After speaking, the girl strode forward to stand before the two, grabbing Yang Feng’s arm and saying to Qing Xia, “Little girl, you jumped down here following a man, and there’s still a man above who would live or die for you. Now you have this large group of men around you – you’re not allowed to compete with me for him. Otherwise, this fairy will use her divine powers to poison all your men one by one, turn them into dried corpses, and hang them on the cliff to feed the eagles, making you a living widow!”

“Ah! I know who you are!” Lin Mubai from behind the crowd suddenly shouted loudly, “You’re the Seven Trees Demon Woman of Cloud Forest Seven Trees, the city lord of Polou City – Lie Yunji!”

Hearing this, the crowd showed no reaction and looked around blankly. Only Qing Xia’s heart trembled slightly as she looked at Yang Feng with confusion, wondering how he had gotten involved with this demon woman. Now seeing her true face, it seemed the rumors from outside were definitely not false.

Cloud Forest Seven Trees was located on a stretch of flat hills in the Cloud Forest Mountain area. Though it had only seven trees, they were deeply intertwined with roots and vines spreading everywhere across the mountains and plains, forming a vast tropical rainforest. It had always been filled with poisonous insects and fierce beasts – people could enter but not exit. It was one of the most dangerous and fierce places on the continent. Though named Seven Trees, it was also called Polou City. Seven years ago, a group of horse bandits from the Black Ridge area were forced to retreat into Cloud Forest Seven Trees under the joint suppression of Xichuan and Southern Chu. The armies of both countries pursued them inside, but never came out again.

At that time, Chu Li had just returned to his country. The Great Emperor of Southern Chu was incompetent, and the Great Emperor of Xichuan was brutal. They simultaneously ordered elite national troops to march on Cloud Forest and uproot the Seven Trees.

The two countries each sent five thousand elite soldiers who entered Cloud Forest Seven Trees together and lost contact. Two days later, they were collectively found as corpses dumped in the Yao River area in front of the mainland’s commercial city, creating the continent’s greatest massacre. But before the two countries could arrange their next wave of attacks, a girl of about ten years old suddenly emerged from Cloud Forest Seven Trees – green robes, thin braids, head full of bells. Alone in front, she commanded a vast army of Seven Trees demon beasts and ground-covering snakes and insects, killing toward the commercial city. Along the way, she left no chickens or dogs alive, slaughtering villages and destroying towns, leaving wails everywhere.

Finally, beast-controlling experts from the Bailang Tribe of Nanjiang intervened to quell this disaster. The name of the Seven Trees Demon Woman, Lie Yunji, thus became famous throughout the world.

But after that, Lie Yunji disappeared without a trace. Even when bold wandering knights later sneaked into the Seven Trees, they couldn’t find any sign of her. Who would have thought that today, in this Penglai Valley sealed for a thousand years, they would see this demon woman’s true face.

Lie Yunji said with a giggle, “Good boy, I didn’t expect someone still remembers this girl’s name. You should be well rewarded.” After speaking, she reached into the pouch at her side, grabbed something, and hurled it fiercely at Lin Mubai.

A mass of colorful things came charging forward. Remembering this demon woman’s reputation, Lin Mubai immediately screamed and fled with his head covered. Qing Xia raised an eyebrow, and the dagger in her hand immediately flew out, dancing like snowflakes, flipping up and down, striking down that mass of unidentifiable objects in just a few moves. Everyone looked down intently to see it was actually a cluster of colorful insects. Most had been chopped up by Qing Xia, with intestinal fluids flowing and green sap splattering, forming a disgusting paste that was revolting to look at.

Lie Yunji frowned, suddenly grasped Yang Feng’s arm tightly, and cried out coquettishly, “Oh my, Yang Blockhead, your old lover is bullying me – aren’t you going to avenge me?”

Yang Feng’s brows locked tightly as he pushed away Lie Yunji’s hand and said sternly, “Miss Lie, please conduct yourself with dignity.”

“Dignity what?” Lie Yunji suddenly put her hands on her hips, glared with wide eyes, and pouted, “When you used to walk around naked waiting for me to take care of you, you didn’t tell me to have dignity! Now that your wings have grown strong and you don’t need me anymore, you want to kick me away? No way, hmph!”

After speaking, she turned and walked toward the valley. Zhu Yuanqing saw this fiend swaggering toward the valley and was immediately terrified out of his wits. He quickly rushed forward to block Lie Yunji’s path, forced out a smile and asked, “I wonder where Miss Lie is going now?”

Lie Yunji raised an eyebrow and said angrily, “I’m in a bad mood now and want to kill people. Seeing that you look decent enough, I’m telling you in advance – you’d better get far away, otherwise don’t blame me if the gu insects in my hands don’t have eyes!”

Zhu Yuanqing was stunned and let this domineering girl walk past him. When he came to his senses, she had already walked far away with her quick pace. He immediately cried out miserably and followed, seemingly truly afraid she would treat the innocent Penglai people like she had the red birds.

Qing Xia turned her head to look at Yang Feng. Remembering what the girl had said, she asked with concern, “Big Brother Yang, what exactly happened to you these past few years?”

Yang Feng smiled faintly, patted Qing Xia’s shoulder, and said with a smile, “Let’s talk as we walk.”

Lin Mubai saw them heading into the valley and quickly followed behind. Under the imposing Tianyi Gorge, only a mass of bloody bird corpses and disgustingly writhing gu insects remained.

In Qing Xia’s room, three men and one woman sat around an Eight Immortals table. Qing Xia’s eyes moved anxiously between the three faces. She saw Chu Li still wore a white cotton robe, lazily half-leaning against the back wall, looking at Yang Feng with playful eyes, his expression carrying considerable sparks of hostility.

Yang Feng remained unmovable as a mountain, his face calm as water, as if he couldn’t see Chu Li at all, showing no reaction like an old monk in meditation.

Lin Mubai, however, like someone who got excited around people, seemed oblivious to any tension, still immersed in the joy of reuniting with old friends, his eyes almost sparkling with light, so happy he couldn’t close his mouth.

Sigh. Qing Xia let out a low sigh. If it weren’t for this, she wouldn’t have told this bookworm that Chu Li was still in the valley. Lin Mubai was honest by nature and wouldn’t deceive – if he let something slip, the situation would become very bad. But the relationship between Yang Feng and Chu Li was unpredictable, and such a person to mediate the atmosphere was really needed. Having no choice, she brought him in too.

“So you’re saying that originally you didn’t have anyone come to Bailing Prefecture to find me and tell me to wait for you there, right?”

Yang Feng nodded and said gravely, “Yes. After separating from you, I was pursued by Wusi Mei’er’s tribesmen, then encountered Nanjiang snake people and was severely poisoned. Fortunately, I met Lie Yunji who had entered Nanjiang to gather medicinal herbs, and she saved me. My poisoning was too severe – I only recovered about three months ago. When I rushed back to Bailing, you were already gone. I searched everywhere for news of you. Half a month ago, I heard about the Battle of White Deer Plain and the earth’s crust cracking, so I came here immediately. I met Prince Xuan of Qin above, made inquiries, and came down to search.”

He spoke lightly, but just hearing that his injuries took over two years to heal showed how dangerous that battle had been. Qing Xia frowned tightly, thinking to herself that if this was the case, then who could the messenger have been? After a moment’s thought, she immediately had the answer. Those three days when Xu Dalie used hunting in the mountains as an excuse and didn’t return home – it must have been him who told this lie to prevent her from leaving. Thinking of this, her eyes reddened slightly. She gripped Yang Feng’s hand across the table and said gravely, “Big Brother Yang, great kindness needs no thanks. Your kindness to me can never be repaid in my entire lifetime.”

Yang Feng smiled faintly, shook his head and said, “A drop of water’s kindness should be repaid with a gushing spring. We can be considered fated.”

Qing Xia felt moved in her heart, warmth filling her, and said gravely, “Actually, I’ve long considered you my real big brother.”

Yang Feng was slightly stunned, a flash of sharpness passing through his eyes. A moment later he immediately smiled and said, “I feel the same way.”

“Hmph!” A disdainful cold snort suddenly came from the side. Qing Xia turned her head to see Chu Li with a mocking expression, his mouth corners slightly curled. Anger rose in her heart and she shouted loudly, “If it weren’t for you, why would we have had to suffer so much?”

Hearing this, Chu Li flew into a rage and said sternly, “Don’t go around biting people randomly! I wasn’t the one who sent people to pursue you. Hmph, if I really had sent people, do you think you could be sitting here intact right now? Two years? You wouldn’t recover in twenty years!”

“You!” Qing Xia was furious and stood up abruptly.

“Calm down! Calm down!” Lin Mubai quickly stood up, blocking between the two, saying carefully, “Now we’re all in the same boat and should work together through difficulties. We absolutely cannot have internal strife, cannot have internal strife.”

Qing Xia glared fiercely at Chu Li. Seeing his completely unconcerned appearance, she wanted nothing more than to rush forward and fight him.

Seeing Qing Xia angry, Chu Li’s mood actually improved somewhat. Actually, his cold words earlier were only because Qing Xia and the other man were reminiscing and no one was paying attention to him. Now that they had exchanged a few harsh words, he suddenly felt the strange psychology of being valued. He actually turned his head toward the angry Qing Xia and said, “Hey! I’m starving to death, go get something to eat.”

“Eat? Eat your big ghost head!” Qing Xia angrily grabbed the teacup from the table and threw it at Chu Li’s head.

What kind of person was Chu Li? Having spent the longest time with Qing Xia, battle-tested and experienced, he had already prepared defensive postures before finishing his words. With a palm deflection, he redirected the fierce teacup’s trajectory. Poor Lin Mubai was just courteously offering to go find food when the teacup struck his head like it had eyes, making a muffled thud. Lin Mubai immediately screamed like a pig being slaughtered.

“Big Brother Yang, let’s go outside.”

Qing Xia glared fiercely at Chu Li, grabbed Yang Feng’s hand, and walked out of the room. Just as they were about to reach the corner, Qing Xia suddenly stopped, frowned slightly, and said gravely, “Big Brother Yang, I have something to ask you.”

Yang Feng nodded and said, “You want to ask about Prince Xuan’s situation, right?”

Qing Xia was stunned and looked up with confusion. Yang Feng smiled faintly and said, “Your affairs have spread through streets and alleys – I’ve heard some of it too. During the days you fell into the earth ravine, Prince Xuan searched the entire continent for capable people and extraordinary individuals. Even Lie Yunji received an invitation, otherwise I wouldn’t have learned of your news so quickly. It’s just that this earth ravine is a thousand zhang deep, covered above with poisonous fog and dense smoke. If ordinary people breathe it in easily, they will surely die. I was previously infected with over a hundred different snake poisons. Later, under Lie Yunji’s treatment, using poison to fight poison, my body has long been like a poison jar. Plus with Lie Yunji controlling birds nearby for protection, I was able to come down without danger. If it were someone else, they might have died without a complete corpse long ago.”