“Leader? What are you talking about? Wenling asked, seemingly shocked.

“Deal with everyone still alive. Anything you find on their bodies are yours to keep.” Jing relayed to the Wolfeng Gang members.

  They scampered into the battlefield looting the corpses and putting an end to any disciples faking their deaths. Jing let out a small laugh looking at the pack of hyenas scavenging the ruined area. Seeing them act so in tune with their true desires was always amusing. Jing herself took careful notice of two specific people in her group.

“I was aware of Hu Tao being trapped but how did you find yourself in a similar situation?” Jing asked Wan Qing.

“It was an ambush.” She couldn’t look Jing in the eye. She was very embarrassed that she let herself get bested by cultivators at a lower stage than herself once again.

  Jing didn’t respond to her explanation and simply slapped two golden talismans on their prisons. The arrays shattered into nothingness and the two of them were freed.

“I’M FREE!!!” Hu Tao joyously exclaimed.

  In his excitement, he wrapped his arms around Jing and squeezed her in a loving embrace that would break the spine of any normal young maiden.

“You don’t know how much I fucking love you right now!” If Hu Tao had a tail, it would be wagging furiously.

  An annoyed Jing kicked him in his stomach to release her and then followed up with a high kick that struck him right into his cheek, smashing him into the ground.

“Know your place, Mutt.” She coldly responded. Hu Tao could only ogle at her with hearts in his eyes as his body was horribly injured by Jing’s loving kicks.

“That reminds me! Didn’t I promise to beat you half to death?!” Ying leapt towards Hu Tao’s immobilized figure and began pounding him with her fists.

“Gah! Princess! Wait! This doesn’t count! Stop hitting me when I can’t fight back! This isn’t fun at all!” Hu Tao yelled in perhaps his second moment of actual helplessness.

“Hahahaha!” Ying laughed in great elation. “Remember all those times you were so cocky?! Now it's my turn to teach you a lesson in respect!” She pummeled him with all her strength.

“Seriously! Get off me! I’ll beat the shit out of you when I get my strength back! This isn’t a fight!”

“Keep crying wolf boy! Nothing’s gonna save you from this mama’s fists of revenge!” She continued her long-deserved win against the battle crazed cultivator.

“Who managed to kill Lam and Chun?” She asked her followers.

“Uhm?! Jing?! Are you just going to ignore me?!” Wenling frantically yelled.

“Later.” She responded without even looking at Wenling.

“I killed those two but if it wasn’t for Lei Zhi and Bing weakening them before hand, I wouldn’t have stood a chance!” Ying yelled over Hu Tao’s shouting.

“I see and Bing did you face Chun?”

“Yes, Empress.” He bowed his head respectfully.

“Empress?!” Wenling shouted in confusion.

“Since the Treasured Plains are coming to a close soon. I suppose it's fine if I give you all your due rewards now. Come here.” Jing beckoned them.

  Ying finally finished beating Hu Tao into a bloody pulp and joined the others. They all followed her demand with various emotions on their faces. Emotions that Jing was pleased to see with her own eyes. Hu Tao’s ugly disfigured wolfish grin, Lei Zhi honest and straightforward smile, Bing’s silly smile that highlighted his excitement, Ying’s lovely blood-coated smile, Wan Qing’s restrained half-smirk, and Ni Xong’s jumping around his owner’s legs. Seeing them all so excited almost caused Jing herself to break out in a small smile.

“For taking out 2 core members of the Huan clan and the Fearsome Garden, along with successfully completing the tasks I gave you, this is for you.” Jing handed her a bright shiny red book with a cover plated with gold and a high-ranked spirit stone.

  The book was a fire cultivation technique that belonged to some fallen deity called the Goddess of Calamity. If Ying is lucky enough in her comprehension, she’ll be able to rise into the heavens quite easily. Jing took a quick peak through the book herself and knew that it was definitely a heaven-ranked cultivation marital art. If it wasn’t, then she wouldn’t know what would classify as a heaven-ranked martial art in the first place.

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

“What is it?” Ying wondered.

“A better cultivation art.” Jing simply responded.

“Yes! Yes! Yes!” Ying couldn’t help herself from immediately trying to open the first page and absorbing the knowledge within.

  But she found herself unable to open the cover of the book even with all her great strength. What is this?! Ying looked at Jing with nothing but confusion splattered on her face. Jing smirked at her.

“The book will accept you when it feels you’re worthy.”

“What does that mean?!”

“Perhaps it means your understanding of fire isn’t enough yet.” Lei Zhi suggested.

  Ying looked at him as if he was speaking backwards.

“Just a guess.” He nervously chuckled.

“Bing.” Jing brought his attention to her.

“Empress.” He got down on one knee and lowered his head.

“Get up idiot. How am I supposed to reward you if you're down there?” She wanted to kick him for being so foolish but restrained herself.

“Of course. My apologies.” He rose so fast, he nearly headbutted Jing in the chin.

  This rewarded him with a kick to the stomach that sent him rolling away like a ball. Bing could swear he heard three people laughing at him in his dazed state. A young childish voice he never heard before, Hu Tao laughing that someone was in pain just like him, and Ying’s chuckling.

“Here are your rewards, oaf.” Jing tossed his rewards next to his dirtied and wounded body.

  Jing gifted the hefty blue-haired youth a necklace with skulls looped around the string, a small silver disc, and 10 middle-ranked spirit stones. She debated whether if she could give him SCP-4820 or the ring filled with ancient martial arts and techniques but thinking about the tasks he accomplished today. This was enough. Those two items she gave him would give him a significant boost in his combat ability despite how simple those magical treasures seemed. Maybe when he takes care of an impossible task from her, she’ll reward him with something on that level.

“Thank you, Empress.” He managed to say through pained breaths.

“Hmm.” Jing was pleased. He hasn’t forgotten his position.

“Lei. You’ve done better than I thought you would. I believe I found the perfect tools for you to accomplish your goal.” Jing handed him a box from her storage ring.

  Lei Zhi opened up the small box that seemed like it should only be opened by members of royalty and was surprised to see what was inside. Inside laid 2 needles imprinted into the soft velvety cotton along with a small but very thick book. He looked towards Jing for an explanation on why she believed this would help him. Jing responded the same way she did to Ying.

“You’ll understand when you begin reading.” She moved on to Wan Qing next.

“For dealing with Wang Yong and attempting to save Hu Tao, here are your rewards.”

  Jing handed Wan Qing 5 high-ranked spirit stones, a bone-washing pill, one purifying qi pill, and a beast corpse from the Core Preparation stage that Jing dealt with earlier for Ni Xong. She made sure to collect all of the spirit beasts she killed for her mission from the system. Everything has its uses. And Jing hated being wasteful.

“Thank you.” Wan Qing replied.

“Mhmm. And just so you all know for the future, there won’t be rewards for attempts. Only completed tasks.” Jing told them.

  They nodded and Jing crouched over to Hu Tao with a particularly frightening look on her face.

“Why are you smiling like that?! I don’t know if I want my rewards anymore with you looking at me like that. You only look at me like that when you’re going to hurt me! Fat Ass! Old Man! Bitch! Help me!” He cried for aid only to receive averted gazes.

“You’ve done an excellent job for me during these Treasured Plains. I have an especially fantastic reward for your efforts.”

  None of his allies looked in his direction and missed out on one of Jing’s purest smiles. She reached out with her hand to the desperate Hu Tao who was attempting to crawl away with all his strength. A happy hum came from her voice as she snagged his leg and pulled him towards herself without much trouble. Jing grabbed his injured face that was slowly healing and kissed him deeply on the lips. With an intimate intrusion on her part, Jing’s tongue wrangled itself around Hu Tao’s and forced him into accepting her inside his mouth.

  Hu Tao’s limbs frantically panicked from the kiss as he tried to pull himself away. Everyone present could hear the sounds of their intense session and tried to avert their eyes even more so than before. Everyone except Wenling, who stared on in complete shock. Hu Tao’s muffled screaming only made things worse for their imaginations.

  Just how good was Jing at kissing that Hu Tao of all people would be screaming from it?! Why was she doing this in front of them?! Couldn’t she wait till they were alone or something?! Only Lei Zhi’s face wasn’t red from hearing their moment.

  Once Jing’s lips parted from Hu Tao’s, a link of their shared saliva broke off and Hu Tao’s body started rapidly spasming on the ground. Jing gave an innocent laugh fitting for a girl her age as his face contorted into immense pain and torment. His jerky uncontrolled movements and horrible screaming caused everyone to watch him. A heavy feeling suddenly grabbed hold of everyone’s souls. The look of genuine arousal and excitement on Jing’s face terrified them all once they realized why she was like that in the first place. Giving her followers a close look at true nature of their leader.

“SCP-106 will match well with your personality. This is thanks for serving me so well.” Jing got up and looked towards her other followers.

“If you all do well, you’ll be similarly rewarded.” Jing smiled at them.

  Immediately everyone promised to do the opposite of well and complete their tasks in a lackluster manner. Never doing more than requested and never asking for more. None of them wanted to suffer through the pain Hu Tao was currently going through. The man known to enjoy pain as if it was his lover.

“Bing, grab the dog. Everyone else, follow me out of this tower.” Jing ordered.

  By this time, the Wolfeng Gang managed to grab as much loot as they possibly could. The stuff they couldn’t hold on to them was sucked into Wenling’s storage ring for the entirety of their group back at the sect. Jing didn’t mind letting her do so. She still had a mission to complete with the Wolfeng Gang. And they needed all the help they could get.