Rainy Battle

"Bastard!"

The straw-cloaked knight wielding an axe had bloodshot eyes. He charged at Jiang Shi with a battle cry, flinging his hand axe as he ran and cursing, "She owes me a year's worth of gambling debts!"

He looked reckless on the outside, but his fighting style was sinister and crafty. After throwing the flying axe, he immediately drew a short sword, then pulled a small sphere from his belt with his left hand and hurled it out.

After Yan Qing used Perfect Parry on the flying axe, she saw another projectile and naturally slashed at it without a second thought. However, the instant the sphere was struck, it exploded into a cloud of white powder. Jiang Shi had no time to dodge, and it hit her directly in the right eye.

Yan Qing of the Thieves' Den froze when she saw the abnormal status "Right Eye Blinded" appear above the health bar, temporarily reducing hit rate by 40%.

Though it was her first time seeing it in person, Yan Qing had seen similar scenes in countless works of entertainment and recognized the item at a glance.

"Get her! She's been blinded by lime!"

The Lime Knight shouted, "It's raining, too. Her eye will start burning soon!"

Though he said that, his pace slowed. He did not approach Jiang Shi immediately, instead blocking the carriage. Clearly, his recklessness had only been an act. Even with the advantage in hand, he remained extremely cautious. Before he had even captured Jiang Shi, he was already preparing for the Baiyun Qian Clan's interference.

As soon as the Lime Knight stepped forward, his companions had already moved in from both sides. At his command, they charged at once, giving Jiang Shi no chance to catch her breath. To protect her eyeball, Jiang Shi could only cover her eye with her left hand while fighting them with a sword in one hand. Even with her exquisite technique, she could barely protect herself, and within just a few breaths, she had narrowly escaped death several times.

The girl on the carriage only came to her senses now. Jiang Shi's sudden attack after refusing to board the carriage had truly shocked her for quite some time. Even so, she was still anxious over Jiang Shi's plight. She braced both hands against the carriage and was about to jump down.

"Are you going to shelter this criminal!?"

The Lime Knight, who had not joined the battle and had instead been watching them, immediately shouted, "Is the Baiyun Qian Clan planning to protect this Taihu Rebel who killed our brother? If so, we brothers will withdraw at once and report this matter to the county magistrate for judgment!"

The Lime Knight emphasized the words "killed our brother," causing the girl to halt mid-motion.

Before, she could have claimed that these constables were slandering and spreading lies. But Jiang Shi had truly killed someone now. Even if she was not a rebel, she was still a criminal, and that argument would hold up anywhere.

Seeing that neither the girl nor the coachman moved, the Lime Knight breathed a sigh of relief. If Jiang Shi had been even a little more ordinary, he would have withdrawn long ago out of consideration for the Baiyun Qian Clan. Though the Baiyun Qian Clan was merely a Blue Belt Esteemed Class, he himself was only a constable in black belt service, throwing his weight around with the county office's backing. Besides, these two people from the Baiyun Qian Clan seemed to be heralds. If they so much as breathed, they could slaughter everyone here.

Unfortunately, the county magistrate from the Zhanhe Huang Clan was the only path of advancement he could seize, and the magistrate was fond of beautiful women. The moment he saw Jiang Shi, the Lime Knight knew that if he offered this woman up, he would surely earn the magistrate's favor. This year's token allotment would then naturally fall into his hands!

There were seven or eight heralds like him in the yamen—people who had changed class but possessed no tokens. That did not even include the local braves who loved fighting and had already changed class. For all these people, the only way to obtain tokens was to wait for the provincial allotment. For a constable like him, with no status, position, or family wealth, he could wait his whole life and never receive a token. He would remain a constable at the beck and call of the powerful and the officials!

Only by seizing this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity could he rise above his station! Even if it meant offending a Blue Belt Esteemed Class, it was worth it!

He had gambled correctly.

There were Scholar Clan scions who ignored the law and killed people at will, and there were plenty of them.

But a Blue Belt clan like the Baiyun Qian Clan was not yet powerful enough to dare offend the county office, which represented imperial authority!

"Big brother, big brother—"

An alarmed cry came through the rain. The Lime Knight turned his head in confusion. Two constables fighting a half-blind woman had failed to take her down after this long. Could it be that they had actually lost?

A constable with his right hand severed came screaming out of the alley. His face was terrified and his steps were frantic, as though a vengeful ghost were chasing him.

Tap.

Jiang Shi emerged from the alley at an unhurried pace. She still covered her eye with her left hand and held a blade in her right, but compared with before, the coarse hemp clothes she wore had been dyed black-red with blood. Even the rain could not wash away the bloody aura clinging to her. She was merely walking, yet she moved faster than the constable fleeing ahead of her.

When had they moved into the alley to fight?

The constable heard the footsteps behind him and missed a step, tumbling to the ground with his face toward Jiang Shi, the female devil. In a panic, he shouted, "No—big brother, save me! No, please, don't—"

Clang!

A vicious blade flash streaked through the curtain of rain, and the Lime Knight narrowed his eyes. The fallen constable instinctively raised his remaining left hand to block, but his left wrist and head were severed together. His head still wore an expression of terror as it rolled away with a hollow rumble. His body collapsed and twitched faintly on the ground, like a fish that had not been cleanly butchered.

The rain grew heavier and heavier, almost reducing visibility to less than ten paces.

But the Lime Knight saw clearly that Jiang Shi had used no token power when killing the man. She had severed the constable's head with one hand and a blade alone. It sounded simple, but beheading was by no means easy. Even executioners sometimes failed to cut through a neck, getting their blades caught on the spine or even chipping the edge.

Beheading someone in battle was already difficult, let alone with one hand.

Most astonishing of all, Jiang Shi had already killed three people—though one man had yet to emerge from the alley, no one thought he was still alive—yet her expression remained unchanged. Her flawless face, beautiful as that of a banished immortal or mysterious goddess, was filled with coldness.

A chill crept up the Lime Knight's spine and into his heart. Fear, like rainwater, flooded his world.

If Jiang Shi had shown anger, curses, disgust, or even killing intent, he would not have been afraid. He had seen countless enemies on his way up from the bottom to become a herald. But Jiang Shi was covered in blood, with corpses and severed heads at her feet, and yet she acted as though she did not see them. One of her beautiful eyes was open and the other closed as she calmly watched him.

If the county magistrate were watched so intently by a beauty, he would probably be bewitched, unable to resist throwing himself at her.

But the Lime Knight could only tremble all over, wishing he could run as far away as possible.

He felt that in her eyes, he was not an enemy—not even a person. He was merely a fish.

A fish struggling on the verge of death!

Tap!

Jiang Shi broke through the curtain of rain. The blade in her right hand traced a semicircle through the air, seemingly about to slash from the right. Yet when the Lime Knight raised his shoulder, preparing to attack Jiang Shi's undefended left side, the tip of her blade suddenly turned downward. In an instant, her slash from the right became a downward thrust!

Clang! Clang! Clang!

After only three exchanges, the Lime Knight understood how his men had died. His opponent's blade technique was so practiced that she could feint and change direction at will, making her line of attack impossible to determine. At the same time, she was highly skilled at "severing the tendons in retaliation"—striking the crucial points along an enemy's weapon trajectory to dismantle the attack, then counterattacking.

These two techniques took only a few lines to describe, but almost no ordinary person could perform them. Even among constables, not trembling while holding a blade during a fight was considered elite. If they tried to learn feints and directional changes, they would probably fling their own blades away. As for severing the tendons, that was a supreme skill. If it failed, one would simply stand there and let oneself be cut down, whereas retreating to dodge was much safer. Thus, the vast majority of people would never consider it.

And so they died.

With their shallow skills, facing an expert who could skillfully use feints and tendon cuts, every one of their attacks would be dismantled, while their opponent could change direction and strike wherever they could not defend... What difference was there between them and scarecrows with legs?

That was what combat was. Whether you were the beautiful jade Yu or useless mud that could not be propped against a wall, you still had to collide with stone hammered and tempered by another person.

If you shattered, you died.

The Lime Knight knew perfectly well how terrifying his opponent was.

Because he, too, was proficient in feints and tendon cuts.

His body temperature kept dropping, but his qi and blood boiled ever higher. Though he still had lime bombs on his belt, the Lime Knight could not find an opening to throw one. He could only fight Jiang Shi back and forth with his short sword!

Just like when he was twenty-two, when he had stormed onto a Great River Gang ship with a group of colleagues, until he alone remained, blocking the entrance and facing more than a dozen gang knife-men!

Just like when he was twenty-five, when he encountered a huge beast while traveling at night and fought it to the death with nothing but an axe and a short sword!

Just like when he was twenty-nine...

Clang!

The glorious years in his mind vanished like smoke. The agony in his tiger's mouth and the cold curtain of rain dragged him back to reality.

The Lime Knight's lips trembled as he looked at Jiang Shi, as if he were looking at a monster.

His opponent's blade technique was still improving, and her qi and blood continued to rise during the fight. The advantage he had relied on was gone without a trace. Meanwhile, the disadvantage of being half-blind and using one hand was covered up by her skill.

Could I be...

Impossible!

The Lime Knight glared furiously and roared as he charged at Jiang Shi.

I'm a herald, a Martial Dao Herald proficient in martial arts! Every bit of my skill was honed through hard training. I've survived dozens of vicious battles in my life. How could I lose here—

Clang!

The short sword flew high into the air, spinning as it went.

The Lime Knight stared blankly at his empty hands, unable to believe that he had actually failed to hold on to his weapon. Having one's weapon knocked away in a head-on clash proved only one thing—his qi and blood were inferior to his opponent's.

That's right. Ever since I became a squad leader, I've spent all day scheming to obtain token allotments. I was either at a banquet or on the way to one. I hardly trained my strength anymore, and I no longer fought on the front lines...

No matter how thoroughly a stone had been hammered and tempered, daily drops of water would eventually wear it through. Others could not see it, and he had deceived himself as well, mistakenly believing that the stone was still the same as before.

Until it collided with another stone that was in the midst of transforming.

Clang!

Jiang Shi swung her blade and tore through the curtain of rain, as if ripping apart a painting. The person within the rain was torn apart along with it.

The head flew high into the air, and the short sword spun as it landed.

Jiang Shi turned and wiped the blade with her sleeve before returning it to its sheath. The corpse behind her seemed to regain awareness only now, collapsing heavily into the water covering the ground.

Jiang Shi came to the first constable who had died and crouched down to remove his boots and coat. Just as she was about to put them on, the four-horse carriage came back to her.

"There are clothes and shoes suited to you in the carriage, as well as cooking oil that can remove the lime."

The girl in the carriage poked her head out. Her gaze at Jiang Shi was filled with both respect and fear, with perhaps a trace of admiration as well. She extended her hand again and asked solemnly, "Will you come up?"

Jiang Shi said nothing. She merely extended her bloodstained right hand toward her.

Yan Qing studied the screen, thinking that this "extend a bloodstained right hand toward her" option was truly brilliant.

After all, "Jiang Shi" had now killed four constables, and "Jiang Shi" getting on the carriage would undoubtedly implicate the other party. Extending her right hand was therefore a silent question.

My hand is covered in blood. Are you really going to touch it?

If the other party was willing to take that bloodstained hand, it meant she did not care about "Jiang Shi's" crimes.

Even covered in blood, she still reached out to support her—what a heroic yet tender scene!

But...

Yan Qing watched as the girl on the carriage first froze, then suddenly understood. She took a handkerchief from her bosom, wiped "Jiang Shi's" palm clean, then took "Jiang Shi's" hand and pulled her onto the carriage.

I was asking whether you were willing to associate with a criminal, not whether you were a germaphobe...