Chapter 233: This Is an Expert!

【On a beautiful, sunny afternoon, a thief sneaked up behind this unarmed, wealthy young lady.】

【What is she going to do? Is she preparing to cruelly snuff out this poor, innocent soul?】

【Or is she preparing to steal some inconsequential money from this young lady's bag?】

【But before that, let us first look at her stealth check.】

(Sound of dice rolling)

【Oh, 【1】, my thief friend, you have unfortunately encountered a rare critical failure.】

【Ahem...】

【Although Shi Xue is a highly skilled thief, she is very unlucky today; she suddenly discovers that she is actually allergic to the pollen of certain flowers.】

【She sneezes.】

"Achoo!!!"

Li Qiushui's one-woman show had been going on for half a day, and she finally came to her senses after finishing the inscription on her branch, noticing Shi Xue not far away.

As for who to sell it to?

Hehe, that would naturally be whoever wants to buy it, she will sell it to them.

She wanted to hold it back by force, but this physiological instinct came too suddenly, and she still failed.

Shi Xue had wanted to slip away quickly, but at this moment, she dared not act rashly.

"How did it suddenly shatter!?"

The power of life and death was already in the other party's hands.

Sighing in her heart, Shi Xue had intended to just retreat like this, but she felt a bit confused as she watched Li Qiushui, who was still standing in the same spot.

Failed!

Retreat!

The moment her figure was exposed, Shi Xue urgently tried to remedy the situation, re-entering a stealth stance and quickly fleeing into the distance.

At the very least, with a sneeze as loud as the one I just made, it is impossible for her not to have heard it at all.

My Holy Sword!!!!

I only swung it a few times, how did it shatter???

She had misjudged the situation.

("Sword, it should be used like this.")

That soul commanded indifferently, as if it were a matter of course:

Looking back, she clearly saw that the sword radiance had plunged into the large tree where she had been hiding, almost grazing her original position.

"No! There must be a trick in this!"

She first looked at the other party vigilantly, felt relieved upon discovering that the other party was a woman, and then asked with feigned indifference:

【Li Qiushui has activated Beg!】

Li Qiushui's brain was truly blank at this moment.

She looked at the broken branches scattered all over the ground with heartbreak, feeling as if her own heart had shattered along with them.

"These Recording Stones will surely sell for a good price."

Swish!

Shi Xue:!!!

Does she want to kill me?

With her life in danger, Shi Xue could not care about concealment and rolled forward in a sorry state.

Clang!

It was clearly a withered branch, yet at the moment of the thrust, it erupted with a clanging sword sound!

A visible sword radiance shot out from the tip of the branch, piercing toward the forest a hundred feet away.

Should she try to flee for her life?

(Sound of dice rolling)

"Fortunately, fortunately, I wasn't caught on the spot. She shouldn't have seen my face; otherwise, I would have no choice but to kill her to silence her."

("Thrust.")

Thus, her body moved before her consciousness, lifting the branch to thrust forward.

Gulp.

Whoosh—

When I was fleeing just now, I made quite a bit of noise to accelerate as much as possible; how does she seem as if she didn't hear it at all?

【Just a little bit off, but unfortunately, Shi Xue had consumed too much energy from several dodges earlier and could not dodge again at this moment.】

Regret not having done so sooner!

Shi Xue hid in the shadows, holding her breath and regretting her carelessness, while the sword cultivator she feared was thinking of nothing at all.

Now is not the time to fight for her life; wait a little longer, perhaps there is still a turning point!

Feeling the dangerous Sword Intent that was almost piercing her face, Shi Xue dared not leave even more at this moment.

This is an expert!

"I..."

Oh no, there is actually a third person present.

By the riverbank, the woman draped in gorgeous silk danced lightly with a branch, her waist moving like a weeping willow.

"Damn it! Now I can't leave even if I want to..."

Shi Xue: Hm?

"Can you take me there?"

【Having lost her beloved sword, the grief-stricken girl is passively knocked out of her state of epiphany.】

Achoo!!!

"Who are you?"

Swallowing her saliva uneasily, Shi Xue now faces a difficult problem she cannot avoid.

Having missed the best opportunity, she has now completely fallen into the domain of this sword cultivator.

With trembling fingers, Li Qiushui kneels powerlessly on the ground, looking at the branch gradually shattering in her hands.

【She! Did! Not! Hear! It!】

Terrifying.

To Shi Xue, this is an extremely bizarre scene.

Wait.

"Why did I suddenly sneeze? How strange..."

What does this mean?

Li Qiushui does not notice Shi Xue at this moment, because her vision is already blurred by tears.

【However, in the world under the Dice, anything is possible; let us symbolically check Li Qiushui's perception.】

She does not use force, and her speed is not fast, but this casual wave brings up a gentle breeze.

Looking back at that rich young lady, Shi Xue is full of lingering fear.

It looks as if she had been slashed by an invisible Long Sword!

"That is... Sword Qi!!?"

Ren Yidao hides to the side, watching Shi Xue watch Li Qiushui dig a hole to bury a branch... while holding several Recording Stones.

Swish, swish, swish—

This woman was able to hide by my side for so long without me noticing...

Li Qiushui lifts the branch lightly, looks left and right, coughs lightly, and mutters in a low voice:

Move, and you die!

Although she does not know why the other party spared her life, there is only one path before her now.

If she could, she would not want to kill innocent people.

The two of them are like this: one wholeheartedly digging a hole, the other watching her dig the hole in extreme tension...

This rich young lady she treated as prey is actually a powerful sword cultivator!

The other party forced her out of the shadows, presumably having already decided how to deal with her.

"Uh, I know."

【Although the details are unknown, perhaps Heaven blesses Shi Xue; Li Qiushui is a bit deaf and blind.】

What is all this nonsense!?

But because Li Qiushui does not speak, Shi Xue does not dare to act rashly, fearing that one careless move will cause a misunderstanding.

(Sound of dice rolling)

"No one should be able to see me here, right?"

【Hmm? A 1? Ah, this, hiss...】

But there are rules to the trade, and her master has always taught her to make everyone who sees her true face shut their mouth.

In a few flashes, Shi Xue crosses a distance of a hundred feet and hides back into the shadows under the tree.

It is a good thing I wasn't impulsive just now... otherwise, I really wouldn't even know how I died.

In Shi Xue's incredulous gaze, ripples suddenly spread across the calm river beside Li Qiushui.

(Sound of dice rolling)

"If only I had listened to my master and carefully observed the other party's background before attacking."

Just as Shi Xue hesitates on how to answer, Li Qiushui turns her head with a flash of intuition and sees a figure rushing toward this side in the distance.

She did not even use a sword; she could unleash such Sword Qi with just a withered branch.

"Hmm?"

Is it someone coming to catch me!?

Without waiting for Shi Xue to answer, Li Qiushui asks first:

Her body moves on its own!

Chest out, head up, sword raised, forward thrust!

It is as if another soul is supporting her hand from behind, pressing her to straighten her posture bit by bit and adjust the angle.

"Hoo..."

"Ah! It is simply the most perfect branch in the world..."

The moment before she was about to sneeze, Shi Xue had already reacted.

Sniffling, she sticks the Silver Hairpin into the ground and digs laboriously...

【Qiushui Buries the Branch!】

"Well, I'll just demonstrate, just once..."

From the moment she picks up the branch and waves it, she feels as if her body no longer belongs to her.

She must be relying on her strength and fearing nothing!

Could this rich young lady not be as harmless as she appears, but actually a deeply hidden expert?

Just as Shi Xue was guessing this, Li Qiushui in her eyes suddenly moved.

!!!

【Having made such a loud commotion, logically speaking, her whereabouts should naturally be exposed.】

【All of her focus was immersed in this perfect tree branch!】

It easily pierced through this large tree that could only barely be hugged by three people, shaking a whole ground of leaves loose.

Li Qiushui sniffled, opened the small bundle she had carried out from home, rummaged through it, and took out a Silver Hairpin.

Oh no!

"Sob sob sob... my little Xiaojian! Sob sob..."

I cannot accept this!

"I must give it a proper burial!"

Speed was Shi Xue's most proud ability, the capital that allowed her to walk the world without anyone being able to track her.

"Eh? Why does she have no reaction at all?"

"Do you know where the Zhengqi Sect is?"

"Ah!!!"

【48】

【Escape failed!】

How is there someone here!?

Shi Xue had originally been somewhat uncertain about her judgment, but at this moment, she was incredibly glad for her own rationality.

That expert who could easily kill her was, at this moment, sniffling and wiping away tears while digging into the dirt with a serious face...

The other party must have discovered her whereabouts earlier, but now they were acting like this...

Why was she so arrogant as to not wear a mask? She had almost been seen in the face.

【The sentimental Li Qiushui decided... to give her tree branch a decent departure.】

After entering the darkness, Shi Xue let out a long sigh of relief.

Unreconciled.

Thank goodness!

Only after she finished sword dancing could she approach, and then she would try to communicate.

Li Qiushui feigned calmness, but in her heart, she actually hid a thought.

The uncomposed exclamation startled Shi Xue; that expert who had scared her into not daring to act rashly was currently kneeling on the ground with a sorrowful face.

How could I have sneezed!!?

"It broke!!?"

Imitating the scenes of her family practicing swordplay she had seen before, she swung it lightly.

Tsk!

She tried it, but after a few bursts, her calves had already begun to tremble slightly; if she tried again, she feared she would suffer a lasting injury...

Li Qiushui, holding a sword for the first time, appeared stiff and uncoordinated, but she quickly entered the state.

【Hmm, this time the eloquence points are only 【35】, but there is an extra 【15】 points of charm bonus, plus 【30】 points of mystery judgment... a total of 【80】 points.】

【This young lady of the Li Family is not good with words, but she unexpectedly moved the Knight-Thief young lady, successfully getting her to serve as her guide to escape the pursuit from her family.】

"... Okay."