Chapter 14: The Extremely Cautious Young Lady

Mu Feng’s face turned deathly pale, his legs numb and weak, barely able to stand. His vision blurred, and the world around him became increasingly unclear.

In a desperate attempt to regain focus, Mu Feng retrieved an arrowhead from his Qilin Ring and slashed it across his thigh.

The sharp pain brought him back to his senses. For a moment, his eyes flashed with a strange purple light, and to his astonishment, he found himself no longer on the sacrificial platform. Instead, he was surrounded by a sea of fire, with flames dancing all around and the sounds of slaughter filling the air.

Realization hit him like a hammer—he was standing near the very place where he had first emerged from Linglong Valley’s teleportation array. In the distance, the fiery destruction and screams were coming from Wuyou Village.

A growing sense of dread and terror filled Mu Feng's heart as he sprinted toward the village, pushing his body to its limit. Even with his body technique fully unleashed, he still felt it was too slow, as if the ominous feeling in his chest was expanding with every step.

“Huo Gen, Brother Huo…”

“Huo Yu, Aunt Baiji…”

“Grandpa Mutong, Uncle Xiecao, Aunt Chuirong, Muxin…”

By the time Mu Feng reached the village, Wuyou had been reduced to nothing but corpses and flames. Not a single villager had been spared from the carnage.

In a frenzy, Mu Feng ran to the lifeless body of Huo Gen, collapsing beside him. His eyes were bloodshot, his expression filled with rage and grief. He called out, one by one, to everyone he knew, but no one responded. No one could.

His chest throbbed with unbearable pain. Mu Feng clutched at his heart, overwhelmed by sorrow. Without warning, an arrow silently pierced his back, its sharp point emerging from his chest, passing through his heart and leaving his hand bloodied where it had tried to stop the blow.

With a choking sound, Mu Feng crumpled to the ground, unable to even look back.

...

Qinglong Town, Jiang Manor

Qinglong Town, a remote settlement in the eastern part of the Xuantian Continent, lay just beyond the mountain ridge where Mu Feng had first arrived from the Linglong Valley teleportation array. The Jiang family was among the wealthiest and most powerful families in the area.

At that moment, in a small, unremarkable room in the Jiang family’s backyard, two women stood by a bed.

“Miss, who exactly is this person you brought back? He’s been unconscious for a full day and night now,” a servant girl asked with some concern.

The servant girl had a simple, pure appearance, like a girl from next door, radiating a gentle warmth. She was addressing none other than Jiang Ruoyun, the young mistress of the Jiang family.

Jiang Ruoyun stood to one side, dressed in a modest long gown. Her beautiful long hair flowed freely down her back, and her autumn-like eyes were as clear as water. With delicate features, smooth skin as pale as snow, and a youthful appearance of about seventeen or eighteen, she exuded a pure innocence. Yet, her graceful figure hinted at her budding maturity.

“Pfft,” Jiang Ruoyun giggled, her smile sweet as she gestured toward the unconscious man on the bed. “What are you worried about? I’ve already set up a binding formation. If he wakes up and dares to misbehave, I can end him with just a flick of my finger.”

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Her voice was playful, like the cheerful chirp of a spring bird, and her words carried a hint of mischievousness and authority, underscoring her carefree and spirited nature.

The man lying on the bed, motionless and peaceful, was none other than Mu Feng. At that moment, he looked completely serene, like a sleeping child.

Jiang Ruoyun stared at Mu Feng, momentarily lost in thought. Three days earlier, she had come across him during one of her training excursions. His body had been covered in wounds, so she had brought him back to treat him. But knowing nothing of his origins, whether good or ill, she had discreetly placed a binding formation on him as a precaution.

“Hm?” Jiang Ruoyun’s maid, Xiao Rou, let out a teasing chuckle. “Miss, why are you staring at him like that? Don’t tell me you’ve taken a fancy to him?”

A faint blush quickly flashed across Jiang Ruoyun’s face before she laughed it off. “Xiao Rou, you’re getting bold, teasing me like that.”

Despite her protest, Jiang Ruoyun couldn’t help but feel a little embarrassed. She had indeed been staring at Mu Feng absentmindedly, which made her feel slightly flustered.

“Miss, look! I think he’s waking up,” Xiao Rou suddenly exclaimed in a hushed voice.

At her words, Jiang Ruoyun turned her gaze to Mu Feng. His brow furrowed slightly, his fingers twitched, and then, slowly, his eyes opened.

The first thing Mu Feng noticed upon waking wasn’t the unfamiliar surroundings, but the subtle, fresh fragrance in the air—a scent as soothing as lotus blossoms after the rain.

Only after savoring the pleasant aroma did he realize that two women stood nearby in this strange room.

Mu Feng quickly checked himself. His tail ring and Qilin Ring were still intact, but his clothes had been replaced with clean garments. Before he could ask any questions, Jiang Ruoyun, sensing his thoughts, teasingly remarked, “Don’t worry, the servants were the ones who cleaned you up. I wouldn’t have let you lie on my bed covered in all that blood and filth.”

“Covered in blood?” Mu Feng caught onto the important detail in her words. He began to recall the events before he passed out—he had been trapped on the sacrificial platform, then suddenly found himself in Wuyou Village, where an arrow had pierced his heart. But now, there was no arrow wound.

Even the cut on his leg, which he had inflicted with the arrowhead, was gone. How could that be?

Mu Feng shifted in bed, confusion plain on his face. “Did you save me?”

Jiang Ruoyun glanced at him, handing him a fresh set of clothes. “Who are you, and why were you alone, wounded, at the foot of that mountain?”

“The foot of a mountain?” Mu Feng was shocked. His last memory was of being in Wuyou Village. How had he ended up at the foot of a mountain?

“The mountain just outside Qinglong Town. Why were you there, especially with the thick miasma around it? What were you thinking?” Jiang Ruoyun asked, her face full of curiosity.

“What mountain? What miasma? Wasn’t that Wuyou Village?” Mu Feng asked, utterly bewildered. Seeing Jiang Ruoyun’s serious expression, he realized she wasn’t lying or playing a trick on him.

Now it was Jiang Ruoyun’s turn to be surprised. She instinctively took a step back, her face showing a hint of fear. “What… what are you? A person or a ghost? Wuyou Village disappeared hundreds of years ago.”

“Hundreds of years ago?” Mu Feng was taken aback by her words. His mind raced as he tried to make sense of it all. After a moment, he finally asked, “What year is it?”

Jiang Ruoyun eyed Mu Feng warily before responding, “It’s the 7th Calamity of the Tianxuan Calendar, Year 9979.”

The year was correct, but something was very wrong. How could Wuyou Village have vanished centuries ago?

“How do you know about this village from hundreds of years ago?” Mu Feng asked, his suspicion growing.

“Hundreds of years ago? I had my coming-of-age ceremony just last month!” Jiang Ruoyun replied indignantly, though her face showed a trace of unhappiness when she mentioned the ceremony.

“Wuyou Village is infamous within a hundred miles of here as a haunted place. Everyone knows the story. They say that centuries ago, Wuyou Village was destroyed overnight, with all the villagers reduced to ashes. Afterward, a thick miasma covered the area, and no one has dared go near it since,” Jiang Ruoyun explained everything she knew.

Hearing her recount the legend in such a factual manner, as if she were simply relaying history, Mu Feng began to question the reality of his experiences over the past months.

Huo Gen, Huo Niu, Huo Yu—they had all seemed so real. But if they had lived hundreds of years ago, how could he have met them?

Mu Feng was filled with doubt. He resolved that he would have to return to the village to unravel the mystery.

Seeing Mu Feng’s deep contemplation, Xiao Rou huffed, “You have no manners! Miss saved your life, and you haven’t even thanked her!”

Mu Feng snapped out of his thoughts, embarrassed. “I apologize. I was careless. Thank you,” he said sincerely.

Jiang Ruoyun smiled, her lips curving playfully. “Aren’t you going to ask where you are? Or who we are?”

Mu Feng let out an awkward chuckle before replying, “May I ask where we are, and who might you be?”

Looking at the young woman in front of him, Mu Feng felt an odd sense of familiarity. Talking to her felt natural, almost effortless. And somewhere deep within him, there was a subconscious urge to protect her.

Jiang Ruoyun calmly answered, “This is the Jiang family estate in Qinglong Town. My name is Jiang Ruoyun, and this is my maid, Xiao Rou.”

Mu Feng noticed her crystal-clear eyes watching him intently, as though she were waiting for something.

Jiang Ruoyun’s smile deepened. “Don’t you feel any… connection between us?”

Her words struck Mu Feng like a bolt of lightning. He immediately checked his internal state, and what he discovered shocked him to the core.

In his Original Soul, there was now another presence—a silhouette, unmistakably Jiang Ruoyun. Moreover, he noticed a crimson mark on his soul’s forehead, a hastily drawn rune that resembled the character for "cloud."

“A soul-binding contract?”

The realization dawned on Mu Feng, and he was speechless. No wonder he had felt that strange protective instinct toward her.

Jiang Ruoyun’s expression remained sweet and “kind.” “You see, I’m just a young woman, barely of age. How was I to know whether you were good or bad? So, to protect myself, I had to place a soul-binding contract on you. I hope you can understand and won’t hold it against me, right?”

As she spoke, Jiang Ruoyun even pouted, as if she were the one who had been wronged. Mu Feng could only sigh in exasperation.

Her confession confirmed that the soul-binding contract was real.

A soul-binding contract was an invisible tether connecting two or more people. The one Mu Feng was under was a one-sided contract, often used by powerful families to control those they didn’t trust—servants, slaves, or even outsiders. Once the contract was in place, the life of the bound person was completely in the hands of the other. With just a single thought, Jiang Ruoyun could cause Mu Feng’s Original Soul to shatter, leading to his instant death.