Chapter 997 — If You Don’t Speak for Too Long, Your Mouth Will Start to Stink
Somewhere in the deep mountains thousands of miles away, a man suddenly sneezed violently.
Ignoring the cracking noises coming from above his head, he sneered, “It must be the people at the Liu family missing me.”
Besides them, no one else in this world would even think of him.
But his current situation was not great.
He lowered his head, looking at the abyss beneath his feet. Then he looked up at the vine above him that was about to snap. Xue Qinglian spoke to the woman clinging tightly to his waist: “Can you please go jump down by yourself? I beg you. If you want to die, die alone. Don’t drag me with you, alright? I’m innocent!”
“There’s a pool of water below. We won’t die if we fall. Let’s jump together,” the woman said, looking up at him. On her palm-sized face, her catlike eyes were brimming with innocence. With her slightly downturned eye corners, she looked cute and harmless.
Yet the sight stirred absolutely no protective instinct in Xue Qinglian. He curled his lip in a cold sneer. “And why the hell should I believe you?”
If he didn’t have even a shred of self-control left, he would’ve ripped this octopus of a woman off him and hurled her to the ends of the earth.
He must have been cursed for eight lifetimes to run into such a disaster.
First he wasted months in the southwest. Just when he finally heard that Miaojiang was in the northwest, he rushed there like a fool.
If he had known he’d meet such a catastrophe in the northwest, he would rather have died than come. Coming here only made dying happen sooner.
“Stop hugging me,” he snapped. “Didn’t you say there’s a water pool down there and we won’t die from the fall? Then you jump.”
Her small body tightened its hold around his waist. “I’m scared.”
F*ck!
“You damn woman, even if you die you’re hell‑bent on dragging me down with you, huh? Did I dig up your ancestors’ graves in my last life? Let go of me!”
“I won’t!”
“Let go!”
“No!”
The cracking sound above their heads came again, followed by dirt crumbling down and sprinkling all over both of them.
They froze.
Both narrowed their eyes and cautiously looked upward. At that exact moment, the vine supporting their combined weight gave a crisp snap, announcing the end of the game.
“Ahhh—!”
“Xue Honglian—!”
As the sensation of weightlessness hit, Xue Qinglian shut his eyes and roared, terrified out of his mind.
If someone had to experience the feeling of dying, let that giant Honglian take it!
During the rapid fall, a belt flicked out from the man’s hand, wrapping accurately around a tree branch. The force of the fall was buffered by the belt.
Using the momentum, the man twisted mid‑air in a strange, fluid motion, landing steadily on the ground. Less than an inch from his toes was a deep pool of water.
“See? I told you there’s a water pool below. You wouldn’t die from the fall. But you wouldn’t believe me,” the woman’s voice came from around his waist, full of excitement. “Turns out your martial arts are so good! If I’d known we could land safely, we should’ve jumped earlier. No need to hang up there so long—my arms are so sore.”
The man lowered his eyes, his gaze icy cold. “Get. Down.”
The woman froze for a moment. Looking down at the way she was practically hanging off the man, she finally realized what she was doing. Her face flushed red and she quickly let go, standing up straight.
Then she shrieked, “Ah! My belt! You used my belt just now! How could you pull off a woman’s belt—!”
Meeting the man’s emotionless eyes, her voice died out on its own.
Forget it. She got to keep her life—losing a belt was an even trade. At worst, she’d just walk around holding up her pants.
“Lead the way.”
“Huh?” The woman gaped at him, a little dazed.
“Lead the way. Out of the valley.”
“How do you know I know the way…?”
The man said nothing, simply staring at her coldly. His eyes held no emotional ripple at all—dark and deep, enough to make one’s heart panic.
“Fine, I’ll lead.” The woman accepted her fate and shuffled forward. “But you really are strange. Earlier you were like a chatterbox, cursing nonstop, and now you’re icy cold and silent, like you’ve turned into someone else. Are you holding a grudge because I wouldn’t let go of you? I didn’t mean it. I knew we wouldn’t die from the fall, but I was scared. You were scared too…”
The last sentence was muttered softly, complaining while sneaking a glance at the man to see if he was angry. What she saw instead was a face completely void of expression.
The woman slumped a little, “Why aren’t you saying anything? We’re out here in the middle of nowhere, it’s just you and me. If you don’t talk to me, there’s literally no one talking to you, you know that not talking for too long gives you bad breath—”
“Shut up!”
“……”
A moment later.
“My name’s Qian Yi. What’s your name?”
“Your martial arts is so good. Why didn’t you dare to jump down when you were hanging up there? Were you afraid of dying? Hahaha!”
“When you fell, I heard you call out Xue Honglian. They say when a person is about to die, the one they think of most is their beloved… Xue Honglian must be the one in your heart, right? I get it, I get it, ha—!”
Her laughter abruptly cut off as the man moved like lightning, striking her mute point.
Qian Yi was furious, gesturing frantically at her mouth, signaling him to release her mute point—or else, she warned, he wouldn’t like the consequences.
She was seriously dangerous when angry!
“You only need to do as told, you don’t need to talk. Lead the way,” the man said.
Hmph. Qian Yi snorted through her nose, strongly expressing her dissatisfaction, then plopped down on her butt and refused to move.
Why was she only allowed to do things but not allowed to speak? Did he think she didn’t have a temper?
“I can hang you back on that cliff again.”
Qian Yi scrambled up from the ground and obediently began leading the way.
Her head drooped like a frost‑wilted eggplant, her entire back radiating defeat.
Xue Honglian glanced at her once, then shifted his gaze away, turning instead to observe the surrounding terrain.
At the bottom of the cliff was a valley—dense forest, overgrown bushes, thorns everywhere.
He didn’t recognize this place, only knew it was somewhere in the northwest.
That idiot Xue Qinglian had reached the northwest, and when searching for the entrance to Miao territory, stumbled into an assassination scene. Somehow he got dragged into the mess and ended up running together with this woman.
Before falling off the cliff, he could’ve dodged—but she had yanked him down with her as she fell. And that was how they got into this situation.
Shifting his gaze back, Xue Honglian stared darkly at the woman’s back. She knew there was a pool beneath the cliff, so she was clearly familiar with the terrain.
What was this place? Who was she? Why had she been hunted?
The stare behind Qian Yi was too intense, so much that she couldn’t help shrinking her neck, a chill running down her spine.
She had a very strong feeling: if she didn’t behave, this man would kill her without a second thought.
There wasn’t the slightest trace of normal human emotion in his eyes—like he had no soul at all. It was downright terrifying.
Although this was very manly, she would have preferred him to go back to being the chatterbox from earlier. At least then he could talk, and she wouldn’t have to be stuck with her pressure points immobilized like this.
Extending her delicate index finger to point sideways, Qian Yi turned to look earnestly at Xue Honglian, signaling that she was seriously leading the way.
Could he finally release her pressure point?
The man turned and walked along the path, ignoring her frantic blinking.
Fuming, Qian Yi clenched her tiny fists and pounded on his back.
When the man heard the noise and looked back, she quickly pulled her hands away and forced a smile.
Xue Honglian glanced at her impassively. As he was about to move again, he paused, and his eyes turned cold.
Soon, the rustling sound of someone approaching came from not far off.
TL Note: And the plot thickens ^-^, I’m excited for Xue Qinglian’s turn…
Peek-Aboo 
Leave a comment