The female thief nearly had her heart leap out of her chest when she opened the door to such a bloody scene.
"What... What's going on? This is my first mission for the organization, and I stumble upon the extermination of the Jia family?"
Jiang Biyi, the thief, thought she was incredibly unlucky, but she had no idea that worse was yet to come.
Hearing the creak of the storeroom door, Jia Yan immediately knew the Jia family was being robbed!
Truly, misfortunes always came in pairs. With an enemy at the front gate, now a petty thief was stealing from the back.
Filled with rage, Jia Yan summoned his true qi, creating a suction force that pulled Jiang Biyi towards him. He then struck her chest with a powerful palm, sending her flying towards Ling Feng.
"Hmph! Do you think you can escape using such tactics?"
Seeing a small body, spitting blood, hurtling towards him, Ling Feng effortlessly caught her. He then unleashed a sword strike, Onslaught of Endless Falling Leaves, ending Jia Yan's life.
With that, apart from some helpless old people, women, and children, the entire Jia family had been slaughtered by Ling Feng.
"Hey, kid, are you alright? At such a young age, you resort to stealing?"
Ling Feng looked down at the thief in his arms and noticed that the black veil covering her face was soaked with blood.
He hurriedly opened her clothing to check her injuries, and his mind went blank!
This... this little thief is a girl?
Jiang Biyi spat out a mouthful of blood, feeling more air leaving her lungs than entering. She was on the verge of death and fainted as her vision blurred.
Ling Feng quickly dressed the female thief and gently patted her cheeks, realizing she was unconscious. If left unattended, she would surely die.
"Sigh! How troublesome!"
Ling Feng frowned, lifted the barely breathing thief in his arms, and disappeared into the night using the Light-Fleeting Shadow Technique.
It was only after more than half an hour that anyone discovered the massacre at the Jia family estate. By the time the city's black-armored guards arrived, all that was left were some old people, women, and children.
"Sigh, it's a massacre!"
Yang Zhen, the leader of the Black Armored Guards, examined the corpses of Jia Yan and the other Jia family elders. He could only hastily determine the cause of death as injuries from combat. As for anything beyond that, given the nature of this vendetta, the people from the lord's mansion likely couldn't do much. At most, they could impose martial law in the city.
As for revenge or capturing the culprit, with the Jia family completely wiped out, these thoughts were pointless.
"Brother Jia, oh Brother Jia, for the sake of our friendship, I, Yang Zhen, will take care of your concubines."
Yang Zhen stroked his beard and laughed. By tomorrow morning, he would have to consider how to divide the Jia family's territory and assets with the other major families in Hanwu County.
When the tree falls, the monkeys scatter. This was the harsh reality.
Ling Feng, carrying the female thief, flashed through the west gate of the city and entered a dense forest.
The woman in his arms was severely injured. If not treated promptly, her life would be in danger.
"You're lucky. With such serious injuries, ordinary physicians wouldn't be able to do anything."
Ling Feng pursed his lips. What an unlucky girl. If it weren't for me, she would have stolen what she wanted and left safely.
I kind of owe her somehow.
Gently removing the thief's veil, he saw an almost flawless face. She was beautiful, with an ethereal quality, even though she was deathly pale.
Ling Feng, however, having seen many beauties, was somewhat immune to their charms.
"Forgive my offense."
Taking a deep breath, Ling Feng sat cross-legged behind the thief. Jia Yan's palm strike had been lethal, leaving a dark imprint that had seeped from her chest to her back. If Ling Feng hadn't sealed her heart meridian earlier, she would have already died.
He took out a set of golden needles and used the Profound Art of Acupuncture and Moxibustion to reconnect her severed tendons. He then infused her with some of his true qi. After a while, her complexion began to improve slightly.
Jiang Biyi moaned softly, her brows furrowed as if she were having a nightmare. She curled up like a frightened rabbit.
"Hey, are you alright?" Ling Feng gently patted her cheek to wake her up.
Jiang Biyi jumped up, instinctively clutching her chest, and exclaimed, "You... you bad guy, stay away from me!"
"Bad guy?" Ling Feng shook his head with a bitter smile. "I saved your life, and you don't even say thank you. Instead, you call me a bad guy?"
Jiang Biyi tightly clutched her chest, tears streaming down her face. "Who asked you to save me? I was just doing my mission, and it's all your fault! Because of you, I almost died!"
Ling Feng's mind went blank. "Fine, fine, it's my fault. Now we're even. You don't owe me, and I don't owe you."
Ling Feng stretched and stood up slowly. "You're out of immediate danger, but you'll need to follow my prescription for half a month to fully recover. You're a young girl, so why resort to being a thief? It's a dead-end path. You seem to be at the late stage of Pulse Formation Realm, so you can't be an ordinary thief."
"None of your business!" Jiang Biyi bit her lip and glared at Ling Feng.
"Fine, it's none of my business."
Ling Feng shrugged and pointed to her chest. "I slipped the prescription into your pocket. Use it or not, it's up to you."
Jiang Biyi looked down and found a piece of paper in her pocket. Her face turned bright red with anger. "You... you really are a bad guy!"