NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 29:
Chapter 29: That’s Clearly… A Man’s Face!:
Lu Chen admitted that he hadn’t lived for too long, but he had seen his fair share of beauties. However, this was the first time he had encountered a woman so full of herself.
He didn’t say anything, and the two of them remained locked in a standoff.
In the end, it was the woman who gave in.
“What do you want? Just tell me. As long as I have it, I will fulfill your request.”
A faint smile appeared on Lu Chen’s face.
The woman immediately became tense again.
“I’ve already made myself clear—I don’t need money, and I certainly don’t need a burden.”
The woman was stunned, her expression filled with disbelief.
“I was just asking you for help, how does that make me a burden?”
“I’ve been bitten by a snake, and I can’t detoxify myself right now. But once I recover, I won’t be as weak as you think.”
“And besides, you haven’t even asked how much I’d pay you. How can you be so sure you’re not tempted?”
Lu Chen shook his head.
This woman was truly a headache.
Pointing toward the southwest, Lu Chen spoke in a calm tone.
“Follow this direction, and you won’t run into that so-called ghostly maze.”
“But I’m still poisoned. What do I do about that?”
Lu Chen froze for a moment.
Was she trying to latch onto him?
The woman seemed to have made up her mind. She bit her lip and finally named what she thought was a generous reward.
“If you take me out of this forest, I’ll give you a thousand spirit stones as payment.”
Lu Chen shook his head. “Too little.”
The woman gasped in shock.
“Just now, you claimed you weren’t interested in money, and now you’re demanding more? You—”
“You’re so materialistic, valuing money over your own life.”
“Then how much do you want?”
“Three thousand.”
Lu Chen raised three fingers, his expression unwavering.
The woman clenched her teeth.
She looked at the darkening sky, hesitated for a moment, then reluctantly agreed through gritted teeth.
“Fine! Three thousand it is!”
“Top-grade spirit stones.”
The woman’s eyes widened in disbelief.
Three thousand spirit stones were already a steep price, and now he wanted top-grade ones?!
She wanted to refuse, but after considering how far she still had to travel—and the thick mist that occasionally shrouded the forest—she begrudgingly gave in.
The man’s words may have been cutting, but they weren’t wrong.
Life was more valuable than money.
Right in front of Lu Chen, the woman opened the spatial pouch at her waist and reluctantly pulled out the spirit stones.
Lu Chen’s heart skipped a beat.
Three thousand top-grade spirit stones… He had struck gold!
More importantly, keeping this woman around would help him figure out why she was following him.
Truth be told, even without the spirit stones, he wouldn’t have let her go.
He had just been playing hard to get—and she had walked right into it.
Lu Chen suppressed the grin threatening to spread across his face.
The brilliant glow of top-grade spirit stones filled the cave, their soft radiance mesmerizing.
With a gracious nod, Lu Chen accepted them and stored them in his own pouch.
At that moment, he thought he saw Xuan Mo glance at him sideways.
Had the little creature figured out his plan?
Spirit stones were categorized by quality. Low-grade ones contained thin spiritual energy, making them almost useless.
In contrast, one top-grade spirit stone could overpower hundreds of ordinary ones.
These three thousand would sustain him for quite some time.
Lu Chen pondered this as he absentmindedly stored the pouch away, failing to notice the woman’s worsening condition.
Her face had flushed red, and her breathing grew shallow.
Then, without warning—she collapsed.
Hearing the sound, Lu Chen immediately snapped out of his thoughts.
Wait… hadn’t she mentioned being poisoned by a snake?
She never said she had already detoxified herself—just that she hadn’t been able to!
“Since I’ve already taken the payment, I might as well follow through.”
Saying this, Lu Chen knelt down and propped her up, swiftly pressing several acupuncture points along her back to safeguard her vital energy.
Then, he began examining the bite wound.
It was located on her ankle.
Opening his spatial pouch, Lu Chen took out a small, white porcelain bottle shaped like a gourd.
As soon as he uncorked it, a faint medicinal fragrance filled the air.
Glancing at her wound, he carefully tilted the bottle and lightly tapped its opening with his finger.
A fine, brown medicinal powder sprinkled out, covering the snake bite completely.
Only then did Lu Chen stop.
The Mystic Spirit Holy Sect did distribute antidotes for snake venom, but Lu Chen had always given his share away to other disciples.
After all, he rarely left the sect—what were the chances of getting bitten?
Instead of hoarding medicine, he had chosen to let others use it.
But now, his perspective had changed.
The mountains were teeming with venomous creatures, and the medicines he had looted from those treasure-hunters were limited.
Every use was one less antidote for later.
After sealing the bottle, Lu Chen finally turned his gaze to the woman’s face.
The flush on her cheeks was already fading—the antidote was working.
She would wake up soon.
As he inspected the wound again, Lu Chen suddenly froze.
Her face may have been ordinary, but…
Why were her feet so big?
Before he could think further, the woman let out a faint groan and stirred awake.
She first murmured softly, then slowly opened her eyes.
“Did I… pass out?”
“The poison flared up. You fainted, but it’s gone now. There’s no need to worry.”
Lu Chen’s tone was calm, completely indifferent.
The woman didn’t say anything, merely glanced at her wound before lifting her other leg and crossing it over.
That rough, ungraceful posture was utterly unladylike.
Lu Chen’s mind flashed back to the three thousand spirit stones, then back to the woman in front of him.
With great effort, he turned his head away.
His only task was to escort her out of the forest. Once they left, they would go their separate ways.
“I didn’t expect you to actually save me,” she said suddenly. “I thought you’d take the spirit stones and leave me behind, since I’m a burden.”
Lu Chen replied matter-of-factly, “I accepted your payment. Naturally, I wouldn’t break my word.”
Hearing this, the woman visibly flinched.
She then turned away, as if trying to hide something.
Lu Chen hadn’t examined her closely before, but even with his peripheral vision, he noticed her raising her arms to her face.
A few moments later, she stood up.
She still swayed slightly, but her condition was significantly improved.
Then—she turned around.
Lu Chen’s eyes widened in shock.
What… was going on?
The person in front of him sniffed once, looking sheepish.
That was clearly… a man’s face!
Lu Chen couldn’t help but blurt out, “You… look way too rough!”
The man clicked his tongue and smirked.
“Take a good look, brother. I’m a man!”
Lu Chen nearly fell over.
“If you’re a man… why the hell are you dressed so flamboyantly?! And why were you pretending to be a woman?!”
His eyes were about to pop out of his skull!