The Li Clan Head opened his mouth, as if to say something.
Not one word came out.
It was the Second Master — slumped in his wheelchair, nothing left in his eyes but hate — who burst out in fury:
"Brother, if the Ancestors won't act, fine — but is the whole Li Clan really helpless against one little girl?
If nothing else works, use the sword talisman. Black spheres or no black spheres, it will kill her in a single stroke.
I said from the start you should simply have killed her.
But no — you had to tiptoe around her precious direct-disciple status.
Yu'er told us everything: that Xueyang Peak the feral stray joined is a ruin. Half the Crimson Heaven elders reportedly want it abolished outright.
What is there to be cautious OF?
Besides — that feral stray is MY blood. If I want her life, it is mine to take, and not even the Crimson Heaven Sect can say otherwise."
"SHUT YOUR MOUTH!" The Li Clan Head rounded on him with a glare of indescribable disappointment and rage.
BOOM!
The grand defensive array gave out at last.
Blown apart, in the end, by Thunderclap Bombs.
Ning Ruan sat on the Scarlet Feather Kite.
Idly juggling the bombs she hadn't yet thrown.
Her brilliant smile chilled the blood of everyone watching:
"Tsk, tsk.
Your Li Clan's grand array folds pretty fast under bombardment.
And here I thought your formation would hold up as well as your mouths do."
Merciless mockery, delivered with a grin.
"You—!" The Li disciples were grief-stricken, humiliated past bearing.
And utterly without options against the little demoness's taunts.
Oh, they wanted nothing more than to throw everything aside and rush her.
But one look at the black spheres being tossed from hand to lazy hand —
froze every heart in every chest.
And that was when.
From beyond the Li estate came a girl's voice — familiar, and furious.
"Ning Ruan! Leaving the sect without authorization, wrecking my Li Clan while wearing direct-disciple robes — I WILL report this to the sect!"
"Oh?" Ning Ruan glanced lazily down at the several figures below, all in direct-disciple robes themselves. "And what's that to me?"
She had, in fact, gone through every proper channel.
Li Yu's voice had evidently carried.
The Li disciples looked up as one, saviors sighted.
A Li elder even helped the wounded Clan Head back into the air.
At the sight of the Li Clan battered and bleeding, Li Yu's eyes went instantly red:
"Uncle! She dared harm even YOU?"
"Little Sister, don't worry — the Clan Head's injuries look manageable." Beside Li Yu, her Fifth Senior Brother offered heartbroken comfort, then turned an icy stare up at Ning Ruan:
"Fourth Senior Brother. Sixth Junior Brother. We take her from three sides — just stay clear of what's in her hands.
There will never be a better opening than today. Even if we can't kill her, we cripple her. Today."
"But the sect..." The Sixth Junior Brother hesitated.
Murdering a fellow disciple in private was a capital offense.
The Fourth Senior Brother sneered:
"She battered the Li Clan first; we subdued her for our Little Sister after. Even if there's guilt in it, how heavy can it weigh?
Besides — she's made our Little Sister miserable one time too many. She has deserved death for a long while."
One glance at the small girl beside them — crying so hard it broke the heart — dissolved the Sixth Junior Brother's last reservation.
Little Sister was so good. She deserved to be cradled in every palm, sheltered, adored.
Not trampled and humiliated, again and again, like this.
The three exchanged a look.
The next instant —
three swords rose as one.
And deliberately veered toward the thickest crowds as they climbed.
They simply refused to believe the feral stray would truly dare bomb a crowd.
All they needed was one heartbeat of hesitation from her.
A light-element spirit master with zero offensive power — nothing but a lamb stretched out for the knife.
"Tsk, tsk... spoken like a girl handed the everyone's-darling script at birth."
Ning Ruan watched, thoroughly entertained, as three faces bore down on her wearing identical we-will-have-your-dog-life expressions.
She reached back and gave the sword casket a casual pat:
"Little Red. Little Orange.
Your healer may need to chop a few people. Do cooperate.
Or you can forget about ever coming out again."
The black casket trembled faintly.
As if something inside were answering.
Ning Ruan smiled — and in the exact moment she resolved to draw —
the three men who had been all killing intent a breath ago, swords barely raised, went hurtling backward one after another.
At the same instant —
a black blur, too fast for any eye to follow, vanished flawlessly behind Ning Ruan's back the moment the three hit the ground.
Ning Ruan: ...
???
"SENIOR BROTHERS!"
Below,
Li Yu's shriek tore the air:
"Fourth Senior Brother! Fifth Senior Brother! How— how is this possible?
Your dantians...
No. No, it can't be..."
The one whose dantian was supposed to be destroyed was that little bitch Ning Ruan!
How could it be HER senior brothers whose dantians lay shattered...