Chapter 982: The Heroic Chronicles of Young Di Nufeng (II) (Side Story)

The Sword Exchange pavilion’s supervising elder said, "The second mission is...

"In Yishi City, frequent thefts have been reported. It’s suspected that cultivators are using divine techniques to commit the crimes."

"That’s absolutely outrageous!" Di Nufeng exclaimed.

Di Nufeng was filled with righteous indignation. Using a cultivator’s techniques to bully ordinary people was hardly something that could be called a true ability.

When she arrived at Yishi City, she found a secluded corner near the city gate and squatted down. While flipping through a picture book, she extended her divine sense to carefully observe the passing pedestrians.

The heavens always rewarded those who were willing to put in the effort. After squatting there all morning, she finally sensed a faint trace of foundational qi around noon.

Di Nufeng’s eyes snapped open. She stepped onto the street just in time to hear a richly dressed woman cry out, "Ah! My pearl necklace is gone!"

"Thief, where do you think you’re going?!" Di Nufeng shouted. Following the faint ripple of foundational qi, she charged ahead and kicked open the gates of a nearby postal station.

The qi trace was faint, and by the time she reached the spot, it had already vanished. Unless the cultivator used their divine skill again, tracking them down would be nearly impossible.

But how could something like that possibly stump the quick-witted Heroine Ah Feng?

She raised her voice and shouted, "Everyone, get out here right now!"

The postal station housed about thirty people in total. At her command, they all came out in confusion. They saw a beautiful young woman standing in the doorway with her eyebrows raised, eyes sharp, and hands planted firmly on her hips as she barked, "All of you! Hands on your heads and squat against the wall!"

"Young lady, who are you?" the station steward asked gently. "Are you here with your elders?"

The station steward chose to let it slide. Although the girl spoke fiercely, she was pretty.

"Don’t try to get friendly with me!" Di Nufeng snapped as she stomped her foot.

Booooooom!

Her stomp shattered the ground, and cracks snaked out beneath everyone’s feet. None of them could stay upright. One after another, they staggered backward in shock.

Only then did they realize that this hot-tempered girl was actually quite terrifying.

The group had no choice but to obey. They squatted down as instructed.

Di Nufeng paced slowly behind them and said, "I’m a cultivator from the Mount Shu Sect. You can call me Heroine Feng. The thief responsible for the recent thefts in this city is hiding somewhere in this postal station. There are no other traces of qi outside, which means the culprit has to be one of you. I’ve come up with a method to find out who it is and bring them to justice."

"Every fifteen minutes, I’ll randomly kill one person until the thief confesses," Di Nufeng declared. "If the thief never steps forward, I’ll end up killing them anyway. But if they do, then everyone can go home happy."

"Wait, what?!" someone shouted as he jumped to his feet. "Are you really a heroine from the Mount Shu Sect? Not some disciple of a diabolical sect?"

"In that case, you’ll be the first," Di Nufeng replied, pointing at him.

"You’re completely insane!" another person yelled, also rising to his feet.

"You will be the second," Di Nufeng added lazily, pointing at him too.

"Run!" someone shouted.

The terrified group of people surged toward the exit.

Di Nufeng frowned, and a blast of fire erupted with a deafening roar.

When the dust settled, everyone lay sprawled across the ground. They could no longer move. All they could do was groan in pain.

"A quarter of an hour is just about up. You there..." Di Nufeng said as she looked toward the first man who had spoken.

If it had seemed like a bluff earlier, no one had any doubts now. That fire blast had nearly cremated them all.

A middle-aged man flipped himself over and cried out, "Heroine, don’t kill anyone! I’m begging you, I only did a bit of petty thieving. It’s not a crime worth dying for. Just hand me over to the authorities or send me to the Imperial Supervisory Bureau, but please don’t kill me!"

...

The Sword Exchange pavilion’s supervising elder said, "The third mission is...

"Recently, there have been sightings of a water ghost in the Southern Loop River. It’s summer now, and many people are playing in the shallows. This must be investigated thoroughly."

"I am just the right person for this! Leave this to me!" Di Nufeng replied confidently.

Di Nufeng arrived at the Southern Loop River. It was summer, and the riverbanks and shallows were crowded with people swimming and playing. Many of them were children.

She squatted behind a large boulder and grinned. "I’ll keep watch right here. Let’s see which water ghost dares to come disturb the people."

Di Nufeng squatted there, flipping through her picture book while keeping an eye on the river. After waiting there for a long time, she was just about ready to give up. She had finished reading her newly bought picture book, and nothing had happened.

Just then, a trace of deathly yin qi seeped from the river. A swimmer near the deeper waters was pulled under without making a sound, and no one else noticed.

Di Nufeng's eyes narrowed, and she dove into the water with a boom!

Sure enough, she saw a water ghost. An eerie, translucent green spirit was dragging someone deeper into the water, clearly with the intent to kill.

"How dare you, ghost!" Di Nufeng roared.

Divine fire ignited around her as she charged forward underwater and delivered a fiery kick to the ghost’s chest.

No water ghost could withstand a blow filled with divine fire. It didn’t even have time to scream before it disintegrated into a puff of green smoke with a sharp sizzle.

When Di Nufeng emerged from the water with the unconscious swimmer in her arms, she saw that the rest of the visitors had already fled to the shore in a panic. The air rang with wails and screams, and everyone who had made it to land was bright red from head to toe, like boiled shrimp.

"Don’t be afraid, everyone! The water ghost has already been dealt with!" Di Nufeng shouted.

However, when they heard her voice, the crowd only became more frightened. They screamed and ran even farther away.

"That’s strange..." Di Nufeng frowned.

Why does it seem like these people can't tell the difference between good and bad?

Only one little boy remained, standing still and staring blankly at Di Nufeng.

Seeing that he wasn’t afraid of her, she walked over with a gentle smile and said, "Little guy, you know Big Sis is a heroine, right? That’s why you’re not scared of me."

"I am scared..." the boy whispered and pointed at the person in her arms. "I just want to ask... are you done cooking my mommy? Can you give her back to me?"

...

When Di Nufeng returned to Mount Shu and saw the Discipline Master already waiting for her in the main hall, she grinned. "You came back early?"

The Discipline Master's face was ashen. "What have you been up to these past few days?"

"Me?" Di Nufeng chuckled proudly. "I was amazing. I upheld justice, slew monsters, and obliterated devils."

"What justice exactly did you uphold?" the Discipline Master asked, slamming a booklet down in front of her. "Take a look at your handiwork."

Di Nufeng picked up the booklet and began to read aloud. "An impostor claiming to be a Mount Shu Sect disciple appeared in Xu Family Village. Under the pretense of exorcising a demon, they burned down every house and all the livestock, causing massive losses. In Yishi City, a criminal used the name of the Mount Shu Sect to abduct and assault dozens of innocent people in a postal station, employing brutal and cruel methods.

"A water monster surfaced at the Southern Loop River. The river was boiled with blazing fire, scalding over a hundred visitors. The impact was extremely severe. We request that the Mount Shu Sect deal with this matter as soon as possible."

Di Nufeng’s eyes widened. "I leave, and right away, these places get hit by evil again? And they’re even pretending to be from the Mount Shu Sect? How brazen can they be! Let me go deal with them. I’m already a heroine with plenty of experience now!"

"Ah Feng..." The Discipline Master looked deeply at Di Nufeng and let out a heavy sigh. "I believe now that you truly have a heroic heart. But for the sake of all living beings, please, I beg you. Let’s try to do fewer good deeds from now on."