As night fell, the entire cave became filled with joy. Lanterns and streamers were hung everywhere. Several women, with swaying serpentine waists, powdered faces, bright red lips, and dressed in vibrant attire, surrounded me. They busily helped me change into a bright red outfit.
I felt a bit puzzled. Did eating someone require such a festive occasion? Did they really mistake me for Tang Monk, who could achieve immortality?
Without any awareness, I heard a commotion outside, and then saw someone enter. They led me to a specially decorated room on the side, which contained a large red bed.
The woman who led me in brought me to the bedside and said with envy, "Miss, you are truly blessed to be favored by our Lord."
I asked her with a face full of confusion, "Didn't he want to eat me?"
The women burst into laughter upon hearing this. Thinking I didn't understand their Lord's intentions, they explained to me, "Our Lord says this to any girl he fancies. Miss, you are truly fortunate. We have followed our Lord for so long, and he hasn't had any thoughts about us."
I looked at them speechlessly, all heavily made up with vibrant red lips, striking poses. Forget the mountain god; even I lost my appetite.
One of the women said, "Miss, please wait here for a moment. Our Lord will be here soon."
After saying that, they placed the red veil over me, then the group left giggling, closing the door behind them and securing it.
Afterward, silence descended. I had already noticed several plates of delicacies on the stone table, so I unceremoniously walked over and cleared the table. Then, I began searching for a weapon to subdue the villain later.
Looking left and right, I finally found a palm-sized stone in the corner. I walked over and carefully picked it up, thinking I would use it to smash him later. I hid the stone under the pillow, planning to hit him when he wasn't paying attention.
After an unknown amount of time, I was so tired I started to doze off. Then, I suddenly heard the sound of the door opening. I slowly woke up, glimpsed him entering in a bright red robe, and quickly tidied my demeanor.
However, my unruly heart, as if it had never seen a handsome man before, lamented, "The mountain god, though a handsome man, and I have struggled several times, wanting to kiss his face, touch his body, and embrace his chest, but reason tells me he is a bad person. It's truly unbearable."
Hei Feng walked closer, examined me carefully, then adjusted his clothes before speaking, "My beauty, have you been waiting long?"
Goosebumps erupted all over me, but I maintained my composure. Seeing my lack of response, he sat beside me, reached out, and pulled me into an embrace.
My chaotic mind couldn't help but guess what he intended. "Didn't he want to eat me? What's his motive now?"
Seeing my unresponsiveness, he used his overbearing, cheesy, and corny romantic lines, "If you agree, I can give you two choices: one, become my woman, or two, become my food."
Although it was unexpected, to buy myself time, I quickly reacted and, following his lead, shyly coquettishly said in a girlish tone, "Oh, you're being naughty! How am I supposed to choose? Are there any other options?"
He lifted the veil, gazing at my affectionate eyes with satisfaction. Then, he reached out to caress my half-shy face, but still asked with distrust, "Yes, there is. Tell me your true intentions?"
I've told this fellow this several times. Although I came to investigate, what I said before was true.
Unable to help myself, I continued to act coyly, "Oh, my Lord Mountain God, if you want to know my true intentions, could you grant me a small wish?"
"Tell me," he said.
"Just close your eyes and let me steal a kiss, and then I'll tell you," I said, feeling disgusted with myself.
"Is it that simple? Why not just kiss me directly?" he asked, blinking.
"Oh, you're so mean! I want a bit of mystery," I said, feigning anger.
He laughed heartily and indulgently, "Since my beauty desires mystery, I shall comply. But you must tell me how it felt later."
"So wicked! I hate you! Hurry and close your eyes."
"So impatient. I'll see how I punish you later."
"Hate you! You bad guy!"
Ugh! I felt like I was going to vomit.
As he said this, he closed his eyes. I looked at his face, a handsome visage I had sought for lifetimes without success, and couldn't help but swallow. I hesitated for two seconds, thinking, I've never kissed a handsome guy in my life. Maybe I should kiss him first before attacking. At this moment, my righteous self jumped out and advised, "Kissing what? Hurry and attack!"
However, my evil self intervened, "This might be your only chance to have a handsome man in your entire life. If you don't seize it, you'll never have another opportunity."
My righteous self rebuked, "Hurry up and attack, or you'll never escape!"
My evil self persuaded, "Kiss him, kiss him! This is the only chance you've waited twenty years for."
While I was in a dilemma, Hei Feng grew impatient. He asked, "Are you done yet?"
I could only perfunctorily reply, "Almost done, almost done."
Finally, after weighing the pros and cons, I decided to make the righteous choice. Goodbye, my handsome man. Let the stone be a tribute to my dead love.
So, I took a deep breath, reached under the pillow for the stone, and was about to strike him when he suddenly turned his head, knocked the stone away, grabbed my neck with one hand, and pushed me onto the bed, saying fiercely.
"I knew you were sent by those Raccoons to kill me. You want to kill me? No way! I intended to spare your life to make you confess honestly, but it seems you don't need to. However, seeing as you have some beauty, perhaps you can die with some value."
As he spoke, he reached out to molest me. I quickly tried to grab him, but he caught my hands and questioned, "I see you have some other intentions towards me. Since that's the case, why don't you stay and be my bride?"
With a "slap," I slapped his face and reprimanded, "Let me tell you, I am attracted to your beauty, but I will never like you. A mountain god like you, who is so inhumane, is a disgrace to your handsome appearance."
He touched his stinging face, and instead of getting angry, he laughed, "Hahaha, you've got some spirit! I like it. You, a mere young woman, dare to lecture me? I'll give you another chance. Will you agree to be my bandit queen?"
Be your bandit queen? Such a scenario, only seen in television dramas, was now happening to me. My face flushed slightly, and my previously settled heart became flustered again.
I cautiously asked him, "Are you serious?"
Hei Feng, thinking how I would respond, said smugly, "Of course, why would I lie?"
Seeing his certainty, I decided not to go against my feelings. As the saying goes, if I don't go to hell, who will? For the Raccoons, for Ali, I had to sacrifice myself.
"I do," I said.
Hearing my answer, he was slightly stunned. The smile on his face immediately dropped, replaced by a look of bewilderment. He thought, "She's not playing by the rules."
He hesitated for two seconds and asked again, "Are you really willing?"
At this moment, I was already blushing profusely, my face flushed red. I slowly stood up and hugged him, saying, "I do."
Hei Feng's face darkened. He thought that he had just said it casually, but he never expected this woman to take it seriously. "No, I need to find a way out of this," he thought.
With this in mind, he pushed me away, coughed lightly, and said, "You woman, you're trying to seduce me. I'm telling you, I won't fall for it. You want to use me to help the Raccoons, that's impossible. Alright, I don't want to marry you now. I just want to feel at ease."
I stared at him with wide eyes, incredulous and hurt, "Didn't you just say you wanted me to be your bandit queen? Why did you change your mind so quickly?"
Hei Feng gave a cold, wicked smile and said, "Silly woman, I was lying to you. Now I just want you dead."
As he spoke, he reached out again and grabbed my neck. I cursed him, "You despicable scoundrel!"
He burst into laughter, mocking, "You're too foolish. How could I possibly marry you?"
Saying this, he tightened his grip on my neck. Just as he was about to finish me off, I suddenly heard a commotion outside. Then, I heard Zhaidao Hu rush to the door and shout in a panic, "Boss, boss! It's bad! Jin Peng is here! Jin Peng is here!"
"What!"
Upon hearing this, Hei Feng forgot about me, tossed me aside, quickly turned, opened the door, and rushed out of the cave with everyone. Taking advantage of the chaos, I hurriedly escaped and happened to meet Ali, who had transformed into a small demon to find me. He grabbed me and pulled me along as we ran down the mountain.
Halfway down the mountain, I couldn't help but look back. I saw the mountain engulfed in flames, with two groups fighting on the peak. I couldn't make out who was who, but I assumed the mountain god had met his match.
Recalling his expression, I became curious about his opponent and asked Ali, "Ali, who is Jin Peng?"
"That's the mountain god from another mountain. It's said to be a golden roc. Mountain gods sometimes fight to seize territory, and that Jin Peng is this mountain god's mortal enemy."
Hearing Ali's explanation, I felt that this mountain god wasn't very powerful. If I really wanted to defeat him, it shouldn't be too difficult.
"Where are we going now?" I asked.
"I'll take you somewhere," he said, pulling me into the woods from a small path. Then, following the path, we arrived at a lake. It was a full moon night, and the bright moonlight reflected on the water. A gentle breeze blew, creating ripples.
"What is this place?" I asked curiously.
"This is Jingxin Lake. I come here whenever I'm unhappy. Don't worry, this place is beyond the mountain god's reach, so we are safe for now."
Hearing his words, I felt much more at ease. "Achoo!" The cold wind that hit me made me sneeze.
Suddenly, I felt a chill. Looking down, I saw that the bright red dress I was wearing had turned into a few old leaves. Fortunately, I was wearing a short shirt underneath, or I would have been completely exposed.
Seeing me dressed so sparsely, Ali willingly took off his clothes and draped them over me. I asked him worriedly, "You gave them to me, what about you? It's so cold now."
Ali touched my head and said gently, "It's okay. I'm a Raccoon. Raccoons aren't afraid of the cold."
"Really?" I still had some doubts.
He affirmed, "Really."
Only then did I relax.
At this moment, a gentle breeze blew, rustling the leaves on my legs and causing them to fall onto the lake. A ray of moonlight reflected on the lake and then refracted through the fallen leaves onto Ali's face.
Following the light, my gaze slowly fell upon Ali. At this moment, I realized he had transformed into a young boy. His messy face was actually quite handsome, resembling a boy next door. For a moment, I was captivated.
Ali turned his head and looked at me staring blankly at him, looking very curious. He asked, "Is there something on my face?"
I murmured, "So handsome."
Upon hearing this, his face immediately turned red. He quickly turned his face away and coughed. Thinking he had caught a cold, I quickly took off my clothes and draped them over him.
Ali turned back and our eyes met. Our hearts involuntarily began to pound, and we quickly looked away.
Ali carefully pulled the clothes back to cover me and said shyly, "Wear my clothes. I'm not cold."
I shyly accepted them and put them on, then found it amusing and couldn't help but laugh out loud, "Hahaha."
Ali asked, confused, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, it's just a bit cold tonight. Are we sleeping here tonight?"
"Yes."
"Then let's sleep quickly," I said, turning onto my side and pretending to sleep. Seeing that I was asleep, Ali leaned against a rock and slowly drifted off to sleep.
Seeing that he was asleep, I slowly got up and looked back at him. I realized that Ali was actually quite good-looking. Thinking this, I found myself amusing and also lay down on the grass, slowly falling asleep.
Worried that the mountain god might cause trouble in the village, we decided to stay at Jingxin Lake for a few days. After a few days, finding no activity, we planned to sneak back to the village with Ali. Just halfway there, we suddenly heard a strange cackling sound from the woods.
Suddenly, someone loudly recited a poem: "The martial world is full of righteous men, but thieves and villains are unknown."
Then, two figures jumped down from the trees: one was a bear-man holding an axe, and the other was a wolf-man holding a large saber. The moment they saw me and Ali, they struck a robber-like pose, blocking our path. With an air of disdain, they asked, "Who is human?"
His question was quite inexplicable, but seeing that the other party was not a good person, I could only make up a lie to fool him, "Big brother, are you looking for someone? I just saw someone running frantically in that direction. He should be the person you're looking for."
"Oh, thank you."
"No!" the wolf immediately reacted. His agility and speed were worthy of a wolf, but his fatal mistake was having a pig for a teammate.
"What were the characteristics of the person we're looking for?" he asked.
The bear honestly replied, "It's a woman, no demonic aura, no divine charm."
"Was the one just now a man or a woman?"
"A woman."
"Does she have a demonic aura?"
The bear thought carefully for a long time before saying, "I didn't smell anything, just a scent of fragrance."
The wolf then realized and said, "We must have caught her."
The two of them quickly turned back, but the space behind them was already empty. By the time they reacted, Ali and I had already escaped.
The wolf was annoyed, "I didn't expect this person to be so cunning. I think she must live nearby. Third brother, have you scouted if there are any villages around here?"
The bear said, "Second brother, I've scouted. Down the south mountain, there's the Raccoon tribe. I smelled the Raccoon scent on the boy who was with her just now. I guess they must live in the Raccoon village."
"I think so too. Let's go and see."
"Okay."
Knowing their destination, the two of them were no longer worried and leisurely walked towards the Raccoon village.
After Ali and I ran far away, we stopped. Ali asked confusedly, "What are those two people here for?"
"Judging by their appearance, they look like robbers, or perhaps bandits."
"Bandits?" he asked, full of confusion.
Seeing his confusion, I explained to him, "They are people like the mountain god, bad people who like to gain profit by kidnapping others or robbing them."
After my explanation, Ali finally understood, "Oh, I see. Will they come looking for our village?"
"I think within a ten-mile radius, besides the Raccoon tribe, there's only the mountain god. I can't be sure if they will come, so it's better to be careful."
"Okay."
So, the two of us ran towards the village again.
Dao Lang, Fei Xiong:
"The martial world is full of righteous men, but thieves and villains are unknown." Dao Lang, originating from the mysterious kingdom of Yanhuo, which disappeared ten thousand years ago, his true identity is that of a Yanhuo person.
Fei Xiong is also from the mysterious kingdom of Yanhuo from ten thousand years ago.
Dao Lang, fond of traveling in his youth, met fellow travelers Can Yue and Fei Xiong in Xizi Kingdom. The three shared similar interests, and in a tavern, they drank together and swore brotherhood. Can Yue was the eldest brother, Dao Lang the second brother, and Fei Xiong the third brother.