Volume 1: Gathering Winds Chapter 14: Someone Rushes In

  Watching his mother walk into the kitchen, An Xin let out a gentle sigh of relief.

  She clenched her fists and pounded her head, biting her lower lip in distress, clutching the hem of her jacket. After a long while, she thought to herself, "What's the point? Mother won't sell me to Liu Xuan anyway. I might as well enjoy my life one day at a time."

  Since the heart is moving, let's hurry up and take action. The depressed mood ran to the ninth cloud outside. In the kitchen, Ansu Su was barked at, "Mother, I'm going out to play." Before Ansu Su could respond, An Xin walked out of the house slowly on her own.

  "You haven't had breakfast yet, An Xin." By the time An Su called out to him, he only caught a glimpse of An Xin's small back as he disappeared from view.

  Ansu sighed, feeling a sense of grievance in her heart. She had been sighing more and more often lately, and she didn't know if she would age prematurely. She raised her hand to touch her still smooth face, and Ansu thought silently about what Anxin had said - that thirty was a turning point for women, and she was approaching it soon.

  She walked with a carefree and leisurely pace, passing through the forest, over steep hills, along a narrow and muddy path, turning countless small bends until she arrived at her own secret base.

  A carefree and petite figure lay reclined on a large, polished stone, gazing at the small hot spring in front of her. Her heart was filled with joy, as this was the same secluded paradise she had stumbled upon when she first arrived in this world and got lost. The hot spring was surrounded by towering trees and some unknown grassy plants, which remained lush and green all year round. Except for the wildflowers that bloomed like stars, there were no other showy or extravagant flowers to be seen, but even in winter, the place was breathtakingly beautiful due to the abundance of trees.

  With both hands behind his head, he gazed quietly at the clear blue sky, dazed for a while before slowly getting up and removing his clothes, folding them neatly on the large rock where he had just lain.

  Anxin stretched her waist languidly, she wasn't worried that someone would barge in, if it weren't for a coincidence, she wouldn't have known about this place either. Later, she privately thought that this was the heavens' consolation and compensation for inexplicably sending her to this godforsaken place, so she named this place Anxin's backyard garden.

  He had set up a few simple soul-trapping arrays about a mile outside the hot spring, just in case, to prevent any careless villagers from stumbling in.

  "Plop." Anxin bathed without pretension, first lightly tapping the lake water with her toes, secondly slowly flowing down, and then directly jumping into the hot spring.

  "Refreshing!" Anxin exclaimed as she emerged from the water, wiping her face with her sleeve.

  Relieved and delighted, the ancient bathtub was cramped when washing, unable to stretch legs or move waist, but it's still better this way, washing with such grandeur and majesty.

  The hot spring water is crystal clear, and the warm feeling envelops my body as I swim freely like a beautiful mermaid.

  Just as he was enjoying his bath, An's heart suddenly tightened, his ears perked up, and a faint rustling sound entered his ears.

  "Could it be that a small beast has run in?" An Xin furrowed her brow, muttering to herself. The Soul-Confusing Array could trap humans, but some animals with keen senses of smell might still be able to break through. After all, the hot spring was naturally nourishing, and those intelligent creatures also knew how to choose a good place to rest. It wasn't too strange that they had found this place by scent.

  The villagers are all honest and simple farmers, who work from dawn till dusk every day. The village is also very remote, and it takes at least a day and a night to walk to the nearby town on foot. Every time someone in the village needs to travel, they would first go to the house with horse-drawn carriages at the village entrance, pay some silver coins, and then take the carriage into town. Even if you have a horse-drawn carriage, you must leave before dawn; otherwise, it is absolutely impossible to return to the village before sunset.

  She continued to splash water, secretly sighing that she had been startled by a mere trifle. Ordinary people wouldn't have the ability to unravel her maze, and although the spell wasn't particularly ingenious, it was more than sufficient for the villagers. After all, aside from the local farmers, there wouldn't be any outsiders wandering around the village. With this thought in mind, she continued to splash water with a carefree heart.

  Relax and let your long hair down, scattering it over your shoulders, with one hand holding the spring water and gently splashing it onto your hair.

  "Miss, do you know the way out of here?" A slightly panting but magnetic male voice suddenly came from behind.

  Her hand, which had been carelessly splashing water, froze in mid-air, and her body slowly turned around with some stiffness.

  Just then a man's head popped out from behind the big rock, "There is a ghost!" Anxious yelled at the top of his lungs, instantly startling a group of birds in the forest who were chatting and flirting.

  The man seemed to be injured, and was startled by the sudden thunder, stunned for a moment. His body weakly slumped on the large stone, and he said in a breathless tone, "Miss, I accidentally got lost, please take me away from this place."

  Looking at the man laboriously crawling on the big rock, his face couldn't be seen clearly. Slowly, a slender body wearing a black brocade robe appeared, and he let out a relaxed sigh. After taking another look to confirm that the person wasn't a ghost, his expression eased up a bit. Suddenly, he thought of something, covered his mouth with both hands, and shouted loudly, "You old rascal, how dare you sneak a peek at me while I'm bathing! Quickly report your name and which sect you're from! Are you tired of living?"

  The man did not expect a little girl to be so fierce, scolding people without gasping for breath. He also remembered that she had just scolded him as an old rascal. Helplessly, he said, "Miss, first, I didn't look in your direction, secondly, I'm just barely out of my teenage years, it's really not suitable to call me 'old'." After finishing speaking, the man gasped for breath again.

  "Even if you didn't see anything, it's clear that your mind is fantasizing about my beauty. Write a letter to ask your parents, is this kind of behavior appropriate?" An Xin saw that the man was seeking help from others yet still dared to quibble, thinking that she had lived for several decades and no one had ever dared to sneak a peek at her while bathing, suddenly felt indignant beyond measure.

  Digression

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