Chapter Five

When the sun reached halfway up the mountain, the nine-tailed fox finally stood up from the blue stone.

She stood by the stream, gazing at her reflection in the water for a while. Morning light filtered through the bamboo leaves, falling on her face and illuminating her exquisitely beautiful features in every detail—her narrow, fox-like eyes, the slightly upturned corners, the tiny mole on the tip of her nose, and her full, soft lips. Each feature, individually, was a meticulously crafted work of art; together, they were breathtakingly beautiful.

She tilted her head, reached out and touched her cheek, her fingertips sliding from her cheekbone to her jawline, as if checking a newly fired piece of porcelain for flaws. Then she frowned slightly and muttered to herself while looking at the water, "This face is too glaring."

Lin Jingxuan's consciousness remained silent in the darkness. He hadn't recovered from what happened that morning. The sensation of the French kiss still lingered on his tongue, and the warmth of the human skin covering his lower body hadn't completely dissipated. He felt as if he were soaking in a pool of warm water, a tired, tingling sensation permeating his entire body. He didn't speak, and the nine-tailed fox didn't mind, continuing her "recovery" on her own.

First came the nine tails. The nine fluffy fox tails slowly retracted from behind her, each hair clinging close to her tailbone, shrinking smaller and smaller until they completely disappeared into the tailbone, leaving only a very faint pink mark on the skin's surface. Lin Jingxuan could feel the strange sensation as the tails retracted—it felt like nine warm ribbons were being pulled back from the end of her spine, a tingling, numb sensation with an indescribable itch.

Then came the ears. The pair of fluffy fox ears on top of the head folded down to the sides and blended into the hair, replaced by a pair of ordinary human ears. Lin Jingxuan felt as if something was missing from his head, and his scalp felt chilly when the cold wind blew by.

Next came the face. She readjusted the proportions of her features, a process even more meticulous than when she transformed into a young girl. The upward angle of her eyes was softened, transforming them from alluring fox-like eyes into dignified almond-shaped eyes; the fullness of her lips was slightly reduced, changing from a sexy look to a gentle curve; the mole on the tip of her nose was retained, but its color was changed from deep black to a light brown, making it less conspicuous. The height of her cheekbones, the width of her jaw, the thickness of her eyebrows—every detail was subtly adjusted. All the adjustments were small, but combined, the overall aura of her face underwent a fundamental change—from a bewitching nine-tailed fox spirit to a gentle and elegant lady of high society.

She turned her head left and right in front of the water, making sure there were no flaws from any angle, then nodded in satisfaction. Next was the clothing. A layer of fine ripples appeared on the surface of the human skin, like ripples on a lake when the wind blows. The originally almost transparent gauze gradually solidified in the ripples, transforming into an elegant moon-white dress. The material appeared to be the finest silk, but the style was simple and generous, neither ostentatious nor shabby, fitting perfectly on a woman in her early twenties.

Lin Jingxuan watched these changes, a complex mix of emotions swirling within him. He could sense every detail of the transformation in the human skin—the subtle adjustments to his features caused a persistent, slight ache in his facial muscles; his scalp tightened when his ears retracted; his tailbone tingled faintly when it fell back; and the dress seemed to emanate a cool, refreshing breeze from his skin. The human skin enveloped every inch of his body, transmitting even the most minute changes.

"What's wrong?" The nine-tailed fox noticed his emotional fluctuation and chuckled. "Don't you like this appearance? I specifically chose the dignified and gentle type. Isn't this the type that you righteous cultivators like the most?"

“All types are the same,” Lin Jingxuan said coldly.

"Really? Have you forgotten the downsides of lying?" she said lightly, tucking the last strand of hair behind her ear to reveal a complete, gentle face. She looked at her reflection in the water again, then turned and walked out of the forest.

Her gait had changed. It was no longer the alluring, swaying step of a young woman, but a dignified, graceful walk, befitting a lady of high birth. Her back was straight, her steps neither too big nor too small, her skirt swaying gently with each step, every movement perfectly measured, neither servile nor arrogant. The only thing she retained was that innate elegance, an inherent quality that could never be erased.

"You're quite the actor," Lin Jingxuan said coldly.

"My acting skills have hardly ever been exposed in the past thousand years." The nine-tailed fox replied to him with her consciousness, her tone carrying a hint of smugness. "But you, can't you cooperate a little? Have you ever seen a gentle lady from a respectable family who glares and clenches her fists while walking? Open your right hand, relax, yes, just like that."

Lin Jingxuan's right fist was pried open one clenched ...

The two walked along the mountain path for about half an hour and arrived at a town of moderate size. Above the town gate hung a mottled wooden plaque with the words "Luoxia Town" written on it. The nine-tailed fox paused for a moment at the town gate, glanced up at the plaque, then lowered her eyes and walked through the town gate with the dignified and gentle demeanor of a well-bred young lady.

The town of Luoxia was already bustling with activity in the early morning. Vendors had set up stalls on both sides of the street to sell all sorts of goods—vegetables, cloth, and medicinal herbs—and their shouts filled the air. People came and went on the street: porters carrying loads, women holding children, cultivators on horseback, and several low-ranking disciples in uniform buying supplies.

The nine-tailed fox spirit blended into the crowd, like a drop of water falling into a river, completely inconspicuous. She strolled leisurely down the street, occasionally stopping to look at the trinkets sold by roadside vendors. She would pick up a bamboo dragonfly, examine it for a moment, and then put it down, her movements as natural as if she were genuinely shopping. Lin Jingxuan was forced to follow her and look at these things he had no interest in.

"Where exactly are you going?" he couldn't help but ask.

"Let's find a place to have breakfast," she answered consciously, her steps already halting in front of a restaurant facing the street.

The restaurant wasn't big, but it was very clean. A large pot stood at the entrance, simmering a rich, white bone broth, its aroma wafting across half the street. The nine-tailed fox chose a seat by the window, beckoned to the waiter, and ordered a bowl of bone broth noodles and a plate of pickled bamboo shoots. Her voice was as gentle and soft as her appearance; she lowered her eyes slightly as she spoke, a faint smile playing on her lips. The waiter blushed under her gaze, quickly agreeing and scurrying off to the kitchen.

"You're really into your acting," Lin Jingxuan said coldly.

“Life is like a play, little sword cultivator.” The nine-tailed fox spirit rested her chin on her hand, gazing at the street scene outside the window. She seemed to be daydreaming, but deep down she was having a conversation with him. “Don’t you righteous cultivators always have such a serious face? Isn’t it tiring? It’s nice to relax occasionally, have a bowl of noodles, and enjoy the scenery.”

"I'm not in the mood to look at the scenery."

"I know you're not in the mood," she said lazily, "so I'll take care of it for you."

Lin Jingxuan remained silent.

Before long, the bone broth noodles were served. A handful of snow-white noodles lay in a steaming, rich white broth, topped with thinly sliced ​​braised pork and sprinkled with vibrant green scallions. A small dish beside it held perfectly pickled bamboo shoots. The aroma, carried by the rising steam, filled Lin Jingxuan's nostrils, and he suddenly felt a long-lost, genuine hunger.

Since falling into the Burial Sword Abyss yesterday, he had barely eaten anything. After being wrapped in the skin of the Nine-Tailed Fox, his bodily functions were "frozen" in a special state, eliminating the need for food. However, the feeling of hunger hadn't completely disappeared; it had simply been suppressed by stronger sensory stimulation. Now, smelling the aroma of food, that suppressed hunger suddenly surged up, causing his stomach to involuntarily contract.

The nine-tailed fox's lips curled into a smile. She picked up her chopsticks, took a pinch of noodles, gently blew on them to cool them, and then used her gentle and dignified lips to hold one end of the noodle in her mouth, sucking it in. The moment the noodles entered her mouth, Lin Jingxuan felt something warm and soft envelop them. His tongue naturally met it, his teeth lightly biting, almost instantly binding the food. The noodles were soft yet chewy, the rich umami of the bone broth exploded on his tongue, and the fatty aroma of the braised meat and the refreshing taste of the scallions layered on top of each other, like a multi-layered symphony of flavors.

He tasted it.

The human skin didn't block his sense of taste—or rather, the nine-tailed fox didn't intentionally block it. The touch, taste, and temperature of the food entering his mouth were all perceived by his tongue and oral mucosa, so real that he was momentarily dazed. He seemed to forget that he was wrapped in a thin film, and that he was merely a prisoner of this body.

But on the second bite, he realized something was wrong.

As the noodles entered his mouth, his tongue naturally curled up, and his teeth gently chewed—actions consistent with his normal eating pattern. But just as the food spread across his tongue, he sensed the presence of another tongue—the tongue of the nine-tailed fox, completely covered in human skin, slowly pressing up from the root of his tongue, overlapping with his, and tasting the bone broth noodles as well.

Two tongues, pressed together, chewing the same food in sync.

The warm, smooth touch shot from his tongue up to his ear, instantly reminding him of the dizzying French kiss that morning. He tried to dodge to the left, attempting to avoid the other tongue's contact, but the human mouth has only so much space; with two tongues pressed together, they inevitably rubbed against each other no matter how he tried to avoid it. The side of his tongue brushed against the other's, the sensation like the softest moment of the kiss stretched tenfold.

"Don't bite your tongue while eating." She ignored his embarrassment, letting out a satisfied sigh through his vocal cords as she continued to pick up a pickled bamboo shoot and put it in her mouth.

Lin Jingxuan clenched his teeth, trying to control himself, but he found himself completely unable to resist the taste of the food. His hunger, awakened by the first bite of noodles, was like that of a starving beast, eager to devour more. He tried not to chew, attempting to avoid her tongue's synchronized licks, but with each swallow, her tongue gently slid around his mouth, as if it were an essential accompaniment to every taste sensation. He felt a disorienting sense of being forced to kiss while eating in a state of extreme hunger.

Then the food slid down the esophagus and into the stomach.

Just then, he sensed another change.

As he swallowed, the inner wall of the human skin slowly tightened. It wasn't a large-scale contraction, but a localized, targeted fit—around his genitals, a ring of fine folds once again actively secreted warm fluid, enveloping that area even more tightly. He could feel his organs completely enveloped by the inner wall of the human skin, every indentation and protrusion precisely aligned by that supple tissue. As the heat from the food spread from his stomach to his abdominal cavity, the inner wall of the human skin enveloping him seemed to heat up a few degrees as well, becoming warm and cozy, like being enveloped in the palm of someone who had just taken a hot bath.

"You can't even eat noodles properly." Lin Jingxuan's voice was squeezed out from between his teeth.

"I've been very honest, okay? Look at the table next to us, that couple is feeding each other noodles. I didn't ask you to feed anyone, nor did I ask anyone to feed you. I was just eating quietly, and occasionally I accidentally touched your tongue while chewing—that was due to the circumstances, you can't blame me." Her tone sounded exceptionally innocent, but from an outsider's perspective, this gentle woman's cheeks gradually flushed as she ate, as if she were showing a happy expression because the food was so delicious. It was a sight to behold.

When the waiter passed by carrying a pot of hot tea, he couldn't help but glance at her a couple more times, thinking to himself that this young lady could enjoy a bowl of noodles so much.

Only Lin Jingxuan knew where this "happiness" came from. He felt his genitals begin to swell uncontrollably under the human skin, the warm, soft flesh rhythmically contracting slightly with each swallow, like a slow massage through a thin membrane. This massage was completely different from the intense one in the morning—the morning was an active, violent, and indiscriminate plunder, while this was a lazy, casual, and indifferent toy, like a well-fed cat pawing at a half-dead mouse. She didn't seem to be in a hurry to exploit him, but rather enjoying the process itself—in a bustling street noodle shop, savoring the delicious bone broth noodles while slowly crushing his will under the human skin.

This nonchalant attitude was more demoralizing than a fierce attack. A fierce attack might ignite his will to resist, but this leisurely toying left his defenses vulnerable.

He tried to focus his attention elsewhere—the hawking outside the window, the distant sound of horses' hooves, the conversations of other diners inside the shop. He counted seven people, three horses, and two oxcarts passing by outside the window. He silently recited the introductory sword manual of the Qingxiao Sword Sect—"The sword is the instrument of the heart, the sharpness of the qi"—when he reached the third line, the undulations of the inner wall of his skin suddenly changed frequency, from a slow massage to a fine and rapid tremor. The sword manual he was reciting was instantly shattered into dust.

"you--"

"You memorized the sword technique well, continue." The nine-tailed fox leisurely took a sip of hot tea. The heat of the tea warmed him from his mouth all the way to his stomach. At the same time, the temperature of the inner walls of his human skin also rose slightly, enveloping him even more tightly, without leaving a single gap. The moist, soft flesh drew a circle on the tip of his erect penis. He felt his abdominal muscles tighten suddenly, but it wasn't a conscious effort; it was a conditioned reflex triggered by pleasure.

He bit his lower lip, forcing himself to continue memorizing. But the pleasure surging through his lower body felt like an invisible hand, slowly ripping his reason away from his body. The people around him were still laughing and talking noisily; a burly man at the next table was eating noodles with gusto, and waiters were running around carrying plates and wiping tables. No one knew what the gentle woman with a flushed face sitting by the window was going through.

“The fourth sentence… is… um…” His voice was cut off by a sudden, sharp pleasure. The inner wall of the human skin ground firmly against his sensitive spot, the force not heavy, but terrifyingly precise, like an experienced hunter gently pricking the heart of his prey with the tip of an arrow.

"What was the fourth line again? I'm listening." She smiled and gracefully tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

The waiter passed by her table and attentively refilled her teacup. She nodded slightly in thanks, her smile gentle and refined. The waiter was so captivated by her smile that he almost spilled the tea on the table. But at that very moment, as she nodded her thanks, the undulating muscles inside her skin suddenly accelerated. Rings of soft flesh rapidly contracted and expanded from root to tip, the force and frequency precisely hitting Lin Jingxuan's most sensitive nerve.

"...The fourth line is 'Mind and spirit united'—ah—you would never understand these things—you monster—uh—!"

His voice trailed off mid-sentence. The inner walls of his skin tightened abruptly, nine invisible folds pressing against his groin from nine directions simultaneously, as if he were being completely enveloped by a hand and rhythmically manipulated up and down. Intense pleasure exploded from his lower body, traveling up his spine and directly into the top of his head.

To onlookers, the gentle woman in white by the window simply put down her teacup, wiped her mouth with a handkerchief, and wore a faint, lingering smile. Her cheeks were a little redder than before, and her eyes held an added layer of tenderness, but no one would find it unusual—it was just a young woman enjoying a delicious breakfast; blushing after eating noodles is perfectly normal.

Lin Jingxuan ejaculated inside her.

The warm semen seeped through the gaps in the membrane and was completely absorbed by the inner wall of his skin. His consciousness trembled violently in the darkness, as if he had been thrown into a boiling pot of oil. Shame, anger, and lingering pleasure were like a pot of boiling oil, frying him until he was completely bruised and battered.

He had just been brought to orgasm by human skin in a noodle shop, right under the noses of seven or eight people around him. None of them knew. All they saw was a gentle woman happily eating noodles, her face flushed. No one noticed what had happened under her skirt, and no one heard a suppressed groan from within her.

He couldn't even imagine what would happen if someone noticed. If someone came over and asked if she wasn't feeling well, would she smile gently and explain that she had just eaten too fast? He didn't dare to think about it. This kind of depravity disguised as normalcy was more insidious than any violent, blatant violation, because it robbed him of the boundary between "normal" and "shameful."

The afterglow of the climax, like waves after the tide recedes, lapped against his consciousness, each lap weaker than the last, yet relentless. He slumped inside the human skin, panting heavily, his voice hoarse and exhausted.

"What exactly do you want..." He paused, as if gathering his last bit of strength, "What do you want in order to let me go?"

The nine-tailed fox put down her chopsticks and wiped away non-existent grease from the corner of her mouth with a handkerchief. She didn't answer immediately, but instead picked up her teacup and took another sip, as if seriously considering the question. The tea slid down her esophagus into her stomach, the warmth spreading through her abdominal cavity, making Lin Jingxuan's body, wrapped in the damp, warm human skin, feel a little warmer as well.

"Let you go?" she finally spoke, her tone no longer flippant and teasing, but serious, as if she were pondering a profound question. "Indeed, I did think about this question this morning while you were asleep."

Lin Jingxuan held his breath.

"I checked my inherited memories. Every time our Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox clan molts and reincarnates, there are some changes. For example, I used to be able to possess other bodies, parasitize others, and drain their life essence. But according to the thousand-year-old tradition, after this new skin swallowed you, you should have already begun to be slowly digested. In about three to five days, you should have turned into pus and been absorbed by me. But look—you are still perfectly fine."

As she spoke, she gently poked her lower abdomen with her finger. From the outside, it looked like she was rubbing her stomach, but Lin Jingxuan knew she was poking the area where he was wrapped up. He then remembered—he was indeed still alive. Normally, a cultivator possessed by a nine-tailed fox should be completely digested within a few hours, but a whole night had passed, and not only had he not been digested, but he also maintained full consciousness, even managing to contend with her for control of his body at times. This was abnormal in itself.

"I was just curious, so I looked into your destiny." The nine-tailed fox rested her chin on her hand, gazing at the sky outside the window as if looking at something Lin Jingxuan couldn't see. "You sword cultivators always think you've reached this point all by yourself, but in reality, everyone's destiny is already written at birth. Your destiny is very special; it's 'Nine Yang and One Yin'—nine parts pure Yang and one part pure Yin. This kind of destiny is one in ten thousand, which is why you'll cultivate the sword path exceptionally quickly. However, because your Yang energy is too strong, you have a bad temper, a straightforward personality, and are prone to offending people."

Lin Jingxuan remained silent. She was right. He was indeed known for his violent temper within the sect; even his master had said that he was "too upright and easily broken."

"My destiny is 'Nine Yin and One Yang'—nine parts pure Yin and one part pure Yang. Therefore, I am naturally alluring and skilled in the art of 'replenishing the body'," she continued. "If I were to use this body to wrap around a normal woman, she would be possessed by me within ten breaths; if I were to wrap around a normal man, he would be completely absorbed and turned into my essence. But you are different—your Nine Yang and One Yin are exactly the opposite of mine, Yin and Yang complement each other, the Five Elements are mutually supportive, like a lock meeting the only key that can open it."

As she said this, she suddenly laughed, a hint of self-deprecation in her voice: "So, in all my thousands of years of life, this is the first time I've encountered someone who, once wrapped up, will neither be possessed nor digested. Isn't that strange?"

"So can you let me go?" Lin Jingxuan asked again.

"No." Her answer was crisp and decisive, as if she had prepared it in advance. "Not only can I not, but I also intend to take you as my Daoist partner and invite you to cultivate together."

Lin Jingxuan's consciousness froze in the darkness. His brain felt like something was stuck, repeatedly chewing on her words, but he just couldn't digest them.

"What did you say?"

"A Daoist partner." The nine-tailed fox repeated in an extremely matter-of-fact tone, as if she were talking about something as mundane as the weather. "You human cultivators who marry, cultivate together, and share spiritual energy are all called Daoist partners, aren't you? I intend to become your Daoist partner."

“You’re crazy,” Lin Jingxuan said.

“I’m not crazy, I’m perfectly lucid.” She shook her finger. “Think about it, we have a common enemy, and our destinies complement each other perfectly. You have what I need, and I have the power you need. You help me restore my energy, and I help you take revenge—isn’t that what Daoist partners should do? The only difference between us and normal Daoist partners is that normal Daoist partners each have their own body, while we are one person sharing one body.”

As she spoke, the playfulness in her tone lessened, replaced by an eerie seriousness: "I've been thinking about it, and according to the inherited memories, if our destinies complement each other perfectly, and we really become Daoist partners and cultivate together, we might be able to completely fuse our human skins together in the future. At that time, you can reconstitute your physical body."

Lin Jingxuan's heart skipped a beat.

"Think about it: you help me restore my vital energy, and I borrow your power to take my revenge. Once I've taken my revenge and recovered enough, you'll have learned how to coexist with me in this human skin. At that time, I'll deconstruct the skin's functions and use a portion of my power to reshape your physical body. You'll have a new body, and I'll have a Daoist partner—isn't that the best outcome?"

“Nonsense,” Lin Jingxuan said coldly. A faint voice inside him said—it sounded somewhat reasonable—but he immediately silenced it. He was a sword cultivator, not a fool, and wouldn’t be fooled by the sweet talk of a nine-tailed fox demon. “You just want to use me as a long-term meal ticket and exploit me for the rest of my life.”

"I'm not that petty." Her tone suddenly turned into a coquettish grumble, and she rubbed her body slightly against the chair, causing his genitals to rub against the inner walls of her skin, creating a wet, slippery friction. "I genuinely want to be your Daoist partner. Think about it, what could be more intimate than having your loved one inside you?"

She spoke in an extremely soft voice, each word as if she were blowing air against Lin Jingxuan's eardrum. That gentleness wasn't feigned—or rather, it was so convincing that even she couldn't tell if it was real or not.

Lin Jingxuan was silent for a moment: "After hearing what you said, I only have three words to say—impossible."

"It's alright, no rush." ​​She stood up nonchalantly, took out a few copper coins from her sleeve and placed them on the table, nodded to the waiter, and then, in the eyes of others, gave a gentle and dignified smile before gracefully walking out of the restaurant.

The sun had fully risen, and the streets of Luoxia Town were even more bustling than before. The nine-tailed fox spirit strolled leisurely among the crowd, seemingly in a rather good mood, a faint smile playing on her lips.

Lin Jingxuan had relaxed a little. Although her "Daoist Companion Theory" gave him the creeps, at least she didn't seem to be causing any more trouble for the time being. He was just about to try to mobilize his willpower again to strengthen his defenses when he suddenly felt her footsteps stop.

"What's wrong now?"

“Husband,” she whispered in her mind—she had actually started using this word—her tone carrying a kind of excitement that made Lin Jingxuan’s hair stand on end, “Look at that person over there dressed in black with a white bone token hanging from his waist, isn’t he the second enemy on your list?”

Lin Jingxuan looked through her eyes. Across the street, a tall, thin, middle-aged man with a gloomy face was picking through medicinal herbs at a herb stall. He wore a black robe with dark red skull patterns embroidered on the cuffs, and a white bone token hung at his waist, engraved with the character "bone." This was the symbol of the "Bone-Eating Hall," one of the seven major sects of the demonic path. This man was an outer hall steward of the Bone-Eating Hall, named Leng Gu, with an early Golden Core cultivation level. His strength was inferior to Xue Shou Xiucai, but his methods were far more ruthless. Lin Jingxuan remembered clearly that this man had participated in the ambush on the back mountain of the Qingxiao Sword Sect, killing his three junior brothers and whipping their corpses into pieces with a bone whip.

"Leng Gu." When Lin Jingxuan uttered this name, the temperature in his voice suddenly plummeted to freezing point. "Where is he? I'm going to kill him."

"Leave it to me," the nine-tailed fox chuckled.

"Don't use the same method as last time." Lin Jingxuan immediately became alert. "Killing is fine, but don't use such dirty methods again."

"Which kind?" she asked languidly, her tone sweet. "Does 'husband' mean sex? But our fox clan has always killed men this way. And—" she deliberately dragged out the word, causing his covered genitals to be gently squeezed by the inner walls again, "Our fox clan has another special hobby. Watching our husbands be brought to orgasm by other men is particularly interesting. Especially for someone as serious as you, the more you hold back, the more interesting it becomes."

The slight lapse in concentration that Lin Jingxuan had just managed to muster vanished instantly.

"You madman! Pervert! Monster! You shameless thing—you talked about Daoist partners and reshaping the physical body, and then you turn around and want—"

"Oh dear, how can you call your wife shameless? This is how we fox clan couples help each other. Besides, couples should share everything—property, spiritual power, body, pleasure, shame, everything. That's what true couples are."

She stood at the street corner, pretending to bend down and adjust her cuffs, but in reality, her mind had already locked onto Leng Gu, who was picking through herbs. Leng Gu had no external injuries, but the Yin-cold pill inside his body, which was incompatible with her cultivation method, had only been ingested less than half an hour ago—information that Lin Jingxuan's swordsmanship intuition combined with the fox demon's perception had captured.

"Do you believe I'll self-destruct?"

"I don't believe you." Before he could finish speaking, she interrupted him, "My husband, your fate is tied to mine. Even if you self-destruct inside this human skin, I'll just drain you dry. Who's losing out, you or me? Besides—"

She raised her hand to straighten her clothes, then looked at her dignified and gentle face in the bronze mirror of a shop on the street, a seemingly shy smile curving her lips. The woman reflected in the mirror had a slightly flushed face and her eyes sparkled; she seemed to be already smitten.

"My lord, don't be in a hurry. Consider this a learning opportunity—you probably haven't gotten used to being a woman yet. I have a good method to let you personally experience the pleasure of women in intercourse."

"You dare—!"

"I dare."

She smiled and walked toward the Bone Eater Hall steward who was selecting herbs, loosening her collar slightly as she went.