Tang Li changed into the attire of a person from Leizhou and followed Tumi toward the City Lord's Mansion.
Tumi rode on her donkey, glancing cautiously at Tang Li, who was leading the animal by the reins.
"Sorry, we Leizhou people just love riding donkeys, haha."
"Mhm." Tang Li looked at the procession ahead of them and replied indifferently.
"Do you want to braid your hair like mine? Because girls in Leizhou all wear braids before they're married."
Too lazy to answer her, Tang Li used a spell to braid her hair while keeping her eyes fixed firmly on the procession ahead.
"Aren't you blind? Why do you keep staring at them?" Tumi half-bent over and whispered in her ear.
Tang Li remained silent, silently pulling the rope to its maximum length to put some distance between them, looking thoroughly disgusted with her.
Tang Li's vision had largely recovered over the past three years. She could see during the day, but at night she lost her sight completely. She figured this might be a form of self-protection mechanism for her eyes.
The reason she was still wearing a headband was simply to train her perception, for she found that over the past three years, her perception had evolved from general awareness to minute detail. Just like now, listening to the rustling of the bamboo grove, she could perceive a green grasshopper blending into the bamboo leaves.
"What's your name? My name is Tumi, like the tumi flower. I'm the only one left in my family. My grandmother is the successor of the Xiangyi clan and also the chieftain. The current chieftain is my uncle, and I'm the next in line. I wonder if I'll even make it to that time—sigh, it's so annoying, you have to get married to become the successor. My uncle said I'd meet someone predestined here, but I wonder what they look like? Are they tall? Fat? Good-looking...?"
"Shut up."
Tang Li stopped in her tracks and coldly scolded the chatterbox beside her, carefully listening in on the conversation of the procession ahead and waiting for their next move.
Tumi hadn't noticed anything unusual about the people ahead; she only knew she had been snapped at. Wanting to cry out of grievance but afraid of angering Tang Li, she could only bite her lip and hold back her tears.
"Does fortune-telling often affect you?"
Not knowing why Tang Li would ask this, Tumi answered honestly: "Yes, it can kill. Generally, I tell one fortune every three months or half a year, depending on whether the karma of that destiny is large or not. If it's very large, I have to wait three whole years before I can tell another."
"Hold this." Tang Li handed her the reins.
Tumi took them in a daze, and the donkey suddenly bolted backward like it had gone crazy.
Seeing this, the group ahead completely lost their composure and angrily sought to settle accounts with Tang Li.
Tang Li summoned her sword and released her Golden Core pressure. Although she only possessed Foundation Establishment Strength, she refused to lose in aura.
Two of the five men went after Tumi, while the remaining three looked at Tang Li with grim expressions.
"Golden Core Realm? Hmph, go back and practice for a few more years," the leading old man said with a sinister look, releasing an oppressive aura even stronger than Tang Li's.
In the Cultivation World, those with lower cultivation generally could not sense the realm of those higher than them, but Tang Li happened to sense this old man's cultivation at this moment, which could only mean one thing: the old man was a fake Nascent Soul Realm cultivator. This kind of situation usually only happened with Demonic Cultivators.
Even if it was fake, however, she still felt terribly uncomfortable, especially since her Golden Core was damaged.
She forced her will not to kneel down, wiped the blood from the corner of her lips, and wore a look of utter, chilling mockery in her eyes as she sneered, "Is that it? A fake Nascent Soul Realm—go back and practice for a few more years."
"I originally had no intention of killing today, I just wanted to have my fortune told. Since you provoke me again and again, don't blame me for being unreasonable. Taking you to refine pills won't waste that sharp tongue of yours after all."
The old man raised his cane and struck at her. Tang Li sidestepped just in time to avoid the blow, neutralizing the old man's fatal strike with her sword. With lightning speed, she grabbed the old man's beard and quickly recited her origin.
Seeing the old man captured by Tang Li, the other two men tried to step forward to help, but Tang Li grabbed them directly, sharing an electrical current with them.
One fake Nascent Soul and two Foundation Establishment cultivators were shocked unconscious in no time.
This time the current was of high intensity, and Tang Li suffered a backlash. She didn't faint, but she dropped to her knees, her eyes rolling back, her entire body crackling with residual electricity and trembling uncontrollably.
It took nearly twenty minutes for the earth to absorb the residual electricity before Tang Li managed to recover.
The three of them had not yet woken up. To avoid future complications, Tang Li cleanly and decisively killed them.
After searching their belongings, she took out the Demon Race's Bone-Dissolving Powder and sprinkled it on them. In an instant, the three corpses melted into bloody water.
"Chengcai Sect?" She looked at the token in her hand, then glanced at the rather obvious bloody water on the ground. After a moment of thought, she decided not to cover it up.
Cultivators coming after her would pass through here and should be able to detect the aura of the Demon Race. Once they reached Azure Dragon City, they would certainly report this matter to the City Lord.
If the City Lord used this opportunity to frame the Demon Race for the incident at Liuye Town, it would prove that he definitely had something to hide.
What she needed to do now was to enter the City Lord's Mansion—first, to search for the guards of Liuye Town, and second, to check the City Lord's study for any incriminating letters or the like.
If all else failed, she would resort to tricks on the day of the banquet, rounding everyone up for interrogation.
Having pondered this, she continued walking toward Azure Dragon City.
As for Tumi, the theater manager and the people from Jiufang who were following them in secret would take care of her, so Tang Li had no need to worry.
Just as she reached the city gate, she heard the braying of a donkey and Tumi's blood-curdling shrieks coming from behind.
The donkey wanted to avenge Tang Li's slap on its rump. It charged, spun around, and kicked its hind legs in one fluid motion, determined to get hard payback.
Tang Li simply dodged lightly to the side with an ethereal grace, causing human and donkey to wipe out completely, sprawling sprawling limbs on the ground.
"Stupid donkey." Tang Li gave a light scoff, finding the beast rather amusing.
Through her tear-filled eyes, Tumi saw Tang Li smiling like a fox and immediately hugged her beloved donkey, shivering with fright.
After cleaning themselves up, the two and the donkey finally entered the city. Tang Li was once again the one leading the donkey, which still hadn't vented its anger and kept looking for an opportunity to retaliate.
"Why did you chase me away?" Tumi asked her cautiously.
"You were in the way," Tang Li sneered coldly.
Those Demonic Cultivators had probably set their sights on Tumi since early this morning, waiting for them to reach the dense forest before making their move. She had heard it clearly when eavesdropping: they wanted to use Tumi for fortune-telling, and once they had squeezed out all her value, they intended to use her to refine Soul-Departing Pills.
"Were the two people who suddenly took me away your men?" Tumi wasn't chilled by Tang Li's attitude, as she had roughly guessed the reason. During all these days traveling from Leizhou to Central Prefecture, she had encountered similar situations many times, and every time she had managed to defuse them. Even if Tang Li hadn't helped her this time, she could have escaped from those people on her own.
"No."
"Oh." Tumi gave her another look and muttered under her breath, "I didn't expect you to be quite the tsundere."
"Hm?" Tang Li stopped in her tracks and turned back to look at her with an inscrutable expression.
Tumi waved her hands hurriedly and laughed awkwardly, "Haha, nothing."
"Hmph." Tang Li let out a cold snort at her and cracked her whip. Knowing the drill even without being hit, the donkey bolted forward.