Su Jiu quickly took out a few herbs from the cloth bag, crushed them to extract the juice, asked Ye Wenxue for a wood-chopping knife, and used the intact leaves to apply the herbal juice to the blade.
He handed the wood-chopping knife back and whispered:
"A small cut can be fatal."
Ye Wenxue caught a whiff of blood. She blinked, still having the leisure to scrutinize Su Jiu's entire body:
"You're quite the hidden talent, Dr. Su."
Su Jiu was helpless and did not want to explain, so he only said, "Concentrate, someone is coming, and there is more than one."
Ye Wenxue knew this person wasn't as simple as she thought.
If you don't have the skills to survive, who would dare to live in seclusion in the dangerous deep mountains and forests?
Considering that this person hadn't harmed her during their two meetings, Ye Wenxue stopped asking questions and cautiously peeked out halfway to look at where the arrow had come from.
The two who shot the arrows were clearly experienced and had changed locations early on, making it impossible for Ye Wenxue to pinpoint their exact location.
At this moment, a voice spoke softly:
"Stop hiding, we've been following you all the way here, we know where you're hiding."
Ye Wenxue glanced at Su Jiu, who was dressed in white.
Su Jiu closed his eyes, staggered out, and leaned against the mountain wall in terror: "What, what do you want to do?"
The man who spoke slowly walked to the foot of the high ground, craned his neck to look at Su Jiu, and pointed with a grin at the wild boar that Ye Wenxue had killed:
"Brothers, I haven't eaten meat in a long time. I want this wild boar. You guys don't have any objections, right?"
Su Jiu said coldly, "With your skills, shooting down a wild boar is no problem."
He didn't believe the visitor's purpose was so simple—that they would do something that offended people for no reason.
The newcomer picked up the bow and flicked the string lightly: "I've got my eye on this strong one, so just tell me, are you giving it to me or not..."
While he was distracting her, Ye Wenxue kept scanning her surroundings with her eyes fixed on him.
A moment later, her gaze paused, and she spotted another person crouching in a tree a dozen meters away, eyes half-closed, bowstring pulled back to its limit.
Clearly, the man was aiming at her, waiting for Ye Wenxue, who had slipped out of his blind spot, to peek out and shoot her.
Still not entirely convinced, Ye Wenxue looked around several more times, and after seeing only two people, she whispered a hint to Su Jiu.
"In the upper left corner, next to the tree that was charred by lightning, it looks like someone intended to kill someone."
Su Jiu's heart skipped a beat, and he almost instantly realized who had sent these two people.
He remained expressionless and continued to deal with the people below:
"You saw it yourself, I didn't kill this wild boar. Whether I get it or not isn't up to me. Why don't you come up here and talk to her about it?"
The man said expressionlessly, "Do you think I'm stupid? Behave yourselves. If you don't want to die, get down here."
Su Jiu nodded in alarm, then turned and raised her voice to persuade Ye Wenxue:
"They just want wild boar meat, we'll give it to them. As long as they live, they won't go hungry, right?"
He mouthed: Kill them all.
Ye Wenxue blinked, indicating that she understood, and said, "No, I haven't eaten meat for months... If he wants wild boar meat, he can, but he'll have to buy it with silver!"
He secretly gripped the wood-chopping knife coated with deadly poison.
Su Jiu was caught in a dilemma. He tried to persuade Ye Wenxue several times, but she wouldn't budge. He had no choice but to slowly climb to the edge of the high ground and bow to the man.
"She absolutely refuses to budge, insisting on three taels of silver. You see..."
The man laughed angrily, "Three taels of silver?"
He was blatantly robbing someone, and this guy still dared to ask him for money? Wasn't he just asking for death?
The man below the hill glanced back, a troubled look on his face. He looked at the hundred-pound wild boar meat and gritted his teeth:
"Fine, but I don't trust her, and I don't trust you either. You two come down here, and it's money in one hand and meat in the other!"
Su Jiu had no choice but to go back and discuss it with others.
After a few breaths, his tone became somewhat excited:
"She agreed, but on one condition: you have to put down your bow and arrows, otherwise we won't feel at ease."
Considering that he had a skilled archer companion in the distance, the man agreed without much thought.
He put down his bow from a distance and took out his quiver, but he didn't discard the dagger and short sword on his body.
At Su Jiu's urging, Ye Wenxue used the tree trunk as cover to avoid the archers hiding in the tree and quickly jumped down from the high ground.
In that brief moment, the bowstring was drawn taut, and an arrow was released.
Ye Wenxue immediately rolled away to dodge the attack, landed on the ground and rolled once, blocked the dagger with a single strike, and then twisted her wrist to slash the person.
The poison applied to the cut took effect quickly.
The man collapsed to the ground with a thud.
Ye Wenxue turned around and glanced at Su Jiu, who was hiding, and couldn't help but roll her eyes.
She quickly stepped forward, picked up the bow and arrows the man had laid down, and fired several arrows in succession, deflecting the oncoming stray arrows.
The person hiding in the tree realized that she was not easy to deal with, so they decisively moved through the trees and tried to escape on the spot.
Ye Wenxue looked up and quickly followed.
Su Jiu waited for a while, but no attack came, so he realized that there were probably only two people coming.
He climbed down the tree trunk to the high ground, rummaged through the body of the fallen man and found daggers, short knives, and hidden weapons... He armed himself with all of these, then gritted his teeth and dragged the wild boar after him.
When he caught up with her by following the trail, Ye Wenxue was slowly polishing her bow, her eyes full of admiration.
Su Jiu could even glean a few words from her expression: This bow and arrow is good, I want it.
"..." Su Jiu put down the wild boar, kicked the carcass on the ground, and solemnly stepped forward, "You saved my life twice, I can never repay your kindness..."
"No, just give me the money."
Su Jiu choked and took out the only silver he had.
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