A river rushed out from the continuous mountain range, taking a turn at a narrow passage ahead, about to surge into the plains before it.

Suddenly there was a splash in the river channel, and a human figure flowed out from the mountain crevice with the current, moving violently and splashing brilliant droplets everywhere.

Jing Hengbo floated in the river water, wiped the water from her face, and looked around at the scenery on the plains, her expression somewhat dazed.

She hadn’t expected to actually succeed in shaking off Gong Yin!

Earlier she had asked Feifei to bewitch Gong Yin. She didn’t know what method Feifei used, but Gong Yin, who was roasting roe deer, suddenly slowly sat down. Feifei ran back frantically while gesturing with its paws. She understood the meaning was that they had to leave immediately, or Gong Yin would wake up soon. Without hesitation, she grabbed her animal hide swimming ring and jumped into the river with a splash.

They had been following this increasingly wide river all along. Yesterday she heard Gong Yin mention casually that this river should flow directly out of the mountains, and the mountain pass wasn’t far away.

Sure enough, after holding her breath underwater for a while and swimming for a while, the scenery before her gradually changed from mountain walls to flat ground. She had made it out!

Jing Hengbo let out a breath of relief and climbed onto the shore. Feifei, dripping wet, came down from her shoulder and shook the water from its fluffy white tail.

Jing Hengbo looked at the vast, empty wilderness and was overjoyed. She hugged Feifei and gave it a fierce kiss. “Mission accomplished! Give me a kiss!”

Feifei made humming sounds on her shoulder. Jing Hengbo ran happily to a nearby cliff wall and shouted loudly, “Come! Let me carve ‘Da Bo was here’!”

She took out the small knife Gong Yin had given her and started carving, when suddenly she heard rustling sounds overhead. Something seemed to be floating down from above. She looked up with great joy, saying, “The wind outside is freedom—it feels different blowing here… eh? EH!”

Above, a messy, colorful thing was plummeting down like a cannonball against the wind. The wind blew the thing’s crest feathers backward, opening into a dahlia shape. Its red, slender little legs looked like a pair of rapidly moving chopsticks, seemingly about to poke right into Jing Hengbo’s eyes.

“The bodhi tree is not a tree, the bright mirror has no stand, make way down there, you strange creature, clear the path!”

The broken-gong voice was truly deafening. Jing Hengbo was stunned and cried out in disbelief, “Er Gouzi!”

The Superman-like figure diving down from the cliff top was actually the super-bird Er Gouzi, but its expression didn’t seem as delighted as Jing Hengbo’s. Its green bean eyes flashed with endless terror, unable to control its body as it plunged straight down. The enormous gravitational pull meant it could no longer run along the cliff wall, and its body shot out like a cannonball toward the ground—

Er Gouzi couldn’t remember any poetry and screamed miserably: “Damn it, save me!”

“Thud.” With a sound, Er Gouzi got its wish and crashed into a familiar softness. It let out a delicate moan, hooked its claws to catch the old familiar spot, and tilted its head.

But it didn’t get to tilt as it wished.

A paw reached over, grabbed Er Gouzi, shook it in the grip, aimed at a grass nest ahead, and “Whoosh—”

Er Gouzi flew horizontally three zhang, its colorful wings spreading urgently in mid-air to barely maintain its form and wobble to the ground. Before it could steady itself, it opened its mouth to curse loudly: “Though the country is broken, mountains and rivers remain; in spring the city is deep with grass and trees. Where did this little turtle come from, daring to touch your old mother?”

A white flash, and Feifei appeared before Er Gouzi, flexing its paws, cracking its knuckles with a series of sounds, then threw a left hook—

“Ha! Take Er Gou’s signature move!” Er Gouzi’s reaction wasn’t slow, flying up to claw at Feifei’s head.

One bird and one Feifei started fighting without a word, feathers flying and grass debris scattering. Jing Hengbo watched dumbfounded—was this necessary? These two started fighting the moment they met? Could this be the legendary natural enemies with incompatible auras?

“Wah! How infuriating!” Er Gouzi was slapped away by Feifei’s paw, lamenting miserably in mid-air. Feifei caught up, grabbed its bird leg and pulled it down, gripped Er Gouzi’s neck, and pointed its curved beak toward the ground, tapping repeatedly…

“Enough…” Jing Hengbo covered her eyes, unable to bear watching.

She didn’t know why, but seeing the domineering Er Gouzi getting thoroughly beaten by the sinister Feifei reminded her of herself and Gong Yin…

Feifei tossed Er Gouzi aside, stepped on it twice, and even plucked one of Er Gouzi’s treasured red crest feathers to stick in its own head before scampering back to Jing Hengbo’s side. It rubbed against her calves, its fluffy big tail patting her feet, and looked at her with gentle, loving eyes, slowly blinking its colored contacts with pure, innocent expression.

If not for Er Gouzi’s scattered feathers all over the ground, Jing Hengbo would have almost thought the scene just now was an illusion.

She shivered and stood farther away from Feifei.

Suddenly a surprised call came from behind: “Da Bo?”

Hearing this voice, Jing Hengbo froze, then realized what was happening. Oh no!

How could she forget—if Er Gouzi was nearby, then Cui Jie, Jing Jun, and Yong Xue should also be nearby. Since Gong Yin was prepared that night of the attack, even if they had gotten the key, Cui Jie and Jing Jun couldn’t have escaped. Since they couldn’t escape, they should still be with Gong Yin’s guards.

Gong Yin’s guards wouldn’t dare enter the forest to search, fearing they might miss each other. Most likely, they would station people at several mountain passes to wait. As long as Gong Yin and she came out, they would inevitably encounter them…

Just escaped the tiger’s den, only to enter the wolf’s lair!

Understanding this, she turned to leave, but it was already too late.

“So Your Majesty is here. Who would have thought Er Gouzi chasing fruit and falling down the mountain wall would encounter Your Majesty.” A rope swayed on the mountain cliff, and a familiar man swung down, his narrow eyes fixed on her. “May Your Majesty please tell us where the State Preceptor is?”

Jing Hengbo recognized him as Gong Yin’s thin guard captain.

“Him?” Jing Hengbo laughed. “He’s dead.”

The guard’s expression froze. “What?”

“Speaking of it, it’s all my fault.” Jing Hengbo started crying on cue, wiping tears and sobbing. “We were tied up in nets and couldn’t move, crashed into the river, and encountered a leopard on the shore. To protect me, he was eaten by the leopard. Alas, he was really a good person… woo woo woo…”

“How could the State Preceptor be eaten by a leopard!” the thin man said irritably.

“We were tied up in nets,” Jing Hengbo opened her eyes wide at him, describing vividly. “At that time we could only take a beating passively. Poor him, he threw himself over me like Dong Cunrui to protect me. The leopard bit through his waist with one bite. Oh, how crisp and loud it was! You could just hear ‘crack!’…”

The thin man’s face grew stiffer as he listened, his face turning iron-blue as he interrupted her. “May I ask Your Majesty, who is Dong Cunrui?”

“My neighbor. That’s not the point.” Jing Hengbo waved her hand. “The point is, to protect me, he was eaten bite by bite by the leopard. He was as strong as Lei Feng, never making a sound until death. After the leopard was full, it left. He gripped my hand and left his last words…”

The thin man’s expression tightened. After hesitating a moment, he gritted his teeth and asked, “What… last words?”

“He gripped my hand with tears, saying he was sorry,” Jing Hengbo wiped her tears. “He said he shouldn’t have taken me away, forced me, violated my will, and made me become this queen I didn’t want to be. Now he died so miserably—this was complete retribution. He told me not to collect his body, not to avenge him, not to have any psychological burden, and not to be that queen anymore. From now on I would be free. The sky is high for fish to fly, the sea is broad for birds to soar…”

“Wait,” the thin man’s cheek twitched. “The State Preceptor said you were free?”

“Didn’t you hear?” Jing Hengbo looked at him sideways. “He repented on his deathbed and set me free. You’re his subordinate, so naturally you should follow your master’s dying wish. From now on, I have nothing to do with you. Oh right, Jing Jun, Cui Jie, and Yong Xue are also coming with me. You all go do whatever you need to do.”

She picked up Er Gouzi, held Feifei, and walked forward along the low mountain cliff path. She saw her own suitcase on a carriage not far ahead—found from somewhere—and ran over joyfully to take down her suitcase, calling to Jing Jun, Cui Jie, and Yong Xue, who came down from the carriage looking shocked, “Let’s go!”

“Wait…” The other guards were all confused, not knowing whether to believe this woman’s nonsense. The thin man thought for a moment and stepped forward to stop her. “You can’t leave… what if the master…”

He blocked Jing Hengbo, facing the exit gap in the mountain, when suddenly his eyes went straight and his words stopped.

Jing Hengbo waited a while, seeing him standing there dazed, and impatiently pushed him aside. “Hey, you dare not listen to your master’s dying words?”

“My master…” the thin man said.

“But speaking of which,” Jing Hengbo’s eyes rolled around, “your master has great magical powers and divine abilities, proficient in the seventy-two transformations. Maybe his being bitten by the leopard was fake? Maybe he’s not dead? As his guards, you should hurry in to look for him. I’ll tell you, he’s in a dense forest about ten days’ walk northeast into the mountains…”

“Maybe he’s not dead…” the thin man stared straight at the opposite side of the mountain.

“Right, maybe he’s not dead. Go find him quickly.” Jing Hengbo wished these guys would hurry up and get lost, preferably getting lost forever in the depths of the mountains.

“Go find him quickly…” the thin man suddenly seemed to become an echo.

Only then did Jing Hengbo notice something was wrong with him. She looked suspiciously at his vacant stare and followed his gaze backward.

Behind was the mountain crevice she had come out of, with the river flowing out from the mountain pass, empty and deserted.

“Possessed?” She shrugged inexplicably and pushed aside the blocking thin man, dragging her suitcase and calling to the long string behind her, “Let’s go!”

Cui Jie immediately followed. Seeing the guards had no intention of stopping them, Yong Xue also followed. Jing Jun stood dazed in place, looking toward the mountain pass, then at the guards.

“Jing Jun, why aren’t you coming?” Jing Hengbo turned back to call her, desperately winking at her—if they didn’t leave now and these guards came to their senses, they wouldn’t be able to leave!

Jing Jun still had that dazed look. Jing Hengbo thought she was slow-witted and simply went forward to grab her and leave.

Jing Jun seemed to struggle for a moment. Jing Hengbo looked at her in surprise. Jing Jun looked back again, thought for a moment, suddenly pressed her lips together, and stopped struggling.

Jing Hengbo didn’t pay attention to her expression, dragging several people in a quick walk. Seeing the guards really weren’t pursuing, she cheered, “Yoho, freedom! Where shall we go next? Are there any towns nearby? Should we find a nightclub to have fun?”

…

In the distance, Jing Hengbo’s cheering voice faintly reached the guards’ ears, their expressions all quite strange.

Everyone looked at the mountain crevice, then at the direction where Jing Hengbo disappeared.

In the mountain crevice, wind blew slowly, vines swayed leisurely, river water flowed quietly, foaming with snow-white waves.

A still snow-white corner of clothing quietly flowed above the waves, that person’s steps as steady and towering as high mountains and thick earth, walking out from the mountains like an immortal descending to the mortal world.

The guards all knelt down.

“Master!”

Gong Yin slowly emerged from behind the vines, his face snow-white as marble sculpture behind the green vine leaves.

His face showed no particular expression. He casually extended his hand, took the towel handed over by the thin guard, wiped his hands, and immediately threw it away.

Upon leaving the mountains, his noble and dignified aura immediately enveloped the surroundings again silently.

“Master, why didn’t we…” the thin man looked in Jing Hengbo’s direction, not understanding why his master was clearly present but didn’t expose that woman’s lies and let her leave.

Gong Yin sat down on the carpet laid out by the guards and slowly washed his hands by the stream.

“She should be given a chance to visit nightclubs.”

His tone seemed casual, his expression normal, showing no anger, but the guards suddenly felt somewhat eerie and couldn’t help shivering.

“That way she’ll have more fun.”

The guards felt the surroundings getting colder… there was killing intent.

“As someone who wronged her, got his comeuppance, has no face to seek revenge, and deserved to die…” Gong Yin said slowly.

The guards hugged their arms tightly… help!

“I should fulfill my duties as a ghost,” Gong Yin said. “Appearing when I shouldn’t appear. Right?”

The guards shook… things have gone too far.

Gong Yin picked up a branch and casually played with the water. His gaze was very focused and forceful. The guards felt sorry for the branch.

“Such imagination,” Gong Yin seemed to be talking to himself. “Protecting with one’s body? Dying in a leopard’s mouth? Being bitten through the waist by a leopard in one bite? To think of such a vivid death scene, she must have hoped for it for a long time, must have rehearsed it many times, right?”

The guards dared not respond and slowly retreated… life was precious.

“How did it bite? Like this?” Gong Yin bent the branch.

The guards’ waists hurt.

“Like this?” He bent it the other way, like bending Jing Hengbo’s soft waist.

The guards had already retreated three zhang away…

“Or like this?” Gong Yin’s fingers pressed hard and snapped the branch.

As crisp and loud as a leopard biting through a waist in one bite.

Crack!