Warring States Survival Guide
Chapter 171 - 117: She Wants to Mock Them Severely!

Chapter 171: Chapter 117: She Wants to Mock Them Severely!

Ah Man, the "rising star" of the Koka Life-saving Style, the sole master of the top-secret "Yang Technique"—even though she was born with the martial abilities of a wet noodle, spends her days scheming how to gun down masters with an Iron Cannon, and is a veritable scoundrel with not a shred of Martial Virtue, you’d still need real skills to land a sneak attack on her.

She was sitting on her horse when the wind rustled past her ear, and she instinctively snapped out a "Life-extending Secret Technique - Black Tortoise Head Shrinking." The pebble whizzed right past her little hair tuft, and she instantly flew into a rage, jerked her horse around, and bellowed in the direction the stone had come from: "Which dumb beetle is this, so shameless, who dares ambush me? Got tired of living, huh?"

She was no street hooligan Ah Man anymore—now she was a key pillar of the Nozawa family, a bona fide East Factory Director. If anyone tried to ambush her now, they might as well be slapping the face of "Wanjin’s Boss, Lord Nozawa Saburo." Blood was definitely going to be shed!

The roadside brush didn’t make a sound. After a moment, it rustled faintly, and half a sentence drifted out: "The eyebrows match, it really is that old bas...mmph, let go, stop covering my mouth, your hand’s all muddy!"

Ah Man’s bean-shaped brows twitched, but she didn’t get mad. Without a word, she pulled out her Iron Cannon and began loading powder. She waved a hand to signal Wen and the Lang Faction kids not to panic—not bandits, just familiar faces showing up.

A moment later, two kids a bit younger than her crawled out of the bushes—they rocked the same little-boy hairstyle, hair tufts, and straight bangs. Each had a short-handled Shuriken tucked at the waist. It was none other than Ah Qian and Ah Yu, the inheritors of the Life-saving Style’s "Yin Technique."

When they scrambled out, they didn’t approach the road. Staying five or six meters away, Ah Qian eyed her uncertainly and called out, "Old—Ah Man, is that really you!? What’re you doing here? And... and looking so..."

Her literacy wasn’t great—worse than Ah Man’s back in the day—so she got tongue-tied. After all, Ah Man had really changed a ton.

For over a year now, Ah Man had been living the good life: huge bowls of rice and fat chicken every meal, with a side hobby of deep-fried everything. Her cheeks had lost all that malnourished look, now smooth, plump, and healthy with a rosy blush. Her hair, once a tangled crow’s nest, was still tied up in a little tuft, but scrupulously washed and brushed till even the strands gleamed like crow feathers in the sun.

Even her iconic bean-shaped brows looked a little thicker than before, even more eye-catching.

Her clothes looked sharp too—a bright blue, fine cotton undercoat, a dark blue haori decorated with bold white gourd patterns, a wide golden silk sash at her waist, with brown hakama pants below, all while riding a massive, imposing steed. Never mind the pricey horse, even her threads screamed top shelf—fine material, perfect cut, definitely not sold at peasant prices.

Really hard to recognize! Buddha needs gold, a human needs clothes. With Ah Man dressed like this, compared to her past beggar look, she was a new person. If it weren’t for those signature brows—could compete with a Shiba Inu’s—Ah Qian wouldn’t have believed Ah Yu, wouldn’t have chucked that pebble to test, and even now, standing face to face, she could barely wrap her head around it.

Ah Man caught her look, glanced down at herself, and felt a tiny pang of regret that she’d left the armor at home today. If only she’d worn that decked-out, super flashy Armor—loaded up with bling and gadgets—plus the Tachi and Wakizashi, that would’ve dropped their jaws for sure. Harano had gotten it for her, but since this road was usually safe, she didn’t bother with armor for routine trips. Missing the chance to show off to old friends—yeah, she felt it a bit.

Eh, whatever. This look was more than enough to leave them gobsmacked and green with envy.

Ah Man lifted her chin, nudged her horse a few steps closer, ran her gaze up and down Ah Qian and Ah Yu, then burst out laughing: "Of course it’s me! But it’s been a minute, huh—you two little bastards haven’t grown up at all, not even a bit of ambition sprouted?"

Nothing in this world feels better than flexing in front of your old pals. Right now, she was living the dream.

Ah Qian bristled right away. What she hated most was Ah Man playing the elder, ready to yell back. But Ah Yu tugged her sleeve and whispered in her ear, making her eyes go wide as she realized: "You old bastard haven’t come back for ages, turns out you ran off to play dog for someone! No wonder you’re suddenly riding a horse!"

"Eat donkey dung, you fertilizer beetle! You two little bastards are the ones playing dogs! You came here this time just to play dog for the Saito family, didn’t you?!" Ah Man was having none of it, flipping her mood in an instant. She whipped out a fire striker, lit the fuse, and leveled her Iron Cannon at them with a curse. "It’s been over a year since I straightened you out, now your hides are itching again? Dare to talk to me like this? Today I’ll handle the both of you myself, teach you who runs the Life-saving Style!"

Back in the day, when those two brats ganged up on her, even she couldn’t handle it. But now, it was a different story—a couple of little turds who didn’t even have armor, and with an Iron Cannon in her hands? Offing them would be like butchering chickens.

Ah Qian’s eyes went wide at the gaping black muzzle, genuinely startled for a second, but she held her ground—had to save face. She shouted, "Who are you trying to scare? I don’t believe you’d actually pull the trigger!"

"You don’t think I’d dare?!" Ah Man threw her head back and howled with laughter. Then her face dropped, bangs casting a shadow over her eyes. No more words—she just squeezed the trigger, ready to give her a lesson in respecting her elders. The Iron Cannon had zero hesitation, thundered out a massive boom, and belched a rolling cloud of thick gray-white smoke, straight up swallowing Ah Qian and Ah Yu, those two tiny troublemakers, whole.