In the next moment, he appeared at the top of the tree he was resting against earlier. His movement made the two on guard stand up and rush to wake everyone else.

He looked around. He was impressed. It was actually a tree house. One would not be able to tell that it was if they looked up at it from the bottom. He toured the well-maintained small room. My past-time escaped. He was not upset though because he was confident in catching the person.

He caught sight of some garments being hung up to dry and his eyes widened in realisation. The person's a woman! How interesting! His interest in the mysterious person increased. He closed his eyes to try and sense the fluctuation from before and looked for the person's presence.

When BaoBao alerted Xinyi that the leader was inspecting their garden she immediately knew that their existence here have been found out. She also figured out the way he found them. Energy fluctuations in his surroundings. Zhang Yong briefly mentioned it long ago. She then stopped cultivating entirely, kept her presence entirely hidden, and slunk away.

I can't hide here, I'll be found.

But won't he know that's what you're thinking of? Won't hiding here be better then?

He would know that I don't have a choice but to run. If he doesn't see me scaling the cliff, he'd do a quick sweep of the area and I'll be found either way.

Xinyi was right. When the leader felt that he could no longer sense anything. He opened his eyes and looked towards the cliff first. If he did not see anyone, he was planning to conduct a quick search through the area before chasing after the person. 

He spotted a shadow going up the mountain. My little kitten's wearing black, good choice in the night. 

"Catch the woman in black scaling the wall now and bring her to me!" He yelled out his order.

Everyone went into action. However, the moment they went beyond her camouflaged garden, everything got messy. 

Branches broke, logs swung down from the trees like a pendulum, nets sprung up from the bottom, pit holes appeared where there weren't any before, spears and arrows flew, and bear traps activated. 

Those caught by the net were smashed to death by the logs, those who weren't flew away from the collision. Those who fell into the pit holes were impaled by spikes stuck at the bottom. Those who jumped out of the whole ruckus ended up jumping straight into a gathering of bear traps. It was as if she predicted even their escape routes and behaviors. Only the better ones with insane reflexes, good observation, or just purely strong, managed to escape unscathed. She dwindled the group of 16 by at least half. 

"How marvelous!" The leader laughed aloud while the other men winced. His nonchalance with so many deaths was a little appalling to them. Upon closer inspection the leader noticed how the strings to all the traps have been held taut by a mechanism that was linked to her house. She only activated them all when she left. How smart. It's time to catch my little kitten.

He disappeared from his spot in an instant and his men saw him quickly progressing towards the wall.

As for Xinyi, when the traps were activated she was just done scaling the wall and went around it. After which she asked if it was safe for BaoBao to help her fly away. BaoBao immediately did so while informing her. Only for a while! He is faster than me! Zhang Yong didn't catch up to us last time because we had a good head start and he is mid level Heaven realm! From this guy's speed, I'm guessing that he's at high level Heaven realm!!

This is bad.

He's here! They hadn't even managed to travel further than 400 metres from the mountains. BaoBao deposited her on a tree branch and disappeared.

The leader arrived at the scene alone. He dashed past her and disappeared into the distance. But before she could relax, he came back to this area. "The trail felt cold. You're around here aren't you?" He asked lightly.

What's with his crazy instincts?! He would really put up a good fight against Zhang Yong when he goes for the female lead. Xinyi didn't reply.

"It's okay little kitten. I won't harm you. I just want to get to know you. You're very intelligent. Several of the useless men were severely injured or dead due to your traps, leaving lucky ones alive. Some of my skilled men is injured though not as badly." The leader tried coaxing her out.

Xinyi still didn't reply.

"Come on, come out now while I'm still nice. I'm not very patient and you know you can't hide once I start sweeping this area clean." He threatened in a sing song voice.

Xinyi gritted her teeth and decided to appear. The leader turned around to look at Xinyi. He ogled her and took in her appearance slowly. Attractive. He walked towards her and grabbed her chin to tilt her head up to look at him. "Tell me about your little garden."

"It's just a herb garden. I camouflaged it with wild plants."

"Why there?"

"Because there was an abundance of wild plants there for me to use. Why are you showing so much interest in my garden?"

The leader looked at her eyes filled with defiance. It tickled him. He put down his hand and took one step back.

"Why're you here?"

"I ran away from home."

"Why?"

"Marriage."

The leader laughed aloud. He was thoroughly amused by this woman. Is there no one that could tame her? "You're really a tease."

Xinyi frowned, not understanding the sudden changes in topics. He's a very bizarre man.

"I've decided. I shall make the lovely lady from the battlefield my woman who will serve me and live for me. As for you... You'll be my pet who'll keep me entertained."

"I reject."

"That was not a question." He said in an amused tone.

"What do I have to do to get my freedom then?"

"Die." He said with a bright smile. "If I can't have you, no one can."

In the end, it's still down to a fight. She took out her sword, assumed a defensive-offensive stance, and maximised her ability to cultivate while not in a meditative state.

She has mastered the peak cultivation method. "That's right, that's the way to be my kitten! Don't give in to me. I'll make you mine!"

He dashed forward and pinned her hands above her head and against the tree. She raised her knee upwards to jam his balls hard which he had to back off to dodge. Just as he wanted to attack again, his more skilled men finally caught up. He relaxed and leaned against a tree. "Guys, roughen her up." If she gets killed by them, she's too weak to be my pet.

All the men turned to look at the woman that their leader indicated. However, it was to see her already in front of two of the men and attacking with a sword. She caused those men lethal injuries and knocked them out in one swing. She quickly advanced towards the ones further away from the leader. 

She's trying to escape while pretending to heed my order to fight them. What a perfect kitten. He raised his eyebrows in amusement and was itching to have her at that moment.

The men were already on their guard so she only managed to knock another two out instead of killing them. She could do so only because she had the momentum of being the attacker on her side. However, she was quickly losing it when the men behind her joined the fray. She was now fighting against two  men and became forced to be on the defensive. 

She subtly and skillfully dodged in a direction further and further away from the leader. Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in her stomach that made her spit some blood out. The men were surprised and stopped their actions. None of them were responsible for that.

"Little kitten, go too far away from me and you'll be punished." The leader's voice rang out clearly. He had a smile on his face while tossing and catching a rock in his hand. 

He really irritated Xinyi. She may have a high tolerance for pain but it does not mean that she was okay with feeling pain. The men quickly resumed fighting when their leader coldly glanced at them.

While he was enjoying the scene of her desperate struggle, a man who was one of the first to get knocked out woke up and advised him. "Leader, even if you want to play with her, bring her back to our hideout to play. Not here."

The leader lost his smile and his eyes held a slight killing intent. "I've about had enough of you telling me what to do and what not to. You're just a right-hand man assigned to me who could not even defend himself against a little wild kitten. Why should I let you destroy the fun I'm having right now, huh?" The man froze at the little bit of killing intent that leaked out of the leader. 

Suddenly, the leader threw the rock in his hand away and a smile returned to his face. "Count yourself lucky. My little kitten saved your life." Then he dashed to catch Xinyi who was falling from a considerable height. "Kitten, I warned you not to go too far from me. How observant of you to notice that I was distracted and try to leave me then." Xinyi was now held in his arms while he looked lovingly at her. 

He made Xinyi feel sick to her core, so she ignored the intense pain from her leg and threw a punch at his face. He immediately dropped her like a rag doll with amusement in his eyes. Intense pain shot through her leg with that impact. She guessed that her shin was likely fractured. 

Seeing the way she tolerated the pain without a sound aroused him. He licked his lips then declared, "Alright, I've had enough fun, let's return, kitten." He just could not wait to have her. He approached her but she swung her sword at him, which he easily dodged. He watched her futile attempts at keeping him away from her as he dodged her every swing of the sword while advancing towards her steadily and slowly. 

He thought that he was mentally torturing Xinyi with such a move but Xinyi was communicating with BaoBao.

Did you just say Zhang Yong was here?

Yes! My surveillance range is wider than his! 

Alright, I'll have to reserve my energy to put up the fiercest fight I'll ever have once he detects Zhang Yong! If he can sense Zhang Yong, Zhang Yong should be alerted too!

When the leader was a few steps away from her, Xinyi suddenly stopped swinging and gave a look like she has given up. This made him stop in his tracks. "What's wrong, kitten?"

"You're too strong. I can't win. I give up." 

The leader looks slightly displeased. It was no fun if she was just another meek obedient woman fawning over him. "I'll just have you killed then, there's no purpose to have you." 

Just as he began lifting his hand, Xinyi spat out as if disgusted by what she was saying, "I meant I agree to be your kitten only because I don't want to die. I'll fight you but I want my life. Can you guarantee me that I won't die at your hands?" Xinyi was cursing him inwardly. Damn it. This guy's so tricky. To stall for time I have to do such a delicate balancing act between giving up and defiance...

"My hands won't kill you but I can't guarantee that no one else would. I offer you no protection." He had a cold smile on.

"That's all I need to know." She said. When he approached her again, she swung her sword at him. 

He raised an eyebrow. "I thought you said that you agreed to be my kitten?"

"I'll walk by myself. Don't you dare touch me." 

His eyes lit up with desire again. This was the way he wanted her to be.