As she wished.
The assassins suddenly appeared.
Qi Huan stared in disbelief with her almond-shaped eyes at the black-clad figures descending from above.
Upon realizing it was a young woman, the assassins let out a collective sigh of relief: "Retreat!"
Qi Huan leaned against a tree trunk, watching them leave.
Suddenly, one assassin turned back.
He asked her, "Have you seen a man as handsome as Pan An, as ethereal as an immortal?"
"Yes, I have."
"Where?" The assassins all turned back in unison.
Qi Huan replied with a sweet smile, "Right in front of me."
"......"
The assassins fell silent again.
They couldn't be bothered with this... shallow woman who coveted their looks, and quickened their pace.
After they had gone far enough.
Qi Huan quietly explained to the jealous man in her spatial pendant:
"I was talking about you, you're right here in front of me in this space."
"They had half their faces covered, I couldn't even see what they looked like."
"Even if I could, they wouldn't be a thousandth as handsome as Shu."
"From north to south, Shu is the most beautiful. Throughout history, Shu is the most handsome. In my heart, Shu is the absolute best-looking!"
Hearing a deep chuckle, Qi Huan's eyes curved into crescents as she walked with light steps to a patch of messy undergrowth.
She took off her necklace, preparing to hide it in a pile of dead branches on the ground.
At this moment, Li Shuchen, inside the spatial pendant, heard the sound of a sword cutting through the air and immediately shouted sternly, "Huan, come in!"
Alongside his voice came the muffled sound of a blade piercing flesh and a man's sardonic laugh.
Ximen Ye withdrew his sword, casting a disdainful glance at the assassins gathering around him, and uttered a single word: "Scram."
Beside him, Zhu Yan began his familiar countdown:
"Ten."
"Eight."
"Six."
......
Zhu Yan only counted even numbers, quickly reaching zero.
After finishing, he concluded: "Master, they're disrespecting you. Not a single one of them scampered off."
"Oh? Is that so?"
"I'm angry. I'm unhappy."
"Go finish them off!"
Ximen Ye remained talkative.
Blood still dripped from the sword in his right hand, while his left hand tightly gripped Qi Huan's wrist. He grinned mischievously:
"Little brown ball, I know you can burrow into the ground."
"Now that I've got you, let's see how you'll escape?"
Realizing that "little brown ball" referred to her, Qi Huan looked down at her sand-colored ghillie suit.
Brown, she could understand.
But ball? Where did that come from?
Seeing through her confusion, Ximen Ye explained with a playful look: "The way you were bent over, rooting around in the bushes earlier, you really looked like a ball."
"......"
Qi Huan turned away, ignoring him, and quietly observed the battle.
"Little brown ball, you're so ungrateful. After all, I just saved you. Aren't you going to say thank you?"
"...Thank you."
After being thanked, a look of satisfaction flashed in Ximen Ye's eyes: "You're so obedient and polite, I'll almost feel bad about killing you later..."
"You shot me with an arrow, I'll have to return two."
"You stabbed me once, I'll have to stab you twice."
"You groped my pecs once, I'll have to grope back twice."
"You shot me with one poisoned needle, I'll have to return two."
"You stole my gold pendant, I..."
Ximen Ye paused, then asked her: "Do you have any extra gold to compensate me?"
As his words sank in, Qi Huan suddenly understood that he had saved her only to exact his revenge personally.
She looked up at Ximen Ye and asked innocently: "How are you not dead yet?"
Even if the dagger hadn't killed him, the poison needle should have.
Ximen Ye leaned close to her ear and chuckled softly:
"I'm. Not. Telling. You."
Just as he finished speaking, he sensed a gust of wind approaching from behind.
Ximen Ye swiftly turned, positioning himself behind her. His left hand still gripping her wrist, he placed his sword in her right hand, guiding her to leap forward and plunge the blade into an enemy's heart.
As the sword was withdrawn, blood splattered onto Qi Huan's face, wetting her eyelashes and preventing her from opening her eyes.
She rubbed her face against the nearest surface.
Ximen Ye frowned at his now-stained sleeve and muttered: "You'll have to compensate me for two more outfits!"
"I'm upset. I want to kill someone."
Ximen Ye moved his left hand to her waist, carrying her as he leapt into the fray, teaching her hands-on how to stab and kill swiftly and precisely.
Nearby, Zhu Yan continued to chat while fighting the other assassins:
"Which assassin organization are you from?"
"What's your monthly salary?"
"How much is the reward for completing a mission?"
......
Originally, the assassins' swords were aimed at either his throat or his heart.
But his incessant chatter persisted.
The assassins began trying to cut out his tongue first.
"Master, help!"
"They're so vicious!"
Zhu Yan quickly darted behind Ximen Ye.
The night wind howled.
The air was thick with the smell of blood, and corpses littered the forest floor. Countless eyes lurked in the darkness, silently watching and spying.
Li Shuchen was nowhere to be seen, so they remained motionless.
They quietly observed as the two men and one woman in the forest slaughtered the fiercest batch of assassins.
Qi Huan's clothes were soaked through with blood.
She couldn't help but bend over and vomit, splattering Ximen Ye's boots.
Ximen Ye raged: "You'll have to compensate me for two more pairs of boots!"
Various sounds continuously transmitted into the spatial pendant through the necklace.
Li Shuchen's eyes were filled with a murderous glint, his face as dark as water.
He repeated "Let me out" over and over again, but received no response.
On the way there, Qi Huan had hidden the necklace on Ximen Ye's person, and they hadn't encountered any danger.
On the way back, facing such a bloodbath, she finally realized how perilous Shu's situation truly was.
The pitch-black forest seemed like a gaping maw, waiting to devour Shu the moment he appeared.
Qi Huan didn't dare to let Li Shuchen out.
With the troublesome assassins dealt with, Ximen Ye began to ponder which revenge to exact first.
Finally, he decided to ask for Qi Huan's opinion.
"Would you prefer to be shot with arrows first, or stabbed with a dagger, or groped by me, or return my gold?"
"Gold."
Qi Huan answered without hesitation, then continued talking to distract him.
"I have many gold ingots, bright and shiny, very beautiful."
"Would you like them?"
"Yes!" Ximen Ye's eyes narrowed with pleasure, a faint smile playing on his lips.
The moment she made a move, Ximen Ye swiftly caught her other hand, raising it and shaking it.
"Forgot to tell you, I'm immune to all poisons."
"Drop these little tricks and tell me honestly, where's the gold?"
His smile remained unchanged, but the force of his grip suddenly increased.
Qi Huan was in such pain that she was drenched in cold sweat.
Then—
The system released Li Shuchen for her.
Li Shuchen's palm strike, carrying a thunderous rage, struck at Ximen Ye from behind, while he scooped Qi Huan into his arms.
At the same time, Qi Huan used a women's self-defense technique to swiftly kick Ximen Ye in his most vulnerable spot.
For the first time in his life, Ximen Ye felt such pain and humiliation.
He fell heavily to the ground, watching helplessly as the two vanished into thin air, presumably escaping underground...
Assassins from all directions converged, determined to dig three feet into the earth to find Li Shuchen.
At that moment, Li Shuchen was in the space, coughing up mouthfuls of black blood, yet his gaze softened suddenly when he looked at Qi Huan.
"Huan, don't cry."
Hearing this, Qi Huan slightly raised her head, obediently holding back her tears.
She decided in her heart that she should no longer rely on luck, depending on the system and the space for everything.
She wouldn't shy away from difficulties and avoid learning anymore.
Once they left Mi Mountain, she would study medicine and martial arts.
So that when Shu was injured, she could treat him.
When facing danger, she could fight back fiercely.
Relying on oneself is better than relying on anyone else.
