SBCEJM -Chapter 109 A Beautiful Man Hanging From a Tree, and an Enemy Appearing by the Roadside

【Host! Three li ahead, there’s gossip!】

The system’s voice trembled with barely restrained excitement.

Feng Zexuan’s spirits immediately lifted.

【My travel funds have arrived?】

She clamped her legs around the horse’s belly.

Mo Feng understood instantly. Its four hooves thundered forward like a black bolt of lightning tearing across the official road.

Three li passed in the blink of an eye.

“Whoa—!”

Feng Zexuan yanked on the reins sharply. Mo Feng reared up with a long neigh.

She frowned and scanned the surroundings.

Dense forest lined both sides of the road, eerily silent.

【System, are you bugging out?】

Feng Zexuan sounded suspicious.

【In this godforsaken wilderness, where’s the gossip money supposed to come from?】

【What, did some thousand-year-old tree spirit fall in love? Or did a wild rabbit cheat on its mate?】

【Host! That giant locust tree on the left front side!】

The system urgently directed her.

Feng Zexuan’s gaze instantly locked onto the target.

That locust tree truly deserved the title of king of the forest—its trunk thick and massive, its canopy covering the sky.

She urged her horse closer, but the nearer she got, the stranger things felt.

Something seemed to be hanging from the tree, swaying slightly in the wind.

When she finally looked up clearly beneath the tree, her whole body froze.

It was a person.

A young man completely stripped of his clothes, hanging upside down from a branch by coarse hemp rope.

His pale skin looked especially shocking beneath the mottled shadows of the leaves.

Feng Zexuan’s pupils contracted violently.

【Holy shit! Which sick freak did this?! This is absolutely deranged!】

【Host, it was Third Prince Xiao Mingrui!】

The system’s voice brimmed with fury.

【This boy’s name is Ji Ning. He’s seventeen, an orphan. A few days ago the Third Prince took a liking to him and had him abducted.】

【But the boy has a fierce temperament. He refused to submit even if it meant death, so they stripped him naked and hung him here to torture him! He’s been hanging since yesterday—almost eight hours now!】

That bastard again!

A violent killing intent surged in Feng Zexuan’s chest.

Apparently the lesson she taught him in the palace last time hadn’t stuck at all.

【System, is he still alive?】

【Still alive, but not in good condition. Being suspended upside down for too long has caused severe blood congestion in his brain. If no one saves him soon, he’ll really be in danger.】

She flipped off her horse with crisp, efficient movements.

Without even glancing at the boy, she tore off her black gold-embroidered outer robe. Her toes pushed off the ground, and her whole body shot upward like an arrow released from a bow.

Her qinggong reached its peak as she stepped three times against the thick trunk as though walking on flat land.

With a nimble flip in midair, she landed steadily on the branch where the boy hung upside down.

Without the slightest hesitation, she flung the large robe over him, wrapping him completely.

A cold flash gleamed.

The dagger at her waist left its sheath.

“Shnk—!”

The rope snapped instantly.

Feng Zexuan caught the falling body one-handed, pushed lightly against the trunk for leverage, and landed gracefully on the ground.

She carefully laid him on the grass before finally taking a proper look at him.

The robe slipped slightly aside, revealing his face.

Even Feng Zexuan, who was used to seeing handsome men, couldn’t help but pause.

That face…

It was almost unfairly beautiful.

His features looked like heaven’s proudest masterpiece, flawless in every way.

It was the kind of beauty that blurred the line between male and female—a fragile beauty that held both masculine handsomeness and the pure innocence unique to youth.

Even with his pale complexion, cracked lips, and bruises across his forehead, he still possessed a breathtaking beauty.

【Damn… this face is seriously illegal.】

Feng Zexuan clicked her tongue inwardly.

【If he were in modern times, he’d definitely be a top-tier idol star. No wonder that scumbag Xiao Mingrui went crazy over him. This face really does have the power to drive people insane.】

【But why does he look a little familiar…?】

Just as she was thinking, the boy’s eyelashes trembled and his eyes slowly opened.

They were a pair of eyes as clear as spring water.

The moment he saw Feng Zexuan, those eyes suddenly lit up, like a small animal finding its owner, filled with trust and dependence.

“Pretty big sister.”

His voice was soft and childish, carrying a sleepy innocence.

Feng Zexuan froze.

【System, don’t tell me this guy got hung stupid?】

【Report, Host. His head struck the tree trunk, and the prolonged upside-down suspension caused blood congestion in the brain. His intelligence has temporarily regressed to the level of a seven-year-old. It’s reversible.】

The system’s report was precise and efficient.

【So now we’ve got a giant baby with the body of a seventeen-year-old and the mind of a seven-year-old?】

Feng Zexuan sighed.

Another unlucky soul.

She crouched down and softened her voice as much as possible.

“Little friend, do you remember your name? Where your home is?”

The boy shook his head blankly, confusion filling his eyes. Clearly, he remembered nothing.

Then he timidly reached out and carefully grabbed the corner of her sleeve.

“Sister… can you take me with you? I’m scared…”

Those eyes were full of reliance and pleading.

For some reason, Feng Zexuan’s heart softened.

【Forget it. I’ll figure out somewhere to settle him first.】

She had just started helping Ji Ning up when she suddenly felt a faint vibration beneath the ground.

Feng Zexuan immediately looked up alertly.

At the end of the official road, dust billowed into the sky as a group of riders galloped toward them.

The man leading them wore a sapphire-blue brocade robe and carried a wildly arrogant expression.

Why was this guy here now?

Had he come to “admire his work”?

Xiao Mingrui recognized Feng Zexuan from far away.

The moment he saw that face—the face he hated so much his teeth ached—his entire body instantly exploded with rage.

Feng Zexuan!

The culprit who had utterly humiliated him at the Autumn Blossom Banquet!

The one who made him and two men—

“Feng! Ze! Xuan!”

Xiao Mingrui squeezed the name out through gritted teeth.

Feng Zexuan couldn’t even be bothered to stand. She merely glanced at him indifferently.

That look was like she was staring at some stray dog barking on the roadside.

Utter contempt.

That kind of disregard enraged Xiao Mingrui more than any insult ever could.

“Good! Very good!”

His twisted face broke into a savage grin.

“There’s a road to heaven, yet you refuse to walk it! There’s no gate to hell, yet you charge right in!”

He violently drew his horsewhip and pointed it at Feng Zexuan, roaring hysterically:

“Archers! Shoot her into a pincushion!”

The guards behind him immediately raised their bows and nocked arrows!

Ji Ning let out a frightened cry and clung tightly to Feng Zexuan’s arm.

【Courting death!】

Murderous intent exploded in Feng Zexuan’s eyes.

“Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!”

More than ten arrows shot from their strings, slicing through the air with sharp whistles as they flew toward Feng Zexuan!

A cruel smile spread across Xiao Mingrui’s face, as if he could already see her blood splattering on the spot.

But the next second, his expression froze.

Feng Zexuan moved.

Carrying Ji Ning, she leapt onto the tree, the massive branches blocking every incoming arrow.

As the final arrow passed by, she precisely caught the speeding shaft between two fingers!

Her movement was so fast it left only an afterimage.

“Bzz—”

The arrow’s fletching still trembled violently.

“That’s all you’ve got?”

Feng Zexuan’s voice was light, yet every person present heard it clearly.

Her wrist suddenly flicked!

“Whoosh—!”

The arrow she had intercepted shot back even faster and fiercer than before, turning into a black streak flying straight toward Xiao Mingrui’s throat!