Jiang Pengji had absolutely no sense of being a live streamer.
After the System’s recent fawning display, she found the whole idea even more repulsive.
To her, this so-called “live stream” was nothing more than a nuisance the System had unilaterally thrust upon her.
The real control still lay with her.
The stream would stay on.
If someone came to watch, fine.
If not, it would just run in the background.
She was used to being the Legion Commander of the Seventh Legion, the one who gave the orders.
Now, was she supposed to go against her nature and beg people for donations?
Hah…
System, my ass.
Go cool off in a corner.
Though Liu Lanting’s body was young, Jiang Pengji displayed astonishing strength.
In mere moments, she took down another bandit and swiftly cleaned up the aftermath.
The force of the blood spray was considerable, and the sound could easily give away her position.
Moreover, the sheer amount of blood would leave a strong metallic scent that would linger, potentially drawing bandits to her location and ruining everything.
As she calmly assessed the situation, Jiang Pengji quickly tied off the cloth strips and dragged the bandit’s corpse into the shadows.
She had torn her outer cloak into strips long ago, specifically for moments like this.
Soon, aside from the bandits she had already dispatched, few remained.
Jiang Pengji surveyed the bandit stronghold, where the few remaining candles flickered weakly.
Her full lips curved into a sudden, bloody smile.
Under the moonlight, her blood-stained dagger gleamed with a cold light, surrounded by a faint, metallic tang.
Though Liu Lanting’s body—now inhabited by Jiang Pengji in her green robes—was inherently gentle and harmless, her current aura made her look like Enma, the King of Hell.
The System gave an awkward, dry chuckle.
“…Host…
what exactly did you do for a living before?”
With this kind of combat prowess, she should have partnered with the System for Dominating the World.
She’d have reached the pinnacle of power in minutes.
“I thought you knew everything…” Jiang Pengji replied.
“My previous profession—naturally—was a professional reaper of lives!”
At these words, both the System and the terrified yet unable-to-look-away Unlucky Stowaway felt a bone-chilling shiver run down their spines.
Creak—
Jiang Pengji pushed open the ajar door with one hand.
The thick, putrid stench of blood wafted from the room, which was littered with bodies strewn haphazardly across the floor.
Without a glance, she stepped over a severed arm, her sole soaking up the still-warm blood.
As she walked in, step by step, she left a trail of evenly spaced bloody footprints.
“It seems you’re all even stupider than I thought.”
Inside the room, the bandits—nearly all of them wounded—were slumped over tables and chairs, a wretched sight.
A few of the bosses had managed to survive.
When the great swords were raised and raw fury seized their minds, the slaughter had become unstoppable.
The Fourth Boss had gone the most berserk, hacking away at those who had cuckolded him.
The Second-in-Command had simply stood by and watched, while the others tried to stop them.
But then, a stray blow had struck one of them.
The previously calm bandits were suddenly consumed by rage, hurling insults and exposing scandals that dragged the Second-in-Command into the fray.
The result was the scene Jiang Pengji now beheld.
The men had no strength left to fight.
They lay there, panting and trying to recover, all while warily watching each other for a sudden sneak attack.
When the door swung open, a gust of cold night wind swept into the room.
Everyone shivered, their feverish, enraged minds cooling slightly.
They had assumed the Great Leader had arrived, but instead, it was Jiang Pengji’s voice that rang out.
They turned to look at her, their faces turning deathly pale.
With just those few words, and a glance at the carnage around them, they realized they had been played.
The bandit leaning against the chair glared, his eyes wide with fury, and tried to spring up to kill her.
“You…
you…
venomous bitch!”
“Insolent!”
With that, Jiang Pengji dispatched him with a single stab.
As she withdrew the blade, her wrist flicked with a subtle, expert twist, sending the dagger flying straight into the throat of another bandit who was about to call for help.
A dull thud echoed as the blade pierced his neck and pinned him directly to the wooden pillar behind.
She could easily dispatch even able-bodied bandits; these few, clinging to their last breaths, stood no chance.
Jiang Pengji turned her gaze to the only two survivors left in the room.
One of them, terrified out of his wits, was sobbing and shaking his head as he scrambled backward, his cries for help desperate and broken.
In his sheer terror, he had pissed his pants, leaving a dark, damp trail on the floor.
“Please…
I beg you…
don’t kill me…
I don’t want to die…
I really don’t want to die…
I was wrong…
please…”
His voice was a wretched, sobbing mess.
To him, Jiang Pengji was the Black and White Impermanence themselves, relentlessly pursuing him to claim his soul.
“An apology?
What good is an apology now?” Jiang Pengji sneered coldly.
“I didn’t cultivate all this martial prowess just to listen to your belated regrets.”
This time, she didn’t use the dagger.
Instead, she gripped his neck with one hand, lifted him straight up, and with a clever twist of her fingers, snapped his neck.
Watching his eyes nearly bulge from their sockets and blood seep from his seven orifices—a wretched sight, dead with his eyes wide open in unyielding resentment—Jiang Pengji snorted coldly and took her seat in the main chair of the bandit hall.
As for the livestream viewers and the System who had been watching all along, they were too terrified to even utter a sound.
Three…
two…
one!
Counting down in her mind, she heard the heavy, frantic footsteps draw closer.
The bandit leader burst in, only to freeze on the spot, horrified by the room full of corpses.
His gaze met Jiang Pengji’s cold eyes.
She was twirling her dagger, reclining sideways in the main chair draped in animal furs.
“Do you know what I hate most?
Rape and pillage!
Falling into my hands, you should have known what to expect.”
“You—” The bandit leader stared in disbelief at the room full of bodies.
Seeing the wretched, unclosed eyes of several of them, he felt as if he’d been struck by a sledgehammer.
He stumbled back a few steps.
“You…
you lied to me?”
Tsk.
He sounded just like a romance novel heroine who had been deceived by a scumbag, her brain short-circuiting for a long time before finally realizing she’d been played.
Jiang Pengji merely smiled without a word.
The Bandit Leader’s frozen brain rapidly rebooted.
Swish!
He drew the saber from his waist.
The solid muscles of his arms bulged, and the veins on his face strained, his expression twisted in extreme fury.
His vision blurred red.
Nothing short of killing Jiang Pengji would appease his rage.
“A brain is a good thing,” she remarked.
“I hope you’ll be born with one in your next life.”
Jiang Pengji dodged his attack with effortless grace.
The hem of her green robe fluttered, dancing with her movements, creating a scene of indescribable beauty.
In one fluid motion, she drove her elbow straight into his ribs.
The Bandit Leader instantly felt half his body go numb, his senses vanishing.
Silence fell over the surroundings, broken only by the dull thuds of blows and the crisp crack of breaking bones.
Jiang Pengji looked refreshed and revitalized.
She stepped firmly onto the Bandit Leader’s chest, looking down at him from above.
“Stay down.”
The Bandit Leader struggled desperately to lift his head.
Hot, metallic blood bubbled from his throat, staining half his face crimson.
He still couldn’t understand—why had he fallen for her trick?
How did she know about Monniang?
Even if he had to die, he had to know!