Chapter 2: A Hair's Breadth Escape

  A wave of stinging pain came from his face and arm, the scorching and intense pain made Du Feiyun open his eyes and scramble up, rubbing his sore cheeks with both hands, only then did he gradually come to.

  His whole body felt a bit sore, Du Feiyun raised his head to gaze at the scorching sunlight in the sky, and then looked down at the large rock beneath him, only to realize that he had actually fallen asleep on the rock, and slept all the way till noon.

  "Oh no, I've overslept and now I'll have to collect less herbs today, which means I'll earn ten coins less!"

  No matter in another bustling world or here, he has been busy for money and life, it's a very tragic thing.

  Thinking that he had actually fallen asleep in a daze, Du Fei Yun felt somewhat self-reproachful. When he turned his head to look for the backpack to prepare medicine, he found that there was nothing around him, and the backpack was nowhere to be seen.

  "This!" Du Fei Yun was stunned on the spot, and the scene from his dream gradually emerged in his mind. He remembered that he seemed to have entered a city.

  He subconsciously looked forward, but only saw the usual scenery, distant undulating mountains, nearby steaming clouds and fog, thorny vines growing around him, where was the city!

  It turned out that everything just now was a dream, an illusory daydream!

  But his backpack was really gone, and this matter was indeed strange to the extreme.

  As Du Feiyun's mind wandered, legends about gods and ghosts appeared in his mind, and he thought of the strange things that had happened to him. Although the sun was shining brightly, even the usually brave Du Feiyun felt a chill run down his back.

  "No way, I have to change places to gather herbs tomorrow!" Du Feiyun didn't dare to think wildly anymore, and quickly got up and jumped down from the big rock, heading towards the mountain below.

  He usually goes home for lunch at noon, and if he doesn't go home for lunch, his sister will bring the meal to the mountain. Thinking that his sister Du Xiangqing might have been waiting in the scorching sun for a long time, Du Feiyun hurriedly heads towards the Listening Wind Rock on the halfway up the mountain.

  Along the winding path to the middle of the mountain, looking far away at the towering green giant stone on the cliff, Du Feiyun found no one under the giant stone.

  "Didn't Sister come today?" Du Feiyun wondered in his heart as he quickly walked towards the Listening Wind Stone. If Du Xiangqing hadn't arrived, he would have to head down the mountain and go home for dinner.

  Arriving at the Listening Wind Rock, Du Feiyun looked around in all directions. Just as he was about to leave the mountain, his eyes suddenly fell on a crack in the stone not far in front of him. In the gap between two huge stones, some food was scattered, with two steamed buns rolled aside, and many ants crawling on them. The old black lunch box was also broken into several pieces, scattered around.

  Du Feiyun's heart skipped a beat as he felt a bad premonition rising to the surface. The steaming hot dishes indicated that his sister had been there, but now she was nowhere to be seen.

  "Sister!!"

  "Sister!!"

  Du Feiyun's anxious voice echoed through the mountains as he shouted at the top of his lungs, his eyes frantically searching around, but he didn't see that slender figure anywhere, only his own cries reverberating off the hills.

  No one responded to his repeated calls, Du Feiyun carefully examined the surroundings while continuously analyzing and guessing the reason in his mind.

  Seeing the grass trampled on the narrow path leading up to the edge of the cliff, Du Feiyun's eyes narrowed and he stepped onto the path without hesitation.

  This narrow mountain path is located on one side of the mountain waist, with a steep cliff covered in vines on the left and a deep precipice of hundreds of feet on the right. White clouds drifted slowly, obscuring the view below the cliff, making it unclear to see.

  The narrow path is only over two feet wide, with wet and slippery moss growing on it, as well as various thorns and vines. Some sections also have rugged rocky outcrops, making it extremely difficult to traverse.

  Worried about his sister's safety, Du Feiyun also couldn't care less about the danger and stepped onto this small path that he had never set foot on before.

  After advancing about a hundred feet, Du Feiyun's gaze suddenly fell on a pile of rocks in front of him. Among the grayish-brown rocks, a strip of greenish-blue cloth stood out.

  He picked up the piece of fabric and examined it in his hand, discovering that it was a coarse linen sleeve with a slash mark from a sharp object. He clearly remembered seeing his sister wearing a blue linen garment when he left home this morning.

  The anxiety in his heart grew stronger, Du Feiyun grasped the fabric with one hand and hurried along the small path, treading over many slippery mosses, circling around thick vines, and crossing over rugged rocks, with only one thought in mind - to find his sister Du Huanqing as soon as possible.

  A gentle mountain breeze brushed against his face, and Du Fei Yun's ears keenly caught a sharp sound mixed in with the wind. His heart suddenly tightened, and he didn't bother to wipe away the sweat on his face as he quickly ran forward.

  Running along the winding path for a while, after turning over a bend, what appears in front of you is a small section of only a dozen or so yards of path. From here on, the path has reached its end.

  However, when Du Feiyun arrived at the end of the small path and saw the scene clearly, he suddenly became furious, a burst of flames erupting from his chest.

  At the end of a small path ten feet away from him, a tall figure stood wearing a purple satin brocade robe. He was a man with a strong and straight physique, his face as white as jade, with a jade belt around his waist, looking like a jade tree in the wind. However, the cold smile on this young man's face made him look very sinister.

  That seventeen or eighteen-year-old young man held a fine steel long sword in one hand, his body slightly leaning forward and looking down at the cliff under his feet, with the long sword in his hand raised high, as if to split.

  At the edge of the cliff in front of him, there was a pair of white and slender small hands. The clean wrist above was full of blood stains, with blue veins exposed, grasping a bunch of vines growing at the edge of the cliff with all their might.

  Although the vines were covered with many sharp thorns, the delicate little hands were bleeding profusely from being pierced. However, the owner of those small hands never let go. Because beneath her was an unfathomably deep and bottomless cliff.

  The owner of those blood-stained small hands was a young woman of sixteen or seventeen years old, wearing a light green linen long shirt. Under a slightly disheveled head of black hair, a pale face without any hint of color was filled with determination and unyielding spirit.

  She bit her lip tightly, stubbornly raised her head to stare at the purple-clothed man on the small path, with a clear and bright eyes full of anger and a hint of despair.

  At this moment, the purple-clothed man with a cold smile at the corner of his mouth spoke up. He looked down at the beautiful woman on the edge of the cliff and said with some regret: "Du Xiangqing, it's your good fortune that I, Young Master Qin, took a liking to you. There are many girls in Baishi Town who want to marry into the Qin family as a young lady but can't. I didn't expect you to refuse me so stubbornly. Since I, Qin Shouyi, can't have what I want, I won't let anyone else have it either. Today, don't blame me for being ruthless."

  "Haha, this White Stone Peak is rarely visited by people. Even if I kill you, no one will know. You'd better resign yourself to your fate!"

  As soon as he finished speaking, the man in purple clothes tightly grasped the long sword in his hand, and the next moment, with a sharp breaking air sound, he slashed down at the rattan vines under his feet.

  Obviously, under the long sword forged from hundred-fold refined steel, the thumb-thick vines were doomed to be cut off. Similarly doomed was the woman named Du Wanqing who grasped those vines.