Inside the grand hall, several disciples of Xuanji Sect gathered together, looking enviously at the side palace.
They too were covetous of Fang Zhou's body, but Fang Zhou had already caught the eye of Li Ruyu, and they dared not interfere.
One of them rubbed their hands together and laughed in a sleazy tone: "Even though we can't have the first round, after Senior Sister Li has had her fun, perhaps we could also... indulge a bit?"
The group immediately let out a chorus of lecherous laughter.
Another disciple of Xuanji Sect frowned and said, "That's not right. Why can we only hear Senior Sister Li's voice, and not Junior Brother Fang's?"
Hearing this, the rest of them also realized something was off. It was true, from the side palace, only the sounds of Li Ruyu's speech and laughter could be heard; Fang Zhou's voice had briefly emerged at the beginning, but then it stopped.
Realizing something was amiss, they hurried to their feet and rushed into the side palace, only to be stunned by what they saw.
There was Li Ruyu, stripped of her clothes, her body pixelated, her face flushed with a lascivious smile, and her eyes empty.
And Fang Zhou, who was supposed to be in the side palace, had vanished without a trace.
"Senior Sister, what are you doing, Senior Sister?"
The disciples of Xuanji Sect hurriedly went forward to pull Li Ruyu down.
Just after they pulled her down, Li Ruyu immediately regained clarity. She looked at everyone with both shock and anger: "What's going on? Why have you all come in?"
The crowd explained the situation in a babble of voices, and someone noticed signs that the thatched part of the wall in the side palace had been disturbed.
It was quite clear that Fang Zhou had escaped.
"Whoosh— Whoosh—"
The piercing sound suddenly came from outside the Mountain God Temple, indicating that the early warning system Li Ruyu had set up had been triggered.
"Catch him! Bring him back to me!"
Li Ruyu took the clothes passed to her by a junior sister and dressed herself, her exquisite face twisted with anger.
She hadn't expected to be played like this by a man she could crush without a second thought, it was truly humiliating.
She was determined to capture Fang Zhou and let him know the consequences of angering a woman!
.....
"Huff! Huff!"
Fang Zhou was running wildly through the mountain woods, tumbling head over heels countless times along the way.
The moment Li Ruyu stepped into the side palace, Fang Zhou decisively threw an Illusion Technique at her before escaping.
Though he had previously given up on the idea of fleeing, faced with impending doom, he had no choice but to run. Would he stay and be drained dry?
It was unsure how long the Illusion Technique he cast on Li Ruyu would last. She was at the Foundation Establishment Realm, with a spiritual resistance far higher than ordinary people, so Fang Zhou couldn't dare to stop even after falling so many times.
[Successfully resisted the ravishing of the lustful woman]
[Reward: Masculinity*4, Blue Card*1]
When Fang Zhou escaped the Mountain God Temple, the success message of the mission appeared. Whether or not he could get away tonight would depend on this stroke of luck.
Fang Zhou immediately added the four points of Masculinity to his speed, which boosted his running speed by several times, feeling almost as if he was about to take flight.
A blue card was slowly rotating in his mind.
[Blue Card: Use to randomly obtain a high-quality item or skill, with a low chance of obtaining an even higher quality item or skill]
Fang Zhou chose to draw, and the blue card spun rapidly before disintegrating into sparks of light, which then reconverged into a translucent left hand.
[Hu Lai's Left Hand: Summon an invisible left hand; proficiency affects control precision]
Another Skill Card appeared, but this skill seemed hardly serious.
Fang Zhou activated this skill, and a translucent left hand appeared at the back of his left shoulder, significantly longer than his own left hand.
No sooner had the hand of Hu Lai appeared than it began to flail wildly, breaking branches and uprooting weeds, slapping at Fang Zhou's face.
"Bleh bleh bleh, what is this thing?"
Fang Zhou's heart sank. At this moment he needed something to aid his escape, yet he drew a hand out of control.
Not true, the hand wasn't completely uncontrollable. If Fang Zhou concentrated, he could somewhat control the hand, but once he let go, it moved on its own again.
But what was the use of control? Even with this third hand, he absolutely couldn't beat Li Ruyu.
"Junior Brother, stop running!"
Li Ruyu's voice suddenly echoed from behind, reverberating through the entire mountain woods.
Fang Zhou was startled and stopped examining the useless hand, running for his life.
The path at the foot of the mountain was blocked by the Mountain God Temple, so he could only flee up the mountain. Having run all the way to the top, he suddenly emerged into a clearing, facing an abyssal cliff that plumbed unseen depths.
"Dammit, why does escaping always end up at a cliff!! Do I seriously get to find some long-lost secret manual if I jump down!?"
Fang Zhou cursed loudly, as Li Ruyu's voice got closer from behind. It was too late to turn back and find another path at this point.
Fang Zhou looked around and finally, clenching his teeth, took off one of his shoes and leapt off the cliff.
In less than the time it takes for a few breaths, Li Ruyu had already led her junior sisters to the edge of the cliff.
One of them picked up the shoe on the ground, glanced at the dark abyss of the cliff, and her expression changed slightly: "Junior Brother Fang jumped down? What should we do now?"
Everyone looked at Li Ruyu, waiting for her to make a decision.
Li Ruyu's face was also very unpleasant; she wasn't afraid that Fang Zhou was seeking death, but she did fear that if Fang Zhou really died, she wouldn't be able to explain herself to the old hag back home.
"We need to see a body, dead or alive. Go down and look," she coldly ordered, leading her junior sisters away.
A few meters below the cliff edge, Fang Zhou breathed a deep sigh of relief.
His hands tightly grasped a vine that dangled down; his whole body pressed closely against the inward-sloping cliff wall which was invisible from above.
Fang Zhou felt somewhat fortunate that he had increased his strength a bit; otherwise, he wouldn't have had the power to hang onto the cliff like this.
He planned to wait until the people above had gone far away before he'd climb up and then leave the Yun Mountain Region. He no longer intended to go to the Xuanji Sect.
Just as Fang Zhou was thinking this, he suddenly felt a force transmitted through the vine, pulling him upwards in a leap, flying over the edge of the cliff, tracing an arc, and landing on the ground with a thud.
He couldn't bother with the pain, quickly getting up only to discover that Li Ruyu and the others, who should have left, were still there. Li Ruyu was holding onto the vine - the very one Fang Zhou had hung onto.
Li Ruyu looked at Fang Zhou with a sneer: "You think you can fool me with such petty tricks?"
It's as if she hadn't just been fooled herself.
But Fang Zhou's cold sweat still streamed down.
There were five people on the other side, and he could only cast four more Illusion Techniques. He wouldn't be able to beat the remaining one, nor escape from her.
This was truly a dead end.
Li Ruyu closed in on Fang Zhou: "Junior Brother, stop making trouble, I can pretend nothing happened just now."
I'd trust a ghost before I trust you, you devious minx.
Fang Zhou stepped back gradually, his thoughts racing as he considered his options.
He was blocked by a large tree, but still had no idea what to do next.
At that moment, Fang Zhou feigned a look of surprise, pointing behind Li Ruyu and the others: "There's someone behind you."
Li Ruyu was taken aback for a moment, then laughed it off: "Junior Brother, stop playing these childish tricks."
She drew her sword and tossed it at Fang Zhou.
The sword light flashed, passing over Fang Zhou's head and with a twang, sticking into the tree trunk.
Li Ruyu scoffed: "Next time, it won't be a tree trunk I'm stabbing into, it'll be your body. Won't you come over here and admit your wrongs like a good boy?"
Fang Zhou thought about it, then yanked the sword from the tree, waving it twice - not too lightly, not too heavily, just perfect: "Thanks buddy, for the gear."
Li Ruyu was baffled and then outraged, storming towards Fang Zhou.
She intended to pressure Fang Zhou into admitting his mistake willingly, but it turned out he was still unrepentantly thickheaded. It seemed she had to take action and give him a harsh lesson.
"Poof!"
A tree branch shot from who knows where, landing before Li Ruyu, blocking her path.
Li Ruyu looked down at the tree branch on the ground, then suddenly spun around to look back.
Her junior sisters all looked back as well, and saw a woman in white lying on the branches of a not-so-distant tree.
It was the same person they had bumped into today.
Li Ruyu was baffled and furious but also a bit wary. She greeted the woman in white with a bow: "What are you after, following us in secret like this?"
The woman in white stood up, her long ponytail and white clothes fluttering slightly in the night breeze, looking ethereal under the moonlight.
She said with a cheerful smile: "I was out for a stroll because I couldn't sleep at night, and to my surprise, I found several big women bullying a young man. As a righteous person, how could I stand idly by?"
Fang Zhou was truly moved; he hadn't expected to find a helpful ally in such a moment of despair. In this cold and indifferent world, there was still a glimmer of warmth for him.
Li Ruyu held back her rage: "So, what do you want to do?"
Ling Xiaoyue pondered for a moment and replied, "Since I witnessed it, count me in!"
Li Ruyu: ("▔□▔)
Fang Zhou: (#ﾟДﾟ)
Shit, I almost forgot this woman is also a hooligan!!