Only then did he unscrew the bottle and hold its mouth beneath Murong Feiyan's nose. She inhaled the fumes, sneezed several times in succession, and actually woke from her stupor. She blinked, saw Hu Xiaotian dressed in monk's robes before her, then realized her hands and feet were bound. With a frightened "Ah!", she screamed, "You... what are you going to do?"
Hu Xiaotian did not know whether to laugh or cry. He had clearly been the hero rescuing the beauty, yet what sort of man did this Murong girl take him for? Apparently, he had never been a decent person in her eyes. Since that's what you think of me, I might as well give you a scare. He grinned wickedly. "What do you think I'm going to do?"
Murong Feiyan's pretty face turned deathly pale. "Hu Xiaotian, I'm an official appointed by the imperial... court... you... you wouldn't dare..."
Hu Xiaotian gave her a cheeky grin. "You're an imperial official, and I'm not? With my character, what wouldn't I do? Besides, we're out here in the wilderness with nobody around. Even if I did something utterly wicked to you, nobody would know. Afterward, I could just destroy the evidence and toss your corpse off a cliff. The beasts in these mountains would eat you without leaving so much as a bone. Who would know? Who could possibly know?"
Murong Feiyan snapped, "Aren't you afraid heaven will strike you with five thunderbolts?"
No sooner had she spoken than several flashes of lightning streaked across the sky, followed by a rolling succession of muffled thunderclaps. Hu Xiaotian shrank his neck in fright. Damn, you don't have to take it so seriously! He went behind Murong Feiyan and untied her wrists first, no longer daring to spout nonsense.
Only then did