Feng Jiu’er and Jian Yi hadn’t yet made their way out of the dense forest when they unexpectedly stumbled straight into a small village deep within it. Deep in these mountains, who would have thought there was such a sight tucked away. A remote little village, sitting alone on a flat stretch of land in a mountain ravine. Looking down from above, one could take in every single household in the village at a glance. Counting them, there were no more than a dozen or so families.

Jian Yi glanced up at the sky—it looked like rain was coming soon, and with evening approaching, spotting a village now felt like an enormous stroke of luck. “We’ll stay in the village tonight. Let’s head down.” Jian Yi walked ahead, about to descend from the high slope.

Feng Jiu’er hesitated, looking at his back, then at the village below, instinctively touching her right hand. Where there were people, there might also be a physician. And if there was a physician, would he then… cut off her hand right then and there? It would be a lie to say she wasn’t afraid—the real problem was that she had no martial skill left at all now, and couldn’t even run easily if it came to that. If she were still as she’d been before, at least she could keep her composure better.

Jian Yi had walked several steps before noticing there were no footsteps following behind him. He stopped and turned to look at her: “Why aren’t you coming? There’s no cave nearby—if we don’t go, we’ll be drenched staying in the forest tonight.” “You haven’t had a hot meal in ages either. Let’s go down—maybe we can even get a bowl of noodles.”

Noodles… Jiu’er really did want some. Just thinking about it made her mouth water. Food that was normally unremarkable had, after two days without rice or noodles, become a delicacy fit for the heavens. But, what if there really was a physician down there…

“Why are you still not moving?” Feng Jiu’er looked at him, finally bit her lip, and followed him down. Whatever happened, she’d deal with it after eating—there was always a way forward once you reached the foot of the mountain; maybe there’d be another path out of this. “Whoa—” There was no other path out, but the ground beneath her feet had plenty of pitfalls.

In one careless step, her foot found nothing but air, and her whole body slid down the slope—landing like that would really hurt. Jian Yi’s brow furrowed—this girl couldn’t even walk without running into trouble! If she lost her hand, would there be even more accidents like this? He moved swiftly, appearing beside Feng Jiu’er in an instant and grabbing her wrist firmly.

Feng Jiu’er’s already-taut nerves nearly snapped the moment his hand caught her wrist! “Don’t cut off my hand!” she cried out, her heart seizing in fright, and she swung with all her strength to break free. Normally, in such a situation, the person about to fall would cling tightly to whoever was trying to save them, but Feng Jiu’er didn’t just fail to hold on—she actually shoved him away, something Jian Yi had never anticipated. In one careless moment, her slender wrist slipped from his large hand, and with a thud, the girl tumbled down the slope.

“Feng Jiu’er!” Jian Yi panicked and hurried down after her. Below, in a patch of weeds, that slender figure had come to a stop, head-down, her whole face buried in the undergrowth. Her small backside stuck up in the air—unable to find anything to brace herself against right away, she hadn’t managed to get up immediately. The sight was almost comical, like an ostrich burying itself in a mound of dirt.

Jian Yi stood not far from her, watching the girl struggle in the weeds, his gaze deep and unreadable—no one could have guessed what he was thinking. Feng Jiu’er finally managed to pull her head out of the weeds and immediately gasped for air, nearly suffocated. Turning back, she saw Jian Yi looking utterly detached, watching her coldly.

Her heart filled with indignation, and she stamped her foot anxiously: “Why didn’t you help me?” “I did help you. You were the one who pushed me away.” If she hadn’t swung her arm so hard, he’d have already had a firm grip on her—how else could she have tumbled down? Now that she’d fallen, blaming him for not helping was, frankly, a bit unreasonable.

Feng Jiu’er puffed out her cheeks. Though her heart was full of grievance, he hadn’t exactly said anything wrong. A moment ago, when she’d been about to fall, Jian Yi really had reached out to help—it was she who had shoved him away herself. But there was no use dwelling on that now; what was done was done. Feng Jiu’er took a deep breath, and after much effort, managed to push down her anger and frustration.

She climbed out of the weeds, but the moment she took a step, a sharp pain shot through her ankle. Of all the luck—the same spot she’d sprained before had been twisted again! Truly, it never rained but it poured; this was about as wretched as it could get.

“What, still not coming up? If there’s a venomous snake in those weeds, you’ll be the one suffering for it.” A venomous snake? Feng Jiu’er froze, suddenly thinking that there really might be snakes hiding somewhere around her feet, and a chill ran through her. Venomous snakes were truly terrifying, especially in a place she couldn’t see clearly! If it had been like before, in the cave, where she could track their movements and knew they were harmless water snakes, she might not have panicked so much. But her foot really did hurt!

She could only bite her lip and struggle to climb out of the weeds. But… wait, what had he just said? “You said there might be venomous snakes in here?” She looked up at Jian Yi, standing on the higher ground. Jian Yi looked at her, his expression cold: “A wild, overgrown mountain like this, full of weeds—it wouldn’t be strange at all if there were venomous snakes.”

“But… why aren’t you afraid?” Though he wasn’t in the weeds himself, the patch beneath her feet wasn’t far from him at all. If a venomous snake suddenly slithered out of the weeds, it could easily make its way over to him too. Wasn’t this man supposed to be terrified of snakes? Jian Yi’s brow furrowed, as if he too were pondering this very question. Why was it that, thinking now of those soft, slippery things, his heart no longer felt quite so unsettled?

“Ah! There’s a snake!” This time Feng Jiu’er absolutely wasn’t trying to scare him—she really did see a snake slithering toward her! And it was a highly venomous one! What terrible luck—who was it that had just said there might be a snake in this patch of weeds? Jian Yi was so afraid of snakes that Feng Jiu’er didn’t even hope he’d save her.

She scrambled to get out of the weeds, but the moment her ankle moved, the pain made cold sweat pour down her face—she couldn’t get out! Glancing to the side, she saw the venomous snake flicking its tongue, drawing closer and closer. She was so frightened her limbs had gone numb, and with her injured ankle, she couldn’t move at all. She watched, wide-eyed, as the snake slithered closer, not even daring to breathe hard, afraid that any movement would startle it into lunging straight at her face.

But Feng Jiu’er discovered once again just how uncannily her mind worked—whatever she thought of seemed to come true instantly. The venomous snake flicked its tongue, then suddenly leapt up out of the weeds, aiming straight for her face! “Ah—!” Feng Jiu’er threw both hands up to shield her face. Her face, as delicate as flowers and jade! Heaven was surely out to destroy her!