Volume Two, Travels in the State of Qi, Chapter 102: Not What I Expected

“Wait.”

As the others closed in, the girl cried out in alarm.

At her shout, they all stopped at once. In the present situation, she had nowhere to run. They were curious to see what trick she still had up her sleeve.

“Big brothers, can we talk this out properly?” Seeing no route of escape, the girl forced a smile and tried to bargain with the bandits. “You’re the ones bullying people, so you’re clearly in the wrong. As for me, I was simply helping where I saw injustice. Surely that can be forgiven. Please, have a little mercy and let me go.”

As she spoke, she clasped her hands together and begged repeatedly.

“You little vixen. Once we catch you, we’ll have plenty of time to talk properly and reason with you,” one of them sneered.

“Hahaha!”

The men laughed crudely and advanced toward Zhang Heng and the girl.

“Wait.”

This time, it was Zhang Heng who spoke.

“Boy, mind your own business. I could poke you to death with one finger,” the leader said with a disdainful glance.

“Big brothers, this is just outside the imperial capital of the Qi Kingdom. Doing wicked things here goes against all decency. If others find out, I’m afraid your ending won’t be very pleasant.” Zhang Heng smiled warmly as he spoke, reasoning with them carefully.

He was a man who liked peace. If reason could settle things, he would reason. If reason could not settle things, then he would force reason upon them.

“Boy, whether our ending is good or bad is beside the point. Yours definitely won’t be good,” the leader snapped. He ignored Zhang Heng and pressed forward. Killing an ordinary person was nothing more than a trivial matter to him.

“I’m talking to you nicely, and you won’t listen? You’re forcing me to make a move, is that it?”

Zhang Heng’s smile vanished as he spoke with deliberate arrogance.

Then he looked coldly over the group.

At once, the Illusory Void Stone altered his aura.

His current aura gave the impression of a Qi Sea Realm cultivator at the eighth level.

The group might have had numbers on their side, but all of them were only low-level Qi Sea Realm cultivators. Eighth level was more than enough.

As soon as Zhang Heng’s aura burst forth, the men were frightened into retreating, falling back to surround him from a wider distance.

“Young hero, I never expected you to be hiding your true strength. This little woman was blind just now. I hope you can forgive me.”

Realizing that Zhang Heng was actually a high-level Qi Sea Realm cultivator, the girl immediately came closer and put on an affected tone.

“Will you leave on your own, or do you need me to do this the hard way?” Zhang Heng did not spare them a glance. Lowering his head, he spoke casually.

The men began to confer.

“Boss, what do we do?” one of the underlings asked.

“Brothers, don’t be afraid. That boy may be at the eighth level of the Qi Sea Realm, but he’s still only one man. We have so many of us. If we all rush him together, he won’t be able to handle it.”

After some thought, the burly leader came to that conclusion.

With that, the group closed in once more.

Seeing this, Zhang Heng muttered to himself, “I was too hasty.”

If he had revealed the strength of the Core Realm, he probably could have scared these people to death.

“Sir hero, go on and beat them up properly,” the girl on the side said with obvious delight in the spectacle. In her eyes, an eighth-level Qi Sea Realm cultivator was more than enough to deal with a bunch of low-level cultivators.

The strongest among them was only at the fifth level of the Qi Sea Realm. No matter how many of them there were, they could not defy heaven.

Everyone drew their weapons and cautiously advanced toward Zhang Heng.

“Look, a flying saucer.”

Zhang Heng suddenly called out and pointed casually in a direction.

The group froze, then instinctively turned to look where he had pointed. By the time they looked back, Zhang Heng and the girl had already vanished.

“Damn it, you dare to fool me? Brothers, after them!”

This was not at all how the scene should have gone.

The girl was baffled. She had expected to see an exciting duel, but instead the master of the eighth level of the Qi Sea Realm had actually dragged her away in flight.

“Hey, hey, you’re so strong. Why are you such a coward?”

“Don’t be scared of them. Go on, hit them!”

Being pulled along in a desperate run, the girl was full of resentment, chattering all the way.

Zhang Heng could not be bothered with her.

“Shut up, or I’ll leave you here.”

Fight? Fight for what? Those people were all cultivators of the Qi Sea Realm. How could he possibly beat them?

Hearing the coldness in his voice, the girl seemed to grow afraid and said no more. Still, her eyes were full of grievance.

Zhang Heng kept using the Small Aurora Phantom Steps. Although he was dragging a person along, it did not affect his speed in the slightest. In the blink of an eye, he had already shaken off the pursuers.

The more Zhang Heng used the Small Aurora Phantom Steps, the more he liked it. His original choice had been absolutely right.

After confirming they were safe, Zhang Heng casually dumped the girl under a large tree, then stood coldly to one side and surveyed the surroundings.

“Hey, didn’t your mother teach you to be a little gentler with girls?” the girl muttered in displeasure.

“It should be safe here.” After looking around, Zhang Heng said indifferently, “Find your own way back.”

With that, he turned and left.

From the novels Zhang Heng had read in his past life, the more he behaved like this, the more curious the girl would become. And curiosity was the beginning of a girl’s descent into the abyss.

Sure enough, before he had taken more than a few steps, the girl chased after him.

“Hey, wait! Do you have no sympathy at all? You’re just going to leave a young lady like me alone in these desolate mountains and forests? If I run into danger, won’t your conscience ache?”

As she ran after him, she kept talking nonstop.

Zhang Heng smiled faintly in a knowing way.

As expected, it was exactly that sort of routine.

Then he said coldly, “You can follow me, but once we leave this place, you’re not allowed to cling to me anymore.”

“Okay, okay!” the girl nodded repeatedly, then naturally came to his side and walked shoulder to shoulder with him.

“My name is Qi Sisi. What about you?”

“You’re so young, yet you’ve already cultivated to the eighth level of the Qi Sea Realm. Amazing. How did you do it?”

“What are you doing here? Are you here to take part in the citywide tournament?”

“Why don’t you form a team with me? I’ve got the brains, you’ve got the strength. With the two of us together, wouldn’t we be invincible?”

Along the way, the girl kept chirping nonstop.

Zhang Heng could not be bothered to respond. He said nothing at all, maintaining the image of a cool and aloof male idol.

Truth be told, he quite enjoyed this atmosphere. At the very least, it was better than being in the Pleasure City.

“My foot hurts. I can’t walk anymore.”

Suddenly, the girl let out a complaint, then sat down in complete lack of decorum and rubbed at her fair foot again and again.

“What, it didn’t hurt just now, and now it does?”

Zhang Heng still answered in a cool tone.

He had been acting the fool for too long; occasionally putting on a cold, aloof air was not bad either.

“I was too excited just now, so I didn’t notice,” the girl said pitifully.

Zhang Heng walked over, crouched in front of her, and gently lifted the hem of her skirt. As expected, he found a large bruise on her foot. It seemed she had twisted it while running.

“What are you doing?” The girl panicked as soon as she saw the man in front of her reaching for her clothes.

What should I do? He’s so strong. If he wants to do something to me, I definitely won’t be able to resist.

“This little lady really is quite pretty.”

Zhang Heng raised her foot, massaged it lightly, and gave a wicked little smile.

What if he’s serious? And he’s actually kind of handsome too. No, no, that’s not the point. Should I resist? the girl thought wildly, her mind in chaos.

Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through her, and she could not help crying out, “Ah!”

Zhang Heng stood up and said calmly, “Miss, I’ve already treated your foot. Just be careful for a while.”

“Oh.”

The girl rose and tested it gently. Sure enough, she found that the injury had been set properly. Only a little soreness remained now.