Stripping Skin for Answers

About ten minutes later, Jiu'er approached in quick little steps. "Miss..."

Li Xueyi raised a hand gracefully. "Jiu'er, have they confessed?"

"Miss, those two are incredibly stubborn. The Ninth Elder beat them, but they still refuse to admit their guilt."

Li Xueyi sighed softly. "When traveling the martial world, one should win people over with courtesy. How can we resort to brute force? We should talk things through. I'll go over there. Young master, please wait here. I'll be right back."

"Of course, Miss!" Lin Xiaosu bowed.

The two women departed gracefully.

Once they had gone over a hundred meters, they were theoretically out of Lin Xiaosu's sight and beyond his range of perception.

Jiu'er glanced behind her and whispered, "Miss, what are you doing?"

"Men generally can't stand forceful women. I need to be more refined."

Jiu'er's eyes widened. "Miss, you just cut a swath through the battlefield! You were so forceful the valley echoed with it. Can you still keep up the act?"

"He didn't see me when I was cutting a swath through everyone. By the time he saw me, I'd already softened up..."

Jiu'er nodded repeatedly to show she understood, but one thing still puzzled her. "Why do you care so much what that young master thinks, Miss?"

"..." Li Xueyi found it hard to explain, too. Her lips parted, but no sound came out. At last, she decided to get tough. "Get lost! Stop prying into my business!"

Below them, behind a huge boulder, the two men sat with battered, swollen faces. But the moment they saw Li Xueyi, they dropped to their knees.

Brother Wu, the one with black scales, cried, "Spare us, Miss! I swear I never meant to harm you. The Scalefolk have no old grudges or recent quarrels with your people.