"The Ninth Princess of Emperor Xia, Xiao Minghuang—the ninth daughter of Emperor Xia, whom you claimed to have sworn eternal vows with, whose bond with you ran deep, whom you promised to hold hands with until old age, and whom you would marry or no one at all—is me!"
Xiao Minghuang showed no expression as she spoke. She merely repeated the woman's earlier words with clear, precise diction.
"Ah?!"
The woman abruptly raised her head, her eyes wide and her pupils filled with disbelief. If she had not been bound from head to toe in ropes, she might have pounced on Xiao Minghuang, torn open her clothes, and checked whether there really was a sesame-seed-sized mole on her chest.
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"
The woman twitched her lips and forced out a smile. "M-Miss, you must be joking. With your celestial beauty, like a Banished Immortal Descends to the mortal world, why would you impersonate someone else?"
In an instant, countless possibilities flashed through her mind.
How could there be such a coincidence in this world? She had gone outside the city to train, encountered evil cultivators, and after being captured, used the Ninth Princess's name to borrow a fox's might—only to run into the real one?
Whether others believed it or not, she certainly did not.
Seeing the woman's disbelieving expression, Xiao Minghuang felt helpless.
After getting rid of Chief Chen, the woman had seized the initiative and spoken first.
Curious, Xiao Minghuang had wanted to joke around with her a little. Yet she had accidentally made a fake thing seem real, leaving the other woman utterly convinced.
"I truly am Ninth Princess Xiao Minghuang, and there is no mole on my chest either."
To the woman, whether the Ninth Princess had a mole on her chest was no longer important.
What truly mattered was the incomparably beautiful girl before her, as though she were a celestial being.
She looked only fourteen or fifteen, yet she already possessed cultivation in the Qi Refining Realm. There was simply no second person like her in Great Xia!
Moreover, this girl had happened to save her. What a wonderful fate that was.
She refused to believe that such a beautiful girl, like a fairy descended from heaven, could be some wicked evil cultivator.
From their earlier exchange, she could roughly tell that the girl before her was still young and rather playful. Otherwise, she would not have impersonated an evil cultivator to frighten her.
The woman curved her lips into a pitiful yet perfectly appropriate smile, her softness tinged with a tearful lilt.
"Miss, those bad people captured me and kept me here for days. I'm tired, hungry, and thirsty now. Could you perhaps...?"
Xiao Minghuang's delicate brows furrowed slightly. She wondered whether something was seriously wrong with this woman's head. How else could she switch in the blink of an eye from being resourceful and composed to weak, helpless, and pitiful?
She sighed helplessly. This was all trouble brought about by her love of play.
If she had untied the woman from the start and revealed her identity, there would not have been such a misunderstanding.
Besides, from the woman's earlier speech and bearing, she was clearly someone with strong opinions, not an ignorant girl who could be persuaded with just a few words.
"Fine. Once we reach Beiyang City and meet the Beiyang City Lord, my identity will naturally be proven."
Xiao Minghuang reached out and undid the woman's restraints, explaining,
"I truly am Ninth Princess Xiao Minghuang. You can ask me anything about the imperial capital, and I can tell you."
As the ropes gradually loosened, the woman twisted her body and promptly fell into Xiao Minghuang's arms. She did not ask a single question about the imperial capital, instead speaking pitifully in an extremely weak voice,
"I've been tied up for so many days. I'm so tired and hungry that I can't move."
Feeling a soft, warm body suddenly appear in her arms, Xiao Minghuang could not help furrowing her delicate brows. Since childhood, aside from Ruoshui, she had never been this close to anyone else.
Still, after being tied up for so many days, it was only natural for her to be exhausted, hungry, and too weak to move.
Xiao Minghuang did not push her away. She took a waterskin from her storage pouch and stuffed it into the woman's hands.
After chatting for a while, she learned that the woman was named Lin Wanqiu, the only daughter of the Beiyang City Lord.
Seven days ago, Lin Wanqiu had received news that a spiritual herb had emerged within the Savage Forest, so she had left the city with several guards.
After some searching, they found the spiritual herb, only to be targeted by evil cultivators.
Several guards had all died protecting her.
Before the evil cultivators captured her, she hid the spiritual herb in a secret location.
After capturing her, the evil cultivators had not harmed her because they wanted to learn where the spiritual herb was.
When Xiao Minghuang had pretended to be an evil cultivator and bargained with her earlier, Lin Wanqiu had long been suspicious. They had repeatedly interrogated her about the herb's whereabouts before, so why had they suddenly failed to mention it at all?
At first, she thought the chief of the stronghold did not know about the spiritual herb. Yet when she saw Xiao Minghuang's true face, she realized there had never been any chief of the stronghold at all.
Lin Wanqiu rested her head on Xiao Minghuang's thigh, narrowed her eyes, and asked softly,
"Miss, you still haven't told me your name?"
Xiao Minghuang sighed softly, sincerity filling her eyes.
"I truly am Ninth Princess Xiao Minghuang!"
Lin Wanqiu blinked her lovely large eyes and stared into Xiao Minghuang's pupils, trying to see something else through those gleaming eyes, but she found nothing.
Xiao Minghuang found it somewhat strange. Why had Lin Wanqiu been staring at her the whole time?
"Could this beautiful girl truly be the Ninth Princess?"
A trace of confusion flashed through Lin Wanqiu's eyes and vanished in an instant. At this point, I might as well let the mistake continue...
After a while, she seemed to have figured something out and smiled sweetly.
"Then I'll call you Miss Xiao!"
Seeing that she still did not believe her, Xiao Minghuang shook her head slightly and stopped trying to explain. Once they reached Beiyang City and met the Beiyang City Lord, the truth would naturally come to light.
As the two chatted, time hurried past.
During their conversation, Xiao Minghuang's delicate brows creased slightly as she asked,
"Miss Lin, do you know where the commoners abducted by those evil cultivators are being held?"
At the mention of this, Lin Wanqiu's expression turned unusually serious. Reluctantly, she climbed out of Xiao Minghuang's warm, soft embrace and said,
"Follow me."
Lin Wanqiu then led her back to the stone building, where they found the imprisoned commoners in the rear hall.
Two enormous cages held young women and children separately.
What they all had in common was that every one of them was bound in ropes, their eyes covered by white cloth and their mouths stuffed shut, completely motionless.
"I'm afraid some of them couldn't hold on any longer..."
Xiao Minghuang's delicate brows furrowed. Golden light flickered at her fingertips as she shattered the iron cage with a single strike.
Lin Wanqiu hurried forward and untied everyone's ropes.
After taking count, they found that half of the captured commoners had already died.
Upon hearing this news, Lin Wanqiu's already pale, thin cheeks became even more ashen.
"These are all citizens of my Beiyang City..."
The few survivors of the calamity either trembled like chaff in a sieve or lay utterly still. Clearly, their minds had suffered an immense shock; even a lifetime might not be enough for them to recover.
Miss Aki Koikawa Wants to Become an Adult
Aki Koikawa, nineteen years old, one meter fifty tall, weighing eighty-three, always looked like a middle school student.
Sweet and cute in appearance, gentle and kind in personality, but somewhat timid and cowardly.
Though she was clearly a pure soft-and-adorable type, she resolved to become an "adult" in order to live up to her senior's expectations.
She worked part-time jobs everywhere while also dealing with the people around her: an underground singer addicted to drinking,
a sickly manga artist who shut herself in her room, and a little devil of a younger stepsister who loved teasing people.
Before being claimed by someone... work hard to grow into a mature adult.
Slaying Evil Cultivators, the Dual Cultivation Technique
After a long while of comforting them, the commoners who had been imprisoned for so long gradually came to their senses and repeatedly thanked the two of them.
"Thank you, two heroines, for saving us! Even if we died ten thousand times, we could never repay this kindness!"
Xiao Minghuang waved her hand and said,
"It was merely a small effort. There is no need for this. Go home and live your lives."
Xiao Minghuang then led the group out of the stone building, preparing to continue onward.
Suddenly.
Her delicate brows furrowed as she sensed a concealed presence lurking in some corner.
"Miss Lin, take them back inside first. Do not come out unless I call for you."
Lin Wanqiu was meticulous and clear-minded, immediately understanding what she meant. After leading the commoners back inside, she looked at Xiao Minghuang with concern and reminded her,
"Be careful not to get hurt."
The corners of Xiao Minghuang's lips lifted slightly. There was three parts mockery and seven parts indifference in her eyes as she looked toward a dark corner and said calmly,
"He isn't worthy!"
Before her words had even faded,
a burly figure stepped out of the darkness, reeking of blood as though he had just emerged from a massacre.
"You have slaughtered all my brothers, Your Excellency. Isn't that a little excessive?"
The speaker was the leader of the evil cultivators. He radiated the aura of the Fourth Level of Qi Refining Realm, and his entire body was steeped in murderous intent, giving him an imposing presence.
He had just returned from plundering outside and found corpses scattered across the cave. At first, he thought the imperial court had sent experts to secretly wipe them out.
But after investigating, he discovered that it was merely a little girl at the Fourth Level of Qi Refining Realm.
However, he had just fought a fierce battle with Beiyang City's Guard Team and narrowly escaped death. He was now exceedingly weak and had no desire whatsoever to fight the little girl before him to the death.
Yet Xiao Minghuang did not see it that way. She spoke flatly,
"Excessive? Since you dared appear before me, you should have prepared yourself to die."
The evil cultivator leader's expression changed. Knowing that today's matter could not be settled peacefully, he put up a bold front and said coldly,
"We are both at the Fourth Level of Qi Refining Realm. You're nothing but a little brat whose hair hasn't even grown in. What do you have to fight this old man with?"
"I'll give you a chance. Hand over every spirit stone and pill on you, then get out of this cave, and you may yet live!"
At those words, Xiao Minghuang raised her hand. Golden light suddenly flashed at her fingertips, and a trace of disdain filled her gaze as she looked at the evil cultivator leader.
"You think you deserve that?"
Hearing this, the evil cultivator leader could no longer endure it. He acted decisively, striking first to gain the advantage, and immediately let out a furious roar.
"Blood Waves Soaring to the Heavens!"
Four whirlpools of qi emerged around his body, rapidly drawing in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. They raised a blood wave more than a zhang high, which crashed toward Xiao Minghuang.
As the fierce blood wave came surging toward her, a faint gleam flashed through Xiao Minghuang's eyes. Golden radiance flickered at her fingertips, then she brought two fingers together like a sword and slashed through the air.
"Seven Star Sword - Yaoguang!"
Xiao Minghuang parted her red lips and softly chanted. The golden radiance condensed into a dazzling thread, carrying boundless, resplendent, razor-sharp Sword Qi. In an instant, it cleaved apart the blood wave and slashed toward the evil cultivator leader.
The blood wave he had cultivated for years was effortlessly destroyed. The power of the Yaoguang Sword filled the evil cultivator leader with fear, and he instinctively gathered all his spiritual power into both palms, intending to bat the sword light away.
The instant the sword light struck his palms, a dull sound suddenly rang out.
The starlight faded, while Xiao Minghuang's expression remained unchanged.
The evil cultivator leader's face turned deathly pale. Blood poured from his wrists, and his hands were gone—cleanly severed!
"Th-This... how is that possible?!"
He had cultivated the Blood Wave Palm for many years, and nearly all his techniques were concentrated in his hands. Even against an expert at the Fifth Level of Qi Refining, he believed he had the power to fight.
Yet this seemingly delicate young girl had casually severed both his hands with a single finger.
Such strength was simply horrifying!
Before you continue