Chapter 72: Chapter 57

People who were above average in height, were above average in appearance, had a unique temperament, or were dressed in colors that stood out would typically attract attention to themselves. When these factors were gathered on one person, the person in question would attract even more attention.

While looking down from the podium, Bai Wanjia instantly took notice of Shen Zheyan, who was dressed in white and gave off a unique temperament.

Women who were confident in their appearances were bound to pay more attention when they came across a woman who was even more beautiful than themselves.

Because of Shen Zheyan, Bai Wanjia also took notice of Wei Zinan and Jun Zishu. Meanwhile, upon seeing Jun Zishu, Bai Wanjia felt her mood growing even more turbulent.

One could say that Jun Zishu and Shen Zheyan were the epitome of one of the types of women that men liked. These two could easily overshadow any women who stood beside them.

Bai Wanjia knew that she should be paying attention to the fights taking place on the stage. However, she couldn’t help herself from sneaking peaks at Jun Zishu and Shenyan from time to time.

When the incident took place, Bai Wanjia just so happened to be looking in Jun Zishu’s direction. Thus, when the thief passed by Jun Zishu, she also happened to see the thief shove something into Jun Zishu’s arms.

“You shouldn’t accuse people without any evidence, Miss Bai,” Jun Zishu said as she innocently spread out her hands. When she noticed everyone’s gaze shifting toward her, she even put on an aggrieved expression.

“But I really saw it. We will know whether you have hidden something on you once we check,” Bai Wanjia said as she jumped off the podium and removed her veil. The Bai family shared a close relationship with Wenshui City’s magistrate. Now that the city’s magistrate had something stolen from him, the Bai family naturally had to step up and lend a helping hand.

“How did you see it? There were so many people standing in between us. You and I have never met before, so is there a need to falsely accuse me?”

“I did not. If you don’t have anything on you, do you dare to let me search you?” Bai Wanjia said with her chin lifted proudly.

Bai Wanjia’s words angered Jun Zishu slightly. With a sneer on her face, she mockingly said, “What an impolite young lady you are. First, you falsely accuse me. Now, you are trying to search my body. I never knew the Bai family’s influence has grown so large that it can afford to act so arrogantly.”

“If you don’t have anything to hide, why do you need to have a guilty conscience?”

“A guilty conscience? From where do you see that I have a guilty conscience? If your eyes aren’t working properly, go see a doctor. If your brain isn’t working properly, stay at home and don’t come out.”

Bai Wanjia was a short-tempered person. After Jun Zishu ridiculed her like that, she immediately charged forward to speak with her fists. Thus, the two ended up fighting each other.

Jun Zishu was skilled in qinggong. Instead of facing Bai Wanjia in a frontal clash, she evaded Bai Wanjia’s kicks and punches.

Contrary to rumors, Bai Wanjia was quite a skilled martial artist. However, her skills still paled in front of Jun Zishu. If Jun Zishu wasn’t trying to maintain her setting as a flower thief in front of Shen Zheyan, she would’ve long since beaten Bai Wanjia to the ground.

Meanwhile, when Shen Zheyan saw Bai Wanjia repeatedly trying to grab Jun Zishu with her hands, she immediately drew her sword and placed it between them.

“Move away from her,” Shen Zheyan threatened.

Seeing the gleam on Shen Zheyan’s sword, Bai Wanjia retreated by several steps and looked at Jun Zishu with an unreconciled gaze.

Jun Zishu, on the other hand, leisurely straightened her dress and stood beside Shen Zheyan.

“Wanjia! What are you doing?! Come back this instant!” At this time, Lord Bai finally reacted and shouted at his daughter. Then, he looked at Shen Zheyan and Jun Zishu and said, “Miss Warriors, please forgive my daughter’s rude behavior. She has a bad temper and a straightforward personality. She didn’t mean to offend you.”

“Dad! She really has something on her!” Bai Wanjia complained while pointing at Jun Zishu.

“Of course I have something on me—my belongings. Miss Bai, I am curious. There are many powerful martial artists here, so how did you manage to see something that they did not?” Jun Zishu asked. “My friends and I might be visiting Weishui for the first time, but don’t think that you can deceive and slander us.”

Bai Wanjia’s face flushed red in anger and humiliation when she heard Jun Zishu’s words. However, just when she was about to say something, her body suddenly went limp, and she collapsed to the ground.

“Wanjia!” Lord Bai hurriedly ran down the podium and picked Bai Wanjia up. Then, he looked at Jun Zishu in shock and anger as he demanded, “What did you do to her?!”

“I’m just letting her sleep for a while,” Jun Zishu said as she gently blew at her fingers. “Lord Bai, I advise you to keep a closer eye on your daughter. If she tries to roam the world of martial artists with such a personality, it won’t take more than a week for her to offend someone she shouldn’t offend,” Jun Zishu said, snorting. Then, she held Shen Zheyan’s hand and said, “Let’s go, Big Sister.”

Shen Zheyan nodded and sent Wei Zinan a glance. Then, the three of them left the plaza amidst the gazes of the surrounding crowd.

Meanwhile, the law enforcer also left the plaza after seeing how things played out. He had no desire to get tangled up with people from the world of martial artists. Most of the martial artists in this plaza had probably killed people before. Unless necessary, he did not wish to offend anyone here. The city gates were already closed, in any case. The thief wouldn’t be leaving the city with the stolen item.

…

After walking some distance away from the plaza, Shen Zheyan looked at Jun Zishu and worriedly asked, “Xi’er, are you still mad?”

“I’m fine.” Jun Zishu said, her smile returning to her face.

“That Young Miss Bai is unreasonably rude. With how big the world of martial artists is, I guess you’ll find all sorts of people,” Shen Zheyan said, shaking her head. Although she had indeed sensed the thief running past her just now, the thief was so skilled at qinggong that even she couldn’t keep up with his movements. So, she couldn’t help but doubt Bai Wanjia’s claim of seeing the thief pass something to Jun Zishu.

“That’s right.”

After this little incident, the group of three stopped paying attention to the marriage competition.

Meanwhile, because of this thieving incident, Weishui City was temporarily put on lockdown, and nobody was allowed to leave the city. The city’s law enforcement was also conducting inspections all over the place, earning the dissatisfaction of many people.

Jun Zishu and Shen Zheyan reacted calmly to this situation. They did not grow flustered or impatient in the slightest.

During lunch, Shen Zheyan heard a bird chirping outside.

“There are still birds chirping at this hour?”

“Who said there couldn’t be any?” Jun Zishu stood up and walked to the window. Then, she opened the window and revealed a smile. “They are quite the beautiful birds as well.”

…

When nighttime arrived, lights lit up one after another across the city.

“I’m heading out for a moment, Big Sister.”

“Where are you going?” Shen Zheyan asked curiously.

Jun Zishu rarely ever left her side. So, when Jun Zishu mentioned that she would be heading out by herself, it immediately attracted Shen Zheyan’s attention.

“I’m just going out for a stroll. I’ll be back before you know it.”

“Mhm.”

…

After leaving the inn, Jun Zishu immediately made her way to the city’s red-light district.

Was Jun Zishu visiting a brothel? Of course not.

Upon arriving at the red light district, Jun Zishu made her way to the back alley of a certain brothel and knocked on the door there. Then, a woman opened the door and guided her inside.

“Thank you for your help, Saintess,” the woman said. However, the voice that came out from the woman’s mouth was clearly male.

“What are you doing here?” Jun Zishu asked as she followed the “woman” to a certain room. Even though the brothel in front was filled with noise and laughter, the room they were in was serene.

“I’ve had my eye on this thing for a long time now. It never belonged to that corrupt official, to begin with. That corrupt official snatched it from someone. Since he snatched it from someone else, it is only fair that I steal it from him,” the “woman said as she extended a hand to Jun Zishu.

In response, Jun Zishu pulled out an object from her sash.

The object in question was a blood jade crafted into the shape of a tiger. The craftsmanship was exquisite, and the jade’s quality was excellent. It even gave off a slight glow when illuminated under the candlelight.

In reality, Bai Wanjia’s senses were on the mark. Either that or she might have really seen the thief passing this jade to Jun Zishu.

Initially, when Jun Zishu had this jade tiger shoved to her, she had not planned on keeping it a secret. However, she changed her mind after noticing the thief’s qinggong—the other party was an acquaintance.

While Jun Zishu dared to say that her qinggong was top-notch, she dared not say it was the best. This was because she knew of someone whose qinggong far surpassed hers. This person had developed his qinggong to the extremes.

Meanwhile, this person was none other than the legendary thief, Ying Rushi. Few people knew that Ying Rushi was a member of the Demon Cult. Meanwhile, Jun Zishu was one of these few people. Not only did she know that Ying Rushi was a cult member, but she had even sought guidance from him before and suffered defeat at his hands. The two of them could be considered friends, and they got along quite well in the Demon Cult.

Since her friend had shoved something at her, Jun Zishu naturally had to help him hide it.

The Demon Cult was much more prosperous than what people of the righteous path assumed it to be. The cult had hidden bases and businesses set up all over the place.

Most of the Demon Cult’s businesses were brothels and gambling houses. These businesses allowed the cult to generate a hefty income and gather plenty of useful information. Moreover, as these businesses usually operated along the gray lines of the law, they were excellent places to hide people.

The brothel they were currently in was one of the Demon Cult’s outposts in Weishui City. Meanwhile, the chirping noise Shen Zheyan heard in the afternoon was Ying Rushi’s imitation of a bird. When Jun Zishu went to open the window, she quickly noticed Ying Rushi conveying a hidden message to her.

Ying Rushi had asked to meet her here at this hour, so Jun Zishu was here.

Thanks to Little Fairy’s presence, Jun Zishu also didn’t have to worry about getting targeted by anybody.

“This thing truly is beautiful,” Ying Rushi commented as he received the jade and carefully stuffed it into his sash.

“Tsk, tsk. You also look quite beautiful as a woman,” Jun Zishu said as she held up her chin and scrutinized her crossdressing friend. The only thing that gave Ying Rushi away as a crossdresser was his male voice.

“Thank you for the compliment. I think so as well,” Ying Rushi said, smiling. He had a slender body, to begin with. So, it didn’t look strange at all when he wore women’s clothing.

“Anyway, I owe you a favor for this, Saintess. Someone was chasing after me at the time, so I had no choice but to pass the jade to you,” Ying Rushi said, shrugging. It was fortunate that he had passed the jade to Jun Zishu as his pursuer had caught up to him shortly after he left the plaza. That person had even conducted a thorough physical inspection of him.

“Since when have you thieves started acting in broad daylight? Don’t you typically move at night? Also, haven’t you always claimed that your qinggong is the best under heaven, Ying Rushi? How did you get caught?”

“I don’t know how that corrupt official realized that I was targeting him, but he hired someone to guard the jade. Moreover, that hired guard’s qinggong is evenly matched with mine. He is also more skilled at combat than I am. As he is constantly on guard at night, I had no choice but to risk it and move during the day. It’s also much easier to lose him if I run through crowds,” Ying Rushi explained.

“By the way, what are you doing here, Saintess?”

“It’s a long story, so I won’t say it,” Jun Zishu cooly said as she held her arms.