Wu Zhen had a clear purpose for this trip, heading straight for the bookstore.
As long as it was a book she hadn't read and seemed somewhat useful, she would buy as many as she could. After all, as a player, she could lower her hunger bar just by munching on the grass in the yard; she wouldn't starve to death anyway.
After buying the books, Wu Zhen stuffed them into her inventory, ignoring the bookstore owner's suddenly widened eyes, and prepared to head to the market to clear out the junk in her bag.
She had almost forgotten that there were three corpses sitting in her inventory.
Perhaps because her physical stats were almost at the peak of mortals, her inventory's weight capacity was massive. As long as it was a movable object and the weight wasn't too outrageous, it could be stored in her inventory. It wasn't limited by the number of slots, but by the maximum weight she could carry.
Having learned her lesson from being thrown into prison right after she arrived, Wu Zhen knew that she probably couldn't trade corpses with the merchants at the market. The NPCs would likely scream and cower in the corners, or even turn hostile immediately, and then she would have no choice but to kill them.
Although Wu Zhen's morality was somewhat intermittent, she generally had a little bit of it. She wouldn't easily start a massacre against NPCs from the good faction.
Well then, since early spring was approaching, she might as well take these three corpses back to use as fertilizer for the flowers.
"Let's go," she said to Jiang Zhenxue. "We'll go check out the West Market."
Wu Zhen's footsteps were brisk. She walked a bit faster, weaving through the crowd. After finding a suitable merchant, she began to dump her goods.
Some of the junk really couldn't fetch a good price, but Wu Zhen didn't mind. Anyway, after the transactions, her inventory was much cleaner and tidier.
The market was quite noisy with all kinds of sounds. Amidst these noises, Wu Zhen sharply caught a few snippets of conversation.
"...All the dirty deeds done by that young master of the Lin family have been found out. Master Lin was said to be furious and replaced every single servant in the manor who was involved."
"He actually didn't suppress such a scandal? The Lin family's reputation is completely ruined now."
"That's only if he dared to. I heard that Young Master Lin's death doesn't seem to be the work of a mortal, but more like..."
Before Wu Zhen could hear enough, a bamboo umbrella silently covered the top of her head, accompanied by the approach of a very faint, cold pine scent.
"It's raining," Jiang Zhenxue said.
Only then did Wu Zhen realize that the surroundings had become damp.
Jiang Zhenxue was standing very close to her.
She turned her head, only able to see the jade-white jawline of the person under the umbrella, and his cascading, satin-like black hair.
A few strands of his long hair even fell onto her shoulder, mingling with her own hair.
...Wait. Since when did Jiang Zhenxue get so close to her?
Wu Zhen finally pinpointed what felt slightly off in this subtle shift.
However, she glanced at the umbrella handle held steadily in his hand—it was probably because there wasn't much space under the umbrella.
Jiang Zhenxue spoke again, "I saw someone setting up a martial arts arena in the south."
Wu Zhen: "!"
The player immediately lifted her head.
As expected of a big city, there's actually a martial arts arena!
This kind of random event wouldn't be prompted on the minimap. The minimap wasn't detailed to that extent; the player had to explore the map themselves.
Players absolutely loved watching this kind of spectacle. She immediately changed direction and hurried towards the south, completely leaving the person beside her behind, but that umbrella remained steadily hovering over her head.
The rain fell harder and harder, and the voices around the arena grew more and more thunderous. Wu Zhen nimbly squeezed through the crowd and arrived at the front of the stage.
Someone was currently sparring on the arena stage.
Wu Zhen caught an earful of the surrounding people's discussions. It seemed that a newly opened escort agency was using a martial arts tournament to boost its prestige. The escort master on the stage had indeed trained his external martial arts very well. With bulging muscles and a burly, bear-like back, he looked like someone whose defense couldn't be easily broken. Just as Wu Zhen looked over, another person was defeated and walked off the stage, looking utterly disgraced.
A burst of cheers erupted from the crowd. The escort master cupped his hands toward the audience and asked, "Are there any other warriors willing to step onto the stage and test their skills?"
Wu Zhen was eager to try, but she was truly a somewhat competitive person and didn't want to lose in front of a crowd. Therefore, she prepared to observe a bit longer and even saved her game.
At this moment, the event log happened to refresh.
[Onlooker]: It seems that the person who successfully defends the ring and takes first place will be rewarded with a thousand taels of silver by the escort agency. No wonder so many martial artists have been attracted here. What a grand gesture.
...
Wu Zhen's eyes instantly sharpened.
She gathered her qi to lighten her body, nimbly leaping onto the arena and landing amidst the curtain of rain.
Come to think of it, apart from a few escorts in Qingni Town, she hadn't really interacted much with people from the martial world.
She didn't know what a max-level Brawl skill would look like, but the name of the skill certainly sounded down-to-earth.
"Wu Zhen," she said.
She had no weapon in her hands, clearly intending to clash physically with this seasoned martial artist.
Low whispers rippled through the crowd.
The escort didn't say much either. He cupped his hands toward her. "Ji Zhao. Be careful, young hero."
As his words fell, he lowered his center of gravity and suddenly exerted force. His terrifying explosive power made him dart toward her like a leopard!
Obviously, Ji Zhao had absolutely no intention of underestimating this person.
He was an escort who had traveled far and wide for who knows how many years, having long developed a beast-like instinct for judging people. He had noticed the person before him while she was still offstage. The feeling of those pitch-black eyes staring at him from behind the veil of rain was just like a tiger stalking its prey.
...Just like right now.
He considered his speed to be fast enough, and he had roused a hundred and twenty percent of his focus. Yet, right as he charged straight in front of his opponent and thought he was about to land a hit, those pitch-black, emotionless pupils suddenly tracked his speed and locked onto his eyes.
In the next second, the black-haired girl's figure blurred.
Even though her figure looked so slender, that hand clamped down on his shoulder like an iron vise!
Before he could recover from the bone-cracking pain, his upper body was pulled down without any ability to resist, leaving his defenses wide open.
The next second.
He took a punch to the abdomen and was sent flying backward with a boom.
The entire venue fell silent.
In the past, every time a match ended, they would clap and cheer for the victor. But this time, the crowd below the arena was dead silent.
They stared at the escort—the exceptionally burly escort who was almost twice as wide as the young girl on the stage—who was now curled up like a shrimp, unable to even crawl to his feet.
There was no technique involved; it was a complete, all-around suppression of pure strength and speed.
The martial artists in the crowd were even more speechless.
They saw it clearly: the girl's punch had obviously held back its force, and the way she exerted her power was likely measured. Otherwise, the escort wouldn't have just been sent flying backward. His abdomen would have been completely pierced through, leaving a bloody hole.
Amidst this eerie silence, a clear sound of clapping suddenly rang out from offstage.
Only then did the crowd snap back to reality, erupting into enthusiastic applause and cheers, becoming more excited than ever before.
To have such strength at such a young age, it must be innate divine strength! A scene straight out of a storybook was happening right before their eyes, and some people had even started calling their friends over to watch.
Wu Zhen said, "Next."
That escort went down with just one punch; there was no sense of achievement at all.
Her gaze swept over Jiang Zhenxue, his figure somewhat blurred behind the curtain of rain.
As if noticing her gaze, the black-haired young man's eyes curved into a smile as he beamed at her.
Wu Zhen felt a bit more satisfied with him.
Although the dead silence of the crowd moments ago had been quite imposing, this was an arena tournament, and she much preferred a lively and bustling atmosphere.
Jiang Zhenxue had handled it perfectly.
She looked away. Below the stage, two people exchanged a glance before one of them leapt onto the platform, cupping his hands in greeting to her amidst the rain.
"Water-Severing Sword Xi Yingshao, here to seek your guidance."
A wave of whispers rippled through the crowd below, suggesting that this man was no nameless nobody in the martial world.
It was truly Wu Zhen's first time facing an opponent with such a style.
Xi Yingshao asked, "Miss, do you have a weapon?"
In the previous round, both fighters had been bare-handed. Now, however, he was wielding a renowned sword while his opponent was unarmed. Even if he won, people would likely say it was an unfair victory.
Although some martial artists specialized in fist or palm techniques, Wu Zhen had only made a single move so far. No one had been able to figure out her true background.
"I do not," Wu Zhen replied. "Make your move."
With things having reached this point, the young swordsman no longer held back. Uttering a quick "Please enlighten me," he raised his sword and lunged forward.
His strategy was incredibly simple: use a relentless offense to disrupt Wu Zhen's rhythm and force her off the stage!
Unless one practiced special external martial arts, an ordinary mortal body could never withstand a sharp blade. Even someone with innate superhuman strength would have no choice but to temporarily dodge its edge!
The Water-Severing Sword was indeed incredibly fast.
The tip of the blade danced into a blur of afterimages, seeming to strike from all directions and forcing her into a constant retreat.
Compared to the escort guards who relied heavily on brute physical strength, this man was far more skilled in technique. His swordsmanship seemed to follow a distinct rhythm.
When the swordsman aimed his most perilous and sharpest thrust straight at her face, she had already backed up to the very edge of the arena platform.
Just as the sword was about to pierce her face, and even her opponent's expression had turned grim, the black-haired girl's body suddenly bent backward, as supple as a reptile.
A chorus of gasps erupted from the crowd below.
Xi Yingshao's pupils shrank slightly.
Her body practically folded in half, as if completely boneless. Pressing her hands lightly against the ground, she suddenly flipped upside down to the side, her legs locking around Xi Yingshao's throat like a pair of scissors!
"Clang!"
Falling at the exact same moment as the sword from his hand was his own body, crashing heavily to the ground and splashing up a puddle of rainwater.
Xi Yingshao clutched his throat, coughing uncontrollably. Meanwhile, the black-haired girl, who had struck like a long serpent just a moment before, was already back on her feet, as light and graceful as a swallow. Amidst the clamorous patter of the rain, she asked in an almost ethereal voice:
"Do you wish to continue?"
Forcing down his discomfort, Xi Yingshao struggled to his feet and shook his head.
If he didn't admit defeat, was he supposed to shamelessly cling to the stage? He could not afford to lose that much face.
After all, had his opponent wished it, his neck would have surely been snapped by now.
Seeing that the Water-Severing Sword had also failed, defeated in the very instant the black-haired girl counterattacked, the crowd below erupted into an even greater uproar.
"What exactly is this girl's background? Why have we never heard of her?"
"This... if even the Water-Severing Sword is helpless against her, then among her peers, I'm afraid there are very few who could ever surpass her!"
None of these discussions reached Wu Zhen's ears.
Because she had spotted a bright red name, the symbol of a hostile faction.
The color was as red as dripping blood, floating above the person's head with only a title.
[Chief of the Three Great Fiends - Life-Claiming Saber]
Wu Zhen's eyes slowly lit up.
With such a high status in the martial world, he surely possessed quite a few good items, right?
And as a game that did not place heavy emphasis on experience points.
Killing members of a hostile faction triggered a full-drop mechanic.
In other words, whether the items were carried on his person or not—
Upon his death, everything would belong to Wu Zhen.
