The skies. For the ordinary, only birds and other winged beasts could inhabit this vast expanse; but neither was this world ordinary nor were its inhabitants.

The clouds parted as a flying ship advanced through the clouds. Unlike its size, it was quite silent as it floated through the clouds. No birds or flying creatures dared to come close to this behemoth that had invaded their airspace. It was only the size of a schooner[1] yet it was enough to draw the awe of almost anyone who saw it.

The ship did not have the sails of a schooner. Instead of that, it had a cabin built on the deck. And from the cabin emerged a girl. She had long black hair, a slender figure, pink sleeveless robes on her body, and a golden hoop earring on her left ear. Her robes were open enough to expose a bit of cleavage that came from her modest chest. The baby fat on her face had quite a bit as the maturity that came with her age set in.

She came to the bow of the ship and stared at the town below with grim eyes. Behind her, two more girls came forward and stood next to her. One of them had a petite build and a cute look. She was shorter than the first girl and had her pink hair in twin tails. At a first glance, anyone who would see her wouldn’t call her ‘cute’. That would be their second response. The first response would be, “Damn, those are some huge papayas!”

And truly, those were some huge papayas. As opposed to this, the third girl was as tall as Li Chyou. She was more modestly dressed among the three of them. She wore a near-transparent veil on her face. Her curly blue hair swayed in the wind.

“Senior Sister,” the blue-haired girl looked towards the black-haired one. She then looked towards the town they were approaching. “Is this your home?”

“Yes, this-” she said with a faint smile on her voice, “-is Huangye Town!”

“Finally, I can see that butler of yours you brag so much about!” the pink-haired girl smiled mischievously. Even that gesture of hers came off as seductive. That was the case for all three girls but that aura varied among the three of them.

Yes, the black-haired girl was Li Chyou who came in a hurry when she read her mother’s letter. Beside her were the blue-haired Junior Sister Hao Ran and the pink-haired Senior Sister Zheng Zhirou.

“Look at her frowning,” Zheng Zhirou laughed when Li Chyou frowned at her previous words. “Do you like him that much?”

“L-Like?” Li Chyou stammered. She hastily denied the accusation, “It’s nothing like that! It’s just that…” she paused. Her expression turned gentle. “I’m indebted to him. All this is because of him. I’m here and able to enjoy this life because of him.”

Zheng Zhirou’s expression softened. Unlike her looks, she had a motherly look on her face. They were the disciples of the same master. With her being the Big Senior Sister of the other two as well as the four that stayed in the sect, it was her duty to guide her junior sisters whenever their master was busy.

“Then, I’ll thank that butler of yours who made you so happy!” Zheng Zhirou reached up and patted Li Chyou’s head.

“Me too!” Hao Ran chimed in.

“Muu!” Li Chyou squealed and hugged her senior sister tightly. Hao Ran joined in.

“Oh my!” Zheng Zhirou rubbed the backs of both her junior sisters affectionately.

“Well, we should descend,” once Li Chyou let go, she immediately suggested touching the ground.

“Right,” Zheng Zhirou nodded. She then looked back and yelled, “Start descending!” The people under the deck reacted and the ship started descending. As they did so, many people were shocked as they saw the boat with the fairy crest. Some people looked at the ship in awe while others especially cultivators chose to hide or reduce their presence.

But Li Chyou and her sisters were not feeling the same. Li Chyou frowned hard as she heard the sounds of battle coming from her home.

She took a deep breath and made up her mind. “Senior Sister, I’m going on ahead.” She jumped from the ship before it could touch the ground and bolted towards the Li Clan Estate. As she ran full speed, she sensed that her fellow disciples were following close behind.

She turned around and saw Zheng Zhirou smiling at her, “Fufu, let me come along as well!”

“Yes, we can help Senior Sister!” Hao Ran pleaded.

Li Chyou smiled, “Well, then please!”

It did not even take a minute and they were already standing on top of the walls of the Estate. Witnessing the sight in front of her, her expression morphed into one that of utter shock and horror.

Brutal fighting, body parts being hacked off, people running away in fear, and blood flowing like a river; none of the sights she saw was something new to her. Yet it was her clansmen who were dying. People she grew up with, people she knew! Even if her training in the sect had steeled her mind, nothing could prepare her for the horrible atrocities that were being inflicted on her clansmen.

Her emotions ran rampant as she kept on watching. She could not react and she could comprehend yet her emotions became darker.

“Calm down,” a hand caressed her hair, instantly stopping her from despairing. She looked at her Senior Sister with trembling eyes.

“You’ve become stronger now,” Zheng Zhirou smiled reassuringly. “You can stop this now!”

Li Chyou took a deep breath and nodded. Looking over the massacre, she screamed furiously, “WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING?” Her voice was imbued with just enough Qi to stop the rebels and clansmen. Almost all of the people inside the Estate let go of their weapons as they clamped their ears shut and kneeled to the ground.

After the ringing in their ears stopped, they looked up from where the sound came. Li Chyou looked at them with a face as furious as a demon’s. The rebels started shivering and clansmen sighed in relief as they celebrated the stop of this horrible fight. Well, almost-

The three disciples of the Jade Lotus Sect heard a loud boom coming from the Patriarch’s house. Li Chyou narrowed her eyes and bolted towards the explosion.

Zheng Zhirou sighed and said to Hao Ran, “Junior Sis, stay here and put some pressure on them, I’ll go follow her.”

“Yes!” Hao Ran nodded like a chicken pecking on rice as she watched her Big Senior Sister head towards Li Chyou. She then continued to pressure them with the aura of a Tendon Transformation realm expert.

As Li Chyou looked at what was happening in the courtyard she used to train, her expression warped further. She looked at Li Wanyu who was fighting desperately against both the First Elder and the Seventh Elder.

She brought out a halberd from her Space Ring. It wasn’t the one she used in the tournament six years ago but a new white one with a red blade. Powerful runes were inscribed in the handle. She raised it and threw it with all her might.

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She didn’t have to guess who her target was. The youth did talk about his concerns to her once three years ago even if her mother didn’t want her to know. So, naturally, her target would be the First Elder who started the rebellion.

As the halberd flew from her hands, it turned into a blurry white line from the speed. Amidst his fighting, the First Elder, Li Gang heard the extremely high-pitched whistling of the spear.

“Who the fuc-!” Li Gang was unable to finish his words as he found his head had been blown off. It was not cleanly cut off; rather, the sheer force of the halberd had popped his head like a water balloon as soon as it made contact. The halberd impacted the ground after killing Li Gang causing the ground formed cracks like cobwebs.

“Wha-?” the Seventh Elder looked petrified as he saw Li Gang’s now headless body fall limply to the ground.

Li Wanyu turned around as she had a joyous face. She yelled happily, “Chyou`er!”

Li Chyou made a hollow smile and came down from the wall. She reached her halberd with a single step and pulled it out. Then with another step, she thrust her halberd at the Seventh Elder.

He was too late to react and the halberd dug into his chest. First, his flesh was pierced followed by his muscles. The halberd extended further, breaking his ribs and piercing through his heart. The bloody blade of the halberd came out through the other side of his back.

Li Chyou took back the halberd as blood spurted out. The light in the Seventh Elder’s eyes rapidly dimmed. He kneeled to the ground and coughed up blood before falling limply, just like Li Gang.

Gone was the seductive aura around her, all she felt was fury and sorrow. Those negative emotions piled and changed the air about her.

Li Wanyu had noticed this as well. But before she could say anything, Li Chyou disappeared from her sight. Zheng Zhirou had been watching this fight from atop the wall. Her expression was a bit complicated.

She nonetheless opened her mouth, “You should go after her.”

Li Wanyu looked at the speaker with a puzzled face. Just when she was about to ask who her who she was, she noticed the pink robes with the fairy insignia on them. The words got caught up in her throat and all she could say was, “Y-Yes.” She followed behind Li Chyou.

She soon reached where Li Chyou was had gone. The others were fighting inside the Patriarch's house and that’s where she had gone. Inside the halls, Li Wanyu saw corpses of the rebels and exhausted clansmen who were leaning against the walls or lying on the floor.

Li Wanyu didn’t bother them and tried to find Li Chyou. Very soon, she heard a loud sound coming from the living room. When she went there, she saw Li Chyou coming out of there with blood on her clothes.

“Chyou`er, what did you-?” Li Chyou didn’t hear her and dashed off. Just when she was about to chase her, the sight inside the living room caught her eyes and she froze.

The bisected body of the Sixth Elder, a part of the wall had collapsed and someone was buried in the rubble, the fear-stricken faces of the Second and Fifth Elder. The Fourth Elder, Li Tian who was in charge of the Espionage Hall was hanging on the wall being impaled by Li Chyou’s halberd. She shook the gruesome scene from her mind and continued where Li Chyou went.

After a few seconds, she found Li Chyou inside Li Daoyun’s room. She seemed to be frantically searching for someone. After opening the large empty closet, Li Chyou turned around and saw Li Wanyu looking at her with worried eyes.

She dashed over to her and grabbed her. With desperation in her voice, she asked, "A-Aunt Wanyu, where’s Daoyun!?”

“Don’t worry,” Li Wanyu patted her head. “That kid already took Daoyun over to the Wang’s before all this began. She’s safe.”

“Oh, thank god!” the tension she felt finally dissipated. Exhaustion crept in and she slumped onto the floor.

However, she immediately looked at Li Wanyu and asked again, “Where is he then?”

Li Wanyu shook her head bitterly, “I didn’t see him.” She looked at Li Chyou whose expression paled at the implications. She hurried to reassure her, “Don’t worry! You know how cunning he is. He’s definitely alive!”

“R-Right,” Li Chyou seemed to have found a sliver of hope as she got up and ran out once again. This time, Li Wanyu didn’t follow. She sighed as all the pressure from her shoulders finally faded. She sat down on Daoyun’s bed and heaved a sigh of relief. “It’s finally over…”

Outside of the Patriarch’s House, Li Chyou dashed out of the main door. Outside, she saw that all the fighting had stopped as people now started cleaning up and mitigating the damages. Her heart ached when she saw the injured clansmen. She still grabbed someone leaning against the walls of the house and asked, “Have you seen my butler!?”

“Y-Young Miss!” the clansman was pretty shaken when Li Chyou suddenly popped into his vision.

“Have you seen my butler!?” she asked again.

“Y-Yes!” the clansman hastily replied. “He was being chased by Y-Young Master Murong from the Murong clan!”

“Murong Fang?” she was caught off-guard by this answer. Instead of thinking why he was here, her face started radiating immense killing intent as she spat out angrily, “Murong Fang!”

“Where did they go?” she looked at the clansmen.

He started dripping cold sweat as her killing intent started affecting him. He shakily pointed towards the direction he last saw them go and said, “T-There.”

With a snort, Li Chyou ran off. As she continued, she would occasionally ask clansmen where the youth had been chased to. With this method, she came to the wall the youth jumped over. Without hesitation, she jumped over and disappeared into the forest.

She did not exercise caution. There was no time. Hurry. That was the only thought racing in her mind. The youth was cunning, she knew this. But what good would do that against Murong Fang who was at the Blood Condensation Realm possibly even the Tendon Transformation realm? The broken twigs and leaves showed her the way.

As she raced through the forest, the weaker beasts chose to hide. They may be beasts but all beasts had the primal instinct of cowering before the strong. Except-

“Urryaow!” a loud roar came from her left as she ran. A drenched leopard rapidly closed in on her from the left and within a few moments blocker her paths with murderous eyes.

Li Chyou’s eyes narrowed as she brought out a halberd from her Space Ring, it wasn’t the one from six years ago nor was it the one she used in the estate. The latter was still impaled into Elder Li Tian. It was a halberd that hadn’t seen much use. The blade had already lost its luster.

“Fuck off!” she roared in anger and made an overhead swing. The leopard reacted a bit too late. Instead of being chopped in half, the Yellow Shore Leopard’s head was squashed like a grape that had been stepped on. In her haste, Li Chyou had mistakenly brought out a blunt halberd which she had stopped using after she had gotten a new one.

But now was not the time to ponder about her mistakes as she soon saw the tree becoming sparser. The clues she picked up on the way meant that he got chased this way. Li Chyou held onto a sliver of hope.

“Please…” A desperate plea unlike any she made before.

“Seems like the end of the road for me,” the youth sighed helplessly

“Seems so,” any exhaustion Murong Fang had, catching him had made him forget it. The very thought of torturing him until he begged to die filled him to the brim with immense satisfaction and pleasure.

“I enjoyed this game of tag with you, Young Master Murong!”

“Well, let’s play another game then!” Murong Fang took a step forward.

“Really?” the youth took a step back. A pebble got accidentally kicked as he tried to step. The pebble fell off the cliff and after a few seconds, dove straight into the river below. The splash couldn’t be seen.

“Really.” Murong Fang nodded as he took another step forward and said reassuringly. Contrary to his smiling and amiable face, the air around him couldn’t be any more sinister.

The youth stayed still and smiled. He couldn’t even take a step back. He had reached the very end of the cliff. On the ground, the youth moved his foot around as though he was playing.

“What’s the name of the game?” the youth asked expectantly.

“It’s called-”

“Ahaha!” The youth cut him off, “If you look at me with that expression, anyone could tell what the game is!”

Murong Fang’s amiable smile turned into something hideous. As he brought out his blade, he stopped.

He saw the youth’s face. That teasing or maniacal expression was no longer there. Instead, there was- shock, relief, and elation.

Why? That question clawed at Murong Fang. But that was answered when the youth looked beyond him and his lackeys, and screamed, “First Young Miss!”

Murong Fang’s pupils constricted. His henchmen jumped in fright. Each of them slowly turned around. But-

There was nothing there! Only the abyss-like darkness that came from the depths of Yellowleaf Forest.

“Wha-?” Murong Fang snapped his head back fearing he got duped again. His face wasn’t met with the sight of the youth but a balloon. It burst on his face and a liquid spread onto his face.

“AAAAHHHHHH!!” A blood-curdling scream shook the forest. Smoke appeared from Murong Fang’s face accompanied by a sizzling noise and the smell of burnt flesh.

Before the lackeys could react, the youth kicked off the cliff and flew backward. Flashing a middle finger, he looked at them with the same maniacal expression they had been subjected to, “Try to get bitches with that face now, cunt!”

Laughter accompanied his fall as he left everyone stupefied.

As he positioned himself in a straight diving pose, he heard a heart-wrenching cry that seemed to shake the Heavens.

He smiled bitterly as he hit the river below and darkness engulfed him.