Su Zhuyi waited another two days. Her injuries had long since healed; she was staying only because she worried about Miaoshe Shiqi coming to kill her. But waiting like this indefinitely wasn’t a solution either. When she left, she hadn’t concealed her information, so if Miaoshe Shiqi wanted to find her, he could naturally track her down. Moreover, after thinking it over, she deliberately headed in the direction of Miao Gu Village. This way, when Miaoshe Shiqi came out looking for her, he wouldn’t have to travel so far.

Besides, there were quite a few cultivators in that area. If she acted at the right moment, she might be able to leave behind a chivalrous reputation.

It was just that cultivators were more troublesome than mortals. It was difficult to leave a deep impression among cultivators in a short time. However, since she had provoked Miaoshe Shiqi, it was better to resolve this problem first.

Before leaving, Su Zhuyi left a painting for the girl child Lianlian. She left a strand of divine consciousness in the painting. Once Miaoshe Shiqi approached the vicinity, she would be able to sense it and try her best to ensure the villagers’ safety.

If she really couldn’t protect them, then there was nothing she could do. She wasn’t a truly good person to begin with—being able to consider so much already made it even herself find it hard to believe.

Along the way, she used Qin Jianglan’s appearance to help a few more people in passing. When she reached the town where cultivators gathered, Su Zhuyi also heard some news about Qin Jianglan, saying there was a sword cultivator named Qin Jianglan who had slain a thousand-year evil flood dragon, making the disciples of the Four Great Sects who had rushed over return empty-handed.

So disciples from prestigious righteous sects had already rushed over, but she didn’t know who had come.

On this day, Su Zhuyi bought some things at the market to prepare, then climbed a famous treasure mountain in the Southern Border.

This treasure mountain was called Cloud Hidden Mountain. Every so often, the entire green mountain would be hidden in clouds and mist, with even the foot of the mountain invisible. Cultivators below the Golden Core stage who entered the mountain when the clouds appeared would find their divine consciousness completely useless, while cultivators above the Golden Core stage could still use theirs, though it would also be restricted, with the range they could see much smaller than usual.

In her previous life, Su Zhuyi had often searched for treasures in Cloud Hidden Mountain. Others killed spirit beasts, dug spirit stones, and gathered herbs—she was much simpler, directly killing people and stealing their goods. Now, what she had to do was opposite to her previous life—she was going to beat up those who killed and robbed people, and save those who were being robbed.

Several small sects had once been established around Cloud Hidden Mountain, but eventually the cultivators inside either died or scattered. Not a single sect survived for more than a hundred years. After many such incidents, no cultivators wanted to monopolize the area anymore. Going up the mountain required no payment of spirit stones—one could simply follow the small path up.

Every day, hundreds and thousands of cultivators entered the mountain, but not everyone could come out alive. If ninety percent could emerge, it was already considered quite good.

Su Zhuyi followed the small path up the mountain. She walked and stopped along the way, as if she were sightseeing. Her divine consciousness occasionally swept lightly over the surroundings, a faint smile playing at the corners of her mouth.

This was when clouds and mist were shrouding the area, so divine consciousness was somewhat restricted, but for her, the impact wasn’t great. After walking for a while, she stopped in front of a stone wall, then used the broken sword in her hand to cut several tree vines. She reached out and knocked twice on the stone wall, and the wall cracked open a thin seam, revealing a hidden cave.

After she entered the cave, she even built a fire in the corner, taking out the food she had bought at the market earlier to roast. Only after it was cooked did she call out loudly toward the cave entrance: “Since you’ve come, why not show yourself? Do you still need me to invite you?”

Although Su Zhuyi’s strength was late Golden Core stage, her primordial spirit was far stronger than her actual cultivation level.

These past few days, she had sensed a sinister aura that seemed to appear and disappear, as if it were near her, but when she carefully sensed for it, it seemed far away again. That aura was somewhat familiar to her—after all, they had spent time together in her previous life. Although later she had almost forgotten about this person, now that the aura reappeared, she could still distinguish it. Therefore, Su Zhuyi understood that Miaoshe Shiqi had already come. Good—he hadn’t gone to trouble those villagers but had come directly for her. This saved a lot of trouble.

Miaoshe Shiqi’s specialty was placing parasites, but she was extremely well-guarded against parasite insects, so the other party had no way to act for the moment. He probably also had some doubts about her identity.

Although Miaoshe Shiqi’s aura had appeared, she couldn’t capture his location. Her primordial spirit had Nascent Soul stage cultivation—with such cultivation, she still couldn’t capture Miaoshe Shiqi’s exact location, which was enough to prove that his cultivation wasn’t Golden Core stage but was much stronger. It seemed that during that period, over a hundred years later, it happened to be when his strength had weakened due to the Lifespan Parasite in his body molting, which was why he had become the early Golden Core stage.

The opponent was strong, could control demon flood dragons, and was skilled at controlling parasites. Some of Su Zhuyi’s parasite techniques had been taught by him. She was unwilling to clash head-on with Miaoshe Shiqi. Since she couldn’t clash directly, she would use the information she knew from her previous life to improve their relationship. At the very least, she had to make him have some scruples and not resort to fighting and killing at every turn. That demon flood dragon’s head and body had separated and fled—it seemed it hadn’t died. Since it hadn’t died, there was still hope for reconciliation.

If they fought, her chances of winning were about fifty to sixty percent. But Su Zhuyi didn’t want to kill him. After all, this was the man who had avenged her in her previous life and died because of her in the end, while she had been completely unaware. No matter how heartless Su Zhuyi was, at this moment, she still couldn’t bear to directly kill such a person. It would be much better to keep him around to help her.

After she finished speaking, she received no response. Su Zhuyi turned the spirit beast meat that had been roasted golden-brown in her hand to the other side, holding it up with a wooden fork, saying, “Want to try some?”

She had thought for a long time last night, recalling that Miaoshe Shiqi had another parasite in his body. Cultivators from Miao Gu Village would bond with a parasite insect after birth, just like a cultivator’s natal magical treasure—that parasite insect was their natal parasite. The parasite in Miaoshe Shiqi’s body was called a Flesh Parasite. Originally, it was a very poor parasite insect, and its status in Miao Gu Village wasn’t high precisely because that Flesh Parasite was so poor. It liked to eat meat, and after eating, would spit out meager spiritual energy, having almost no significant effect.

Back then she had discovered that Miaoshe Shiqi liked to eat meat and had even roasted some for him several times. After all, at that time she wanted to learn parasite techniques and was quite diligent toward Miaoshe Shiqi.

“Who exactly are you?” Miao She, Seventeen, spoke. His voice was very low and deep, quite similar to the instruments he often played.

Finally, there was a sound from the cave entrance. In the darkness, a very thin person walked in. His hair was loose, bound with a silver hoop, and in the center of his forehead was a Golden Cicada Parasite insect. The gold wasn’t particularly bright, but the ruby eyes on the parasite insect were especially obvious, as if they could suck a person’s soul right in. His skin was already unnaturally pale, and his lips were rather red. That silver hoop and ruby eyes combined with his loose hair made him appear very eerie, like he had just sucked human blood.

Most of those who controlled parasites in Miao Gu Village did so through bamboo flutes and the like, but Miaoshe Shiqi used incense and also had an ocarina. If he didn’t have the ocarina in his hands, he could directly cup his hands together to form a hand ocarina and play it to control parasites. Back then, she initially didn’t know how formidable this parasite technique was—it was only after he returned to Miao Gu Village and Su Zhuyi researched love parasites herself that she understood how powerful his parasite techniques were. Yet despite being so formidable, he hadn’t taught her much. She had even sacrificed her beauty to seduce him every day, so later, Su Zhuyi didn’t have a very good impression of him.

As time passed, she gradually forgot about such a person. After all, it wasn’t a face like Qin Jianglan’s that was so handsome one couldn’t forget it. However, learning from Qin Jianglan that he had come out of the mountains to avenge her, Su Zhuyi developed some good feelings toward him. The thin figure before her seemed to grow several inches taller under the firelight!

“How do you know about this place?”

His gaze fell on Su Zhuyi. “How did you avoid the parasite array at the entrance?”

His brows furrowed slightly, killing intent evident in his eyes. “And how do you know I like to eat meat?”

He had followed her for several days, originally intending to secretly place parasites to make her life worse than death, but discovered she was very knowledgeable about parasite insects, leaving him unable to find an opportunity to act. Miao Gu Village forbade villagers from leaving at will—he had snuck out this time, thinking he could resolve the problem in a short time. Who would have thought he had already spent three days.

Even among the cultivators of Miao Gu Village, everyone’s methods of placing parasites were different, yet she seemed particularly familiar with him. Therefore, even though time was being delayed, he hadn’t given up and returned to the village, but had followed all the way here. When he saw her enter Cloud Hidden Mountain, he thought there would finally be an opportunity. Who would have known she would come directly here?

This cave was something he had dug out bit by bit.

This cave is connected to the back mountain of Miao Gu Village.

This cave was his hidden secret.

Su Zhuyi handed over the meat in her hand. “How I know isn’t important. What’s important is that I have no ill intent toward you.” Her toes lightly touched the ground, and where she stepped was exactly the position where Miaoshe Shiqi used to sit each time. She didn’t know what that position represented, or if it was just his habit, but Su Zhuyi treated the unknown as one of her bargaining chips. She tilted her head slightly, waving the wooden stick in her hand twice more. “I added your favorite seasoning. Since you’re not afraid of any poison anyway, don’t you want to try it? If you don’t eat it, I’ll eat it myself.”

After speaking, Su Zhuyi made as if to withdraw her hand, and saw Miaoshe Shiqi snatch the roasted meat. He looked deeply at Su Zhuyi once, then sat down by the fire.

While Miaoshe Shiqi sat down to eat meat, Su Zhuyi didn’t speak either. She used the tree branch in her hand to stoke the fire, making the flames more brilliant. Soon, there was a thin layer of sweat on her face, and she suddenly smiled. “I have no ill intent—I just want to make friends with you. It was my fault for injuring the demon flood dragon last time. Might Seventeen Dear give me a chance to make amends?”

As her words fell and she saw his eyes deepen, Su Zhuyi smiled and said, “Since I want to be friends with you, naturally I can’t show you a false face.” Her palm faced her face as she gently brushed across her cheek, quietly wiping away the layer of illusion on her body. In the slow movement, that hibiscus-like, delicate face appeared bit by bit before Miaoshe Shiqi’s eyes in the dancing firelight.

She didn’t know why that Miaoshe Shiqi had fallen in love with her in the previous life, but Su Zhuyi felt that men, well, liked her simply because of that face of hers. So she just needed to display the most beautiful moment of that face before his eyes. Between half-concealment and half-revelation, she unveiled her true appearance bit by bit—her brows and eyes containing smiles, her glances full of charm, every frown and smile, every gesture filled with allure.

“Hehe.” Miaoshe Shiqi chuckled softly.

Su Zhuyi immediately felt something was wrong. She vaguely remembered that every time Miaoshe Shiqi chuckled like this, it was when he couldn’t control his desire to torment people. What exactly had gone wrong?

However, her expression remained calm. “This cave is connected to Miao Gu Village. If Seventeen Dear wants to act against me, you’d better think it over carefully. I hear that villagers who break the rules in Miao Gu Village also meet extremely miserable ends.”

“Killing to silence me won’t work. I know your secret, but whether I speak of it depends on whether you’re willing to let go of this resentment and truly make friends with me.” She finished speaking with a smile, then handed over another piece of meat. “Eighty percent cooked—Seventeen Dear’s favorite.”

There was some yellow powder on Miaoshe Shiqi’s fingers. He was skilled at controlling parasites with incense and had indeed harbored thoughts of releasing parasites just now. But now he pressed his lips together and said, “The young lady truly understands me well. Then this friendship simply must be made.”

“Hehe…”