“The Han Family, Wasteland Reclaimers.” The woman stood in front of the bonfire, peering down at her hands while staring at the flickering flame. She said, “I've seen your parents before you were born.”

Jiang Xiao frowned at the strange woman and had an ominous hunch.

To be precise, Jiang Xiao expected the worst.

If she wanted to stand up for her son, there would be no need for her to come to a training venue like the snowfield.

If they were on Earth, Jiang Xiao would feel a greater sense of security. However, she chose to settle the issue here in the snowfield…

What do I do? Jiang Xiao thought to himself in panic. However, he didn't dare to act lightly because he didn't know how strong the woman was.

Jiang Xiao secretly planned his moves while Gao Junwei obeyed his mother's orders, grabbed the military backpack on the ground, and handed it to her.

The middle-aged woman rummaged through it casually to find that it contained nothing but the official military supplies and tools.

Although they were not particularly precious, her brazen actions and rummaging made Han Jiangxue's face grow sullen.

Trying to bear with the anger, Han Jiangxue looked at the pair of mother and son who had barged in forcefully and asked, “What do you guys want to do?”

“What do we want to do?” The middle-aged woman sneered and pulled the signal flare out of the military backpack, which she then tossed onto the ground.

At the next moment, the woman stepped on it forcefully while wearing her heavy military boots!

Kcha!

The signal flare suddenly shattered after being stepped on.

Her actions made Jiang Xiao's heart sink to rock bottom.

He no longer harbored any unrealistic imaginations because her behavior had already shown her intentions.

There was no need for her to do that at all. By barging in and restricting their freedom, she had already gained control of the situation.

Was she not confident in herself? Was she scared that Jiang Xiao and Han Jiangxue would end up running away? Or ask for help with the signal flare?

Jiang Xiao didn't think so.

What was her purpose of doing so, then?

Jiang Xiao s.h.i.+fted his gaze onto Gao Junwei, the arrogant and domineering young man, who was unexpectedly quiet beside his mother.

When Gao Junwei saw his mother smas.h.i.+ng the flare with her foot, he secretly appeared a little excited.

“Do you still think you're the main character?” The middle-aged woman stared at Han Jiangxue coldly and said, “Shut up and follow my orders. Don't make me repeat myself.”

Han Jiangxue exclaimed, “You!”

Bang!

A strong current of lightning and thunder suddenly flowed rapidly from the woman's hand before hitting Han Jiangxue.

With a loud bang and the sound of the current flowing freely, Han Jiangxue's body was blasted away and slammed against the stonewall of the interior of the cave!

Jiang Xiao panicked and hurriedly threw out a shot of Blessing.

The middle-aged woman's body tilted towards the side abruptly and the ray of sacred light landed beside her.

Almost at the same time, several flashes of lightning darted out of her hands and landed heavily on Jiang Xiao's body.

“Xiao, Xiaopi,” Han Jiangxue exclaimed as she laid sluggishly on the ground while her body turned numb. She spluttered and was clearly trying to bear with the pain.

“I told you to follow my orders. Do you understand?” The middle-aged woman sneered as she stared at the s.h.i.+vering Han Jiangxue.

Gao Junwei had a murderous gaze in his eyes, but he was extremely thrilled.

The middle-aged woman turned to him and said with a trace of sarcasm in her voice, “This is the person who makes you feel intimidated?”

Gao Junwei was initially feeling euphoric, but after hearing her words, he turned red and said embarra.s.sedly, “She, she…”

“She what? She's just tras.h.!.+ What about you? Gao Junwei? I raised you into the big boy that you are now and I gave you everything you wanted. Do you think I did that all for the sake of letting you kneel in front of another Star Warrior and s.h.i.+ver in fear?” The woman hollered coldly.

Gao Junwei turned as red as a tomato because of the reprimanding, as if his face was about to bleed.

“You can lose to her and at most go back and train hard for a year or ten until you can defeat her! However, why are you afraid!?!” The more the middle-aged woman talked about it, the angrier she got. She even slapped Gao Junwei again.

The crisp and clear sound of the slap echoed in the empty cave as she barked. “Activate your Sky Smasher!”

She was clearly speaking to Han Jiangxue.

Han Jiangxue shuddered and was seriously injured by the lightning. Not only was she bleeding from her mouth, but her body was also charred and burnt.

The lightning-series Star Techniques were all top output techniques for the Rules Awakened. The woman's Star Power was intense and her output abilities were insanely strong.

What level is she on? What kind of a Star Technique is that?

“Activate your Sky Smasher! Did you hear me!?! Seems like you don't know what plight you're in now,” the woman said while rays of lightning intertwined around her fingertips.

Whoos.h.!.+

All of a sudden, the woman turned to the side and another beam of light landed beside her as if there were eyes on her back.

Behind her, Jiang Xiao, lying on the ground motionlessly, was indeed a little powerless. With a derisive look on her face, the woman threw the shot of lightning at him.

All of a sudden, the sounds of electricity disappeared.

Everyone inside the cave felt that something was wrong.

The Star Power in Jiang Xiao's body was slightly riled up and seemed to be disobedient. There also seemed to be a gap between the Star Power and his body. Not only could he not control the Star Power smoothly, but he also felt the strange feeling of being unable to detect the Star Power!

—Gold Quality Star Technique, Sound of Silence!

Jiang Xiao tried his best to immediately seal all the Star Power of the people inside the cave and stop them from using their Star Techniques. However, he still couldn't stop her from using the lightning flowing out of her hand!

It was too fast!

Before her Star Power was restrained, the current had already been thrown out of her hand and bombarded Jiang Xiao.

The Sound of Silence was a one-time release Star Technique, which duration of effect was not specific. However, the effects were determined by the amount of Star Power exerted by the user.

The Star Technique worked by using a large amount of “Star Power” to create an area of silence. In order to increase the duration of effect, one would have to put in a huge capital in terms of Star Power.

In other words, the Star Power reserve was the top priority!

“Hehe.” The middle-aged woman was slightly surprised as if she had discovered something interesting.

She mobilized the Star Power within her, only to feel a feeling of tension and suffocation in her chest, as the intense Star Power seemed to be disobeying her commands.

Half of her Star Power seemed to have had a mind of its own and was moving around messily. Meanwhile, the other half stayed in place and obeyed her orders.

“Silence? I didn't expect you to be so lucky, b.a.s.t.a.r.d.” The middle-aged woman walked towards him.

Jiang Xiao's body turned numb and his hands wouldn't move. The Light of Thunder and Lightning that she had just released effortlessly made Jiang Xiao realize the gap between them. She was a terrifying Rules Awakened.

“Don't you only have nine star slots? Huh? Little b.a.s.t.a.r.d?” The middle-aged woman barked as she kicked Jiang Xiao out of the cave because she couldn't use her Star Technique!

“Drag her out,” the middle-aged ordered Gao Junwei as she strode over.

Gao Junwei had no choice but to follow her orders and drag Han Jiangxue out by her collar.

When he walked out of the cave and entered the snowfield, he saw his mother stepping on Jiang Xiao's stomach. “You're a piece of garbage with nine star slots. How dare you retaliate?”

She seemed very dissatisfied with Jiang Xiao's efforts to try and counterattack with Blessing. Hence, she kicked him until he curled up like a shrimp.

Seeing that Jiang Xiao was in agony, the middle-aged woman humphed and turned to look at Han Jiangxue. “I told you to open your Sky Smasher, do you not understand?”

Han Jiangxue bit her lip, causing blood to flow out. She dared not open Sky Smasher because she could tell that the woman was very cruel and extremely vicious. She may even throw Han Jiangxue and Jiang Xiao into Sky Smasher together to destroy them!

However, the problem was that even if Han Jiangxue did not open Sky Smasher, the woman would definitely still kill them.

It was only a matter of time.

“Hehe.” Jiang Xiao suddenly laughed, causing everyone to become stunned.

Clad in tattered clothes, Jiang Xiao, whose body was full of injuries, his flesh badly mangled and his face bloodied, retorted, “Your son got beaten up into a pulp twice by a piece of garbage with nine star slots and didn't dare to retaliate at all. Hehe.”

The middle-aged woman raised her eyebrows and her derision turned into anger. She kicked Jiang Xiao in the gut forcefully and hollered. “What did you say? Repeat yourself!”

Compared to her thunder and lightning, her physical attacks were much less damaging and no one would die for the time being.

“Stop kicking! I'll open Sky Smasher, come at me!” Han Jiangxue's expression suddenly changed and she frantically opened Sky Smasher. “You're here for me, so come at me!”

As the overlapping layers of s.p.a.ce appeared, Gao Junwei couldn't help but shudder.

The middle-aged woman turned around and glowered at Gao Junwei in exasperation. She hollered. “Is this the thing you're scared of? Is this what you call your phobia? Take the knife out.”

Gao Junwei swallowed his saliva and his body stiffened.

“I! Told! You! To! Take! The! Knife!” The middle-aged clipped.

Gao Junwei slowly withdrew the Chinese sword from his waist.

In front of him was the badly injured Han Jiangxue and beside him was the traumatizing Sky Smasher.

The overlapping layers of s.p.a.ce seemed to evoke his painful memories, and a thin layer of sweat appeared on his forehead while he moved stiffly.

“Kill her,” the middle-aged woman said.

Kill?

Kill someone?

Gao Junwei panicked and wondered, Does Mother want me to kill Han Jiangxue in Sky Smasher's presence?

Is this the correct way of psychological counseling?

“Hey… hey…” Another slight laughter sounded almost drowning in this whistling snow.

The middle-aged frowned and looked down at Jiang Xiao under her feet, only to hear him sneer. “Don't bother. To wash a pig is to waste both water and soap. Don't you know what you're like?”

“You! What did you say!?!” The woman hollered and shuddered while boiling with fury.

How dare an ant beneath my feet mock me continuously!?! She couldn't tolerate it at all.

Is he sick in the head?

Is he looking for a beating?

Is he really looking to die?

“Shut up! b.a.s.t.a.r.d!” the middle-aged woman yelled while stepping on Jiang Xiao's body forcefully. “Garbage, have I allowed you to speak? Garbage…”

The woman suddenly barfed involuntarily and began to feel dizzy. She couldn't curb the nausea at all.

She bent over uncontrollably and began throwing up all over the snowy ground.

—Gold Quality Star Technique, Enmity!

I, Jiang Xiao, am toxic!

I couldn't control you with Blessing.

I couldn't attack or injure you.

But can you feel my Enmity?

In fact, when Jiang Xiao realized what was going on, he had already activated Enmity with plenty of Star Power.

Unlike An Youyou who had once faced Xia Yan, Jiang Xiao's “Enmity” was much stronger and dominant. There was no turning back either.

In that case, I can only let you hit me, but will I let you hit me for nothing?

I'm going to make you pay the price!

It's the price of your life!

Almost at the moment when the woman stooped and vomited, Jiang Xiao painstakingly propped his body up and pushed the middle-aged woman.

—Gold Quality Star Technique, Green Glow!

Whoos.h.!.+

The continuously vomiting woman was flipped over and immediately plunged into the Sky Smasher.

Han Jiangxue panicked and hurriedly put away the Sky Smasher.

Jiang Xiao slowly crawled up from the bloodied snowfield.

He c.o.c.ked his head towards the side and vomited some blood. He then wiped the blood off of the corner of his lips and said, “I'm a piece of garbage. Hah, you got killed by a piece of garbage.”