“With mere powers so weak, dare you claim you have caused the demise of our Su Xiya?” Nanya yawned out in discontent while weaving, and sometimes splintering, her body through the hail of sharp blades and pointy arrows. “Your paltry cohort of depraved cultkins would be nothing more than breakfast for her.”

In fact, although Nanya tried to rationalise her plan, after talking to her mother, she couldn't help but wallow in self-doubt again. Maybe she had made a mistake. Maybe, it was time to end it.

But before that, she would need to needle information out of the cultist village headman. Mother’s orders after all. Everyone was curious about how these weaklings could ever hope to cause Su Xiya such troubles.

“What do you know of the lord’s power, false immortal that you are? In front of true immortality, no amount of vixen magic is enough,” Youjin Fuqiang calmly stated.

“And this lord of yours should be nothing but an Unfolding Heaven 1st Order, or perhaps 2nd Order Wretched Emissary. How can such a weak, pathetic, utterly deplorable vermin with worm-like prowess ever hope to match our Su Xiya’s musical might?”

“How dare you call our lord a worm—!” This got Youjin Fuqiang reeling, and the cultists surrounding her had blood in their beady eyes.

But Nanya grinned. She was punctured from her tailbone up to the nape of her neck by a stitching of void qi-laden arrows. They hurt.

“Is that not the truth though, oh blind man? For this lord of yours hides in a lost plane too afraid to show his slimy head in our territory in person. Too ashamed to even bare his limp, thin, lame manhood in our presence. Oh how we laugh in mockery! How utterly disgraceful, and to call himself a lord. Might as well be a lady—ugh!”

Youjin Fuqiang’s palm hit Nanya’s sternum like a sledgehammer, shattering her ribs. She flew off like a ragdoll, her broken body tumbling and bouncing on the cavern floor until she hit the wall on the far end.

“Shut your mouth, you immoral woman,” the former patriarch said with vitriol.

“T-Trash. H-Hehe. Cry more,” Nanya said, blood dripping down her lips. “H-Have you not been able to learn your lesson yet, pathetic man who serves a sorry lord? Our body shall recover, but can yours? How exhausted your rage is, oh how infirm your stamina. It is so meek it is almost impressive, in a not so impressive manner of way. Do you comprehend?”

“You loudmouthed brat!” Purple veins popped on Youjin Fuqiang’s temple. He roared and rushed towards Nanya, but the wily vixen melted her body into an amorphous goo, using the cracks in the wall to dodge the furious barrage.

After that portion of the wall was blasted apart, Nanya once more reformed in full grace, covering her luscious lips with the back of her palm as she snickered. “You should know this, hunchback of a man that you are. We, in all our sultry grace, are royalty. And royalty deserves only the best of the best, yes? Even when it comes to assassination attempts! Yet look at this pathetic trap you and your band of smelly bandits are orchestrating. How long has it been, how many more hours must we suffer from the absolutely sleep-inducing boredom that is this tussle? We must admit, although we can go all week, your crude techniques don't even tickle our skin! Despite such impotence, can your own swords last that long? Most of you are already so utterly spent; the only ones who still stand erect are an ugly old bastard and his eunuch of a—”

She could finish her tirade. Five other Peak Imperfect Heaven 2nd realmers joined, and after the explosion, all that was left of Nanya were meat and bones. But with her Revival Crown, it was far from strong enough to leave her dead for good.

Yet this time, Youjin Fuqiang and this invisible ‘lord’ pulling the strings behind him seemed to change their plan. The encroachment of the lost plane resumed in intensity, and hundreds of threads of the corrupted dim gold silk slithered into Nanya’s gooey remains like razor wires, injecting void qi directly into her flesh.

“Oh, a new trick? That actually tickles. Ahaha. Good job. No, really, we must praise you. Whatever it is that you did, we certainly felt it. Only the tip though. Perhaps your efforts came short? We cannot blame you, but really, must praise you. If this your sad attempt at regaining your honour—”

“You-You-You slut of a—”

“It is? Oh my! Dear heavens, we cannot believe it. Is this truly the best that you can do?” Nanya rolled her eyes, “My weakest servant, with his crooked nose and scrawny arms, could do far, far, faaaaar better even when we were not cuddling under the blankets. Yet you… this is like being served expired fruit juice while expecting the finest of wine. Nay, it is worse than that. As if learning of our husband being an eunuch on our bridal night while hoping for a hero—”

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“I think,” Youjin Fuqiang said, “You have lost your mind. Do you really think we don’t know you are stalling?” He raised his hand and the dim gold threads snapped tight. Nanya was flung in the air, then tied against the central white pillar of the cavern with the dim gold threads, the corrupted void qi was so intense that she could not regenerate her body fast enough. “Reinforcements will not come.”

Through her cracked skin, Nanya’s Occultic Foxball was showing once more.

“How dare you!” Nanya said with false anger, “We get it. You must be thinking in your heart of hearts, that you have won, that your very best is good enough to succeed. But such is life, is it not? Your very best is not good enough! For you lack talent, grace, and beauty! So how dare you even claim that it was your sorry gang of spent men that killed our Su Xiya? Tell the truth, you are working for some other, actually competent power, are you not? And not this weak lord you claim to worship. Is it the Radiant Sun Empire? Be honest, we shall forgive one of you if you do.”

“If you won’t believe it, then let me show you, bedmaiden.” Youjin Fuqiang pierced Nanya’s heart with a clawed hand, then slashed down, slowly.

Nanya exploded her body. At this range, her essence qi should be strong enough to melt through the cultist patriarch.

But nothing happened.

“Oh…” She squeaked, blushing.

“Interesting. I did not know cultists could do that,” her mother said from behind her ear.

“This is how we killed your weak sister, your false immortality nothing but an illusion in front of our lord’s might.” Youjin Fuqiang said.

The cultist had created a fragment of the Lost Plane inside Nanya’s body. Or perhaps it was this lord of his, a powerhouse no doubt, who was channelling his might through Youjin Fuqiang, using him as an avatar. The fragment of the lost plane covered the inside of Nanya’s body like a thick silk of liquid.

Specifically, the occultic foxball acting as the core and dantian for this ordinal body.

“No wonder Su Xiya was killed. Unlike you, she doesn’t directly wield the Revival Crown but only had a passive connection with the Revival Sword Tower,” the Su Matriarch guessed.

Youjin Fuqiang stared deep into Nanya’s eyes with his compound ones, “Do you understand now, whore? The sin of mocking our lord is far worse than death.” He cut down Nanya’s chest with his claw as if tearing apart fabric until it reached Nanya’s navel. His palm cupped around her Occultic Foxball. A sinister grin marked his face.

Nanya’s Occultic Foxball trembled with excitement as it resonated with the Occultic Foxball Youjin Fuqiang was using as his crux.

Both were hers after all, even if one of them was violated.

The bow-wielding cultists, the Beheaded Bow Fiend, took a step behind Youjin Fuqiang. His beady eyes were bleeding pus and blood, as were his lower body, and his squid-like face had morphed into the embodiment of hatred, “It shall be my turn next, vixen of sin. You are nothing but a resource to our lord. For the men of our Sea of Sorry to cultivate and breed. I will skin you like a fruit and fill you with my seed.”

Nanya smiled. She felt Youjin Fuqiang’s hand struggling to extract the Occultic Foxball out of her abdomen.

What an idiot.

Her mockery had worked wonders, no wonder Yung called her a brat while ‘punishing’ her sometimes.

Nanya tilted her head, and looked behind Youjin Fuqiang and the Beheaded bow fiend. Tears dropped down her eyes and her lips cracked into an overjoyed smile.

She could end the battle here. Although it would hurt, the villagers were already dead and the only person remaining alive to witness the silhouette of the planar consciousness was her darling Yung.

She would then keep her promise.

“Don’t,” the Matriarch said, “I wish to see what he will do.”

“Then, does that mean…?” Nanya asked in a weak voice. Her breath was thinning, it was as if a large stone had been removed from her soul.

“Yes. You win, my foolish daughter,” her mother groans.

Once more, the former patriarch thought Nanya was talking to him. She snickered, saying, “It means you have lost. Where is your poison tongue now, vixen? Or are you too afraid to—”

“Annoying. Be silent, commoner.” Nanya’s Occultic Foxball pulsed, as did the Revival Crown on her head. It sent a pulse of qi into Youjin Fuqiang’s hand, and then straight at Su Xiya’s Occultic Foxball in his core.

The space itself shook with anger, and an otherworldly scream rang out from all around the cavern.

It was the lord, and he had been shamed!

The old patriarch jumped back, shocked, “What did you do!?”

Nanya didn’t answer. She felt all the strength leave her body, still tied to the pillar with razor-sharp wires. Although she had pulled a prank on the lord, because of her mother’s orders, Nanya did not finish the fight.

So the lost plane still had its hold on her, and she could still not regenerate her body.

But she smiled.

For her choice was not wrong.

“You will die now!” The bow-wielding cultist roared, taking out a dagger and aiming once again for Nanya’s Occultic Foxball, planning to shatter it.

“No, don’t! The lord needs that artefact—” Youjin Fuqiang stopped.

As did the Bow-wielding cultist.

But not because Youjing Fuqiang had said so.

A spear-tip sized hole appeared on his squid-like forehead. The Beheaded bow fiend gurgled, “W-Wha-aa-ugh—”

But his head was soon turned to char, with the faith qi burning through his brain like a scorching inferno.

Su Nanya giggled, and Youjin Fuqiang looked on, shocked, as the peak Imperfect Heaven 2nd Realmer fell over, dead.

The patriarch couldn’t see him, but there he was, the adorable boy who had stolen Nanya’s heart. He was shivering like a wet panda while holding a glowing spear.

Ziyou Yung didn’t leave. Despite nearly passing out in fear and despite blaming Nanya for the death of his comrades, he braved his terror to come save her!

Because he loves me! Nanya squealed, And I won’t betray his trust!