Chapter 7

Shen Yao Xing, who had a hard time returning to the inn, only felt extremely unlucky. The burning pain on her face seemed to be constantly reminding her of her disfigurement.

“Hiss!” Shen Yao Xing shrank back in pain and complained to Meng Xin Yi, who was treating her wounds, “Can’t you be gentler? You’ve reopened the wound!”

Meng Xin Yi held her hand, responding verbally while gently pinching a bit of blood. After examining it under the candlelight, she frowned slightly, “How did this blood coagulate into a lump? Didn’t you just get injured?”

Shen Yao Xing gritted her teeth and withdrew her hand, blowing on the wound. She said with much dissatisfaction, “How would I know what’s going on? The sword’s edge felt like an ice block, even a touch was freezing.”

It was indeed strange. Although it looked like an ordinary sword, upon contact, it felt as if one’s entire body was in a glacier. She had heard of something called sword qi before, but she didn’t know that this sword qi could affect people to this extent. It was too mystical.

“You…” Meng Xin Yi looked at her, wanting to say something but stopping.

“If you have something to say, say it. Don’t be long-winded. Hurry up and apply the medicine for me after you finish speaking.” Shen Yao Xing picked up a small bronze mirror and looked at her face from left to right, growing more anxious the more she looked, “Look at my face. Is there any hope of saving it? It won’t leave a scar, right?”

Although she had been in this world for a long time and the women here were used to being rough and didn’t care about leaving scars on their faces, she cared! The desire for beauty cannot be erased. If it really left a scar, she and that young master would become mortal enemies!

Shen Yao Xing narrowed her eyes, thinking darkly that if there was a chance and he fell into her hands one day… Humph, she would definitely dig out his face!

“The person who injured you… was it that Ming Yue young master?” Meng Xin Yi asked tentatively.

“That’s right!” Shen Yao Xing gnashed her teeth. With that ferocious look, it seemed as if she would immediately pounce and tear his face apart if he were here.

“No wonder.” Meng Xin Yi grabbed her hand and carefully applied medicine to the wound, finally wrapping it round and round with a long strip of cloth. After finishing this hand, she grabbed her other hand and repeated the action.

Slowly moving her gaze to Shen Yao Xing’s resentful face, Meng Xin Yi slightly curled her lips, “That Ming Yue young master is not easy to deal with. As the second-in-command of Changsheng Pavilion, his appearance is secondary. Being ruthless is also an evaluation of him by people in the jianghu. However… more people covet his face, often forgetting what kind of person he is.”

Just like a beast skilled at disguising itself, waiting for the prey to willingly deliver itself to its door, and then tearing them to shreds.

Her words led Shen Yao Xing to a conclusion. It turned out that the term “beautiful but venomous” was not only used to describe women but could also be used to describe men. In short, beautiful things were all poisonous.

“What’s the deal with the sword in his hand? It’s colder than an ice block when touched.” Shen Yao Xing asked about her doubt.

“That is Piao Xue. It is forged from thousand-year-old cold jade stone from the peak of Kunlun Mountain. It can cut through iron like mud and has shocking power. It is said that it also has a master recognition, and if anyone other than its recognized master touches it, they will be frostbitten.”

Listening to this, Shen Yao Xing was completely baffled. She scratched her neck in a daze and spoke hesitantly, “Is it that… mystical?”

This world was strange enough. She didn’t expect that a few words would make her realize that she was still too inexperienced.

Meng Xin Yi lifted her bandaged hand in response to her question, “Aren’t you injured like this?”

Shen Yao Xing raised her two bandaged hands and moved her fingers. Only then did she nod in satisfaction and point to her face, “This part is the most important. It absolutely can’t leave a scar!”

Meng Xin Yi chuckled and took out another medicine bottle from the medicine box.

A cool sensation spread over the wound, and the originally somewhat agitated heart also calmed down. Taking advantage of the break, Shen Yao Xing asked about tonight’s matter.

The action of applying medicine paused. Meng Xin Yi’s eyes slightly darkened, “Sifang Assembly’s great effort this time is indeed related to Changsheng Pavilion. I didn’t hear the specific reason in full.”

“It seems…” Meng Xin Yi slightly narrowed her eyes, “It’s also inseparable from the imperial court.”

The imperial court?

As soon as these two words were mentioned, Shen Yao Xing felt a slight headache, “Aren’t they supposed to mind their own business? How could the imperial court manage these things?”

The people of the jianghu were not restricted by laws. She ran out to enjoy this freedom.

Meng Xin Yi shook her head. She was also unclear about what was going on, “Anyway, this deerskin map must not fall into the hands of Changsheng Pavilion.”

……

Two days quickly passed. People rushing into the venue were as excited as if they could pick up money, afraid of falling behind and desperately squeezing in.

Shen Yao Xing and Meng Xin Yi still stayed on that tree on the periphery. Before she could jump up to find a good position, she spotted a petite figure squeezing through the crowd and running towards them from the corner of her eye.

“Oh, isn’t that the little young master?” Meng Xin Yi said with interest.

As she spoke, the person had already run to them. Lin Luo Sheng’s fair face was slightly flushed from the sun, and his eyes were big and round, as if they had just been rinsed, with flickering light in his pupils, “I was just thinking of finding you two to come together, but I couldn’t find you after searching around.”

Today, Meng Xin Yi flamboyantly carried a folding fan. She “swished” it open and rested it on her chest, smiling at the youth, “Young Master Lin, don’t you still have a competition? Why come looking for us?”

“I…” Lin Luo Sheng lightly bit his lip, his gaze drifting to the girl behind her. Seeing the small piece of linen on the girl’s face, he asked nervously, “W-What happened to your face?”

Shen Yao Xing touched the linen on her face and shook her head lightly, “It’s nothing.”

Actually, the wound on her face didn’t need to be covered, but she always couldn’t help looking in the mirror. Every time she looked in the mirror, her heart ached. She simply let Meng Xin Yi cover it for her, out of sight and out of mind.

Lin Luo Sheng clasped the long whip at his waist, his pink cheeks slightly puffed up.

“You…”

The girl’s hesitant voice made him suddenly raise his head. A pair of deer eyes shone brightly under the sun, and that expectant gaze made Shen Yao Xing a little afraid to speak.

“I mean…” Shen Yao Xing swallowed and pointed to the arena, “Are you really going up there later?”

Lin Luo Sheng looked towards the arena where the girl was pointing and nodded vigorously.

“……” Shen Yao Xing didn’t know whether she should remind him to have a sense of self-awareness. With his smattering of martial arts, wouldn’t he be skinned and boned?

The horn for the competition sounded. Lin Luo Sheng bid farewell to them and rushed into the crowd.

Meng Xin Yi fanned herself while watching the departing figure, her gaze ambiguously shifting to Shen Yao Xing, “Look, that little young master seems to have some affection for you.”

Shen Yao Xing gave her a sidelong glance. She had no interest in children at all.

This arena was a large platform. Ten people drew lots. Number one would fight number two, and the winner would then fight the person who drew number three, and so on, until the last person standing on the stage would be the winner.

It was actually an elimination match, just a bit more brutal.

From a distance, Shen Yao Xing didn’t know which number the little boy had drawn. Anyway, the first one to go up was obviously the most unlucky. They would consume a lot of energy in the front, making it increasingly difficult to fight as it went on.

Shen Yao Xing took a peach out of her pocket and wiped it on her sleeve. With a casual glance, she spotted Jiang Ming Yue sitting high in the loft. The peach was instantly squeezed with five finger holes, and her teeth gritted with a crunching sound.

Jiang Ming Yue, far away in the loft, also seemed to feel this particularly strong gaze. His cold eyes turned slightly and swept over coolly. The two looked at each other from a distance. She didn’t know if he didn’t recognize her or didn’t take her seriously. His gaze only lingered for no more than two seconds before shifting away indifferently.

As if she was just one of the many people coveting him.

Shen Yao Xing took a deep breath before suppressing the urge to go and cut his face.

The competition had already begun. The one who drew the first position was a woman who looked rather thin, wearing plain cloth garments, with a bit of a scholarly air. Her opponent, on the contrary, was three times as fat as her. Every time he moved, all the flesh on his body trembled.

Some spectators below even began to laugh loudly.

“Like a fat pig. How did he win and enter this final on that day?”

“He must have used some underhanded tricks. Look, there’s still a boy behind him who hasn’t even grown hair.”

“Looking at his appearance, I don’t even know if he has come of age. Instead of staying at home and serving a woman, he ran here to show his face. He truly has no shame!”

“Hehe… He looks delicate and tender. I wonder what it would feel like to press him under the body……”

Some obscene remarks caused an uproar of laughter. Martial arts practitioners had better hearing than ordinary people, so naturally, Lin Luo Sheng over there heard it. He lowered his head, and his hand gripping the whip became even more tense.

Shen Yao Xing, who was on the tree, spat out the peach pit in her mouth and flicked it forcefully towards the woman who was spewing filthy words. It hit exactly on her exposed neck. The woman suddenly covered her neck, opening and closing her mouth, but no sound came out.

Everyone’s attention was on the competition, and no one noticed her inappropriate behavior.

“You’re actually protecting that little young master.” Meng Xin Yi fanned herself and said leisurely.

Shen Yao Xing didn’t speak, but felt that some men had also said the words that woman had just spoken. Tsk, whether it was towards men or women, it made her feel extremely disgusted.

At this time, the competition on the arena was in full swing. The fat woman, who was originally thought to be unable to last a few moves, displayed a shocking “power” all over her body. That body of fat was actually impervious to swords and spears, and could instead reflect the force received back. The frail woman had no place to attack. After exhausting her strength from repeated attacks, she was finally dragged by the feet by the fat woman and thrown off the arena like a rag, her head crashing to the ground, leaving her life and death unknown.

Everyone was shocked. They didn’t expect this fat woman to actually be a meat shield! After a moment of silence in the crowd, even more intense shouts erupted. No one would spare attention to the person on the ground who looked like a lump of dead meat.

The fat woman on the arena proudly jiggled the fat on her body, so white and shiny that it made Shen Yao Xing feel nauseated.

The subsequent matches were unexpected. The fat woman went on to win three more people in a row, until she faced the woman carrying an axe on her back, with bulging muscles on her arms and a murderous aura all over her face that made her the kind of person one would avoid on the street.

One was a pure attack type, the other a pure defense type. As soon as she stepped onto the stage, her fists, which were bigger than sandbags, swung with airflow. Without a word, she directly smashed them onto the white and shiny lumps of flesh. The fat belly was like a giant stone hitting the surface of a river, splashing up ripples. It didn’t end there. Countless giant stones crazily pounded the water surface, not giving a moment to react, until the flesh was battered into a pulp before stopping.

This reminded Shen Yao Xing of the image of making meatballs, pounding the meat into a paste and then kneading it into balls.

In an instant, she felt her entire being was unwell.