Chapter Fifty: Miss Song

Right away, Ye Xi prepared to mount her horse and, accompanied by Shui Rouqin—who was similarly disguised in men's attire—set off into the mountains alongside the simple mountain folk toward their ultimate destination: the Valley of the Medicine King.

"Young Master Ye, wait for me!"

A crisp, melodious voice suddenly rang out, followed closely by a youthful maiden with a slightly naive expression, who bounced into Ye Xi's field of vision.

A faint look of helplessness could not help but surface on Ye Xi's face.

"Lady Song, the place Ye is heading to is extremely dangerous and not suitable for a delicate woman like you to follow."

Ye Xi felt utterly helpless. She had never expected that in this world devoid of her grandfather, Ye Xiaotian, she would actually run into Song Yiyi, whom her grandfather had mentioned repeatedly in his journals.

The other's overly familiar personality made it easy for her to strike up a bond, much like how she had first met her grandfather in reality.

"Who says I'm delicate?" Song Yiyi unconvincingly patted her yet-to-bud chest. "This mountain forest is fraught with unpredictable dangers; Young Master Ye, you must be careful. If you encounter any danger, I shall protect you."

*(As expected, this eldest young lady of the Shuidong Song clan is just as clingy as grandfather said.)*

After entering the mountain forest, Song Yiyi, who stubbornly clung right behind Ye Xi, continued to chatter incessantly:

"Young Master Ye, do you think this pearl of mine is big?"

"Among you Han people, someone as handsome and knowledgeable as Young Master Ye must be very rare, right?"

"Young Master Ye, if I follow you like this, will your wife get angry?"

Ye Xi could no longer hold it in: "I don't have a wife."

Song Yiyi's eyes instantly lit up.

Ye Xi massaged her temples.

At this moment, Ye Xi couldn't help but suspect whether this "companion," whom her grandfather had praised with such passionate enthusiasm in his journals, harbored certain romantic feelings for him. After all, although Ye Xi was of mixed heritage, her appearance somewhat resembled the Heavenly King Ye. Especially after changing into men's attire, she possessed quite the demeanor of the Heavenly King Ye returned to life. With Song Yiyi being so infatuated with Ye Xi, it was hard not to suspect whether she had been equally infatuated with the Heavenly King Ye back in the day.

Unfortunately, this Miss Song was destined for unrequited love. More than once, Ye Xi had seen bizarre remarks in Ye Xiaotian's journals, such as "My greatest wish in my past life was to marry a Russian beauty."

As a side note, Ye Xi's Elven-blooded mother came from northern Europe, which was indeed quite close to Russia. The Heavenly King Ye had fully supported his son's romance, presumably wishing to fulfill his own dream through his son.

Yet Song Yiyi, with her infantile facial features, clearly fell slightly outside the Heavenly King Ye's aesthetic boundaries. In the Heavenly King Ye's heart, she seemed to merely be a little brother whose gender happened to be female.

Furthermore, her own inner pride also made Ye Xi want to keep her distance from Song Yiyi.

Admittedly, Song Yiyi was the eldest young lady of the Shuidong Song clan, as well as the sole legitimate daughter of the main branch of this generation, meaning she was lavished with affection from all sides. If she could utilize Song Yiyi's favorable impression of her, it would undoubtedly provide enormous assistance to the upcoming campaign to overthrow Yang Yinglong.

However, Ye Xi did not need that kind of victory.

Perhaps the former Ye Xiaotian had felt the exact same way. Before entering the Valley of the Medicine King, he had had every opportunity to latch onto the Song clan to acquire the power to stop Yang Yinglong, yet he had preferred to undergo the trials of the Valley of the Medicine King, enduring a narrow brush with death before finally passing the test and becoming the Medicine King.

As the group ventured deeper, the light gradually grew dim. The occasional low calls of unknown birds and beasts echoed, and the shadows of the trees looked pitch-black, appearing somewhat eerie.

The dense branches and foliage also forced everyone to dismount and proceed on foot.

This very scene caused Song Yiyi, who had previously made such grand boasts, to grow tense in expression. She pursed her lips, wanting to reach out and grab Ye Xi, only for Ye Xi to nimbly dodge away.

Shui Rouqin found this quite amusing, thinking to herself: *People of this previous dynasty who have never experienced the upheaval of heaven and earth are truly such cowards.*

To Shui Rouqin, who hailed from the world after the upheaval of heaven and earth, such a "clean" forest was simply a vacation resort.

Right at that moment, through the mottled shadows of the trees, Ye Xi spotted countless figures converging on the group from all directions.

These figures clearly possessed long-term cooperative experience; working in tacit coordination, they rapidly surrounded Ye Xi, Shui Rouqin, Song Yiyi, and the simple mountain peasant.

The simple peasant shouted loudly, "Brothers of the Valley of the Medicine King, do not be alarmed, these are all guests I have invited."

As he spoke, he walked toward those figures.

Song Yiyi had previously been so nervous that her heart was practically in her throat, but seeing that this peasant was acquainted with these people and that they seemed to be arriving at their destination, she couldn't help but exhale in relief.

Yet she saw Young Master Ye suddenly draw a bow and notch an arrow, and amid Song Yiyi's astonished gaze, loose the arrow, which pierced with infallible precision clean through the simple peasant's back.

For a moment, Song Yiyi's eyes held a dazed confusion.

Shui Rouqin kindly explained, "Those people are not from the Valley of the Medicine King. This peasant is in league with them."

Song Yiyi wore an expression of sudden realization: "So that's how it is! Not only is Young Master Ye handsome and knowledgeable, but at the critical moment, you are also so resolute in your killing."

Just as Song Yiyi was speaking, she saw Ye Xi already draw a short sword and plunge into battle with those figures.

Do not be fooled into thinking Ye Xi was merely an archer; the truth was that most archers lacked proficiency in close combat simply because they had never practiced it. In reality, archers often possessed tremendous arm strength, and an archer well-trained in close quarters could be considered a killing machine on a blade-to-blade battlefield.

Moreover, the forest environment was naturally the Elven race's home turf.

Years for the saber, months for the club, a lifetime for the spear. For a marksman who needed to devote the vast majority of their energy to practicing archery, swords were easier to master than long spears. Furthermore, the advantage of a spear's reach actually required open, flat ground to be fully realized.

Those ill-intentioned uninvited guests quickly and sorrowfully discovered that if the battlefield had been flat terrain, they might still have prevailed through sheer numbers, yet by choosing this mountain forest—which they foolishly believed to be advantageous—they had instead turned themselves into mice toyed with by a cat.

During this process, Song Yiyi, eager to prove herself, had singled out whom she deemed to be the strongest opponent, and the two began exchanging blows back and forth.

It was evident that Song Yiyi possessed considerable raw physical strength; clearly, as the sole legitimate daughter of the main branch of this generation, she had truly received sparing no expense in her cultivation. Yet her moves were entirely devoid of method, and against an opponent far weaker than her, she fought to a standstill.

Clearly both sides possessed decent strength, yet due to Song Yiyi's clumsy form, it turned into the comical spectacle of two incompetent fighters pecking at each other.

However, the sheer magnitude of Song Yiyi's strength genuinely exceeded Ye Xi's expectations. She had never before witnessed a girl with greater pure arm strength than herself; even her good sister An Miaotong fell far short by comparison, for although An Miaotong excelled in close combat, she won through technique.

As Ye Xi ruthlessly reaped the lives of the enemy, seeing Song Yiyi's clumsy moves, she called out to her: "Don't clash techniques with him, just use brute force to overwhelm him!"

"Oh, okay!" Song Yiyi obediently discarded her priceless, yet cumbersome, ceremonial sword, and instead swung her delicate fists, raining blows down upon her opponent's head and face.

Five minutes later, Ye Xi consecutively loosed two arrows. One struck a fleeing assassin in the heel, causing him to tumble to the ground, while the second pinned the palm he used to steady himself firmly to the earth.

Her customary precision control.

By this time, not a single standing assassin remained on the field. The assassin pinned to the ground was precisely the live captive Ye Xi had deliberately spared.

Of course, this excluded the pathetic wretch who was still being chased everywhere by Song Yiyi. Here lay an obvious, glaring fact: the two were evenly matched opponents, and fighting up to this point, neither had managed to decide the victory.

Nevertheless, Song Yiyi's peripheral vision still caught Ye Xi's transformation.

Young Master Ye's hair had turned a translucent, glowing emerald, and her eyes flashed with the deep blue of the ocean.

"Hey, Young Master Ye, what's going on with you? You've become even prettier?"

Naturally, Ye Xi could hardly explain that she carried half-elven blood, so she could only reply, "It's due to a special cultivation technique. In ancient times, wasn't there the Lion King with the Golden Mane? However, my technique only takes effect during combat."

With an "Oh," Song Yiyi accepted Ye Xi's explanation.