Chapter 53
The World’s Best, Cui Zhufeng
The assassins, caught off guard and subjected to the sudden, scathing verbal assault, now wore extremely unpleasant expressions. This wasn’t just because of the harsh reprimand they had just heard, but more so because this woman who had suddenly appeared had immobilized all their hidden weapons mid-air without any visible movement, leaving them suspended with no sign of falling.
Just how profound must her internal energy be to accomplish this?
The thought that their once almost-certain mission was now failing so miserably made it impossible for any of them to muster even a hint of a smile.
Having vented her anger to her satisfaction, the woman turned her head to glance at Ying Jiuque, a note of dissatisfaction in her tone.
“Didn’t I warn you to hurry back? Why are you still dawdling in the streets?”
“Uh… Honored Hero, actually, I was moving quite fast. It’s just that our definitions of ‘fast’ might differ slightly…”
From the moment she first laid eyes on this female warrior, Jiuque had been certain she was the same good Samaritan who had warned her twice before. However, it seemed the world of a great hero was fundamentally different from that of an ordinary person like herself.
Jiuque didn’t argue the point now, merely casting a worried glance at the current situation. Could this hero really handle so many assassins alone? Was there any hope of reinforcements arriving?
The female hero casually flicked her sleeve. The hidden weapons frozen in mid-air simultaneously reversed direction and, under the horrified gazes of the assassins, shot back towards them at incredible speed.
Clatter! Thwip! Following a series of chaotic noises, a group of motionless ‘corpses’ lay strewn across the ground.
The few assassins who had managed to knock the projectiles aside wore expressions of extreme grimness. Staring at the woman who had appeared out of nowhere, a suspicion began to form in their minds.
“Are you… Cui Zhufeng?”
That legendary, peerless martial artist?
The heroine cast a careless glance their way. With a casual beckoning gesture, several leaves flew from the lush willow tree by the roadside. Though pliable plant matter, the leaves now emitted a sharp, metallic ringing sound as they shot through the air.
Whether she was Cui Zhufeng or not, she clearly had no intention of letting any of this group leave on their feet.
The remaining few put up a futile resistance, but after those leaves flew past, they too fell to the ground one by one.
Agent Twenty-Three and Agent Eleven now stood vigilantly in front of Jiuque, shielding her as they watched this martial artist of unknown intentions, prepared to escort Lord Ying away at any moment. They had managed to hold their own, even counter-attack, against the previous assassins. But facing this woman, they couldn’t even summon a thought of resistance—the gap in power was simply too vast. Compounding this, close combat wasn’t their specialty, causing cold sweat to trickle down their backs. Failing the mission and facing punishment was a minor concern; if someone like Lord Ying, capable of creating such miraculous weapons, were to perish here, they would be sinners deserving of ten thousand deaths!
However, Cui Zhufeng didn’t even deign to glance at the two young guards. With a faint flick of her fingers, an invisible force of energy sent them both flying.
“You’re both injured, yet still so stubborn. People like you are the ones I find most troublesome in this world. Lord Ying, I have a favor to ask. Aren’t you investigating the Carefree Caverns? Are you responsible for taking in the women who were captured?”
Jiuque’s eyes lit up.
“Senior, are you saying… you saved the women who were hidden away? Responsible? Yes, I can take responsibility.”
“Good.” Cui Zhufeng was very satisfied.
As a martial artist, she preferred to avoid dealing with the government whenever possible. But there were over two hundred women held captive. She had a lifelong aversion to trouble; while she had saved the girls, figuring out how to settle them properly had become a problem.
She was, after all, a wandering martial artist, free as the wind, never staying in one place. How could she possibly have the time to arrange the rest of their lives? Troublesome matters like this were best handed over to the authorities. Fortunately, she happened to know one official who definitely wasn’t afraid of trouble.
Without further ado, she led Ying Jiuque and the two still-wary guards towards the southern part of the city. Along the way, Jiuque tried to strike up a conversation. After all, this was a supremely skilled great hero! What young person like Jiuque didn’t secretly admire those gallant heroes who roamed the world, living life with passion and righteousness? And this was a female hero of such immense skill, the very embodiment of Jiuque’s ideal of a heroic figure!
Cui Zhufeng possessed unparalleled martial prowess, yet was unexpectedly approachable. She answered almost every question Jiuque asked. Of course, this was primarily because she had taken a strong liking to Ying Jiuque, finding her different from those corrupt and incompetent officials.
“Senior, it was you who earlier warned us about the people in the Carefree Caverns, wasn’t it? How did you discover it? And those captured women… You should know, the City Patrol Army has been searching the city frantically for the past two days, almost going mad, and they still haven’t found such a large number of abducted women. Is there some special trick to finding things like this?”
Upon hearing this, Cui Zhufeng’s previously enthusiastic expression darkened slightly.
“You just need to have a bit of bad luck.”
“Ah? This…”
Yes, Cui Zhufeng’s martial arts were peerless, nearly invincible in the world, but she had one fatal flaw: her abysmal luck.
Almost everywhere she went, trouble sought her out proactively. Like this time, on a whim to visit the capital for leisure, she never expected to be targeted by those blind fools who mistook her for a weak, vulnerable woman to kidnap. Could Cui Zhufeng tolerate this? Of course not. She immediately beat the man who tried to abduct her into immobility. In doing so, she discovered she wasn’t the only woman who had been kidnapped.
Large numbers of women and children were vanishing without a trace, yet the Capital Prefecture seemed completely unmoved.
This defied logic. Typically, the first thing families did when someone went missing was report it to the authorities. Even if the Capital Prefect was negligent, he would at least record the case and make a token effort to search. But this time, Cui Zhufeng specifically dropped a written complaint right at the Prefecture’s doorstep. The constables who came out merely glanced at it, their faces changing color, then took the paper inside and never reemerged.
It was clear they had no intention of handling the matter. This piqued Cui Zhufeng’s interest, and along with it, stirred her fury.
Everyone spoke of this being a time of peace and prosperity, so how could such vile things happen right under the Emperor’s nose? She had managed to rescue many of the abducted women. They all shared a common trait: regardless of their specific build, they were all beautiful and graceful.
What other purpose could there be for kidnapping such girls, if not for base, depraved desires?
As a woman herself, Cui Zhufeng felt profound disgust towards such crimes. So, upon discovering Ying Jiuque, a rare female official, she had secretly lent a hand. Now, it was time for Jiuque to return the favor. The rescued girls were mostly weeping, their hearts as if deadened, many expressing suicidal thoughts. Even with her peerless skills, Cui Zhufeng was at a loss on how to help them. But an official like Ying Jiuque would surely have a way.
As they neared the residence where the girls were temporarily housed, Cui Zhufeng’s mood improved considerably. That is, until she saw the thick, billowing column of smoke rising from the direction of the house. Her face instantly turned cold and grim. In a flash, she vanished from sight.
