Bang! Bang!
Before the two could utter any harsh words, their vision blurred, and they were instantly flung away by a tremendous force.
By the time they regained their senses, they could only lie on the ground, groaning incessantly.
"Where did you come from? Where are you going?"
A clear, cold female voice sounded from above them.
The two painfully looked up, only to see the woman who had been in the blacksmith shop moments ago now standing before them, holding a hammer and glaring at them menacingly.
"Heroine, heroine, spare our lives, we were merely passing through your esteemed territory."
"Yes, we are wanderers, always traveling, with no ill intentions."
Both of them had practiced martial arts and could naturally discern that this woman was no ordinary fighter. They immediately lowered their voices and begged for mercy.
"Wanderers?"
Xu Yi chuckled lightly, picked up the swords dropped by the two, and flicked her fingers against the sword bodies. Instantly, a long and clear sword cry rang out.
"This precious sword requires the finest refined iron to forge. Ordinary wanderers would not possess such a treasure. If you still refuse to tell the truth, then I shall have to keep you both here as fertilizer for my plants. What do you think?"
The pleas of the two abruptly stopped, and they quickly retorted, "We brothers found this precious sword on the road, it doesn't belong to us."
"You refuse a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit."
Xu Yi raised her foot and kicked the person closest to her, sending him tumbling several times in mid-air. He spat out a mouthful of blood and fainted.
The miserable state of his companion directly intimidated the other.
"Don't hit me! I'll talk, I'll talk!" The man wailed, begging for mercy.
It turned out they were spies from a neighboring country.
Recently, the An Kingdom and the Northern Kingdom had been in constant friction. Due to the gradually cooling weather, the Northern Kingdom, with its high and cold terrain, required a large amount of resources for winter. Thus, they intended to raid the An Kingdom for grain.
The Northern Kingdom's plan was to launch a surprise attack, seizing whatever they could and destroying anything they couldn't. These spies were naturally the vanguards.
Once they returned and reported the situations of several border cities in the An Kingdom, it would be the day the Northern Kingdom's army attacked.
Xu Yi let out a cold laugh, and under the man's terrified gaze, she delivered another kick.
After the man also fainted, Xu Yi returned to the blacksmith shop, took out a bundle of rope, tied the two securely, and then threw them into the yamen. Along with them, she left a letter stating their identities.
After completing these tasks, Xu Yi still felt uneasy. She then wrote a letter to Xu Zhi before finally feeling at ease.
After leaving the imperial palace that day, she had traveled extensively, eventually choosing to settle in this small border town.
She hadn't originally decided what she wanted to do until she saw the blacksmith shop that was ready to be sold. She suddenly became interested.
She spent money to buy the blacksmith shop and began to teach herself blacksmithing.
She seemed to have quite a talent in this area. Before long, she had completely mastered the techniques of blacksmithing and discovered something quite peculiar.
That was that the sound of her hammering seemed to have a calming effect.
Previously, the blacksmith of this shop was disliked by the surrounding villagers due to the noisy sound of his hammering, forcing him to sell at a low price.
However, she never encountered any such trouble. Instead, many villagers came to say that ever since they heard her hammering, they could sleep more soundly.
Therefore, from then on, Xu Yi's blacksmithing was rarely restricted by time. Sometimes, when inspiration struck, she would even get up at the crack of dawn to forge.
When these two came to cause trouble, Xu Yi noticed the strong aura of malevolence they carried. This aura only lingered when one had committed many killings.
And only such wicked individuals would be unaffected by the sound of hammering.
Therefore, Xu Yi subdued the two. She had initially thought they were notorious bandits on the run, but unexpectedly, they turned out to be spies from an enemy country.
She was now just a commoner, and such matters naturally had to be handed over to the yamen.
After throwing them into the yamen, she paid them no further mind, continuing to be a law-abiding blacksmith.
It wasn't until the devastating news of the nearby city's fall reached her that she realized something was amiss.
That night, she broke into the county yamen, only to find the county magistrate hanging himself.
Xu Yi picked up the confession letter on the table and only then learned that after the yamen took the two into custody that day, the magistrate had been bribed with a large sum of money and had directly released them. He had also concealed the matter of the spies, thus leading to a great disaster.
He knew his guilt was profound and had died to atone for his sins, leaving behind an entire city of innocent civilians.
Xu Yi had no choice but to personally go to the county deputy's residence, find him, and hand him the confession letter, urging him to send people to guard the city immediately.
Unexpectedly, this county deputy was also useless. Besides covering his face and weeping, he could think of no solutions.
Xu Yi recalled the tragic scenes heard from the neighboring city's fall, and her heart ignited with anger.
Relying on her superior martial arts skills, she directly tied up the county deputy. With the yamen leaderless, they could only follow her commands.
While leading the yamen runners and civilians in setting up various defenses to guard the city, she sent people to report to the capital, regretting her inability to be in two places at once.
On the day the Northern Kingdom's army attacked, Xu Yi had still not received any reinforcements from the capital. She could only lead the yamen runners and civilians, who had never even held a saber, in a tenacious resistance.
Xu Yi alone could contend against a hundred fierce generals of the Northern Kingdom. Coupled with the traps she had laid, she managed to hold back the Northern Kingdom's army for five days.
It was not until the sixth day that she finally received the delayed reply from the capital.
The letter was written by Xu Zhi, stating that due to the An Kingdom's empty treasury, they were unable to dispatch troops for support. Thus, he advised Xu Yi to abandon the defense immediately.
He also said that the Northern Kingdom was merely after grain and wealth; they should just give it to them and not offer any futile resistance, which would only harm the harmony between the two nations.
Xu Yi could not describe her feelings when she saw the letter. She felt a surge of rage spreading from the depths of her heart to her limbs, as if she had been thrown into a blazing furnace, in pain everywhere yet nowhere to vent it.
She then glanced at the corpses of the civilians on the city wall, which had been there for many days but no one could move, and felt a profound sorrow in her heart.
She knew that with her abilities, if she wanted to leave, no one could stop her. However, the moment she left, the city gates she had held for so many days would be breached, and the elderly, weak, women, and children in the city would surely suffer inhuman treatment.
Xu Yi couldn't understand why her father, the ruler of this land, could stand by and watch his subjects suffer.
Her younger brother, who had received imperial education since childhood, could so easily utter words like abandoning the city and fleeing for one's life.
She thought, she couldn't leave.
Whether it was under the title of the Grand Princess or as a common citizen, she could not abandon the people of the city.
As she resolved to share the fate of the city's people, she suddenly felt a peculiar power surge within her.
This power was different from the internal energy she felt during martial arts training; it was more like a power that had never appeared before yet felt familiar.
It was precisely because of this power that in the subsequent defense battles, she fought with increasing valor, and in the end, she actually managed to repel the Northern Kingdom's army.
She defended the city and became the guardian deity of the people.
Xu Yi's name spread rapidly and uncontrollably to various places.