“Have you guys heard what’s been going on?” Wan Qing questioned as she swung her fan towards Ying.

“I heard that the Inner Court is going crazy to find some Qi Gatherer.” Ying said as she received Qing’s swing with her sword.

“I didn’t hear anything about that.” Bing added.

“Me either.” Lei Zhi agreed.

“The elders found out how strong Jing is. Now everyone wants her for themselves or dead.” Hu Tao explained lazily.

“That’s basically it.” Jing confirmed. “There are about 20 disciples watching my house right now. If I leave my house that number would increase to around 50 or more disciples.” She informed.

  Ying and Wan Qing immediately stopped their sparring. Letting others know of their capabilities wouldn’t be good for the future. Bing, Lei Zhi, and Ying simultaneous looked around for any signs of the hidden disciples. Only Lei Zhi could spot them while Bing and Ying were clueless to where they could be hiding. Hu Tao chuckled at the little Qi Gatherers while Wan Qing was somewhat embarrassed, she didn’t keep her guard up. Her butterflies would easily be able to sense the hiding Qi Consolidators and the Core Preparation disciples.

“Should we deal with them?” Ying asked, knowing she wasn’t strong enough to take on any cultivator higher than a 1st stage Qi Consolidator.

“No. I’ll handle it. You all would die trying to face cultivators on this level.” Jing said.

“Except me. I wouldn’t die.” Hu Tao made sure to tell them.

“Yeah, you’d probably get sealed inside a formation again.” Ying mockingly laughed.

“Let me see you take on hundreds of cultivators from the Inner Court, Princess. You wouldn’t have lasted a second against those fuckers I fought against.” Hu Tao bit back.

“I would’ve won and avoided getting sealed.” Ying boasted.

“Bullshit. You’re talking out of your flat ass.”

  Ying’s fist caught fire as she swung it in Hu Tao’s direction, sending a wave of flames towards him. He smacked the flames away with his chains and stuck his tongue out at Ying. If Ying lacked any self-control whatsoever, she would’ve leapt towards Hu Tao right now to pound his face in. But right now, they were surrounded by possible enemies on all sides. It wasn’t the time to teach that stupid pervert a lesson.

  Jing slowly walked into the clearing with everyone watching her. She held out her palm and from it a bubble of water rose. This bubble generated from Jing’s qi was being fed qi from Jing’s almost bottomless supply but it never grew larger than a baby’s fist. But this didn’t stop everyone from being able to sense the large amount of qi within it. Jing was forcibly condensing the bubble into staying this size for a reason.

  Well, two reasons. One was qi control training and the second was a more personal preference. It looked cuter this way. Jing tossed the water orb far into the sky and softly smiled when she saw everyone’s eyes on it. The sphere made it quite a distance in the air before slowly expanding into something resembling a cloud, a water cloud. From that cloud, water began to rain down from it. The rain only rained around Jing’s house and the area she wanted.

“I call this technique, BLEEP.” Jing informed before a faint blush appeared on her cheek. Thankfully, due to her dark skin color no one noticed it.

“Ah! Jing licked the BLEEP too and forgot about it!” Hu Tao loudly laughed, making the other smile as well.

“Shut it mutt.” Jing told him before clearing her throat with a cough.

“I will give you only 1 chance to come out from your hiding spots. Then I will give you another chance to tell me who sent you to watch me.” Jing relayed.

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  There was no response or movement in the surroundings.

“Don’t regret your choice.”

  Jing snapped her finger and multiple cries yelled out in her surroundings. The disciples who were watching found themselves impaled by spears of water. Jing beckoned with her finger and all 20 disciples floated around her with water thorns sticking through some part of their body. All of them were still alive, as Jing intended. Shocking her group of angels greatly.

“What kind of fucking martial art is this?” Hu Tao whistled in admiration.

  Him, Ying, and Wan Qing were thinking of ways on how to counter such a powerful martial art in their head at the moment. Hu Tao initially believed if he transformed with his chains, he could use his increased speed to dodge the tiny droplets of water but no. There were just too many, he wasn’t fast enough yet. He’d have to use his Howling Art: Demon God’s Reforging to blast away any rain near him and escape with his new ability or dig underground.

  Ying trusted that her flames could freeze or evaporate any rain near her. She held out her hand and ignited it with both her normal flame and her mystic flame. Any rain that fell on them, reacted as they should. The rain turned into heated mist or frozen pellets. But the real question was how long could Jing keep this technique up? From what Ying could tell, Jing's qi dwarfed her own. She could probably keep this up for several days without a problem. If Ying had to take on Jing while she was using this technique, she’d have to take care of her quickly. Kill her before her own qi ran out and she had no further protection against the rain.

  Wan Qing believed that her only chance of surviving an attack like this was by knowing of it beforehand. She’d get caught just as easily as those disciples did if she didn’t. But if she did know of it, she could possibly swing her fan towards the cloud and disperse it with the wind. No wait, that wouldn’t work. She’d be leaving herself open to an attack if she focused solely on the water cloud. Maybe she could use her wings along with her fan to escape. Force a barrier of wind and air to circle around her rapidly as she flew her way out of the range of the technique.

“Wait! Wait! I’ll tell you anything you wish to know! Please don’t kill me!” A disciple begged.

  This nice little act of his earned him an extra piercing through the left side of his abdomen. Jing held her finger to her lips and shushed them all. With this many powerful disciples under her control, there’s no way she shouldn’t advance in her cultivation art, Empress of Pain’s Tome. Jing’s finger danced in the air as multiple raindrops transformed into sharp spikes that lodged themselves within the twenty disciples.

  They cried out in horrible pain and agony. This Qi Gatherer was deliberately avoiding their vitals! She wanted them to suffer! She wanted to torture them in their final moments! The thought on everyone’s mind right now was...

‘How could a Qi Gatherer be so powerful...? It didn’t make any sense...’

  Heaven’s Angels watched the happy smile on Jing’s face as she had her “fun” with the men. Hu Tao was amused and thought it was a nice show but slightly disappointed he didn’t get to fight any of them even if he didn’t stand a chance against a couple of them. Bing didn’t think much of it, they were messing with the Empress of all people. He was surprised that her power was greater than disciples at the Core Preparation stage. You can apply to be a Minor Elder at that stage and is considered the final step for disciples with lacking talent. Lei Zhi wasn’t particularly pleased by all of this. Surely there could have been a better way of going about this but if he was being realistic, even if Jing spared them. The only thing awaiting them was more torture to get them to open their mouths with the truth.

  Ying and Wan Qing were shocked by Jing’s show of power. This was more than they could’ve ever expected out of her. Ying had no further doubts that Jing could give her the strength she needs to bring her family back to the greatness they once held. She planned to continue to follow under Jing and do whatever she needs for the power she can give her. This whole situation with these disciples didn’t really bother Ying too much, something like this was a norm for cultivators.

  Wan Qing didn’t understand Jing. She didn’t understand her as a person, as a cultivator, as a girl. That strength didn’t make any sense. That terrifying qi didn’t make any sense. Her decision to stay unknown before this doesn’t make any sense. Where did a person like this come from? What kind of background could produce a freak like this? Is it an ancient bloodline that gives her so much strength? Is it a spirit tool that gives her this power? Wan Qing had nothing but questions, questions, and more questions when it came to Jing. But there was one thing she knew for sure... She wouldn’t ever leave this group as long as Jing was still alive. With power like this, it's only certain that Wan herself would grow as well. Normally the strong only care about themselves but Jing was more than willing to give them resources and tools to increase her followers’ strength as well. Wan knew she wouldn’t dare give anything valuable to anyone that wasn’t her immediate family.

“Now it's time to wait for the next group.” Jing finished tormenting the group of disciples and managed to reach the next stage in her cultivation.

  Now she could actively regain qi by causing physical pain to her enemies. This along with the previous stage allowed Jing to drain the physical energy of her opponents and restore her own qi by hurting creatures.

‘Getting stronger through the suffering of others... What an absolutely amazing martial art.’ Jing thought with a more noticeable blush on her face.