Except, the mysterious tanned teen had too much filth on him.

Upon meeting the pond water, dark wisps quickly spread through the pond water.

“Sister, sister, Ding Ding is thirsty. I want to drink water too!”

A tender young voice of a little girl suddenly sounded from the basket.

When the “young man” heard the voice, he quickly climbed up from the water. He scooped up a handful of clear water and lifted the tattered cloth from the basket.

There was a seemingly pale jade-carved little girl in it. She looked to be only two or three and had her hair tied up like goat horns. Her large eyes were filled with innocence and were as clear as black pearls. Her pale and chubby cheeks and dazed expression made her look extremely adorable.

Ding Hao could not help but immediately think of his sister Ding Ke’er when he saw the intelligent and cute girl.

The little girl shrieked in joy and lowered her head to take a few sips of water. She reached out her pink little tongue and licked her lips, moaning in comfort.

The little girl turned around and saw the fierce warriors beside them and gave a startled shout. She shrunk back into the basket fearfully as if the ugly little basket could shield her from all dangers in the world.

It was at this moment when Ding Hao was surprised to discover that the filthy “young man” was actually a girl. The pond water washed away the mud on her arms and legs, revealing beautiful pale, jade-like skin which was like sheep-fat jade and eye-catching.

“No wonder she has such a pair of beautiful eyes.” Ding Hao sighed. “Just a passing glance is memorable enough. Just the pair of eyes is already more beautiful than that girl in white called Li Yiruo. There are indeed many odd people coming here today.”

Then, a piercing sound suddenly rang.

“Ah, why did the water suddenly become so dirty?”

Li Yiruo who was playing with her maidservants suddenly shouted as if she had encountered snakes or scorpions. She jumped out of the pond with a look of disgust and anger.

Ding Hao looked over in surprise.

He saw the proud little swan, Li Yiruo was with an incensed look on her face.

She looked along the filthy water and seemed to have discovered something. She suddenly pointed at the filthy girl who was near her and yelled sharply, “You bitch, who allow you to wash your hands here? How dare you dirty the water. Go to hell. Didn’t you see me playing in the water here? Did you do it deliberately?”

The mysterious girl paused and lowered her head, feeling wronged.

She did not try to defend herself at all. She did not speak and quickly walked out of the water barefooted.

After the pond water washed off the dirt on her, it revealed clean and flawless skin and the wounds made by branches and rocks on her journey. There were traces of blood, and the contrast of the red blood on her stunning pale-skin was a visual whammy that made one feel dizzy. One could not help but feel pity for her.

“Humph, you’re just going to walk out? You don’t even know how to apologize; are you mute? You stupid bitch, you really know no boundaries. Qiu Shuang, hit her a hundred times viciously. Teach this bitch a lesson.”

When Li Yiruo discovered that the mysterious girl’s skin was as tender and pale as hers, she did not know why she felt angry. She felt a sudden surge of jealousy and her anger erupted. She spoke harshly and ordered the maidservant, Qiu Shuang, beside her to take out her whip and hit the mysterious girl.

Slap!

The maidservant Qiu Shuang wore a warrior costume and had some martial arts background. She waved her hand and her horsewhip cast a shadow, snapping viciously on the girl’s back. Tattered cloth flew and fresh blood flowed.

The mysterious young girl must not know any martial arts. She did not have any time to react and she stumbled before falling to the ground.

Smack! Smack!

Qiu Shuang the maidservant waved the whip in her hand.

She was only 16 or 17 years old, and was at the prime of her life where she should be innocent and beautiful. However, the gloating expression on her face was not befitting of her age. She flicked her wrist and the long whip fell down viciously without any compassion.

While the mysterious girl tried to evade, the long whip snapped on her, leaving behind a startling bloody mark.

But she did not utter a sound throughout the entire process as if she was really mute. She did not yell in pain either.

“Boo hoo hoo, don’t hit my sister. Don’t hit her. Boo hoo hoo, don’t hit my sister…” The dazed little girl with her hair tied up like goat horns finally climbed out of the basket bravely. Even though she was cried loudly because she was frightened and tears rolled down her face, she had climbed over bravely. She wanted to use her tiny body to block the whips for her sister.

The maidservant called Qiu Shuang, however, looked at her sinisterly and viciously. She did not stop at all and rose the whip at the little girl.

Should the whip really snap down, the little girl of about two or three would have her life endangered.

Ding Hao shook his head. He could not watch any longer.

He immediately activated the “Stunning steps”. His body flickered and like a wisp of smoke, he immediately stopped in front of the little girl with goat-horn braids. He opened his hands and casually reached out in the air and caught the whip deftly. His wrist shook and a dark power flowed out, pushing the maidservant Qiu Shuang back three or four steps.

“You won’t even let a little girl off. This is too much!”

Ding Hao said, frowning.

The sudden change attracted the attention of many.

The maidservant Qiu Shuang was startled and took a step back. She was stunned and looked at Ding Hao from top to bottom until she saw that he was wearing a robe made of rough cloth, a look of disdain appeared on her face, like an enraged mother cat. She laughed coldly and scolded, “Pfft, who are you, you poor lad? How dare to interfere in the matters of Miss Yiruo? I shall teach you bastard a lesson as well!”

With that, she threw down her horsewhip and pulled out a lancet from her waist with a clang and charged toward Ding Hao.

She must have known that the whip would not do much harm to Ding Hao, so she chose to use her blade directly.

The blade was silver and sharp. It felt cold and sinister. It charged at Ding Hao, attacking his chest. She wanted to kill him.

Ding Hao felt angry and wanted to show the proud and vicious maidservant what he could do. He pulled out his rusty sword from his back. He waved it lightly and a red light shone and dispersed.

“Clang!”

There was a thin clang as the blades met, causing an eruption of sparks.

Qiu Shuang’s curved blade flew out of her hands.

Then, she only felt a shock to her abdomen. She felt as if she was flying in the clouds as was tossed into the air for more than ten meters and then fell to the ground brutally. She could not get up even after a long time and looked extremely pathetic.

Meanwhile, Ding Hao’s rusty sword had already been returned to its place on his back.

Ding Hao had already gone easy on her and did not unleash his full strength. He had only used the back of the sword to hit Qiu Hong’s abdomen and had not hurt her.

Otherwise, with Ding Hao’s sword abilities, he could have killed the proud and vicious maidservant in mere moments.

The mysterious girl hugged the little girl with goat-horn braids tightly and looked at Ding Hao’s back. Nobody noticed that her beautiful and stubborn eyes finally flashed with a trace of tenderness and light.

“Great sword skills!” The burly young man Xiao Chengxuan watched the scene that had happened earlier and cheered loudly.

After all, one could easily see whether a person was capable just by a single move.

Nobody had taken much notice of Ding Hao earlier. They had only felt that the handsome young man’s disposition was slightly special. But then they saw Ding Hao pull out his sword, use it, and then keep it in a single swift move naturally. It was not very fast, but it was difficult to understand the trajectory of the sword. It was then when they knew that they had been wrong. The young man’s understanding of swordsmanship was very deep.