“I’m actually someone who quite respects the spirit of the contract.”
Xie Zhaofan closed her folding fan and looked at the young man who had led the way with a beaming smile.
“Since you took my money, you’re responsible for bringing me to the right place. Therefore, I’ll give you one last chance.”
She held up a single finger, her tone still light and nonchalant.
“Take me to find Zhang Erniu right now. After this matter is over, I’ll only break one of your hands.”
The young man was stunned for a moment before bursting into loud laughter, as if he had just heard the biggest joke in the world.
“What did you say? Break my hand?”
He looked at the companions around him, laughing so hard that tears almost came out.
“Did you hear that? This little girl said she wants to break my hand!”
The others followed suit with mocking laughter.
In their eyes, while this girl was beautiful and quite bold, she was ultimately just a weak young lady who couldn’t even truss a chicken.
They even found the fact that she dared to say such things to be extremely amusing.
After the young man had his fill of laughing, he tilted his head to look at her.
“And if I don’t?”
Xie Zhaofan continued to smile.
“If you don’t?”
She gently swayed her folding fan. Her voice remained soft and melodic, but a hint of chill gradually seeped into her eyes.
“For unrepentant villains, there is naturally no need for them to remain in this world.”
These words were spoken with utter calm, as if she were merely stating something mundane.
Unfortunately, the people in front of her didn’t realize the danger at all.
They only thought the young lady before them was truly interesting. One man had already grown impatient and started walking toward her.
“Don’t be so fierce, little lady. Once you’re in your big brother's hands, I’ll naturally take good care of you.”
The man had a lewd grin plastered on his face as he reached out to grab Xie Zhaofan.
The others were also spewing filth from their mouths, their gazes filled with greed.
They would normally never even get a chance to look at such a beautiful young lady from a distance, so now that she had been delivered right to them, they naturally couldn’t wait to take advantage of her.
“Tsk.”
Xie Zhaofan watched the reaching hand and couldn’t help but let out a soft sigh.
She had heard about the wickedness of people in this vile feudal society before, but now she was experiencing it firsthand.
And this was only her first time going out alone without guards. It seemed that if an ordinary woman truly wanted to walk outside alone, the risks were indeed quite significant.
When noble ladies in ancient times went out, they needed to bring guards and attendants. Besides following etiquette, it was more for their own safety.
The man’s hand drew closer and closer, almost touching her sleeve.
At that very moment, Xie Zhaofan finally moved.
There were no flashy movements; she didn't even draw her folding fan.
She simply raised her slender leg and gave what appeared to be a light kick toward the man’s chest.
Bang!
A dull sound of impact suddenly rang out, and everyone’s laughter came to an abrupt halt.
In the next instant, the man who had lunged forward first felt as if he had been struck head-on by a rampaging beast. His body was instantly lifted off the ground, and he flew backward several zhang.
With a resounding crash, he slammed hard into the dilapidated wall behind him and went silent.
The already shaky wall couldn't withstand such an impact. A huge crack split open on the spot, bricks and stones crumbled down, and a section of the wall even collapsed directly.
The alley fell into a deathly silence as everyone’s eyes widened.
They hadn’t even reacted to what had just happened.
It wasn’t until someone mechanically turned their head to look at their companion who had been kicked away, then slowly looked back at Xie Zhaofan, who was still standing in her original spot, that they finally realized a terrifying fact.
That man had just been kicked flying by her.
And that seemingly slender, frail-looking young lady was still standing there.
Her dress wasn't messed up, her hair wasn't disheveled, and the folding fan in her hand even remained in its original posture.
It was as if she had just casually kicked a stone out of her way.
Xie Zhaofan looked down at her foot, then looked up at the several men who were completely dazed, her face even carrying a hint of helplessness.
“I gave you all a chance.”
She let out a soft sigh, speaking with great distaste.
“Why didn’t you know to cherish it? You just had to dirty this young miss’s hands and feet!”
“How is this possible? Is she a Martial Cultivator?”
This thought surfaced in the minds of almost everyone present at the same time.
Especially the few who had been full of lewd smiles just moments ago; they were now staring at the slender, cross-dressing girl as if they had seen a ghost.
The contempt in their eyes had long since vanished, replaced only by undisguisable terror and disbelief.
Although they were just the lowest-level thugs and scoundrels in the capital, living by swindling and bullying the weak...
They had nonetheless spent many years scraping by in this chaotic place and had more or less practiced some basic martial arts. At the very least, they had some confidence when dealing with ordinary people.
However, they weren't unfamiliar with the concept of a true martial artist.
Those experts in the martial world could often fight a dozen or so ordinary strong men by themselves.
If they were even more powerful, they could scale walls and leap over roofs or injure people from a distance. In the eyes of these thugs, such people were no different from immortals.
So when Xie Zhaofan kicked the man who wanted to take advantage of her, sending both him and the wall flying in a cloud of dust, the first thought in their minds wasn't how she had so much strength, but rather—had they provoked a Martial Cultivator who was hiding their identity today?
But this person didn't look like one at all!
Although the moon-white man’s robe was clean and tidy, it couldn't hide that slender and graceful figure.
Especially that face—even though Xie Zhaofan had deliberately adjusted her features, lowered her skin tone, and wore a man’s hair crown, she was still excessively beautiful.
No matter how they looked at her, she seemed like a pampered young miss from some prestigious family who had secretly put on men’s clothing to go out and play. She didn't look like a Martial Cultivator at all.
And yet, it was this very girl who looked like she could be blown over by the wind who had just kicked a grown man several zhang away.
That intense visual impact left the remaining men momentarily paralyzed, unable even to remember to run away.
Xie Zhaofan, who had already struck, had no intention of being polite. She had originally come here with the intent of being a spectator.
Who would have thought these people actually planned to sell her and even dared to lay hands on her? Naturally, there was no room for negotiation in such a matter.
She hadn't actually practiced any serious martial arts. Aside from being sent to extracurricular classes by her family to learn Taekwondo for a couple of days when she was a child on Blue Star—barely knowing how to lift a leg and kick someone—she knew nothing of so-called forms, footwork, or internal energy techniques.
But current her didn't need those things at all.
Xie Zhaofan herself hadn't fully grasped the concept of twenty-four points of Strength.
She only knew that her current body was no longer that of an ordinary person. With a casual kick, it was difficult even for her to accurately judge just how much destruction it would cause.
Rate on N.U.
