Low Mountains and Stinky Waters Meet Their Soulmate

“Shi Bei?”

Mu Xi curled her lip disdainfully. “What a lousy name. Totally not as good as mine.”

“Hajixi, you little…”

Ye Shu’s mouth twitched. He had no idea who taught this girl, but she had absolutely no manners. Whoever taught her the ways of the world was definitely no good bird—probably a beast himself.

Thinking this, he felt a bit better.

“Alright, since I’m in a good mood, I won’t argue with you. Get lost now, don’t mess up my big plan.”

Ye Shu waved his hand as if shooing a fly.

With that, he draped his hemp cloak back on, cradled the dead twig disguised as a World Tree sapling in his hands, and stared at it left and right like a fool who had gotten a treasure but couldn’t stuff it into his pants.

Mu Xi was dumbfounded.

So this guy actually had the same idea she did.

“Hmph, what a rotten jerk,” she muttered.

She spat, then straightened her hemp clothes, grabbed a handful of yellow dirt from the ground and smeared it on herself, tied her headscarf, raised her sacred herb again, and walked off in the completely opposite direction.

The two went their separate ways.

Yellow dust everywhere, each heading their own path.

After walking a bit, Ye Shu’s brow remained furrowed.

The reason he had let that cheating village girl go was because the karma doll above his head had moved. There was a thread of karma between the two of them.

Yet he had clearly only met her for the first time.

Could someone be in disguise?

Ye Shu murmured to himself.

But in his mind, he could not recall anyone matching this woman’s personality.

He calmed his heart, and the little figure atop his head suddenly opened its eyes.

A red thread drifted from Ye Shu’s right wrist, stretching far into the direction where Mu Xi had disappeared, faint and glimmering.

Ye Shu reached out and gently plucked the thread.

The red thread let out a soft, trembling hum.

The karma doll sat cross-legged on his head, eyes lightly closed, tiny hands forming a pill-holding gesture, listening closely.

“What a strange karma.”

Ye Shu opened his eyes, staring oddly in the direction Mu Xi had gone: “What does it mean—‘half a debt owed, close yet distant’?”

“What the hell kind of karma is that?”

“Close yet distant?”

It meant this woman’s identity was closely tied to his, yet they had little actual interaction.

It was a paradox!

Ye Shu sat on a tree stump and thought it over until the moon set and the sun rose before slowly standing up.

“Forget it, if I can’t figure it out, I won’t overthink.”

He patted the dust off his backside. “I’d better focus on what’s in front of me first.”

He picked up the World Tree again and continued his costume-play scheme.

But he walked straight for three days and three nights without meeting a single person, as if everyone on the map had turned invisible. Ye Shu came up empty every time.

He even started to wonder if fate had rigged it against him.

Until…

“You… what do you want?”

A familiar voice, a familiar scene—Ye Shu pushed through a bush and saw ahead in a clearing a plainly dressed girl with a floral headscarf, surrounded by three or four people. She clutched a glowing herb tightly in her arms, panic written all over her face.

“……”

Seriously, what does this mean?

Hiding in the grass, Ye Shu was stunned.

How come after half a year of wandering, he couldn’t find anyone, but this village girl kept running into prey every few days?

Was he not acting “country bumpkin” enough?

Ye Shu glanced down at himself—no, his outfit was almost the same as hers.

Damn! Fate must be messing with him.

Looking at the disciple robes those fellows wore, Ye Shu’s eyes turned green with jealousy.

Damn it… why?

Was the gap between people really that wide?

“Wait!”

Watching Mu Xi now surrounded, something clicked in Ye Shu’s mind.

Why couldn’t he hijack her situation?

Exactly!

As a righteous passerby, seeing someone trapped—shouldn’t he step in to defend justice? That made total sense, right?

The more he thought about it, the more right it felt.

With that thought, he didn’t hesitate. Leaping out from behind the bush, he shouted loudly, “Leave that girl alone!”

At this, the scene fell into silence.

Everyone turned to look at the uninvited guest.

“Him?” Mu Xi froze. This awful sense of déjà vu.

“What are you doing here again?”

“Don’t be afraid, kid,” Ye Shu said, his face full of righteousness as he sternly declared, “As long as I’m here, no one can do any wrong!”

What the hell are you even saying?

Mu Xi was completely lost.

Before she could react, Ye Shu’s figure vanished in an instant, followed by a series of thuds—bam, bam, bam!

The disciples surrounding her all collapsed.

Whoosh! Ye Shu swept past like a gust of wind. By the time Mu Xi came to her senses, all she saw was his cool retreating figure, with every finger loaded with storage rings.

“No need to thank me. It’s all part of the job.”

“My name is—Honglingjin.”

Whoosh.

A breeze stirred the dry leaves, swirling in front of Mu Xi.

She finally snapped back to reality, staring blankly at the fallen disciples and their stripped-down state—down to nothing but their underwear. She muttered under her breath.

“Did… did I just get robbed?”

Then came a piercing shriek.

“Shi Bei!!!”

“I’ll f your mother!!!!”

Meanwhile, far away, Ye Shu was counting the storage rings in his hands. Hearing the shouting behind him, he couldn’t help but grin. “Heh heh, looks like my kindness has won her over.”

He was about to leave when he suddenly stopped.

“Hiss—”

“Why would I leave? That silly girl looks so easy to bully, and she’s tied to my karma. How could I just let her get picked on?”

“I have to protect her from the shadows!”

“That’s right, protect her!”

Standing in the sunlight, Ye Shu nodded with a face full of righteous conviction, as if he truly was guarding the justice in his heart.

So he circled back quietly, tailing Mu Xi from a distance.

Mu Xi, completely unaware, angrily kicked the fallen men a few more times. Not satisfied, she searched them again, but still came up empty, so she turned and headed in another direction.

Every time she ran into someone, Ye Shu would appear at just the right moment to fiercely “protect” her—while picking up a little protection fee—then swagger off, leaving her only his back.

After a few rounds, Mu Xi finally had enough.

She stopped walking altogether, sat down on a stump, and did nothing.

That got to Ye Shu. This was his money tree, after all.

He jumped out of the bushes immediately, strode up to her, and put on his most caring smile: “Why aren’t you walking? Tired?”

Mu Xi glanced at him, turned away, and said nothing.

“Hey, don’t be mad. Don’t be so petty!” Ye Shu chuckled, squatting down next to her.

Then he noticed her eyes were red-rimmed. She stared at him without blinking, lips pressed tight, as if she might burst into tears any second.

Tch, he’d pushed the girl too far.

Ye Shu scratched his head, looking a bit embarrassed as he asked, "How about... we split it fifty-fifty?"

The moment these words were spoken, Mu Xi's eyes lit up instantly.

A faint smile tugged at the corner of her lips, but she still pretended to be nonchalant as she held up four fingers. "Sixty-forty. I get sixty, you get forty."

Ye Shu: "..."

This little girl sure knew how to bargain.

"Fine."