The Farmer and the Snake

Yunxi looked at the strange house piled from stones before turning to the young girl named Xiao Meng beside her.

Before Xiao Meng could speak, a burly man bent down and emerged from the stone house. He too wore rough, short working clothes and stood around seven feet tall. With a stern face, he sized Yunxi up from head to toe before looking at Xiao Meng and asking,

"Is she the only one?"

Xiao Meng replied respectfully,

"Yes, Village Chief!"

Only then did the man known as the village chief turn to Yunxi.

"I am Yan Shi, village chief of Yan Shi Village. Since the Labyrinth Formation outside the village brought you here, you must be someone fated with Yan Shi Village. I have a deal I would like to make with you. Would you be willing?"

Yunxi smiled faintly.

"Wasn't it you who deliberately led me in? How did it suddenly become the Labyrinth Formation? The one who guided me here should have been a villager from this place, no? If you have something you wish to ask of me, you may as well say it directly."

Yan Shi had not expected the woman before him to see through their true forms. He instinctively clenched his fists. Yan Meng at his side also watched Yunxi warily, as though they would strike the moment she made any unusual move.

Yunxi's expression did not change. She merely swept her sleeve and set out a stone table and several stone stools before the stone house. She walked over on her own, made a gesture inviting them to sit, then began arranging the tea set on the stone table and brewing tea, utterly turning guest into host.

Yunxi's relaxed attitude surprised Yan Shi and Yan Meng. The two exchanged a glance before Village