Chapter 16

This town was indeed rather boring, with nowhere to go after eating and drinking. The usual street vendor calls hadn’t been heard since entering the town, and the surrounding area was quite desolate. The only thing to do was stay in the inn and space out.

She didn’t know if Hei Sha and Bai Sha would come looking for her here after not finding her in the forest. She was afraid they might foolishly keep searching there, but with Hei Sha present, it shouldn’t come to that. Although she usually stuttered a bit, her mind worked faster than Bai Sha’s.

Shen Yao Xing sat by the second-floor window, resting her chin on her hand, her gaze aimlessly sweeping over the empty street. Besides her, there were no other guests in the inn’s lobby. The innkeeper was kind, letting her sit anywhere and even providing tea and snacks.

However, if what she said was true, that those bandits came to plunder every dozen days or so, this inn probably wouldn’t last much longer.

Shen Yao Xing bit into a snack, sprawled on the table staring blankly out the window. The inn was so quiet that not even footsteps could be heard. Outside, apart from the rustling of leaves in the wind, nothing else could be heard. It was so quiet that she felt drowsy.

“Might as well go back to sleep…” the young girl muttered, getting up to stretch before heading to her room.

…

As the sky gradually darkened, until only the last ray of sunlight remained, it shone upon several masked figures in black clothes jumping across the rooftops. They crouched on the roof, and as the last light faded, one of them pointed to an inn not far away, giving a signal to those beside her.

They all leapt towards the direction of the inn, silent and unseen.

In one of the rooms of the inn, a man sat at the tea table, one hand slightly raised, his wide sleeve falling back to reveal half of his arm, white as jade. His slender fingers moved gently, as if teasing something.

On his flawless white hand rested a fat worm, almost transparent in its whiteness. As the man’s fingertips moved, the plump worm’s body wriggled accordingly, raising its head slightly towards the man as if making eye contact, then lying back down on his skin, slowly crawling towards his wrist.

The man was very indulgent with it, allowing it to wriggle and crawl as it pleased.

Suddenly, the gently moving fingers paused, and those deep, emotionless eyes glanced towards the window. The raised hand slowly lowered, and he naturally tossed the fat worm that had crawled to his wrist back into a small round plate, closing the plate without regard for its struggles, and setting it aside.

On the other side, separated by one room from the man, Shen Yao Xing had just woken up and was thinking about going downstairs for a nice dinner. She had barely opened the door when she almost had her throat cut by a masked person who had just landed at the doorway.

Shen Yao Xing reflexively dodged backward, her sleepy eyes immediately clearing up. She narrowly avoided a slash, then two more people jumped in through the window. The group attacked her from front and back in a flurry of blades.

“Wait!” Shen Yao Xing raised her hand to call a stop at the critical moment.

Surprisingly, the four people surrounding her actually stopped, holding their blades in positions ready to strike her. Shen Yao Xing quietly shifted her feet, looking to both sides in confusion: “Who are you people?”

What she actually wanted to ask was why they were trying to kill her. The black shop from last time was one thing, but now she was being attacked for no reason again. Shen Yao Xing glanced at them, wondering if those women from the black shop had held a grudge and chased her all the way here.

The four masked individuals exchanged glances, and one woman standing at the forefront raised her blade, pointing it at her. Her voice was rather gruff: “Hand over the deerskin map and we’ll spare your life!”

So these people were after that map. Shen Yao Xing straightened up, smoothing down the hair on her head that had become messy from sleeping, and jerked her chin at the woman closest to her: “Come and take it if you dare.”

“You don’t know your own limits!”

The woman who had been provoked shouted, and all four attacked the young girl at once. Cold light flashed, and the sound of clashing blades was harsh and piercing. But the space between them was suddenly empty. All four were stunned, with the leader reacting fastest, abruptly looking up at the ceiling beam.

They saw the young girl unharmed, half-crouching on the beam. Seeing them look up, she even grinned and waved. The woman’s eyes immediately reddened with anger. She leapt up, swinging her blade horizontally at the girl, but the young girl’s figure disappeared again. Following a series of screams, two of the others were kicked out of the room, breaking through the corridor railing and falling directly from the second floor.

“Tsk,” Shen Yao Xing sucked in a cold breath, regretting her action the moment she lifted her foot. Fighting like this, she couldn’t afford to compensate for the damage to the inn’s property!

Before she could think further, the remaining two had already swung their blades at her neck. She bent down and spun to avoid them, reflexively kicking one in the lower back. Her speed was so fast it gave the opponent no time to react.

As the woman’s body was about to crash onto the table, Shen Yao Xing, afraid of breaking the tea set, quickly grabbed her wrist, pulled and released, violently throwing the person against the wall. With a muffled groan, she collapsed to the ground.

Only one left. Shen Yao Xing glanced at her.

That person gripped her blade tightly, warily watching the young girl. The two faced off silently, with the young girl looking relaxed, scratching behind her ear, seemingly just waiting for the other to charge.

Author’s Note: To read more novels related to “She Alone in the Jianghu (Female Dominance)”, please visit: Meiwu Novel Website femkings.com

Suddenly, slow and prolonged footsteps sounded from the corridor outside. Both of them looked towards the door simultaneously. The footsteps paused briefly at the doorway, and with the swaying of a white robe’s hem, a man’s tall figure appeared at the door. Backlit by the candlelight from the hall, his jade-like face was covered in shadows, his eyes gleaming coldly as he surveyed the two in the room.

Upon seeing the ornament hanging at the man’s waist, the masked woman’s eyes suddenly widened. With lightning speed, she jumped out the window and fled.

“……” Shen Yao Xing quickly walked to the window and looked down, only to see the black shadow making several rapid leaps, running faster than a rabbit.

She could have at least taken her companions with her. Shen Yao Xing hadn’t intended to deal fatal blows. This person seemed a bit too cowardly.

“Is Miss Shen just going to let them go like this?”

The man’s cold voice sounded from behind. Shen Yao Xing knew who it was without turning around. She shrugged, still facing away: “What else should I do?”

Jiang Ming Yue remained silent, his gaze falling on the unconscious woman.

Meanwhile, Shen Yao Xing had already started cleaning up, dragging the three unconscious people out of the inn, dusting off her hands, and not bothering with them anymore.

Turning back, she saw the innkeeper looking at her with a terrified expression. Shen Yao Xing felt a bit awkward, glancing at the broken railing upstairs, and quickly assured: “Don’t worry, innkeeper, I’ll compensate you for the damaged items!”

However, the innkeeper’s attention didn’t seem to be on the broken things, but rather on something behind her. Her sallow face had turned somewhat pale, and Shen Yao Xing noticed that her hands were shaking.

“Ban… bandits…” Her voice was trembling so much it was barely audible.

Jiang Ming Yue, standing in the second-floor corridor, had a rare glimmer of interest in his eyes. He was curious about what the young girl would do next – would she drive them away, or kill them all? The upturned corners of his eyes exuded a captivating charm as the man kept his gaze fixed on the young girl’s figure, not missing a single movement.

By now, Shen Yao Xing had already sensed the approaching presence behind her. She couldn’t help but sigh, feeling that this was truly a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire, with one problem after another.

She resignedly turned to look. A group of people in black swarmed into the inn, each one tall and burly, with uniformly fierce expressions. Especially the one walking in front – she had a scarred face, a bear-like build, and a menacing look in her eyes. She had the standard villain face. If not for her bulging chest, Shen Yao Xing thought she would find her much more agreeable.

“Innkeeper!”

The ear-splitting roar made the innkeeper behind them collapse to the ground in fear. Shen Yao Xing rubbed her ears, suddenly realizing that this person’s gaze seemed to completely ignore her, not even noticing her standing right in front.

Instead, Jiang Ming Yue on the second floor had attracted all the attention as soon as the voice fell. The bandit leader’s eyes widened, her mouth gaping as she stared fixedly at the person upstairs, her gaze becoming mesmerized.

“This… this… good…” She could barely speak clearly.

The bandit leader wiped the drool from the corner of her mouth, her eyes burning with fervor. Her lips curled up wickedly as she pointed at the man and said, “Tie him up and bring him back to our lair!”

The people behind her erupted in a commotion, all rushing towards the stairs, jostling and shoving each other. The stairs creaked ominously under their weight, as if they might collapse at any moment. It was like they were fighting over a precious treasure, with some even coming to blows in the chaos, falling down the stairs before they could get close.

Shen Yao Xing glanced at them, quietly moving to one side.

One woman rushed to the front, her face somewhat crazed as she reached out towards the beautiful man. Just as she was about to touch the hem of his clothes, a chilling light flashed. The woman’s arm went flying, followed by another flash, and her arm along with her head flew off the corridor, falling to the first floor hall. Those closely following behind were splattered with blood.

Before the horrified onlookers could react, a black shadow darted among them. Cold light repeatedly flashed across their necks. The frenzied crowd’s faces had not yet lost their fervor when it froze in the moment terror appeared. Everything happened so quickly, it seemed to take no more than the blink of an eye.

Shen Yao Xing’s face paled slightly, her hand clenching under her sleeve. She realized that this black-clad man beside Jiang Ming Yue was even more formidable than the one at the arena. That eerie movement was so fast that even she could barely follow it.

He might even be on a completely different level from the previous one.

The crowd on the second floor that had been frenzied just moments ago now seemed as if they had been hit with acupuncture, standing motionless. Blood trails appeared on their necks. The bandit leader, terrified by the first person who had her head cut off, turned so pale that even the scar on her face changed color. Seeing the people behind her not moving, she pointed at the man and roared, “What are you standing there for?! Grab him quickly!”

As soon as her roar ended, they all collapsed to the ground like deflated balloons. A torrent of red dripped down from the second floor to the hall, creating a terrifying scene in the flickering candlelight.

Seeing this, the innkeeper fainted outright.

The bandit leader’s eyes filled with terror. When she looked at the man again, she no longer dared to harbor any greedy thoughts. She turned and fled the inn in panic. A black shadow flashed past Shen Yao Xing’s face, and then she saw the woman who had just run out of the inn cut in half at the waist, dying a miserable death.

Shen Yao Xing realized that anyone who caught the man’s attention seemed to meet a terrible end.

“What, do you pity her?”

Shen Yao Xing turned her head to look at the man standing not far from her. His face was calm, as if such horrifying scenes were already commonplace to him. She didn’t know what to say, her lips moved but no words came out.

Jiang Ming Yue slightly raised his chin, pointing at the fainted innkeeper: “Didn’t you want to help her?”

“If I hadn’t acted just now, what were you planning to do?”

What would she do? Naturally, she would have driven them away, beaten them so badly they wouldn’t dare come back.

“Chase them away?”

The man seemed to be able to see through her thoughts. The mockery in his tone made Shen Yao Xing somewhat annoyed: “You think I’m like you? Killing without blinking an eye!”

“Heh,” Jiang Ming Yue sneered, slightly raising his chin, looking down at the young girl with a superior attitude: “Then what do you think would happen after chasing them away? Can you guarantee those people won’t come back?”

Shen Yao Xing was stunned.

He slowly walked to the young girl’s side, his beautiful eyes slightly turning to glance at her profile. He lowered his head slightly to her ear, his voice lingering by her ear, so soft it seemed like a bewitchment: “Cutting the weeds and digging up the roots is the best outcome.”

Shen Yao Xing looked at the fainted innkeeper.

It seemed… that was indeed the right thing to do.