back and exclaimed, "This is really bad timing."