Chapter 38

In her dream, Shen Yao Xing saw the man she had always longed for – bronze skin, rugged features, and solid muscles that seemed to be placed exactly where she liked them.

Most importantly, he was single.

The man’s hearty smile filled Shen Yao Xing with sweetness. She felt she was dreaming and wanted to pinch herself to verify, but the man stopped her. The two chased each other happily in a flower field.

“Hehe…” Shen Yao Xing laughed with an infatuated expression.

When she looked back, she suddenly found a tall, straight figure behind the man. She frowned slightly, squinting but unable to see that person’s face clearly.

A cold glint suddenly flashed before her eyes. The man was cut in half at the waist. The figure behind him became clearer – a pair of gloomy, depressed pupils flashing blood-red, terrifying as if about to tear her apart.

“Hiss—” Shen Yao Xing woke up startled on the bed, staring wide-eyed at the ceiling, panting for a good while before propping herself up to sit.

“Phew, it was just a dream…” Shen Yao Xing wiped the cold sweat from her forehead, unable to help but recall those terrifying eyes from her dream.

She thought it would be a sweet dream, but it turned into a nightmare.

She glanced at the bright sun outside, estimating she had only slept for a short while. Shen Yao Xing lay back down on the bed, closing her eyes intending to continue her nap.

Knock knock knock

An untimely knocking sounded from outside the door. The young woman on the bed frowned slightly, keeping her eyes tightly shut with no intention of responding. But the person outside persisted, knocking steadily, neither fast nor slow, each knock maintaining the same rhythm and strength, as if certain she was inside.

Shen Yao Xing impatiently turned her body to face inward, covering her ears with her hands. However, her senses were naturally more acute than ordinary people, so these superfluous actions were completely ineffective.

The knocking outside had not ceased, seemingly determined to continue until she opened the door.

Shen Yao Xing sat up irritably, her teeth grinding audibly. She got out of bed, put on her shoes, and strode over.

She wanted to see which thoughtless person had come to disturb her sleep!

As soon as the door opened, she saw the man’s incomparably handsome face. He glanced at the young woman lightly, a hint of dissatisfaction between his brows: “Why did it take so long to open the door?”

Shen Yao Xing had more or less guessed it was him. She didn’t know if he was deliberately teasing her – his wounds had fully healed yet he hadn’t left, calling on her every day for this and that, truly annoying.

If not for that promise he made, Shen Yao Xing would have been unkind to him.

“I was taking a nap. What do you want?” Shen Yao Xing yawned, half-leaning against the door.

Perhaps because she had just woken up, a blush still lingered on the young woman’s face. Her originally large and bright eyes were still drowsy, her pink lips slightly pouting in impatience, looking even more delicate than those men.

Jiang Ming Yue was slightly dazed, realizing his gaze on the young woman was lingering more frequently than he could control. This feeling was not good; he despised the sensation of losing control.

Seeing the man not speaking, Shen Yao Xing frowned, squinting one eye at him: “Say something, or I’m going back to sleep.”

Displeasure flashed through Jiang Ming Yue’s beautiful eyes, his voice returning to its usual coldness: “I want to eat pastries. Go to the pastry shop in the east of the city and buy some for me.”

His tone was just like a young master ordering a servant, matter-of-fact, without the slightest embarrassment.

Shen Yao Xing didn’t mind his tone, but she really didn’t want to go out now: “Why didn’t you say so when we went out this morning?”

Jiang Ming Yue was accustomed to being superior. Even dressed in plain clothes, it didn’t diminish the nobility around him at all. Faced with the young woman’s questioning, he remained calm, only moving his gaze away without meeting her eyes: “Because I just thought of it now.”

In a place the young woman couldn’t see, the man’s hands hidden in his wide sleeves were sweating slightly, his gaze seemingly deliberately not falling on her.

He didn’t know what was wrong with him. He had just been curious about what she was doing in her room earlier, so he found an excuse to come over.

Realizing this, Jiang Ming Yue’s expression became somewhat unsightly, unable to understand why he would do such a childish thing. Could it be that the poison still had side effects of reducing intelligence?

The ice in his eyes deepened. Just as he was about to leave, the young woman suddenly spoke. Although her tone was impatient, she didn’t refuse his seemingly unreasonable behavior.

“I’ll buy them for you later. The sun is too strong outside now, I’ll start sweating as soon as I go out, and I’d have to take a bath when I come back.” Shen Yao Xing tried to negotiate with him, suppressing her impatience.

Jiang Ming Yue’s heart paused slightly. He looked at her with cold eyes, his thin lips slightly pursed, asking again a question he would never ask normally: “Don’t all you women like being covered in sweat?”

The young woman rolled her eyes at him, rubbing her ears and muttering softly: “Of course I’m different from them…”

She certainly couldn’t have muscles bulging all over her body.

Jiang Ming Yue’s gaze fell on the young woman’s delicate skin. Indeed, it was different. How could any woman be born with such tender skin? Somehow, he recalled the sensation of the young woman’s fingers on his face that night.

His icy beautiful eyes suddenly felt as if they had been scalded. He hurriedly turned his face away, lowering his eyes. The ice shards melted into warmth, flowing in the depths of his eyes, softening in a manner completely different from before.

Shen Yao Xing looked at him with a strange gaze. She noticed that this person had been like this occasionally these past two days. Although sometimes he was still like before, she just felt he had changed somewhat compared to before.

She couldn’t pinpoint exactly what had changed.

Her tongue pressed against her teeth, and Shen Yao Xing suddenly remembered a very important matter: “Oh, when are you going to give me that silver?”

She was almost out of money and would soon be unable to afford the inn. This person said he would cover all her expenses in this city, but after several days she hadn’t seen a single coin.

Jiang Ming Yue glanced at the young woman, reaching to his waist to remove a money pouch and toss it to her: “This is half. The remaining half I’ll give you when I leave.”

Shen Yao Xing’s mood immediately brightened. She eagerly opened the money pouch, thinking that since this person was so wealthy, he would surely give more. Who knew there were only about ten taels of silver inside the pouch.

It was just enough to cover the cost of renting a room for him and buying clothes. But having some was better than nothing. Anyway, she would still receive more when he left. Thinking this way, Shen Yao Xing put the money pouch back in her pocket.

“There’s one more thing.” The man’s voice was like a winter’s day when snow melts, naturally carrying a hint of coldness.

Shen Yao Xing looked up in confusion, just in time to meet his gaze that he hadn’t managed to move away. In an instant, it overlapped with that terrifying look from her dream, with an astonishingly similar feeling.

She couldn’t help but shudder. It’s just crazy, that was nothing but a dream.

“What is it?”

Looking at the young woman’s obviously impatient expression, Jiang Ming Yue’s slightly reddened thin lips opened and closed, as if wanting to speak but hesitating. In the end, he pressed his lips together, swallowing his words, only saying “It’s nothing” before turning to leave.

Shen Yao Xing found it puzzling. As soon as the person left, that sleepiness came over her again. She yawned as she turned back to her room, ready to continue her nap.

Meanwhile, Jiang Ming Yue also returned to his room. He seemed to have half his strength drained, sitting down at the tea table and tremblingly touching his forehead. A faint sense of loss lingered in his heart, making him want to kill someone to feel better.

Just now, he had almost invited that person to go out together tonight. How could such foolish words come out of his mouth?

A surge of shame and annoyance welled up in his heart. The man suddenly swept all the tea utensils on the table to the ground, his chest heaving constantly, his gloomy eyes looking towards the Floating Snow sword placed not far away.

He strode over to pick up the long sword, leaving the room without a backward glance.

When Shen Yao Xing returned from buying the pastries the man had mentioned in the afternoon, she discovered he had left. She searched the room again and again, but couldn’t find any valuable items he should have left behind.

Damn it, she had been tricked!

He said he would give her the rest of the money when he left, but he didn’t leave a single coin, and even tricked her into buying a portion of pastries!

Shen Yao Xing was too angry for words. She had thought those dozen or so taels of silver were nothing to him, after all, just a small piece from that carriage would be worth more than that. Who knew this person would be so stingy.

She was so angry, but there was nothing she could do about it.

Meng Xin Yi noticed that since the young woman had free time, her expression had never looked good, scowling as if someone owed her money.

“What’s wrong? Did that delicate fellow trick you out of your money and run off?” Meng Xin Yi had always known the young woman was hiding someone in the inn, but she hadn’t paid attention, just assuming this person had opened up.

Shen Yao Xing didn’t speak, holding a coarse grain pancake larger than her face, chewing expressionlessly.

The two walked to the street in the southern part of the city. Many people had gathered in groups, whispering about something, their gazes or fingers all pointing in one direction, their faces fearful yet unable to suppress their excited gossip.

Shen Yao Xing’s ears twitched, catching the frequently appearing word “Thousand Pardons Sect” amidst the noise. She frowned in thought, feeling it sounded somewhat familiar.

“This Thousand Pardons Sect must have offended some powerful figure, to be bloodily wiped out in one night. It’s truly too tragic.”

Before she could think further, Meng Xin Yi beside her sighed softly.

“Thousand Pardons Sect…” It seemed to be the sect she had heard about when she rescued that person.

Meng Xin Yi thought the young woman was asking her, so she nodded and continued: “I heard it happened just last night. Over a hundred disciples of the Thousand Pardons Sect, not one survived. Only the whereabouts of the sect’s Grand Elder are unknown.”

Shen Yao Xing listened intently, instinctively thinking of Jiang Ming Yue who had left in a hurry.

Could it be that this person rushed back to take revenge and so didn’t have time to give her the silver?

Shen Yao Xing’s heart eased slightly, thinking that she still had hope of getting her money back. The coarse pancake in her mouth finally became less difficult to swallow.

Just as Shen Yao Xing’s mood had improved somewhat, she happened to glimpse a golden eagle soaring in the sky. Her eyes suddenly widened. As an eagle’s cry pierced the sky, everyone looked up.

Shen Yao Xing’s heart tightened. The coarse pancake in her hand was crushed to powder. Without bothering to explain to the person beside her, she ran in the direction the golden eagle had flown. In an alley with no people, she looked up at the golden eagle circling overhead, her hand pinching her lower lip as she blew out a long whistle.

The golden eagle let out a long cry, instantly swooping down. Its huge bird body perched on the young woman’s raised arm.

Shen Yao Xing habitually stroked its wings, looking it over before exclaiming in amazement: “Jinzi, you’ve grown much bigger!”

“Chirp~” The golden eagle seemed to understand, responding as it affectionately rubbed its head against her.

This golden eagle had been raised by Shen Yao Xing’s mother, for the purpose of tracking her every move. Now that it had suddenly appeared, she could guess without thinking that it must be her mother calling her back.

Pushing away the nuzzling bird head, Shen Yao Xing’s gaze moved downward. Sure enough, she saw a message tied to its claws. She reached out to untie it, allowing the golden eagle to slowly move sideways from her arm to her shoulder.

Unfolding the message, Shen Yao Xing was stunned to see its contents, her brows furrowing.

It clearly stated: Master Shen gravely ill and bedridden, return immediately.