Lu Na sighed. This woman would not give her any peace, so she ate as much as she could now. This was the only good meal she’d have in so long. She would not let some crazy woman from a summoner sect impede that.

The only sound in the entire dining area was Lu Na’s chopsticks clinking against her ceramic bowl, as she kept shoveling as much food into her mouth as possible. Everyone stared at her madly eating.

“Calm down, girl. Don’t choke and do Senior Wong’s job for her,” Nugua said.

Senior Wong stalked over with heavy clomping steps. Water dripped off her hair onto the stone floor with every step. She held her clenched fists, but didn’t summon her rooster spirit.

All the other disciples gave her a wide berth. Lu Fen and her fellow disciples scurried away, leaving Lu Na and Sun Ren.

It was a shame for Lu Na, as she wished she had more time to savor the tastes. For low class food, it was good. Maybe she could ask one of the Wintersweet Disciples to join them to be her cook.

“You killed my father,” Senior Wong said. She glared down at Lu Na as she tried to finish the food still left in her bowl.

Sun Ren held her chopsticks in her right hand like a dagger. She leaned toward Senior Wong with her left hand hidden underneath the table.

Lu Na finally finished the last bit of rice before putting her bowl on the table. She drank her entire cup of tea in one gulp. For the first time in a long time, she had a long and loud burp. She didn’t bother covering it up.

“Oh, that was good.” Lu Na wiped her mouth on her sleeve. “Now, what’s this about killing your father?”

“I just received a message from the sect Elders that my father is dead. You killed him.” Senior Wong was shaking. “So now, I invoke my rite of revenge. How do you want to die? Here or in the courtyard?”

Lu Na wasn’t expecting that. She thought that at most Senior Wong would have admonished her for eating or something silly. She never thought she would come to kill her. And here she thought she was being smart by eating as fast as she could. Except that might have been her last meal before being sent to the underworld.

“What are you talking about? I never hurt your father,” Lu Na said.

“Yes, you did. I saw you fighting him. There was no one else. You killed him.” Senior Wong shook with every sentence. Tears soaked her face in rivulets that rivaled her dripping hair. She looked like a ghost coming to drag Lu Na back down with her.

“If you want revenge, go find your ancestor. He’s the one that devoured his tiger spirit.” Lu Na reached to her waist where she kept a spirit wall ward. She could see that no words were going to reach this grieving woman.

“No, you killed him.” Senior Wong clenched her left fist harder and her metal rooster appeared beside her.

This time, the rooster was only about as tall as she was. Its entire body gleamed in the waning light from the sunset coming in through the door. Its head shot forward, with its beak shining orange.

Lu Na activated the spirit wall ward and an invisible barrier appeared in front of her. She knew Nugua was helping her, as the wall was the size of the rooster spirit’s beak only, allowing it to focus and concentrate mostly on that one attack.

Sun Ren was already out of her seat, aiming her chopsticks for Senior Wong’s eyes. The metal rooster raised its right wing, blocking the chopsticks. With another flap of its wings, it blew Sun Ren back with such a force that she flew into another table.

Lu Na had activated two earth wall wards. Two large mounds of dirt and stone rose from the ground. With the help of Nugua, four earth walls formed in front of Lu Na.

The food flew from the table, crashing against the poor bystanders at the edge of the dining area. It painted the entire area in a rainbow of colors from the food.

Lu Na scrambled over to Sun Ren to check on her. Her friend had only recently recovered from her injuries. But Sun Ren wasn’t there.

Metal on metal sounded nearby.

Lu Na turned toward Senior Wong to see Sun Ren slashing with her waist sword with all her might against the rooster spirit’s metal wings. She glanced at the other disciples and noticed that they weren’t helping.

Lu Na took out her tiger claw slingshot. She pulled it back and shot two tiger claws at Senior Wong. The rooster spirit raised its other wing and stopped the strikes.

“You’re using my father’s attack on me? You’re despicable,” Senior Wong said. She slashed her hand down and her rooster spirit threw both wings at Sun Ren, forcing her to tumble away.

That was a powerful technique that Lu Na had never seen Senior Wong use before. It looked similar to the tiger claws technique her father used.

Senior Wong slashed her hand again, and this time her rooster spirit broke through her earth walls in one strike. Now with no cover, the rooster spirit hopped over the broken walls to pounce on Lu Na.

Lu Na tried to run, but the exit was the other way. Instead, she ran up against the wall with nowhere to go. She was tired of constantly running. It was time to show this senior disciple that while she didn’t have the same power as Hen Li or the martial skills of Sun Ren; she wasn’t powerless.

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Lu Na pulled her left sleeve back, revealing her leather wrapped null metal bracelet. She had been tinkering with it since they left Jianye and now it was time to test it against a summoner. The bracelet was a metal donut that had her arsenal of wards drawn on stronger red paper inside. She made it activate with gestures and the help of Nugua.

Lu Na clenched her left hand into a fist. She opened her palm and thrust her left hand out in front of her.

Dirt and stone erupted from the ground, forming a large half dome that covered her entire front side. An invisible barrier snaked up her left wrist until it covered her entire body like a second skin.

The bracelet heated, burning Lu Na’s wrist. That was the greatest drawback in using the null metal. No matter how much spirit energy it pushes into the technique, it stored way more spirit energy in the bracelet itself, causing it to heat. The leather was supposed to protect her wrist, but even a thick ox hide was not enough.

A metal beak broke through the dirt and stone wall.

This was the perfect opportunity for Lu Na to test how strong her bracelet was going to be. She couldn’t test it against the bandits, as there were too many of them. There was no way she was going to keep up with so many men with swords. But only one summoner? This she could do.

Lu Na raised two of her left fingers and swiped right. The earth wall covered the hole, making it new. Unlike her other wards, Lu Na can repair these walls every time they break using another ward to make a new one. It took her many weeks practicing before she got it right.

But honestly, it was mostly because of Nugua. She controlled the wards on the bracelet.

“How are you doing Nugua?” Lu Na asked.

“I’ve never been better. Now shut up and let me focus,” Nugua said.

This time, wings sliced through the earth wall until it crumbled to the ground.

Lu Na was ready. The moment the metal rooster showed its beak, she made a claw with her left hand and raked the air. Five tiger claw techniques shot out from her wrist and slammed into the metal rooster.

Despite being powered by the null metal, it only pushed the rooster back. Its metallic body didn’t have one scratch on it.

Before it could attack, Lu Na swiped two fingers up to create a new wall. This time, a wall of all stone rose from the ground. Just in case, Lu Na swiped once more to raise the dome again. The last thing she wanted was for the metal rooster to charge through the wall and then into her.

Her left wrist was burning. The leather helped, but all it did was trap the heat over her wrist. Lu Na tried to blow on it. It smelled like cooked meat. Luckily, it wasn’t her meat that was cooked.

Senior Wong was quiet for a second, but Lu Na felt it before she could see it. A hard rush of air came from the sides of the dome and stone wall. Two white claws shot out from both sides around the dome.

Lu Na flinched, squeezing herself as tightly as she could. When the claws struck her, the technique broke apart on her spirit wall. Maybe it was time to call it her spirit skin.

But that was too much for her null metal bracelet. It burned too badly.

Lu Na pulled the string of the leather to take it off. She held onto it by the string to see the metal burning the leather black where it touched. If she held onto it any longer, it would have burned her wrist.

“What is going on here?” Elder Hen yelled.

“She killed my father. She must die,” Senior Wong sobbed.

Lu Na did not know what was going on, but the last thing she was going to do was lower her walls. If that crazy woman attacked her, she would be done. At the moment, she could only guess that Elder Hen came in to stop the fight.

The stone wall glowed green and then it collapsed. Dirt flew everywhere.

Lu Na braced for the metal beak or wing or claw to come for her next. She was barely holding onto the bracelet.

“Do I have to break this one, too?” This time it was an old woman asking and not Senior Wong.

“Is it safe to come out?” Lu Na asked.

“Oh child, it’s never safe. But I’d rather not spend any more spirit energy to break another wall. Please pity this old woman.”

Lu Na weighed her options, but didn’t know what to expect. If this woman could break her stone wall so easily, she must be powerful. Let’s not anger another strong summoner.

Lu Na tapped her bracelet and turned them off. The earth dome slowly collapsed to the floor into a small pile. Her spirit skin faded away into the air.

But Lu Na didn’t dare put the bracelet back on. She’d have to fix it up with a new piece of leather and find a way to cool it.

An old woman stood in front of her, wearing a blue tunic just like Elder Hen. Her face reminded Lu Na of one of the older maids that used to take care of her. She had the same constant scowl on her face. Her mother told her the maid was also her caretaker when she was younger and didn’t care that she was the Young Miss of a rich family.

But the woman standing in front of her was definitely not the maid. This woman had eyes that told her she would beat Lu Na to death for disobeying her in the slightest. There was no joy to be seen on her face, but one of constant struggle and suffering.

Lu Na curtsied and bowed her head low. She kept her bracelet behind her.

“Greetings to Elder Xu of the Wintersweet Sect.”

“Oh, you know who I am?” Elder Xu narrowed her eyes.

“I was having a fun time talking with one of your disciples who told me how the great Elder Xu also accompanied Elder Hen on this trip.”

“At least someone taught you some manners. Now what happened?”

“I was eating dinner when Senior Wong attacked me out of nowhere, claiming I killed her father. How could one as weak as me kill someone as powerful as the great sect leader of the Wintersweet Sect?”

Elder Xu laughed. It was a high pitched, almost girlish laugh.

“Child, you don’t need to be so modest. While I can sense that you don’t have any formal training as a summoner, I know about your little inventions. It’s one reason why I didn’t stop little Yoong earlier when she attacked you. I wanted to see what you could do.”

Lu Na forced a smile and bowed.

“My inventions are nothing, I promise you.”

Lu Na was starting to really hate this Wintersweet Sect. Not only did she have to deal with their crazy sect leader, his crazy daughter, and that enigmatic Elder Hen, she now had to deal with this crazy old lady. What are they teaching in these sects that make them all crazy?

“Well, you’re safe for now. Little Yoong is being dealt with by Elder Hen. You can go back to your room. Everyone else, clean up this mess.”

Lu Na bowed again before walking toward her room.

“Oh, and Young Miss Lu, I will keep an eye on you.”

A chill washed over Lu Na’s back. She didn’t dare turn back, but kept walking. The only other time she felt such a powerful summoner’s focus was when she fought Sect Leader Wong.

No, she was stronger.

What did Lu Na get herself into this time?