Cuddling with the Cold Female Protagonist – Chapter 91

Volume 4: The Perils of the Jianghu

Withered bones on the Back Mountain

The friends she mentioned were precisely Feng Ruoqing and Hua Wuying.

Ever since Feng Ruoqing learned of her master’s passing, she had been utterly dispirited. After the Valley Master had Feng Zhu take her to the Back Mountain​¹ to pay respects to her master once, she started frequently running off to the Back Mountain.

            

Yesterday during dinner, she suddenly said, “My junior martial sister Feng Chen​² is missing, I need to go find her.” The next day, she left early in the morning. Hua Wuying, whose internal energy had recovered just a tiny bit, worried something might happen to her, so she went out with her.

It hadn’t even been a day. How could two perfectly fine people suddenly disappear?

Su Yi and Ji Qingchi exchanged a glance; both sensed something fishy. However, the little girl who informed them was only twelve or thirteen, an age of charming naivety. Surely she wouldn’t be well-versed in the art of deception at such a young age? Besides, the anxious look on her face couldn’t be faked.

            

Su Yi stood up and poured her a cup of water. “Miss Feng Lan, don’t rush. Speak slowly. What happened to my two friends?”

Feng Lan gulped down the water—Gulp, gulp!—and panted, “They… Ai… I can’t explain it well. Could you two please come with me?”

To guard against any tricks, Ji Qingchi had Yue Ling bring a few capable guards, pushing Su Yi’s wheelchair, and followed behind Feng Lan.

            

She led them to the Back Mountain. The mist on the mountain was very thick, making it impossible to see what lay within. It was covered in trees, weeds, and thorns.

At the entrance to the mountain forest, there were a few familiar pieces of clothing, and next to them, some white bones.

Pointing at the clothes, Feng Lan sighed and said, “These belong to your friends, right? I saw them when I was patrolling the mountain. There are many fierce beasts in this forest. I don’t know how they provoked those beasts, ending up like this. These bones belong to only one person… I wonder if the other one is still inside the forest.”

            

Only then did the group understand that her saying “disappeared” was just a euphemism; she actually meant that the two people were already dead.

Yue Ling walked over, circled the white bones, and then made a gesture to them, meaning: the clothes indeed belonged to those two, but the bones did not.

Su Yi relaxed. Recalling the forest she had encountered outside the valley earlier, she thought for a moment and deliberately said, “My two friends only left this morning. It’s impossible for them to have turned into white bones by evening, right? Little Doctor, you’re a doctor; you know it takes some time for a human body to decompose into bones. This definitely isn’t my friends.”

            

“Aiya, don’t disbelieve me!” Feng Lan stomped her foot. She was young and had never left the valley, so she couldn’t tell that Su Yi was deliberately trying to trick her into talking​³. Looking left and right to ensure no one was around, she lowered her voice and said, “Let me tell you, in our valley, there’s a particularly terrifying beast. It can swallow a person whole and turn them into white bones in the blink of an eye. That beast has already devoured several people. The Valley Master was afraid it would continue to harm others, so she found a way to lock it up in this forest. She has us patrol the mountain in turns every day, precisely because she’s afraid someone might accidentally wander in here and be eaten by that beast.”

“Oh?” Ji Qingchi smiled. “I’ve never heard of such a beast. I’d really like to see what it looks like.”

Su Yi also wiped away a non-existent tear. “Yes, those two friends of mine were my closest companions! wuwuwuwu, how could they just leave like this? No, we must avenge them!”

            

Yue Ling chimed in, “Little Doctor, do you know how one can safely enter this forest to find that beast?”

Feng Lan stomped her foot anxiously. “You’ll die if you go in!”

Ji Qingchi smiled. “We’re not afraid. We’ve lived long enough anyway. If we can really see what that beast is, it’ll be an eye-opening experience.”

            

Seeing she couldn’t persuade them, Feng Lan became extremely anxious. No matter how they asked, she refused to say what was actually in the forest. Instead, using both persuasion and pressure​⁴, she pulled them back.

Afraid that the group wouldn’t listen and would later sneak off to the forest on their own, Feng Lan specifically went to find her senior martial sister Feng Zhu. She wanted to tell her about this matter, hoping her senior sister could help persuade them. Besides, the bones outside the forest hadn’t been dealt with yet, and she needed her senior sister to send someone to clean them up.

When she arrived at her senior sister’s courtyard, she happened to see her senior sister standing in the yard. The Valley Master was standing in front of her, holding a prescription, her expression dark as she reprimanded her.

            

Her senior sister seemed to have mixed a medicine incorrectly and kept her head bowed, being admonished by the Valley Master.

Their master, perhaps because she was the Valley Master and always busy with valley affairs, rarely had time to teach them. They mostly taught themselves, and the time they spent with patients was longer than the time their master spent guiding them.

Honestly, Feng Lan felt that their master was hardly qualified to admonish her senior sister. She had barely taught them anything; how could she criticize them when they made mistakes?

            

Constrained by the Valley Master’s authority, she didn’t dare say these things. Only when the Valley Master was nearly done with her scolding did Feng Lan slowly walk over, call out “Master,” and recount the entire incident.

As soon as she finished speaking, another sharp, thin voice chimed in, “You’re saying they want to enter the forest on the Back Mountain?”

Only then did Feng Lan realize Feng Lin was also there; he had just been standing behind her senior sister, hidden by her tall figure.

            

“Yes. I told them the Back Mountain is extremely dangerous, but they wouldn’t listen. I’m afraid they’ll trespass.”

It wasn’t as if patients hadn’t ignored her warnings and barged into the Back Mountain before, but all of those people had died. Feng Lan didn’t want these few pretty ‘elder sisters’ to follow the same disastrous path​⁵.

“The Back Mountain isn’t as scary as you think. If I weren’t so weak, I’d go explore it myself.” Unexpectedly, her usually delicate junior martial brother said such a thing. After speaking, he even acted cute towards the Valley Master, wheedling a few bottles of medicine from her, and handed them all to Feng Lan. “Little senior sister, these medicines were newly developed by my mother. They’re most effective against poisonous insects and fierce beasts. If those patients want to brave the Back Mountain, let them go. Give these to them for self-defense.”

            

Feng Lan shook her head. “Junior martial brother, what are you saying? The danger of the Back Mountain is something everyone in the valley knows! How can you let those patients go to the Back Mountain?”

“Well said.” The Valley Master also spoke gravely. “The Back Mountain is fraught with danger. Lin’er, how can you egg on our guests to go to the Back Mountain?”

“But according to little senior sister, aren’t their friends’ remains still there? They were friends, after all; they should at least help collect the bones. What if they really barge in?”

            

“That’s true.” The Valley Master nodded and called to the silent Feng Zhu at her side, “Zhu’er.”

Feng Zhu cupped her fist. “What are your instructions, Master?”

“You and Lan’er take these medicines over. If those guests insist on going to the Back Mountain, then take some people and go with them.”

            

The Valley Master said lightly, “With more people, you won’t have to fear that beast.”

“Yes.”

Taking the medicine, Feng Zhu led Feng Lan towards the courtyard where Su Yi and the others were staying.

            

On the way, Feng Zhu walked with her head down, silent. Feng Lan comforted her, “Senior sister, Master is just like that. Don’t take it to heart.”

“I’m not unhappy because Master scolded me.” Feng Zhu carefully checked that no one was on either side of the path before slowly speaking, “Junior sister, did you see Senior Sister Feng Chen recently?”

“No. Isn’t it rumored in the valley that she escaped with the Eldest Senior Sister?”

            

Feng Zhu suddenly chuckled. “Escape? I made a special trip to look. The Eldest Senior Sister’s room was indeed missing clothes and valuables, but Senior Sister Feng Chen’s room wasn’t missing even a single comb.”

“Ah…” Feng Lan was surprised. “Then, could it be…”

Feng Zhu didn’t answer her directly, speaking ambiguously, “I asked a few of the senior martial brothers who regularly patrol the mountain. They said the miasma over at the Back Mountain is getting worse. Some time ago, I also saw a large flock of vultures flying southeast.”

            

Vultures eat flesh, and miasma is formed from rotting corpses.

What would be the consequence of these two combined?

Feng Lan was frightened by what she heard and hugged her arm tightly. “Senior sister, don’t scare me.”

            

Her junior sister’s face was chubby, and when she was scared, her little face wrinkled up like a steamed bun.

Feng Zhu smiled, temporarily suppressing the speculations in her heart. She patted her face. “Alright, I was just teasing you. You even dared to lead people to the Back Mountain, yet you get so scared you can barely walk when these things are mentioned.”

Feng Lan’s face turned bright red from her words, but she still clung to her arm, refusing to let go. Feng Zhu didn’t pull her off either. She called a few fellow disciples skilled in medicine, brought along some strong young servants, and pushed open the gate to Su Yi’s courtyard.

            

Su Yi and her group were just preparing to sneak into the Back Mountain after dark to investigate what was there—they even had their night-traveling clothes​⁶ ready. But as soon as the gate opened, they saw disciples from Changsheng Valley holding weapons and approaching them menacingly.

Su Yi jumped in fright, thinking their plan had been exposed. Ji Qingchi and Yue Ling, however, assumed they were here to look for trouble and immediately adopted a combat stance.

With two great experts flanking her, even though Su Yi was in a wheelchair, she felt her aura was two-point-eight meters tall​⁷. Head held high and chest out, she asked, “Miss Feng Zhu, what is the meaning of this?”

            

Feng Zhu bowed slightly. “The Valley Master heard that your friends unfortunately met with disaster on the Back Mountain and specially sent me to take you all there to… tidy things up.”

Su Yi looked in surprise at Feng Lan, who was clinging to Feng Zhu’s arm. “But this Little Doctor was dead set against us going just now. How come now…”

“Just now, there were too few people, and my junior sister was worried you might get injured. To be honest with you all, the Back Mountain is teeming with poisonous insects and fierce beasts, and there’s also miasma. If ordinary people go in without protection, it’s likely to end badly.”

            

As she spoke, she took out two bottles of medicine from her sleeve and handed them over. “This medicine can resist the miasma. When you enter the Back Mountain, you can place this medicine under your tongue. That way, you won’t be easily affected by the miasma.”

Feng Lan sharply noticed that the medicine her senior sister gave them was not the same as what their master had given earlier. Just as she was about to speak, Feng Zhu pressed down on her head, silencing her.

Ji Qingchi took the medicine, opened it, and sniffed. The overwhelming smell was so pungent it almost brought tears to her eyes. She managed to suppress it with her true qi, narrowly avoiding a loss of composure​⁸. “So, Miss Feng Zhu is willing to take us in? That’s good too. It’s safer to travel together. Since the sun is still up and it’s still warm, why don’t we wait until it’s cooler tonight before setting out?”

            

Feng Zhu shook her head. “By nighttime, the miasma will be even thicker. If you all wish to enter the Back Mountain, it’s better to go now. With more people and proper preparations, we’ll have more security going in.”

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As soon as Feng Zhu and the others left, Feng Lin also couldn’t wait to leave.

The Valley Master looked at his anxious appearance and called out to him in a stern voice, “Stop. Where are you going?”

            

“Back to my courtyard to sleep.” Feng Lin said with a grin, “Mother, you’re not going to manage my afternoon naps too, are you?”

The Valley Master frowned, not quite at ease about her son. Just in case, she still admonished, “Those patients have significant backgrounds. If they die here, it will be difficult to account for. I noticed their clothing looks like they’re from Yanxue Kingdom. Huachen Kingdom… we’ve already offended them. We can’t afford to offend people from Yanxue Kingdom as well.”

“Rest assured, Mother.” Feng Lin said with a cryptic smile. “I definitely won’t be like you.”

            

If it’s to be done, it must be done cleanly. Best if no traces are left behind.

Seeing her son seemed to have heeded her advice, the Valley Master felt relieved. She sighed and nodded. “Go on. When your energy is better, come back to Mother, and Mother will teach you more medical skills.”

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