Wu Zhen couldn't help but feel that Jiang Zhenxue had been acting a bit strange lately.
For instance, he always liked to wander in front of her, casually bringing up topics about repaying a debt of gratitude. He would also accidentally leave storybooks on the small table in the courtyard, which seemed to contain the immensely popular mortal trope of pledging one's life in marriage to repay a life-saving grace.
After some thought, the player replaced all the gifts she planned to give Jiang Zhenxue over the next few days with various storybooks dropped by red-named enemies.
As another day drew to a close, she handed the gift to Jiang Zhenxue. The young man stared at the storybook she offered in silence for a moment before finally accepting it with a smile.
He must have been very satisfied with the gift.
Feeling that she had perfectly resolved this matter, the player immediately shifted her attention back to her completed side quests.
After waking up from her offline state, she discovered she had gained a new achievement: World Renowned.
World Renowned: Defeat all the ultimate masters of the Eight Great Sects, emerging victorious single-handedly against the combined attacks of multiple martial arts grandmasters. Who in the world does not know you.
Wu Zhen noticed that the icon for this achievement was silver. Her previous Number One in the World achievement was also silver. It was highly likely that there was a higher-tier achievement, which would require her to similarly overpower all the heroes in the cultivation world to obtain.
Far from finding it troublesome, the player grew even more excited.
It wasn't the kind of achievement that required her to scrounge around in obscure corners for collectibles. This achievement was incredibly fun!
She had to get it, absolutely had to!
Even in the cultivation world, she was going to be the number one!
Meanwhile, as a renowned large-scale faction in the martial world, the Flying Star Villa possessed astonishing wealth. She had practically emptied the entire villa this time. The increase in her assets far exceeded the loot she gained from killing the Life-Claiming Saber. It could be said that she had become filthy rich overnight once again. With this wealth, Wu Zhen completely renovated her homestead.
However, she didn't change the interior facilities much this time. Instead, she spent a hefty sum to buy new plots of land, placing them around her ancestral home to distance herself further from the surrounding towns and villages. She also expanded the bamboo grove into a vast bamboo sea and even installed a lake within it.
Originally, Wu Zhen had also wanted to modify the terrain, but she gave up on the idea after a quick attempt. The surrounding area was all flatland; directly elevating the plot where her ancestral home sat would look incredibly bizarre, which went against a player's aesthetics.
Saving this sum of money, Wu Zhen did some quick math and felt that her mortal character card no longer needed to worry about funds for the time being.
The player was delighted. Free from financial pressure, she immediately became interested in the continuation of this side quest and decided to head over and take a look in person.
Because the black-haired young man had been a bit too clingy lately (and possessed a handsome face that was impossible to refuse), Wu Zhen specifically waited until Jiang Zhenxue had to go out on an errand before buying a fast horse and heading toward Shu.
Unlike her previous trip, which carried a bit of a sightseeing tourist mindset, the player was purely focused on traveling this time.
She traveled in a straight line, slaughtering any red-named enemies who dared to block her path until heads rolled. Later on, hardly any bandits dared to appear before her. Only occasionally would phrases like "It is her!" pop up in the Event log, followed by them shouting for their brothers to run as far away as possible.
As long as they didn't appear in front of her, Wu Zhen couldn't be bothered to pay them any mind. Now that she had enough assets, killing these mass-produced NPCs was clearly just a waste of a player's time.
This time, it took her barely four days to travel from Qingni Town to Shu.
Arriving at her destination, Wu Zhen dismounted in the city, only to find that the surrounding NPCs, after a brief pause, all took a step back in unison.
Then, muttering things like, "Oh my, I haven't taken in today's laundry yet," which were clearly scripted lines meant to brush off the player, they scattered like birds and beasts, running away incredibly fast.
Confused, the player pulled out to a third-person perspective to look at herself.
Player: "..."
Feeling slightly guilty, she switched back to first-person view and quickly justified it to herself.
...So what if her face and body were completely covered in blood? She was in a hurry, so wasn't it perfectly normal to be a little rough when fighting? In other games, even if she dressed in a way that barely resembled a human, the NPCs wouldn't voice any opinions. Not to mention, weren't her human characteristics still very obvious right now?
As expected, the NPCs in this game were just too ignorant.
However, this look did have its advantages. Besides keeping blind troublemakers at bay, it also unexpectedly served to hide her identity. At the very least, the people in the Event log were openly discussing the name "Wu Zhen" without any realization that the person in question was not far away.
Wu Zhen found a teahouse and sat down.
After the incident at the Flying Star Villa, martial artists came to Shu in an endless stream to gather information. They traveled year-round and were well-experienced, so upon seeing her current appearance, they only fell into an eerie silence for a moment before quickly having their attention drawn back to the storyteller on the stage.
The teahouse waiter came up bowing and scraping, not showing any strange expressions. Obviously, the establishment had a lot of experience dealing with people from the martial world, knowing that if they were misunderstood as being disrespectful, it would bring about true disaster.
"What story is the gentleman on stage telling?" the player asked curiously as she took a seat in the corner.
The waiter bowed and smiled, "Have you heard of the young hero Wu Zhen, who has been making waves in the martial world lately? That is exactly who the gentleman is talking about."
Wu Zhen herself fell silent for a moment. "...Wu Zhen?"
She raised her eyes to look at the stage.
She saw the storyteller take a sip of tea to moisten his throat, slam his gavel on the table, and begin speaking: "Let us talk about the young hero Wu Zhen. On her journey into Shu, she single-handedly wiped out eight bandit strongholds in a row, slaughtering those bandits until heads rolled. Even before she entered Shu, her heavy killing intent was already known to all, terrifying the bandits within a hundred miles so much that they dared not show their faces. They call her 'Little Yama' and dare not speak her true name."
Wu Zhen: "...Little what?"
The waiter helpfully repeated, "Little Yama."
Wu Zhen: "?"
The player was deeply shocked.
She had only been away from this area for a few days, so how did they already assign her a nickname?
On stage, the storyteller's emotions grew increasingly excited. "If Yama decrees your death at the third watch, who dares keep you alive until the fifth! Good audience, do you know just how heavy this Wu Zhen's killing intent is?"
The curiosity of the teahouse patrons had been completely piqued. They eagerly chimed in with questions, and some even tossed silver coins onto the stage, urging the storyteller to stop keeping them in suspense and hurry up with the tale.
"What you all might not know is that Wu Zhen did not enter Shu alone; she had two companions traveling with her. One of them wore white clothes and a veiled hat, possessing an extraordinary bearing—truly like an immortal banished to the mortal realm. The other carried a treasured sword and had a dignified appearance. He is none other than the great hero Deng Caiying, who has long been famous in the martial world as a first-rate master with formidable martial arts. However, on the journey with Wu Zhen, he did not dare make a single move. That is because once Wu Zhen strikes, she spares no one, failing to distinguish between friend and foe!"
An uproar broke out in the audience, and someone couldn't help but ask, "Deng Caiying is a first-rate master. Could it be that he had no way to stop her?"
The storyteller gave a scoffing laugh and shook his head mysteriously. "A first-rate master? What does a first-rate master count for?"
Before anyone could retort, he said emphatically: "
"A few days ago, atop the secondary peak of Flying Star Villa, Wu Zhen single-handedly defeated the elders and elite disciples of the Eight Great Sects, along with every single martial arts master within the villa! Deng Caiying lasted only a single exchange before falling in defeat. As for the old Villa Master, his neck was ruthlessly snapped, killing him on the spot! Even while besieged by several peerless experts, she slaughtered his son, He You, and numerous disciples of the villa. Blood flowed like rivers, and corpses littered the ground. The summit of the secondary peak was transformed into a living hell on earth!"
The audience below the stage was entirely awed by the vivid imagery of his words, and for a moment, dead silence filled the room.
Seeing this, the storyteller knew his buildup had achieved the perfect effect, and he slowly delivered his final line.
"Ever since then, the people of the martial world have called her the 'Mute Yama'. Because anyone targeted by Wu Zhen never gets the chance to speak."
Wu Zhen: "..."
After a few seconds of dead silence, heated discussions erupted throughout the teahouse. Spectators waved silver taels, urging the storyteller to share more, while martial artists out for information whispered with their companions. Only Wu Zhen herself couldn't help but feel a twinge of doubt: Was she really that terrifying?
She had clearly been very gentle and kind, alright!
"...So, did Flying Star Villa really collude with the Demonic Cult? And did the Villa Master really massacre the entire Deng family just for a martial arts manual?"
"It's absolutely true. I heard there was a secret room in the Villa Master's study, with a hidden passage connecting to a cave that led outside. Those Demonic Cult members used that secret passage to come and go."
"Not only that, but even many of the disciples in the villa were actually Demonic Cult members in disguise..."
"Karma truly spares no one. When the old Villa Master He committed those unconscionable acts, did he ever imagine that Flying Star Villa would face such a day of reckoning?"
The chatter continued to buzz in her ears, but Wu Zhen stopped paying attention. Her gaze swept across her [Events] panel. She stood up at a leisurely pace and headed in the direction the waiter had gone.
Upon entering the teahouse, she had opened everyone's character panels for a quick look. She found that the waiter, the storyteller, and the teahouse manager all possessed conspicuously high [Brawl] levels. If she couldn't sense that something was amiss here, all her years of gaming would have been in vain.
Wu Zhen's footsteps were light and her movements swift. The [Events] panel recorded every single movement around her. She made a quick save, then began to retrace the waiter's steps. Finally, inside a private room, she opened a hidden door leading below.
The door was locked.
Pretty cautious of them.
[Wu Zhen] used [Trickery].
Too bad she was exceptionally good at picking locks.
Her path was entirely unobstructed as she made her way to the innermost room of the secret passage. Lit by only a single candle, the surroundings were dim, casting everything in shadow. At the far end of the room stood a heavy iron door, and plastered on the adjacent wall were several bounty lists. Wu Zhen spotted her own name among them. It seemed that even though the client was dead, the bounty had yet to be retracted.
Coupling this with the storyteller's tale, Wu Zhen strongly suspected that these people harbored some wildly unnecessary misunderstandings about her, driving them to eradicate her by the roots despite their employer's demise.
Wu Zhen took a few steps forward, blocking the candlelight from shining against the iron door. Soon, a hoarse voice drifted from behind it: "Has the guest come to..."
He only managed to utter the beginning of his sentence before stopping abruptly.
Because a pitch-black scythe had already materialized in Wu Zhen's hand.
"Shijue Tower—right?"
Her tone was light and breezy. As she sized up the heavy iron door before her, a delightful smile graced her lips.
"Let's settle our scores, shall we?"
