Chapter 6: The Evil Doctor Arrives

A sudden gust of wind swept past the back of her head. Yun Ling’s mind went blank for a moment, and before she knew it, the fishing rod in her hands had been snatched away.

"What are you doing, you brat? Trying to learn how Jiang Taigong fishes?" An old man with a white beard and white hair, dressed in festive red clothes and red trousers like a Santa Claus, sat down naturally beside her. The mustache on his lip twitched up and down as he spoke, looking utterly ridiculous.

Yun Ling had been somewhat startled at first, but as she stared, her fear suddenly vanished. Looking again at the old man's outfit, she let out a sudden *pfft* and burst into laughter.

"What are you laughing at? What's so funny? Huh? Huh?!" The old man's temper flared instantly. With a few quick motions, he snapped the fishing rod and tossed it into the water, even spitefully throwing several large stones into the lake after it.

Water splashed all over Yun Ling's head and face. Enraged, she leaped up with a *whoosh*. Despite her tiny stature, she moved with lightning speed, grabbing the 'Santa Claus' by his beard and glaring ferociously: "You old geezer, give me back my fishing rod! Give it back, give it back, give it back!!!"

The old man, standing eight feet tall, was forced to hunch over because his beard was being yanked—this was none other than the Evil Doctor, Old Man Miao, who had never lowered his posture for anyone in his entire life. Now, for the sake of his precious beard, he had to bend lower and lower: "Ouch, ouch! Girl, easy! Don't pull it out!"

Yun Ling cursed in her fury: "You're clearly just a show-off, so why are you pretending to be an immortal? Today, I'm plucking them all! Every single one!" She applied force, and Old Man Miao's expression changed instantly. A patch of snow-white beard now lay silently trapped between Yun Ling's fingers before fluttering to the ground, where the cloud-white beard became intimately entwined with the dust.

"You brat! You dare pull this old man's beard! I'll fight you to the death! I'll kill you! I'll poison you to death!" Old Man Miao roared. Seeing things were going south, Yun Ling immediately let go and bolted. Old Man Miao chased after her like a madman; despite his towering height, his movements were as fluid as the wind, and his form was as swift as a meteor.

As Yun Ling ran, she screamed at the top of her lungs, "Eighth Little Sister, come save me!" She dodged left and right in an S-shaped pattern. Several times it looked as though Old Man Miao was about to catch her, but her movements were strangely erratic; she would shift a few steps and slip away like a slippery fish, even managing to snag another handful of Old Man Miao's treasured beard along the way.

Initially, Old Man Miao was consumed by rage, but as the chase continued, he grew puzzled. While pursuing her, he asked, "Girl, who did you learn those martial arts from? You certainly run fast!"

Yun Ling darted far ahead, turned back to make a face, and waved the white beard in her right hand: "You old geezer, I told you I'd pluck all your facial hair! Wait, no, no!" She gave an arrogant whistle. "I'm going to pluck all the hair on your head too! All of it! Keep acting! I hate people who act all high and mighty!"

The anger Old Man Miao had just suppressed flared up again with a *whoosh*. He reached up to touch his mouth—good heavens, all the hair on the left side of his mustache was gone!

"You brat! You'd better run faster! Otherwise, once I catch you, I'll skin you alive!" He gathered his breath and put on a burst of speed to chase Yun Ling, who was only three steps ahead. But every time it looked like he was just a hair's breadth away from grabbing her, she would use that strange footwork at the most critical moment. Every single time, he was left squawking in frustration!

"You little brat, stop! I'm not chasing you anymore!" Having finally met a worthy opponent, Old Man Miao no longer cared about his precious beard; he only wanted to hurry up and ask her what kind of footwork that was, since it was so useful for escaping for one's life.