Villain: You Want Me to Follow the Plot and Die? I’m Done Pretending - Chapter 31:

Chapter 31: Digging Up Ancestral Graves:

The mist was thick, danger lurking everywhere.

Ye Fan hid in a mountain cave with Qian Rou. According to her, there were countless red-eyed apes wandering around the area, clearly being controlled to search for something.

“What’s going on here?” a voice called out from nearby, followed by the cracking sound of a whip. Numerous apes revealed themselves, their forms materializing out of thin air.

Ye Xiaoyi’s face was as dark as soot.

She had only three substitutes left, and this was her last one. If she died here, her position as the Holy Maiden would be at risk. But these damned apes could turn invisible!

“Holy Maiden, there’s a mountain cave over there. You should hide in it while I hold off these creatures.” One of her guards shouted.

Ye Fan frowned slightly. The cave he mentioned—could it be the same one he was hiding in? It could barely fit two people.

“Alright!” Before Ye Fan could even think, a faint fragrance drifted toward him, and a moment later, the girl squeezed into the small hollow.

As soon as Ye Xiaoyi entered, she realized someone was already inside. She raised her hand, ready to silence them, but Ye Fan reacted faster, pressing his knife against her blade, stopping her strike just in time.

“Oh, it’s you,” Ye Xiaoyi sneered, her tone icy. “You’re still alive?”

“You haven’t died yet, so why would I?” Ye Fan replied coldly.

Outside, screams filled the air, followed by the horrifying sounds of apes feasting. Ye Xiaoyi’s expression didn’t change; instead, she exhaled in relief.

“Your guard is dead.” Ye Fan said quietly, pushing her dagger back.

“So what? Should I go out and avenge him?” Ye Xiaoyi glanced at Ye Fan with an indifferent look. “And where are those two girls who were with you?”

She hadn’t forgotten the two little vixens who dared to eye the man she had her sights on.

“They’re dead,” Ye Fan took a deep breath. “Gu Feng killed them with his own hands.”

The air seemed to freeze at that moment. Ye Xiaoyi’s lips parted slightly, but she didn’t know what to say. She thought of her own substitutes. If it weren’t for them, she might have been the first woman to die at Gu Feng’s hands.

“You must have wronged him too.” Ye Xiaoyi remarked suddenly.

Ye Fan nodded dumbly. To be honest, he didn’t understand why Gu Feng hadn’t killed him. Given his ruthless nature, Ye Fan should have been dead long ago.

“I grew up with him,” Ye Fan said softly, a hint of sorrow in his voice. From childhood, Gu Feng had always been the young master, while he was just the son of the maid. He had endured bullying, but in the end, Gu Feng had spared his life, perhaps out of some lingering sense of their childhood bond.

Ye Fan bit his lip, an inexplicable sadness rising in his heart. His resentment and unwillingness had vanished after Gu Feng’s sword struck last night.

“Well, you’re lucky,” Ye Xiaoyi said with a tinge of jealousy. That detestable man tried to kill her every time they met. Even though it was only her substitutes who had died, the experience of nearly dying was no less terrifying.

The screeching of the apes outside had faded. Ye Fan wanted to poke his head out and take a look, but Ye Xiaoyi yanked him back.

“Do you want to die?” she snapped. “Those creatures can turn invisible in the mist. Stick your head out now, and you’ll lose it in the next second, got it?”

She made a slicing gesture across her throat.

They sat in silence for a long time, waiting patiently until the mist began to clear. Only then did they dare to emerge from the cave.

“This secret realm is too strange. The sect elders never mentioned anything like this happening.” Ye Fan muttered uneasily.

A sense of fear gripped him. It felt like something important was happening, and he was being left out of it.

“The information your sects have is truly lacking,” Ye Xiaoyi said suddenly. “How could they send you here, knowing you’d be walking to your death?”

“What do you mean?” Ye Fan asked in confusion.

“Didn’t anyone tell you there are indigenous people living in this secret realm?” Ye Xiaoyi pointed toward the distant snow-capped mountains. “Up there, a tribe of snow people live. They tame and control the beasts of the snowy mountains and have lived in the extreme cold for generations.”

“There’s a legend that says the Snow Tribe has a peerless divine weapon forged from Profound Cold Iron. It’s been buried in their ancestral grave for ages, undisturbed.”

She continued, shaking her head. “But it seems someone believed the rumor and went to dig up the Snow Tribe’s ancestral grave. That’s why all these beasts are on the loose.”

“What a foolish move. If it were me, I’d have planned it better. Now they haven’t even stolen the treasure and have drawn unwanted attention instead. These bloodthirsty beasts are going to tear through your so-called righteous sects, and you’ll suffer heavy losses.”

“Gu Feng is here. They’ll be fine,” Ye Fan muttered, unsure why he even thought of Gu Feng.

He sighed.

Knowing Gu Feng’s nature, the disciples of Zhengyuan Sect would likely survive.

Meanwhile, the Zhengyuan Sect disciples, whom Ye Fan believed would survive easily, were running for their lives.