“Hu...”
Shen Xiuhan withdrew his hand and slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air.
His gaze swept over the messy battlefield, and his expression suddenly paused slightly. Looking toward a certain spot, a faint, inscrutable smile curled on his lips.
He took dozens of steps, walked to the edge of a deep pit, and looked down.
Inside the pit,
a beautiful woman was leaning quietly against the pit wall.
Her delicate eyebrows were slightly furrowed, and a streak of dark red blood clung to the corner of her lips. Set against her pale face, she looked poignantly beautiful, a sight that would inspire pity in anyone.
Her sole remaining pale hand was loosely cupped over her ample chest. She lay completely still, as if she had already breathed her last.
Shen Xiuhan studied her for a moment, then suddenly spoke:
“Stop pretending.”
The woman remained motionless.
Not even her chest rose or fell with breath.
Shen Xiuhan sneered.
The golden glow on the corpses of Cheng Du and Yan Xiao had long since faded.
Yet the faint layer of golden light on this woman was still flowing. How could it possibly escape his eyes?
Shen Xiuhan leaped down into the pit, reaching out with his large hand straight toward Song Yanrong's fair, slender neck.
“Spare me, young master!”
Song Yanrong immediately lost her composure. Her beautiful eyes snapped open, filled with utter panic:
“Young Master Shen!”
“I no longer pose any threat to you. We are both from Changyun County. I beg you, young master, spare my life...”
She panted rapidly, her ample chest heaving violently, causing Shen Xiuhan's gaze to pause for a brief moment.
Song Yanrong's face stiffened slightly, and a fire of shame and rage instantly flared up in her heart.
Damned bastard!
A mere mud-legged peasant from a fishing family dares to lust after my body!
Once I get through this ordeal, I will grind your bones to dust and make sure you have no place to be buried!
Yet she did not dare show a hint of it on her face.
The situation was out of her control, so Song Yanrong could only thrust her chest out further, saying pitifully,
“If you want it, Young Master... I am willing to give you anything...”
“Oh?”
Shen Xiuhan's mouth curled up. He reached out two fingers to tilt up her delicate chin, a half-smile playing on his lips:
“What if I say... I want to do it right in front of Yan Xiao's corpse?”
Clench!
Such frivolous actions, such audacious words!
Song Yanrong's fingers instantly clenched so tightly that her nails dug deep into her palms, drawing fresh blood.
A wave of humiliation surged in her chest, nearly making her explode with rage!
Yet she took a few deep breaths, forcefully swallowing her resentment and forcing a smile:
“If... if Young Master has such an interest, I... I naturally would not object...”
“On second thought, forget it.”
Shen Xiuhan sighed and shook his head, saying,
“I'm a man who values propriety. Let's do it right here instead.”
Hearing this, Song Yanrong's face flushed red once more, burning as if she had been slapped in public.
You were the one who wanted it, and you were the one who rejected it.
Now you talk about propriety...
When have you ever let me keep a shred of dignity?
But she did not dare to snap. She could only grit her teeth, lower her head, and reply softly,
“Alright... I... I will do as you wish, Young Master...”
“Good.”
Shen Xiuhan nodded. “Have a safe journey, then.”
With those words,
the hand tilting her chin suddenly slid down, wrapping tightly around her neck.
Song Yanrong was slightly taken aback. Her beautiful eyes held a trace of bewilderment as she stared blankly at him:
“You...”
Crack!
His five fingers suddenly locked tight!
Her beautiful face instantly contorted, and her tongue was forced out of her mouth.
A broken rasp squeezed out of her throat: “Ah... please... spare... cough...”
Her sole remaining hand clawed and scratched desperately at Shen Xiuhan's arm, but she only left faint red marks that didn't even break the skin.
Her two red cloth shoes kicked wildly against the muddy bottom of the pit, carving out messy grooves.
Song Yanrong's face turned from pale to blue, then from blue to black. Her struggles gradually weakened until she finally stopped breathing altogether.
Snap!
Shen Xiuhan applied force once more, completely crushing her neck before slowly pulling his hand back.
He calmly watched the golden light fade from her body, his expression unchanging:
“A mere beautiful shell is not even worth a fraction of the Dao of the Sword and Martial Arts!”
With that,
Shen Xiuhan stood up and swiftly searched the corpses of Song Yanrong, Yan Xiao, and Cheng Du.
A bountiful harvest!
Several money pouches, a stack of silver banknotes, and Cheng Du's decent-quality precious artifact long saber were all swept into his storage bag.
With his task complete, Shen Xiuhan first threw Cheng Du's corpse into the carriage.
Then, he gathered the corpses of the Ji family guards in one place and set them on fire, incinerating them on the spot.
Afterward, he placed Ji Wen's corpse into the carriage, raised his whip, and drove the horse and mule toward Nanxiang Prefecture.
This place was located on the outskirts of the Wanku Swamp, not too far from the prefecture capital, but at the speed of the mules, it would still take several hours to arrive.
The carriage slowly traveled further away.
Behind him, tongues of fire licked the night sky, tinting the mist of Wanku Swamp with a dim yellow hue.
...
Day broke.
In the Ji Mansion in the prefecture capital, the vermilion gates were tightly shut.
With a heavy creak, the doors were pushed open. Ji Shuying walked into the mansion, her face frosty and carrying a travel-worn, murderous aura.
Ji Xue and Ji Yao hurriedly got up and ran out when they heard the commotion.
The moment they saw who it was, their eyes welled with tears, and they both threw themselves forward.
“Mother!”
“Mother!”
Seeing this, Ji Shuying's tightly knit brows relaxed slightly, though her face remained grave. She pulled them both into her arms and said in a low voice,
“Come, let's talk inside.”
Inside the hall.
Ji Xue's eyes were red and swollen from crying, but she forced herself to recount everything she knew of the events so far.
Ji Shuying, who had rushed over by fast boat overnight upon receiving the news, could not hide the exhaustion on her face. Rubbing her temples, she asked in a deep voice,
“Have you informed Xiao Liu?”
Ji Yao quickly stood up, sobbing as she replied,
“I already told Senior Brother Shen yesterday. He said... he would handle it.”
Hearing this, Ji Shuying felt slightly reassured, but she was still too restless to sit down. After pacing back and forth a few times, she suddenly turned and asked,
“Have the other factions in the prefecture capital made any moves?”
“Yes...”
Ji Xue's hands clenched tightly, a look of gnashing hatred flashing across her pretty face:
“They all want to take advantage of our misfortune! Among them is the Zeng family, of my 'good friend' Zeng Wanran, and even that Wind-and-Cloud Pavilion suddenly sent someone to deliver a message to us...”
She grit her teeth, only managing to squeeze out the words after a long pause:
“They claimed that if we are willing to yield seventy percent of our profits, they will seek justice on our behalf!”
“Seventy percent? What a massive appetite!”
Ji Shuying sneered, but her brows quickly knitted together again:
“But have you ever dealt with that Wind-and-Cloud Pavilion? Why would they suddenly target our merchant group?”
“I don't know, Mother...”
Ji Xue shook her head bitterly.
She felt that the current Ji family was like a wild thousand-year-old precious herb—every person and ghost was crazed with envy, wishing nothing more than to pounce and tear off a huge chunk of meat!
Senior Brother Shen...
Ji Xue's eyes grew red again. Clenching her skirt with her pale hands, she thought anxiously,
What should I do?!
Right at that moment, a commotion suddenly erupted outside the door.
It was faint at first, but it quickly grew louder, rushing in like a surging tide!
Bang!
The doors were slammed open. Several guards and servants stumbled inside, their faces filled with sheer ecstasy, their voices trembling:
“Family Head! Young Lady!”
“Core Disciple Shen is back!!”
“He... he came back with the carriage and the goods!!”
Rate on N.U.
