City Appearance

In the courtyard, two men and one woman had their hands bound behind their backs.

The three of them knelt uniformly at Shen Tang's feet, trembling like sieves.

"Who was it that just claimed to be God?"

Shen Tang used her staff to lift one person's chin.

She asked with a smile, "Was it you?"

The person singled out shook his head like a rattle drum, shaking it non-stop while trying to dodge Shen Tang's staff, yet also fearing she might suddenly attack. They didn't understand how things had escalated to this point, and on top of being beaten, they were completely dazed.

Shen Tang used her staff to lift another person's chin.

"Was it you?"

The person singled out was the scoundrel, Lai Tou, who had tricked Shen Tang into coming here.

"No, no, no--"

His voice was tearful, and he spoke with a lisp. He was so scared that tears were about to stream from his eyes.

No wonder he was so terrified.

He hadn't even felt the pain from Shen Tang's wall-kick before his upper and lower teeth, four or five in total, were kicked out. The rest were loose and wobbly, and blood from his gums smeared half his face.

The subsequent events were like a dream; the three of them, adults, were subdued by a young girl.

Completely defenseless!

And so, the current scene unfolded.

"Not you either?" Shen Tang's eyes crinkled with a smile as she used her long staff to lift the third person, the only woman among the three. "Was it you?"

The woman immediately betrayed Lai Tou, shouting sharply, "I didn't say it, I really didn't! It was Lai Tou who said it!"

Shen Tang's gaze fell upon Lai Tou, her eyelids slightly lowered.

"Lying even when death is at your doorstep, your crime is compounded!"

Upon hearing the word "death," Lai Tou was instantly so terrified that tears and snot streamed down his face. He knelt on the ground, kowtowing repeatedly to Shen Tang, begging for mercy. He had only kowtowed three times before she placed her clothes-drying pole against him. She said indifferently, "Seeing as you show some remorse, I can give you an opportunity to atone for your crimes. Speak—besides me, where have all the innocent women you tricked like this gone?"

She checked, and there were no other abducted individuals in the courtyard.

If she had known this, why would she have gone to so much trouble?

"They, they, they, they were all sold off..."

Lai Tou was so scared his tongue wouldn't cooperate, and he stammered.

"Sold off? Where were they sold? How many people were sold in total? How much money was made from selling them? Confess everything, one by one!" Shen Tang sat on a small stool, her left foot resting lightly, her right leg bent, allowing her to rest her staff-holding hand on her knee.

Her barrage of questions made the three of them want to cry but have no tears.

How could they answer these questions?

Not answering meant death, but answering meant dying even faster.

The two men had no clue, terrified that a wrong answer would result in Shen Tang hitting them on the head. However, the woman had a guess—she thought Shen Tang had read too many commoner storybooks and yearned for the life of a wandering knight. She had run out to dispense justice before she had even fully grown.

There was a way to deal with such a hothead.

She said, on the verge of tears, "Young Lady, you've misunderstood us. We've only made mistakes two or three times; we haven't done any other wicked deeds."

Shen Tang sneered, "Two or three times? And you ran into me on the first one. If you had such luck, why didn't you buy a lottery ticket?"

The woman stuck to her story.

"We did sell quite a bit of 'merchandise'... but we were saving people by doing so." She cautiously glanced at Shen Tang's expression, and seeing that she wasn't angry, continued, "The 'merchandise' we sold was legitimately purchased. Their parents accepted the money. In this world, buying a person doesn't cost much. We were just blinded by greed and made a big mistake. We'll never cheat again!"

Shen Tang laughed upon hearing this. "Saving people?"

Seeing that Shen Tang seemed to be listening, the woman's hope surged, and she argued, "There have been wars these past few years, and times are hard for everyone. Families with many children, so many mouths to feed, how can they manage? If we didn't buy and sell, those children would either starve to death or be traded to other families. Being sold at least gives them a place to go and food to eat."

Shen Tang was so amused by this twisted logic that she laughed.

She pressed the staff against their throats and said with a cold smile, delivering her ultimatum, "Stop quibbling and confess! Otherwise, this stick will go right in. You know my strength; I guarantee this one stick will go through from front to back, and then I'll string all three of you onto it."

With just a slight exertion of force, she left a bruise on the woman's Adam's apple, causing the latter to cry out in pain.

"I'll confess! I'll confess!"

"Merciful hero, spare us!"

Shen Tang was only slightly satisfied.

The butcher kept looking towards the sun outside, growing more anxious the longer he looked, rubbing his hands nervously and sighing.

"Old man, is what you said reliable or not?"

Unexpectedly, the customer smiled, picked up the wrapped lotus leaves, and gestured towards the end of the street with a chuckle, "I won this bet."

The butcher poked his head out and squinted in that direction for a long time—due to his work, he had started butchering before dawn, and over time, his eyes had deteriorated. Things further away were blurry—he squinted until his eyes were almost twitching, but he still couldn't see.

He only noticed the commotion in the crowd in that direction.

It wasn't until Shen Tang approached that he clearly saw what was happening.

He saw that handsome young lady... no, young man, leisurely trotting back on the back of a beautiful mule, chewing on something.

She led a rope, and strung onto it were two men and one woman—

All three were beaten until their faces were bruised and swollen, and they walked with a limp.

However, for those who often did business in this area, these three damnable scoundrels could be recognized even if they were reduced to ashes.

Shen Tang returned to the side of the wine shop, continuing to sit on a small stool waiting for people. With a flick of her fingers, three flattened, round green plum pits were flung out. The three men went thump, thump, thump, their knees hitting the ground directly.

The dull thuds made everyone's scalps tingle, and their knees ached in sympathy.

Shen Tang pointed at the three, her killing intent palpable: "Kneel, all of you."

The three men flinched, swallowing their cries of pain, not daring to disobey in the slightest.

Customer: "..."

A hint of surprise flashed in his eyes.

He had thought Shen Tang would kill the hooligans who intended to cause trouble.

What was this scene?

"Young master, why didn't you just kill them?"

The onlookers who had gathered to enjoy the spectacle gradually dispersed. The customer stepped forward and struck up a conversation with Shen Tang. Shen Tang, bored and gnawing on a green plum, was complaining about why Qi Shan was taking so long to arrive when she heard this and turned to look at the newcomer.

She pointed at herself: "...You called me young master?"

Customer: "Is there something wrong with that?"

His gaze paused for a second on the Literary Heart sigil at Shen Tang's waist before moving away.

Shen Tang: "No, no, nothing's wrong, brother, you have sharp eyes!"

Everything about him was fine, except he was as blind as Qi Shan!

As for his question just now—

"Why didn't I kill those three? Of course, it's against the law to kill people. As a law-abiding citizen, a weak artist, how could I do something so bloody? No matter how deserving of death they are, they should be handed over to the Xiaocheng Prefectural Yamen to be dealt with..."

And the real reason—

That courtyard was too remote and desolate. If these three were killed there, their bodies exposed and left unattended, they would rot and breed maggots, greatly affecting Xiaocheng's urban appearance.

Furthermore, it wouldn't look good for an artist to be killing people at the drop of a hat.

So she decided to cultivate herself and abide by the law.

The customer could barely understand Shen Tang's string of complaints and said, "If you hand them over to the yamen, they'll be free again in a few days."

Shen Tang's plum-eating paused. She hesitated, "Then... should I drag them outside the city and kill them later?"