Chapter 86: A Wager on the Journey Home

On the way down the mountain, Hua Feng could never have imagined that a violent storm was silently brewing.

After descending from Mount Wudang, Hua Feng bid farewell to Dan Qiusheng and Master Zhang. He was preparing to set out immediately for a trip back to his hometown, planning to visit his aging parents with Yunmeng. Bai Feng, a fellow townsman who for the moment had nowhere else to go, also decided to join them on the journey.

At the foot of the mountain, a Mercedes RV that Hua Feng had instructed Shen Qiu to prepare in advance was already waiting in the parking lot. Hua Feng told the driver to return to the farmhouse on his own; he would drive home himself.

Once inside the Mercedes, Hua Feng set the route and turned on the autopilot, then returned to the cabin to chat idly with Yunmeng and Bai Feng.

Having taken the opportunity to change in the small, enclosed space of the car, Yunmeng and Bai Feng now looked even more naturally beautiful. Yunmeng had gathered her hair, which had previously cascaded over her shoulders, into a ponytail, and changed into a pink tracksuit with white sneakers and a white vest underneath. As if they had coordinated, Bai Feng wore a blue tracksuit, a white vest, matching white sneakers, and a simple ponytail. Both had applied only a touch of light makeup, making their overall appearance fresh, clean, and elegant, their graceful figures radiating the unique charm of youth. Especially to a man, their allure and temptation were extraordinary.

Hua Feng watched them for a while, thinking he was truly lucky—beauties at his side, roaming freely through the mountain fields. Before heading home, Hua Feng contacted Shen Qiu through the internal network, instructing him to offer Wudang every possible support in the future—especially if they needed experts at the Yuan Emperor level; in such cases, the elders at the Six Sages' Tomb of the Flame Emperor could be called upon to assist Wudang. Shen Qiu readily agreed.

No matter what, Hua Feng felt reassured leaving the farmhouse affairs to Shen Qiu. As the head of Shennong Hall, Shen Qiu had the absolute ability to handle daily operations, and any documents requiring the seal of the hero chief would be sent express to Hua Feng and then flown back to the farmhouse.

“Hua Feng, what are you grinning about?” Yunmeng, noticing that Hua Feng had been staring absentmindedly at the two of them before suddenly bursting into laughter, was a bit puzzled.

“It’s nothing, really! I just feel like I’m the luckiest man alive. The road ahead may be uncertain, but at this moment, with you both by my side, even the air seems sweet. Of course, especially with you here, Xiao Meng, I fear nothing. No matter how tough or exhausting it gets, as long as I see you, I have the courage and resolve to keep moving forward!”

“Uh… there’s still someone else here, you know. Is it really fair for you two to be so affectionate right in front of me?” Bai Feng couldn’t help but tease.

“Haha, our familiar Bai Feng is finally back. We’ve got more than three hours left until we reach Nanjing—how about playing a game to pass the time?” Hua Feng suggested.

“Yes! That’s the Bai Feng we know. But as for what we should play, I’m drawing a blank. What do you think, Bai Feng?” Yunmeng turned to Bai Feng at her side.

“How about we play telekinetic object retrieval? Purely using mind power. We’ll open the car window just a crack, and as the vehicle moves, we’ll try to retrieve marked objects. Whoever does it fastest and most accurately wins, and whoever fails faces a small punishment,” Bai Feng proposed.

“Sounds good!” Hua Feng had no objection.

Yunmeng found the idea interesting. “Bai Feng, what’s the punishment? We’ll go with your suggestion. Right, Hua Feng?”

“Sure, I have no problem. It’s up to you two.”

“I’ve already got the punishment in mind. I saw a similar game in a movie once. If you fail, you remove a piece of clothing, one at a time, until the end. But let’s keep it modest—just one item per loss, winner takes all. How about it?”

“Haha, sure! No problem!” Both Hua Feng and Yunmeng nodded in agreement.

“All right, let’s begin! There are plenty of pebbles and leaves along the road. Whoever combines these limited materials into the most beautiful pattern in the shortest time wins,” Bai Feng explained as she opened the window.

A cool mountain breeze poured into the car, refreshing them. The three of them searched carefully for the items they needed, each pondering what quick and impressive design they could create.

Time flew by. Over the next half hour, they each made several attempts. Most of the time, as soon as they had an idea for a pattern, the materials they’d finally located would already be hundreds of meters behind them. Unable to control the objects well enough with their mind power, they had to give up, since they couldn’t bring the items into the car first and then assemble them. They had to form the pattern in a brief moment and then guide it into the car. Even at the Yuan Emperor level, it was quite a challenge.

No one succeeded in the first hour, but as they grew more familiar with the process, they began a second round of attempts.

After another half hour, Hua Feng finally managed to assemble the pattern that had appeared most frequently in his mind lately—a Taiji diagram with the Eight Trigrams surrounding it. He carefully guided it into the car. Soon after, Yunmeng and Bai Feng completed their own designs: Yunmeng made a mountain, Bai Feng, a bird. Though they both managed to bring their creations into the car, compared with the Taiji, the bird and mountain were rather simple and rough.

“All right, Hua Feng wins this round. It seems the boost in mind power from the difference in cultivation level really isn’t something we, still at the Yuan King stage, can match. But we agreed to the rules, and we accept the results,” Bai Feng said on behalf of the two after a brief discussion.

No sooner had she finished speaking than she and Yunmeng took off their tracksuit tops, revealing their graceful curves and the faint outlines of lace-trimmed underwear.

“Hey… why are you two being so bold? Put your clothes back on! Now I don’t even know where to look…” Hua Feng, flustered, blurted out in a northern dialect.

Yunmeng, hearing this, quickly covered Bai Feng’s chest with her tracksuit top, hiding the exposed fair skin.

“Hua Feng, who do you think is more beautiful—me or Bai Feng?” Yunmeng teased mischievously.

“You’re both beautiful, very beautiful!” Hua Feng, used to Yunmeng’s games, didn’t fall for it.

“All right, let’s take a break. We’re almost home,” Bai Feng said, slipping her tracksuit back on without zipping it up, as if there was no need for modesty in front of the other two. The rest of the journey, Hua Feng could only sit beside Yunmeng, avoiding looking in Bai Feng’s direction.