Chapter 20

Wen Yan walked barefoot from the shadows toward Feng Wu, step by step. Her thin prison tunic hung loosely on her frame. Her long, ink-black hair fell in disarray, partially veiling her face and framing a sharp, delicate chin.

She lifted her head slightly, revealing a smooth, pale forehead and a pair of eyes filled with overwhelming aggression.

As their gazes met, Feng Wu felt an inexplicable jolt of terror. He instinctively retreated half a step. As she drew closer, he could no longer contain his dread and barked out, "Take her down! Dead or alive!"

The guards waiting outside the door surged into the small, dim chamber like a rising tide. Feng Wu stared fixedly at Wen Yan through the throng of bodies, slowly backing out of the room.

The guards wore cold, ruthless expressions, possessing a fearless, desperate momentum as they drew their blades and charged at her. The cramped room was packed in the blink of an eye.

Wen Hening curled his legs to his chest and hugged them, burying his head in his shoulders. A moment later, driven by a mix of fear and curiosity, he peeked out with one eye.

Wen Yan had already engaged the guards, yet the expected spray of blood and flying limbs did not occur. Wen Hening paused, then boldly raised his head. As he took in the scene, his eyes widened in amazement.

"Third Sister, she’s so beautiful!"

His murmured words reached Wen Ruxu, who was standing closest to him. Ruxu turned to look as well. The sight before them was, as Hening had said, truly beautiful.

Compared to their last encounter, her movements were exceptionally graceful. She danced like a butterfly, each strike clean and efficient, without a single wasted motion. Every blow hit its mark; no one knew how she did it, but whoever she struck fell to the ground instantly.

A moment later, blood would begin to trickle from their noses and mouths. Some even died without shedding a single drop of blood. Their bodies remained intact, showing no visible wounds, yet they were lifeless.

The pile of corpses grew, and before long, Wen Yan had nowhere left to step. She simply pushed out with her palms, sweeping everyone blocking the doorway aside. The heavy mahogany chair blocking the entrance was smashed to splinters by the bodies flying into it, and stray wooden shards pierced the heart and throat of two men, who struggled in agony, unable to draw their final breath.

Wen Yan stepped over the carnage and stood before the two men, looking down at them with a flash of pity in her eyes.

"How pitiful."

She raised her foot, stepped onto one man’s chest, and applied a gentle pressure. With a crisp crack, his ribcage collapsed, and he died swiftly. She dispatched the other in the same manner.

Inside the cabin, a guard who had been knocked unconscious by his comrade stumbled to his feet. He shook his throbbing head, and as his blurred vision cleared, he spotted the Wen family. Looking back, he saw Wen Yan was already outside the cabin door, too far to save them in time.

He raised his blade, expressionless, and aimed it at the family huddled in the corner. Wen Ruxu and Wen Hening’s pupils constricted. Without a second thought, they turned and threw their long arms out, shielding their family, bracing for the blade to fall.

At the critical moment, Wen Changning clutched her mother’s sleeve, squeezed her eyes shut, and screamed:

"Third Sister!!!"

*Whoosh... Clang...*

A blade flew from the doorway, grazing the guard's neck before pinning itself into the wooden wall. The blade vibrated with a low hum, a thin streak of blood lingering on its edge. A single drop of blood gathered on the tip, and a moment later, unable to bear its own weight, it splattered to the floor, blooming like a red flower at their feet.

After a long while, the Wen family slowly opened their eyes, witnessing the scene. Outside, Wen Yan had already turned to dive into the next wave of combat.

Having survived the ordeal, Wen Ruxu and Wen Hening looked up at the blade embedded in the wall with lingering fear. They swallowed hard, exchanging silent glances, both seeing the large beads of sweat on the other's face. It had been a razor-thin escape; they had nearly lost their lives.

Seeing Wen Yan moving with ease amidst the enemy, Wen Hening crawled forward and picked up two blades from the floor. He handed one to Wen Ruxu and gripped the other himself.

He stuttered, "Big Brother, l-let’s cut the chains first."

Wen Ruxu’s gentle voice was hoarse. "Right."

They intended to break their own shackles, but lacking the strength, several strikes barely left a scratch. At this rate, it was a waste of time.

The brothers decided to work together to break the chains for their father and Lady Lu. Before long, Wen Yan heard the clanging and banging inside. She glanced back to see the brothers struggling to hack at the iron. One look at their feeble efforts told her it was a waste of energy.

Wen Yan felt speechless, and finding the noise irritating, she snatched a blade and strode into the cabin. She moved with lightning speed, using the broken cabin door in the hallway to knock back the pursuers behind her. The heavy door crushed a row of men, buying her a moment of time.

"Move!"

Wen Hening and Wen Ruxu, who were panting as they hacked at the chains, looked up in embarrassment.

"Third Sister," they said.

The two brothers obediently stepped aside. Wen Yan tightened her grip on the blade and brought it down in one fluid motion; the iron locks that had been unshakeable in the brothers' hands snapped instantly.

She cut the locks off all six of them in a few swift motions, so fast that none of them had time to react. In the blink of an eye, she turned back and flung the blade in her hand. Several pursuing enemies were skewered like candied hawthorns and pinned to the cabin bulkhead.

After finishing them off, she turned to leave without hesitation. To her surprise, as she walked away, the others followed her in lockstep.

Wen Yan stopped and slanted a look at them. "Why are you following me?"

Wen Hening held his sword with both hands, eyes darting left and right. He looked pathetic yet righteous as he declared, "Third Sister, don't worry. Big Brother and I will protect Father, Mother, Second Sister, and Fifth Sister. We absolutely won't hold you back."

Seeing him looking terrified yet determined to cling to her, Wen Yan couldn't help but laugh.

"Fine. Remember what you just said."

Wen Hening nodded frantically. He wasn't following her because he felt safe; he knew very well that they were now fugitives of the imperial court. Besides the official arrest warrants, there was a mastermind behind the scenes bent on their destruction. Their future would likely be nothing but hiding and being hunted to the death.

What Wen Hening feared most was Wen Yan leaving them behind. It was a real possibility—after all, in all honesty, the family had not treated their Third Sister well for many years. If she were to get angry and abandon them, they would surely be dead. To prevent this, he felt they had to stick to her, no matter how dangerous it was.

Wen Yan could see through his little schemes well enough, but she found it tolerable. After all, she had her own plans.

The Wen family followed behind her, watching as she fought her way to the deck. Wen Ruxu and Wen Hening guarded the family, hiding in the shadows and waiting for their moment.

To eliminate the Wen family, the ship had been anchored in the middle of a wide river. On both sides, towering cliffs reached into the clouds, making even their large government vessel look insignificant. Looking at the terrain, it was clear they were far from Xijiang City. Xijiang was surrounded by plains for a hundred miles; these mountains were far too tall.

Wen’s father used the landscape to deduce how many days they had been traveling.

On the other side, the fight between the guards and Wen Yan had become a one-sided massacre. It was one-sided because Wen Yan remained as calm as ever. It was no exaggeration to say that watching her kill was a form of art. Especially now on the deck, where the space was open and she could unleash her full power.

When Feng Wu, who had been absent, joined the fray wielding a pair of iron whips, this spectacle reached its peak.

Wen Yan caught sight of him, struck a guard in the neck, and as he fell, grabbed his shoulder and shoved the fresh corpse toward Feng Wu. Feng Wu froze, leapt into the air, and kicked the corpse back at Wen Yan. But her figure had already vanished from the spot, and the corpse crashed into his own men instead.

When he turned, he saw Wen Yan in another direction, tapping the temple of an enemy with a curled palm, then spinning to press two fingers into the throat of another. With the same technique and force, everyone surrounding her fell dead.

Two simple movements, a light shift of her feet, and several men were dead. Feng Wu had never seen such a method of killing. A single strike, targeting vital points, lethal yet leaving the body intact, with no obvious wounds other than minor bleeding.

Feng Wu’s gaze darkened. With his iron whips radiating murderous intent, he lunged at her. Wen Yan did not retreat; she met his attack head-on. Upon clashing, she understood why Feng Wu had dared to come. He possessed immense, superhuman strength, and the iron whips were custom-made and heavy. More importantly, despite his hulking frame, he was agile and nimble. His every move was aggressive and hard to parry.

*He must be a top-tier master in this world,* Wen Yan thought, distracted.

Feng Wu, struggling to keep up, was shocked to realize she was actually daydreaming. How could he endure such an insult?

"Outrageous!"

Feng Wu’s movements grew faster, his whips blurring. With the surrounding guards closing in, the Wen family watched, breaking into a cold sweat for her.

Wen Yan remained unaffected. She was as fast as he was, if not faster. The martial arts Feng Wu prided himself on were full of flaws in her eyes. Even his great strength was nothing to write home about.

After toying with him for two moves, Wen Yan switched to the offensive, but she controlled her strength perfectly, not wanting to kill him just yet. She remembered the days she had spent locked in the dark room, starving, and she wasn't done venting her anger.

She kicked his left knee. "If you're going to kill, just kill. Why all the flashy posturing?"

Feng Wu felt a sharp pain in his leg, and his body swayed. Wen Yan punched his ribs; with a *crack*, Feng Wu stumbled, his vision going white.

"Too slow!"

Feng Wu gritted his teeth, enduring the pain, and swung his whips. Wen Yan caught them with her hand and pulled him toward her with a great force. Her pale, delicate hand struck his jaw, and Feng Wu let out a gut-wrenching scream.

"You docked my food for so long—haven't you eaten enough? Your strength is pathetic."

Feng Wu writhed in agony, his eyes flashing with a desperate, vicious desire to kill her. Seeing this, Wen Yan slapped him across the face, her voice slow and steady:

"Who gave you permission to look at me like that?"

What followed was a one-sided beating. Not just Feng Wu, but the Wen family felt the pain just watching. Once Feng Wu lost his ability to fight, Wen Yan finished off the remaining guards while continuing her revenge. Soon, only Feng Wu was left breathing on the deck.

Wen Yan finally stopped and looked toward where the Wen family was hiding. Without her needing to speak, Wen Hening thought he understood her signal.

"Third Sister wants us to come over."

Wen Changning was resistant; she didn't want to go. Lady Lu felt the same. But they couldn't defy the others, so they relented.

"Interrogate him," she said to her father. She was good at killing, but not at questioning.

The task of interrogating Feng Wu was left to the father, with Wen Ruxu assisting. Wen Ruqing and Wen Changning stayed back with Lady Lu. Wen Hening, meanwhile, began conscientiously checking the corpses, fearing someone might be faking death to launch a sneak attack.

He never expected to actually find something.

Two corpses behind Wen Yan were suddenly pushed aside. A man hiding beneath them lunged up, blade pointed at Wen Yan’s back.

Wen Hening’s eyes widened, and in that moment, only one thought filled his mind:

*Show my loyalty!*

The time had come to show his Third Sister his loyalty!