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Chapter 27: Confrontation

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The Blood Warrior, Ru-er, had always been calm.

Even when she eliminated her target, she felt no remorse. Her training was of the highest quality, conditioning her mind to the best possible limit. For her, she truly felt her targets deserved their fate, so she never thought too much about them. Aside from her first three kills, she did not have any nightmare. And while she did not eliminate as much as the other Blood Warriors, she truly felt like she could ignore the life of others she did not know.

Yet somehow now, she still moved.

When she saw the half-lady raised her hand, she could feel intense killing intent. While Madam Jiu did not increase her Qi, it was at a level more than enough to kill a normal child. Thus, without even pondering about it, she moved.

Her hands reaching the flying daggers on her chest, she threw them while she was heading towards them. As the daggers flew through the air, Madam Jiu felt a stinging sensation on her back. Moving to the side, she barely evaded the daggers, but one landed on her shoulder.

Three landed on the floor, piercing deep into the land.

"Who dares!"

Madam Jiu howled. Seeing the sudden attack, her six guards were alarmed. Turning to the direction where the attack originated, a shadow flew by them. Seeing it, they dispersed. Yet as they did, some of them shouted. Something sharp landed on three of them, hitting their vital spot.

One on his gut, one on his chest, while another landed right on his left eye. Each dagger pierced through, leaving them little time to ponder about their fate. The Qi infused within was too much for their cultivation to handle, thus their flesh exploded, leaving behind each of them a hole several times larger than the original. One guard, lost his entire head.

Seeing the damage the daggers inflicted upon her subordinates, Madam Jiu's face paled. The dagger which landed on her did not contain such explosive Qi, so she was quick to figure things out. The one who attacked, did not want to kill her.

At least, not yet.

Madam Jiu's remaining three guards threw out everything they had – charms, needles, daggers and flying stars, yet these could only buy her little time. Seeing the blurring figure heading towards her, she grabbed the girl from earlier, choking her neck. Yet despite her desperate action, the figure did not stop.

"Ahhh!"

Almost invisible slashes landed on her two wrists, almost cutting one hand off. A knock landed on her head, she was hurled away from the girl. As she was being thrown, she went directly towards Sir Mo, landing directly on him, yet that was not the end. They went on to hit the walls of the warehouses, shaking the large building from one end to another. Before that actually ended, more daggers came out from Ru-er, finally finishing off the remaining three guards of Madam Jiu.

"…"

"…"

The children's mind went blank, they did not understand what happened. All they could tell was that some light went off, then someone shouted, then the sound of explosions… all around. When the explosions went off, they huddled impulsively. Little did they realized, a ray of light shone, protecting them all from explosions filled with metals and fierce Qi.

...?

When they opened their eyes, the sight was too much to swallow. Clouds of dust everywhere, it was the flour kept inside the storehouse. The whole chaos concluded in an instant.

Now holding the girl, Ru-er realized what she did. Did she move without thinking, just to save this girl? It was bad... no, a disaster! Disobeying her Ancestor's order to just keep watch, her complexion paled. She knew how heavy the crime of her action was.

'Does this constitute a betrayal...? No, I didn't mean to disobey our Ancestor...'

Turning to her back, she realized the dumbfounded men of Sir Mo. His nephew, Guo-er was stuttering, unable to believe what he had witnessed. An expert appearing all of a sudden, killing all of their client's guards? Not to mention, each of them was not weak! As Main-Stars expert, even he was not confident of facing them one on one. Yet this figure, this lady… wiped them all out in one go.

He could not even take one proper breath before everything was over!

So he was quick to guess, that the intruder, was at least a Heavenly Stars Stage expert. And not a new one at that… Was it the police? Did they ask the army for help?

No, even the army would not have such an expert here. There was no army stationed here above regiments, so it was impossible… Thinking again, it was unlikely for it to be the law-enforcement agency. Madam Jiu's backers had roots too deep with the law-enforcement group, so even if they knew of their dealings here, they would not organize an operation against them.

Or was it Madam Jiu's enemy?

As Guo-er's mind was in chaos, thinking who the enemy was, the rest of his men had something coming towards on them. It was merely flicking movements coming from the intruder, yet all his six men were thrown away, sprawling on the ground… The limbs, all mangled.

As for him, he noticed something landed on his chest – a needle.

Realizing the danger of his position, he regulated his Qi, yet it seemed to be stuck. He could not gather strength out of his body. Seeing a strange blue Qi coming from the needle, he was quick to realize the reason for his paralysis. His gaze turned to the lady, face full of dread.

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…

Ru-er heaved a sigh of relief.

While she disobeyed her Ancestor's command on impulse, at the very least she secured the main culprits. With the three of them still alive, she could at least explain herself to him. The punishment should not be so heavy, no? In her sudden attack, she still remembered to hold back in attacking the agent and the two leaders of the smugglers. She left them injured, paralyzed.

Expanding much of her Qi all of a sudden, she finally paused to take a breath.

She checked the child by her side. Soon, she turned her attention to the rest, kneeling by their side, checking them... Yet as she did, she sensed a surge of Qi coming from behind – the rubble where Madam Jiu and the smuggler's leader crushed into!

Her complexion changed, realizing how much of an error she made. An error of judgment, not even considering such a situation... A situation where she actually underestimated the enemy.

…

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Awhile earlier, a few kilometers away from the scene…

An Shan was moving from roof to roof. Even in the night, there were countless cultivators still around. It was normal for cultivators to do as he did, so his action did not gain much attention. He intended to go to the place at a stable speed, yet something from the other end stirred his emotion. The earring he lent to Ru-er, sent him a warning signal.

She made a move.

She deny her orders?

"That girl… Mu-er, scrap being incognito. Bring me over, hurry."

As he said so, a blurring shadow appeared. Clutching his arm on him, he took An Shan forward at high speed. Within seconds, they almost reached the place. Yet it was a tad bit late.

A surge of dense Qi came out, making its way toward Ru-er. The dense Qi, the powerful surge of power…

"This…"

A Titan-Star attack…!

It was an attack of a Titan-Star caliber!

Was it a Titan-Stars Ancestor, involved in the smuggling? Impossible, and An Shan knew what it was, what it originated from. It was something similar to all which core disciples and Grand Elders of the Sects had, a Titan-Star's token. A life-saving treasure, one which could only be used once. While he did consider such possibility, he still thought the chance of it appearing was low. With that, the thought of warning Ru-er in advance did not occur.

Once a cultivator broke into Titan-Stars Stage, they entered the realm of Ancestors. Everywhere in the world, Ancestors were feared and revered. The main reason was that the stars in their Heavenly System would surpass what was called the Great Hurdle, forming a star even more powerful than Heavenly Stars – The Titan Star! A star which could fuse various elements together, forming a much denser entity.

The Dominating Stars in the Heaven, even having one could generate massive amount of energy! And this energy, as long as the Ancestor spent some time, could be condensed into a high-quality token. And this token was equal to a full-blown attack by a Titan-Star Ancestor. Even Grand Elders would fear it, not to mention Ru-er. She was skilled, but her cultivation was still in Mid Heavenly Star, to accept such an attack…

With such an attack, even she…

A thought passed through him, she should be fine. She also possessed such a token. Given its quality, activating it should be faster, so she should be able to counter… Um?

'No, did I... forget something?'

Since they were going into hostile territory, he kept any items which could possibly reveal their identity in his storage ring. Such items included the tokens and Soul Armaments. They easily avoided detection at the border because he was keeping them in his superior storage ring. He did mention to them to remind him to give the weapons back, or so he thought.

'Did I, or did I not? Damnit, that's not important now—'

Right then, he figured he was still holding on Ru-er and Mu-er‘s Soul Armament.

"Ru-er, evade!"

He relayed his order—

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In the warehouse.

…She wanted to evade. And as someone specialized in speed, evading this attack should be easy. Yet in that split second, she never considered it. She did not have an ancestral token, nor the Soul Armament right then. An Shan was holding them on him for safekeeping. The border's detection procedure was not something to laugh at, but that was not the problem. Her mistake was that, a while ago when An Shan gave her the earring, she forgot to ask for the weapon back!

So logically speaking, she ought to evade. The command to evade from her ancestor rang within her, yet it was so quick she thought she was imagining things. She always entertained herself with her dramatic imagination, so the thought that it was real did not cross her mind.

In that instant, she threw the girl on her arm to her back, back into one of the boxes. Circulating her Qi in full force, she took out a shield from her spatial ring, arming her left arm with it. Without turning around, she knew the reason why she could not evade.

The children, were behind her.

Time seemed to move slower, a lot slower.

Her arm with shield was taking on the attack, while another, making a Qi grip. Her Qi materialized, grabbing the two boxes. While she did so, two thick, hexagonal jade charms latched onto the boxes. In a blink, she threw both boxes to the side. Finally, she threw another charm in between the boxes…

As she did, she could feel the shield on her arm being crushed…

The ray of light, engulfed her entirety.

...

A devastating boom shook the tranquil night sky of Wang Nan.

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"Ru-er,"

An Shan gritted his teeth. A huge explosion ensued in front.

Mu-er, who was carrying him, took out several charms and activated them together, making a defensive trigonal defensive array. In the split second, fierce force from the explosion pierced through the air around them, rattling the few storehouses below.

"Why..."

An Shan was puzzled. He clearly commanded her to evade. And while the attack was fast, she should be fast enough to evade it. Yet from the earring, he knew she did not. She took it head-on.

Why? Why would you be so careless?

And why would you be so rebellious, I clearly commanded you to evade…

With her speed, it should not be so difficult, even when she was taken by surprise. Whatever the reason, he had to be quick. The thought of a youngster's life disappearing right in front of him, dreaded this ancestor. He personally chose the girl as his personal guard. And on his whim, he ordered her to tail the smugglers… Whatever mistake she did during her work, she was still his direct subordinate. To him, her life was his responsibility.

While he could imagine her being injured, never did he think it could be this bad. Never mind being injured, being crushed by a Titan-Star's attack… Usually, a Heavenly-Star expert could still take on several of Titan-Star's attacks, but this was a full-blown one. In addition, due to the corruption of her cultivation, it was in the middle of being fixed. She could utilize only around 70% of her original power.

She cultivated the Iron-Sovereign Divine Cultivation.

While this cultivation tempered her body, she was still a speed-type cultivator. Female cultivators, due to the limitation of their physique, tend to focus on speed and skill rather than strength and defense. Her specialty lay in evading attacks, not receiving them head-on. With all these reasons, he knew he would be fortunate enough… to even retrieve her body in one piece!

"…"

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Chapter 27 End