She dashed to kick his leg with her full strength. Pain shot through his entire leg from his shin but his eyebrows only twitched. She jumped up to kick his chin then spun in mid air to kick his cheek. His head snapped along with her kicks and a little bit of blood trickled from his lips. However, besides the slight bruising on his face, he still stood there without moving a single step. As if he was merely slapped by someone. BaiXue retreated and charged forward to lunge at his stomach. She knocked the wind out of him but he still did not move an inch. He behaved like a human punching bag.

...Am I still weak or is he really strong?

Regardless of that... He's... BaoBao sounded a little concerned.

Not defending at all.

But why? BaiXue, do you know?

...

BaiXue pondered for a while but ended up asking him coldly, "Why aren't you defending?"

"I know I'm being selfish." LongFei replied easily.

"After you've seen how much I hate it, you're still set on not bringing me down?"

Finally, LongFei revealed the conflict he was experiencing within him. Instead of replying her, he chose to ask her back a question in a small voice. "Don't you have to focus on cultivating?" He decided to change his approach. This was his last attempt at keeping her here. He really did not like the idea of her getting close to that black bird or relying on anyone else, but he would hate it more if she hated him.

"What do you mean?" She wondered what he was coming up with now to make his offer more desirable to her. She changed back into her human form to talk normally. "I am planning to cultivate while I keep watch."

"I can help you keep an eye on whatever you need to watch out for. This way, you can fully focus on cultivating without a worry that you'll miss anything. If you need to rush down the mountain because of something, I'll help you do that as well. Use me as your eyes and limbs." This was the first time in his life that LongFei explained himself this much. He felt a little nervous. Did I get my point across?

BaiXue did not have to think about it for long to know that there was no value added for her. She already has BaoBao who could look out for her while she focused on cultivating.

Seeing that she was unconvinced, he added on, "I will still cook for you so that you have no need to hunt and there are countless longevity peaches for you to eat here." He was referring to the peaches that seemed to cleanse and improve her body constitution.

"Can't you do that for me while I'm below the mountain?" BaiXue still tried to make it difficult for him.

"If I flew down and go to you each time, won't it give away your position?"

He gave a reasonable explanation. There's nothing for me to reject now. She really did value maximising her time to cultivate because the time was coming when she needed her strength to exact her revenge. Moreover, she did not expect him to stay with her all the time while she cultivated, neither would she wish for that to happen.

She started to waver a little. BaoBao could not appear any longer because LongFei was watching. However, she really disliked the idea of owing LongFei. She truly could not think of anything to give him in return. This cultivation method she was trying out in this world is unlikely useful for him.

It was as if he could read her microexpressions. He had a feeling that she was going to reject. He started feeling down. He really wanted to be of use to her. He wanted to be the one she could rely on. Am I not the strongest after all? Maybe someone else deserves to stand by her side instead...

"Can you at least tell me your reason for not wanting my help?" LongFei asked solemnly.

"I don't want to owe you. You've done more than enough for me already."

"You don't owe me. If anything, you're doing me a favour."

BaiXue eyes widened in slight surprise. "What?"

LongFei looked back at her in confusion.

"What do you mean?" She asked him calmly.

"I'm the one who is requesting something of you. If you talking about owing, I'm the one who would owe you then." He elaborated.

BaiXue frowned a little. When he said "favour", Ethan from the previous world appeared in her mind. What a coincidental choice of word.

BaoBao had a hunch but did not dare to voice his opinion out. He knew how much she did not trust in any of the main characters from day one.

BaiXue sighed aloud then accepted his proposal. "Let me know when there is an attack on the village."

His face brightened up considerably and he smiled for the first time in this world. Although it looked a bit awkward, it was still charming. "Feel free to explore the house. Treat it like your home."

She left him and went to find a spot to cultivate. She walked through the entire house and found that the place was designed in a similar way to the room she woke up in previously. The house was spacious. There were two other meaningless bedrooms since he does not seem to have guests over at his place, a common area to have meals in, an open kitchen beyond the common area, and a cherry blossom tree a distance away from the kitchen. She instantly grew a liking for that spot.

When she walked to the tree, she realised that it has a clear view of the mountain with the basilisk's cave. She raised an eyebrow.

Pfft! The second male lead of this world has stalker-like behaviour. His arrivals were not timed, he was always watching you! BaoBao snickered.

This was probably how he kept appearing on time whenever FengJiao needs his help.

Like how he appeared whenever you were ready to eat too.

...This is not about me.

With that, she changed into a rabbit under the tree and began her cultivation.

 

For the next 2 days, BaiXue focused on cultivating, only pausing to eat the food that LongFei cooked for her. Whenever LongFei brought her food, the sight of her calmly cultivating under the cherry blossom tree with pink petals occasionally drifting down around her really warmed his heart. He felt that he could never get tired of this and would be willing to wait on her forever.

Finally, LongFei came to her with news of an incoming attack on the village after dinner. He spotted a suspicious group of carnivores headed in a clear direction towards the village. They behaved in an orderly manner and did things with a clear purpose. Once he concluded that they were human shapeshifters, he returned to report to BaiXue. When she heard his report, she knew that the first wave of attack has arrived.

She climbed onto his back in her human form and clutched his silver mane while he flew down closer to the ground from behind the bandits so that she could witness the attack herself. BaiXue made herself comfortable on a tree branch and watched on as the bandits wrecked havoc in the village. It was quite an interesting and refreshing sight because the villagers participated in the fight to defend their village.

MengYao could not participate because he was still healing from the injuries inflicted by LongFei. He had hated how he would be forced to witness FengJiao used as a weapon to protect the village. However, he gradually realised that it was not the case.

He noticed how well coordinated their actions were. Nobody relied on FengJiao and threw her to the front lines to defend them. Instead, it was as if FengJiao was their backup and impregnable defense that would save them if they failed to protect themselves. Whenever someone was about to be killed by a bandit, she would swoop in at the right time. MengYao frowned, unable to believe what he was seeing.

Before long, the bandits who were still alive also came to the same conclusion that FengJiao was just waiting to roast them alive. Understanding that they stood no chance, they ran off.

BaiXue's eyes lit up as she sat up straight. This was the moment she was waiting for. She gestured to tell LongFei to follow the one who ran the fastest and was the furthest away from the village. However, in the midst of tailing the hyena from high above, a long pillar of golden flame shot out from the direction of the village and finished him off.

BaiXue frowned. The female lead of this world was less merciful than she thought. The book only described how the village survived every attack sent by FenFang but had not specified that FengJiao finished every bandit off. BaiXue blew the whistle that FenFang gave to her then asked LongFei to bring her back up the mountain.

FenFang was surprised when she got the signal that the attack failed. She had expected it to take around half a month before receiving news. Nonetheless, she sent out an order for the next attack. Seeing how easily this batch was defeated, she chose the people for the second batch more carefully.

 

LongFei came again with news of another attack in the evening 3 days later.

This time, BaiXue told him to let her dismount some distance ahead of the bandits. She hid in the bushes in her rabbit form while LongFei stayed hidden among the trees in his human form. It did not take very long before the group of bandits ran past the bushes she was in.

Just as the last person of the group ran past her, she jumped up and kicked his head hard. The dark brown wolf yelped in pain and suffered a concussion. LongFei swooped in almost right after she attacked to carry them away. 

By the time the wolf in front of the kidnapped one turned back to check, they were out of sight. He had a look of confusion. He was sure that there was someone else running behind him. This made him stop to think. Are we found out?

"Hey! What're doing falling behind?!" Someone ahead called back to him. "We're almost at the village! Hasten your pace! We have a deadline to meet!"

"There's someone missing!" He informed them.

"Nonsense! Only you're lagging behind! Now, hurry up!"

The guy who stopped snarled and pushed his concern to the back of his mind and ran to catch up with the others ahead of him.

A deadline? What could she be using to threaten them with? BaiXue wondered to herself.

They were hiding up in a tree some distance away from the group but was still within earshot of their conversation. She was carefully carried in LongFei's right arm while the other was carelessly carried in his left arm. LongFei had simultaneously knocked him out completely when he went to get them.

BaiXue was unaffected by LongFei's show of strength. She knew that she could never compare to the characters meant to be strong. All she could do was to maximise the potential of the side character. So she was still satisfied with the improvement she has made. Just around 3 months ago, one kick could not even cause an injury. Now it was strong enough to cause a concussion. She was finally growing in strength after more than a year of transmigrating into this world.

LongFei was instructed by BaiXue to bring them over the mountains to the other side. At LongFei's speed, they crossed the mountains in less than half a day. Just as BaiXue jumped off his back upon reaching their destination, he roughly shook the unmoving body off his body. It fell with a thud onto the floor. Previously, BaiXue was holding onto the body to keep it from falling off.

The rough handling caused pain and woke up the unconscious wolf. He saw a man with a proud and majestic aura and a meek and plain looking woman who was standing slightly closer to him. He looked around frantically to find that he was alone, separated from his group. He eyed the pair warily then suddenly took off. While he was running, he was thinking to himself. What idiots for not tying me up. They're too overconfident.

However, just as he thought that, a felt a strong force hit his stomach, causing him to fly high up in the sky. The pain was so crippling that he could not break his fall and crashed back down in a heap. He started whimpering in pain.

"She did not say that you could leave. How dare you run off." LongFei said dispassionately.

BaiXue strolled into his sight moments later, this time with LongFei nearer to the wolf. She casually asked the still whimpering wolf. "Where's your village?"