Chai Xiaomi was on the verge of tears.
How could she possibly compare to someone who had grown up in the mountains, possessing such an astonishingly sturdy body with incredible physical strength and endurance?
The youth looked lean, but he was undoubtedly packed with solid, lean muscle.
Unlike her.
Throughout her life, she had been confined to a modern cage built of steel and concrete. The test papers and textbooks on her desk had piled up like mountains, suffocating her under their weight.
Even after surviving three grueling years of high school, the college life that followed wasn't as relaxing as she had imagined.
All sorts of real-world pressures and anxieties came crashing down on her.
So, taking advantage of the time before the new semester began, she decided to go on a spontaneous trip.
Her parents had once mentioned in passing that their ancestors had some connection to the land of Miaojiang. That was why Chai Xiaomi had chosen this place as her destination. Who could have predicted that she would end up losing her life here? It was as if her ancestors had severely jinxed her, sending her straight to her doom.
Chai Xiaomi took a few heavy breaths and licked her parched lips, feeling unbearably thirsty.
"From now on, I promise to work out properly and do my best to keep up with you. Um, excuse me, do you have any water? I'm dying of thirst..."
Wu Li sat on a wooden stump, plucking a stalk of foxtail grass and twirling it around his finger. He casually jerked his chin in her direction.
"Are you blind?"
Chai Xiaomi turned her head to look at the fetid ditch beside her. It was indeed water, but...
"Are you sure this is drinking water meant for human consumption?" To her, it looked more like a stagnant pool of livestock waste and domestic sewage. Even without getting too close, a faint stench had already pierced her nostrils.
Surely this place wasn't so backward that they didn't even know they needed to boil water before drinking it?
"Didn't you say you were dying of thirst? If you're about to die, what can't you swallow?" The youth tilted his head, sizing her up. His half-smile looked incredibly wicked. "Drink it."
Wu Li was intensely curious to see just how obedient she would be to him under the so-called manipulation of romantic affection.
However, to his surprise, the girl rejected it without a second of hesitation. "I choose to die of thirst."
"You'd rather die of thirst than drink it? But I've drank from it before."
The youth's long eyelashes fluttered slightly. His tone was serious, and a trace of regret surfaced in his eyes.
Tsk.
It seemed the venomous scorpion hadn't fully burrowed into her, so the power of manipulation wasn't as strong as expected.
Only a complete venomous scorpion could unleash its maximum effect. He had to make the one on the back of her hand return to his main body.
He had been raising this scorpion for a long time and had much grander plans for it.
Enduring her dry, burning throat, Chai Xiaomi suddenly heard the heavy, rhythmic thuds of a hard object striking the ground.
A chaotic mix of voices and footsteps approached from a distance.
An old yet authoritative voice rang out, laced with anger. The deep Miao words were spoken with resounding force: "Wu Li, why did you bring an outsider into the Wu Village?"
Chai Xiaomi looked up to see an elderly man with a head of white hair and a flowing white beard, surrounded by the crowd. He was dressed in heavy Miao garments adorned with intricate totems and wore a silver crown on his head.
Exuding an aura of high status and authority, he held a wooden scepter. His eyes, sharp as a falcon's, gleamed with piercing intensity as they locked onto her.
Before Chai Xiaomi could observe him for another second, an old woman immediately stepped forward, lugging a wooden bucket.
Splash—
She was drenched from head to toe, the freezing water sending a sudden, shocking chill straight to her core.
Water droplets slid down the hair plastered to her forehead. Chai Xiaomi smacked her lips twice, eagerly licking up the moisture.
Oh my goodness, this was fantastic! It was clear, clean water, and it even tasted faintly sweet.
Wu Li's serious tone earlier had actually made her believe for a split second that the locals only drank from the fetid ditch.
What a pity that she had only managed two small tastes before it was gone. This old woman hadn't even given her a warning before splashing the water. If she had known, she would have opened her mouth wide to catch a proper gulp.
Under the village chief's reprimand, Wu Li finally moved, sluggishly rising from the wooden stump.
The foxtail grass in his hand instantly withered from a vibrant green to a dead black. With a gentle rub of his pitch-black fingernails, the stalk crumbled into dust and drifted down to his feet.
As he turned his head, his beautiful, crystalline eyes swept over the girl's face.
He saw her staring resentfully at the empty water bucket, her lips in a pout, looking as though she hadn't had nearly enough.
Previously, the girl's face had been covered in grime. Mixed with sweat, her hair had clung to her skin, making her look utterly disheveled and filthy.
But after that bucket of water washed it all away, her delicate and pretty little face was revealed, looking as fresh as a lotus blossoming from the water.
Wu Li froze for a brief moment.
She was... younger than he had imagined.
No wonder she had called him older brother.
At the thought of that form of address, Wu Li's gaze darted away from her as if he had been burned.
He took a few steps toward the village chief, smoothly dropping to his knees. Then, with a loud thud, he slammed his forehead heavily against the ground.
Chai Xiaomi jumped in fright. With a hit that hard, wasn't he afraid of knocking himself silly?
"I found her in the cave. She's perfect to be kept as a medicine vessel to test my Gu poisons," Wu Li explained calmly.
"Nonsense!" Chi Lie, the young man standing beside the village chief, retorted. "The outskirts of Mount Chi are covered in hallucinogenic miasma. How could this outsider from the Central Plains possibly make it this deep into the mountain range? Someone must have guided her in. Speak! Was it you?"
"Chief, this half-breed already has the blood of an outsider flowing through his veins. He is not one of us, so his loyalties must lie elsewhere!" Meng Lu chimed in from the side.
The Wu Gu Tribe was isolated from the rest of the world. They believed their blood possessed a divine quality—a gift from the heavens—and its absolute purity had to be maintained at all costs.
Passed down through generations, the tribe strictly forbade intermarriage with outsiders. Anyone who betrayed this ancient ancestral law was put to death. Yet, while Wu Li's mother had died, this half-breed had been allowed to live.
Wu Li was an anomaly. In their eyes, he was worse than livestock, viewed by the entire tribe as an omen of misfortune.
Everyone was filled with righteous indignation, but keeping him alive had been the unanimous decision of the village chief, the High Priest, and the Shamaness. No one dared to voice any further objections.
Wu Li let out a cold sneer. "I was in the Gu Cave feeding the larvae. I didn't step out even once. Weren't you four standing guard outside? Shouldn't you know better than anyone whether I left or not?"
He lazily lifted his eyelids, his gaze sweeping over the four men responsible for guarding the cave entrance.
Chi Lie's face stiffened.
It was the village chief's order for the four of them to stand guard and keep watch over the Gu Cave.
According to the village chief, Wu Li possessed the purest bloodline seen in a thousand years, making him the perfect candidate to feed the larvae. The Gu Cave was the most sacred and important place for the entire Wu Gu Tribe, as it was where all the Gu seedlings were cultivated.
Because of this, the village chief had ordered them to stand guard outside the cave during feeding times, just in case the larvae became too frenzied while eating and tried to escape.
But the four of them had slacked off today. They had gone to the waterfall to cool off and lost track of time. By the time they returned to the cave entrance, Wu Li still hadn't come out. It wasn't until they saw him emerge with a woman from the Central Plains trailing behind him that they panicked and rushed back to inform the village chief.
The four men exchanged nervous glances, not daring to tell the truth.
If the village chief found out they had been neglecting their duties, a severe punishment would be inevitable.
"Every word I've said is the truth. If you don't believe me, Chief, you can test me with the Bamboo Gentleman." Wu Li offered his wrist, looking entirely calm and composed.
The village chief's suspicions lessened slightly. He turned his gaze back to the young woman and suddenly caught sight of the scorpion tattoo on the back of her hand.
He really was using her as a vessel to test his Gu. It seemed Wu Li's words were true after all.
The clan leader's expression softened slightly. Throughout the generations, many shamans had indeed captured people from the Central Plains to refine into medicine puppets, which greatly advanced the mastery of gu sorcery. He wouldn't interfere too much.
Moreover, that girl seemed a bit off in the head.
Whenever outsiders came here, they were treated as evil spirits bringing misfortune. The shamaness would splash a bucket of holy water to exorcise the foulness. In all his years, this was the first time he'd seen someone who, after being drenched, happily licked the water off themselves.
Fools don't follow the normal path, so she probably just stumbled into the mountains by accident.
The clan leader spoke slowly, "If you wish to keep a medicine puppet, you may. But according to the rules, anyone who brings an outsider into the village must be punished."
As he spoke, he held out a hand. Someone from behind placed a thorny whip into his palm.
"Thirty lashes. Take off your clothes."
"Let me do it! Whip me!" The girl squatting in the puddle suddenly raised her hand.
She yanked off her soaked hiking jacket, crumpled it into a ball, hugged it to her chest, and knelt beside Wu Li.
Although the surrounding people couldn't understand her words, they grasped her meaning.
This medicine puppet was actually volunteering to take Wu Li's whipping. Could she have been controlled by a puppet gu?
There was an unwritten rule in the clan: except for the death penalty, any punishment could be voluntarily taken by another on behalf of the offender.
In the clan, whenever someone was punished, family or friends would often step forward to share the burden. Only Wu Li had never had anyone.
Wu Li glanced sideways, his deep gaze falling on the girl's determined profile.
So this is what it feels like to be protected...
Ever since he broke the sacrificial bowl at three years old, he had borne every punishment alone. The people around him would even clap and cheer at the sight of his flesh torn open.
A cold smile rose in Wu Li's heart. What a pity, all of this was merely the scorpion venom's doing.
False concern born of manipulation... well then, he would accept it with a clear conscience.
"Clan Leader, someone is willing to take my punishment. Please bestow these thirty lashes upon her."
Chai Xiaomi's mouth twitched. He really didn't hold back at all.
You heartless villain! You don't even know how to be gentle with a woman, no wonder the female lead won't fall for you!
She cursed him out thoroughly in her heart, but her face showed willing acceptance.
Her slender fingers gently tugged at the corner of his garment. In a voice only the two of them could hear, she said, "Darling, I told you, I'm willing to do anything for you."
At this critical moment, she had to put on another act. Otherwise, how could it be worth the physical pain she was about to endure?
The whipping was about to begin.
Wu Li stepped back to the side, his face cold, his brows inexplicably furrowing.
Dar... ling?
What was that?
He concentrated for a few seconds, and his heart suddenly lurched.
Damn it, was this idiot going to want a kiss as repayment for taking the whipping for him?
Wu Li remembered one time when a man in the clan took a punishment for his sweetheart, and the woman rushed forward weeping and kissed him.
Thinking of this, his face inexplicably began to burn, a strange heat instantly shooting to the tips of his ears.
His sinister glare shot towards Chai Xiaomi.
If this woman dared to touch him, she was dead.
