Firmament Sword

Xu Luo narrowed his eyes slightly, watching the scene ahead, and said softly, ”This woman... she’s very powerful!”

Huangfu Chongzhi said, ”She certainly looks powerful.”

Little Fatty said, ”No matter how powerful she is, if Third Brother makes a move, won’t she be easy to capture?”

Xu Luo shook his head slightly. ”Not necessarily.”

Just then, the fight over there came to a halt. The woman in white had also stopped, glanced over at them from a distance, and then drifted away.

”Hey, you think you can just beat someone up and run away?” Little Fatty suddenly shouted.

The woman in white stopped, turned her head, and stood there without a word.

Xu Jie frowned slightly. ”Why are you getting involved in this?”

Little Fatty said, ”She’s causing trouble on Third Brother’s turf!”

”Idiot,” Sui Yan said coldly from the side.

At that moment, the convoy continued forward, quickly drawing near. The group of people who had just been beaten by the woman in white were still lying on the ground, looking miserable and battered, groaning ceaselessly.

”What happened here?” Little Fatty walked up, standing there nonchalantly, and asked one of the more lightly injured men.

”None of your business, you busybody...” The man Little Fatty questioned was about twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old. He was actually quite handsome, but he looked rather wretched. His cheeks were badly swollen, blood dripped from the corner of his mouth, and his once-fine satin robe was tattered and covered in dust.

Little Fatty was taken aback by the man’s words, and his mouth twitched. He then looked toward the woman in white and saw a flash of mockery in her eyes. Annoyed, Little Fatty said, ”Miss, if you have a grievance, you should reason it out. Why did you have to beat them up like this?”

”What’s it to you?” the woman in white said coldly, her expression blank, her eyes radiating a frigid light.

”You...” Little Fatty was truly frustrated now. He felt like a dog trying to catch a mouse—a complete busybody. Neither the one who got beaten nor the one doing the beating wanted him involved.

Xu Luo glanced at the woman in white and was slightly startled. ’She’s wearing a human-skin mask,’ he thought. ’What a beautiful woman!’

”Apologies, we just saw a fight break out over here and came to take a look. Since it’s nothing, we’ll be on our way,” Huangfu Chongzhi said gently after glancing at the woman in white.

The woman in white nodded at Huangfu Chongzhi and turned to leave.

It was impossible to tell how fast she was moving, but in the blink of an eye, she vanished from everyone’s sight.

Only then did the young man who had just talked back to Little Fatty let out a sigh of relief. He stood up with an apologetic look and said to Little Fatty, ”Brother, my apologies. I didn’t mean to be rude just now, I just didn’t dare speak freely. You have no idea how vicious that woman is!”

”Yes, yes! Our young master just glanced at her, and she immediately attacked, beating us half to death...” a man who looked like a Guard, around thirty-seven or thirty-eight, said with a tearful face from the side.

”Huh? She attacked just because he glanced at her?” Little Fatty looked at the group, confused. ”Nothing else?”

The twenty-seven or twenty-eight-year-old youth gave a bitter smile. ”It was my fault for running my mouth. I saw that she had a graceful figure but a plain face, so I said, ’What a pity for such a fine figure,’ and the result...”

”Haha, I think you’ve got a point!” Little Fatty chuckled. ”It is a fine figure. What a waste!”

”Alright, alright, brother, you’d better not say such things. If she hasn’t gone far and comes back to cause trouble for you, it won’t be worth it. Just consider us unlucky,” the twenty-seven or twenty-eight-year-old youth said with a bitter smile.

”Disaster comes from the mouth. Just be more careful what you say in the future,” Huangfu Chongzhi said. Then he glanced at Little Fatty and added, ”Let’s go.”

Liu Feng also felt he had been a bit too nosy today. The real reason was probably not as simple as they claimed. Otherwise, why would that woman have been so furious?

Just then, the twenty-seven or twenty-eight-year-old youth suddenly asked, ”By the way, are you all here on business too?”

”That’s right. You too?” Little Fatty replied offhandedly.

The youth nodded. ”Be very careful doing business around here lately. It’s not very peaceful right now.”

”Mm, thanks for the warning, brother!” Little Fatty nodded, and they bid the youth farewell and departed.

Once they were on the road again, Xu Jie looked at Little Fatty and chided, ”You’re not usually the type to meddle in other people’s business. What’s gotten into you today?”

Little Fatty scratched his head, looking frustrated. ”I just felt that woman was far from simple, so I wanted to probe her background. But... I failed.”

”You’ve got too much time on your hands. There are plenty of people in this world whose depths are impossible to fathom. Are you going to test every single one you meet?” Xu Jie glared at Little Fatty. ”Our main priority right now is to establish a foothold here. It’s better to keep a low profile.”

Little Fatty hung his head and grunted, ”I know.”

Huangfu Chongzhi said to Xu Luo, ”The north is very unstable right now. The Da Han Empire is constantly sending more troops to the border, Mo Yun has suddenly infiltrated the north from the Southern regions, and Prime Minister Wei has secretly positioned who knows how many hidden pawns. What we saw in Snow City, I believe, was just the tip of the iceberg. It seems establishing a foothold here won’t be so easy.”

Xu Luo nodded. ”You’re right. But I’m confident.”

”We’re all confident!” Little Fatty said from the side.

”You should focus on improving your own strength first before you talk!” Sui Yan cut in coldly.

That evening, the group arrived in a small town, planning to rest there for the night before setting out again the next day.

The town wasn’t large. Being in the north, even though it was summer, the air became quite cool in the evening, and the town’s residents had all come out to enjoy the cool air.

There was only one decent-looking inn in town, so Xu Luo’s convoy headed straight for it.

The inn’s ground floor was a tavern. After settling in, the group entered the tavern to have a meal, only to be surprised to see the woman in white they had met on the road earlier that day.

She was sitting there eating by herself. She wasn’t drinking alcohol; before her was a plate of green vegetables, a bowl of rice, and a cup of plain water.

The woman ate very slowly, her face expressionless. She didn’t even turn to look when the group came in.

”What a strange person,” Little Fatty grumbled, then sat down.

Xu Jie shot Little Fatty a glare, then called over the waiter. ”Bring us a few dishes to go with wine, and a pot of wine.”

Huangfu Chongzhi glanced at the woman before sitting down. In a moment, the waiter brought over the food and wine. Although it was a small town, the dishes were quite varied, and their fragrance filled the air.

Both Xu Luo and Huangfu Chongzhi saw a flicker of light in the woman’s eyes as she smelled the aroma, but she quickly lowered her head and went back to her own meal.

’Could it be that she has no money to order better food?’ The thought flashed through Xu Luo’s mind, but he didn’t say anything.

When you’re away from home, it’s best not to get involved in things that don’t concern you.

The brothers and some of the men from the convoy were all quite hungry after a day of travel. They soon started drinking. Xu Luo’s table was relatively quiet, but the other men from the convoy were less restrained. After a few cups of wine, they began to laugh and talk loudly.

The woman in white frowned, put down her bowl and chopsticks, stood up, and said softly, ”The bill.”

The waiter hurried over and stood before her. ”Miss, that will be thirty copper plates...”

The woman’s mouth twitched slightly. She looked at the waiter with a perfectly calm expression and said, ”I don’t have any money...”

”Er...” The waiter was stunned for a moment, then forced a smile. ”Miss, you must be joking... This is a small business. We don’t allow tabs...”

”I will pay you back,” the woman in white said with a serious expression.

”This... It’s not a lot of money, and Miss, you don’t look like the type to skip out on a bill. But this is a small village inn, a humble business...” The waiter’s expression changed, and his voice grew louder.

Over at their table, Huangfu Chongzhi and the others all looked over.

The woman’s face turned slightly red. She pressed her lips together and said, ”I... I don’t have any money.”

”If you didn’t have money, why would you come here to eat!” the waiter said, getting anxious.

”I was hungry,” the woman in white replied as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

The waiter was about to say more, but Huangfu Chongzhi gave a slight wave of his hand. ”Put it on our bill. Don’t make things difficult for a young lady.”

Huangfu Chongzhi then stood up, took out a large silver ingot worth about ten taels, walked over, and handed it to the woman with a gentle smile. ”Forgot to bring money with you?”

”I don’t know you. Why are you being so kind to me?” The woman’s eyes were full of confusion as she looked at Huangfu Chongzhi.

”Everyone falls on hard times. I have too. Take it. You can pay me back in the future,” Huangfu Chongzhi said with a smile.

The waiter chimed in from the side, ”Miss, you’ve really met a kind soul. With a face like yours, did you really think he had ulterior motives?”

The woman in white shot the waiter a cold glare. He flinched and hurried away. In any case, her meal was paid for, so he had nothing more to worry about.

The woman in white looked at the silver in Huangfu Chongzhi’s hand, hesitated for a moment, then reached out and took it. ”Thank you,” she said. ”I will pay you back!”

”I believe you,” Huangfu Chongzhi said.

The woman in white nodded and turned to leave.

Huangfu Chongzhi returned to his seat. Little Fatty said with a look of astonishment, ”Big Brother, you... you haven’t fallen for this woman, have you? She’s so plain-looking... You?”

Huangfu Chongzhi shook his head with a smile, a flicker of loneliness in his eyes. ”When I was little, I was once beaten by my governess and secretly ran away from the palace. When I got hungry, I ducked into a bun shop and wolfed down seven or eight buns. Of course, when it was time to pay, I had no money. The shop’s owner, an old man in his sixties, stopped the waiter who wanted to give me a beating. He said something to me that I’ve remembered to this day.”

”What did he say?” Little Fatty asked.