"Don’t you worry. A petty little family from a small town like this isn’t even worth Guard Fang’s notice.

"It’d be better if they don’t show up. But if they dare to come... I’ll dare to bury them."

The onlookers grew worried when they heard how brazenly they spoke.

Fang Shuwen then said to the old woman:

"Ma’am, let us escort you home first.

"If that gang doesn’t come, then all is well. But if they do, this Young Hero Chen here will stand up for you."

Chen Yan was taken aback.

"Why me?"

"Why not you?"

Fang Shuwen retorted.

"My Heaven-Reaching Pavilion has always remained neutral!"

"...They aren’t Jianghu people."

"But... but the Heaven-Reaching Pavilion has a sect rule against killing..."

"..."

Fang Shuwen was speechless for a moment. ’What kind of useless sect rules are these?’ he thought. ’You can’t do this, you can’t do that.’

Afterward, he patted Chen Yan’s shoulder and said earnestly:

"Brother Chen, the future is in the hands of the young. You should have the courage and determination to break the status quo."

Chen Yan pondered this. ’Fang Shuwen’s words sound quite reasonable on their own,’ he thought, ’but using them in this situation feels a little strange...’

The group didn’t linger. The old woman’s head was still injured and needed to be bandaged.

So, they immediately escorted the grandmother and granddaughter home.

Their home was in a somewhat remote location. The old woman explained that her son had practiced martial arts since childhood and left to wander the Jianghu once he grew up.

A few years later, he returned with a daughter-in-law.

Then came Xiao Ding Xiang.

But not long after the little girl was born, the couple left together.

They went away and never came back.

The old woman had raised the little girl all by herself, through thick and thin.

Now, just a year before the girl would reach the age of marriage and could find a husband, she was targeted by the Young Master of the Han Family.

That father and son from the Han Family were no good. Master Han had made his fortune as a mountain bandit in his early years. Perhaps because of his many sins, he was cursed to have only one seedling in a thousand acres—just the one son, Young Master Han.

This caused the son to become even more arrogant and utterly lawless.

His acts of bullying men and tyrannizing women were too numerous to count, and even more numerous were the women he had abducted.

In recent years, Master Han had cultivated a more placid demeanor and committed fewer atrocities. Whenever something like this happened, he would simply pay people off with silver.

As the saying goes, the poor don’t fight the rich. Ordinary people took the money and chose to remain silent. What else could they do, risk their lives?

But that brat didn’t just play around; he destroyed people.

In the past few years, he had already ruined more than twenty people to death.

If Xiao Ding Xiang were to enter the Han Family’s household, there was no telling what kind of fate awaited her.

Fang Shuwen listened with a deepening frown. ’Looks like I’ll have to pay the Han Family a visit before leaving Qiuhai Town,’ he thought.

’After all, for a great hero of the Jianghu, robbing the rich to help the poor and punishing the wicked to support the weak is basically the job description.’

’Since the man surnamed Han was rich but not benevolent, he shouldn’t be blamed for being ruthless.’

When they arrived at the grandmother and granddaughter’s home, Fang Shuwen sighed silently at the sight of the bare walls. He took out some Golden Wound Medicine and a fine cloth, and bandaged the old woman’s head wound.

Meanwhile, Miss Ding Xiang kept glancing at the Blood-Sinking Demon Sword on the table.

Fang Shuwen noticed this and looked at her.

The young girl quickly averted her gaze.

"I... I’ll go start a fire and cook for you..."

Saying this, Xiao Ding Xiang went out and came back with a bundle of dry firewood, pricking her finger on a splinter in the process.

The sight made Xu Shuxin’s heart ache. He instinctively leaned in and put the finger with the small cut into his mouth.

The young girl immediately blushed crimson, and Xu Shuxin also realized his action had been a bit presumptuous.

’But if I pull it out now, won’t it look like I have a guilty conscience?’

’Might as well just leave it...’

Finally, it was Miss Ding Xiang who said softly:

"It’s... it’s all right now... Thank you..."

As her eyes shifted, she gave Xu Shuxin a gentle glance that made his heart feel both numb and tingly, a strange and indescribable sensation.

Just then, a shout suddenly came from outside the door:

"Everyone inside, get the hell out here!"

Fang Shuwen unhurriedly finished packing his things, glanced at Chen Yan, and then said to Xu Shuxin:

"You all wait here. If anything happens, just call for me."

After saying this, he pulled Chen Yan out the door with him.

Seeing the old woman looking outside with a worried expression, he added in a soft voice to comfort her:

"Don’t worry, Brother Fang is very powerful."

Only then did the old woman relax.

Xu Shuxin turned his head, about to comfort Miss Ding Xiang, but as he did, two fingers were already lunging toward him.

He only had time to widen his eyes before his acupoints were sealed.

The old woman at the side was completely stunned.

"Xiao Xiang’Er, you..."

Before she could finish her sentence, Xiao Ding Xiang tapped a finger on her as well, instantly immobilizing her.

After doing this, Xiao Ding Xiang slowly let out a breath. She glanced outside, knowing time was short. She grabbed the strap on the Blood-Sinking Demon Sword’s scabbard, hoisted Xu Shuxin onto one shoulder, and with a flicker of her body, leaped out the window. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

She moved with flying leaps, landing without a sound.

As she went, she tore a human-skin mask from her face and immediately put on a black rabbit mask.

One of the Sang Mountain Seven Face, the Black-faced Rabbit!

She covered a distance of three to five *li* before she dared not go any further.

Four people were already standing there, each wearing a distorted bear mask.

These were the masks of the Wind-faced Bear, another one of the Sang Mountain Seven Face.

Three of them were each carrying two people.

One was dressed as Xiao Ding Xiang, the other as Xu Shuxin.

Although Xu Shuxin’s acupoints were sealed, he could see everything clearly.

He was overcome with anxiety.

He never would have imagined that this Xiao Ding Xiang was actually a villain from the Sang Mountain Seven Face.

And to think he had just thought she’d taken a liking to him... Recalling it now, he was not only mortified but also furious!

The Black-faced Rabbit didn’t say much, simply leaping onto the back of the empty-handed Bear-masked man.

The Wind-faced Bear glanced at the Blood-Sinking Demon Sword, and his expression changed slightly.

"Why create extra complications?"

"Cut the crap. If you’ve got a problem with it, don’t take a cut of the money when we sell it."

The Black-faced Rabbit’s single sentence left the Wind-faced Bear speechless. He could only turn to the remaining three and say in a low voice:

"You wait here. In a quarter of an hour at most, you will leave in three different directions!

"If you get caught, you know what to say."

The three men nodded.

The Wind-faced Bear said no more. With a flying leap, it was as if the wind was at his heels, and in a flash, he vanished without a trace.

He traveled another ten-plus *li*. When he landed again, it was in front of a horse-drawn carriage.

The Wind-faced Bear reached the door and pulled it open. Just as he was about to climb in, he suddenly felt that something was wrong.

He snapped his head up and saw Fang Shuwen sitting inside the carriage, waving gently at them.

"The Sang Mountain Seven Face. I’ve heard so much about you."