In the countryside, a bright moon hung high in the sky, and a carriage moved along lazily and slowly...
Suddenly, the wind started to blow.
The moon hid itself away, as if playing hide-and-seek and waiting for someone to come find it.
"Hey, I say, can't you guys change your routine?" A female voice rang out. The men in black outside the carriage looked at each other in bewilderment, seemingly thinking, isn't this the target of our assassination? Everyone nodded, and the leader shouted "Kill!" and they all rushed forward blindly.
"Xuanling."
"Yes, Miss." Responding to the call, Xuanling flew out of the carriage, executed a flying spin-kick that flipped over the men running toward the carriage, and quickly finished off those still muttering "a bunch of trash."
"Keep moving..." Before she could finish, her words were interrupted.
"Hahaha, and here I wondered why someone would pay such a huge sum. Turns out she's extraordinary indeed." The voice was shrill and grating.
The young woman inside the carriage raised an eyebrow and chuckled. She was still lying lazily, peering through the curtain as if watching something. Her left hand propped up her head, while her right hand pinched a piece of pastry to eat.
"If you know what's good for you, step aside," Xuanling rebuked.
"Xuanling, come back. You are no match for him."
"Yes."
Xuanling came back inside, sat quietly, and looked at her master. "Miss, do you know who has come?"
"How could I possibly know? We'll find out after going outside for a fight, won't we? Just wait!"
She walked out slowly. The moonlight poured down on her; she was clearly a young girl who had not yet reached womanhood, entirely devoid of any lethal aura.
Perhaps she was too breathtakingly pretty—that was the assassins' verdict.
Wasn't that person worrying a little too much? Aside from the little maid by her side knowing a bit of martial arts, she didn't seem worth hiring him for.
"This humble..."
"I don't want to hear it. Let's begin." The woman directly interrupted him, crossing her arms as if watching a play.
"Hmph, then prepare to meet your maker!" With that, he flew straight toward the woman. Just as the blade in his hand was about to touch her,
the woman raised her leg, brought it down to chop, and stepped on his blade. The assassin twisted the hilt, and the woman used the back of the blade as a foothold to leap up, soaring straight over him and landing on the ground.
"Little girl, your lightness style is quite good. Take my move!"
Seeing that the woman didn't answer, the assassin flew forward to attack her lower body. The woman drew a dagger, and weapons clashed. The sounds of clanging echoed continuously, leaving Xuanling entranced as she watched.
"Watch closely, Xuanling. Today I'm giving you a free lesson."
"Yes, Miss."
"Damn wench, do you even consider me here? I've traveled the pugilistic world for so many years, and today I must kill you. You're my final contract, too."
"Just you?"
Blocking a blow, she suddenly closed in, catching the assassin completely off guard. A soft *puff* was heard.
"Little girl, how is this stabbing of yours any different from a tickle?"
"Oh, is that so? Then try again." Close-quarters combat was her absolute strongest suit. Her footwork was extremely fast, yet she only delivered a few painless, tickling stabs to the assassin's body.
"Done playing around? I'm not here to play house with you."
"Xuanling, did you see clearly?"
"Saw it clearly. Thank you for the lesson, Miss."
"I overestimated him. After a few moves, his lightness skill is barely passable, his internal energy is lacking, his footing is weak, his offensive moves are poor, and—tch—his mouth is especially stubborn."
"Little bitch, go die!" This little bitch wasn't taking him seriously in the slightest, which utterly infuriated him.
Just as he prepared to make a move, he suddenly stopped. *Bang, bang, bang!* From several spots where he had just been stabbed, massive amounts of blood spurted out. A drop splashed onto the girl's face, and she smiled.
She could have dodged it, but she chose not to.
Until his dying breath, the assassin had no idea what had happened, his mouth still trying to mumble something.
Then the woman suddenly flashed forward with a *shing* sound, and her dagger turned red. The assassin was still standing there when *thud*, a round object rolled to the woman's feet. The assassin collapsed to the ground.
Those few remaining assassins wanted to run—how could she possibly let them go? Her gaze suddenly turned fierce. Using the exact same method and spending almost no effort, her sudden flashes gave them no chance to resist at all. Every single one of them suffered the same fate: head severed, body fallen.
What a truly pitch-black night, a night for murder!
The woman reverted to her harmless appearance, tossed the dagger from her right hand to her left, and skipped back, only to suddenly freeze and look toward the woods behind her.
Seeming to confirm that nothing was there, her expression returned to normal, and she walked toward the carriage.
"Miss, you were brilliant," Xuanling said, wiping the blood from her young master's face.
"Let's go. You drive the carriage; the coachman has lost his life."
"Yes. But Miss, what happened to you just now? You froze for a moment. Could there have been a fish that slipped through the net? This maid will go check."
"No need. Perhaps I was mistaken. Even if there really was one, they've probably all fled by now. It doesn't matter, let's hurry on. I want to bathe."
"Yes, then this maid will drive a bit faster ahead."
"No, drive a bit further ahead and see if there's a river. We can just wash up casually."
The moon came out, and the wind stopped.
The carriage rolled slowly ahead.
"Thank you, Master, for saving my life."
"Get up. Let's get on the road first."
"Yes."
Truly interesting. Why did she smile back then? Didn't women hate bloodshed? Of course, she was no ordinary woman; ordinary women did not possess her martial prowess, nor her calm composure. It was safe to say no other woman could kill without blinking and smile while doing it.
"Miss, there is a river here."
"Hmm."
Xuanling helped her young master down and asked, "Miss, when you stabbed him earlier, it wasn't deep. Why did his blood vessels burst the moment he circulated his internal energy?"
"Because those were several fatal vital points."
"Strike the Juque acupoint, and it impacts the liver and gallbladder, shaking the heart to death."
"Strike the Weizhong acupoint—no, the Juewei acupoint, and it impacts the abdominal wall arteries, veins, liver, and gallbladder, shaking the heart and causing blood stasis leading to death."
"Strike the Qihai acupoint, and it impacts the abdominal wall, arteries, veins, and ribs, breaking Qi and blood stasis and causing the body to malfunction."
"Strike the Guanyuan acupoint, and it impacts the lower abdominal wall arteries, veins, and intercostal nerves, shaking the intestinal tract and causing Qi and blood stasis."
"Strike the Zhongji acupoint, and it impacts the abdominal wall arteries, veins, and nerves, shaking the descending colon and injuring the mechanism of Qi."
"Strike the Qugu acupoint, and it injures the universal circulation of Qi, causing Qi and blood stasis."
The woman answered earnestly as she washed her face. "Any of these acupoints, taken individually, are actually used for conditioning the body."
Xuanling asked, staring at her with a thirst for knowledge, "Then why did he end up like that?"
"Silly Xuanling, because of internal energy! Some of these acupoints are almost entirely damaging. Coupled with his forced circulation of Qi that shattered the acupoints, some points were enough to kill him in a single move. I was even letting him off lightly by demonstrating it to you once."
"I remembered the acupoints, but I can't remember such long explanations..."
"It seems I'll have to teach you more in the future. Knowing martial arts isn't enough; you must also know the acupoints."
"Then I'll have to trouble you, Miss."
"Alright, let's get back on the road!"
"Yes."
The master and servant duo continued weaving through the forest. The woman in the carriage was named Wen Jiu—*Wen* as in warmth, *Jiu* as in fiery liquor. She had transmigrated into this body five years ago. She had been a specially recruited science-major-turned-special-forces soldier from the modern era, who, while injured and retiring, had been ambushed and blown up by a grenade on her drive back.
And besides...
She was originally a man! Who could tell her why?
Why?
Why?!
Had she ended up in a woman's body?
She had almost forgotten that she used to be a real man.