After Han Suyin had left, Deng Hui decided this was the moment to go investigate that cloaked person. Standing up, he headed toward them.
As he got closer, he saw them still slumped against the tree, their bag beside them, their hood concealing their face. He stopped at a respectful distance and said, "Esteemed person, I apologize for intruding so suddenly, but I'd like you to answer a few of my questions."
He kept his eyes on them, ready for any sudden movement.
Seconds ticked by.
No reply.
"Esteemed person?" he tried again, voice a little louder.
Still nothing.
Deng Hui's brows knit. Ignoring me?
His patience thinned and he stepped closer, his voice turning harsh.
"Hey. I'm talking to you."
Nothing.
That was the last straw. Deng Hui strode right up.
"Don't you think it's rude to ignore someone calling you?"
His hand reached toward their shoulder, intending to shake them. Yet before his fingers could touch, a hand suddenly clamped onto his wrist, stopping him cold. A rough, hoarse voice came from under the hood.
"What are you doing."
A pressure immediately descended. Deng Hui broke into sweat.
He tried to retract his hand, but the grip only tightened. Bone-deep pain shot up his arm, and he heard an ugly creak.
"Let go of my hand!" Deng Hui snarled. He poured strength into his arm and yanked back with all his might.
He finally tore free.
But the sudden pull made the cloaked figure lose what little balance they had. Their body slid off the tree and collapsed onto the ground with a dull thud, limp in a way that looked almost dead.
Deng Hui froze for a breath.
Then voices rose around him.
"What is that guy doing?"
"I think he attacked that person!"
"He must've seen the bag and got greedy, tsk tsk."
"Hey! No need to resort to violence, young man! Everything can be resolved properly!"
No one stepped in, but the attention was enough.
Deng Hui's scalp went cold. He could already imagine how this would spread, and he had no intention of being dragged into a mess. He immediately abandoned his investigation and hurried back to Qiao Min before anything more dangerous happened.
As for Yue Rin, she was face-first in the dirt, groaning like her soul was only half inside her body.
Her mind was barely awake. Consciousness came in broken pieces, her thoughts smeared and slow. Everything hurt. Her chest felt tight, her meridians felt torn and inflamed, and a few coughs slipped out of her before she could stop them.
Blood followed, red against brown soil.
The surrounding gazes sharpened, no longer curious but hungry.
Qiao Min, upon seeing the scene, immediately relocated his group to a more hidden spot. His eyes snapped to Deng Hui. "What did you do?"
Deng Hui's face went ugly. "I didn't do anything! I didn't even touch them. They grabbed me first!"
Yue Rin curled into herself, instinctively forming a protective ball. Footsteps gathered around her. The sounds felt distant, as if she were underwater. She tried to move, tried to push herself up, but her limbs refused to listen, heavy and sluggish like they belonged to someone else.
"Hey, hey, what's wrong, dao friend?"
"Did that person injure you too badly?"
"Let's check their bag, maybe there's something that can help," someone added 'helpfully', and a few others nodded like it was the most reasonable idea in the world.
Others offered a different 'solution'.
"Maybe they've got healing pills on their belt or inside their cloak. Check there instead."
One of them grabbed Yue Rin by the arm, intending to make her sit. But the movement tugged her hood back, revealing her face.
Everyone nearby sucked in a breath.
"Such a beauty…"
"I thought they were a guy this whole time."
"Look at her hair and eyes. I've never seen colors like that. Could she be a noble's child?"
One of the bolder men reached out, marveling at how soft her skin felt.
"Everyone, I think she should be left with me to take care of," he announced.
"No. With me. Unlike you lot, I'm not a brute," another snapped.
Pain blurred Yue Rin's vision until it went watery. Tears gathered at the corners of her eyes, and that only seemed to stir something uglier in the men around her.
A group suddenly arrived, their presence forcing space.
"She should be left with us." The leader declared.
The cultivators crowding Yue Rin hesitated, then slowly backed down, cursing under their breath. Still, a few lingered, unwilling to leave empty-handed.
"Do you really think we don't know what sick fantasies you're already spinning Lu Yichen?" One of them retorted.
Lu Yichen's eyes flicked to Yue Rin again, and something softened in his face. The moment he'd seen her, a ridiculous thought had flashed through him, a neat little future where she belonged to him. Carrying his bloodline.
He wanted to claim her today.
Not far away, Han Suyin stepped out of the tent, drawn by the commotion. She didn't know what was happening, but the moment she saw Yue Rin on the ground, her face changed and she stepped forward, only to be suddenly grabbed.
Pei Jinglan caught her arm.
"This is none of our business."
Han Suyin tried to wrench free, telling him to let go, but he only dragged her back toward the tent. Qin Xueyi followed behind them, her face unreadable.
Back near Yue Rin, just before the argument could turn into a fight, a cultivator who had been rummaging through her bag yanked out a spirit herb preservation box before opening it.
His eyes went wide, and an exclamation burst out before he could swallow it.
"This… this is the Dantian Calming Lotus Seed!"
He realized too late he'd said it out loud.
Every gaze snapped to him.
Even the ones who had been posturing over Yue Rin turned their heads.
One cultivator immediately stepped forward, smile sharp. "My companion knows healing techniques. I think this spirit herb could be used as payment."
Another protested at once. "We can treat her too. Why should you get it?"
A third chimed in. "Healing? That's just an excuse. Hand it over!"
The man who'd found it blanched as the atmosphere changed. He stammered, took one step back, then turned and bolted into the forest.
Several cultivators chased after him without hesitation.
The rest realized something else just as quickly.
If she had that, she might have more.
The cultivator who'd offered 'healing techniques' didn't chase. Instead, he strode to Yue Rin's bag, grabbed it, and flipped it upside down, dumping its contents onto the ground.
People swarmed like vultures, their hands snatching anything that looked remotely valuable.
Someone else went straight for Yue Rin instead, yanking at her belt and tugging at her cloak, fingers searching seams and hidden pockets.
Two cultivators found her Qi-replenishing pills at the same time.
They immediately started fighting.
A blade flashed.
Someone stumbled back.
In the chaos, one man slid Yue Rin's sword free and strapped it to his own belt without even blinking. Another scooped up her talismans, only for a third to grab his wrist and try to rip them away.
Cloth tore.
A seam split.
Yue Rin's vision swam. She tried to punch, tried to push bodies off her, but her fists held no strength. It was like swinging through water.
Her fingers jerked toward her belt, searching for her entry token, her only way out.
But it was gone.
One of the men had already pulled the token out. He clutched it like a key, eyes wild, guarding it close to his chest instead of crushing it. The others weren't trying to break it either. They were trying to pry it from his hand, afraid of ruining whatever value it holds.
Yue Rin tried to reach for it anyway.
Her arm barely lifted before it dropped back into the dirt.