Su Xiaojiu gasped a few times, then slowly opened her eyes, her consciousness gradually clearing.
She found herself lying flat on a half-soft, half-firm object, her arm pinned beneath her, her wrist aching slightly.
She was curious why she was in such an odd position, and then she realized her hands were tied behind her back. It seemed to be some kind of hemp rope binding her hands tightly, making her unable to move.
The wound on her waist throbbed faintly, but after taking the Medicinal Pill, the bleeding had clearly stopped, and many of the other large and small injuries on her body had also healed considerably.
Her spiritual power and physical strength had also recovered quite a bit.
"Could it be... I was still captured by mountain bandits?"
Su Xiaojiu immediately closed her eyes, and some fragmented memories flooded her mind. Su Xiaojiu recalled what happened before she fainted.
She was ambushed by mountain bandits; one of the two Junior Brothers who came out with her was killed, and the other escaped. After she injured and killed several people, she was still wounded, so she began to flee. Finally, she hid in a dilapidated temple, but after pushing open the temple door, what appeared before her was a small, cramped space...
However, she had no time to pay attention to these things, because her injuries were severe, and the wounds had torn during her run. She had lost an unknown amount of blood.
After urgently taking a Medicinal Pill, she saw a young man dressed in strange clothes. She only remembered calling for help in the end, but before she could say anything, her consciousness blurred.
Could it be... that young man was also one of the mountain bandits?
"He clearly doesn't look bad, so how did he become a mountain bandit...?"
Su Xiaojiu's lips parted slightly, and she muttered a complaint in a voice only she could hear.
"Slurp."
Su Xiaojiu's ear twitched.
This sound came from directly in front of her.
That young man was over there. If he was the only one in this dilapidated temple, she might still have a chance to escape, but she didn't know how strong the man was...
Su Xiaojiu immediately began to calculate.
"If..."
But before she could even think of a countermeasure, An Chen spoke.
"I saw you open your eyes."
Such small details could not escape his eyes at all.
In fact, the movement of Su Xiaojiu's lips, eyelashes, and some of her body muscles also exposed the fact that she had woken up.
It was just that An Chen was too lazy to say it.
...
Su Xiaojiu remained motionless.
"Stop pretending, I saw everything."
...
Su Xiaojiu still showed no movement.
An Chen sucked the last mouthful of noodles from the bowl, chewed, and put down his bowl and chopsticks.
He took out some essential balm from a cabinet nearby and gently dripped it into Su Xiaojiu's nostrils.
"Woah! Bold mountain bandit, how dare you poison me!"
Su Xiaojiu immediately bristled, her muscles tensing in an instant, and her body sprang up from the sofa.
Su Xiaojiu sprang up, but landed on the armrest of the sofa, her body tilting and sliding to the ground.
Then, Su Xiaojiu opened her mouth.
An Chen frowned and reached for the armrest on the other side of the sofa, which was Su Xiaojiu's blind spot. The kitchen knife had been hidden there by An Chen beforehand.
"Achoo!"
Su Xiaojiu let out a big sneeze right on An Chen's face.
...
"I didn't mean to..."
Su Xiaojiu pouted and puffed out her cheeks, her face full of innocence...
An Chen was speechless. He didn't bother with the apology, instead wiping the dirt from his face with a tissue, his forehead covered in black lines.
"You broke into my home. I helped you clean your wounds and settled you. Shouldn't you explain why you appeared at my house?"
"Your house? How could anyone live in this dilapidated temple...?"
Su Xiaojiu was exasperated, her eyes wide as she argued.
From the outside, the temple looked dilapidated and overgrown with weeds. Even the temple door was caught by vines, and she had to exert some effort to push it open.
How could anyone possibly live inside!
"Dilapidated temple?"
An Chen was confused.
"Isn't this just..."
Su Xiaojiu looked around, but suddenly couldn't speak. She then looked at the sofa beside her, equally confused.
Is this a temple?
"This... What is this place?!"
Su Xiaojiu looked shocked. An Chen carefully observed her expression, but found nothing unusual.
"This is my home, not some dilapidated temple."
An Chen still kept his hand on the handle of the kitchen knife, ready to draw it at any moment, but some of his muscles had already relaxed, no longer as tense.
This woman clearly didn't understand the situation.
"Now, I ask, you answer. Let's not waste each other's time."
An Chen tried his best to act like a villain, using slightly stricter wording, hoping to gain the upper hand in this way.
And also to make their conversation a bit more meaningful.
This woman looked decent, but that was about it. Her mind seemed a bit slow, and she was also quite boisterous.
"Hmm..."
Su Xiaojiu's mind didn't turn around. She realized she still didn't understand the current situation, so she simply emptied her mind and stopped thinking.
Anyway, this was someone else's territory, and she was still injured, her strength somewhat diminished, not to mention her hands were tied.
Father had said that if caught by bad people, one must never rashly resist. Obeying the bad person's instructions and preserving one's life was the most important thing.
First, figure out what this man actually wants to do!
"That's right, exactly!"
Looking at Su Xiaojiu, whose face was beaming with confidence, An Chen was once again full of question marks.
This guy... where did she get so much drama from?
"Name."
"Su Xiaojiu. Jiu is the character for 'king' plus the character for 'long-lasting'."
"How did you get here?"
"I was being chased by mountain bandits and fled all the way to your dilapidated... a temple. The temple was rundown, and I thought it would be a good place to hide, so I pushed open the door and entered. After entering, I arrived here."
"What's outside the dilapidated temple?"
"It's a mountain forest five hundred li south of Fire Phoenix Sect, next to a large city. It's my first time here, so I don't know the name of the mountain..."
"Fire Phoenix Sect?"
Another new term.
"You don't know Fire Phoenix Sect? Fire Phoenix Sect is quite a famous Sect in the East Continent, and no Cultivator doesn't know about it..."
"Wait... What is East Continent??"
"You..."
Su Xiaojiu showed an expression as if looking at an idiot.
"It's one of the continents of the Nine Continents. You don't even know that? Could it be... could you be a wild man from the mountains?"
...
An Chen's forehead was covered in black lines.
For some reason, he had an urge to punch Su Xiaojiu on the head.
At this point, An Chen already had the answer in his heart.
What thinking too much? He clearly guessed correctly!
Is there really such a thing as Transmigration in this world?
"This is not some Nine Continents. This is Huaguo, this is Earth."
Staring motionlessly at Su Xiaojiu, An Chen said word by word.
"What nonsense are you talking about? This is..."
An Chen was already too lazy to listen to her speak. He moved away and walked to the window in front of the sofa, pulled open the curtain covering the window, and knocked on the window with his knuckles.
"Do you have such a sight in your Nine Continents?"