Chapter 98 - Playing the Fool (1/2)

At the first ray of dawn, the moon hid back behind the forest while the sun was rising to take its rightful place in the sky. In its shine, the ice on the scourge woman thawed.

The lady opened her eyes and sighed with exhaustion.

“Lady!” A cry of shock came from Zhuo Fan, holding fruits to his bosom as he staggered towards her.

The scourge woman jumped to her feet and waved the leaves to cover the array.

Then she snapped a glare towards Zhuo Fan, “Didn’t I tell you not to wander about? What are you doing here?”

“Uh, lady! You didn’t say anything about going out during the day!” Zhuo Fan acted oblivious to the array beneath him, pointing naively at the sky.

The scourge woman was stunned, then blushed. She rebuked, “If you are to stay in this place, you must remain in your quarters, even through the day. Or I’ll kick you out!”

“Eh?!”

Zhuo Fan shuddered from the heavy injustice that befell him. He hanged his head and walked away with remose. But then he turned to leave the fruits before the woman.

“Lady, I find your complexion to be slightly pale so I picked these this morning, please take them. And thank you for letting me stay.” Zhuo Fan sighed and trod away.

He made himself out to seem as though he was a particularly bleak figure, filled with loneliness who had suffered a dash of injustice.

The woman turned from him to the fruits and her heart softened, picking one up.

Zhuo Fan’s back was towards her but his soul gave him full knowledge of her every move. He let out a devious grin.

So long she picked just one fruit, it proved he had made a breakthrough to her heart. Next, he needed to stick to her for as long as possible to find out the poison that had cursed her.

There’s a fine line between godly medicine and abominable poison. As the Hundred Pill Meeting hadn’t begun yet, he had no clue where to search for rare ingredients. Since he had the time, who knew if he might get something from sticking close to this scourge woman?

[He-he-he, women are the best swindler and, ironically enough, the easiest targets!] Zhuo Fan snickered inside as he slumped away from her sight…

Noon.

The scourge woman was doing her usual routine, sitting upright on a rock, absorbing the sunshine one breath at a time.

A sudden hubbub pierced her ears, disturbing her inner peace. With fire in her eyes, she marched to the source.

She watched a throng of people raving, “Kill him, beat that lousy punk to death…”

She approached doubtfully and witnessed Zhuo Fan wrestling with a stocky 3rd layer Bone Tempering expert.

She shook her head ready to leave, but Zhuo Fan yelled at the top of his lungs, “I won’t let you insult her! She is a good person…”

“Screw you! That scourge woman killed numerous people already and you still dare to take her side?” The stocky man he was fighting against, punctuated his reproval with a slap.

But Zhuo Fan was stubborn as a mule. He was mocked, roughed up, shamed, yet his eyes never lost their will to fight.

“Humph, she’s been living here long since you came barging in. Before then, some people die to god knows what, and you people start slander the lady. Can you even call yourself a man?”

“Hey, this kid is asking for it. Finish him off!”

“Yeah, letting him live will invite disaster upon us. He is just like that scourge woman, wanting to kill us all. But before he kills us, we’ll just have to take him out.”

“Kill, kill…” The crowd began chanting like madmen.

The scourge woman saw this unfold with a shiver as anger started to well up in her eyes.

“Stop!”

A crisp shout rang in their ears, even over the thunderous roars of the mob. They turned in shock then shivered in fear, staggering away.

“It’s the scourge woman! Watch out everyone! Or she’ll infect you if she gets too close!”

In an instant, the people around started to run off. Even that Bone Tempering expert dismounted Zhuo Fan’s prone figure and fled in fear.

The scourge woman walked straight to Zhuo Fan and helped him stand. She only eyed the crowd around them then brought him back to the plagued house.

The mob sighed in relief and wiped their sweat as they watched them go.

“Split the money!”

A sudden shout echoed. The people gathered around again and at the center, was a pile of glittering spirit stones.