Chapter 107: We're All Friends

"So what do we do now?" Flower Face looked at their surroundings, and the situation before them was anything but good.

They had barely mustered the courage to take their first step, only to find themselves stuck at the very first hurdle—the hardest one of all.

Unlike Flower Face's nervousness, Chasing Wind stood before the large tree, his fingers trailing along its trunk as if he were sensing something. It was hard to tell what he was up to.

"What are you doing?" Flower Face stepped forward, craning her neck, trying to figure out what he was up to.

But Chasing Wind only withdrew his hand after a moment, shaking his head with a helpless sigh. "It seems this forest is alive—like it has a life of its own!"

The more he spoke, the more uncanny it became. Flower Face hugged her arms, unable to stop herself from shivering. "Don't you dare scare me! I've always been timid, terrified of death..."

They hadn't even died yet, and already they were seeing ghosts!

But no sooner had she spoken than a flash of silvery light streaked across the sky. Before Flower Face could react, Chasing Wind gripped the hilt of his blade with both hands and swung it heavily against the tree.

In an instant, a visible gash appeared on the trunk.

Flower Face was somewhat taken aback, her eyes widening in sheer disbelief. She couldn't help but cry out, "What are you doing?!"

Her deafening shout only annoyed Chasing Wind. He turned back and glared at her, saying with barely concealed displeasure, "Since this forest is so bizarre, I'll cut down every single tree in it and see how it tries to trap me then!"

"..."

Flower Face was speechless for a moment. She looked at him as if he were some kind of imbecile, asking with an awkward edge to her voice, "Are you serious? How long would that even take? Even if we both lived to have white hair, we still might not be able to cut them all down!"

The trees here were thick and enormous. He could barely handle one, and now he wanted to cut down the whole forest? That would take forever—only an idiot would come up with such a plan.

Indeed, when pushed to the brink, people did things without thinking.

"Do you have a better idea then? I've been studying this place for over two months and found absolutely nothing. What exactly do you expect me to do?!"

Chasing Wind hurled his blade to the ground in frustration, his fury with no outlet, and could only slam his fist hard against the tree trunk beside him.

Yet the massive tree stood perfectly still, shedding only a few withered leaves, which only made it all the more infuriating.

Flower Face stood nearby, feeling rather awkward. She could only venture cautiously, "Alright, let's just wander around a bit. Maybe we'll find a way to break this. Why take it out on a tree?"

Hearing her voice, Chasing Wind turned his head and happened to meet Flower Face's timid, slightly fearful gaze.

Left with no other choice, he could only nod. "Fine, let's go. Though since I met you, I don't exactly expect any good luck to come my way."

What an unpleasant thing to say! Though, to be fair, since he had run into Flower Face, Chasing Wind hadn't had a single peaceful day.

The two walked together, drifting through the forest, feeling as though their surroundings held a strange sense of déjà vu.

After wandering in circles for nearly half an hour, Chasing Wind suddenly stopped in his tracks, staring straight ahead at a thick tree trunk. Two large crosses carved into it with a blade stood out sharply.

"See? We're back here again."

To avoid retracing their steps, they had been marking their trail as they went. But as they say, heaven's cycles always come around—no one escapes fate. And now, after all their wandering, they had returned to where they started.

"Oh no, we're not walking into a ghost maze, are we?!" Flower Face looked as though she might cry. Forgetting all about ladylike composure, she plopped down into a deep crouch, her face filled with the look of utter hopelessness.

Just as she was wallowing in complaints, Chasing Wind's expression suddenly turned tense. His gaze fixed forward, and he whispered urgently, "Quiet! There's something up ahead!"

His words were baffling, but Flower Face quickly raised her head, not daring to mumble another word. She cautiously crept closer to Chasing Wind and whispered, "Don't you dare scare me!"

Whether it was the scheming Green Willow or some ferocious beast, either way, neither was on her list of pleasant encounters.

"How would I know?" Chasing Wind shot her a look of disdain, his face full of arrogance. Still, he drew the sword at his side, ready to defend.

The two found a spot and hid themselves carefully.

At that moment, Jun Yeli and his companions were still following Green Willow's lead, wandering aimlessly through the jungle in circles.

After going around and around, one of them grew drowsy and couldn't help complaining, "What kind of godforsaken place is this? There's not even a single person around. Feels like we're just going in circles!"

"Hmph, this forest has no set path to begin with. And with all these trees of varying thickness, it's enough to fool a person's eyes and make them forget which way they came. All you need to do is follow me closely."

Green Willow spoke with conviction, though in truth she too had been winding around the forest aimlessly, secretly leaving marks along the way so she wouldn't get truly lost.

What she didn't know was that Jun Yeli had been quietly taking note of her marks, memorizing them all along.

As the group pressed forward, Chasing Wind and Flower Face spotted their movements from a distance and were taken completely by surprise.

"That woman—she's the first person I saw when I woke up! She's the one who kidnapped me and brought me here. She knows me!"

Flower Face pointed at Green Willow excitedly, nearly tumbling out of the tree in her agitation. Beside her, Chasing Wind was getting dizzy from her shaking.

"That's enough. If you keep shaking like that, we're both going to get exposed. What then if those bad people catch us?"

With no idea of the enemy's true strength, acting rashly would only hurt them.

Hearing this, Flower Face begrudgingly quieted down, but her heart was still pounding. Suddenly, an idea struck her. "Since that woman is the one who brought me to this godforsaken place, do you think she might know the way out? Have you ever seen her here before?"

"No. But you've got a point. Maybe these people do know the way out—and now they're coming to hunt you down."

After all, Flower Face's arrival here was highly suspicious.

That made sense, and Flower Face's nerves tensed again. She shrank back timidly. "You have to protect me, alright? We've been through hardship together, after all!"

"When?"

Chasing Wind's memory was infuriatingly short. Flower Face had to patiently remind him. "That time with the wolf pack! Even if you don't acknowledge it, I think you saved my life. That makes us friends, at least in some small way. Saving me wouldn't be asking too much!"

Driven by a powerful will to survive, Flower Face was willing to throw all dignity to the wind.