“Do you think I should skin it first, or just roast it whole and peel the skin off afterward?”
Feng Jiu’er lifted the large snake in her hand toward Jian Yi’s face, even stepping closer to him.
Jian Yi instinctively moved his stiff legs, backing away again and again.
“But there isn’t a single seasoning here. I wonder if it’ll taste good just roasted plain.”
Feng Jiu’er didn’t notice his expression at all, still pondering how best to eat this delicious thing in her hand.
“Ah, right! Go get some wild honey. Once it’s roasted, we can spread the honey on it — it’ll definitely taste good.”
She set the snake king down in front of Jian Yi. “Here, hold this for me first while I go check if there are more.”
With a thud, the man who stood nearly one meter ninety tall toppled stiffly to the ground in front of her.
Feng Jiu’er jumped, startled, and gave him a kick with her foot. He didn’t react at all — he had genuinely fainted.
Could it be… he was afraid of snakes? Had he fainted from fright at the sight of one?
“Are you kidding me? This is a water snake — it’s not even venomous!”
If it had been venomous, she wouldn’t have dared mess around with it either! How could a man who looked so tough and fierce be afraid of even a water snake?
Honestly, how embarrassing!
But now that Jian Yi had fainted, could she… could she escape now?
Without a second thought, Feng Jiu’er immediately dashed toward the mouth of the cave.
—
Jiu Qing, carrying a few wild mountain sparrows, was about to head back to the cave to find Feng Jiu’er.
Suddenly, his brow furrowed slightly as he looked back along the path he had come from.
The wind blew past, scattering mottled patterns through the treetops in the evening breeze. He suddenly raised his hand and sent a palm strike whooshing out.
The figure in black was rather far from him — yet despite that distance, even with her lightness skill, she still couldn’t escape Jiu Qing’s awareness.
Just how deep this man’s skill ran was impossible to gauge.
But now that she had come, she shouldn’t dodge — and indeed, she couldn’t!
Xue Gu flicked her hand, sending a volley of hidden weapons flying toward Jiu Qing.
Her strike was clean and precise — the hidden weapons aimed straight for Jiu Qing’s chest and face, all fatal points!
Jiu Qing merely watched coldly as the projectiles came at him. Just as they were about to strike, he swept his hand — with several soft thuds, all the hidden weapons fell instead onto a tree trunk not far away.
The force behind the throw nearly pierced straight through the trunk!
Such formidable inner strength!
Xue Gu, dressed in black with her face veiled, followed right behind the projectiles — with a swift slash, her sword stabbed toward Jiu Qing’s face.
Jiu Qing remained unhurried, not even using a proper technique — just as the tip of Xue Gu’s blade neared his face, he pushed out a palm strike.
He didn’t need any technique at all — he was meeting her head-on with pure inner energy!
What’s more, Xue Gu held a sword in hand; for him to block the blade with inner energy alone would inevitably cost him far more true qi.
If his inner strength were inferior to Xue Gu’s, or even on the same level, then surely Xue Gu, armed with a blade, would have the advantage.
After all, a sharp blade tip, carrying even a touch of inner energy, could easily pierce through an opponent’s protective qi shield.
Yet it was precisely because Jiu Qing treated this so casually that Xue Gu dared not let her guard down even more.
Unless one were utterly certain that one’s inner strength surpassed hers, who would dare meet her blade like that?
Indeed, as her sword’s edge cut through, Xue Gu felt only the faintest resistance at first.
But the closer the blade’s tip got to Jiu Qing’s face, the stronger that resisting force became.
By the time it was less than a palm’s width away, the resisting true qi surged abruptly — at that point, even half an inch closer became impossible, let alone actually wounding him with the blade’s edge.
Jiu Qing’s indifferent gaze fell upon her. Suddenly he flicked his hand, and with a snap, the long sword in Xue Gu’s grip broke clean in two!
Such overwhelming inner strength!
This man’s skill was absolutely beyond what she could withstand!
Startled, Xue Gu instantly wrapped herself in protective qi, exerting all her strength to break free of his net of true qi and retreat at full speed.
She hurled the broken half of her sword still in hand fiercely toward Jiu Qing, aimed straight at his chest.
Jiu Qing merely swept his hand once, and with two more snaps, the broken blade was shattered again in midair into three pieces.
Jiu Qing narrowed his eyes and looked up, but the figure in black had already vanished into the night.
He hefted the wild sparrows in his hand and swiftly headed toward the cave.
At the cave, the fire was still burning inside, but Feng Jiu’er was nowhere to be seen.
Jiu Qing crouched at the cave entrance and picked up the short blade Jiu’er always kept on her.
There was no longer any trace of Feng Jiu’er’s presence nearby, but it was clear a large beast had passed through recently — a tiger, perhaps?
Jiu Qing’s heart clenched, and he called out in a deep voice, “Jiu’er!”
There was no response. In the darkness, a distant wolf’s howl carried over — and nothing else besides.
Where had that girl gone?
He lowered his head to study the beast’s tracks, and the moment he found the direction, he immediately gave chase.
Unexpectedly, before he even arrived, he heard the sounds of a struggle.
Jiu Qing quickened his pace and rushed over — in the darkness, he saw someone fighting a ferocious tiger bare-handed.
The tiger had clawed her shoulder; though the wound wasn’t severe, her clothes were already stained with blood.
Her arm bore several claw marks too, but from the look of it, she seemed to be gradually gaining the upper hand.
Jiu Qing closed the distance in an instant, the short blade in his hand carrying a suffocating chill.
With a swift slash, the blade came down — its edge never even touched the tiger, yet the beast didn’t even have time to let out a cry before it was split clean in two on the spot!
It truly was a treasured blade!
No wonder Feng Jiu’er cherished it so much, always keeping it on her whenever she went out.
Xue Gu stepped back twice, and seeing the tiger’s corpse lying before her, finally let out a long breath.
“There are wild beasts in this place too — I wonder how Jiu’er is doing over there…”
It was as if she had only just noticed the short blade in Jiu Qing’s hand. After a stunned pause, her expression changed drastically. “Where’s Jiu’er?”
Why was Jiu’er’s blade in Jiu Qing’s hands?
“She’s not in the cave.” Jiu Qing merely glanced at her flatly, then turned and headed deeper into the forest to search.
Xue Gu’s heart jolted, and in a panic, she hurried off in the opposite direction.
Something terrible had happened! She hadn’t known there were wild beasts in this area.
She’d known there were wild wolves in the surrounding hills, but they weren’t supposed to be near here.
If a pack of wolves had come, she would have heard the commotion, and there would still have been time to go back and save Jiu’er.
But she hadn’t expected there to be a lone tiger roaming about!
Jiu’er…
Damn it! If anything happened to Jiu’er because of her, even dying ten thousand times wouldn’t be enough to make up for it!
“Jiu’er!”
Xue Gu began searching through the dense forest. She didn’t know if Jiu’er had hidden herself somewhere — if so, surely she would have come out by now after hearing their calls.
“Jiu’er…”
The two of them kept walking deeper into the forest. Neither so much as mentioned the scene with the figure in black just now.
Jiu’er — where on earth was she?
In such desolate mountains and wild forests, if she had gotten lost, how easy could it possibly be to find her again?
“Feng Jiu’er!”
Jiu Qing leapt up and landed on a high branch, gazing down at the calm night below, an unbearable wave of anxiety washing over his heart.
“Jiu’er, I’m back. Come out!”
But amid the vast, boundless forest, there was nothing but his and Xue Gu’s calling voices, and nothing else at all…