"Cough. Cough cough." After rubbing her neck to soothe her breath, she asked anxiously, "What about my cousin, speak up."

Behind her, Wan Hun stepped forward and whispered a few words into Jueqing’s ear. With each sentence Jueqing heard, her face turned a shade uglier, until, by the end, it was so dark it seemed ink might drip from it.

Locked in the secret chamber, Feng Xuxu was unaware of what was happening outside, only knowing that she was taken through a complicated route and thrown into this airtight room.

Looking around the chamber with its pervasive red decor, akin to a bridal chamber for a newlywed couple, and then at her own bright red clothes, could it be that Dugu Mo had lost his mind and intended to marry her right here? The thought of being kept here made her shiver uncontrollably.

"Sister Feng, what should we do now?" Xiaobai perched on Feng Xuxu’s delicate shoulder, tail swishing and tiger head turning as he looked at Sister Feng for direction.

"We play along with his plan, since Dugu Mo went through all this trouble to capture me, I can’t let his efforts go to waste, can I?" Feng Xuxu paced around the secret chamber, inspecting one thing and then touching another.

"Dugu Mo will probably die a very miserable death," Xiaojin projected, poking its snake head out and speaking to Xiaobai on the shoulder.

Upon hearing this, Xiaobai shook his tiger head, "Then wouldn’t that be letting him off too easily? It’s better if he’s half-dead rather than completely dead."

Feng Xuxu chuckled at that. These two little creatures had given her an excellent idea. How to make someone half-dead without actually killing them was truly a headache-inducing problem. Use poison? No, the Empress Dowager has the Seven-Colored Lotus. Cripple him? It seems like before she could lay a finger on him, Dugu Mo could strangle her to death. Sigh, she really needed to think this through.

"Sister, why don’t you just poison his cup?" Xiaojin blinked its snake eyes looking at sister Feng, bearing the thought, ’One small bite and it’s done, why bother with all this fuss.’

"No, that won’t work, his real father is an elder of the Snake Clan. Your poison would be detected, and then he’d just cure himself. Wouldn’t that be a wasted effort?" She shook her head in disapproval.

"Who says my poison is so easy to cure? Annoying." Xiaojin turned its snake head away, feeling its pride wounded, it quietly shed tears.

"If it’s hard to cure, that’s even worse. He can’t die just yet." The old Emperor still didn’t know that Dugu Mo was not his son. If Dugu Mo died, the Emperor might vent his anger on the Xuanyuan Family in his grief, and that would be a loss far outweighing any gain.

"Then just cripple him," Xiaobai rolled his eyes, finding humans troublesome.

"Cripple him, cripple him," she murmured to herself until her eyes suddenly lit up. Right, if he found out he’d be unable to carry on his lineage, wouldn’t that... She excited herself just thinking about it, clapped her hands, and decided, "That’s what I’ll do."

"Sister..." Xiaobai and Xiaojin exchanged glances and quietly called out to the extremely excited Feng Xuxu.

Turning her head to see two adorable pets staring at her, she gave an awkward cough and cleared her throat, "I’ve thought of a plan." She flashed a mysterious smile at the bewildered Xiaobai and Xiaojin and then vanished into her space, arriving at the back mountain where flowers bloomed as far as the eye could see.

She carefully chose a few different flowers from the sea of blossoms, and then, satisfied, she exited her space.

Stepping out of the space back into the secret chamber, she began to work on the flowers she had just picked, slowly squeezing out some juice to smear inside a wine cup.

Xiaojin and Xiaobai watched with wide eyes, unable to guess what their sister was planning.

Feng Xuxu was very pleased with her own handiwork.

"Sister, what if Dugu Chen can’t find you?" Xiaojin stretched its long body and wagged its snake head, blinking its snake eyes at sister Feng.

Feng Xuxu blinked her eyes, then suddenly slapped her forehead—she had actually forgotten such an important matter.