Chapter 168: This One is a Female

The elegant youth, Huli, cupped his hands toward Baili Xian and said with a smile, "Please forgive us for this unsightly display. I clearly haven't been keeping my subordinates in line, so I must ask this young master not to take offense."

Liu Ling'er was utterly puzzled. Judging by the youth's words and demeanor, he bore no resemblance to some wild, uncultured brute of the mountains. On the contrary, he carried himself with the poise and refinement of a true aristocrat, the spitting image of a scion from a prestigious noble family. If anyone tried to claim he lacked strict family tutoring, Liu Ling'er would be the absolute last person to believe it.

She had noticed it, and naturally, Baili Xian had noticed it as well. In this regard, he couldn't help but feel a shred of admiration for the youth. Clearly a bandit, yet he conducted himself like a royal prince or a young marquis. Baili Xian instantly felt the urge to recruit such a talented individual to his side.

"Such a minor trifle, why even mention it? Though, I have yet to ask for this heroic gentleman's esteemed name. I do hope you might enlighten us!" If Liu Ling'er had been given a choice, she would have grabbed Baili Xian and fled at the very first opportunity, rather than lingering to engage in such deep pleasantries.

Wasn't there a saying that knowing too much meant inviting too much trouble? Curiosity always killed the cat!

Liu Ling'er grew secretly anxious. Although this band of bandits was exceptionally bizarre—operating under the banner of robbing beauty rather than wealth—the undeniable fact remained that she was a woman. No matter how advanced her disguise techniques were, they could not alter her biological reality. If her true identity were exposed, it would spell utter disaster.

And that was precisely the current situation: the longer they stayed here, the higher the probability of exposure. That was why she was so annoyed with Baili Xian for needlessly complicating matters at a time like this. She certainly had no desire to be chased down a mountain by a horde of bandits shortly.

Huli grinned, revealing a row of flashing white teeth. "Enlightenment is hardly the word. I can hardly be called a hero; I merely borrow the reputation of my old man. My name is Huli. Might I ask how the two of you are addressed?"

*Huli*—Fox! Liu Ling'er almost failed to hold back her laughter, while Baili Xian covertly shot her a meaningful glance. "Oh! I am merely a nameless passerby, and my humble name is Li Xian, while this is my 'pageboy,' Liu'er!"

Using aliases when traveling far from home was a basic survival skill in the martial world. Baili Xian had simply lopped off the first character of his and Liu Ling'er's actual given names, and thus two fresh new aliases were born on the spot.

Originally, Baili Xian had even intended to ask who Huli's father was. From the way Huli spoke, it sounded as though his father was a remarkably prominent figure; perhaps he actually knew the man!

Yet just as he was about to open his mouth, Liu Ling'er stealthily pinched the soft flesh at Baili Xian's waist, hissing in a low voice, "Baili Xian, are you trying to delay our journey indefinitely? They are bandits! Though dealing with them might not be difficult, we should leave immediately if we wish to avoid unnecessary trouble!"

Though slightly irritated by Liu Ling'er's sudden pinch, he had to admit her words made a certain amount of sense. *I'll let you off this time in consideration of your warning.* He cupped his hands toward Huli and said, "Brother Hu, we have pressing matters to attend to, so we won't disturb you from your legitimate business any longer!"

Huli waved his hand at the surrounding bandits, signaling them to clear a path. They were just a step away from walking right past, but fate, as it always did, decided to intervene.

The bandit who had previously been sent flying by Huli's blow happened to be hobbling over at that exact moment, stumbling right into Liu Ling'er's path. For a brief second, his vision blurred as if he had overlooked some crucial detail, and the mentally eccentric bandit rubbed his eyes.

With his focus finally locked in, the bandit suddenly noticed a massive detail. He managed to pierce right through Liu Ling'er's disguise. Feeling as though he had just discovered a brand-new continent, he pointed right at her and shouted at the top of his lungs toward Huli, "Young Commander! You cannot let these two go! That one trailing in the back is a female!"

*A female!!* Upon hearing that crude descriptor, Liu Ling'er nearly ground her teeth into fine powder. *Listen here, you bandit brother, did I murder your entire family or something?! Why on earth are you dragging my name through the mud like this?!*

Calling someone "a female" in that tone was usually reserved for animals—for instance, declaring that a particular pig was a female, or that a certain tiger was a female! Even if your vocabulary was utterly impoverished, you couldn't just open your mouth and blurt out that the person behind was a female! This wasn't merely injuring her tender young heart; it was a direct challenge to her limit of patience.

What caused Liu Ling'er even greater despair was that the bandit, seemingly terrified that Huli wouldn't believe him, yelled repeatedly, "Young Commander! I swear on my personal honor, that one is a female! Absolutely a female! If I'm wrong about this, you can make me do whatever you want!"

*Good grief, you twisted freak, you have the sheer audacity to speak of your honor? Hasn't your honor shattered into tiny fragments and scattered all over the ground ages ago?*

Well, despite the fact that this bandit had been beaten quite miserably, his voice remained astonishingly robust. A single roar instantly captured the attention of nearly everyone present, and with his repeated shouting, it became utterly impossible for anyone not to focus their gaze in this direction.

Sure enough, a whole crowd of bandits pivoted to stare directly at Liu Ling'er. Those pairs of eyes felt like high-powered searchlights, as if they intended to strip away her disguise and see right through her.

No matter how thick one's skin was, it was impossible to withstand the scrutinizing stares of so many people. Blushing furiously, Liu Ling'er offered a feeble, unconvincing defense, "Don't listen to his nonsense, everyone. I'm a man! The guy's gone completely mad from longing for a woman; he's definitely hallucinating."

Consequently, the crowd shifted their gaze back to the eccentric bandit. It was true: the eccentric bandit was gesticulating wildly, acting like a raving lunatic in the middle of a full-blown epileptic seizure. Could it really be, as Liu Ling'er claimed, that he had gone completely insane from wanting a woman?

The eager, merit-seeking expression on the bandit's face instantly froze as if a basin of cold water had been dumped over him, deflating him in an instant. Yet a fraction of a second later, a sudden realization struck him, and he seemed to have been injected with chicken blood. "Young Commander, I have proof! Look at this person—they don't have an Adam's apple! Therefore, they are definitely a woman!"

Liu Ling'er's heart skipped a beat. The lack of an Adam's apple was the ultimate fatal flaw in her male disguise. She had always feared someone would notice it, and to her immense dread, she hadn't managed to keep it hidden after all. No matter how thoroughly you plan, an oversight is bound to slip through!

She shot a furious glare at Baili Xian. If this idiot hadn't spent so much time discussing names and pleasantries with them, she would have already made a graceful and undisturbed exit.

"Stop right there!" Just as Liu Ling'er tried to press forward, Huli's voice rang out behind her in a sharp command. Liu Ling'er stiffened for a fraction of a second, then whispered a hurried warning to Baili Xian, "We'll run together on my count. Remember, don't look back."

Though he didn't quite understand why they shouldn't just turn around and slaughter these bandits once and for all to save themselves the trouble, Baili Xian naturally agreed to the suggestion, especially since Liu Ling'er's exposure was inextricably linked to his own dawdling.

Seeing that Liu Ling'er had stopped without turning around, Huli narrowed his eyes and barked, "Turn around!"

*Turn around, my foot! You might be some minor bandit, but you really think you're the Son of Heaven?* Hearing Huli's demand, Liu Ling'er surged forward like an arrow released from a drawn bow, rocketing down the mountain trail.

Baili Xian followed closely at her heels. Both of them channeled their lightness skills, vanishing from the astonished sight of the bandits in the blink of an eye. If not for the lingering swelling on one of the bandit's faces, they would have suspected that the two visitors had never even existed in the first place.

With Liu Ling'er and Baili Xian out of sight, an impatient murmur rippled through the ranks. "Young Commander, it's not every day we run into a woman; we surely can't just let her slip through our fingers like this! Wutuo Mountain is so towering, and very few men even bother climbing it. Who knows how many monkey years it'll be before we encounter another female?!"

Huli twirled the folding fan in his hand, tapping it gently against his palm as he spoke with unhurried leisure, "What's the rush? A duck that's already in the pot isn't going to sprout wings and fly away. Fire the signal flare; we're heading down to collect our guests."

One of the bandits withdrew a signal flare and yanked the cord. A thick plume of black smoke erupted midway up the mountain, shooting dozens of meters into the air accompanied by a resounding, sharp explosion.

Down at the foot of the mountain, inside a roadside tea shed, the waiter and the proprietor heard the distant anomalous sound echoing from above. Stepping outside to inspect the streak of black smoke climbing the sky, mutual understanding flashed in their eyes. The tea shed proprietor snapped at the waiter, "Sharpen your wits! Headquarters has issued an order. If we botch this job, you're the one who'll be taking the punishment!"

The waiter rolled his eyes internally. The phrase "higher-ups press down on those below" was certainly no empty lie. *The two of us were assigned down the mountain together to watch this tea shed, so why are you the boss and I'm just the lowly waiter? If I had known I'd be bullied like this, I should have bribed the superiors with more wine and meat beforehand.*

Roughly a quarter of an hour later, the waiter's eyes lit up as two figures materialized in the distance. He hollered toward the tea shed proprietor, "Hey! The targets have appeared. Are you ready?"

The proprietor reverently lit a stick of incense, planted it before the statue of Guanyin Bodhisattva inside the hall, and kowtowed twice while muttering under his breath, "May the Goddess of Mercy keep us safe and grant us success!"

If Liu Ling'er had known that this tea shed proprietor was planning illicit activities while simultaneously praying to Guanyin for protection, she genuinely wouldn't have known whether to praise his piety or mock his profound hypocrisy.

By the time Liu Ling'er and Baili Xian reached the vicinity, the waiter in the tea shed inspected them closely and immediately furrowed his brow in confusion. "These two both look like men! The Young Commander told us to watch out for a woman recently—did they send the wrong signal?!"

The proprietor was equally baffled, but possessing more experience than the waiter, he quickly weighed his options. "Never mind whether the signal was a mistake or not. Since the Young Master hasn't sent a follow-up message to cancel it, it proves these two are precisely the targets we're supposed to intercept. Man or woman, we'll just keep them right here."

Having sprinted all the way down using their lightness skills, even with the descent being downhill, Liu Ling'er had worked up a light sweat. Baili Xian had wanted to point out that since they weren't being actively pursued, there was no need to run with such desperate intensity, but Liu Ling'er ignored him. In truth, she was simply venting her bottled-up frustration; this frantic pace served as her outlet for all that pent-up irritation.

Now that they had reached the main path, Liu Ling'er finally slowed her pace, and Baili Xian breathed a heavy sigh of relief. If Liu Ling'er had maintained that breakneck speed all the way down, her shoes would likely have disintegrated by evening, and traversing mountain paths barefoot was practically an invitation to suicide.

It was precisely at this moment that they arrived before the tea shed. The waiter spotted them and immediately bustled forward with a sycophantic smile. "Oh, honored guests! Would you care for some tea? We brew ours with the finest mountain spring water, and our prices are more than fair. We also have a selection of pastries, so you two can fill your stomachs before continuing on your way!"

They hadn't felt it while fleeing, but the moment it was mentioned, a hollow, ravenous sensation struck them. Having climbed the mountain and run back down, both Liu Ling'er and Baili Xian were utterly famished, and their throats were parched.

Nodding in agreement, Liu Ling'er and Baili Xian entered the tea shed and selected a table to sit down. The waiter promptly brought over a clay teapot, two cups, a complimentary dish of salted peanuts, and a plate of pastries, bowing slightly. "If you need anything else, just give a shout, and I'll bring it right out."