Upon hearing the arrogant shouting outside, Bingdi's eyes lit up. She pinched Cheng Ying's cheek hard and said,
"Lazybones, get up! Business is knocking!"
"Don't bug me! I just dreamed that Saber sneaked into my room at night… wake me up after something actually happens!" Cheng Ying mumbled groggily in his sleep.
Then—thud! he was unceremoniously tossed out of the carriage.
Just as he was about to sit up and rub his head, Bingdi's petite figure leapt over him and landed in front. From his angle, the moment was so breathtaking he silently cheered,
"Cameraman! Give that man an extra chicken leg tonight!"
Unaware, Bingdi flicked her twin tails behind her, placed a hand on her hip, pointed at the man who had been yelling, and said in a childish voice, delivering the line Cheng Ying had taught her:
"You're asking for death!"
"Pfft—hahahaha!"
Seeing a little loli solemnly spit out such a line, the bandit from Qinglang Fort immediately burst into pig-like laughter. His gang also erupted in mocking laughter.
One of them, clearly a low-ranking leader, stepped forward and summoned a staff, two soul rings—one white, one yellow—floating around it.
"Little girl, you know what these are? These are soul rings—trophies from soul beasts I personally hunted! Do you know what a two-ring Soul Master means? I alone could wipe out all these weaklings! And there are five of us like me!"
He had no idea that he had just signed his own death warrant. Cheng Ying, now up and brushing himself off, silently stamped a "dead man" label on his forehead.
"Finished talking?"
The little loli remained with one hand on her hip, but now the other was pointing right at his nose.
"Then you can go die now."
The next moment—silence.
The bandits chuckled again, thinking she was just a kid bluffing. But they had only laughed twice before they froze in horror.
The low-ranking leader toppled over like a statue crack! and shattered into pieces.
The laughter died instantly.
Everyone stared at Bingdi in shock. In the next second, every last one of the Qinglang Fort bandits turned and fled leaders and lackeys alike none daring to look back.
But it was already too late.
None of them could even see what Bingdi had done. All they saw was every bandit freezing in place, and then, one by one, collapsing like broken statues.
"What are you waiting for? Loot the corpses!"
Bingdi barked, making the playing-dead Cheng Ying groan as he reluctantly stood and started looting the bodies one by one.
No doubt, this was how they'd been able to afford food, drink, and hired transportation in the human world. Their cultivation levels were so high that even one- or two-ring Soul Masters couldn't sense how dangerous they were, so there were always some blind fools who ended up like these bandits.
Cheng Ying didn't feel much guilt. Before he transmigrated, he'd been an ordinary guy who would've been terrified at the sight of a corpse. But Bingdi's killings were bloodless and surreal. After a couple times, it felt more like picking frozen meat than anything else.
As the two went about looting, the members of the merchant caravan stood frozen, not daring to move a muscle. It wasn't until they were about to return to the cargo wagon that the caravan's pudgy manager nervously shuffled over.
"Thank you both for saving us! As powerful Soul Masters, you shouldn't have to sit in a cargo wagon. Please, come with me—there's a separate, more comfortable carriage just up front."
He gestured toward a clearly more luxurious carriage ahead.
Bingdi glanced at Cheng Ying. Having embarrassed herself so many times in the human world, she was now used to letting him make the decisions.
"Well, if you insist," Cheng Ying agreed readily. He'd long had enough of that bone-rattling cargo ride. Even a tractor back in his old world would've been more comfortable.
The caravan manager respectfully helped them into the new carriage. A short while later, he lifted the curtain again and handed in two pouches of gold soul coins.
"Please don't be modest. This is just a token of appreciation from the crew. Without your help, we'd probably be dead in the wilderness by now. We hope you'll continue to look after us on the rest of the journey."
Before Cheng Ying could respond, Bingdi snatched the pouches and began counting the coins like a little miser.
Seeing the terrifyingly powerful little girl take the money without a word, the manager stood awkwardly at the door, unsure of what to do.
"It's fine, don't overthink it," Cheng Ying reassured him.
"If we run into danger again, just call out—we're not the kind to watch people die."
The manager lit up and gratefully retreated.
"Hey, big bug," Bingdi said, hugging the money bags, eyes gleaming,
"How about we make a living escorting caravans like this? A hundred gold soul coins! We robbed all those bandits and barely got two hundred total!"
"You're dreaming!" Cheng Ying sighed.
If he'd known she was this kind of person, he wouldn't have bothered coming up with so many excuses. Still, he understood—this change in her only came after they entered the human world. If he hadn't lured her here, she probably would've just eaten him like any soul beast would.
Lost in thought, Cheng Ying took a single gold coin from the pouch under Bingdi's death glare and said,
"This… is a month's living expenses for an average person."
He tossed the coin back in, then pointed at the pouch.
"This… is how much it costs to hire a two-ring Soul Master." Then, he tapped her forehead.
"So, what do you think a powerhouse who can crush a Titled Douluo with one hand is worth?"
Hearing that, Bingdi glanced at the pouch, looked at herself, then suddenly stood up.
"Wait where are you going?" Cheng Ying's forehead broke out in a cold sweat as he quickly grabbed her small hand.
"To find the caravan manager, of course! He still owes me a million gold soul coins—I'm just here to collect!"
"You hold it right there!" Cheng Ying yanked her back.
"We're just hitching a ride! Getting paid at all is already a bonus! I just meant don't treat this like a mercenary job! No one can afford to hire you anyway!"
He wiped the sweat from his forehead.
Bingdi didn't exactly have a human sense of morality if she got into an argument, she might really wipe out the entire caravan.
It took a long and serious promise about helping her make money in the future to finally calm her down, sparing the caravan from a massacre.
After all the bickering, the caravan finally reached Sunset Forest. Cheng Ying declined the manager's invitation to stay and quickly dragged Bingdi who was barely restraining the urge to rob and kill off into the depths of the forest.