Chapter 4: Someone in the Tree

Yang Shifei could not help shivering.

He instinctively clenched his right hand, feeling a strength he had never possessed in all his twenty years, then looked at the girl in confusion.

So the chill inside his body really was connected to this woman?

“Let me see.”

The mysterious maid abruptly grabbed Yang Shifei’s arm, moving extremely quickly.

“…”

Yang Shifei remained motionless, the cold sweat on his back not yet dry.

He had wanted to struggle instinctively, but after thinking about it, he forced himself to stay still.

He was just as confused right now. He could only wait for the other party to give him an answer.

“Hm?”

But the mysterious maid tilted her head again, her little mouth pursing slightly. “Nothing?”

Muttering to herself, she naturally took hold of Yang Shifei’s right hand and shook it back and forth together with hers, making her look more like a little girl acting spoiled.

“Still nothing?”

“What does that mean?”

Yang Shifei was a little bewildered by her actions.

The mysterious maid soon looked up at him. “Won’t you bite me again? It felt quite comfortable.”

Yang Shifei tried his best to ignore her easily misunderstood wording and hesitated. “Are you talking about… that cold air I absorbed?”

“More or less.”

The mysterious maid looked around again, seemingly giving up on pursuing the matter further, and pouted slightly.

“Forget it. I don’t understand.”

After saying that, she released his hand and turned to leave.

Yang Shifei stared blankly, thinking this girl was far too whimsical.

Even so, he hurriedly pulled her back. “Wait, are you actually from the Luo Residence?”

The mysterious maid turned back and blinked.

Yang Shifei thought to himself that she seemed to care a lot about this “biting” issue, so he quickly said solemnly, “If you sit down and talk with me, I’ll ‘bite’ you again afterward. How about that?”

“…”

The mysterious maid blinked her watery eyes, and the corners of her mouth lifted slightly.

Together with her young and pretty, adorable face, she looked rather bright and charming.

Yet seeing the innocent purity all over her face, Yang Shifei instead felt a trace of guilt, as if he were coaxing an ignorant young girl.

A while later, in the rear courtyard of the residence.

Yang Shifei carried two bowls of noodles into the courtyard.

After being cleaned, the kitchen could already be used. Although he had no real cooking skills, making a bowl of noodles was easy enough.

“Eat.”

The mysterious maid sat across from him and began eating with her chopsticks without the slightest courtesy, as though she had no taboo against “food.”

Yang Shifei silently observed her for a moment, feeling complicated.

While cooking the noodles, he had taken the opportunity to ask her many questions.

As he had expected, this girl was not a maid of the Luo Residence. She only dressed this way because she thought it looked pretty and found the identity of a “maid” rather interesting.

She was not a female ghost, but she was also not an ordinary person. As for what exactly she was, she had not revealed it, and even when pressed, she gave no answer.

Although she looked innocent and naive on the outside, she at least still had a sense of caution.

But after spending time with her calmly, Yang Shifei increasingly realized that this little girl was truly delicate, lively, and adorable. It was honestly difficult to feel any dislike toward her. Looking into those bright, playful eyes, it was also hard to imagine she was some kind of demon or ghost.

But—

“Why did you trick me into entering the Luo Residence last night?”

Yang Shifei stirred the noodles in his bowl and probed, “Is it because you have a grudge against them?”

The little girl raised her eyes. After biting off a strand of noodle, she puffed her cheeks and said, “It was fun.”

“Huh?”

Yang Shifei was stunned.

Once he reacted, the corners of his mouth twitched twice.

Just because it was fun, she had pushed him into that sinister demon’s den called the Luo Residence?

Uh, no, Miss Luo was actually quite good. That soft rice was fragrant.

“That woman is not bad.”

The little girl slurped her noodles and spoke unclearly. “Marriage is interesting. Standing stupidly outside was boring.”

Yang Shifei fell into thought.

“I still don’t know what to call you—”

Before he could finish speaking, Yang Shifei watched her place the empty bowl back on the table, and his eyes nearly bulged out.

She had finished already?

The little girl wiped her mouth and generously reached her hand over.

“Come. Bite.”

Yang Shifei was dumbfounded for a moment, but he could only brace himself and hold her hand.

He had no idea how to recreate the “bite” from earlier. After pondering for a long while, he could only repeat silently in his heart: bite her, bite her…

Suddenly, that aching cold sensation appeared again!

Blue veins bulged on Yang Shifei’s forehead. His body tightened and trembled, nearly knocking over the unfinished noodle soup beside him.

Only when he could no longer endure it did he shakily withdraw his right hand and brace himself against the stone table, gasping heavily while letting the coldness flow through his entire body.

The little girl stared at her palm for a moment, then cast him a somewhat curious gaze.

Seeing Yang Shifei look up, she pressed her lips together and smiled sweetly. “Not bad. Very comfortable.”

“Since I’ve finished biting, tell me your name—”

“I’m leaving.”

“Huh?”

Seeing that she really was getting up to leave again, Yang Shifei nearly lost the solemn expression on his face and quickly asked, “Where are you going?”

The little girl lightly tapped her lower lip with a finger. “Inside the city, outside the city. Wherever.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

Yang Shifei’s thoughts stirred. “Do you have nowhere to stay?”

The little girl seemed somewhat confused and gave a slightly dazed “hm?”

Yang Shifei took a deep breath and calmly said, “This residence is cold and empty, and I’m the only one living here. If you have nowhere to go, why not stay here with me?”

After living in Niu Village for a while, it wasn’t as though he had never shaken hands with Auntie Niu and the others. But only this little girl before him allowed him to feel that chill, and even use it to strengthen his body.

Although this little girl was full of mysteries, the faint coldness inside his body had all come from her. Even if he still could not understand his own changes, he at least had to make this “golden finger” stay.

“No.”

But the little girl shook her head. “I have no money.”

“Just stay here.”

Yang Shifei revealed a friendly smile. “If you truly feel bad about it, then like the Luo Residence next door, you can be a maid here. I can’t promise much wages in the future, but at the very least, I can make sure you don’t have to worry about food and shelter.”

The little girl turned to look in the direction of the Luo Residence, then raised her head and pondered for a while.

Soon after, a faint smile appeared on her lips. “All right.”

Yang Shifei secretly clenched his fist, feeling somewhat pleasantly surprised.

But before he could be happy for long, the little girl smiled and waved her hand. “I’ll come when I have time.”

“Huh?”

Yang Shifei froze for only an instant before the little girl before his eyes vanished like an illusion.

The extremely eerie sight shocked him for quite a while. He hurriedly looked around, only then confirming that she had truly disappeared without a trace.

“Damn, she just ran off like that?”

Yang Shifei looked at the empty noodle bowl on the table. He was shocked by her strange methods, but also found it a little laughable.

Why did he feel like he had just been freeloaded off for one meal…

No, wait. He had obtained two streams of cold air.

He quickly focused himself and carefully examined his body. He even tried jumping back and forth around the courtyard for a while, then picked up an old brick from the corner of the wall and squeezed and tapped it.

“…Did I accidentally learn something like the Great Art of Star Absorption?”

A moment later, Yang Shifei looked at the several finger marks left on the brick, his expression strange.

Did this count as internal energy?

After pondering for a long time, he tried to control the cold air with his thoughts according to the descriptions in various novels.

But after gritting his teeth and groaning for ages, the cold air did not stir in the slightest. Instead, he squeezed quite a few cracks into the brick in his hand.

“Maybe I just haven’t found the right trick yet. Or perhaps… I need a cultivation method?”

Yang Shifei put down the brick and stood up thoughtfully.

But he was also a little confused. If he had absorbed that little girl’s power, why had she still smiled so cheerfully? Shouldn’t she have been furious and come to denounce him?

“Is it because her cultivation method is special, or is her personality simply different from ordinary people?”

Yang Shifei thought for a long time but could not figure it out, so he could only temporarily suppress his excitement.

The matter of that mysterious girl could wait until she returned. Tonight, he would first test what other marvelous uses the coldness in his body had.

The moon and stars shimmered. Pale clouds drifted gently.

On his third night after entering Eastern City, Yang Shifei did not sleep.

Under the cool moonlight, he sat alone on the steps in the rear courtyard and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

The eldest daughter of the Luo family next door had not come to see him. Dinner had also been sent over at the appointed time.

However, this actually made things much easier.

Yang Shifei patted his legs, unable to conceal the joy on his face.

“My stamina recovers very quickly.”

Ever since obtaining this coldness, he seemed to have endless strength. Even after running around the courtyard more than ten times, he only felt slightly out of breath. As the coldness flowed through his body, all fatigue immediately disappeared. It was truly miraculous.

Moreover, whether eyesight or hearing, both were much sharper than before. His entire body seemed to have been remade.

“In that case, maybe this can make up for the defect of my age being too great?”

Yang Shifei stood up again and made a few gestures with the broom, smacking his lips as if still unsatisfied.

Unfortunately, he had absolutely no idea what direction he should cultivate in.

Even though he had read plenty of novels, those mysterious and profound descriptions were hard to translate into actual actions in reality. He truly had no idea what to do.

He had originally wanted to wait for that little girl to return and ask more questions, but she had disappeared for two days without any news, leaving him rather helpless.

Taking advantage of his free time, he had gone for a stroll through Eastern City’s streets this afternoon and happened to see martial artists fighting in a restaurant again. He had heard they were disciples from two sects, but unfortunately, by the end of the fight, the two of them looked no different from people wildly swinging their fists like flailing turtles. He truly could not see any real method in it.

“Forget it. I’ll keep exercising.”

Yang Shifei stretched his muscles and prepared to run another ten laps.

Rather than overthinking, he might as well take advantage of the cold air before it disappeared and recover as much of his missing physical strength as possible, laying a good foundation for practicing martial arts in the future.

Rustle, rustle, rustle—

The sudden strange noise made Yang Shifei pause.

He turned to look at the dense treetop outside the courtyard wall, which was trembling slightly, and frowned.

The wind was not strong tonight. Could it be a wild cat or dog jumping around in the tree?

Although he had lived in Niu Village for several dozen days and was already used to such things, he had, after all, personally witnessed a “female ghost.” Naturally, he was somewhat alert, afraid there might be more lonely spirits and wandering ghosts around this residence.

To be cautious, he should still go take a look.

Yang Shifei picked up the broom again and quickly walked to the courtyard wall. Bending his knees, he jumped and grabbed the top of the wall with one hand.

Before yesterday, he would never even have dared to think about such a difficult movement. But now that the cold air wandered through his body, with only a slight exertion, he easily flipped himself onto the top of the wall.

Then, he happened to meet the cold gaze hidden among the tree branches.

“…”

Yang Shifei’s eyes widened, and his whole body stiffened.

Holy shit. There was actually a black-clothed person crouching in the tree?

No, wait. Was this thing human or ghost?

[End of Chapter]