"Courting death!" The two remaining black-cloaked men ripped the concealed weapons from their wrists. Ignoring the gushing blood, they hurled the projectiles straight at the maiden.
The girl twisted and spun, effortlessly dodging the attack with a sidelong step. "Hmph! Just the two of you left, and you still dare to act so arrogant? Prepare to die!"
Taking on four men would have been impossible, but with just two, her odds were good. She needed to seize the firework tokens from their bodies to escape Lingbo City safely.
With that thought, the maiden gripped her three-foot green blade, leaped forward in a single bound, and tangled with the two black-cloaked men.
For a moment, snow flew in all directions, and blood splattered wildly. It was impossible to tell who held the upper hand.
Never in his life had Ren Yi witnessed such a fierce battle. His heart felt like it would burst out of his throat. Snapping back to his senses, he scrambled to crawl away from the fray, desperate to avoid ending up like slab pork, carved up and devoured.
Just then, the clip-clop of horse hooves echoed from not far away—sounding like a large group was approaching.
Ren Yi couldn't help letting out a string of street curses. "Damn it all!"
He might as well stop running. After all, a man with bare feet stood no chance of outrunning men on horseback.
The lead rider, clad in black, cracked his whip. It coiled around Ren Yi, yanking him off the ground and slamming him hard against the city wall.
An indescribable agony washed over him. Ren Yi felt like his entire insides had been shattered, yet he didn't even have the strength to groan. He collapsed to the ground, waiting silently for death to claim him.
The riders formed an orderly circle, trapping the maiden in the center. A man wearing a ghoul-faced mask rode forward to confront her.
"Hand over the silk pouch, and I'll spare your life!"
"Hmph! Only the worthy can unlock the pouch's secrets. You've guarded it for hundreds of years and never figured it out—what use is it to you?"
The maiden hurled her taunts without hesitation. She knew now that doubling back had been a mistake, but with no way out, she would go down fighting.
The masked man let out a cold, emotionless snort. "Even if it's useless, it's the sacred treasure of our Divine Spirit Sect. How dare an outsider lay hands on it!"
"Ha! I already touched it—what are you going to do about it? Come and take it if you can!"
The maiden pulled a silk pouch embroidered with golden cloud patterns from her waist. She tossed it up and down in her hand, her eyes brimming with defiance.
"Refusing a toast only to drink a forfeit! Tear her to pieces! Let her learn that the number one sect under heaven is not to be trifled with!"
At the masked man's command, every rider thrust their weapons toward the maiden in unison.
"Hah!"
The girl let out a sharp cry, narrowed her eyes, and leaped upward. The weapons converged beneath her feet; she stamped down hard, using the momentum to lunge straight at the masked man.
"Ha! Well played!"
The masked man was no pushover. He drew a spare sword from his saddle and met her attack head-on. The two quickly became locked in fierce combat.
The other black-cloaked men were no slouches either. Whenever the maiden's strikes missed their mark, they seized the opportunity to launch sneak attacks.
It wasn't long before the girl began to falter. In the split second her attention wavered, the masked man's sword was pressed against her throat.
The maiden glared at him furiously. "Bah! Ganging up on a single person—how dare you call yourselves disciples of the Divine Spirit Sect!"
She seethed with rage. The prize she'd almost grasped was slipping through her fingers. All her efforts had been for nothing, and now she might even lose her life. What bitter injustice!
"Shut up!"
The masked man raised a hand and knocked her unconscious. He frisked her body, searching for the golden silk pouch.
"What? It's gone? Impossible!"
He had seen clearly—she'd tucked it back into her waist. But now, all he found was a pouch of gold and silver, nothing more.
The girl's youthful frame stirred no pity in him. He stood up with a sharp jerk, kicked her hard, and barked orders at the others. "Search everywhere! The pouch must be nearby!"
The men turned the area upside down, digging as if they intended to scour every inch of the ground. But besides a pile of snow-covered garbage, they found nothing.
"Bastard!"
Frustrated, the masked man threw a punch that shook the city wall. The other black-cloaked men stepped back warily, keeping a safe distance for fear of being caught in his wrath.
"Retreat!"
Once his temper had cooled, he flicked his whip, hoisted the maiden onto his horse, and galloped away.
The group had arrived in a flash, and departed just as quickly. Soon, the swirling goose-feather snow buried all traces of the battle, as if nothing had ever happened.
In a narrow alley, a bustling crowd streamed back and forth. The familiar cries of street vendors pricked at Ren Yi's senses. He shifted his stiff body, broke through the layer of snow, and sat up.
"Good grief! A ghost!" An elderly passerby was so startled that he stumbled and fell face-first into the snow.
Ren Yi paid him no mind. He clutched his aching chest, muttering to himself in a delirious tone. "Still alive… ho ho ho… you damned heavens—do you even disdain this worthless life of mine?"
He had lost count of how many times this had happened. Time and again, he'd teetered on the brink of death, one foot already in the Underworld, only to be inexplicably yanked back into the land of the living.
"Hehehe… what a fool! Pah!"
A passing child spat at the dazed Ren Yi.
"Cheeky brat! Take this!"
Annoyed, Ren Yi rolled a snowball and threw it at the kid.
"Waaah! The beggar hit me! The fool hit me! Waaaa!"
The snowball hadn't even hurt, but the child was a spoiled little thing and burst into loud wails.
As the saying goes, striking a child will surely bring the wrath of their elders.
A burly man came charging out of nowhere. He lunged at Ren Yi and kicked him hard in the chest. "How dare you lay a hand on my son! You must be tired of living!"
Pfft!
In an instant, a mouthful of dark blood sprayed all over the burly man's clothes.
"Whoa! It wasn't me!"
The gruesome sight terrified the man. He stumbled backward, grabbed his child, and fled as fast as his legs could carry him.
Ren Yi had already suffered internal injuries; his chest had been throbbing with a dull, aching pain. But after the burly man's kick, instead of dying, he actually felt a strange sense of relief.
"Damn it all… I still can't die! Hahahaha!"
He threw back his head and laughed wildly. But then his stomach rumbled loudly—he was hungry again.
He propped himself up on weak limbs, clinging to the wall as he tried to stand. That was when his sharp eyes spotted a finely crafted silk pouch lying quietly in the snow.
Buried beneath the white blanket, it had escaped the notice of passersby.
Overjoyed, he picked it up to examine it. The red silk was embroidered with golden cloud patterns, the stitching so exquisite that Ren Yi—who had a sharp eye—couldn't even spot the needlework. He wondered which master embroideress had made it.
For something this delicate, the pouch would fetch at least a couple of taels of silver.
He didn't even bother wiping the blood from his hands, eagerly tugging at the pouch's opening. Strangely enough, the pouch wasn't sealed shut or locked, but no matter how hard he pulled, he couldn't open it.
"Weird! Doesn't matter—I can still sell it for a bun or two! Hahahaha!"
Thinking of the fragrant, fluffy steamed buns, he couldn't help laughing to himself. He couldn't remember the last time he'd tasted one.
Just then, an angry female voice piped up right in front of him. "You bad man! How dare you sell me!"
"Whoa!"
Ren Yi looked up in shock. What he saw made his hair stand on end.
The speaker was a tiny, delicate little girl, her cheeks as pink and tender as a flower's petals—utterly adorable.
At that moment, she had her cheeks puffed out in a pout, her hands planted firmly on her hips, glaring at him fiercely.
But the truly terrifying thing was… she was transparent. Broad daylight, and there stood a ghostly apparition!
Through her body, Ren Yi could clearly see the busy street behind her, along with the hurried figures of passersby.
Seeing that he didn't react, the little girl floated right up to his face and waved her hand in front of his eyes. "Hey! You big fool! I'm talking to you—can you hear me?"