Clue

After searching two inns, Yizhe still found no trace of that woman.

Instead, he saw a strange scene on the street: a crowd had formed a long line in front of a young girl.

Curious, he stopped a man who was about to join the queue.

"Hey, hey, hey! Brother, what are you all doing over here?" Yizhe asked, pointing at the long line beside them.

"There's a young girl over there with pretty good medical skills, treating people at a stall. Her fees are even cheaper than the hospital's! That's why everyone's lining up and waiting for her to take a look!"

As more and more people joined the queue, the man hurriedly explained in just a few words, shoved Yizhe aside, and ran to the back of the line.

"Skilled in medicine? Should I let her take a look too?"

"Forget it. I never expected Miyamoto to be able to treat my injuries anyway. I might as well let this girl examine them!"

"And so many people are rushing to line up. Her medical skills must truly be impressive. Even if she can't heal me, it would still be good if I could get acquainted with whoever taught her!"

After giving it some thought, Yizhe decided to let the young girl inspect his injuries.

So, he too went to the end of the line and began the long wait.

He did not know how long he waited. By the time nearly everyone else had left, it was finally his turn, and there was no one behind him.

The one treating patients at the stall was a girl around fifteen or sixteen. Dressed in black shirt and trousers, with short black hair, she looked very delicate and refined.

"Miss, please take a look at my injuries."

As he spoke, Yizhe untied the bandages around his hands, revealing palms covered in scars and twisted into unnatural shapes.

"Th-this... this..." The young doctor was greatly startled by the sight of those hands.

"Can they still be treated?" Yizhe asked quietly.

"I need to examine them carefully!" the girl replied casually, her attention already completely fixed on Yizhe's hands.

It was the first time she had encountered injuries this severe.

"How did you get hurt?" she asked as she examined him.

"Mm... I ran into a powerful enemy. He resorted to a mutually destructive tactic and blew me up with Explosive Tags," Yizhe replied lightly, as if those blasted hands did not belong to him.

After finishing her examination, the girl shook her head and said regretfully, "The ligaments and meridians have both been damaged. Those bone fragments must be removed!"

"But that requires an extremely precise and demanding operation!"

"With my current medical skill, I can't treat your injuries. I'm truly sorry!"

"It's fine. I know my own injuries well enough." Yizhe was not disappointed, because he had guessed from the start that this would likely be the outcome.

"May I ask if your teacher is here? Could you introduce me?" Yizhe asked earnestly.

"I'm very sorry, but for certain reasons, my teacher stopped treating people's illnesses and injuries a long time ago," the girl tactfully declined, full of apology.

"That truly is a pity." Only after hearing that her teacher no longer treated injuries did Yizhe feel somewhat dejected.

"Oink—Tonton—" At that moment, a strange cry came from beneath the stall.

He saw a pink piglet wearing a pearl necklace crawl out from under it.

"Tonton, do you want to go back?" The girl gently picked up the pink piglet and spoke softly to it.

"Oink—oink—" the pink piglet answered with strange noises.

"All right, then. Let's go back!" The girl replied seriously, as though she could truly understand the piglet's words.

Yizhe clearly remembered Miyamoto telling him that the woman had a younger companion, and that companion had one particularly conspicuous trait.

She often carried a pink piglet around and could even talk with it.

If I can capture her, perhaps I'll learn where that woman lives! I might even be able to use her as leverage and make that woman cooperate with me to trick Miyamoto into treating my injuries!

"Miss, do you happen to have a sister who loves gambling?" he asked.

He needed to confirm the girl's identity first.

"What do you want!" The moment Yizhe mentioned a gambling sister, the girl became nervous.

It looked like she really was the one!

"I have a matter I'd like to ask your sister for help with. Could you introduce us?" Yizhe did his best to put on a kind expression and asked politely.

If the matter could be resolved through discussion, he did not want to resort to force.

After all, forced fruit was never sweet!

"Don't even think about it!" For some reason, the girl was furious and rejected him outright.

She gave Yizhe no chance to negotiate at all!

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

The girl opened her mouth and spat out several icy needles that tore through the air.

Her attack came too suddenly. Yizhe barely dodged the needles, only to see that the girl, clutching the little pink pig, had already fled more than five meters away.

"Don't run!" Yizhe shouted.

His feet did not stop moving either as he leaped after her.

The girl did not seem particularly skilled in taijutsu, and she was not very fast. Yizhe quickly caught up to her.

Seeing that she could not outrun him, she stopped and helplessly pouted. "You debt collectors really are impossible to shake off!"

Paralyzing Mist

Suddenly, she opened her mouth again and sprayed out a cloud of pink mist that rushed straight toward Yizhe.

Although Yizhe's hands were inconvenient and he could not form hand seals to use ninjutsu, his legwork was not bad due to his taijutsu training.

He easily avoided this ambush.

Then, with a Body Flicker Technique, he rushed to her side, twisted his waist, raised his leg, and unleashed a sweeping kick.

Although the girl had already prepared to defend herself, Yizhe's whip-like kick still sent her sliding backward several meters.

Just as Yizhe pressed forward, intending to launch another series of attacks—

Whoosh!

A sound of something cutting through the air came from the side, and a fierce flash of sword light cut between them.

Yizhe hurriedly changed direction and avoided the slash.

As the sword light faded, a middle-aged samurai appeared in the field.

"You two, that is enough!" the middle-aged samurai shouted.

Judging by his attire, he was likely a patrol samurai responsible for maintaining security in the Land of Iron's city. He had probably come to break up the fight, Yizhe thought.

Having escaped disaster, the girl glared hatefully at Yizhe before turning and disappearing around the corner.

"Hmph!"

Just as Yizhe got up to pursue her, the samurai in the field snorted coldly and released an immensely powerful chakra presence that enveloped him.

A chilling cold surged through Yizhe's heart, dispelling every stray thought in his mind.

He did not dare move even an inch, because he could feel that the samurai had firmly locked onto his presence.

Who exactly is this samurai? He's so powerful! He entered within ten feet of me without any warning at all!

Though he has no killing intent or hostility, I have a feeling that if he draws his sword, I will certainly die. I won't have even the slightest chance to resist!

Is this what a top-tier samurai is like? Uncle Hizashi's aura is similar, but the pressure Uncle Hizashi gives me is nowhere near this strong!

At that moment, Yizhe did not know that the reason the samurai gave him such overwhelming pressure was because he had entered the attack range of the other man's Iaijutsu.

By the time Yizhe recovered from his wild thoughts, his back was already soaked in sweat. The powerful samurai in the field had disappeared at some unknown point.