"Hehe, Mother, you believe me now, right? Little Black wouldn't lie to you."
Hearing Little Black's praise, Shui Dingdang, still kneeling on the ground, immediately showed a proud expression and giggled.
"You keep kneeling. Little Black, if possible, may I ask for more details?"
The woman in the red dress snapped.
It scared Shui Dingdang into pulling her head back and sticking out her tongue.
"Of course! Anything I know, Madam, please ask away."
Little Black patted its chest, looking utterly confident.
It knew that as long as it could please this mother and daughter, it wouldn't have to worry for the rest of its life.
"First question: Where did this villain you speak of come from? Where was he planning to go? And where are the original homes of those infants he stole?"
The red-dressed woman narrowed her eyes and asked seriously.
"This... he... came from the Great Barren Mountain...
Wuji Cliff! Someone there was selling infants! The ones he stole were children from the Great Barren Mountain!"
Hearing the question, Little Black panicked instantly, stammering and muttering nonsense.
"Hmph, Great Barren Mountain and Wuji Cliff, you say. Second question: How did you know he was stealing and selling infants, rather than just watching or caring for them? Ordinary villains would mostly drug the infants to prevent them from crying and attracting officials. Why didn't this person do so?"
After listening to Little Black's incoherent, utterly hypocritical lies,
The red-dressed woman's eyes instantly sharpened considerably.
Her tone also became sharper, carrying a trace of anger as she spoke solemnly.
"I... I just knew! He's a bad person! Otherwise... otherwise why would he ambush me? He must have a guilty conscience!"
Little Black panicked even more internally and hurriedly defended itself.
"What a 'just knew'! What a 'guilty conscience'! Hmph, Little Black, you dare deceive the Phoenix Martial Arts School, frame an innocent person, and mislead my daughter? Such audacity!"
On the other hand, after hearing Little Black's truth-twisting, nonsensical defense, the red-dressed woman finally could no longer suppress the anger in her heart and shouted sharply.
'You... you're framing a good person! Everything I said is absolutely true!'
Little Black was terrified by the woman's sharp shout, a few strands of its yellow hair falling out.
However, its inherently shameless nature gave it the courage to brazen it out and continue defending itself.
This was a busy street, and the Phoenix Martial Arts School was a renowned righteous school. If they couldn't produce evidence, they couldn't do anything to it.
"Still trying to quibble even now?"
The red-dressed woman sneered incessantly.
Then, she turned her gaze to the trembling Shui Dingdang and said, "You useless, foolish girl, watch carefully and remember this lesson. Before acting chivalrously in the future, think first about whether you're being used as a pawn!"
After saying this, the red-dressed woman flashed forward, a cold gleam in her hand.
The tip of her sword traced a dazzling rainbow-like light, pointing directly at Little Black's throat.
"If he really were a villain who wanted to ambush you, with this sword, your head would have hit the ground a thousand times over!"
The red-dressed woman held the sword in her right hand, her voice firm and resounding.
That sword, taken from Hongmao, was three feet of gleaming steel, faintly retaining a rainbow-like glow.
A slight shake made the sword body hum, the sound clear and bright.
A casual swipe could pierce superior plate armor and sever bear hide and tiger bone.
Such a sword was undoubtedly a divine weapon that could slice through iron like mud and cut hair blown across its edge.
How could someone possessing such a divine sword be a villain who stole and sold infants?
Scum?
And how could such a person lower themselves to ambush someone like Little Black?
The red-dressed woman had known something was wrong from the start.
She had deliberately staged this scene to teach her daughter a lesson about the dangers of the martial world.
"You... you mean... he didn't trick me? I was the one who misunderstood him?"
After watching this entire process, Shui Dingdang's expression turned ashen, her face full of dismay.
She had thought she was doing a good deed.
Acting chivalrously, like the real Hero Hongmao.
Who would have thought she had been misled by a vile character and mistakenly accused a truly good person.
'Wait!'
Recalling the earlier events, Shui Dingdang seemed to remember something.
Her pupils instantly contracted sharply, and her whole body trembled uncontrollably.
"Mother, is this sword really as powerful as you say?"
"Of course. Our Phoenix Martial Arts School was once glorious. At its peak, I've seen countless divine weapons. But a sword like this, which generates its own sword aura, hums to protect its owner, and with every movement seems aided by divine power, accompanied by a rolling rainbow glow... this is the first time I've seen such a thing."
The red-dressed woman nodded, a strange light flashing in her eyes, her face full of awe.
It was no exaggeration to say that even the divine weapons collected by the Phoenix Martial Arts School at its peak were far inferior to this Changhong sword before them.
It had transcended the category of 'mortal weapons'.
Nourished by its master, it had long developed a faint spirituality. It was a true divine sword!
"It's over. It's all over."
"He wasn't a bad person. And he had such an incredible sword... plus that appearance... the more I think about it, the more familiar it seems."
Shui Dingdang covered her face, muttering despondently.
"Who exactly is he? Dingdang, you didn't offend some big shot, did you?"
Seeing her daughter like this, the red-dressed woman's heart also skipped a beat, and she asked with some trepidation.
"More than just a big shot."
Shui Dingdang looked up blankly, her eyes red.
"He's Hongmao! The real Hero Hongmao!!!"
Boom!
As Shui Dingdang's words fell, it was like a thunderclap in the red-dressed woman's ears. She felt as if the sky had collapsed.
Even though she had hidden profound internal energy and was no weak martial artist, at this moment, her legs felt weak, and she powerlessly knelt and sat on the ground.
It's over.
This time, it's really over.
'That's Hongmao!'
'The Hongmao who uprooted the Demonic Sect that once ruled the Central Plains martial world with an iron fist!'
'The Hongmao who crushed the Rat Tribe's conspiracies, resolved the Black Dragon crisis, and left behind countless legends!'
'Offending him...'
'Even if Hongmao himself didn't hold a grudge, his thousands upon thousands of followers in the martial world would furiously charge forth and flatten the Phoenix Martial Arts School!'
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Just as the red-dressed woman and Shui Dingdang were panicking, sitting powerless on the ground, violent pounding sounds came from the entrance of the Phoenix Martial Arts School.
"Madam! Madam! This is terrible, Madam!"
From outside the courtyard, a middle-aged man, hunched over and looking aged, hurried in.
"There's a man at the entrance of the Phoenix Martial Arts School! His demonic power reaches the heavens, his body swirling with black energy, comparable to Heixin Hu reborn!"
"He declared that our Phoenix Martial Arts School must hand over a black chicken with three yellow hairs on its head and a girl in blue with a phoenix mask. If we don't hand them over within the time it takes one incense stick to burn, he will destroy our Phoenix Martial Arts School!"
The middle-aged man's face was frantic, full of terror.