First Entry into Chishui Village Instance

"Why did you choose this path?" Shen Qingchan sat on horseback, her hands gripping the reins. Her strong, powerful legs clamped gently against the horse's flanks, guiding it forward at a steady, unhurried pace.

"Bandits are a scourge. If we run into them, we can deal with them all at once," Mu Ye said.

Shen Qingchan nodded almost imperceptibly, confirming that she had been thinking the same thing.

When two people see eye to eye, there are no disputes while traveling together.

As they walked, they didn't encounter any bandits, but the roadside began to fill with ragged refugees.

Some of these refugees were victims of war, while others had been displaced after demons invaded their homes, leaving them to wander aimlessly.

"I didn't expect that instead of bandits, we would encounter so many refugees along the way..."

Shen Qingchan sighed softly. "Most of these must be villagers from Chishui Village..."

In the final years of the dynasty, such scenes were all too common.

Just then, two or three beggars swarmed them. Their faces were so blackened with grime that they were barely recognizable as human. They wept and pleaded for food or money.

Mu Ye remained calm, glancing first at Shen Qingchan beside him.

There was a hint of pity in the young heroine's eyes, and she seemed to be struggling internally. After a moment, she didn't take out her coin purse, but instead shared some of the dry rations she was carrying.

Seeing this, Mu Ye couldn't help but think that while this young heroine was innocent and kind, she wasn't foolish.

Seeming to sense her companion's gaze, Shen Qingchan turned her head and asked:

"What do you intend to do?"

[1. Give only dry rations.]

[2. Watch with cold indifference.]

[3. ...]

Option 1 was the same as Shen Qingchan's, which seemed quite mediocre.

Option 2 would likely lower her favorability.

The presence of a 3 meant that he could make his own choice.

The degree of freedom in this game was very high; many options were not strictly fixed.

If he wanted to win over the young heroine, he often had to be unpredictable. How could he gain her favor by just following the rules?

Thus, Mu Ye gave away all the money and dry rations he had on him.

"Why would you do that?" Shen Qingchan was greatly surprised. "Even if you pity them, there's no need to go this far, is there? Besides, although those two who just swarmed us looked like beggars, their eyes were shifty... Aunt Yun once said that many beggars are forced to beg by others, and one shouldn't be overly sympathetic toward them..."

The young heroine's experience in the jianghu didn't seem half bad.

"Then why did you give them your rations?" Mu Ye asked with a smile.

"...Money shouldn't be given... but giving them some food, at least they'll be full..." Shen Qingchan said.

"You're not wrong." Mu Ye nodded slightly. "But, have you considered who might be behind them, forcing them to beg?"

"You mean?" Shen Qingchan looked thoughtful.

"Since we planned to deal with the bandits in this area along the way, now that they've spotted two young martial artists carrying a fortune, how could they possibly keep their hands off their blades?"

"You're trying to lure them out?" Shen Qingchan realized, her expression turning slightly ashamed. "My experience in the jianghu is still too lacking... I didn't think of all that..."

[Shen Qingchan's favorability increased 25/100]

At the same time, no sooner had she finished speaking than—

Thud, thud, thud. A chaotic flurry of footsteps erupted from ahead.

Before long, dozens of bandits burst from the woods into the clearing, surrounding the two of them.

The leader, a fat-eared man wearing iron earrings with a hideous, twisted face, stared at them with eyes like a viper:

"The scent of gold..."

"Fragrant, so fragrant!"

Mu Ye was just about to draw his blade.

Beside him, Shen Qingchan gave her horse a light kick. Without a word, her Qingfeng Longsword suddenly left its scabbard.

In the next second, she moved like a butterfly weaving through flowers. Her feet left phantom trails, and her sword light was frigid and cold. Amidst a flurry of frost, she darted through the dozens of bandits in the blink of an eye. The bandit leader hadn't even finished his sentence before his eyes widened like bells and his body went rigid.

In Mu Ye's field of vision, Shen Qingchan had turned into a blur, weaving back and forth through the crowd a few times before returning to her saddle and sheathing her sword.

The moment it clicked back into the scabbard, the bandits collapsed with a thunderous crash.

"..." Mu Ye.

This young heroine's strength was truly unexpected. Her decisiveness, the sharpness of her strikes, and the way she killed without a drop of blood—not even blinking an eye—made her the most formidable woman Mu Ye had ever met.

That villainous little leader hadn't even managed to finish his damn sentence before he was done for.

Shen Qingchan's face wasn't flushed, and she wasn't even out of breath; only a few stray locks of hair had fallen across her cheeks.

She gave her horse a light squeeze with her legs and said:

"Brother Mu, let's go!"

That heroic bearing was truly captivating at this moment.

As expected of a female lead in a game, this strength was absolutely top-tier.

He had originally intended to play the hero saving the damsel, but it seemed there was no chance for that at all. Mu Ye shook his head as he watched.

"What sword technique is that?" Mu Ye didn't rush to leave. Instead, he threw a few punches toward the corpses. As flames spread over the bodies of these small-time thugs, he followed Shen Qingchan to continue forward.

"This?" Shen Qingchan tilted her head. "It's the unique sword technique of our Yunhai Sword Sect, the Cold Wave Eighteen Swords. Those struck by it have their internal organs instantly shattered by the cold wave energy carried within the blade, leading to a painless death."

"Impressive."

"It's actually just alright..." Shen Qingchan's face flushed slightly. "This isn't what I'm best at, though..."

"Then what are you best at?"

"If we encounter a demon later, I'll show you."

As she spoke, there was a hint of pride in Shen Qingchan's expression.

The Yunhai Sword Sect was a famous sect in the world. Being such a young third-rank expert, she was surely highly favored within the sect and had learned many supreme techniques.

Mu Ye didn't ask further. After killing the bandits, Shen Qingchan was in high spirits, clearly in a very good state.

Soon, Chishui Village appeared before them.

It was a small village near Taiping City, not very large, with about a hundred households relying on the Chishui River for survival.

Unexpectedly, a demon had emerged from the river. Taiping City had dispatched Demon Sealers and summoned many heroes from within the city to subdue the demon, but they had returned in defeat. Now, there was naturally nothing more to be done.

The losses had been too great, so Chishui Village had been abandoned.

The plaque at the village entrance hung crookedly, as if it might fall at any moment. From time to time, eerie demonic whispers echoed within the village. Several pitch-black birds perched on nearby withered branches, cawing incessantly. The sky was thick with dark clouds; all these signs indicated that the danger level here had risen to the extreme.

[Chishui Village: One-star demon territory, Danger Level: High.]

[Introduction: You can vaguely hear the wailing of human infants being devoured within the demon's belly...]

This is a dungeon, isn't it?

Mu Ye thought to himself.

However, with his and Shen Qingchan's strength, was the danger level still this high?

Considering that Hero Shen was also a third-rank expert and many Demon Sealers who accompanied him had perished, it meant this demon was no ordinary foe.

"Aunt Yun said that the demon is called a Dragon Demon Fish. It usually lurks in the ancient well at the very heart of Chishui Village, which connects to the Chishui River. That is how the villagers of Chishui Village were eaten one by one."

Shen Qingchan whispered, "I want to see just how powerful this Dragon Demon Fish really is..."

The two dismounted and proceeded with caution. After slaughtering a few minor demons along the way, they soon arrived at the edge of the village well.

"How should we lure out that Dragon Demon Fish..." Shen Qingchan frowned slightly.

Mu Ye felt a stir in his heart. He cut a small slit in his fingertip and dripped two drops of fresh blood into the well.

"My eldest brother is a Demon Sealer. He once said that the demons in these waters often crave fresh human blood..."

Shen Qingchan was taken aback, then gave a slight nod.

Sure enough, as the blood entered the well, a bubbling sound emerged.

The ground began to shake, and a column of water surged several zhang high from the well. A red giant catfish, the size of an elephant and equipped with a pair of wings, flew out.

A Qi Refining demon beast... Mu Ye was startled as he looked at the demon.