Mesmerizing Ghost Doctor

Chapter 21 - 30

Chapter 21: Hunt Commission
The chilling murder in that person’s eyes were just too terrifying…..

Just one glance had made his heart falter and caused him to lose the strength in both legs. That gaze, that desire for slaughter, he had not ever seen them even from his Elder brother….. never had he been so terrified!

Who would have believed it! ? A dignified Master of Martial Arts frightened witless and running away from a kid who possessed not a sliver of mystical powers?

But that was exactly it! He knew for sure that if he did not run at that moment, they would not live!

When she saw the middle aged man forcibly dragging the young girl to run away, Feng Jiu was feeling a little puzzled. [Didn’t he say that she would not be a match for him? Why was he running away? She had thought that after she dealt with the guards, she would be able to have another match with him!]

The dagger in her hand drew an arc, which sliced the last man’s throat. The blood gushed out from the wound and that man fell in a heap on the ground.

Looking at the more than ten bodies on the ground, her eyes were expressionless, without the slightest pity showing.

She had always lived by the rule of “you do not offend me, I do not offend you”, hence, for people who seeked to take her life, she would not show mercy in the slightest.

She retrieved the Cosmos Sack from the young man’s hip, but found that she could not open it. Thinking about it a while, she seemed to remember that something like this needed a person to possess mystical powers before it can be opened. Since she possessed none, she would naturally not be able to do it.

But she found a few sticks of burning embers from the bodies of the guards and she stuffed them into her clothes together with the Cosmos Sack before she suddenly recalled that she had carelessly forgotten about one person.

“Where is that uncle? Don’t tell me he left again?” She glanced around at the surroundings and shouted out a few times: “Uncle? Unnnncle?” as she walked further forward, but she only found the area filled with the carcasses of the ferocious beasts.

“Meat…..” She eyes lit up as she surveyed the carcasses on the ground, almost salivating, and all that she thought of at that moment, was the image of well roasted, aromatic, fragrant and juicy meat.

She rubbed her tummy and gulped on her saliva. Immediately taking out her dagger, she cut off a whole hind leg and carried it off in search for a good place to enjoy her roast meat.

It was almost two hours later that the middle aged man and the young girl who had left earlier returned to the spot.

“Big Brother!”

The young girl ran forward and hugged her brother’s body as she wept in grief. “How am I going to tell Father that you’re dead when we get back? Big Brother, how can you die like this….. Hoo….. Hoo…..”

When he saw the clan’s carefully selected eighteen guards were all dead, and even his nephew had lost his life here, the middle aged man’s eyes were filled with indescribable grief. One of his hands was tightly clenched into a fist, while the other injured hand just hung limply unable to exert any strength at all.

“Ying Rou, carry your brother’s body back and give him a proper burial. We will definitely avenge ourselves for what happened this day!”

The young girl wiped at her face and said in between sobs: “Second Uncle, that little beggar is here in the Nine Entrapment Woods. If we leave now, how are we going to seek revenge? Once we get out of this woods, we won’t even know where to start finding him!”

“No, there is no need for us to do it ourselves. When we get back, I will go to the Mercenaries’ Guild and commission a hunt for the little beggar and someone will definitely pluck the head of him!”

His voice was low and grim as he said it, his eyes lowered. He was looking at his own lifeless hand and as the desire to kill grew, he however knew that he was not the little beggar’s match!

Hearing those words, the young girl wiped at her tears once more and carried her brother’s body on her back. That was when she discovered that the Cosmos Sack at her brother’s hip was missing and she said: “Second Uncle, that person has even taken my brother’s Cosmos Sack!”

“That’s even better! We have many ways of finding him!”

His eyes took on a vicious gleam as he stared into the deep recesses of the woods’ inner reaches. Although their trip here had been for the mythical beasts, but it was obvious at that moment, they were not in good enough shape to venture any further into the woods.

As for that little kid, he swore, he would make that kid’s life a living hell!

Chapter 22: Leading Energies into the Body!
In another part of the Nine Entrapment Woods, Feng Jiu who had had her fill of fragrant roasted meat had however not proceeded further in.

She was seated under a tree deep in thought. Although the poison in her had already been purged, and her life was safe for now, if she left the Nine Entrapment Woods just like that and returned back to the Feng household, she was thinking it would be hard for the members of the Feng Family to believe that she was the real Feng Qing Ge.

Even though she was Feng Qing Ge, with the exception of that Su Ruo Yun and herself, who would believe that she was the genuine article? As compared to a person who had been disfigured, the Feng Qing Ge with her unparalleled beauty currently in the Feng household would be the one that all of them would rather believe to be real.

She was guessing that if she were to boldly go up to the doors of the Feng Family and proclaim that she was Feng Qing Ge and that Su Ruo Yun was the imposter, it was highly probable that she would not even make it past the main doors of the Feng Family and would even be beaten to death right there and then.

There was another thing. That Su Ruo Yun was no simpleton either! Without an infallible plan, there was no way she would be able to return to the Feng Family.

“Haiz! This body’s previous owner had really left her in a unbelievable pickle.” She clasped her hands together behind her head and laid back to lean against the tree and looked up into the sky above.

“That’s right! I should make use of this chance to lead the energy into my body once more!” Her eyes lit up as she mumbled to herself: “Although I do not know the methodology of how I am to induce the energies to enter the body, but it’s right there in the memories in my brain right! ?”

When that realisation came to her mind, she suddenly felt really excited about it. The people in this world cultivated Immortality. No doubt, more people cultivated Mystical energies as on average, only one or two people in a hundred were able to cultivate Mystical energies, but for Spirit energies cultivation, it was said that the chances were only one or two in ten thousand people.

The difference between Mystical energy cultivation and Spirit energy cultivation was that Mystical energy cultivation was the training of the material body while Spirit energy cultivation was on the Immortal body.

Immortals, ride the clouds and stand on air, summoned the rain and controlled the wind, moved the mountains and overturned the seas, all with a snap of their fingers.

But as people who were able to cultivate Spirit energies were extremely few and rare, and the fact that examiners for Spirit energy cultivators would not exist in a ninth grade small country like the Sun Glory Country, hence, regardless whether they were from aristocratic families or even members of royalty, they were usually just tested as Mystical energy cultivation and they would begin their cultivation from there.

Unless they were extremely highly gifted, and they had a chance to come out of the Sun Glory Country and go to another small country that was seventh grade and above, they might be able to test themselves for Spirit energy cultivation. And from the memories in her mind, she knew that in the entire Sun Glory Country, the number of people who had been able to cultivate Spirit energy came to a grand total of only three.

But the three people who cultivated Immortality that she remembered from the memories had already left the Sun Glory Country for many years and even then, their families in this Sun Glory Country still held a high standing that was unshakable.

Following her heart’s desires, she immediately set to it.

In an instant, she sat with her legs crossed in the lotus position, closed her eyes and followed the cultivation rhyme in her head to lead the energies into her body…..

But, the mind’s imaginations always painted a beautiful picture, but reality was instead cruel.

When she purged her mind of all distracting thoughts and emptied her consciousness, reciting the rhyme for cultivation silently to attempt to lead the energies into her body for almost half a day, she had due to having her eyes closed and having cleared her mind of all thoughts while sitting still for such a long time, carelessly fallen asleep…..

“Howl!”

From deep in the woods, a howl from a beast rang out and woke her up.

“Huh?”

Opening her still sleep filled eyes, she gave a long big yawn, her entire being still languid with sleep. When she realised that she had fallen asleep while meditating to lead energies into her body, she shook her head helplessly and laughed to herself. “Not thinking of a darned thing and having my eyes closed, it’s really too hard not to doze off!”

Massaging her neck, she stood up to limber up her legs and as she had just woken up from a nap, her entire person was feeling a whole lot more refreshed. Hence, she sat down once again under the tree in a lotus position. Having had prior experience, this time she remained vigilant with her consciousness, and recited again the rhyme for cultivation.

As time gradually passed, about four hours later, at the edges all around her body, the dim presence of mystical power shimmered faintly…..

Chapter 23: Reflection in the water
Feng Jiu slowly opened her eyes, the corners of her mouth curled up slightly, revealing a satisfied smile.

Her attempt at drawing energies into her body could be considered to have been successful and it took a little less time than she would have thought. When she recalled that she had the Cosmos Sack, she immediately took it out from her inside her clothes and injected her mystical powers into it before opening it.

“Woohoo! That’s quite a load in there!”

The Cosmos Sack’s capacity wasn’t that voluminous but they had stored quite a load of things in it. She gave the things a quick glance over and subsequently removed the herbs and the gold ingots from her makeshift bundle to stuff them into the Cosmos Sack before tying the sack securely to her hip.

She saw that she had some of the roast meat leftover and she proceeded to stuff it in as well before going further into the woods to look for a water source to clean the wound on her face.

The mud on her face was not just something she had carelessly smeared on but she had carefully mixed ground’s core water and ground’s core earth together as a mud pack to apply it onto the wound. One of its advantages was that the cooling ground’s core water would reduce any inflammation and secondly, the mud would cover up the wound on her face so as to not let her be so easily recognizable.

The mud had been on her face for days and she needed to wash it off, so the most important thing to do at that moment was to locate a water source.

The most direct way to determine the location of a source of water was to do it through studying the density of the trees and vegetation in the woods.

She did not immediately proceed straight deeper into the inner reaches but followed a path based on the density of leaves in the trees and thickness of the vegetation on the ground. It was around four hours later before she found a water source.

It was a flowing stream, located on the lower parts of a sloping hill, and the leaves on the trees on both sides of the bank were seen to be denser.

“Whew! It sure was tough trying to find water in these woods.”

She let out a big breath of relief and her steps were light as she came to the side of the stream. She squatted down and scooped up a handful of water by cupping her hands together to drink before opening up the Cosmos Sack to take out a tube of bamboo. She filled up the bamboo tube and kept it away for future use.

She then removed her shoes to soak her feet and she soon felt her weariness flow out of her with the running water down the stream. Resting a little while after soaking her feet hearing the tinkle of the water running over little rocks, she then started to carefully wash off the mud from her face, slowly cleaning out the wound bit by bit, to free it from any residue of the mud.

Until, the water reflected the image of a horrible looking face, badly disfigured by multiple slashes from a sharp blade.

Staring at that face in the water, she eyes filled up with a chill. This body she was in now was supposed to be exactly the same as the body she possessed in the twenty first century and her face had not changed as well. But the very face that she had been so used to seeing for over twenty years had been disfigured to its current terrifying state and as that thought came into her mind, the bloodthirstiness lying dormant in her heart began to stir.

“Su Rou Yun, Su Rou Yun, you better keep yourself alive and well…..”

She mumbled to herself in a low voice, the smile that blossomed, lifting up the corners of her lips, was tinged with a spine tingling chill.

Taking out the herbs she had picked along the way from the Cosmos Sack, she mixed them in together with a couple of stems of magical herbs by mashing them before applying the juice from the mixture onto her face. The thick scabs that had formed on the wounds inflicted upon her face had come off together with the mud she had washed out earlier, but the ghastly streaks left behind from the knife wounds would not disappear.

Every single scar left behind by the knife wounds were shown up by their dark pinkish streaks criss crossing her face after the scabs came off. Compared to when they were still scabbing, she did not look as horrifying….. or at least, she would just be considered to be hideous now.

After applying the juice from the herbal mix, she waited for it to dry up a little before bending over the water to look. The crystal clear water showed her a face that had unidentifiable features, and as the reflection showed up a little greenish, she found it to look a little strange.

She continued to stare and her brow suddenly lifted. The crystal clear running water was suddenly clouded with a bloody shade of red.

She lifted her eyes and looked upstream. She paused a moment in thought before she got up and lifted her foot to follow the stream upwards.

It was roughly about half a stick of incense time before her steps stopped, and her gaze fell upon a clump of weeds by the stream…..

Chapter 24: Encounter! Wolf Pack!
A man was slumped there.

To be more accurate, it was not known whether he had fainted or was dead. His entire upper body was sprawled within the running stream and as he was lying face down, his face could not be seen. But judging from the quality of the light brown clothes on his body, his family must have been quite well to do.

The clothes around his abdominal region was a ghastly red and his head was bleeding as well. Although he was lying face down in the stream water, he was lucky as where he was sprawled over, there was a slightly larger piece of rock bulging out slightly higher than the water’s surface, which kept his face from being submerged under water. If not, even if he did not die from loss of blood, it was thought he would have drowned.

It was because his body was lying in the stream that the blood flowing out from his head and abdomen had naturally followed the water and flowed downstream.

She walked over and flipped the man over. She then reached out her hand to check for any signs of breathing under his nose. She found that he was still breathing and dragged the man onto the grass beside the stream.

She examined his wounds and she took out a tiny bottle from the Cosmos Sack. She sprinkled some of the blood clotting astringent on his head wound before undoing his clothes to sprinkle the medicine on his abdominal wound as well. Next, she took a piece of clothing out from the Cosmos Sack and tore it up into looking strips to bandage up the man’s wounds.

“You must be really blessed to have met me.”

Looking at the unconscious man, she gave a light and easy laugh, and then felt a little surprised at herself as her brow lifted where she mumbled to herself: “When did I become so nice?”

In order to not let the scent of blood draw in any beasts, she removed the blood stained clothes from the man and threw them into the water, letting it be carried down together with the stream. She then took another piece of clothing out from the Cosmos Sack and covered the man’s body with it.

Seeing that it was getting rather late and there was a ready supply of fresh water, she picked up some twigs and small branches to start a fire, intending to spend the night here.

She had thought that by being near the water, she might be able to get some fish. But after squatting beside it for a long while, she did not even manage to spot a single fish swim by and she sighed in disappointment: “Clear waters do not have fish, seems like there is some truth to that!”

She had no choice but to reheat the leftover roast meat and tore off a piece to eat. After filling up her stomach, she sat cross legged in the lotus position and began cultivating once more.

She was only drawing the energies into her body now. Beginners in the warrior phase start from all the way from zero. But she could sense some minute changes in her body after cultivating the mystical energy and since she had been able to feel the tangible advantages, she became highly motivated in carrying out her cultivation.

She carried on with her cultivation for several long hours. It was not until she felt that the mystical energy that had been drawn into her body was breaching into the warrior phase’s second grade’s initial mystical boundaries that she finally blew out a long breath of relief and opened her eyes.

The sky had turned dark and the air in the woods was getting rather chilly. Fortunately she had been able to draw some warmth from the fire before her and the mystical energy in her body could be diverted to drive out the chill.

She turned to look at the man at the side. Seeing that the curled up figure seemed to be shivering, she reached out a hand to check and she found that inflammation of his wounds had caused his body to be running a fever.

She thought about it for awhile and she dug through the Cosmos Sack. She finally took out another small bottle and poured out a pill into her palm to sniff at it. After ascertaining the medicine’s prescribed use and effects, she pulled down the man’s lower jaw and stuffed the pill into his mouth before pouring in some water for him to swallow together with the pill.

She threw a few more branches into the fire and the flame burned a little stronger. But at that moment, the sounds that reached her ears from within the woods made her body froze, where she tensed up and felt a feeling of dread.

“Howl!”

“Howl!”

“Hooowl…..”

“Wolves?”

She stood up in an instant. Hearing the howl of wolves that sounded especially chilling in the deep of night coming in from far and near, every single howl reverberating in the trees.

Wolves are ferocious beasts that forms packs. When they appear, they would most definitely appear in a group!

Chapter 25: Alone against a Pack of Wolves!
She wanted to slip away quickly before the pack of wolves reached here. However, at that moment, from among the masses of weeds, pair after pair of dark green eyes shone and they began to multiply…..

“Looks like it’s too late to go.”

Her brows creased together as her gaze glanced over to the pack of wolves surrounding her. She took one quick look at the unconscious man behind her and she felt that she really had a knack for seeking out trouble for herself.

Facing the pack of wolves, she thought to herself that it would be fine if she was alone, but with an unconscious man behind her, this could be rather troublesome.

“Howl!”

A long howl sounded, sounding as if it was giving out a command. The previously slowly approaching pack of wolves as they surrounded her suddenly leapt to come right at her.

As the stream was running down a sloping ground, she had dragged the man out of the stream and left him below a slight outcropping that jutted out from the sloping ground. At that moment, the steep slope behind her turned out to become a form of defence for her back and she need not worry that wolves would attack her from behind, nor would she need to worry about being unable to look out for the unconscious man behind her whereby he might be dragged off by the wolves.

She pulled out her dagger holding it horizontally in front of her, fully releasing her killer’s instincts unbridled. If she wasn’t able to escape, then she would choose to fight! She didn’t believe she would not be able to kill all of these ten over wolves!

Her eyes took on a cold chill and they gleamed sharply. She slowly summoned up the mystical powers within her body, her eyes locked onto ten over wolves who were salivating heavily, seeming to be waiting for something.

The pack of wolves were giving out incessant low howls, like they were trying to frighten her into losing her will to fight before approaching her. However, Feng Jiu was no ordinary person and she wasn’t the type who could be frightened into becoming weak in the knees and losing the will to resist.

As she was at a huge disadvantage in numbers, she could not charge forward at them or she would be immediately surrounded. So she remained in her spot waiting, waiting for the wolves to leap at her.

Every single one among the more than ten wolves could feel the murderous intent growing more intense instead of diminishing and they howled. And at that moment, a larger built grey wolf gave a long howl from somewhere higher up the slope.

“HOWL! !”

Once the long howl was heard, more than ten wolves immediately leapt at her. Wide slavering jaws revealing sharp wolves’ fangs with drool dripping out the sides of their mouths snapped mercilessly at Feng Jiu. The wolves’ long claws seemed to gleam razor sharp in the dark night.

Feng Jiu timed herself properly, and struck out in a flash!

Her strange movements when executed together with her mystical powers increased her speed. The dagger in her hand was thrust into the neck of the wolf who leapt at her first and was quickly pulled out. Within the darkness of night, a pitiful howl resounded and she saw a gush of blood spray out. The warm blood carried with it a strong stench as it sprayed all over her her and the wolf collapsed…..

After striking the wolf dead, she immediately took a step back, and the dagger in her hand flashed before two wolves leaping at her from the left. It might have been due to their packmate’s sudden death that caused the two wolves to become more alert. Their reactions were extremely fast and they dodged at the same time her dagger struck out while the other wolves were almost upon her from the front.

The wolves attacking from the right had taken the opportunity to leap towards the unconscious man lying on the ground at the back. At that moment, she was unable to split herself up and she had just barely managed to lift a leg to kick at the camp fire while striking out with her dagger at the wolves on her left at the same time, causing a flurry of red glowing branches still aflame to fly towards the wolves on the right.

Wolves dreaded fire and when they saw the flurry of embers flying, they howled out in panic and quickly retreated. That was the moment the dagger in Feng Jiu’s hand quickly eliminated two more wolves. Including the one earlier, lying at her feet then, were three wolf carcasses.

It could have been the intense austerity of her murderous intent that was too frightening, or it could be due to her insatiable bloodthirstiness that terrified them, the other wolves in the pack were all giving out low whines as they slowly retreated a step at a time, not daring to take another step forward, but still unwilling to leave just like that…..

Chapter 26: Did You Hit Your Head That Hard?
The dawn’s sunrays slowed crept across the land, and the man who had been unconscious throughout the night finally awoken at that moment.

But, when he opened his eyes, an extremely strange scene met his eyes.

A little beggar dressed in torn and tattered clothes was sitting in the lotus position beside him, his body covered with blood, and although the stench was still strong, the blood had dried up completely. He was unable to determine the little beggar’s features as his face was a deep shade of green, like he had applied some medicine on it.

Seeing that the little beggar was holding a dagger in his hand, and his gaze staring forward, the man turned and followed the little beggar’s gaze and what he saw made him narrow his eyes warily.

Besides the three wolf carcasses that had already turned stiff right before the little beggar, at a distance of about three meters away from them, about ten grey wolves with heavily slavering jaws were sitting on the hind legs, and their eyes were watching them hungrily.

Feng Jiu turned her head very slightly, happening to meet the eyes of the man, which were filled with both shock and confusion at what was happening.

“Look out!”

The man shouted out suddenly in shock, his eyes wide with horror as he saw the grey wolf leaping towards the little beggar. In a state of panic, he reflexively tried to stand up but that big movement tore at the wound at his abdomen and he groaned before falling back onto the ground, where blood could be seen seeping out through his wound again.

At the man’s shout, Feng Jiu had already turned back, leaping nimbly to her feet in one quick move as her chilling gaze fixed onto the grey wolf. She saw the leaping wolf closing in on her and she immediately crouched and fell into a roll, her dagger slicing in an arc through the air above.

‘Szaak!’

“Howl!”

The dagger was pushed in deep with vicious strength and it cut a long deep slash across the wolf’s underbelly. The wolf howled out in agony and as its moment from its leap carried it forward, it continued sailing through the air towards the man who had fallen to the ground, its cruel eyes widened staring unwaveringly at the man. It fell to the ground and its body gave a twitch in finality, its large jaws moved a little, before its last breath left the huge furry body.

“AROOOOL!”

The rest of the grey wolves were getting restless and agitated as they raised their heads giving out long howls. The wolves started clawing at the earth, short whimpers sounding from the throats. Their hungry and bloodthirsty eyes continued staring at Feng Jiu in despair, and they did not dare to rush in recklessly.

Feng Jiu had quickly gotten back to her feet in a single bound as her chilling gaze watched the grey wolves once more. Looking every inch like a malevolent demon with an insatiable thirst for blood, her lips curled up and said: “If you still choose to remain here, I will kill every single one of you.” Her icy gaze swept over them, finally fixing onto the large wolf standing on the slopes a distance slightly further away, the leader of the pack of wolves.

Seemingly having acutely felt the presence of the intense threat before them, the larger wolf stared at Feng Jiu for a moment, before raising its head to give out a long howl. Not long after, the ten odd wolves closing the humans in got up and loped away into the distance.

The man propped himself up on his elbows, staring in shock and disbelief, his eyes widened big as eggs, his face frozen in astonishment.

Feng Jiu wiped her dagger clean on a wolf’s fur before she kept it away. When she turned around and saw the man expression, she laughed indifferently and said: “It’s good you woke up. You sleep any longer and I would have left.”

She walked to the side and sat down, pulling out her bamboo canister to have a drink of water. After staring down over ten wolves the entire night, her mind had been highly tensed and she had not relaxed a single moment. The moment she let down her guard and made the tiniest slip, in that situation, they could very well have been shredded to pieces by the wolves.

“Who….. Who are you?” He might have been frightened by Feng Jiu’s malevolence earlier and the man was now stuttering as he spoke.

“Why do you care who I am.”

“Then….. Then who am I?” The moment those words left the man’s man, it was suddenly Feng Jiu who was confused.

“Did you hit your head that hard? You don’t even remember who you are yourself?”

As she spoke, she seemed to suddenly remember something and she stretched her hand to feel the back of the man’s head. As expected, a huge bump had swelled up there.

Chapter 27: Hidden Danger
The man stared blankly at the green faced little beggar leaning over him and he still had not regained his senses until he heard the little beggar’s voice.

“You must have hit your head on the rocks when you fell. The blood clot must be pressing against your nerves and I am guessing that your amnesia is only temporary and you will be alright once the clot clears.” She stood up brushing her hands off and said: “Alright, since you’re awake, I will be on my way then.”

When he heard that, the man panicked and he endured the excruciating pain in his abdomen as he stood up. Filled with a sense of unease and suddenly feeling rather flustered, he went to stand close beside Feng Jiu. He seemed like he was about to say something but he did not know how to say it and he merely looked at Feng Jiu with his mouth opening and closing wordlessly.

After the man stood up, Feng Jiu was suddenly taken aback. That was when she saw just how tall the man was. He was half a head taller than she was, his skin was well tanned and bronzed, muscular in built, seemingly a little more muscular than that uncle. The set of clothes covering his body at that moment was a little tight and well stretched, the bulging muscles on his arms looking like they would be splitting the clothes any moment.

She turned her eyes and looking at the man following her, she asked: “What are you doing?” She had just rescued the man without thinking and she had not known that it would bring herself so much trouble.

“Can’t….. Can’t I follow you?” The man looked at her, his eyes filled with unease. “I can’t remember anything and I only know you.”

Feng Jiu was suddenly speechless. Those words sounded rather familiar to her. She herself had said something close to that when she had decided to cling on to that uncle at that time.

“I….. I will not be any trouble.”

Feng Jiu rolled her eyes and said in exasperation: “You, yourself, are already trouble to me.”

If not for him, she wouldn’t have had to stare down those wolves for an entire night. With her skills and speed, even if she wasn’t able to fight them, she would have no problem escaping.

When she didn’t hear any reply, she raised her eyes to glance at him, and that one glance had startled her.

“Wh….. What is a grown man like you crying for?”

With such a big and well built man crying with his eyes all red rimmed with tears before her eyes, looking every inch like a little daughter in law having been bullied, what else could she do but be startled?

“You didn’t allow me to follow…..”

The man looked at her looking all aggrieved. “I don’t know where to go, and I don’t have anywhere to return to, and you didn’t allow me to follow you…..”

Feng Jiu slapped her palm on her forehead and stared into the sky in speechlessness. She had really gotten herself stuck with trouble that wasn’t easy to be rid of this time…..”

Was this retribution? She had plastered herself onto someone, and now someone was doing the same thing to her.

She walked over to the stream and took out her bamboo canister to fill it up with water while she removed the top layer of clothing that had been splattered with wolf’s blood and threw it away.

She was preparing to walk away from the place when she saw the man still standing there stupidly, looking like he wanted to follow but not daring to and just staring at her. She gave a heavy sigh and said: “Why are you still standing there? Let’s go!”

“Huh? Oh!” The man was surprised a moment before he smiled happily and nodded in agreement, taking quick steps to walk over. However, he had a hand over his abdomen as he endured the pain.

The two of them walked up the slope and went deeper into the woods. At that time, the slowly ambling Feng Jiu’s eyes flashed as she discreetly swept her eyes over the surroundings, as she continued walking forward.

“About that…. How….. how should I address you?” The man asked, following at Feng Jiu’s side.

“Whatever.” She replied nonchalantly, her attention not on the conversation.

Hearing that, the man thought about it a moment and he said with a laugh after: “You’re younger than me, so I’ll call you Little Kid alright?”

“Mmm.”

She replied distractedly, not really listening to what he was really saying, but was instead tilting her head to stare at the huge clumps of weeds at the back.

Hearing Feng Jiu’s agreement, his face lit up with joy. He was about to speak again when he noticed the little beggar staring at a spot at the back on the left. He followed the direction of the gaze and what he saw made his face change.

Chapter 28: Sinister Smile
“Those wolves are still around? They….. They are going to keep following us?” He was suddenly rather shocked. They have walked quite a distance and he had not realised that there was a pack of more than ten wolves following behind them.

He did not dare imagine. If they had been caught completely unaware and those wolves had pounced on them, what kind of a result would it have been…..

“No worries. They wouldn’t dare to pounce on us. They are just waiting for an opportunity.” Feng Jiu glanced briefly at the wolves, and then turned back and continued walking.

She knew after she had brutally and mercilessly killed off a few of those wolves, it had already successfully served as a deterrent for the rest of the pack and they would not dare to recklessly charge in at them anymore. The wolves were well aware that any wrong move they made would only mean certain death for them!

But the wolves were unwilling to just leave, so they had tailed the pair a distance away, waiting for a chance.

“Are we going to just let them follow behind us like this?” The man asked in shock, seeing that the little beggar didn’t seem the least bit concerned, and found it rather strange.

[The little beggar was obviously much younger than him, how did he come to possess such guts and those amazing skills?]

Feng Jiu stopped in her tracks and looked straight at the man. “Or you want to go chase them away?”

“Har!? ….. I think there’s no need. Just let them follow us then!” He smiled sheepishly and scratched at his head helplessly.

Hence, if anyone was closeby, they would then see this strange scene passing.

Two guys ambling leisurely in front, and on their tails about ten meters behind them, was a pack of over ten hungry grey wolves salivating heavily at the jaws…..

“Little kid, do you think what’s on this jade emblem could be my name?” He handed a piece of jade to Feng Jiu as he said: “It was originally hung around my neck.”

Feng Jiu took the piece of jade and looked at it. There were really three words engraved upon it that read: “Guan Xi Lin?”

Her voice paused a moment as she stared at the man a moment before she asked: “You are called Guan Xi Lin?”

“I am thinking it might be possible.”

She returned the jade pendant back to him and said with a laugh: “I had thought you might have been called a big oaf!”

“…..”

Guan Xi Lin looked at the little beggar wordlessly, but wisely did not say anything more.

The two of them covered another stretch and the pack of wolves were still following behind, not showing any signs of leaving.

Until, Guan Xi Lin sniffled his nose and he grinned at Feng Jiu to say: “Little kid, there’s people up front, let’s hurry up and catch up to them. If those people allow us to follow them, then those wolves following behind us would then never dare to attack us anymore.”

“People? How do you know?” She peered in front, and besides trees and weeds, she did not see a single sign of anyone there.

He nodded his head insistently: “There is, for sure! I can smell the aroma of meat being roasted.”

“The smell of roasting meat? How come I do not smell it?” She mumbled as she continued to walk another distance. After a while, she could really smell the aroma of meat being roasted and she could faintly hear the voices of people talking. She immediately shot a inquisitive look at Guan Xi Lin beside her.

[Does he have the nose of a hound?]

“Heh heh, see? I told you there are people here!” He said with a laugh: “Let’s go, when we get there and they allow us to follow them, we wouldn’t have to be afraid even if we meet with anymore wild beasts.”

“You think people would just allow us into their group that easily?” She glared at him and then said: “Only I would be so free to let you tag along with me.”

Seeing him standing there dazed and his face helpless, Feng Jiu glared at him and continued to say: “This place is called the Nine Entrapment Woods and it’s filled with many ferocious beasts. In a place so filled with endless dangers, what do you think others will think when they see two strangers suddenly approaching them?”

“What….. what will they think?” He asked curiously, not comprehending the situation.

“Moron! They will think what ulterior motives we have in getting close to them!”

“Then what do we do?”

Feng Jiu’s gaze changed, and her lips parted into a sinister smile: “It’s alright. I have a plan. Just watch me.”

Chapter 29: Why Are You Staring at My Little Kid Brother!
After that, Guan Xi Lin just stayed at Feng Jiu’s side as they quietly got closer to the group of people. First they hid behind trees and observed the people for awhile from a long distance away, then she led him to walk boldly forward. He had thought that the little beggar was thinking up some scheme to make those people bring the two of them along, and he had not expected that the kid would lead him to walk past the group of people by the side. The little beggar had not said a word, nor had he even cast a glance towards the men.

But those men were instantly on their guard when they saw the two men who had suddenly appeared. The leader discreetly gauged them a moment before he relaxed his guard. As the two men’s cultivation were not of a high level, they did not pose a threat to them.

But at that same moment, he heard his tribesmen shout out in surprise.

“Third Lord, it’s a pack of wolves!”

Because of that shout, the thirty to forty men who were sitting down in rest suddenly quickly stood up alert. It was also at that moment that Feng Jiu who had already gone a distance ahead shouted out in shock after hearing the man’s shout.

“What? A pack of wolves? Where? Where?” She shouted out nervously, as she dragged Guan Xi Lin to backpedal towards the side of the men.

“Who are you two? Did the two of you lure that pack of wolves here! ?” A middle aged man hollered, staring angrily at them.

“How is that possible! ?”

She stared back at them and said: “Those are wolves! Not kittens! How could we possibly make them follow us here? Moreover, if we had earlier known that wolves were tailing behind us, we would have run for our lives! Why would we still be walking so leisurely?”

“Old Sixth, do not be too rash. Keeping our guard up should be out prerogative right at this moment!” The leader of the men said in a stern voice. “That is a whole pack of ferocious grey wolves and they are extremely quick and nimble. Everybody watch out.”

Feng Jiu saw the entire team of men systematically forming a surrounding protective ring, with several of the younger and weaker youths, both boys and girls in the middle. She pulled Guan Xi Lin to go closer to the team of men but they remained just on the outer edges, and did not enter the protective ring. Even then, they were stared at viciously by a young girl from inside the ring.

“You filthy little beggar! You had better stay far away from me!”

“Cousin, do not be rude.” A youthful boy chided her, looking a little displeased at the girl’s spoilt and rude behaviour.

He looked towards Feng Jiu and Guan Xi Lin and said gently: “Seeing that both of you do not possess high cultivation, you had better stand inside the protective ring! My uncles and elders in my family with the guards are highly skilled, and a mere pack of ten over wolves would not pose too big a threat to us.”

“Hahaha, that’s right! Just these few wolves would be just right for us to stretch ourselves a little.” A wide chested and burly man guffawed loudly after hearing the youth’s words, swinging the mighty axe in his hands. “Just one swing of this mighty axe will be able take down one of them!”

When he heard those words, the leader of the man shook his head to himself and said: “Steel Bull, we must not get careless and underestimate the enemy at all times. Stay alert. We’ll fight those wolves if they leap at us.”

“Yes yes yes.” The burly man conceded with a laugh as he stared at the wolves not too far away. With that stare, he guffawed once more and said: “Third Lord, look at those wolves! They don’t even dare come near us. Hahahaha, they must be frightened at the sight of me.”

Feng Jiu could not help herself and a snigger escaped her lips when she heard those narcissistic words before she said to the youth: “Thank you Young Master. We are fine just standing here.”

“Kid, what are you laughing at? Are you thinking I am not capable of scaring off that bunch of dogs?” The burly man’s brows arched up alarmingly, his face filled with displeasure as he stared at Feng Jiu.

Feng Jiu had not even managed to say a word when Guan Xi Lin at the side suddenly pulled her back to stand behind him.

He had his chest puffed up standing in front of her as he stared back at the burly man: “Why are you staring at my little kid brother!”

Chapter 30: Stabbed in the Back!
Feng Jiu was startled a moment as she stared at the tall guy standing in front of her, her gaze a little strange as she glanced at him.

The burly man named Steel Bull looked at the guy before him standing there with his chest puffed up and he hesitated a moment before giving out another loud guffaw: “Hahaha! Good good good, this kid here has got quite a bit of guts! You dare stare at me Steel Bull like this, that’s admirable!”

As he spoke, he was happily patting Guan Xi Lin on the shoulder, his palm hitting repeatedly, while Feng Jiu who was watching from behind straightened into a thin line.

Those pats on the shoulder had not been light!

“Ungh!” Having been “patted” a few times on the shoulder, it had tugged at the wound on his abdomen, the pain causing cold sweat to run down his face.

“You hit him too hard! He has injuries on him!” Feng Jiu came to the front as she complained, and lifted the guy’s hand that was held over his stomach. As expected, she saw that blood was seeping out from his wound.

“Oops…..” The burly man retracted his hand, looking a little apologetic.

“Look, the wolves have retreated!” Someone shouted joyously as he saw the wolves turn around to leave after giving out several short howls.

The crisis had been resolved without having to fight and that had made the large group of men roar with jubilation.

It turned out that the wolves had only reluctantly left when they saw that Feng Jiu and the tall man had joined the group. Afterall, they had not even been able to handle them when it was just the two of them, and with another additional thirty or forty men with them, they would not stand a chance, so the wolves had naturally given up and left.

Then, the young youth who had spoken earlier said gently as he looked at Feng Jiu: “His wound had started bleeding. You better look at your elder brother’s injury first!” He handed her a bottle of medicine as he spoke: “Here, I have this medicine that is great for wounds.”

“Cousin, why would you bother so much with them?” The young girl complained while stamping her feet, displeased that the young youth was be being so nice to two strangers that had appeared so suddenly.

“It’s alright, I have medicine here myself.” Feng Jiu said, helping Guan Xi Lin to slowly sit down below a tree at the side before removing the bandages from his abdomen and reapplying the medicine.

“Let’s go!” After securing the bandages once more, she said as she helped him up.

Guan Xi Lin hesitated a moment before he nodded his head and said: “Orh!” and followed Feng Jiu to continue on their way.

Seeing the two people leaving without saying another word, the middle aged man who was still feeling rather wary finally relaxed his guard against them but he did not ask them to stay, as the things they were going to do here on this trip must not have any outsiders with them.

After walking for a distance, Guan Xi Lin was still feeling rather puzzled and he asked: “Little kid, did we agree to ask whether they would let us travel with them? Why did we leave without even asking?”

Feng Jiu had a blade of foxtail grass dangling from his mouth, her strides carefree and uninhibited as she swung a small tree branch in her hand before she said: “Why should we travel with them?”

“Of course it is for them to lend us a helping hand when there is danger!”

“Wrong.”

She shook her head and reasoned: “One must depend on himself. When one is always thinking of depending on others, he is bound to not survive long. Moreover, the reason we approached the group was to rid ourselves of the wolves. Now that the wolves are no longer following us, why would we want to continue to stick to them?”

Guan Xi Lin was speechless as he scratched his head: “That sounds quite reasonable I think.” As he spoke, his eyes began to fill with awe and admiration as he looked at the little beggar and continued to say: “Little kid, you are so obviously much younger than I am, but you are so much smarter and highly skilled than I am.”

“Of course, you think I am like you? Having gotten yourself stabbed in the back.”

“What stabbed in the back?” He asked, not understanding what she was saying.

Feng Jiu rolled her eyes and glared at him a moment as she slowly explained patiently: “Your wound came from a stab from close proximity, and it was from behind you while you were not aware. It is obvious that someone you know wants to kill you and you don’t even believe me when I say that you are dumb.”