When Lin Xun arrived at Feiyun Village with the little girl on his back, there were a group of people at the entrance, full of suspicions and fears.
Seeing him, they came up hurriedly with beaming faces.
According to the village head Shiao Tianren, the fight which occurred miles away previously was so formidable like landslide and tsunami that all villagers were alarmed.
Fortunately, the village sat too remote to be affected.
"What happened?"
Shiao Tianren asked anxiously.
"Beast rampage."
Pondering for a while, Lin Xun chose to not tell the truth as the fact that two strong practitioners at the realm of Sea Spirit fought there was too shocking. It was better for the villagers to not know about it.
Right after that, Lin Xun continued, "Uncle Shiao, I saw many animals in the forest were dead when I returned. It will be an unexpected bonus."
Shiao Tianren's eyes brightened. It was really a good news. If they could collect enough animal meats, the villagers would have delicious foods; if they could gather some furs and bones, they would even exchange them for a big fortune.
Without hesitation, Shiao Tianren with dozens of strong villagers headed towards the forest.
In the midst of all the hustle and bustle, nobody asked where the little girl on his back came from…
Getting back home, Lin Xun put down the little girl on the bed gently and covered her with quilt. Then he wiped off the dust on her face.
With tranquil breaths, a beautiful and picturesque face with bright and spotless skin like mutton-fat jade showed up, which shocked Lin Xun totally.
She was…utterly beautiful!
At the age of only five or six, the beauty outlined with each feature on her face was like a lotus in the misty rain, overshadowing everything else in the world.
Even Lin Xun who was hard to be affected felt amazed and touched. After a long while, he murmured, "So beautiful at this age, then what will you look like when you grow up? You must be a peerless beauty like Helen."
The little girl was full of mysteries, and she should not be a resident of Ziyao Empire judging from the obscure words she spoke and the hide skirt she wore.
Above all, there was a mighty power in her young and slender body, even though she was only five or six years old.
He would never forget the girl carried him like a chicken in the forest before he could respond.
How could a normal girl do that?
What's more, Lin Xun dimly perceived that the Voodoo-barbarian intended to kill the little girl instead of him in the unexpected fight just now.
Why did a practitioner at the realm of Sea Spirit want to kill such a little girl?
It remained as a puzzle for Lin Xun.
All in all, the girl in sweet dreams now must have many secrets.
"Forget it. It has nothing to do with me. Why do I bother thinking about it?"
Shaking his head while leaving the room, Lin Xun then went to the kitchen directly.
…
The girl was dreaming. There were earth-shaking noises due to fighting, mixed with painful roaring, and she was running about madly with anger, helplessness and hesitation. She didn't know the destination, but she was sure if she stopped, death would fall on her.
After a long while, the little girl seemed to perceive something and turned around, then what she saw was devastating.
A black bear more than 30 meters high fell down on the ground with a loud bang, and never stood up again. In front of it, there was a strong and muscular man glowing with golden light all over his body.
Why?
Why did it go like this?
With a pain beyond expression, the little girl could not help but crying out.
However, at that moment, she felt a palm wiping off her tears. The touch of the palm was like mother's hug, making her frightened and painful heart calm down.
She wanted to turn around and find out whom it belonged to, but then she waked up.
With open eyes, she saw a delicate face with a pair of clear eyes on it, full of mercy and warmth.
She recognized this face and remembered the smell of this person which made her feel delighted and comfortable.
She had sensed the same breath the day she killed the lava wolf, but it was not as clear as today.
"You are awake."
Seeing the girl wake up, Lin Xun smiled and brought a bowl of porridge made with spiritual grains to her and said, "Have something first."
The girl stared at Lin Xun blankly and then looked at the hot porridge with clean aroma. Suddenly, she felt she was hungry.
Sitting up and taking over the bowl, she gulped down the porridge in a wink.
Then she raised her head and looked at Lin Xun with clear and bright eyes.
"Do you want more?"
Lin Xun was a little shocked and then filled the bowl again.
The girl did not hesitate and ate it up quickly again.
Lin Xun widened his eyes and wondered how this little girl could eat so much.
Well, it turned out there was nothing wrong with her at least.
So Lin Xun brought the whole pot and watched the girl eating one bowl after another without a break. The smile at the corners of his mouth disappeared – how could she eat so much?
After a while, a pot of porridge made with spiritual grains was eaten up. The girl licked her lips as if she hadn’t eaten enough and babbled something toward Lin Xun.
He could not understand it although he tried to figure out by her expression what this beautiful foodie were talking about.
"Have a good rest and you're welcome."
After cleaning up the bowls and dishes, Lin Xun walked out of the room. Looking at the dark sky, he was a little worried – where were the girl's parents and why they left her at the deep mountains so heartlessly?
If she was to live with him, they would definitely need much more food.
However, Shiao Tianren came to Lin Xun with good news soon.
Before the night came, Shiao Tianren and his people returned with piles of dead huge monsters like snow-spotted leopard, sinomenium acutum python, blood thorn wild boar, and even a rare iron beak pheasant.
There were more than ten monsters in total which were then moved into Lin Xun's yard by a group of strong villagers who were sweating profusely.
Excitement and high spirit were shown directly on Shiao Tianren's face. Before Lin Xun asked, he waved his hands and said, "See what you need and take as much as you like. We will go over again before it's totally dark. It's unexpected to pick up so many preys. God bless us."
Without hesitation, Shiao Tianren left with the villagers happily. All were rubbing their hands and ready to get to work eagerly.
Lin Xun was speechless and rushed to the gate quickly, seeing not only the previous group, but also women and kids who were following them and leaving the village with torch in hands.
Were it not for the little girl who needed to be taken care of, Lin Xun would definitely join them.
When he returned the yard, Lin Xun was delighted to see so many dead monsters because of the unexpected calamity. He didn’t have to be worried about foods any more.
…
Over the next few days, all villagers were running about between the deep mountains and Feiyun Village, bring back many preys like celebrating a festival.
However, most of the preys were wild animals and beasts, only with few monsters.
Even though, it was impressive to see the dead monsters piling up like a mountain in Lin Xun's yard.
The wild animals and beasts were distributed among households by Shiao Tainren, as they were not much use to Lin Xun.
Meanwhile, Shiao Tianren and all other villagers knew there was a little girl living with Lin Xun. They didn't say anything about it, but each time they saw her beautiful and perfect face, they would be shocked.
Even Shiao Tianren was no exception.
As for the kids in the village, they would be dumb, as silly as a toad when seeing her. It was really comical to see that. Although they planned to play with the girl, they cowered at the end as if afraid of profaning her beauty.
Lin Xun felt funny about it, but also worried. Sometimes too beautiful meant unapproachable.
Finally, Lin Xun requested Aunt Qiao to make a hooded hide cloak for the girl to cover up her beautiful face, which made Lin Xun feel a little relieved.
There was still a puzzle for Lin Xun as the girl was very odd. She liked to be close to him, but would be reluctant to connect with anyone else.
And he found that when the girl looked at others, there were indifference and alienation in her calm eyes, which would disappear only when she saw him.
Why?
Lin Xun could not figure it out.
However, Lin Xun got the girl's name within a couple of days.
Shia Zhi.
A really special name.
However, there was no more information about her. He could do nothing about it since they couldn't communicate effectively with different languages.
However, Lin Xun was surprised to find that Shia Zhi could understand what he said within just a few days; she could even speak some easy words.
It proved the girl got quite a clever mind too, which was in no way inferior to her beautiful face.
As an orphan, Lin Xun already took the lonely Shia Zhi as his little sister in the heart.
Another three days passed. Villagers could not find more preys in the deep mountains, so they stopped the vigorous "mopping-up action".
At that moment, the number of dead monsters in Lin Xun's yard reached nearly thirty.
He was not at ease and had been occupied with dissecting the monsters these days since if not handled properly, the corpses would stink which would be a huge loss.
Shia Zhi, meanwhile, sat by his side silently and watched Lin Xun intently, as if there was only one person in her world.