313: Who said I don't chop women?

Initially, Shen Bei and others were leaving Hope Camp and heading towards Blade Camp.

It was already noon, and the sun was hidden behind dark clouds.

Shen Bei looked up at the sky; lead-gray clouds pressed down heavily, and the air was somewhat stuffy, as if a torrential downpour was imminent.

This place was in the middle of nowhere, with no villages or shops, only barren Gobi desert as far as the eye could see.

If they didn't find a place to rest soon, it meant they would quickly be soaked to the bone.

Even though they had undergone high-intensity Martial Dao training, knowing to seek shelter from the rain was basic human intelligence.

No one wanted to travel while feeling sticky all over.

At this moment, a Six-Rank Martial Artist with a fierce and powerful Aura, like a God of War on the battlefield, stood at the front of the team, looked back at the nearly twenty people, and said loudly, “It's going to rain in this damn place soon. Let’s hurry up. There's a destroyed city ahead where we can take shelter.”

This news was extremely exhilarating.

The team's pace began to quicken.

During the Human Martial Artist's advance in the Catacombs, destroying the Otherworlder's cities was inevitable.

If some cities had good terrain, humans would leave them as strongholds.

If the location was not good and did not meet the needs of Human Martial Artists, based on the principle of 'if I don't use it, the enemy shouldn't either,' they would destroy it directly.

A moment later.

After several miles of continuous running, the air became increasingly heavy and humid, and specks of water vapor assailed their faces in the howling wind.

Shen Bei narrowed his eyes; with his eyesight, he could already see a stretch of ruins in the distance, less than five li ahead.

At this moment, raindrops had already begun to fall.

The group moved like the wind and lightning, and in a short while, they had arrived within these ruins, which resembled a deserted barbican.

This place seemed to have once been an Otherworlder town, destroyed by Human Martial Artists an unknown time ago, and had long been uninhabited.

Almost all of the low-rise houses had weathered and collapsed; only a solitary, dilapidated house still stood in the center of the ruins.

“Let’s go, everyone, we’ll take shelter there.”

The Six-Rank Martial Artist named Xu Ying called out.

The group quickly poured into the dilapidated house.

Although the house was rundown everywhere, it was good for sheltering from the wind and rain, and its area was sufficient for over twenty people to rest.

Xu Ying also arranged for two strong men in light armor to stand guard on either side of the large house's entrance.

After all, it was the Catacombs; vigilance could not be relaxed for a moment.

These two men had sharp eyes and thick knuckles, clearly indicating they were skilled practitioners of Martial Dao for a long time. Moreover, these two men carried a tragic Killing Intent from long experience on the battlefield, which was fundamentally different from ordinary Martial Artists.

Their right hands rested simultaneously on the hilts of their swords at their waists, as they scanned the wind and rain outside.

The room was spacious.

Xu Ying arranged for people to collect some wood, and a bonfire was burning. Twelve bodyguard-like figures protected a noble-looking woman like stars surrounding the moon.

These twelve guards were all dressed in uniform light armor, their origins unknown.

The woman they protected had an ethereal temperament and a beautiful appearance, almost as if she possessed an Immortal Qi, untouched by worldly affairs.

As outsiders to this team, Shen Bei and Zhuang Bifan found a place to sit down.

Shen Bei turned his head to look at the woman and said to Zhuang Bifan, “This team looks like mercenaries.”

Zhuang Bifan crossed his arms, his face serious, and nodded, “This kind of situation is common in the Catacombs. They are all accompanying powerful Young Masters and Young Misses who come down to gain experience.”

Shen Bei wiped the rain from his nose before saying vaguely, “The skill of Transmigration, you need to learn it well in this life.”

Zhuang Bifan scoffed, “You’re the one who should be learning it.”

Shen Bei yawned and said carelessly, “I don’t need to.”

“Why?”

Shen Bei said earnestly, “Let’s put it this way: when I open my eyes, it’s day; when I close my eyes, it’s night. If I’m not the protagonist, who is? The protagonist’s natural role is to rise against the odds, and to do that, one cannot transmigrate into a good family; a smooth life just won't do.”

Zhuang Bifan’s mouth twitched uncontrollably. After a long silence, he carefully chose his words, “Listening to your words for a while was a three-second waste of my time.”

Shen Bei shrugged, closing his eyes to rest, planning to continue their journey after the storm passed.

Just then, the woman protected by everyone turned her head back to look at Shen Bei: “Friend, where are you from?”

“Liaobei Province.”

Hearing the inquiry, Shen Bei turned his head to answer, just as his gaze met the clear, ethereal eyes of the questioner.

Hm?

Their gazes met, in an instant! In Shen Bei’s extremely keen mental perception, strange ripples emanated from the woman’s eyes, almost silently scanning his entire body.

A sudden, inexplicable feeling surged into his heart, as if some part of his secret had been directly exposed to this woman’s eyes, as if his thoughts were directly known and understood by her without any concealment!

Interesting…

The woman smiled and said, “Liaobei Province? I heard the snow there is sweet, right?”

Shen Bei replied, “Rumors stop with the wise, but it certainly can make one’s mood beautiful.”

The woman brushed her hair, nodded, and turned her head away.

“Young Miss, how is it? Is there any problem with this person?”

The house was large enough that Shen Bei was several meters away from them. Xu Ying, beside the woman, leaned in slightly, lowering his voice to a whisper.

The woman named Fang Nanxi shook her head slightly and spoke softly, her ethereal voice carrying out, “This person looks familiar, but he has nothing to do with Fang Han, and he harbors no hostility towards us. He should indeed just be a fellow traveler.”

The other twelve guards breathed a slight sigh of relief; since the Young Miss said so, then it must be true.

At this moment, Xu Ying carefully scrutinized Shen Bei, staring for a long time before suddenly realizing, “He really does look familiar. He seems to be Shen Bei!”

Fang Nanxi opened her mouth slightly, “No wonder I felt like I had an impression, even though I’d never seen him. The more I look, the more he resembles him.”

Crash… The torrential rain poured down. The clamor outside the house grew louder, accompanied by rolling thunder. Large raindrops were dumped down, and all that could be heard was the tumultuous sound of wind, rain, and thunder.

At this moment, Shen Bei seemed oblivious, but in reality, he was not as calm as he appeared.

The True Qi fluctuation from that woman just now felt like a full-body scan.

Shen Bei’s hand rested on his saber, a faint Killing Intent simmering. He nudged Zhuang Bifan, who was almost asleep, and whispered, “Did you notice just now? What did that woman do to me? Hypnosis or charm?”

Zhuang Bifan said earnestly, “If it was charm, it should have charmed me.”

Shen Bei: ???

“Can’t you have some, even just a tiny bit, of self-awareness?” Shen Bei retorted unceremoniously.

Zhuang Bifan was momentarily choked, but he didn’t show much embarrassment. He narrowed his eyes, and his tone actually relaxed, “Did you just feel like your thoughts were scanned?”

Thoughts scanned?

Hearing Zhuang Bifan say that, Shen Bei’s brows furrowed as he recalled the sensation from earlier.

That peculiar feeling of having his thoughts intercepted, seemingly without any defense.

He had a guess and then asked:

“Indeed, I had that feeling. What is it? Is it mind-reading?”

Combining the momentary sensation from earlier and this ability that had appeared in many movies he had watched, Shen Bei made this conjecture.

At the same time, Shen Bei’s Killing Intent deepened. If Zhuang Bifan confirmed that the woman possessed mind-reading, Shen Bei intended to violently erupt and cut down that woman with one strike!

Zhuang Bifan let out a sigh of unclear meaning, “In a broad sense, that woman does possess a tiny bit of mind-reading ability.”

Shen Bei was a bit bewildered.

Either she could read minds, or she couldn’t.

What did it mean to be neither here nor there, only a little bit?

For a Martial Artist, was there such a saying?

It was like 1 + 1 equals 2; if you told me it was approximately 2, wouldn’t that be asking for a beating?

“What exactly does that mean?” Shen Bei pressed.

This concerned whether he should violently erupt and kill someone!

Having sufficiently piqued Shen Bei’s curiosity, Zhuang Bifan felt a sense of triumph and said proudly:

“Simply put, that woman can, through eye contact, intercept, read, and analyze the simplest part of your brainwaves, thereby obtaining the most basic information.”

“The limitations of this ability are great; it seems it must be activated through eye contact. And in terms of acquiring brainwaves, it can only access and analyze the most superficial, simplest part. To analyze truly complex thoughts, let alone her, even Bai Wei cannot do it!”

Shen Bei asked again:

“What exactly do you mean by ‘the most superficial, simplest part’?”

“It’s really tiring to communicate with you…”

Zhuang Bifan lazily rolled his eyes and asked carelessly, “For us, what is the most external and basic manifestation of our thoughts?”

Shen Bei raised an eyebrow, “Emotions?”

“Exactly! It’s emotions! That is to say, that woman can directly, through eye contact, analyze the other person’s brainwaves and sense their most basic emotions! No matter how well you hide your most basic emotions, they are completely exposed when you make eye contact with her; it’s utterly useless.”

“Fear, disgust, malice, Killing Intent, hatred, even the desire to mate—all these various boring and childish emotional thoughts can be judged by her.”

“What, are you scared?” Zhuang Bifan looked at Shen Bei suspiciously, “You don’t have a guilty conscience, do you, or have some evil thoughts?”

Shen Bei scoffed.

It wasn’t that he was so devoted, but rather that Jian Tong was more cost-effective.

Losing control of one's lower body could easily attract unnecessary trouble.

And, to be honest, Shen Bei’s Killing Intent had indeed surged just now.

But after Zhuang Bifan’s explanation, Shen Bei’s Killing Intent gradually subsided.

He wasn't afraid of that woman reading his emotions; after all, he had no thoughts about her.

As long as he was a Transmigrator.

If this secret were to be dug out by mind-reading, Shen Bei would have to go on a killing spree.

Which means… woman, you are playing with fire.

Fortunately, that woman only read the most superficial emotions, which meant she had no thoughts or Killing Intent towards him, and so on.

It was good that she wasn't digging into the deepest secrets.

At this moment, rumbling thunder sounded, and streaks of lightning tore through the sky outside the house.

Rain poured down from the sky, and everyone inside the house could feel the earth-shaking Aura, which showed how heavy this downpour was.

As if the Heavenly River had inverted, raindrops connected into lines, and the world was a vast expanse, with everything beyond ten meters blurred.

Large raindrops struck the roof, making a pitter-patter sound.

Thud…

Shen Bei’s ears twitched; he seemed to hear an unusual sound.

Shen Bei nudged Zhuang Bifan, who was almost asleep, “Wake up, something seems to be approaching.”

Zhuang Bifan scrambled up with a flutter.

This startled the others, whose gazes collectively turned to observe.

The next second.

Boom!!!

A roar, not of thunder, entered the house, exploding in everyone’s ears…