Chapter 106
Chapter 106: Xiaotao, What Kind of Book Are You Reading?!
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“Boss is right as always, this place is indeed an illusion!”
A burly hunter had a fawning smile on his face, his tone full of flattery toward their leader.
“Boss, look! That cat demon is right ahead! Don’t let her escape!”
Another hunter with sharp eyes immediately spotted Lin Xiaoyun in the distance and shouted loudly.
The moment she heard the voices, Lin Xiaoyun had no time to think, her body reacted first.
She bolted forward. Since the path ahead wasn’t a dead end, she had to escape quickly and absolutely couldn’t let these hunters catch her!
“What are you standing around for? Everyone chase her! We must capture this cat demon today!”
The hunter leader barked coldly and took the lead in pursuit.
The other hunters immediately reacted, quickening their pace to follow closely behind. For a moment, the forest was filled with chaotic footsteps and rapid breathing.
Fortunately, Lin Xiaoyun had inherited the agile talent of the cat clan. Her form was light and her speed extremely fast. Even though the hunters behind her pursued relentlessly, the distance between them gradually widened.
“Boss, chasing like this isn’t working! This cat demon runs too fast, we can’t catch up at all!”
After running for about the time it takes to burn a stick of incense, one hunter was gradually running out of stamina. While panting heavily, he shouted to the hunter leader ahead, his tone full of anxiety and helplessness.
“Even if we can’t catch up, we have to chase! I don’t believe this path extends infinitely, she’ll run out of energy eventually!”
The hunter leader quickly wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, but his eyes were full of viciousness.
Indeed, as the hunter leader predicted, it wasn’t long before Lin Xiaoyun suddenly stopped in her tracks.
Not far ahead stood a crude wooden house, and behind the house was a towering boulder that completely blocked all escape routes, leaving not even a sliver of space to flee.
“Is heaven really trying to destroy me…”
Looking at the dead end before her, Lin Xiaoyun felt a wave of sorrow in her heart.
She had clearly been prepared for death when she leaped from the cliff.
But heaven had perversely given her a thread of hope, only to push her into an even deeper desperate situation just as she rekindled that hope.
“Sister… where are you?”
Lin Xiaoyun murmured.
If she really fell into the hands of these hunters, how would they torture her? Just thinking about it made her shudder.
“Should I hide in the wooden house ahead?”
She stood in place, her heart struggling violently.
Because she knew very clearly that even if she temporarily hid in the wooden house, it would only delay the inevitable. Once the hunters found her, it would still be a dead end.
But if she didn’t hide, facing the hunters pursuing relentlessly behind her, she had no power to resist and would surely die.
After hesitating for a moment, Lin Xiaoyun bit her lower lip hard, a flash of determination in her eyes.
At this point, she could only treat a dead horse as if it were alive!
If the hunters really discovered her, at worst she would commit suicide, she absolutely wouldn’t let them succeed!
Having thought this through, Lin Xiaoyun immediately circulated the meager spiritual energy in her body and cast her transformation technique.
With a flash of light, the graceful cat-eared girl instantly transformed into a small white cat.
This small cat form was an ability she had accidentally unlocked after absorbing Lin Muyu’s blood. As for the principle behind it, she couldn’t explain it herself.
The reason she hadn’t immediately used this form while escaping was because the transformation technique had a time limit, she could maintain it for at most 100 breaths.
She guessed this was probably due to her cultivation being too low.
After transforming into a small cat, Lin Xiaoyun didn’t choose to enter through the front door of the wooden house. Instead, she circled to the side and nimbly slipped in through an inconspicuous small opening.
But the moment she entered the wooden house, a face suddenly appeared right in front of her, startling her so much that all her fur instantly stood on end.
“Meow!!!”
“Oh? A small cat?”
The owner of that face was a little girl who looked only seven or eight years old.
Her features were delicate and her appearance quite pitiful.
But strangely, her eyes were tightly closed, and two dark red tear stains hung from the corners of her eyes, appearing particularly shocking against her pale little face.
“Meow?”
Lin Xiaoyun vigilantly backed away, making low whimpering sounds in her throat. Her cat pupils stared intently at the girl before her, full of wariness.
“Don’t be afraid, little cat. I’m not a bad person and won’t hurt you.”
The girl’s voice was somewhat hoarse, carrying a composure that didn’t match her age.
As she spoke, she slowly raised her hand, seemingly wanting to pet Lin Xiaoyun’s head.
But just then, the sound of chains scraping echoed particularly clearly in the silent wooden house.
Only now did Lin Xiaoyun notice that the girl’s slender limbs each had a heavy iron chain locked around them. The other ends of the chains were deeply embedded in the walls of the wooden house, firmly restraining her in place and making even movement extremely difficult.
…
“Master, wake up quickly!”
Xiaotao called urgently, gently shaking the already sleeping Lin Muyu with her small hands. Seeing her eyelashes flutter slightly, she increased her force a bit and finally managed to wake her from her dreams.
“What’s wrong, Xiaotao? Is it dawn?”
Lin Muyu rubbed her sleepy eyes, still clouded with drowsiness.
She skillfully moved aside Xiaomu’s pale leg that was draped over her waist, her voice hoarse from just waking up.
“It’s not dawn, someone’s using Bewildering Smoke!”
As Xiaotao spoke, her fingertips quickly condensed a strand of pale pink spiritual energy.
The spiritual energy formed a transparent light screen in the air, clearly displaying the scene outside the bead before Lin Muyu’s eyes.
“Bewildering Smoke?”
Lin Muyu’s heart tightened. She quickly raised her hand to pat her cheeks, the cool sensation helping clear her muddled mind somewhat.
Following the light screen’s view, she indeed saw a thin bamboo tube quietly protruding from the window crack. Wisps of pale white smoke continuously drifted from the tube’s opening, spreading through the air into the room.
“Right! I read about this in a book before. Some street thieves use this Bewildering Smoke to knock out ordinary people, then take advantage to break in and steal. I never thought we’d actually encounter the situation described in books!”
As Xiaotao spoke, there wasn’t a trace of fear in her tone despite encountering danger. Instead, she sounded somewhat excited by the novelty.
Following Lin Muyu out was indeed much more interesting than staying cooped up in Wanbing Mountain!
Lin Muyu wasn’t as relaxed as Xiaotao. She frowned and pondered for a moment, then analyzed calmly:
“It might not be ordinary thieves. It could be people from the village chief’s household. But I’m a cultivator, ordinary Bewildering Smoke shouldn’t affect me…”
At this point, she suddenly paused and turned to look at Xiaotao:
“Xiaotao, can you somehow bring a wisp of that smoke in? We’re in your space, so the smoke can’t harm us. We can see exactly what we’re dealing with.”
“Okay, Master!”
Xiaotao immediately agreed, spiritual energy surging from her fingertips again.
She gently pointed at the wisp of white smoke in the light screen, and a strand of pale white smoke seemed to be guided by an invisible force, slowly passing through the light screen and entering the space.
Lin Muyu leaned forward and carefully inhaled a bit of the smoke.
But the next second, a strong dizziness suddenly swept over her. The scenery before her eyes instantly began to sway, and her body uncontrollably went limp, nearly collapsing to the ground.
“Master!”
Seeing this, Xiaotao quickly reached out to support Lin Muyu’s arm, her tone full of urgency:
“Master, are you alright? Is there something wrong with this smoke?”
Lin Muyu leaned against Xiaotao, shaking her head vigorously to try to dispel the dizziness. After a long while, she finally spoke:
“I’m fine… This smoke is indeed specially made by cultivators. Their target isn’t ordinary people at all, they’re coming for me.”
She paused, then added:
“Actually, it’s not entirely aimed at me. Their target should be all Qinglan Sect disciples who took on this mission!”
“Master means this isn’t ordinary theft at all, but a honey trap targeting Qinglan Sect disciples?”
Xiaotao continued Lin Muyu’s line of thought, her eyes full of sudden understanding.
Hearing this, Lin Muyu was stunned for a moment and turned to look at Xiaotao:
“Xiaotao! What kind of books have you been reading lately? How do you even know about honey traps?”