97 - Investing in the Reborn Empress, She Actually Calls Me ‘Husband’

## Chapter 97: Please, Do I Look Like a Bad Person? (1/2) Under the night sky, the city of Ziyang was silent, resembling a massive beast lying quietly under the moonlight. "Dry weather! Be careful of fire!" On the deserted streets, the hoarse call of the night watchman echoed. Recently, Ziyang Prefecture was unsettled at night, prompting an increase in patrolling officers. Yet, such efforts were negligible given the vastness of the city. Luo Yao changed into her night attire and roamed the city. She had heard from her senior brother that the prefecture was conducting the Sleepless Rain Pavilion's continuous trials. Beyond participants fighting each other, some took the opportunity to rob and exploit the chaos. Therefore, she ventured out at night to uphold justice. After all, assassins favored nighttime activities. However... "Miss Luo." "I have been waiting here for quite some time." As she passed an alley, a voice emerged from within. In the darkness, a gaunt figure stood, as if appearing out of thin air. Wrapped tightly in a black robe blown by the night wind, his gaunt form seemed ghostly. "You're just at the Qi and Blood stage, yet dare to flaunt a famous weapon near Fen Yulin? I thought you had a master accompanying you. It turns out, you sneaked out by yourself." His voice became more ethereal. As his words dropped, a cold wind seemed to blow around, making one shiver with fear. "Night Ghost Liu Heng?!" Luo Yao's face turned pale with shock. The Night Ghost Sect passed its mystic arts down through a single lineage. Due to its strange techniques requiring unique bone structure, practitioners appeared emaciated, their demeanor odd. During the day, their powers were weak but exponentially increased at night. The previous sect leader, Liu Heng's master, had perished in the siege at Fen Yulin. "I love eating children, especially ones in their prime like you." "If my father could kill your master, I'm not afraid of you!" In her fear, Luo Yao took the initiative. The gentleman's pen in her sleeve, swift as lightning, could pierce even refined steel. Yet just as she thought she had succeeded, Liu Heng's figure vanished like an afterimage. "An illusion?!" "Hehe... your Purple Star Eyes are still underdeveloped," his owl-like voice came from all directions. The soundwave itself flung Luo Yao backward, rolling across the ground and dirtying her pristine garments with mud. Moreover, her hand throbbed with pain, and her gentleman's pen was gone. "Not bad for a famous weapon." "The judge will really like this..." Liu Heng toyed with the pen before tucking it into his robes. Casually, he used his silhouette to block the moonlight as he approached Luo Yao. He relished witnessing the expressions of noble-hearted warriors at the brink of death. Would this little girl beg for mercy in tears, offer money for her life, or even threaten him? Her face was pale, eyes filled with despair. Regret and incomprehension filled her thoughts. Was the martial world truly so perilous? How could someone at the Inner Breath Profound Core stage stoop to harming someone at the Qi and Blood stage? Wasn't this bullying? At home, she had never experienced such pain... Was she going to die? Weeping bitterly like a pear blossom in the rain, she cried out, "I don't want to die..." "Hehe..." "Not at the hands of such an ugly freak..." Liu Heng's laughter suddenly stopped. Despite knowing he was indeed ugly, he hated being told so. Lies don't hurt; the truth does... "You seek death!" Losing interest in playing, he prepared to take her life with a single blow. In the nick of time. Boom—— Was it thunder? No, it was the sound of an air explosion. A dark beam streaked through the sky like divine retribution or a meteorite crashing down. The enormous pressure almost suffocated. "Who?!" Liu Heng vanished again, yet the dark light halted, revealing the figure of a man. Tall and slender, wearing a bronze dragon helmet, the dark light was actually a short-handled hammer in his hand—a mystical weapon. "My friend, you seem to be in the same line of work." "How about this: I'll take the girl's life, and you can have everything else?" Liu Heng's eyes glimmered. "In a continuous trial, isn't it kill or be killed upon meeting?" The bronze-helmed man chuckled. "But one should choose weaker opponents. With your formidable skills, we might be comrades later. Why clash now?" Liu Heng said earnestly. "Very well, we'll go with your suggestion. You first." The bronze-helmed man nodded slightly, agreeing to his terms. Step— Liu Heng had just taken a few steps when shadows swirled beneath his cloak, and he suddenly attacked. But awaiting him was the overwhelming killing aura of a hammer. "I knew you were up to something!" Li Mo slammed the hammer down onto Liu Heng's claw-like hand, sparks flying. Liu Heng's figure flew backward, vanishing once more. From all directions, his voice echoed: "Hehe, so you haven't even reached the Jade Liquid Realm. You think relying on a mystical weapon and sheer strength allows you to cross two realms against me?" "It's nighttime!" Multiple ghostly figures, carried by a cold wind, surrounded him. Liu Heng's form seemed to drift with his voice. Yet beneath the bronze dragon helmet, he closed his eyes instead. As he lifted his hammer again, the air seemed to freeze. Trained in Shang Wu's domain, he no longer needed his eyes to see. Feeling the killing intent alone was enough to locate his opponent. Thus. The hammer passed through countless ghostly images, slowly yet resolutely landing upon one. Boom— Liu Heng's expression didn't change in time. This inescapable strike rendered him into a mist of blood. Despite its might, the strike harmed not brick or tile after dismantling Liu Heng. "You should act sooner instead of toying like a cat with a mouse," Li Mo began, then paused, remembering how he used to play games. He'd often trap the opposing side at their spawn rather than directly defeat them... Hmm. He suddenly understood what villains thought. ## Chapter 97: Please, Do I Look Like a Bad Person? (2/2) "You better leave, or I'll hammer you next," Li Mo warned. He really didn't know how to assess this young girl. Really, do I look like a villain? Rather than taking the chance to escape, she lingered to ask questions. "Thank you... but I haven't heard of you before. Which sect are you from?" "The Solid Gang." "I'll remember. I'll repay this favor someday..." Luo Yao ran a few steps, then doubled back. "By the way, have you seen Luo Yu from Fen Yulin?" "At the government office," Li Mo said, a vein of frustration appearing on his forehead. "Thank you, you're actually quite nice," Luo Yao eventually left. But shortly after, another cautious figure slipped into the alley. "Are you back already?" Li Mo thought Luo Yao had returned. But upon inspecting, he saw a small beggar with clean clothes sneaking in like a mouse. The child wore a tattered cloth over her eyes and clutched a bundle of miscellaneous items and a broken branch. She cautiously lifted her head, her sightless eyes seemingly sensing his presence from behind the ragged cloth. "You... Do you have anything you don't need?" Li Mo: "....."