As the bandits moved to capture them, Mei Lin rushed toward their leader. Unlike the others, the leader was more focused on the fight and thanks to it, he kept his distance from Mei Lin and Xia. Mei Lin knew she couldn't protect Xia directly, so she decided to eliminate the bandits one by one.

  Seeing Mei Lin surrender and approach him without a visible weapon, he dropped his machete, intending to show his dominance with his bare hands. Another bandit went after Xia, leaving Mei Lin to confront their leader. Xia hid the knife inside her robe and, as Mei Lin left her on the snowy ground, she fell defenseless. For Xia, her life ended when her brother didn't return with Mei Lin, so she had no reason to live anymore and awaited the bandits to kill her. Along with the long wandering with the bandits and separation from her family made her mentally unstable, and after she knew that her brother would never be with her again her mind shut down.

  Mei Lin on the other hand was determined to reach Peng City at any cost. A few bandits were no problem despite her injuries. Her resolve to find her master and Li Wei was so strong that she was determined to get into the city at all costs. Non-cultivator bandits stood no chance against her and her determination.

  "Girls, what are you looking for in such bad weather? If you will obediently surrender, we will take you with us. I as a cultivator at the first and second stages of BT had mercy for someone who would be promising in the cultivation arts. if you swear the oath to me, I will get you a chance to learn to be a cultivator. Isn't it better than dying in the snow here?"

  Mei Lin heard very clearly what the bandit said, but she didn't feel any cultivation aura from him unlike from the other normal cultivators. As Mei Lin neared the bandit leader, he grabbed her by the neck and lifted her off the ground with one hand. Mei Lin let herself be caught. As he held her by the neck, he grinned and used his other hand to remove her bamboo-hat. When he saw her blood-red eyes, he realized he was in deep trouble.

  "What the fuck?" the bandit leader panicked, realizing Mei Lin was a cultivator. This time Mei Lin looked at the scared bandit and asked him.

  "Why did you try to fool me, when you are not a cultivator? If you are a cultivator, you will be able to know that I was also one."

  At the same moment, a crystal knife appeared in Mei Lin's hand. She was ready to kill him and go help Xia as fast as possible. With one swift slice of the knife, Mei Lin fell back to her feet, the bandit leader's hand still gripping her neck where he had been holding her. The knife had cut off his hand so cleanly that he didn't even realize what had happened.

  "What the…Ahhh. " The leader fell to the ground, his scream resonating through the air and instantly scaring the other bandits. None of them had anticipated that Mei Lin or Xia would pose any threat. After all, Xia looked very young, and Mei Lin, despite being covered by a robe and veil, didn't appear tall or imposing and the bandit leader's spirit was the main driving force which made. They assumed she was just another young, rich girl who had been left behind, so after killing all the children in the crater, they were easy targets.

  This was exactly what Mei Lin wanted. As the bandits rushed to help their boss, Mei Lin let the knife vanish and went after the closest one. She moved almost as fast as he did, despite being a cultivator. The bandit was taken by surprise and didn't know what to do. He was nearly twenty years old, and upon seeing Mei Lin's beautiful face, he suddenly lost his will to fight.

  "Beauty," he muttered, not thinking straight, as he saw Mei Lin's snow-white skin and snow-white long hair. His fighting spirit immediately dwindled as Mei Lin approached him. She smiled, and he felt she was just a victim, wanting to run away. He quickly lowered his weapon as they were approaching each other.

  "Girl, what happened?" the young bandit asked, concerned for her. To his terror, Mei Lin opened her blood-red eyes and looked directly into his. He froze in fear, unable to move. Mei Lin closed the distance in an instant, and the crystal knife sliced through part of his neck. He didn't even realize what had happened until a line of blood appeared on his neck. Blood started flowing from his throat, and he tried to stop the bleeding, but it was too te. The blood pulsed onto the ground as he colpsed as he tried to stop the bleeding.

  The remaining bandits were stunned. All of them realized that no one could do such a thing. Mei Lin was as fast as the bandits and they had no way to stop Mei Lin's strange weapon which could appear and disappear at any moment. "You are a cultivator!" he shouted.

  "Stay there bitch, or we will kill that girl!"

  Seeing her eyes and the fact that Mei Lin was in no rush to set up, he knew they had provoked someone far more powerful, who was willing to let Xia die to kill them. Fear swept through the remaining bandits as they knew this could be their end if they did not persuade Mei Lin to let them go.

  "Miss cultivator, it was a misunderstanding. We have no grudge against you, so don't be irrational and stay where you are and we will leave and never cross our paths ever again."

  Before he could finish, Mei Lin appeared before him, and the crystal knife was in his chest. He tried to ssh at her with his machete, but Mei Lin blocked his hand before he could swing. Momentum which she got from her run, sent both of them into the snow and a crystal knife went through his chest killing him instantly.

  The st two bandits panicked and started pleading for their lives. Their desperate pleas were cut short by Mei Lin. One of the bandits was quickly cut down by Mei Lin as he tried to rush forward Mei Lin, who was on the ground before he managed to ssh her with a machete, Mei Lin's crystal knife appeared in the bandit's chest. Bandit froze in pce as the knife went through his heart and his body fell motionly into the snow and blood started turning the snow around red. The surviving bandit moved away from Xia and dropped his machete in the snow.

  "P-Please don't kill me. If that's true, you can help us return to Peng City and do whatever you want." The bandit immediately started pleas for his life, as he knew that he would probably end the same way as the rest of the bandits. Mei Lin put her knife away and went to help Xia up. The leader of the bandits was still screaming in the back and quickly losing blood. He was running away, but not long after, he fell to the ground and lost consciousness from the blood loss.

  Mei Lin retrieved her bamboo-hat and then helped Xia up. She was trembling in the snow and holding a knife in her hands. Bandit didn't move closer to them as he didn't want to anger Mei Lin, who once again looked like someone who never healed a weapon in the hand. Mei Lin picked up Xia on her legs with such non-human strength, which was not possible for someone in such a condition at all and they began walking toward the city. The bandit in the meantime robbed the rest of the bandits who all died and y around in the snow. Now all three of them were slowly moving through the snow and it started slowly snowing once again.

  After more than an hour of walking through the snow, Mei Lin stopped and they sat in the snow. Bandit sat in front of them, but he didn't get too close, so Mei Lin would not try to kill him and he would have time to get away from the necessary.

  "Tell me, where are you from and what were you doing before coming back?" Mei Lin asked.

  "My name is Xui Kao. I'm from Frost Vilge, less than two months away from here. I was forced to join the bandits to attack the caravan and I had to leave my wife and children..." Xui Kao babbled about his life as the snow continued to fall on all of them and soon enough Mei Lin was able to feel that she was rested enough and they started walking once again. His chatter made the journey seem faster, and Xia stopped crying as she listened to him. For Mei Lin, it was strange to hear, and she started to think about Xia, and from where she was. As they continued walking, it started to get dark and the snow was much heavier than before and didn't stop walling even for a minute. They were slowing down thanks to the rge amount of show and Xia's and Xui Kao's exhaustion.

  "Xui Kao, why don't you lead the way and make our path in the snow? It's exhausting to do everything myself."

  "What? Why don't I carry you friend and you will make us a path?"

  "Go first and create us path will you?"

  Xui Kao was angry and wanted to decline the ridiculous offer and let Mei Lin be right behind him, but he was relieved they had accepted him, despite his involvement with the bandits who had attacked them only a few hours earlier. After more and more snow, Xui Kao suddenly stopped. All three of them were completely wet from the snow and both Xia and Xui Kao started to get frostbite.

  "This pce looks good for spending the night. We should make a shelter here and start the fire, so we will not freeze to death."

  As Xui Kao started pulling away the yer of snow to prepare for the tent, Mei Lin pulled out a crystal knife and cut both his Achilles tendons. He fell into the snow, and Mei Lin stepped on his back to keep him down, so he would not try to move away.

  "Ahhhh. What the fuck did you doing! We have a deal!"

  Mei Lin stepped on his head and pinned it into the snow, so he could not speak. As he was still struggling, Mei Lin could not support herself and Xia and let her go into the snow. She was not able to support herself anymore and fell. Mei Lin moved hear Xia and whispered in her ear.

  "This bandit is the one who killed your brother, Xia. What are we going to do about it? We can't let him be with us and wait until he will take advantage of the fact, that we will go to sleep."

  Xia immediately started crying. The bandit was still solidly pinned into the ground tried to defend himself and struggled to get up. Xia rolled in the snow and saw the knife that had fallen from her clothes next to her. She watched the knife, and Mei Lin let the bandit move his head slightly so he could see Xia looking at it. She quickly picked up the knife, she had gotten from Mei Lin, and as Mei Lin buried the bandit's head in the snow, Xia stabbed him in the back. She didn't manage to kill him because she hit him in the side, causing him to shout. Xia prepared to stab him again, but Mei Lin quickly stopped her.