Chapter 70: Mountains and Rivers Brush (Ten)

After the Mourning Envoy finished speaking, she spread open her palm, revealing a silver surgical scalpel resting on it.

The people present harbored different thoughts. Some let out a huge sigh of relief, while others remained deeply worried, fearing that Yun Xueqing wouldn’t complete the task and that they would be next.

Yun Xueqing’s gaze darkened as he walked toward the Mourning Envoy.

However, he didn’t take the scalpel she offered. Instead, he took the opportunity to touch her palm directly.

He made no attempt to hide the action, and everyone present saw it clearly.

All of them widened their eyes. San Zhi shrieked, “You little punk, your intentions are impure after all! I damn well already warned you!”

But this guy was determined to court death!

The onlookers were utterly stunned, waiting for the Mourning Envoy to fly into a rage and slice off his head with a single stroke. Only Fu Mi remained expressionless, pondering the reason behind Yun Xueqing’s behavior.

Yet, the scenario everyone had imagined didn’t unfold. The Mourning Envoy didn’t erupt in anger or chop off Yun Xueqing’s head. Yun Xueqing merely touched her hand and withdrew, conveniently taking the scalpel along the way. He muttered, “As expected.”

The Mourning Envoy didn’t ask why he had done that. She simply ordered, “Dissect.”

Yun Xueqing shook his head. “I won’t obey you.”

Before the Mourning Envoy could react, Yun Xueqing continued, “The one presiding over the funeral is the Mourning Envoy, and you are not the real Mourning Envoy.”

His words struck like a bolt from the blue, crashing into everyone’s hearts. They all exclaimed in shock, “What! This woman isn’t the Mourning Envoy! That’s impossible!”

Yun Xueqing’s tone remained calm and unhurried. “It’s just my suspicion—one part guesswork that turned into eight parts after my test just now.”

His voice was even, but his body was tense. He gripped the scalpel tightly, his eyes locked on the Mourning Envoy. If she made the slightest move, he would plunge the blade into her without hesitation.

But she made no move at all. Instead, she adopted a posture of patient listening.

Yun Xueqing slowly explained his suspicions. “Though I hadn’t met the Mourning Envoy before, based on the information I’d gathered, I knew she was an emotionless… entity whose eyes were fixed solely on the funeral rites.”

“Because she lacks human emotion, she wouldn’t care about many things—only the procedures and processes. Naturally, she wouldn’t care whether our makeup was beautiful or ugly.”

The Mourning Envoy had acted just as the rumors described—cold and detached—until the makeup stage. There, she displayed a lot of “emotion.”

She showed no reaction to those who applied makeup well, but for those who made it grotesquely ugly, she revealed deep disgust, even uttering rule-breaking words like “If you paint it ugly, I’ll kill you.”

The corpse makeup rule only required applying it—no stipulation that it had to be done well. In other words, merely going through the motions of makeup sufficed.

Yet the Mourning Envoy fixated strangely on the quality, caring deeply about whether the makeup was beautiful or ugly. That was highly unusual—she was far too concerned with aesthetics.

The Mourning Envoy said coldly, “You’re suspecting me just because of that? That’s far too forced.”

Yun Xueqing’s tone was still slow and deliberate. Even under scrutiny, he replied unhurriedly, “It was just a hunch at first, but since you targeted me so much, I had to test it actively.”

“Just now, when I touched your hand, I felt calluses on your thumb, index finger, and middle finger—the marks of someone who grips a brush year-round.” Yun Xueqing’s gaze was indifferent. “The Mourning Envoy in charge of funerals couldn’t possibly be a student, right?”

The surrounding crowd nodded in agreement. “Our town has strict rules—no exploiting child labor.”

Their town only had two primary schools; no way the Mourning Envoy was a schoolkid.

Yun Xueqing withdrew his indifferent gaze, which sharpened like a blade piercing through the white veil hat, as if to see the Mourning Envoy’s expression beneath it. “But there’s one person in this town who uses a brush constantly.”

San Zhi whispered, “…The accountant?”

“…”

Ignoring the jester, Yun Xueqing said coldly, “It’s…”

Before he could finish, someone in the crowd solved the riddle and shouted excitedly, “It’s our Beauty Town’s Red Sister! She paints faces for us every day!”

Enlightenment dawned on the crowd!

So it was Red Sister!

Beauty Town’s rules stated there could only be one Mourning Envoy, and it was always the same person.

The veil hat had hidden her face, so they didn’t know her true identity.

They’d speculated privately, but they knew Red Sister couldn’t possibly be the Mourning Envoy!

She was busy painting faces for them every day—how could she have time to handle funerals every few days?

People died suddenly here; you couldn’t predict it. If Red Sister was the Mourning Envoy, and she was midway through painting someone’s face at home when news of a death came, she couldn’t just abandon the client and rush off to a funeral without raising suspicions.

So, if this person really was Red Sister, then she absolutely couldn’t be the Mourning Envoy. They’d all been fooled.

Someone hesitated. “Mourning Envoy, could you please remove your veil hat?”

Others cowered, afraid to offend, but some went straight for the jugular. “Mourning Envoy, someone here doubts your identity. You can prove it by showing your Mourning Envoy Token—that’s in line with Beauty Town’s rules.”

Mention of rules straightened many spines. “That’s right. The real Mourning Envoy would have the token.”

The true Mourning Envoy possessed a token proving her identity, but no one had ever imagined someone might impersonate her, so it had gathered dust.

They’d thought it would stay that way forever, but today it finally served its purpose.

The Mourning Envoy fell into an eerie silence. She didn’t speak. Her fingers twitched, but instead of producing the token, she removed her veil hat, revealing a stunningly beautiful face.

The icy aura dissipated, replaced by a lazy feminine voice. “I didn’t expect to be found out. You really can’t be underestimated.”

The crowd gasped. “It really is Red Sister!”

“Red Sister… Red Sister dared to impersonate the Mourning Envoy!”

The “Red Sister” on their lips was an old acquaintance to Yun Xueqing and the others. “Dan Yunni?”

Red Sister… was Sister Ni?

They’d suspected as much, but hadn’t expected it to truly be the same person.

Yun Xueqing mused, “Dan means red, so Red Sister is Sister Ni.”

She’d laid the answer out in plain sight.

San Zhi’s tone was peculiar. “You’re still alive?”

Dan Yunnitwirled a lock of her long hair around her fingertip, smiling seductively. “In Ugly Town, you lot screwed me over good, but that was just a clone. What’s one death?”

Yun Xueqing replied, “There’s no such coincidence in the world. The moment we entered this town, the Mourning Envoy selected us for the funeral procession. Now it looks like you targeted us deliberately.”

His words immediately inflamed the crowd. “Red Sister broke the rules. Even if it’s Red Sister… no one can break the rules or impersonate the Mourning Envoy!”

Strangely, no one contradicted it. Instead, they chanted in unison, “You can’t break the rules… Kill those who break the rules.”

As they murmured, their bodies began to change. Scales grew on their skin, and they grew taller and more burly.

San Zhi observed, “They’re mutating. Rules must be sacred in this town.”

Fu Mi was pleased. “Dog-eat-dog time.”

As one of the “dogs,” Dan Yunni showed no fear. She said with interest, “What a hassle. I’m no good at fighting.”

She reached into her pocket, pulled out an exquisite surgical scalpel, and charged at the mutated villagers in her high heels!

Her speed was blinding; no one could track Dan Yunni’s movements. They only heard the scalpel slicing flesh and saw mutated heads rolling on the ground one by one.

In under three minutes, Dan Yunni had dealt with them all.

She flicked the scalpel lightly, flinging off the blood. “Took more effort than last time. Mutations are tricky.”

Seeing Yun Xueqing step back, Dan Yunni smiled. “Don’t be scared. I won’t do anything to you.”

San Zhi scoffed. “If you didn’t hold a grudge, you wouldn’t have set this trap.”

Dan Yunni turned her gaze to him. “If that’s what you think, I can’t help it. But I truly haven’t decided to kill you… If I had, you wouldn’t be standing here.”

Yun Xueqing ignored her hypocritical words and asked, “You could impersonate the Mourning Envoy, so she must know the inside story. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have allowed this.”

He pointed at the corpse still standing nearby.

Dan Yunnitapped her chin with a fingertip. “Yeah. To mess with you all, I owed her a favor.”

Fu Mi asked casually, “Who is the real Mourning Envoy?”

“You’ve already met the real Mourning Envoy,” Dan Yunni said without evasion. “She’s in your inn.”

Yun Xueqing wasn’t surprised. “The Faceless Woman in the picture frame.”

Dan Yunni nodded. “That’s her—the shadowy woman who hides in picture frames when she’s not working.”

The three didn’t doubt Dan Yunni was lying; it made perfect sense if it was her.

Nearly every inn had her image; probably every resident’s home did too.

Only that way could she learn immediately of a death and conduct the funeral promptly.

The Mourning Envoy wielded powerful Weird Domain forces, but only related to funerals. She could intimidate Yun Xueqing but lacked the authority to leave the frame and kill.

Fu Mi’s lips curved. He suddenly spoke up. “Since we’re chatting, why not tell us where the Mountains and Rivers Brush is?”