At the first ray of dawn, the moon hid back behind the forest while the sun was rising to take its rightful place in the sky. In its shine, the ice on the scourge woman thawed.
The lady opened her eyes and sighed with exhaustion.
"Lady!" A cry of shock came from Zhuo Fan, holding fruits to his bosom as he staggered towards her.
The scourge woman jumped to her feet and waved the leaves to cover the array.
Then she snapped a glare towards Zhuo Fan, "Didn't I tell you not to wander about? What are you doing here?"
"Uh, lady! You didn't say anything about going out during the day!" Zhuo Fan acted oblivious to the array beneath him, pointing naively at the sky.
The scourge woman was stunned, then blushed. She rebuked, "If you are to stay in this place, you must remain in your quarters, even through the day. Or I'll kick you out!"
"Eh?!"
Zhuo Fan shuddered from the heavy injustice that befell him. He hanged his head and walked away with remose. But then he turned to leave the fruits before the woman.
"Lady, I find your complexion to be slightly pale so I picked these this morning, please take them. And thank you for letting me stay." Zhuo Fan sighed and trod away.
He made himself out to seem as though he was a particularly bleak figure, filled with loneliness who had suffered a dash of injustice.
The woman turned from him to the fruits and her heart softened, picking one up.
Zhuo Fan's back was towards her but his soul gave him full knowledge of her every move. He let out a devious grin.
So long she picked just one fruit, it proved he had made a breakthrough to her heart. Next, he needed to stick to her for as long as possible to find out the poison that had cursed her.
There's a fine line between godly medicine and abominable poison. As the Hundred Pill Meeting hadn't begun yet, he had no clue where to search for rare ingredients. Since he had the time, who knew if he might get something from sticking close to this scourge woman?
[He-he-he, women are the best swindler and, ironically enough, the easiest targets!] Zhuo Fan snickered inside as he slumped away from her sight…
Noon.
The scourge woman was doing her usual routine, sitting upright on a rock, absorbing the sunshine one breath at a time.
A sudden hubbub pierced her ears, disturbing her inner peace. With fire in her eyes, she marched to the source.
She watched a throng of people raving, "Kill him, beat that lousy punk to death…"
She approached doubtfully and witnessed Zhuo Fan wrestling with a stocky 3rd layer Bone Tempering expert.
She shook her head ready to leave, but Zhuo Fan yelled at the top of his lungs, "I won't let you insult her! She is a good person…"
"Screw you! That scourge woman killed numerous people already and you still dare to take her side?" The stocky man he was fighting against, punctuated his reproval with a slap.
But Zhuo Fan was stubborn as a mule. He was mocked, roughed up, shamed, yet his eyes never lost their will to fight.
"Humph, she's been living here long since you came barging in. Before then, some people die to god knows what, and you people start slander the lady. Can you even call yourself a man?"
"Hey, this kid is asking for it. Finish him off!"
"Yeah, letting him live will invite disaster upon us. He is just like that scourge woman, wanting to kill us all. But before he kills us, we'll just have to take him out."
"Kill, kill…" The crowd began chanting like madmen.
The scourge woman saw this unfold with a shiver as anger started to well up in her eyes.
"Stop!"
A crisp shout rang in their ears, even over the thunderous roars of the mob. They turned in shock then shivered in fear, staggering away.
"It's the scourge woman! Watch out everyone! Or she'll infect you if she gets too close!"
In an instant, the people around started to run off. Even that Bone Tempering expert dismounted Zhuo Fan's prone figure and fled in fear.
The scourge woman walked straight to Zhuo Fan and helped him stand. She only eyed the crowd around them then brought him back to the plagued house.
The mob sighed in relief and wiped their sweat as they watched them go.
"Split the money!"
A sudden shout echoed. The people gathered around again and at the center, was a pile of glittering spirit stones.
The dazzling show of light struck the core of everyone.
"Damn, this must be more than ten thousand! Wasn't that kid from a third rate clan? How did he get so rich?"
"Hey, stop poking your nose in others' business! Who cares if he wants you to beat him up as long as you get paid? This must be around fifty thousand spirit stones. That young master said each can take a thousand, not a stone more!"
"He-he-he, I got it. That fellow wants that scourge woman so he wanted us to make a play. He is playing with fire. Who in the hell would go after a woman plagued with disease?"
Bam!
But his words were welcomed with a flurry of blows. The man turned in shock at the angry stocky man.
"He told you to not speak of this once you get your cut. If just one of you has loose tongues, all of us will end up dead!"
"Uh, what's so scary about a rich kid? Even if he might be from a second rate clan…"
The first guy was still trying to justify himself but the stocky man's slap left him traveling through the air, "Bastard, I told you to shut up. You can't even begin to imagine what that young lord will do to us if this gets found out!"
The stocky man's inflamed fists trembled with fear, recalling the scene of a man turning to ashes before him.
Zhuo Fan let only him witness the almighty power of fear. The others were oblivious to his devious and poisonous acts. Nonetheless, since this stocky man was the strongest among them, if he was scared, he would share the fear and keep his words in mind.
In a flash, they clamped their mouths and left after taking their share of spirit stones…
On the other side, the scourge woman took Zhuo Fan to the broken-down house. A small bottle appeared in her hand after seeing his bruised up and bleeding body, she order in a rather cold voice, "Eat it!"
Zhuo Fan knew it was a healing pill, but he turned his head away.
How could those useless Bone Tempering men even dent his perfect 5th-grade demonic treasure body? His wounds were self-inflicted to stir pity in the scourge woman's heart.
And if he just ate the pill, the woman would just take off. So he put up a tough front, like a spoiled brat.
The woman, however, was perplexed, "What, scared there's poison?"
"I am not afraid of staying with you. Do you think I'm afraid of you poisoning a pill?" Zhuo Fan huffed, "Didn't you tell me to get lost? Why did you save me then?"
The scourge woman eyed him deeply, "Then, why did you still try to defend me before those people? Weren't you afraid of being beaten to death? If I had arrived just one second later, you'd have died."
Zhuo Fan laughed inside. He knew that after a full night spent on absorbing the moon's yin, the following day would be used on absorbing the sun's yang to warm her meridians. If not, even the strongest of experts could not withstand the corrosive yin energy raining havoc through their body.
When he did his rounds around the area, he knew the spot she picked for absorbing yang. It was all a matter of staging a good show with his fellow neighbors. Not even mild-tempered people could keep away from the ruckus once their meditation was interrupted.
In layman's terms, it all went according to Zhuo Fan's foolproof plan to breach the scourge woman's psychological barriers and accept him with all her heart.
Zhuo Fan turned his head and stared right in her eyes until her own eyes faltered away. He spoke with emotion, "My mother said, eyes are a window to one's soul. There's no way a person with such beautiful eyes possess an evil heart. And, you also let me stay, you definitely have a good heart. If those people slander you for murder, how could I stand by and not defend your name?"
Zhuo Fan's open bootlicking was filled with childish naivety, lacking the feeling of deception an adult would have. If a lady heard it, she wouldn't loathe this childish behavior, on the contrary, they would like it even more.
That's the secret to capturing a woman's heart, not using flowery and sweet words, but to stir her motherly side.
This epiphany came to him after talking with Dong Tianba. He used to feel Dong Tianba and Song Yu were simply mighty silk pants. Though their chasing skills were vile and repulsive, it still achieved results.
Therefore, he was using the same methods. [It's true, the world is filled with wondrous trades. Everyone's a master in something!]
The effect was obvious, the scourge woman's cheeks tinted red and snapped, "Silver-tongued!"
But the eyes, though, now showed acceptance!
[Thanks, brother Dong, thank you for teaching me the way of chasing!]
Zhuo Fan secretly sighed, but his face was still etched with that childlike innocence as he laughed, "Sister, I know you for so long yet I haven't caught your name!"
"How is that long? We only saw each other three times!" Rolling her eyes, the scourge woman mumbled, "You… call me sister Chuchu."
"Yes, sister Chuchu!"
Zhuo Fan put on a puppy-eyed face that made even him nauseous, but his hands were tied. Women ate them like candy.
"Now take the pill." Chuchu extended the bottle, but Zhuo Fan smiled and opened his mouth, "Sister Chuchu, feed me!"
Sighing, Chuchu shook her head helpless, glared, but she still extended him a pill with her dainty hand.
Zhuo Fan saw her hand approaching and grabbed her wrist suddenly, pouring in his Yuan Qi…