Chapter 9: The Eccentric 2

From afar came the voice of his treasured disciple, Leng Feng, calling out, and it was coming from within the Bitter Bamboo Forest. Elder Wuming hurried over swiftly...

Upon Elder Wuming’s arrival, he was quite astonished. He realized this was none other than the girl he had met at the foot of the mountain. Moreover, Elder Wuming had already shown Hen Quexi the path out of the Bitter Bamboo Forest. Yet, he never expected to encounter Hen Quexi here again.

Since that day, Leng Feng understood that Hen Quexi was merely an ordinary person—or perhaps a wounded one. He also knew that Hen Quexi was an incredibly troublesome character, and the only way to deal with her was to ignore her completely.

If you pay attention to Hen Quexi, congratulations—you’re doomed. She won’t stop until she has thoroughly entangled you!

“Get lost!” Leng Feng had uttered that command to Hen Quexi countless times already. Unfortunately, it never had any effect.

As expected, this time was no different. Hen Quexi, wearing her familiar mischievous grin, crept up to Leng Feng. She tugged at his cold, stiff handsome face and teased with a playful smile, “Don’t be mad! I’ve told you before, handsome guys need to smile more, or else they’ll age quickly!”

“Hehe, by the way, where’s your master? Inside, enjoying his hundred-brewed elixir? I came specially today and bought one hundred-brewed elixir for him! You should thank me—if it weren’t for me, you’d be out selling all day just to earn enough for a single pot!”

As she spoke, Hen Quexi scanned Leng Feng up and down with a lascivious look in her eyes. After all these days of interaction, Leng Feng had long since learned what her lewd smile combined with that word “sell” implied.

Gritting his teeth, veins bulging on his forehead, Leng Feng kept repeating to himself, “Ignore her foul mouth. Ignore her foul mouth…”

Yet no matter how many times he scolded himself inwardly, seeing Hen Quexi’s sneaky, grinning little face so close again caused a surge of wicked irritation to rise uncontrollably. Clutching his bamboo sword tightly, he lamented that it wasn’t a sharp blade, or he would have swung it to wipe that detestable grin off her face.

Apparently sensing that Leng Feng’s patience had reached its limit, Hen Quexi slyly withdrew, laughing heartily as she turned and dashed back toward the inner hall.

Her triumphant laughter still echoed in the air: “Haha, I absolutely won’t tell you! Everything I said just now was to deliberately provoke you, oh great handsome Leng!”

Crunch, crunch! Leng Feng’s teeth ground so fiercely they creaked. Countless times in his heart, he wanted to ask his master, Elder Wuming: since this woman had already figured out the maze, why not change it? Or move to a different location! This woman came back every few days, and yet, despite all that, Leng Feng felt like he was about to explode.

But Elder Wuming would never tell Leng Feng the truth—not because he was unwilling to change the maze or relocate, but because it simply made no difference at all. In the beginning, Elder Wuming would dismantle the maze every time Hen Quexi left and replace it with a new one, but it was all futile.

The last time, when he was guiding Leng Feng to enter the Beast Forest, they unexpectedly ran into the strange Hen Quexi midway. That moment made Elder Wuming feel that he and his disciple might never escape Hen Quexi’s relentless grasp in their entire lives.