344: Chapter 344: Exposed

The two walked through the empty street and pushed open the wooden door at the base of the tower.

The door hinges let out a shrill screech, and dust fell in showers.

The light inside the tower was dim, and the wooden stairs had mostly rotted away. Xiao Ran stepped on them twice, then appeared above in the next second.

Su Qinghan said nothing; she leaped up, grabbed the edge of the second-floor floorboards, and flipped herself up.

Her movements were clean and efficient, not stepping on a single wooden stair.

Xiao Ran looked up at her from below, his lips curling into a very slight arc.

The window on the third floor of the tower faced the entire view of the town.

Looking down from here, Su Qinghan suddenly realized a problem.

The layout of the houses in the small town was a bit strange; all the streets converged toward the dry well in the center of town, like some kind of radial Formation structure.

"Did you notice?" Xiao Ran stood by her side, his arm inadvertently brushing against her shoulder.

Su Qinghan did not pull away. "Was this town set up with a Formation by someone?"

"Not by someone, but by something." Xiao Ran raised his hand, pointing in the direction of the dry well.

"There is something down there, hidden very deep. I suspect the missing people weren't dragged away, but walked in themselves."

"Why?"

"Because they all died in the well." Xiao Ran's tone was nonchalant.

"Let's go take a look at the well."

"We're in luck; we might have encountered an evil Cultivator."

As the two just descended the tower, a chaotic sound of horse hooves suddenly came from the direction of the town entrance.

Su Qinghan subconsciously turned and hid behind a wall, looking out through a crack in the wall.

Seven or eight men in coarse short tunics reined in their horses and stopped at the town entrance, knives tucked into their waists. The leader, a bald man with a face full of flab, was peering in this direction.

"Bandits."

Xiao Ran did not hide; he leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, watching Su Qinghan with leisure.

"Your job."

Su Qinghan was stunned for a moment. "The Alliance Leader doesn't plan to make a Move?"

"If I were to make a Move, why would I have you tag along?" Xiao Ran's tone was matter-of-fact, carrying a hint of lazy teasing.

"Besides, have you ever seen a quasi-Mahayana Stage expert kill a Mortal?"

"Does one need a nuke to kill a chicken?"

"Go ahead, kill them."

At this moment.

Those seven or eight bandits also saw them and charged over, shouting on horseback.

The bald leader drew his knife and pointed it at Xiao Ran. "Where did you two come from?! Where are the people in town?!"

Xiao Ran didn't even lift his eyelids; he just turned his head to look at Su Qinghan and gestured with his chin in that direction.

Su Qinghan took a deep breath.

She drew her short blade, her figure lowering as she darted out like a gray shadow.

The bald bandit didn't expect this seemingly slender woman to make the first Move, and his blade was barely raised.

Su Qinghan had already pressed against the side of his horse, holding her short blade in a reverse grip, and struck the back of the blade across his wrist bone.

With a crisp snap, the bald man screamed and dropped his knife.

Su Qinghan spun and stepped, kicking the horse's belly to spring up, and slammed her elbow into his temple.

The bald man's body tilted, and he fell straight off the horse.

The remaining bandits were stunned for a beat, then roared and surrounded her.

After landing, Su Qinghan didn't retreat but advanced instead, the short blade flipping in her palm to create a silver arc—stabbing, parrying, blocking, slicing.

Every Move grazed the opponent's openings, and within three breaths, she had taken down two more people.

There were no flashy Moves in her actions; every strike was purely for direct lethality.

A Loose Cultivator who had been wandering for years—killing really was clean and efficient for her!

From behind came the slow, unhurried applause of Xiao Ran.

"Beautiful!"

"These are no ordinary bandits!"

"They all carry evil Qi on them. I didn't expect you to be able to easily slaughter them without using a shred of Spiritual Qi."

"Not bad talent!"

Xiao Ran walked on Su Qinghan's right, with a distance of about an arm's length between them.

"The Alliance Leader is joking."

"I am a Cultivator, after all!"

As the two talked, that distance shortened imperceptibly, until Su Qinghan could feel the heat radiating from his arm.

She secretly moved half a step to the left, and though Xiao Ran seemed not to notice, his footsteps followed by half an inch.

"You were very efficient in your strikes today."

Xiao Ran's voice came from her side, a bit lower than when they were speaking in the town.

"However, there aren't many Cultivators in my memory who use short blades. How long have you been practicing?"

"Many years." Su Qinghan kept her eyes straight ahead.

"This Disciple is from the Hehuan Sect. Most of the time, I don't rely on force, but there are always times when I have to."

"Hehuan Sect." Xiao Ran repeated these three words, the end of his tone rising slightly.

"I'm afraid that's not what Hehuan Sect Disciples are best at..."

"You say you are from the Hehuan Sect, but I haven't seen any traces of you Cultivating charm techniques."

"Or perhaps you..."

Xiao Ran didn't finish his sentence, but one hand suddenly rested on her shoulder.

Su Qinghan's whole body stiffened.

That hand wasn't heavy; it just rested loosely on her shoulder. The warmth from his fingertips came through the fabric, as if testing her reaction.

"Alliance Leader?"

Su Qinghan turned her head, trying to keep her voice steady.

"Why are you nervous?"

Xiao Ran's voice carried a hint of a smile.

"I was just wondering if you encountered many situations like today's on your way fleeing back from the border."

"I encountered a few, but it's all in the past."

"Is it in the past?" Xiao Ran's hand didn't pull away; instead, it slid slowly down her shoulder and landed in the middle of her back.

His palm pressed against the fabric of her back, the temperature transferring through the thin material.

Su Qinghan could feel his fingertips slightly curling, as if measuring something.

She should have dodged.

Liu Qingyan was a Hehuan Sect Disciple, and Hehuan Sect Disciples would not dodge this level of contact.

She gritted her teeth, letting that hand stay on her back as she continued to take steps forward.

"You are trembling." Xiao Ran's voice came closer, and her ears could feel the warm airflow stirred by his speech.

"...The wind is a bit cold," Su Qinghan said.

Xiao Ran laughed, and that hand finally retracted.

But soon he had a new action.

He walked two steps in front of Su Qinghan, turned to face her, and reached out to tuck a strand of hair that had fallen onto her shoulder behind her ear.

His fingertips brushed against her earlobe, the movement as light as a feather sweeping by.

"Liu Qingyan."

Xiao Ran's voice was a bit more serious than before. "Don't you feel that you are very similar to someone I know?"