"Huh?"

Hearing Jiang Ran speak, the girl seemed to snap out of a daze.

"I... I’m not... I didn’t!"

After a moment of flustered panic, she finally managed to calm down.

She coughed lightly, then inverted her grip on her longsword and cupped her fist in her other hand.

"I am Ye Jingshuang of the Liuyun Sword Sect. Greetings, young master."

The Liuyun Sword Sect?

Jiang Ran thought for a moment. The name sounded vaguely familiar.

He couldn’t recall whether he’d heard it in some teahouse or perhaps a tavern.

He gave a slight nod but didn’t introduce himself.

’After all, I don’t have any impressive background worth mentioning...’

He hung up his clothes, sat down again, and was just about to eat the roasted chicken.

Just then, he heard a RUMBLE.

Jiang Ran looked up in surprise toward the source of the sound.

Ye Jingshuang’s face was completely flushed with embarrassment. She lowered her head, wishing she could find a hole to crawl into.

Realization dawned on Jiang Ran.

"I get it now. You weren’t trying to rob me of my money, nor my virtue."

"You wanted to steal my roasted chicken..."

"You misunderstand, young master. I..."

Before Ye Jingshuang could finish her sentence, her stomach let out another sound like a drumroll.

For a moment, she wanted nothing more than to cover her face and flee.

Jiang Ran sighed, tore off half the roasted chicken, and held it out to her.

"Here. I can’t finish it all by myself anyway."

"Huh?"

Ye Jingshuang froze again. She wanted to refuse, but seeing the roasted chicken Jiang Ran was holding out to her, she hesitated for a long moment before finally taking a few steps forward to accept it.

"Thank you, young master."

"Don’t worry about it. When you’re out in the jianghu, things go wrong. Everyone falls on hard times."

"Helping others is helping yourself. Why wouldn’t I?"

Jiang Ran smiled, took a bite of the chicken, then picked up a wine gourd beside him and took a swig.

He always carried this wine gourd with him; it wasn’t in his bundle.

He had only just unfastened it and set it aside when he took off his clothes earlier.

Inside was wine personally brewed by the old drunkard.

Although Jiang Ran suffered from the Nine Deaths Severed Meridians, his condition was unlike ordinary illnesses.

Aside from his constantly fading life force and the state of his pulse, he was no different from an ordinary person in other respects.

He didn’t feel any pain, nor did he have moments of weakness. From the outside, he didn’t look sick at all.

Therefore, he had no dietary restrictions against wine or meat.

On the contrary, the old drunkard had raised him in vats of medicine and wine since he was a child.

His tolerance for alcohol was immense; a thousand cups wouldn’t make him drunk.

He carried this strong liquor with him, usually drinking it like water.

He wasn’t particularly fond of the drink, but it had become a habit.

Hearing Jiang Ran’s words, Ye Jingshuang was faintly touched and said softly,

"If only everyone in the jianghu thought the way you do..."

"What?"

Jiang Ran glanced at her.

"It’s nothing."

Ye Jingshuang quickly shook her head, took a bite of roasted chicken, and her eyes instantly lit up.

"This roasted chicken is delicious! Where did you buy it?"

"Niu’s Roasted Chicken Shop in Changhu County."

"Next time I pass through there, I’ll have to buy several."

Ye Jingshuang smiled faintly. A moment ago, she had felt flushed and awkward seeing Jiang Ran shirtless.

Now, after a bit of casual conversation, that small bit of awkwardness vanished.

She immediately focused on eating and said no more.

After finishing her half of the roasted chicken, Ye Jingshuang took a deep breath, cupped her fist, and said,

"May I ask for your esteemed name, young master? Ye Jingshuang will surely repay this kindness of a meal one day!"

"Is someone hunting you?"

Jiang Ran’s sudden question was startling.

Ye Jingshuang froze.

"How did you know...?"

Jiang Ran didn’t speak, only glanced at the wounds on her body.

Ye Jingshuang understood at once.

Anyone traveling through the night in a downpour covered in such injuries wouldn’t be doing it for fun.

She sighed softly.

"You have a sharp eye, young master... Someone is indeed hunting me."

"But rest assured, I will leave now. I won’t involve you."

She stood up and turned to leave, but her steps faltered as if she had remembered something.

She suddenly looked back at Jiang Ran and spoke in a secretive tone,

"Before I go, there’s one more thing I’d like to ask you about."

Jiang Ran raised his head slightly.

"Feel free to ask."

"Young master, did you happen to hear a long cry coming from nearby tonight?"

Ye Jingshuang asked in a low voice.

Jiang Ran was taken aback. ’A cry?’

’Could she be talking about me?’

Earlier, when the sixty years of Inner Strength had surged into his body, he had channeled it using the Inner Power Heart Method the old drunkard had taught him.

Not only had he instantly pushed this Inner Energy to its highest realm,

but he had also felt his entire body overflowing with qi, which he felt compelled to release.

That was why he had tilted his head back and let out a long cry that shook the surroundings.

’So, Ye Jingshuang was drawn here by my cry?’

Though his mind was racing, Jiang Ran’s expression didn’t change in the slightest. He simply nodded.

"I heard it."

"Then do you know where the sound came from, young master?"

Ye Jingshuang asked eagerly.

But Jiang Ran didn’t answer directly. Instead, he asked,

"Why are you looking for the source of this cry?"

Ye Jingshuang didn’t know why Jiang Ran was asking, but she answered truthfully,

"I’m looking for help..."

"The man hunting me is more skilled than I am, and he’s an expert tracker, sticking to me like a maggot on a rotting bone."

"I can’t shake him off, it’s like he’s a stubborn plaster."

"I had just fled to this area when I heard that cry, and I knew there was an expert nearby, practicing their qi on a rainy night."

"That’s when I had the desperate idea to seek survival in the jaws of death... and I headed in this direction to find them."

"But I didn’t find that expert. Instead, I found you, young master."

Jiang Ran smiled faintly at her words. ’Your search was spot on,’ he thought.

"I see. And how does this expert you’re looking for compare to your pursuer?"

Ye Jingshuang immediately said with a serious expression,

"That expert’s Inner Energy is profound. My pursuer can’t even be mentioned in the same breath."

"How could the glimmer of a pearl dare to compete with the bright moon?"

"The reason you ask, young master... is it because you know where the cry came from?"

Just as Jiang Ran was about to speak, his senses sharpened.

Immediately after, a voice pierced through the curtain of rain, drifting toward them.

"Girl of the Ye family, you certainly made me search for quite a while!"

"To think, the century-old Ye family was wiped out completely tonight."

"And yet, not only are you not grieving, you’re actually in the mood to have a secret tryst with some strange man!"

"I wonder if Ye Konggu would be so furious he’d come back to life if he knew he had such a daughter?"

As the voice fell, a fierce gust of wind suddenly rose, sweeping raindrops in from outside the temple.

A figure could be faintly seen within the gust, moving with the force of a thunderbolt, and in a single roar, it had arrived before them.

Ye Jingshuang’s expression changed drastically. "He’s so fast!"

She immediately stepped forward, shielding Jiang Ran. In that instant, there was no time to draw her sword; she could only channel her internal breath and thrust out a palm.

A loud THUD was heard.

Ye Jingshuang let out a muffled grunt and stumbled back three to five steps, barely stopping right in front of Jiang Ran. Before she could speak, blood trickled from the corner of her mouth.

Looking up, she saw a man masked and dressed in black, standing just inside the dilapidated temple’s entrance. His hands were clasped behind his back, his gaze indifferent.