Ying stood in front of the Fearsome Garden’s most powerful girls but their leader was nowhere in sight. All of them glared at her with unfriendly looks. Each of them ready to tear her apart piece by piece just because she wanted to talk to their leader. She didn’t understand why they were all freaking out so soon. They didn’t even give her the chance to explain why she was here.
“Where is Meihu? I got something I want to talk to her about.” Ying told them.
“Whatever you have to discuss with our Mistress, you can tell us. We can go relay it to her for you.” The glasses wearing girl gave a fake smile.
Ying has seen a lot of fake smiles in her time at the Golden Serpent Sect. Was it a good thing or a bad thing that she could tell which was which just at a first glance by now?
“No there’s no need to go tell her anything. I’ll tell her myself. Now, where is she?” Ying had a pretty good guess that Meihu was up that large staircase behind the room with the giant golden doors.
“You don’t think that just because you’re a 9th stage Qi Gatherer that you can just waltz in here and get your way, do you?” A small girl walked up to her with a lot of attitude.
“You’re Song, right?” Ying knew of this Rose.
She was one of the top rankers in the Outer Court who rarely gave any mercy to her opponents. Back before she met Jing, Ying used to watch a lot of her ranking matches. To see that she was still idling around in the 9th stage was a bit disappointing for someone she looked up to. Well, maybe that wasn’t fair. With her Void World, cultivating has become way easier. Other people didn’t have the same circumstances as her so, she shouldn’t hold them to that same standard. It wouldn’t be fair.
“Hmph. It looks like you know who I am. If you got a brain inside that fat head of yours you should leave while I'm still asking nicely.” Song glared while staring at Ying’s busty chest.
“I’m not here to fight. I just want to talk with Meihu.” Ying tried to reason with them surprisingly.
She didn’t have the greatest of opinion about the Fearsome Garden but that didn’t mean she wanted to kill every single one of them. Ying wasn’t a lunatic without any sense of morals like Hu Tao. If there was a way to handle things without having to murder everyone, then she’d take it. As long as it didn’t annoy her. Some would say she has an anger problem but most of those people that said that were already killed by her sword. So that obviously wasn’t true.
“Don’t think that we don’t know of you, Ying.” Glasses Girl looked down at her.
“You know me?” Ying was surprised.
She was pretty sure no one but those in her group knew her.
“You’re that dark horse cultivator that’s closing in the top 10 rankings in the Outer Court.”
“Yes?” What did that have to do with anything?
“If you think challenging our Mistress is going to boost your reputation within the sect, you’re dead wrong.” She smirked.
“Listen, I don’t care about reputation or whatever you think I'm here for. I’m getting annoyed when all I wanted to do was talk to a single person. Get out of my way before I have to make you.” Ying balled up her fist.
The three Roses stood side-by-side in front of Ying, preparing themselves for a battle against Ying. Completely adamant on refusing to let her pass despite saying that all she wants to do is talk. She didn’t understand why they were being such a pain in the ass about this. Ruo, Song, and Rong stared at the annoyed Ying with confusion.
Why wasn’t she backing down and retreating? Could she not sense that Ruo and Song were at the 9th stage just like her while Rong, at the 8th stage, was still a threat that could not be ignored. Was she really that confident in her strength? If so, they definitely couldn’t let her meet with the Mistress!
“You aren’t the only one confident in your strength!” Song leapt forward with her fist outstretched.
Ying could sense an admirable amount of power within that tiny fist coated in frost qi. A punch like this could probably knock her out of this house if she wasn’t prepared for it. Sadly for Song, she was completely prepared for it. Ying easily caught her fist within her palm and began to crush her fist while forcing her to the ground.
“What?!” Song was completely surprised by the difference in their physical strength.
“Narwhal’s Ice Horn!” An icicle more deadly than any sword formed out of her forehead that thrust towards Ying’s throat at fast speeds.
“Scary.” Ying responded as she released a wave of flames from her mouth that incinerated the ice dagger into water droplet that then turned into water vapor.
Ying made sure to position her mouth away from Song so she didn’t accidentally burn her face off. But she didn’t spare her arm as she raised her leg and dropped it down, cleanly breaking it in half. Song screamed so loudly, the entire house could hear it as she dropped to her knees. The other two Roses immediately dashed forward to aid their fellow commander. Tears pooled in Song’s eyes from the pain.
Breaking her arm would lessen the work she needs to do to get to Meihu. Ying immediately targeted the weakest Rose next. She leapt towards the 8th stage Qi Gatherer and avoided Ruo’s glowing purple arrow while Rong immediately got frightened after seeing Song mercilessly having her arm broken. Instead of avenging her, she used all her power to avoid getting caught by Ying’s delicate, white, and tiny hand. The dagger she had in her hand wasn’t used at all to attempt to strike Ying.
The sight of her respected senior dropping to the ground and wailing like that was something she couldn’t burn out of her mind. Her heart was thumping like a drum inside her chest as she did everything she could to survive. Rong could hear Ruo yelling something at her but the figure of the orange-haired girl was constantly around her. She couldn’t spare any attention to anything she was saying if she wanted to survive.
“Damn it Rong! It was a mistake letting a coward like you take Lam’s place. She would’ve never acted like this if she was still alive.” Ruo cursed as she desperately attempted to hit Ying with her arrows.
Ying wasn’t seriously chasing after the scared little 8th stage. She might’ve looked like she was doing everything to chase after her. Like blowing flames from her mouth, smashing the ground apart with her fist, and shouting. But it was all to get at the quick little archer making sure she stayed a certain distance away from Ying, even when she wasn’t looking. When you’ve been in as many fights as Ying, you start to understand who’s most dangerous in a fight.
“MOVE TO THE LEFT RONG! NOW!” Ruo shouted.
It was the perfect shot she was waiting for. Ruo unleashed most of her qi into this arrow that spiraled toward Ying’s helpless form. A shot that aimed in right on Ying’s heart. An opportunity only given thanks to Rong giving her all in avoiding Ying’s sloppy but dangerous attacks. Most of the entry room was broken apart, burning, or smashed because of Ying. In no time, the small mansion was filled with Fearsome Garden disciples who burst in at the sight of the damage and loud noises. All of them watched as Ruo’s spiraling arrow was about to snatch Ying’s heart from her chest.
Until suddenly, Ying’s figure erupted in golden orange flames. She disappeared almost instantly from the spot she was previously at and appeared over Ruo’s exhausted figure with her fist reared back and cloaked in flames.
“This will really hurt.” Ying informed as her fist slammed straight down onto Ruo’s back.
Smashing her into floor that cracked into several chunks. The entire mansion shook from the power of her fist and all the spectating Fearsome Garden members watched in complete shock and horror. Still no sounds or movements came from beyond the golden door. Ying thought it was finally over when she took out the archer but it looks like things wouldn’t be that easy...
“Senior Song!”
“Senior Song, what are you doing!? You have to protect us!”
“If you don’t help us, she’ll destroy everything we worked for!”
“Get up and fight!” They begged.
Song’s slumped figure was reawakened by their words. What the hell was she doing?! Crying over a broken arm? What was she, a child? She still had one arm left, didn’t she?! And if that one broke then she still had her feet! Song arose with an icy passion that spread out in waves from beneath her feet. Ice crawled up her child-like body in the form of a warrior’s armor. A helmet that hid any traces of the adorable face she had and replaced it with the stern seriousness of a fighter, a pair of icy gauntlets radiating such concentrated frost energy that it could freeze fire itself, and an aura of frost qi that was capable of freezing one’s blood to a crippling halt.
“This isn’t over yet.” She glared at Ying.
“We have your back Song!” The other Fearsome Garden girls stood behind Song, ready to defend their home with their dying breath.
“Don’t drag me down!” She yelled at them.
“I might have to use my sword this time around...” Ying said as she saw the large group of disciples running towards her.
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