Chapter 1 “Hmm?”

The girl who had been hugging the tree, originally curiously sizing up this group of outsiders, suddenly heard Hu Ma’s reminder.

A look of surprise flashed across her face, and she turned her little head to look up into the tree.

At that very moment, the strange cyan snake coiled above her head suddenly moved, darting like a green lightning bolt and instantly appearing beside the girl’s fair neck.

Hu Ma’s heart sank slightly as he watched, but he restrained himself from rushing to her rescue.

Along the way, he had already inquired with Old Suanpan and learned that this branch of the Wu clan in the mountains had different customs and habits from the Xia people outside. Therefore, when entering the mountains, one had to abide by various rules to avoid offending people for no reason.

Saving this girl might be troublesome. They were too close, and both *Gui Deng Jie* (Ghost Ascends the Stairs) and *Wulei Jinchan Hou* (Five Thunder Golden Toad Roar) would be too slow. If he wanted to throw his saber, he hadn't specifically practiced his aim. It would be troublesome if he accidentally injured the girl.

Moreover, although it was only a glance, he could tell that the girl looked strange, climbing so high up a tree, she probably had some skills.

While he was reacting, Zhou Datong and the others couldn't help but exclaim in alarm.

If Hu Ma wasn't sure, they were even less so.

The snake came down, probed the girl’s cheek, but didn’t bite her. Instead, it revealed its entire body.

Only then could they clearly see that the snake was as thick as a man’s arm and nearly two *zhang* long. Its front half darted into the basket on the girl’s back, while its back half slowly slid down the tree trunk. Coiled within its body was a medicinal herb resembling a *lingzhi* mushroom.

The girl happily took the herb from its body. Only then did the back half of the snake crawl into the basket, its head poking out and its forked tongue flickering, shivering slightly.

The girl patted its triangular head and said with a giggle, "Greenie, be a good snake, don't be afraid of heights next time."

Her voice was soft and glutinous, her tongue seemingly more curled than those of outsiders, giving it a strange yet crisp and sweet feel.

This snake was helping her gather herbs?

Hu Ma was slightly surprised by this scene. Fortunately, he wasn't a newbie in the martial world. Although he warned her, he didn't interfere. Otherwise, a random cause-and-effect relationship would have arisen.

As he was thinking, the girl was already hugging the big tree again, sliding down little by little. She glanced at Hu Ma and the others and then walked over.

Her straw sandals were tied to the basket on her back, swaying back and forth, but she didn’t hurry to put them on. Her delicate feet and slender ankles stepped directly onto the withered grass and thorns in the forest.

When she was about two or three *zhang* away, she stopped. Suddenly, she tilted her head, sized up Hu Ma and the others, frowned slightly, then turned around, picked and chose in the bushes beside the path, and broke off a long branch, slashing it twice in the air.

Having done all this, she aimed at Hu Ma and the others again and walked forward. The closer she got, the higher she raised the branch, looking as if she was about to lash out at Hu Ma.

"Hey, little girl."

Zhou Datong hurriedly called out to her, but the girl ignored him. She only frowned more severely as she got closer, her small face sinking, looking rather fierce.

Everyone around was a little surprised. Could it be that simply reminding the girl to be careful had already offended her?

But what should they do now?

Zhou Datong, Zhou Liang, and Zhao Zhu looked at each other, a little flustered. If it were any other time, they would have directly drawn their sabers if someone was being hostile to Hu Ma, but now they were facing such a young girl…

As they were thinking, Hu Ma, standing in front, remained motionless, allowing the girl to approach. However, the branch raised in her hand didn't strike Hu Ma. She only stared at him with her beautiful eyes.

Then, she brushed past Hu Ma, took two quick steps, and went behind a large tree covered in vines beside the path, striking it forcefully.

While striking, she also cursed a few times, but it wasn’t in the official language and was difficult to understand.

"Woof!"

With her strike, there was suddenly a sound behind the vines. A large yellow dog with a white spot on its forehead emerged from the grass, whimpering and baring its teeth as if to bite.

But the girl only waved the branch, fiercely striking it. However, the branch was light and didn't hit hard. The big yellow dog seemed very frightened, yelping and whimpering with its tail between its legs as it ran deep into the forest.

Hu Ma and the others watched carefully. That dog was the very same yellow dog that had already appeared near them twice, barking at their group.

After chasing away the yellow dog, the girl threw away the branch and tilted her head, sizing up Hu Ma and the others. While she was sizing them up, the green snake in the bamboo basket behind her also poked out its head.

Maintaining the same posture as the girl, it curiously sized them up, the scene both strange and harmonious.

Hu Ma looked at her, raised his hand in a cupped-fist salute, and said, "This young lady, we are merchants from outside the mountains, unfamiliar with this place. We don't know what that was just now…"

"Hehe."

Before Hu Ma could finish speaking, the girl suddenly spoke, mimicking Hu Ma's earlier words, "Be careful."

When she was comforting the little snake in the tree, her tone was gentle, soft, and crisp, with a standard Wu accent. But now she deliberately mimicked the official language from the outside. The short two words were especially cute.

After speaking, she didn't say much more to Hu Ma and the others. She just turned around barefooted and skipped into the forest beside the path, her figure quickly disappearing.

"What was that all about?"

Zhou Datong and the others were all dumbfounded, feeling like they didn't understand what was going on. They looked at each other, and together with the donkey, they looked like four silly geese.

Even Hu Ma only guessed a little and wasn't sure. He looked at Old Suanpan beside him and whispered, "Old brother, what exactly happened just now? Can you tell us now?"

"That little girl was kind."

Old Suanpan also looked at the place where the little girl disappeared and whispered, "She helped us avert a disaster and saved us a lot of trouble."

"Averted a disaster?"

Hearing this, the few guys immediately became a little nervous and hurriedly looked around. They saw the forest was empty, the twilight still lingering, but the strange mist and the eerie atmosphere that had enveloped their hearts had dissipated a lot.

"We were targeted as soon as we entered the forest."

Old Suanpan also lowered his voice, seeming a little apprehensive, and whispered, "I only confirmed it when I saw that dog appear for the second time. That's no ordinary dog."

"It's a Gu dog."

"Some Wu people are good at this. They use refined Gu insects to bite the dog. This dog then becomes a Gu dog, controlled by the person who cast the Gu. It comes over and barks at people three times. The first bark startles the heart, the second drives away the soul, and after the third bark, we would have been inflicted with Gu."

""

"There are actually such methods?"

Zhou Datong and the others thought of the dog just now and indeed felt it was a little strange. They were all apprehensive and uneasy.

Hu Ma frowned and said, "Since you saw it, why didn't you remind me earlier? I was confident I could have chopped it up with a saber."

"It's a good thing you saw my eyes and didn't really attack."

Old Suanpan said hastily, "We were in the deep mountains and old forests just now, full of eerie atmosphere. Who knows what strange things are hidden around? If you had attacked, you might have attracted something else, and they would have all come at us."

"Besides, since that dog is a Gu dog, you might have been infected if you really chopped it up. The Wu people cast Gu in ways that are hard to defend against. How do you know they didn't deliberately send this dog over for you to kill?"

""

"It's that wicked?"

Hu Ma thought about the dog's appearance and said, "Then if you are infected with Gu, what will happen?"

Old Suanpan shook his head and said, "I don't know that."

"The Gu dog barking three times is just a method of casting Gu, just like a way of poisoning. But what will happen after being infected with Gu still depends on what kind of Gu the other party cast!"

""

As he spoke, he looked up and saw a deep forest with lush leaves. According to their original plan, they should have arrived at the blood food mine by noon today, but now it had been dragged until nightfall, and they still hadn't seen any sign of it.

It's common to get lost in the mountains, so that's not surprising, but encountering the Gu dog for no reason made them feel uneasy.

Originally, the trees, weeds, vines, and rocks looked normal, but now, as the sun gradually set and the light dimmed, everything became increasingly strange in their eyes. There was no sound around, and there was a faint fishy smell, as if it was spreading out from the depths of the forest.

"It looks like this blood food mine won't be easy to take over."

Hu Ma sighed softly and said, "The little girl reminded us to be careful, but she wasn't just telling us to be careful of that Gu dog. She wanted to tell us that there will be trouble ahead."

"I don't know what her background is. She seems to have some skills."

""

"It shouldn't be like this. Before I set off, I calculated for myself that this trip was to make a fortune."

Old Suanpan also clearly realized something, muttered to himself, turned to look at Hu Ma, and said, "Brother Hu, the movements in these mountains are not right."

Hu Ma said, "Is it coming at us?"

"Most likely."

Old Suanpan said, "Even if there are Wu people nearby refining Gu and they don't want strangers to enter, they will at least give a warning and let people detour. But they inexplicably sent out a Gu dog, without even saying hello. That's too domineering."

Hu Ma nodded, suddenly raised his voice, and shouted into the forest, "Does any friend ahead have a misunderstanding?"

"If you don't mind, show yourself and let's talk openly!"