Soon, the innkeeper served the meal, and the two sat facing each other across the table, eating in silence.
Shortly after finishing their meal, Fangsheng turned to Lewan and said, "Shall we go for a walk? We can scout the terrain at the same time."
Lewan nodded, gently wiped the grease from her lips, stood up, and walked over to Fangsheng's side.
As they stepped out of the inn, their unfamiliar faces drew quite a few curious glances. Some of those watching were among the onlookers from earlier that morning; recognizing the pair, they prudently looked away.
Feeling the surrounding gazes upon them, Lewan clutched Fangsheng's hand. Through her heightened perception amplified by the blindfold, those stares felt like sharp blades pressing against her skin, causing her immense distress.
Fangsheng squeezed her small hand firmly in return to let her know he was right beside her, then raised his head and swept the surroundings with a sharp gaze.
The battle-hardened aura of Lord Nameless unconsciously emanated from him, causing the onlookers to catch their breath and hastily lower their heads, averting their eyes.
Observing the reaction of the crowd, Fangsheng nodded with satisfaction and walked forward, holding Lewan's soft little hand.
"Thank you." Hearing Lewan's words of gratitude, Fangsheng replied softly, "We're teammates, aren't we?"
"Yes."
While scouting the surrounding terrain, Fangsheng glanced around and then asked in a low voice in Chinese, "Which way should we go to reach the next town?"
Lewan raised her head, sensed their surroundings for a moment, pointed toward the east, and replied in Chinese as well, "If we head east for a little over twenty kilometers, we'll reach the next town."
Twenty kilometers? That wasn't too far. Once they dealt with this trouble, they could make a clean getaway.
At that moment, Lewan nudged Fangsheng and asked in a low voice, "Should the two of us buy a horse and flee this town?"
"No, the Lord Administrator has already sent people to follow us. If we run now, the most likely outcome is that he'll seal off the exits to the town with his men." Fangsheng's expression turned grave. It wasn't a good plan; forcing it through would only result in a lose-lose situation for both of them and the Lord Administrator.
Lewan lowered her head and bit her lip. "I'm sorry. If I hadn't wanted to stop at the town to rest, we wouldn't have run into this."
Fangsheng offered words of comfort: "Even if we hadn't entered the town, the Cultists would have targeted us anyway. Now that there's a Lord Administrator involved, there's at least room to maneuver. Besides..." He paused, speaking with even greater caution, "A Tier 5 Xianxia world is definitely not going to be simple. Even if we manage to escape by luck, there are bound to be even harder trials waiting for us further down the road."
"Instead of running away, we might as well face them head-on. Who knows, once we get through this mission, our Phase 1 mission might just be complete."
Hearing Fangsheng's explanation, Lewan raised her head to look toward the east and smiled brightly. "Let's go take a look over there, Lord Nameless."
Fangsheng was momentarily startled, then quickly snapped out of it and took her hand as they walked toward the east.
Afterward, the two of them walked through the entire town as if tireless, not heading back toward the inn until evening. Meanwhile, one of the men tailing them silently memorized their route, preparing to report back to the Lord Administrator.
After sketching out the pair's afternoon path on a piece of paper, the man looked up, saw the two turn into a narrow alley, and handed the paper to his teammate beside him with an instruction: "I'll go in and scout. If you hear me shout or if I don't come out, run immediately and report the news to the Lord Administrator."
His teammate nodded gently, tapped his own forehead, and pressed his palms together. "May the Earth Mother Goddess protect you." The man returned the gesture, then hurried forward, slowing his pace as he prepared to step into the alley.
Just as he was about to enter, a pair of large hands reached out from the dark alley and dragged him inside. The owner of the hands seemed well-versed in such tactics; he clamped a hand over the man's mouth, pinned the frantically struggling man down, and whispered in his ear, "Don't make a sound if you want to keep your head."
The man nodded frantically, then felt the grip of the hands imprisoning him loosen considerably. Overjoyed, the man hurriedly prepared to cry out, warning his teammate outside the alley to run.
Yet at that very moment, the man suddenly felt a sharp pain in his head. Involuntarily looking up, he realized the object that had just struck him seemed to be the heavy spine of a book?
"Huh? He's still conscious?" A pleasant voice rang in the man's ears. Just as he was about to beg for mercy, the heavy book spine smashed fiercely against his head once more.
"That should do it." With those words, the man peacefully collapsed and fell unconscious.
Fangsheng looked at the bleeding, unconscious man on the ground, then turned to look at Lewan holding the forty-pound Mithril Scripture, the corners of his mouth twitching uncontrollably.
"The one at the mouth of the alley has been dealt with too. I only used Imprisonment on him—should I bash him unconscious as well?" As she spoke, Lewan weighed the scripture in her hand, looking eager to try.
Fangsheng dragged the person from the alley entrance inside and, hearing Lewan's words, could not help retorting, "If the Goddess of Radiance knew you were using the church's Mithril Scripture to bludgeon people, she would definitely send down divine punishment."
Lewan replied nonchalantly, "Relax, in my memories, a bishop of the Radiant Church even used the Holy Silver Scripture to smash Demons once they ran out of the power of faith." With that, she turned to Fangsheng and asked, "So how should we deal with these two?"
"Kill them, to weaken the Lord Administrator's strength." Fangsheng's tone was ice-cold.
"What if the Lord Administrator turns on us tomorrow morning?"
Fangsheng gave a faint smile and explained to Lewan, "He doesn't have the capital to turn on us. If he did, he would have made a move against the two of us long ago instead of keeping us waiting."
Seeing Lewan nod in understanding, Fangsheng advised, "You should head back. I'm going to finish these two off."
Hearing this, Lewan shook her head, drew a dagger from her spatial pouch, and said firmly, "I'm coming with you!" She then walked toward the man who had been immobilized by Imprisonment.
At that, Fangsheng chuckled softly. His sword slipped from its scabbard, and with a swift, clean stroke, he sent one of them down to the underworld, then stood to the side to watch Lewan's actions.
She walked up to the man and raised her dagger high, preparing to plunge it down.
Knowing what was about to happen, the man opened his mouth in terror and tried to say something, but since Imprisonment also blocked sound, no voice came out.
Emotions, however, could still be conveyed—especially the terror amplified by the blindfold.
Lewan's hands trembled, so much so that she could barely hold the dagger steady. Seeing her state, a spark of life flared in the eyes of the bound man, and he began to struggle violently.
Yet how could a mere mortal break free from a Transcendent's Imprisonment? Everything he did was in vain.
Seeming to realize he could not break free, the man grew frantic. His face twisted, and his lips moved as if he were fiercely cursing Lewan.
A wave of intense malice washed over her. Startled, and in a panic, Lewan drove the dagger into the man's chest.
Because it was not a fatal blow, the man's face twisted further as he cursed even more frantically.
Perhaps having driven in the first blade, Lewan's mindset had shifted. She pulled the dagger out, braced herself against the malice, and stabbed the man a second time.
With this strike, the man's life drained away completely, while Lewan collapsed onto the ground, gasping for breath.
Fangsheng stepped forward, gently picked Lewan up, and looked at her pale face with deep tenderness.
Sensing his tenderness, Lewan spoke up, "We have to get used to it eventually."
"Yes, we have to get used to it eventually!"