Chapter 353 - A Ruthless Welcome and a Familiar Face

Chapter 353: Chapter 353 - A Ruthless Welcome and a Familiar Face

The prisoner lifted his head and glared at Ning Shuang.

"Little girl, release me. You have already wasted enough of my patience."

Ning Shuang regarded him without speaking. Her gaze moved briefly toward the torn portion of his robe, then returned to his face.

After a moment, she lifted two fingers toward the men standing beside him. They understood the gesture immediately.

One struck the prisoner across the stomach while another caught his jaw and forced his head back.

The chains rattled against the tree as he struggled.

Su Bai watched from the shadows, his earlier caution gradually acquiring a peculiar sense of disbelief. He had followed a dangerous soul expecting to find a hidden retreat or the beginning of some new scheme.

The man was receiving a remarkably poor welcome.

"Who are you?" Ning Shuang asked. "You have had enough time to decide whether you intend to answer."

"I told you already! I am an elder of your sect!"

The anger in his voice made several of the watching cultivators stiffen.

Ning Shuang’s expression remained unchanged, and that steadiness seemed to reassure them.

She stepped closer to the prisoner and examined him with an attention that made his struggling briefly cease. Then she turned toward the others.

"He wants you frightened enough to stop questioning him. Search him again when he can speak properly. I want to know what he did to our companion."

The next blow drew a furious curse from the bound man.

One of the cultivators beside Ning Shuang nodded approvingly. He said something about her recognizing a spy before anyone else noticed, and another agreed with enough enthusiasm to suggest he was relieved she had taken responsibility.

Ning Shuang accepted the praise with the distant composure of someone who expected competence from those beneath her. Su Bai pressed his lips together and continued listening.

She had convinced them that caution meant following her orders.

The prisoner tried shouting another threat, but the words broke beneath a series of blows. His body handled them poorly.

Su Bai watched the faint response of the mark and the uneven movement of the man’s Qi.

At last, the prisoner’s head sagged against the chains.

The men beside him continued until his body jerked sharply, and Ning Shuang raised a hand.

They stopped at once, breathing harder than she was. She examined the captive briefly before stepping away from the tree. Her voice remained level when she spoke again.

"Let him wake up. We can ask him again when he has recovered enough to answer."

One of the men gave an appreciative laugh.

Su Bai found himself wondering how many demonic cultivators had earned a reputation for ruthlessness simply by persuading the others to pause.

Ning Shuang had certainly chosen an effective way to keep the situation under her control.

The prisoner remained alive, her subordinates believed they were exposing an enemy, and none of them appeared eager to question her judgment.

He would have liked to hear her explanation before deciding which part amused him most.

He waited until their attention settled fully on the captive.

Several fine Qi needles formed beside his fingers and slipped through the gaps between the trees.

Each struck a controlled meridian point near the nape of its target’s neck.

The men stiffened, and their circulation faltered beneath the precise interference. Before any could raise an alarm, their eyes lost focus and they collapsed onto the ground.

Ning Shuang turned immediately.

Her hand had already reached for her weapon when Su Bai stepped into the clearing. He kept his movements unhurried and lifted the Glacier-Lung Bone Mask away from his face.

Recognition changed her expression before she could finish drawing the blade. Her gaze moved from him to the fallen men, then back again.

"They’re only unconscious," Su Bai said. "I controlled the force."

Ning Shuang smiled.

For a moment, she seemed unable to decide whether to look relieved or embarrassed.

Su Bai glanced toward the chained prisoner and then at the men lying around him.

The corners of his mouth lifted despite his effort to remain solemn.

Ning Shuang noticed the expression and seemed to guess exactly how much he had witnessed.

"How have you been, Miss Ruthless?"

A faint warmth reached her cheeks.

"Well enough, Mister Righteous."

Su Bai smiled, and the tension left her shoulders.

The cold authority she had shown her subordinates softened into a more familiar attentiveness. Her eyes lingered on his face for a moment, confirming that he really was standing in front of her.

"How did you find us here?"

Su Bai’s gaze returned to the prisoner.

"I was following something connected to him. What happened? I remember that man traveling with you."

Ning Shuang’s expression changed.

She looked toward the chained figure, and the warmth from their greeting faded as she considered how to answer.

One hand rose slightly before stopping near her chest. Su Bai recognized the hesitation immediately.

He retrieved a small pouch from storage and held it where she could see the label.

Her eyes widened.

"You found more?"

"Someone gave me a particularly useful gift."

Ning Shuang accepted the pouch with both hands. The relief in her expression was difficult to miss, although she restrained herself long enough to examine the ash carefully.

Su Bai checked the clearing while she opened it, confirming that the fallen men remained unconscious and the prisoner had not moved.

A thin Nether Thread settled near the captive, giving him another way to notice any attempt to act.

Ning Shuang separated a small quantity of the powder.

She had used the previous supply enough times to know how much she needed. After swallowing the measured pinch, she closed her eyes and guided it through her circulation toward the Gu.

Su Bai watched her face while keeping his spiritual sense on the surroundings. He remembered how carefully the ash had to enter through the parasite’s ordinary intake, giving it no reason to recognize an attack.

The process took only a short while.

Ning Shuang’s breathing eased, and the fingers resting over her chest gradually relaxed. She examined the insect with her own spiritual sense before opening her eyes.

The familiar restraint had left her expression. When she spoke, her voice carried a quiet certainty.

"It’s asleep."

Su Bai nodded and allowed himself to relax slightly.

"Keep the pouch."

Ning Shuang looked down at the ash before tightening the binding with considerable care. She stored it separately from her other possessions, then glanced toward the unconscious men.

For a moment, Su Bai could see her gathering her thoughts. She had clearly been handling the situation alone for longer than she would have preferred.

"He changed a few days ago," she said. "At first, I thought something had frightened him while he was away from the camp. He watched everyone too closely and became impatient whenever I asked where he had been."

Su Bai listened without interrupting.

"The man I knew understood our orders. He also understood which questions he could refuse to answer." Ning Shuang’s gaze settled on the prisoner. "This one started speaking as though obedience was something the rest of us owed him."

The mark stirred faintly inside Su Bai’s spirit.

He examined the captive again, following the uneven breathing and the tension around the closed eyes. The familiar face had become an uncomfortable detail now that he knew whose presence lay behind it.

Ning Shuang had recognized the change without possessing anything resembling his connection. That deserved more attention than the performance he had witnessed when arriving.

"How certain were you?"

"Certain enough."

Her answer came calmly.

Su Bai looked back at her, and Ning Shuang met his gaze. The embarrassment from earlier had faded as she began explaining the part she understood best.

He remembered how quickly she had noticed changes in his own expression during their previous meetings. Her ability to read people had helped her survive circumstances that punished the slightest misjudgment.

"I pay attention to intentions," she said. "Especially when someone directs them toward me. I learned to notice what people wanted before they explained it."

She rested one hand against the edge of her sleeve.

"I cannot read their thoughts. But when someone who has traveled beside me for weeks begins looking at me with an entirely unfamiliar purpose, I notice."

Su Bai’s expression grew thoughtful.

"That would be useful to learn."

"You already make it difficult enough to hide things from you, Brother Su."

There was a small smile in her voice, and he answered it with one of his own.

Ning Shuang seemed more at ease now that she could speak without constantly weighing the Gu’s response.

She looked toward the captive once more before continuing. The humor left her face gradually, replaced by the same watchfulness he had seen from the forest.

"I needed more than a change in temper before I could convince the others. They had to see him make a mistake."

Su Bai followed her gaze to the chains.

Ning Shuang had arranged the capture, kept her subordinates obedient, and persuaded them to question a man wearing their companion’s face.

The prisoner’s repeated claims to be an elder had clearly failed to repair the situation.

Su Bai settled beside the cold remains of the campfire and waited for her to explain how she had managed it.

Across from him, Ning Shuang drew a slow breath.

"It began the evening he returned to camp," she said. "He greeted the others as usual, but when he reached me, he stopped and looked at my face for a long time. Then he asked everyone else to leave us alone."

Her fingers tightened slightly against her sleeve as she recalled what followed.

Su Bai’s attention remained on her, while the faint connection to the chained man continued stirring at the edge of his awareness.

Ning Shuang glanced toward the prisoner and lowered her voice.

"That was when I first realized how much danger we were in."