Swap Faces

Zhao Han continued asking, "Why does your eldest sister like wearing red and combing her hair in the middle of the night? Does your whole family know?"

Yu Qiuyue answered naturally, "Of course we know. It's my eldest sister's hobby."

"She said that combing her hair in front of a mirror at night didn't just preserve her beauty and improve her complexion—it also made her hair smoother and helped it grow longer."

Zhao Han's body shuddered when he heard that. Great, the entire Yu family had been fooled by a ghost.

A ghost with such abilities was best avoided. He had the money already, so he'd better run for it.

"I'm leaving." Zhao Han said, then climbed out the window and fled without looking back.

"Why are you running so fast? Hmph, what a cowardly man, always hiding his face."

"Ugh, I won't have the money to pay Liang Feng off tomorrow. What should I do? Do I have to offer him my body?"

"But does Liang Feng even deserve me? His family's ordinary, and we're not a match in status..."

"Right, that guy said he saw my eldest sister, didn't he? I'll use that to threaten her and make her give me money."

The next morning, before dawn, Yu Qiuyue went to the door of her eldest sister Yu Qiulian's room and knocked.

"Knock, knock, knock!"

"Creak!"

Ten seconds later, the door opened, and a woman in red stepped out. She was beautiful, with straight, smooth hair. Her face was pale, yet her expression was calm.

Seeing Yu Qiulian's expression, Yu Qiuyue's heart gave a lurch. Had her eldest sister really combed her hair all night? Just how much did she love being beautiful?

"E-Eldest Sister, I need to talk to you."

"Come in."

The two went inside, and Yu Qiulian quietly closed the door behind them.

Once inside, Yu Qiuyue glanced at the dressing table and the old bronze mirror, then at the wooden comb. For no reason she could name, a shiver ran through her.

She hadn't felt anything while the door was open, but now that it was shut, why did something feel off about her eldest sister's room?

But when she remembered that she had leverage over her, Yu Qiuyue felt much more emboldened.

The two sat facing each other. Yu Qiuyue smiled faintly. "Eldest Sister, you combed your hair again last night, didn't you?"

Yu Qiulian gave a stiff smile. "That's right. I comb my hair every night."

"Eldest Sister, did you know there was a Flower Thief last night? He was highly skilled. While you and I were asleep, he drugged us both unconscious and then saw us naked."

"Afterward, he threatened me, saying that unless I gave him fifty taels of silver, he'd reveal the private parts of our bodies and let everyone in County Town know."

"Eldest Sister, what should we do?"

As Yu Qiuyue spoke, she put on an anxious expression.

It was as if there really were a Flower Thief.

"Then give him the money."

To Yu Qiuyue's surprise, Yu Qiulian actually agreed. And when it came to the Flower Thief, her expression didn't change at all, as if she already knew.

Now it was Yu Qiuyue's turn to be dumbfounded. It seemed her eldest sister didn't care about the Flower Thief—or perhaps he'd told her the very same thing, and she'd already been prepared?

"Gulp!"

Yu Qiuyue gathered her courage. "Eldest Sister, the Flower Thief told me to go alone to pay him. Could you... give me the silver?"

"Why not?"

Yu Qiulian replied stiffly. Then she turned away, walked to the dressing table, sat down, and slowly began to comb her hair.

"E-Eldest Sister, what are you..." Yu Qiuyue's hair stood on end at the sight. She worked up her nerve and asked.

"Anyone who deceives me... deserves to die!"

Suddenly, Yu Qiulian turned her head, her expression vicious and twisted.

At the same time, her long, straight black hair seemed to come alive, moving without a breeze as it surged straight into Yu Qiuyue's eyes, nose, mouth, and ears.

Not only that, great clumps of hair bound her arms, legs, and waist.

"Mmmph..."

Yu Qiuyue's face was filled with terror. She struggled with all her might and screamed desperately, but it was no use.

Her mouth, eyes, ears, nose—even the pores of her skin—were penetrated by black hair.

Yu Qiulian grinned coldly and strode over. The closer she came, the more fiercely the hair burrowed into Yu Qiuyue.

"Slurp!"

When she was face-to-face with Yu Qiuyue, Yu Qiulian suddenly licked her lips. Her tongue was as long as the Hanging Ghost's, and it licked Yu Qiuyue's entire face.

"Little sister, you shouldn't have lied to me!"

"Just bear with it. It'll be over soon. Hehehehe..."

"Rip!"

Suddenly, the hair tore the entire face from Yu Qiuyue's head. Yu Qiuyue was in such agony that she wanted to scream, but her throat was packed with hair, and no sound came out.

Her whole body only trembled, revealing the excruciating pain she was enduring.

The moment her blood touched the hair, it was sucked dry. Not a drop hit the ground.

In the end, Yu Qiuyue's entire living body—her flesh, blood, sinews, and bones—was completely sucked dry by the hair, leaving behind an intact human skin.

Then Yu Qiulian actually took a pair of scissors and cut off her own hair.

Once cut, the hair seemed to come alive and surged into Yu Qiuyue's skin.

The skin then swelled up, and at last, 'Yu Qiuyue' stood.

Aside from the face having been torn away, everything else seemed perfectly intact, just like a living person.

"Hehehe!"

Yu Qiulian chuckled and reached up to gently peel off her own face, laying it over 'Yu Qiuyue's' face. She then covered her own faceless head with 'Yu Qiuyue's' skin.

Next, she swapped their bright red clothes, putting on 'Yu Qiuyue's' clothes herself.

Yu Qiulian and Yu Qiuyue had completed their face swap.

'Yu Qiulian' stayed seated and continued combing her hair.

'Yu Qiuyue' wore a stiff smile as she walked out of the room and the Yu Family Residence, heading for the Mad Saber Martial Arts School.

When she passed the dog kennel, the Big Black Dog inside started barking at the wall in broad daylight, even though a wall stood between them.

"Woof, woof, woof!" It barked without stopping.

"Big Black, what the hell are you barking at? You want another beating or what?"

An old Yu family servant scolded it from inside, but the Big Black Dog kept barking furiously.

The old servant immediately snatched up a bamboo switch and started whipping the Big Black Dog, but it still wouldn't stop.

Only after 'Yu Qiuyue' left the residence did the Big Black Dog finally fall silent.

At dawn, Zhao Han got up early, preparing to sell the tiger head, tiger hide, tiger paws, Tiger Meat, Tiger Bone, and the rest of what he had left in his storage space.

They weren't as valuable as the tiger's penis and tail, but they were still useful.

The tiger's penis worked wonders for virility. It could even make a bean sprout grow into a mushroom, or, in more extreme cases, regrow flesh for the rootless.

The tiger's tail was an excellent medicine, whether stewed in soup, eaten raw, or refined into pills.

After changing his clothes, covering his face, and putting on a bamboo hat, Zhao Han shouldered two large cloth bundles. He didn't return to Jinshi Weapon Shop; instead, he went to a shop that bought and sold game.

"Boss, could you take a look at these?"

As soon as he entered the shop, Zhao Han put down the bundles and got straight to the point.

"Let me see... Tsk... What a huge tiger head! And there's a tiger hide, tiger paws... Heavens..."

Zhao Han smiled mysteriously. "Take a closer look."

The boss froze, then widened his eyes and examined them carefully.

It took him more than ten seconds to notice what was unusual.

"Th-The Mountain Lord! Th-This is the Mountain Lord..." The boss began trembling in fear.

Zhao Han asked, "That's right. Boss, dare you buy it?"

"M-My little shop is too small to contain such a mighty treasure. I can introduce you to another shop—they can take all of it."