Unfamiliar Autonomy

The next day, Lei Mingxing woke up surprisingly refreshed.

She leisurely stretched her body, only sparing the corpse on the ground a short glance. And the reason was to confirm that she did, in fact, use her own Qi.

Happiness filled Lei Mingxing's heart and she started humming a light tune, while putting on the clothes she had found yesterday.

As expected, they didn't fit her that well... the only area she actually filled was the chest, she thought depressedly.

At least the length was alright... for once she was happy about her tall height that stood out among her other siblings. Even counting the princes, she was still the tallest.

Although, this probably added to the list of reasons for why her siblings had shunned her their entire life.

Lei Mingxing put her hair in a loose bun before she grabbed the bag of money and walked to the door, leaving the house.

She didn't feel guilty at all for the mercenary's death, why would she? In her eyes, he was just a little more filth in this world.

In fact, her only regret was the fact that she couldn't find any shoes that fit her in the mercenary's home. But this just meant that her next goal was to find a shoemaker and buy herself a pair before she moved on to get some actually fitting clothes.

After exiting the house, she found herself at the center of what would be considered the slums area of Dark Spirit Town.

No wonder nobody showed up no matter how much the mercenary screamed in pain. Caring about other people was a luxury only a lucky few enjoyed in the slums.

She felt some occasional gazes on her but continued confidently on her way. She had no idea where she was going, but at some point, she should reach the main market of dark Spirit Town, right?

Lei Mingxing walked around for a while, but instead of finding the market area of the town, she instead came across a run-down shoe store, so she decided to take a look inside.

A small bell rang as she stepped into the shop. The store's interior was just as messy and shabby as its exterior, it also exuded a slightly strange smell, not quite a stench but not pleasant either.

Glancing around curiously, Lei Mingxing stepped in front of the store owner behind the counter which she had almost missed between the mountains of different shoes. A hint of nervosity rose in her heart the closer she got.

This was the first time in both her lives that she tried buying something herself. Using all of her courage, Lei Mingxing addressed the shop owner.

"Hello, I would like to buy some shoes."

The old owner grunted, without looking up from the thick book in his hand.

"And? What do you want me to do?"

Lei Mingxing fell silent.

Yeah, what did she want him to do?

A small blush rose to her cheeks and she pressed a hand against her face in embarrassment, swiftly turning around to look for a fitting pair on her own.

The owner snorted once through his nose, unbothered by her interruption.

Lei Mingxing looked through the stacks of different shoes, entirely focused on finding a fitting pair so she didn't have to think about her shameful behavior just now.

About twenty minutes passed before she found a suitable pair for herself. She pulled out a pair of comfortable-looking slender black boots with red decorations from beneath the shoe pile. Satisfied with her choice, Lei Mingxing took the shoes to the counter.

"These ones please."

The owner glanced at the shoes, to see what she chose and how much she would have to pay. But after looking at the boots, the owner also shot her a glance with a raised eyebrow.

Lei Mingxing subconsciously began to feel embarrassed again, slowly turning red.

The owner's staring continued for a whole minute, squinting slightly as if he had bad eyesight.

"Fifteen yuan," the owner finally relented.

After hearing the prince, Lei Mingxing quickly pulled out the money bag, took out the yuan and put them into the owner's wrinkled hand.

Having completed their transaction, she simply grabbed the shoes and swiftly fled the shop.

Outside the store, she didn't feel the shop owner's sharp gaze anymore and unconsciously heaved a sigh of relief.

She quickly put on her new shoes. They fit snuggly on her feet and didn't cause her any discomfort, unlike her original shoes which she had ditched in the woods.

They had probably already been taken away by some beast in the meantime...

Well, she wouldn't miss them anyway.

Now with her comfortable shoes on her feet, Lei Mingxing walked much more relaxedly. She strolled through the alleys and streets, memorizing her path, just in case.

Suddenly, Lei Mingxing heard the faint sound of a familiar voice from around the corner.

She halted in her steps, listening more carefully with her eyebrows furrowed in concentration.

"...can't do this! I've done everything you asked me to all these years!"

Lei Mingxing sucked in a breath, so it really was the teenager's voice! What a coincidence that they met again so soon.

She strained her ears to hear their conversation a bit more clearly.

The same male voice she had heard from the carriage hissed threateningly in response.

"So what? Don't forget, you are also just simple merchandise, only that nobody had offered the right price until now."

The sound of clanking metal and muffled shouts reached her ears after these words.

"But don't worry, your buyers paid one gold coin, there are probably from some rich family, so you won't have to suffer as much."

The voice cackled in an evil tone while slowly fading away and left was only the noise of someone struggling desperately.

Lei Mingxing fell silent, but she was already pondering her next course of action.

Clearly, the man in the carriage had betrayed the teenager, in just the one and a half days that had passed since Lei Mingxing first met them. From what she overheard she concluded, that the teenager was on the verge of being sold off to some wealthy people, but obviously unsatisfied with this, he had retaliated against the man and was now restrained in some way.

Now the question that remained was, how would she help him?

Her chance to return the favor she owed had arrived and she intended on keeping her word. Furthermore, he was probably her biggest benefactor after her friend in some way, gifting her the invaluable chance to cultivate. Even if it was unintentional.

It would be utterly shameful of her to disregard all of this.

Lei Mingxing sneakily glanced around the corner.

There was a medium-sized tent set up in the alley, looking extremely shady at only the first glance.

The muffled shouting and struggling had stopped at some point.

So, Lei Mingxing had no idea where the teenager was located exactly, her only clue, that he was somewhere inside the tent.

She silently moved to the tent entrance, glancing around her, always on the lookout for the man who had restrained the teenager.

Lei Mingxing was no fool, she had realized that the man must be a cultivator that was capable of overwhelming the teenager who had so easily crushed the spiritual snake to death with his bare hands. This meant a direct confrontation would be very unfavorable for Lei Mingxing.

After confirming that he wasn't around, Lei Mingxing lifted the tent's cover slightly and crawled inside.

What greeted her were several cages, some empty and some filled with humans of all genders and ages.

Her heart began to pound faster, this scene evoking some bad memories before she shook them off, replacing the fear she felt with anger instead.

She really wanted to rush out and burn that b*stard to death, but that was obviously a bad move. Settling on suppressing her anger, she slowly crawled between the cages, hiding behind their iron frames, looking for her target.

A few weak eyes fell on her, which made her quite anxious, but she did her best to ignore them, promising that she would think off a way to free them after she found the teenager.

Then finally she found her target,

-in the center of the tent.

Small theater:

Store Owner after seeing the shoes Lei Mingxing chose: Very high-quality shoes! This girl has a good eye!