So full of water and spirit.

The biting wind, carrying a flurry of snow, drilled into the collar like razor blades.

Li Fan stood on the deck, his face a bit stiff.

He looked at Lin Shuangxue in front of him, who was completely impervious to reason, and felt a throbbing ache in his temples.

Piled up in that back room were eight massive chests of array materials!

"Lady Lin,"

"Isn't your way of doing things a bit too overbearing?"

He pointed to the giant vessel beneath their feet that had been forced to a halt, steam still puffing out.

"We merchants value harmony to generate wealth, and smooth sailing. With your single order to 'search for someone,' you've turned my merchant ship upside down, and the boiler almost exploded from the pressure."

Li Fan sighed. "Delaying the journey is a small matter, but if we miss the Governor's auspicious hour, who will bear the blame? You must at least give a convincing reason, right?"

Lin Shuangxue stood there, her posture as straight and tall as a cedar.

Hearing this, she furrowed her brows slightly. Her cold, clear eyes pierced straight into Li Fan's face like two ice picks.

"Feeling guilty?"

She sneered, the token in her hand, made of neither gold nor jade, swaying slightly in the cold wind.

"A reason?"

"A cultivator has been wantonly slaughtering civilians within our Beimang borders. His hands are covered in blood, and his crimes are heinous. Our Beimang Immortal Bureau has been ordered to apprehend him. The order is as immovable as a mountain, and he will be beheaded on an appointed day!"

Lin Shuangxue's voice was not loud, but it carried a metallic resonance that caused the snow on the deck to tremble and fall.

"Anyone who obstructs or harbors him will be considered an accomplice. The Immortal Bureau has the authority to execute them on the spot!"

She took a step forward, the chilling aura around her intensifying.

"I suspect he intends to board a merchant ship to flee Beimang."

Hearing this, Li Fan was genuinely stunned.

His eyes widened and his mouth fell slightly open. His expression of utter disbelief was completely unfeigned.

"A cultivator... slaughtering mortals... is actually going to be beheaded?"

This simply shattered his worldview.

You have to understand, in the Central Tang Province where he usually operated, and indeed in the mainstream perception of the entire Great Xia cultivation world, what were mortals?

They were ants, they were weeds. They were mere background props who could only curse their bad luck if they were accidentally caught in the crossfire of cultivators battling.

What lofty cultivator would ever be held accountable for stepping on a few ants? Let alone face the ultimate punishment of beheading.

Li Fan swallowed hard and asked instinctively, "Just for a few mortals?"

Lin Shuangxue looked at his shocked expression, the disgust in her eyes deepening.

"In your eyes, they are mortals. In our Beimang, they are all our people."

She looked at Li Fan coldly. Though her tone was flat, every word carried the weight of a thousand pounds.

"Cultivators possess the power to move mountains and fill seas. This power should be used to fend off demonic beasts and help the weak, not to bully unarmed commoners."

"Beimang is already a land of bitter cold and constant natural disasters. If human-made calamities are added to the mix, how are the people of this land supposed to survive?"

"Here, a strong person who draws their blade against someone even stronger is a hero; one who draws their blade against the weak is a beast."

Li Fan opened his mouth, finding himself momentarily at a loss for words.

Looking at the icy woman before him, a profoundly absurd feeling suddenly welled up in his heart.

This Beimang... truly was a magical place.

However, now was not the time to marvel at local customs.

Li Fan snapped back to reality, his mind racing as he quickly seized upon a loophole in her words.

"Lady Lin is highly righteous! I am in awe!"

He first cupped his hands and offered a flattering remark, then immediately shifted the conversation: "But... since you are hunting a fugitive, you should be inspecting the ships leaving Beimang!"

Li Fan put on an innocent face. "My ship came from the south and is heading right into the heartland of Beimang! What fugitive would run straight toward the government's headquarters?"

"It defies logic!"

Lin Shuangxue, however, wasn't buying it at all.

She cast a glance at Li Fan and, uncharacteristically, offered an extra word of explanation, seemingly to let him die understanding why.

"Who knows?"

"The most dangerous place is the safest place. Have those desperadoes not played this trick of hiding in plain sight often enough?"

She paced two steps around Li Fan, her gaze burning like a torch.

"What if he holds exactly that mindset, deliberately hiding in the water to intercept an incoming merchant ship midway and blend in?"

"Or perhaps..."

Lin Shuangxue stopped walking, her eyes locking fiercely onto Li Fan's.

"He promised you heavy profits and reached some shady agreement with you?"

"After all, merchants value profit above all else. As long as the price is right, let alone hiding a fugitive, you'd risk selling your own fathers."

Having said her piece, Lin Shuangxue wasted no more words. She turned and walked straight toward the back room draped in heavy silk curtains.

Li Fan felt his scalp tingle to the point of exploding.

This woman looked icy and aloof, so how was her thought process so razor-sharp?

Seeing Lin Shuangxue's hand about to touch the curtain, Li Fan steeled his heart. He had no choice but to use his ultimate trump card.

"Wait!"

Li Fan darted forward in a single stride, blocking Lin Shuangxue's path directly.

This time, the expression on his face changed.

The previous panic and grievance vanished, replaced by an extremely ambiguous, even somewhat sleazy smile.

He leaned in close to Lin Shuangxue, lowered his voice, and spoke in a greasy tone that implied that men would understand:

"Lady Lin, a word in private."

"This... is the treasure I mentioned earlier, meant as a tribute for the Governor."

Li Fan pursed his lips toward the silk curtains, wiggling his eyebrows wildly.

"You know how it is. Our Governor manages a myriad of affairs daily and works tirelessly on official business. He is under a lot of pressure."

"In private... well, men being men, he needs a little hobby to relax and unwind."

As he spoke, he observed Lin Shuangxue's expression. Seeing her brows furrowing tighter and tighter, he knew it was working and quickly doubled down.

"Inside is a rare stunner!"

"A top-tier courtesan specially procured from the misty pleasure districts in the south. She is proficient in the zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting. But the most important thing is..."

Li Fan held up his pinky finger and gestured mysteriously.

"Her flower has yet to be plucked. She is as fresh as morning dew."

"The journey has been exhausting. If she were to be frightened, or if some brute were to offend her delicate grace, then when she reaches the Governor's bed... ahem, the Governor's mansion, it would be very hard to explain."

Li Fan delivered these words vividly, perfectly playing the role of a sleazy pimping merchant.

He was betting that a self-proclaimed righteous, proud female cultivator like Lin Shuangxue would feel a visceral, physical disgust toward such a dirty transaction of power and lust, and thus avoid it like the plague.

Sure enough.

Lin Shuangxue's face visibly darkened.

She looked at Li Fan with a gaze usually reserved for unrecyclable garbage.

"Filthy."

She spat out the word coldly, her voice carrying undisguised contempt.

Li Fan felt wild joy in his heart.

It worked!

This tactic of smearing his own reputation was a bit low, but at least it had disgusted this great deity enough to make her leave.

He was just preparing to use the opportunity to say a few more soft words and see her off.

But instead of turning away, Lin Shuangxue took a step forward, and her frost-covered hand directly grabbed the silk curtain.

"Since this is a 'rare treasure' dedicated to the Provincial Governor, I would love to see exactly what kind of goods it is that makes you hide it so desperately, even going so far as to use the Governor's name to pressure me."

Lin Shuangxue's voice was freezing cold.

"If I find out you are lying, or if there is some trick hidden inside..."

"Ah! Lord Lin! You cannot do this!"

Li Fan was truly panicking now. He really did not expect this woman to be so stubborn; instead of backing off upon hearing such matters, she chose to force her way in.

He reached out his hand to stop her, but he did not dare to reveal his Golden Core cultivation base.

Without doing so, how could he possibly be faster than a Golden Core cultivator?

Swish—

A crisp sound echoed like tearing silk.

The heavy silk curtain, embroidered with mandarin ducks playing in the water, was forcefully thrown open by Lin Shuangxue.

The light inside the cabin seemed to flicker with the sudden movement.

The scene in the back room was revealed to the two of them without reservation.

Cold sweat instantly poured down Li Fan's back.

It was over.

Where was there any 'rare treasure' inside?

It was entirely filled with high-level array disks and spirit stones, piled up like a small mountain!

At first glance, although it was not exactly being caught red-handed with stolen goods, there was absolutely no way to explain it away!

Bringing these items into Beimang clearly meant his intentions were highly suspicious!

Li Fan closed his eyes in despair, his mind already calculating whether he should suddenly attack and silence her for good.

However.

The expected reprimand never came.

Instead, the air fell into an eerie, dead silence.

There was only the howling sound of the wind and snow outside the window, and the occasional creaking of the ship's hull.

Hmm?

What was going on?

Li Fan cautiously opened one eye and followed Lin Shuangxue's gaze.

With just one look, he was completely dumbfounded.

In that small compartment, the area where the array materials had originally been piled up was now completely empty.

Taking its place was an exquisite soft couch paved with warm jade, draped with shark-silk curtains, while a censer burned curling green smoke.

And on that soft couch by the window, a graceful figure was sitting diagonally.

It was a woman.

She wore an incredibly complex and gorgeous dancer's dress. The bright red satin was like a blazing fire, tightly wrapping around her exquisite curves. The small amount of exposed skin was as fine as mutton-fat jade, dazzlingly white against the crimson fabric.

She did not panic because of the sudden intrusion of strangers.

She did not even turn her head.

She simply sat there quietly, turned sideways, resting her chin on one hand. Through the half-open window, she gazed out at the vast river scenery and the drifting snow filling the sky.

Her posture was lazy and casual.

She did not look like a mere dancer; instead, she exuded an indescribable sense of nobility.

There was also a pure elegance to her, as if all worldly vanity had been washed away.

She looked like a master enjoying the snow in her own backyard.

Meanwhile, the intruder, Lin Shuangxue, seemed like nothing more than a vulgar servant who had disturbed her elegant mood.

Only upon hearing the movement behind her did she slowly turn her head.

At that moment.

Li Fan heard a very light sigh from beside him.

It came from Lin Shuangxue.

The woman's eyebrows were like distant mountains painted with dark ink, her eyes like rippling autumn waters, her nose delicate and straight, and her red lips moist.

Especially the teardrop mole at the corner of her eye, which added an indescribable charm and seductive elegance, as if it could hook a person's very soul away.

But the most shocking thing was not her beauty.

It was her eyes.

In those eyes, there was none of the humbleness and flattery expected of a dancer, nor the fear and confusion of someone about to be given away as a gift.

She parted her red lips lightly. Her voice was lazy, like precious silk brushing across the heart, carrying a magnetism that made one's bones go numb.

"Is this..."

She slightly lifted her eyelids, her gaze lightly sweeping over Lin Shuangxue's immortal robes that symbolized authority, before finally landing on Li Fan's dumbfounded face.

The corners of her mouth curled into a half-smile.

"Beimang's way of treating guests?"