More than half a bottle of wound medicine was suddenly poured onto the injury. The intense pain exploded in an instant. Veins bulged at Xue Yao’s temples, and his teeth ground together with a harsh clatter.
He forcibly suppressed the cry of pain rising in his throat, his knuckles turning pale from the excessive force.
The sharp, searing pain churned through his waist and abdomen. He closed his eyes as cold sweat slid down from his temples. His whole body tensed like a fully drawn bow, prepared to endure this wave of agony through sheer will.
Unexpectedly, at that very moment, a slender finger suddenly poked him lightly from behind.
Xue Yao’s entire body jolted, and he almost lost control and cried out in pain.
He clenched his teeth even harder.
But that finger refused to stop and tentatively poked him a second time.
Xue Yao: ………
He shifted his body to avoid the touch. Only after the pain finally eased slightly did he slowly lift his eyelids. His eyes were filled with a chilling coldness, anger almost bursting forth.
He turned his head, his gaze shooting like a blade toward behind him—
‘This fool!’
However, when his line of sight swept over the tattered clothes scattered on the ground, he forcibly suppressed that trace of anger and silently turned back, saying coldly, “If you’re not properly changing your clothes, why are you touching me?”
“What are you talking about?” Lu Dantao’s voice came from in front of him.
Xue Yao opened his eyes and saw that she had already neatly put on her outer robe. She was now leaning over from his side, tilting her head as she looked at him in confusion.
“I should be asking you that. If you’re not changing your clothes, what are you dawdling for? Meditating to become an immortal?” she asked.
Her gaze slid downward, sweeping over the firm muscles at the young man’s waist and abdomen. The fresh wound stretched across his taut muscles, covered with a thick layer of medicinal powder. “Your wound really has split open.”
“If it weren’t for me, you’d probably have bled out,” Lu Dantao said offhandedly. Her gaze continued downward, intending to confirm the mark she had seen when she rescued him at the mass grave that day.
She had just remembered it while changing clothes. When she went to the mass grave to save him, she had strictly followed what was written in the analysis post—
There was a heart-shaped scar on the male lead’s waist and abdomen. That was how she identified him.
And she clearly remembered that when she pulled Xue Yao out, she had carefully checked. He did have a heart-shaped scar.
Could it be that both of them had exactly the same scar?
Her gaze moved downward, but before she could see clearly—
The previously loose lapels suddenly closed, and the abdominal muscles disappeared from her sight, completely covered by his clothing.
Lu Dantao frowned in displeasure and lifted her head, only to meet Xue Yao’s cold scrutiny.
He was staring at her icily as he asked, “Have you seen enough?”
Lu Dantao: “……”
‘What is with that tone? Is he some kind of domineering CEO?’
She glanced at the filthy dead man’s clothes on his body, let out a cold snort, then turned and moved toward the exit. “Who was looking at you?”
Wasn’t it just a few abs? As if she was that eager to look.
“Once you’ve applied the medicine, hurry up and change your clothes. Those assassins are still nearby.”
Xue Yao, whose face had just been brushed by her loose hair: ……
As she crawled outward, she lowered her voice and muttered, “Applying medicine takes that long? You were doing it on purpose, waiting for me to call you, just so I’d see, right?”
Xue Yao: ……
He lowered his head and glanced at the hand still clutching his lapels tightly. Taking a deep breath, he quickly grabbed the clothes beside him and put them on.
Lu Dantao bent her back as she crawled out of the hiding place. The surroundings were deathly silent, and the movements of the pursuers seemed to have completely disappeared.
She crouched beneath a dirt slope, keeping her body as low as possible, peering warily through the gaps in the tall weeds.
The night wind blew past, bringing with it the crisp scent of the mountains… along with a strong stench of sweat mixed into that freshness.
It was the smell of the clothes she was wearing.
Lu Dantao instinctively held her breath. The stench of sweat was extremely strong, wrapping around her entire body, as if in an instant she had been transported back into a crowded subway carriage during rush hour rather than being deep in the mountains.
No, she had to distract herself.
She yanked off a few wild grasses and stuffed them into her nostrils to block the smell. Her gaze wandered around before finally settling on a dark, deep shadow not far away—
It was the outline cast by the towering mountain wall beside them.
“We’ll head in that direction later.” Xue Yao pressed a hand against his still faintly aching wound and, surrounded by another wave of strong sweat odor, came to her side. He lifted his chin slightly toward that area. “That patch of shadow is deep. If we stay within it, we won’t be easily spotted.”
Lu Dantao nodded. She understood. They were wearing night-traveling clothes, so naturally they had to choose the darkest path.
Then she heard Xue Yao speak again. “When we pass through there, you may see many insects. When that happens, you must keep your mouth tightly shut.”
“?” Lu Dantao’s temper flared up at once. She turned her head and glared at Xue Yao, just about to speak, but unexpectedly, the wild grass stuffed in her nostrils was blown out by her own anger.
Lu Dantao: “………”
A trace of amusement flickered across Xue Yao’s eyes. Seeing her like this, the gloom in his heart eased somewhat. He added coolly, “If we’re discovered because you make a sound, I won’t be able to handle it.”
Lu Dantao yanked out the grass from her other nostril and said irritably, “I wouldn’t!”
“Then repeat it.”
“What?”
“What I just said.”
Lu Dantao: ……
‘Does he take me for a fool?’
She refused to say it.
Xue Yao spoke slowly, “If you don’t repeat it, we’re not moving.”
Lu Dantao spoke in a stifled tone, “Enter the village quietly, no shooting.”
Xue Yao: …?
What did that mean?
Lu Dantao rolled her eyes at him and took the lead in walking forward.
This person was really annoying. What did he take her for, some kind of dead weight?
Before transmigrating, she could carry a whole barrel of water up to the fifth floor of her dorm by herself. When the air conditioner broke, she fixed it on her own.
Not to mention after coming to this world. If not for her, who knew how many times he would have died already. According to the original plot, by next month he would have been hung on the city wall by the Northern Barbarians and whipped even after death.
The fact that he could live until now was all thanks to her, alright?!
She suddenly stopped, stepped onto a nearby rock, and tensed her little face. Under Xue Yao’s raised-brow gaze, she spoke word by word with solemn seriousness, “You need to show me some respect.”
Xue Yao: “? What?”
Lu Dantao raised two fingers and waved them in front of his eyes. “I saved you twice. I’m your lifesaver.”
Xue Yao leaned back slightly, crossing his arms. “I also saved you twice.”
“?” Lu Dantao froze. ‘Did… did he?’
Once at the apothecary… once in the dungeon.
‘Damn, that cancels it out.’
Xue Yao raised his hand and lightly pushed her aside, then walked ahead to lead the way, tossing out a sentence, “Maybe I’ll even save you a third time.”
Lu Dantao jogged to catch up with him. “If I hadn’t saved you and brought you to Miaoshou Apothecary, would you have gotten news about the Xue Family Army from those bandits?”
Xue Yao abruptly stopped, then turned around with a sinister air, staring at her fixedly.
This fool, and she still had the nerve to say that?
If not for her, would he be trudging through the mountains at night with a fool in tow?
“This is all my contribution,” Lu Dantao emphasized.
Xue Yao turned his head and walked off. “Then you can turn around and head out of the mountains now. With such vast skies and open lands, it should suit you perfectly to display your talents.”
Lu Dantao choked.
This bastard really seized every opportunity to drive her away. And what exactly was going on in his head? He was speaking as if it cost him nothing.
Did he think she chose to save the male lead instead of starting her own path for no reason?
Aside from the fact that this was the best option, there were also practical reasons, alright?
Lu Dantao pointed at his back as she spoke, “How would you know how hard it is for a woman to accomplish great things in this world? Besides, I’m this good-looking. Those nobles would definitely only think about taking me by force, then passing me around like a gift.”
Xue Yao finally couldn’t hold back and rolled his eyes toward the sky.
Lu Dantao didn’t notice his reaction at all.
It wasn’t her being narcissistic or boasting. When she traveled from the capital to Shouzhou, she had encountered plenty of lecherous gazes along the way. Fortunately, the leader of that caravan was a decent man who told her to disguise herself as unattractive, allowing her to make it safely to Shouzhou.
Thinking of this made Lu Dantao even more annoyed. She had run all this way to save him, yet not only did he not treat her like royalty, he even mocked her coldly every day.
No wonder he couldn’t become the male lead and was only an NPC.
Lu Dantao suddenly froze.
Come to think of it, after saying all that, she actually felt that the idea of being taken by force… might really be possible.
That’s right, she was talking about Pei Di.
Recalling the moment when she had just followed Xue Yao into the mountains to escape, Pei Di had shouted that single word, “Little Immortal.”
It had sounded so affectionate, so heartbroken. Even surrounded by his subordinates, he had seemed utterly alone.
After a long while without hearing her make a sound, Xue Yao felt puzzled. He slightly turned his head, only to see her small face tightly drawn, her expression solemn, as if she were contemplating some grand military or state strategy.
He silently turned back, with no intention of speaking to her.
He didn’t even need to ask. Just guessing with his fingers, he knew that her mind was surely filled with some unfathomable nonsense again.
Following behind him, Lu Dantao wore an extremely serious expression, her mind running at high speed—
First of all, she wasn’t called Little Immortal. She only had one proper name, Lu Dantao. At most, classmates and friends called her Taotao or Taozi.
So, it was possible that this was the original host’s courtesy name.
Wasn’t it like that for noble ladies in ancient times? There was even a term like “waiting in the boudoir” and so on.
In that case!
It was very likely that Pei Di was now deeply in love with the original host, the kind of…
The kind of twisted love where he didn’t cherish her while she was alive, only to regret it after her death, turning her into an unattainable white moonlight.
Wasn’t that how many novels and dramas were written?
The female lead gets abused to death, and then the male lead is punished by living a lonely life until old age, and so on.
The more Lu Dantao thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.
Then this was bad.
Right now, he must be frantically trying to find her, planning to take her by force, imprison her in some secluded residence, chain her up, and make her live out her entire life under his watch.
*
Under the same deep night, in a certain secluded residence in Shouzhou City.
Huang Jiu knelt in the hall, his legs trembling uncontrollably. The whip wounds burned with piercing pain, and cold water had been poured over him, making him shiver from the chill. He clenched his fingertips tightly, desperately trying to maintain his composure.
A few hours earlier, he had received instructions sent by his master, telling him to go to Sui Garden to arrange the five-seven ritual for a high official arriving from the capital. But after running around making all the preparations, instead of the host, he was met by a group of well-equipped guards who forcibly brought him here.
A guard named Ting Feng, after questioning him about how he had recognized the girl with the mole between her brows at the apothecary that day, gave him a brutal whipping.
His knees ached from kneeling. Between the cold and the pain, just as he was about to faint, two men with massive bloody holes smashed into their heads were dragged in.
At that moment, the tightly shut inner chamber door finally began to open slowly.
Huang Jiu secretly raised his eyes to look. A young man dressed in black, with a jade-like face and red lips, strolled out.
Ting Feng stepped forward quickly and pointed at the map hanging on the wall. “Master, Xiong Da and Xiong Er were attacked by the young lady at this location.”
The man in black noticed Huang Jiu’s gaze and interrupted Ting Feng. Tilting his head slightly, he looked over at him. “You are Huang Youcai’s steward?”
His voice was clear and cool to the ear, yet it made Huang Jiu feel as if he had fallen into an icy abyss. He trembled uncontrollably. “…Yes, this humble one is.”
The man spoke again, but not to him, rather to Ting Feng. “You said just now that he pinched her face to identify her?”
Ting Feng nodded. “Yes.”
Pei Di’s gaze slowly slid over Huang Jiu’s hands. “In that case.”
He beckoned someone over from outside and softly instructed, “Cut off his hands, pull out his tongue, and throw him into the wild dogs.”
Huang Jiu was horrified. His mouth opened, wanting to beg for mercy, but just as it parted slightly, the person behind him twisted hard, dislocating his jaw completely.
He screamed soundlessly, yet the man seated in the hall merely fixed his gaze on the map, not even sparing him a glance.
Ting Feng pointed to a spot slightly toward the upper right of the map. “Master, the young lady should be in this area.”
This place, he knew it!
Huang Jiu’s eyes widened. Using all his strength, he lunged forward and clutched onto Ting Feng’s leg. His dislocated jaw produced muffled, garbled sounds.
Pei Di cast him a cold glance, his fingers moving slightly.
With a sharp “crack,” Huang Jiu’s jaw was pushed back into place. Not wasting a single moment, he hurriedly said, “Master, Master, I know what place that is.”
“That is the deepest part of Xiaomao Mountain, Shougou Ridge.”
“I can lead the way for you, Master.”
*
Xiaomao Mountain, Shougou Ridge.
Amid towering wild grass that nearly swallowed Lu Dantao whole, two figures, one tall and one short, struggled forward through the sea of grass.
Xue Yao swung his blade ahead, cutting through the tangled vines and weeds blocking the path.
Lu Dantao spat twice, “Peh, peh,” spitting out bits of grass and small insects that had flown into her mouth when Xue Yao was cutting through the brush.
She looked around. There was no sign of human presence, only towering trees and dense, overgrown grass. It was so deathly quiet that not even a trace of birdsong could be heard.
She looked at Xue Yao walking ahead, quickened her pace, and grabbed the hem of his clothes. “I can’t walk anymore.”
Xue Yao flicked his sleeve in annoyance, but that dirty little hand only tightened its grip.
Lu Dantao frowned tightly, refusing to let go in the slightest, her eyes fixed on the straight back of the young man ahead.
Was he some kind of superhuman? Why didn’t he get tired?
Over these past two days, it felt like she had exhausted all the exercise of her entire life. Now she was truly exhausted, sleepy, and worn out. Her mind was blank, and she even felt as if her whole body was rotting and giving off a foul smell.
She tugged at Xue Yao’s clothes again. “I want to take a bath.”
“Endure it.”
But she couldn’t endure it anymore. Not only did she want to sleep, she also hadn’t eaten for a long time. She tugged again.
“I’m so hungry.”
“Endure it.”
Lu Dantao pouted. “How long do I have to endure?”
Xue Yao lifted his head and looked toward the distant, distinctive old pine tree, judging their direction. “Almost there.”