Yin Xiao laughed immediately. “Hahaha… What a “Po Fengliu” disciple! It seems you won’t tell the truth unless you endure some suffering.”
After speaking, he reached out to grab Zuo Xiaoxiao’s throat.
Zuo Xiaoxiao hurriedly dodged, screaming like a pig being slaughtered, “Robbers!!! Help!!! Molestation—” She immediately realized something was wrong and paused, “Murder!!!”
Her shouts not only alarmed the escorts keeping watch below but also lit up several households in the town.
Yin Xiao had thought dealing with this little girl would be a simple task, but her narrow escape left him displeased. “It seems I underestimated the disciples of ‘Po Fengliu’.” He drew a soft sword from his waist and struck with a killing move.
Zuo Xiaoxiao was terrified. “No, sir!!! Spare—”
Before she could finish the word “life,” her foot slipped. The roof tiles broke layer by layer, and her entire leg got stuck in the debris.
Zuo Xiaoxiao froze. Who built this house?!
In the next instant, Yin Xiao swung his sword toward her left shoulder. She instinctively stepped back, but her whole body sank through the collapsing roof.
“Ah—!” Zuo Xiaoxiao screamed, falling backward. She landed heavily on the ground, covered in dust, her face twisted in pain. Climbing to her feet, she looked up and saw the son of the Shenjian Lian family.
Perhaps hearing her cries, he now stood by his bedside, only half-dressed, staring at her in a daze.
“Hero!” Zuo Xiaoxiao crawled to his side, clutching her aching back and crying pitifully. “Hero, help me…”
……
The young master of the Lian family was still perplexed when Yin Xiao leapt inside, his soft sword still pointed directly at Zuo Xiaoxiao .
“Help!” Zuo Xiaoxiao shut her eyes and cried out.
The young master of the Lian family reached for the carved bow by his bedside and used it to block the soft sword.
“Stay out of this!” Yin Xiao shouted angrily, flicking the sword tip toward the young master’s throat.
The young master pushed the carved bow upwards and leaned back, dodging effortlessly.
The two men immediately engaged in combat.
Huddled in the corner of the bed with her head in her hands, Zuo Xiaoxiao watched the fight.
The Shenjian Lian family’s archery skills were renowned, but close combat was not thought to be their strength. Before today, even Zuo Xiaoxiao —like everyone else in the martial world—had believed this. But as she watched, she was stunned. It was clearly a carved bow, yet the way he wielded it was far beyond anything she had imagined. His moves of pushing, wrapping, sticking, and stabbing resembled a transformed sword technique.
Her master had once said that a first-rate martial artist was never confined by their weapon. She hadn’t expected the young master of the Lian family, at such a young age, to have reached this level of mastery.
After a few exchanges, Yin Xiao sensed that something was off.
“The Lian family of the Shenjian clan?” he asked, halting his attack.
The young master of the Lian family smiled faintly. “Yin Xiao?”
They fell silent, a faint murderous aura spreading through the room, sending chills down Zuo Xiaoxiao ’s spine.
Suddenly, the door was kicked open. It was the escorts from Xingfeng Escort Agency.
“Miss Zuo, are you all right?” Li Zhenghai rushed in, speaking hurriedly. Then he caught sight of Yin Xiao. “Yin Xiao?!”
Yin Xiao immediately turned and attacked Li Zhenghai.
Li Zhenghai, accustomed to using a long blade, found himself at a disadvantage in the cramped space and began losing ground. The two fought near the doorway, blocking the other escorts from entering and forcing them to watch from outside.
The young master of the Lian family frowned, picked up his saber, and joined the fray.
Zuo Xiaoxiao was completely dumbfounded. To her shock, even the head of the Xingfeng Escort Agency and the young master of the Shenjian Lian family, both renowned across the land, were only able to match Yin Xiao evenly. It seemed that without Li Zhenghai’s arrival, the young master of the Lian family would have fallen within ten more moves.
The martial world was truly perilous. Tears welled up in Zuo Xiaoxiao ’s eyes. If she hadn’t fallen through the roof, she would already be a ghost beneath Yin Xiao’s blade.
Looking at Yin Xiao, Zuo Xiaoxiao let out a sigh. This, she thought, was what a true villain looked like—ruthless and domineering martial skills, a sinister and unpredictable personality, and the audacity to kill without hesitation. She realized she still had a long way to go before becoming a real villain herself.
At this moment, Yin Xiao brushed aside the two men’s attacks, retreated a few steps, and raised his hand.
“Quenxue Yinmang!” Zuo Xiaoxiao recognized the hidden weapon in his hand at a glance and shouted.
Several tiny silver needles shot out. Thanks to Zuo Xiaoxiao ‘s warning, everyone was on guard and managed to dodge in time, avoiding injury.
Yin Xiao cast a glance at Zuo Xiaoxiao , then leapt upward and disappeared through the hole in the roof.
That single glance sent a chill down Zuo Xiaoxiao ’s entire body. Pure, unbridled killing intent—yet it was a killing intent that carried a faint smile. Her quick mouth! Zuo Xiaoxiao lightly slapped her own lips a few times. Whenever she recognized something, she would shout its name without thinking. It was a truly fatal habit. Earlier, it was the mandarin duck quiver; now, it was Quenxue Yinmang… Couldn’t she just silently keep it to herself? Master always said, “Silence is golden.” Why could she never remember that?
“Oh no! The escort carriage!” Li Zhenghai bellowed as he watched Yin Xiao leave, then immediately gave chase.
The rest of the escorts quickly turned and rushed downstairs to guard the carriage.
The young master of the Lian family picked up the quiver, about to follow, but hesitated. Turning, he looked at Zuo Xiaoxiao .
“Miss, are you alright?” he asked.
Still wallowing in self-pity, Zuo Xiaoxiao nodded with tears brimming in her eyes.
The young master didn’t press further. Activating his Qinggong skills, he sprang through the hole in the roof and disappeared.
Zuo Xiaoxiao wiped her tears, cautiously stood up, and walked toward the hole in the roof. Just as she approached, the sound of chaotic voices and the clash of weapons reached her ears, startling her.
Could it be that her shouting earlier had roused everyone in the inn, leaving no one to guard the escort carriage? Heaven help her… If the carriage was truly lost, Shi Le’er would never let her go. Zuo Xiaoxiao shivered at the thought.
She made up her mind: she would flee now! She turned and sprinted down the corridor, but as she rounded a corner, she saw a crowd of people gathering and moving toward the backyard. Among them, of course, was Shi Le’er. Startled, Zuo Xiaoxiao quickly shrank back into the shadows of the corner.
This path was blocked. Frowning, Zuo Xiaoxiao thought for a moment before darting back into the room and scrambling out through the hole in the roof.
Once on the roof, Zuo Xiaoxiao was about to make her escape when she spotted the young master of the Lian family standing at the edge of the eaves. Her breath caught in her throat, and she froze in place, dumbstruck.
She had always thought that such scenes could only be seen in picture books. The handsome man stood with his bow drawn, the arrow on the string, ready to go. The red bow, silver arrow, green clothes, against the hazy moonlight, the man in front of her was actually indescribably sacred. However, what shocked Zuo Xiaoxiao the most was his eyes. He was focused without any distractions, as if he put everything on the bow and arrow in his hand, all his emotions stopped, waiting for the moment the arrow left the string and burst out.
At this moment, the noise in the courtyard downstairs completely stopped, and there was silence all around.
“Mr. Lian, today’s matter is a personal grudge. Why do you bother to intervene?” Yin Xiao looked up, looked at the man on the roof, and said loudly.
“Yin Xiao, you have done many evil things, and everyone can kill you. My Shenjian Lian family will naturally not sit idly by and watch you do evil!” The young master of the Lian family spoke.
“Good. What a sanctimonious statement.” Yin Xiao laughed, “Unfortunately, no matter how fast your arrow is, it can’t be faster than my snow-tempered silver light.”
“You can try.” The young master of the Lian family answered calmly.
Yin Xiao laughed, “Young Master Lian, do you know the biggest difference between us?” He waved his hand violently, and several silver lights immediately attacked the crowd of onlookers.
The crowd was in a commotion.
The young master of the Lian family immediately changed his target, and the arrow flew off the string, as fast as lightning, and fiercely fixed the silver light.
However, the arrow shot down only a piece of broken silver.
The next moment, Yin Xiao shot again, and the silver light appeared again.
The arrow had already left the string, and it was too late to take the arrow and draw the bow. At this time, Li Zhenghai jumped up and swung his knife to separate the silver light.
And taking advantage of this gap, Yin Xiao jumped up, broke through the siege, and landed on the roof. He landed gracefully in front of the young master of the Lian family and said with a smile, “Young master Lian, the Jianghu is not a place for you to play.”
The young master of the Lian family had anger in his eyes.
Yin Xiao smiled and jumped away.
Zuo Xiaoxiao , who was watching, was sweating. If Yin Xiao had truly wanted to act, the young master of the Lian family would have undoubtedly died. The fear of harming innocent people was the biggest difference between them. Sure enough, good people always fall short of bad ones.
She looked up at the man in front of her. He was still gazing in the direction Yin Xiao had left. After a long while, he sighed softly.
Zuo Xiaoxiao then remembered her goal was to sneak away, but she had been lying there for quite some time. She looked at the sky helplessly and quickly began to climb.
“Girl!” the young master of the Lian family suddenly called out.
Zuo Xiaoxiao felt a pang of sorrow upon hearing someone address her like that. It was probably nothing good! She decided to ignore him, not even turning her head, and continued climbing.
However, the tiles beneath her suddenly slipped, and she fell from the roof along with them, plummeting toward the street.
“——Be careful!”
Only then did she hear the second half of that “Girl!” from earlier. Zuo Xiaoxiao wanted to cry but had no tears. Such an important warning—why didn’t he say it sooner!!!
Suddenly, someone leapt up and caught her.
Zuo Xiaoxiao looked up and saw a handsome, slightly youthful face. The one who had caught her was a boy, no older than seventeen or eighteen. Judging from his expression, he seemed entirely at ease.
“Girl, are you alright?” the boy asked as he landed steadily on the ground.
Zuo Xiaoxiao stiffly nodded.
At this moment, Shi Le’er emerged from the inn, her hands behind her back and her posture brimming with arrogance.
She glanced at Zuo Xiaoxiao and the boy before speaking, “Xiao Jiang, why are you so late?”
The boy carefully set Zuo Xiaoxiao down, his expression carrying a hint of fear. “Uh… I ran into some trouble on the way.”
Shi Le’er narrowed her eyes but didn’t press further.
Zuo Xiaoxiao couldn’t understand their conversation, but from the boy’s deferential attitude toward Shi Le’er, she felt something was off. This little girl was already rich and cunning—could she also be powerful? Heavens above…
She sighed and looked at the crowd that had gathered around them. Then, she was completely taken aback by the sight of the group behind her.
It was an escort team—a fleet of five escort carts accompanied by more than a dozen armed escorts. The flags on the carts still bore the insignia of “Xingfeng.”
Two “Xingfeng” teams? Judging from Shi Le’er’s earlier tone, it seemed like she had been waiting for this group of escorts. Could they be part of the same delivery? The original four carts had already been shrouded in mystery, and now another escort team had joined the mix… This situation was becoming very complicated.
Li Zhenghai also walked out of the inn, and when he saw the young man, a warm smile appeared on his face. “Young Master Yue, thank you for your hard work.” He clasped his fists in greeting.
The young man clasped his fists in return and said, “Senior, you are too polite.”
“Young Master Yue, please come inside to talk.” Li Zhenghai extended his hand and stepped aside to let him through.
The young man nodded slightly, gave a few instructions to the escort team, and then entered the house.
Zuo Xiaoxiao stood outside the door, utterly confused. Li Zhenghai called the young man “Young Master”? And yet, the young man didn’t even dare to speak loudly to Shi Le’er? Shi Le’er addressed Li Zhenghai as “Uncle”? … Could it be, as Zuo Xiaoxiao had suspected all along, that Shi Le’er truly came from an extraordinary background?
Oh, heavens above! She only wanted to make a living! Why was fate so cruel as to let her encounter Shi Le’er? So far, she had failed to rob anyone, hadn’t enjoyed a feast, couldn’t even manage to sneak away, and just now, she even managed to provoke a “Yin Xiao”… Could life get any worse?! At this rate, she’d be meeting her master in no time.
“Master…” Zuo Xiaoxiao looked up at the sky, her eyes brimming with tears.
“Sister Xiaoxiao, come in quickly~” Shi Le’er’s voice rang out suddenly.
Zuo Xiaoxiao snapped back to reality and saw Shi Le’er still standing at the door, holding one cheek with her hand, smiling sweetly and innocently.
A chill ran down Zuo Xiaoxiao ‘s spine, flooding her from head to toe.
Seeing her frozen in place, Shi Le’er walked over, took her hand, and said, “Come inside, you’ll catch a cold standing out here~” Then, lowering her voice, she added, “I really want to ask, sister, how did you get up on the roof…”
Zuo Xiaoxiao went completely stiff, letting Shi Le’er lead her into the inn without resistance.
As she stepped inside, Zuo Xiaoxiao glanced up at the sky with tears in her eyes. Compared to Shi Le’er, what was Yin Xiao?
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