Chapter 7

There, unmistakably, was a bloody gash sliced open by a blade.

Deprived of Jiang Sishui's pressure, the blood immediately gushed out as if fleeing for its life.

Shopkeeper Tie's eyes bulged round; he stared deathly at Jiang Sishui, unable to utter a single word, only thrashing his hands about with his last strength.

A trace of coldness flickered across Jiang Sishui's eyes as he smiled. "Shopkeeper, have a safe journey."

Shopkeeper Tie struggled for a while, his consciousness gradually fading, until finally his head lolled to one side and his breath ceased.

Jiang Sishui dragged the corpse into the inner courtyard, dug a pit, and hastily buried it beneath a tree in the yard.

Afterward, he drew well water to wash away the bloodstains at the scene, preventing the scent of blood from spreading.

"By the time your corpse is discovered, I should no longer fear the Six Fan Gate."

Standing on the spot where Shopkeeper Tie was buried, Jiang Sishui felt not the slightest burden in his heart.

This Shopkeeper Tie was a famous physician in the Chengnan area, superb in medical skill, yet sinister, cunning, sharp-tongued, and mean-spirited.

Being both a doctor and a pharmacy shopkeeper, when treating patients he would often add large quantities of herbs irrelevant to their ailments to their prescriptions, solely to swindle them of their money.

Ordinary people were unaware of these matters, but Jiang Sishui, who worked odd jobs at the pharmacy to make a living, knew them all too clearly.

The reason Shopkeeper Tie had employed Jiang Sishui for odd jobs was simply because he was cheap.

Even so, Shopkeeper Tie frequently deducted his already meager wages on various pretexts and often delayed payment indefinitely.

Before awakening his memories of a past life, Jiang Sishui had a cowardly nature and dared not resist, so he had suffered many losses at this man's hands.

Shopkeeper Tie would often mock Jiang Sishui, giving him the insulting nickname "Jiang the Top Scholar."

A few days ago, Jiang Sishui accidentally knocked a medicinal herb onto the ground; normally picking it up would have sufficed, yet Shopkeeper Tie insisted he had ruined the herb and demanded compensation.

Helpless, Jiang Sishui went to the mountain to gather that herb, then accidentally took a fall, narrowly escaping with his life.

Now that his memories of a past life had awakened, he had undergone an earth-shaking transformation and naturally came to seek revenge.

It was both to vent his pent-up rage and to acquire wealth.

What is the fastest way to make money in this world?

Murder and robbery must be among them!

Shopkeeper Tie was nicknamed "Iron Rooster" and was a famous "Pixiu" in this area; insatiably greedy when accumulating wealth, yet miserly when spending it.

He lit no lamps in his room after nightfall, served no meat with his meals, and had not even taken a wife.

For no other reason than that he disliked the idea of a wife spending his money; one more person meant one more mouth to feed.

Therefore, he lived alone in the entire pharmacy.

This was also one of the reasons Jiang Sishui had targeted him.

"Having money yet unwilling to hire even a single guard; now that your life is gone, what use is all that wealth? Did you truly believe that being close to a Six Fan Gate branch meant no one would dare commit murder?"

Jiang Sishui shook his head, indicating his incomprehension.

One could only say that the gap between people can sometimes be greater than the gap between humans and dogs.

It was only natural that he could not comprehend the mindset of an "Iron Rooster."

Subsequently, Jiang Sishui ransacked Shopkeeper Tie's bedroom, turning boxes and cabinets upside down, and finally found five banknotes of one hundred taels each and several tens of taels in loose silver.

"Over five hundred taels; that should be enough."

Shopkeeper Tie had amassed wealth for many years; surely his savings exceeded this, and perhaps he had hidden a small treasury somewhere.

But Jiang Sishui was already content and too lazy to search further; having enough money was sufficient.

If he truly lacked more, he could simply pull another job!

The most urgent matter now was to leave this place.

Climbing a tree near the wall in the inner courtyard, he looked down from above, carefully observing the street.

Confirming no one was around, he leaped onto the wall, then down the other side, moved through the shadows, and departed swiftly.

The entire journey was fraught with danger yet passed without incident.

Upon returning home, Jiang Sishui hid the silver, took a bath, and buried his blood-stained clothes in the earth.

After tidying up, he returned to his room and fell asleep immediately.

Having busied himself all day, he was exhausted.

The next day.

With the sun high among the branches, Jiang Sishui slowly awoke; after washing up, he summoned his diary and began recording the new day.

At the very moment Jiang Sishui put pen to paper, the women all felt something and simultaneously summoned their diary copies to check.

[Hmm, yesterday we spoke of the last unparalleled beauty that no wuxia story can bypass.]

Seeing this sentence, the eyes of all the women lit up, and their hearts suddenly tightened.

Yesterday, just as Jiang Sishui reached a critical point, he had suddenly stopped; countless people had been so furious their teeth itched, wishing they could bite him fiercely.

They were desperate to know who this final person was!

Although the selection criterion was merely fame and did not necessarily mean the most outstanding, it still constituted a contest among the women.

Except for someone like Xiao Longnu, who was nearly devoid of emotion and desire, almost no one was indifferent; no one did not wish to win.

After reading the first diary entry yesterday, countless individuals had lain awake all night, wondering who would claim this final spot and whether it might be themselves.

And now, the answer was finally about to be revealed!

The women all set aside their current tasks, widened their eyes, and stared fixedly at the page.

Finally, characters began to appear upon it...

[This last one, and also the most important one, in my mind, she is the "Number One Marvelous Woman of Wuxia."]

[Moreover, the reason she receives this honor is not entirely the same as for the previous two.]

[The reason Wang Wang Wang Yuyan and Xiao Longnu are so beloved is that they maxed out their beauty stats, combined with an ethereal, otherworldly aura, like celestial maidens descending to the mortal realm, making ordinary men feel ashamed of their own vulgarity.]

[In my view, they essentially represent the pinnacle of beauty; looking across the world, I fear one could not find a single person whose elegance surpasses these two.]

At most, at most, it would be a tie.

"A celestial maiden descending to earth? At most a tie?"

Reading this, some of the women were filled with curiosity, their minds unable to help but imagine what a descending celestial maiden should look like, to actually earn such high praise from Jiang Sishui.

Meanwhile, those women whose diary copies had rated their appearance as perfect felt entirely unconvinced, believing they certainly were no worse than those two!

But... what exactly should an ethereal, fairy-like demeanor look like?

Many fell into deep thought.

At the same time, they grew even more curious about who this final person was.

Wang Wang Wang Yuyan and Xiao Longnu had already received such high evaluations; who could possibly surpass them both?

At this moment, Wang Wang Wang Yuyan at Manmen Shanzhuang and Xiao Longnu in the ancient tomb at Mount Zhongnan were likewise staring fixedly at the diary.

This was a question they too wished to know the answer to.

[And the one woman capable of surpassing those two celestial maidens is, naturally, the lovely Huang Rong of Taohuadao.]

"Is it really me?!"

On the surface of the Eastern Sea.

Huang Rong sat aboard a flower boat, and seeing her own name appear upon the diary, she could not help but feel a wave of shock.

Who exactly was this final person? Could it possibly be herself?

Every owner of a diary copy had considered this question.

Huang Rong was no exception.

She even possessed considerable confidence.

For no other reason than the title page clearly stated:

[Character: Huang Rong]

[Appearance: 10]

[Affinity: 10]

A perfect score in appearance was the guarantee, but the key lay in that perfect affinity score.

According to the scoring criteria, the diary's owner had reached the stage of "infatuation" toward her!

One had to ask: if she, Huang Rong, were not exceptionally outstanding, would the diary's owner hold such high affinity for her?

Huang Rong, being sharp-witted and intelligent, immediately connected many dots; this was the greatest basis for her judgment that she might secure the final spot.

However, before the answer was revealed, everything remained mere speculation.

After all, who could know if she was the only one with double perfect scores?

Now that her speculation had proven true, even though Huang Rong had mentally prepared herself, she still felt a sense of unreal disorientation.