Long after Ren Qingyue had left, Feng Jin sat alone in the room, staring dazedly at the candle flame before her.
A slight sound came from the door. She abruptly snapped awake and looked back to see Ah Ling pushing the door open a crack, peeking in. “Boss, it’s past midnight. Why aren’t you asleep yet?”
An inexplicable emotion surfaced in her heart.
In a trance, she had actually hoped the one to knock on this door would be that Fox Immortal.
“I’m about to rest now.”
Feng Jin stood and blew out the oil lamp on the table. Ah Ling let out an “oh,” retreated, and closed the door.
Two seconds later, she pushed the door open again and asked, “How’s the little fox? Did it eat anything?”
In the darkness, Feng Jin glanced at the empty wooden cage and instructed, “Take it out and throw it away. She doesn’t eat these things.”
Ah Ling was a little confused. She pushed the door open and groped her way to the table in the dark, bending down to reach for the cage. Unexpectedly, she bumped right into Feng Jin’s arms.
She let out an “ah!” and recoiled like a frightened rabbit.
She retreated too quickly and nearly fell. Feng Jin, acting on instinct, caught her and helped her stand steady.
The two were close together. Ah Ling’s chin bumped against Feng Jin’s shoulder. She stammered, “B-Boss! What are you doing here?”
She had thought Feng Jin had already gone to the bed.
There was no real need to lie, yet Feng Jin answered subconsciously, “I was meditating by the table just now.”
“Oh, oh.” Ah Ling lowered her head and backed out of Feng Jin’s embrace.
Patting her cheeks, which had inexplicably flushed, she turned and fumblingly picked up the cage.
The cage was very light. Upon closer inspection, she found the rope on the cage door had been untied. The little fox was no longer inside.
Ah Ling instantly forgot her earlier embarrassment and shouted, “Boss! Boss! The fox is gone!”
“Mm, I know.” Feng Jin’s tone was calm. “Take the cage out. It’s no longer needed.”
Ah Ling didn’t understand the meaning, but Feng Jin didn’t explain further. After giving the order, she returned to her bed to lie down. Her final instruction before sleep: “Remember to close the door on your way out.”
“Oh.” Ah Ling responded, quietly and cautiously withdrawing from the room.
As she passed through the courtyard, she saw a candlelight flicker on in the eastern guest room. She felt strange: Who lit the lamp?
That little thief was so badly injured, it was impossible she’d wake up so quickly.
Curious, Ah Ling circled the small courtyard to the front of the room. She peeked inside through a crack in the door.
The room was empty. Apart from the unconscious Yan Zhao on the bed, there was no one else.
Suddenly, a cold gust of wind blew the door open a little wider. Ah Ling shivered violently and rubbed the goosebumps on her arms. “Yikes! Our stronghold isn’t haunted, is it?”
Haunted or not, it was certainly creepy.
She picked up the cage and trotted away, back to her own room.
Inside the room, Ren Qingyue stood leaning against the wall behind the door. Confirming that Ah Ling was long gone, she casually slid the door bolt into place and then closed the windows.
This guest room had simple furnishings, but it was clean and tidy, neither dirty nor messy.
Yan Zhao was currently lying on the bed. Feng Jin had sent someone to examine her wounds, apply medicine, and also cast a Dust-Cleansing Spell to clean up her clothes, soiled with blood, mud, and water.
Ren Qingyue closed her eyes to regulate her breathing. Forcing her transformation just now had been a desperate and risky move. What little Dharma Power she had left was completely drained. She could not maintain her human form for much longer.
She quickly walked to the bedside and picked up Yan Zhao’s hand resting outside the blanket.
Her fingertips gently pressed against the pulse on Yan Zhao’s wrist.
A moment later, her brows furrowed slightly.
Yan Zhao’s pulse was steady and calm. Rather than being in a coma from severe injury, it would be more apt to describe her current state as sleeping like a log.
Ren Qingyue then pushed aside Yan Zhao’s collar.
On the right side of Yan Zhao’s neck, where it met her shoulder, there should have been two faint, bruise-colored teeth marks. Yet now, her thin, bony collarbone showed no sign of bruising whatsoever. Even the scrapes and bruises suffered from jumping down the slope were gone without a trace.
A bold conjecture formed in Ren Qingyue’s mind.
She quickly uncovered the gauze on Yan Zhao’s chest. Yan Zhao’s underdeveloped frame was fully exposed before her eyes.
At her right shoulder, the place pierced by the Sword Qi, only a scar the size of a fingernail remained.
Moreover, this scar was dissolving and vanishing at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Ren Qingyue’s thin lips pressed together. Her fingertip stroked that remaining scar, a thoughtful expression on her face.
This child was indeed extraordinary. Not only was her identity a mystery, but her body also held many unknown secrets.
That being the case, she could rest a little easier. Although Yan Zhao couldn’t cultivate and was oblivious to the ways of the world, at least she wouldn’t easily lose her life.
The stars shifted, day and night alternating.
Early the next morning, Yan Zhao woke up. She stretched her body and let out a long yawn at the same time.
Opening her eyes, she found herself lying in an unfamiliar room.
Yan Zhao froze for half a breath. The events of last night replayed in her mind like a lantern show.
Crap!
She flipped up out of bed and was about to dash out the door when her peripheral vision caught a patch of fluff by the pillow.
Yan Zhao urgently halted her steps. She rushed back in a whirlwind, scooped up the half-asleep little fox, and turned it left and right, inspecting it. Confirming it was indeed her little fox, that no one had stolen it away.
After last night’s ordeal, the little fox was even more seriously injured. Its spirit was very poor, and it was drowsy and unresponsive.
Yan Zhao felt that continuing like this was no solution.
She touched the pouch at her waist. The Universe Pouch was still there. She took out the two strips of meat she had picked up yesterday, cut off a small piece, and held it to the fox’s mouth.
The little fox lifted its eyelids. The divine light in its green-jade-like eyes was dim.
“Eat at least a little,” Yan Zhao quietly coaxed it. “You need to eat so your wounds can heal.”
The little fox looked at the raw, uncut, unwashed piece of cured meat: “…”
Judging by Yan Zhao’s expression, if it didn’t eat, she was very likely to pry its mouth open and force the food in.
How to tactfully tell Yan Zhao that it wouldn’t starve to death even without eating…
No solution.
It had no choice but to reluctantly, with extreme unwillingness, and utter physical and mental repulsion, swallow the chunk of cured meat whole.
Yan Zhao made to cut a second piece. It immediately jumped out of Yan Zhao’s arms, preferring to let the wounds hurt rather than be caught by Yan Zhao.
“Hey, why are you running!” Yan Zhao indeed stopped her meat-cutting action, her attention following the little fox around the room.
Knock knock knock.
A knock on the door interrupted the one-person-one-fox frolicking.
Yan Zhao became vigilant. She stuffed the cured meat back into the Universe Pouch, but still held the bone knife in her hand. She signaled the little fox with her eyes to find a place to hide.
The little fox crouched without moving. Yan Zhao picked it up and stuffed it under the bed.
The fox’s silvery-white fur was coated in a layer of dust.
“…”
Yan Zhao then ran to open the door. As she pulled the bolt, she felt a sense of dissonance.
This door had actually been locked from the inside.
Without time to dwell, she pulled the door open. Standing in the doorway was a man, as burly as an ox, two heads taller than Yan Zhao.
Yan Zhao tightened her grip on the bone knife hidden behind her back, hesitating whether to strike.
At that moment, the man suddenly bent at the waist and cupped his fist towards Yan Zhao in a respectful salute. “The Head Chief invites Miss to the front hall for a meal.”
Yan Zhao was shocked and doubtful: “???”
The man finished speaking, stepped back two paces, and waited under the porch.
The little fox crawled out from under the bed and jumped onto Yan Zhao’s shoulder, wanting to go with her.
Yan Zhao couldn’t do anything about it. She also didn’t feel at ease leaving it alone.
She could only tuck the fox into her arms. As she walked out of the room, she couldn’t help but mutter quietly, “What’s this bunch of bandits up to?”
The man heard this and glanced at her, his expression turning displeased.
The fox remained silent.
If it had needle and thread right now, it would definitely sew Yan Zhao’s mouth shut.
Fortunately, the front hall was only a few steps away from the guest room. The man endured and didn’t flare up.
Yan Zhao once again set foot in the Stronghold Main Tent.
The female bandit leader she’d met yesterday sat in the main seat. On her left and right were low tables, each laid out with seven or eight dishes of various kinds. Although they looked light, there were both meat and vegetable dishes, accompanied by an abundant platter of fruit.
Ah Ling was behind the table on the right. The table on the left was empty.
The moment Yan Zhao stepped through the threshold, the eyes of the two people in the room simultaneously fell on her.
Ah Ling’s face showed surprise, while Feng Jin’s gaze shifted to the small bulge in Yan Zhao’s arms.
The little fox hadn’t hidden well. A small tuft of its tail tip peeked out from the opening of her collar.
“Why is it her!” Ah Ling exclaimed, interrupting Feng Jin’s train of thought. “Boss, the honored guest you said you wanted to entertain is this little thief?!”
Feng Jin came back to her senses. She lowered her eyelids, concealing her expression, and gently chided, “Ah Ling, mind your manners!”
She then gestured for Yan Zhao to take a seat. “Please.”
Yan Zhao was also very surprised. The female bandit leader’s attitude was baffling to her.
But glancing at the table full of delicious food, she licked her lips greedily and thought: Did she poison the food? Trying to poison me to death?
Yan Zhao curled her lip, unimpressed.
If someone was delivering food right to her mouth, it’d be a waste not to eat it.
She circled around to the back of the low table and found two prayer mats beside it. She didn’t know who the other one was for.
Once Yan Zhao was seated, Feng Jin suddenly noticed her steady gait and normal complexion. Her injuries seemed mostly healed.
Senior Sister must have healed her wounds, Feng Jin privately guessed.
Everyone in the hall had their own thoughts. Once seated, Yan Zhao directly reached out and grabbed a rib, slurping it loudly.
Delicious.
The cook in this bandit stronghold really was quite skilled.
Ah Ling’s face was full of disgust. “Crude!”
Yan Zhao ignored her entirely. Before the host had even picked up her chopsticks, she began gorging herself, sweeping the food off the table like a whirlwind. She even had the bandit brother who’d led her here refill her rice bowl three times.
The little fox poked its head out from her arms. Seeing the once fine meal now completely ruined, it wore the same expression as Ah Ling.
It thought: How come you’re not feeding me a bite right now?
Yan Zhao saw it, reached out to press its nose, and pushed its head back down. “Stop sniffing around. Be good, a fox can’t eat these things.”
Ah Ling’s face cycled from green to white. Several times she wanted to explode, but a glare from the person in the main seat forced her back down.
She took a few deep breaths.
Patience. The Boss must have her reasons.
As for Feng Jin, she seemed to want to say something but stopped.
In the end, she said nothing, only a deeper meaning settling in her eyes as she looked at Yan Zhao.
Having eaten and drunk her fill, Yan Zhao patted her belly and let out a long breath of satisfaction. Only then did she look at the other two. “Why aren’t you eating?”
Feng Jin lowered her gaze, a soft laugh escaping her. She raised her wine cup and asked Yan Zhao, “Considering the Miss is still injured, today’s meal is quite light. What does the Miss think of the food in our stronghold?”
In all her life, Yan Zhao had never been formally addressed as “Miss” by anyone with such a straight face.
Though she clearly knew the other party had ill intentions, she was still pleased, and for once, deigned to give an answer. “It’s alright.”
“In that case, we can have a good talk.” Feng Jin drained her cup in one gulp, her gaze sweeping over the fox in Yan Zhao’s arms. “Thinking back on yesterday’s events, I feel there might be some misunderstandings between us…”
Yan Zhao: “Ah? What misunderstanding?”
The remaining two, along with the fox: “…”
