Zhao Ming’s blows caused quite a large stir even on the surface of the lake. Even though the other bystanders had no idea what was going on, those youths from the Chen kingdom could tell that they were the aftermath of Zhao Ming’s attack.

“Look, these are signs of our leader’s famed iron-fist bullets!” one rather chubby youth shouted excitedly. “They’re strong enough to kill even a shark. No matter who else is in the water with him, that unfortunate victim must be dead!”

As the chubby youth chuckled, the other members of Zhao Ming’s team began to laugh along with him.

“Nonsense! Sister Ruoyan will be perfectly fine!” Lin Qingxue was both angry and anxious.

The chubby youth continued mocking Lin Qingxue. “Your Sister Ruoyan’s dead, I’m telling you! Hahaha!”

Lin Qingxue was still holding Zhuo Yifeng’s bow taut as she glanced vigilantly at the other two teams waiting ashore. However, her stamina was giving out, and she didn’t think she would be able to maintain her stance for much longer. The chubby youth had so angered her that her fingers couldn’t help trembling, and she accidentally shot a tiger-canine arrow at him.

“Argh!” Not expecting the sudden attack, the youth was unprepared for the projectile shooting at him. He let out a sudden yell as he fell backwards, only to be caught by another member of his team.

This arrow was a complete accident. Lin Qingxue hadn’t aimed it at all, so the arrow only shot into the chubby youth’s shoulder. Even though the injury wasn’t particularly serious, it was quite painful. The youth continued to yell out incessantly, glancing at Lin Qingxue with extraordinary resentment as he did so.

“That was for talking nonsense.” Lin Qingxue took advantage of the accident and pretended that her attack was intentional. “The first arrow’s just a warning shot. If you continue blabbering away, I’ll shoot your head next.”

“I’m not speaking nonsense! You want to bet? I bet your Sister Ruoyan’s just a corpse in the lake now!” As one of his teammates helped him clean his wound, the chubby youth continued bickering with Lin Qingxue.

“Alright, what’re we betting?” Lin Qingxue could never keep her calm.

“Heh heh. If your sister’s dead, then you lose! You have to swear that you won’t try to avenge her, and you have to kneel down, kowtow to me thrice, and call me Granddaddy!”

“And if I win?”

“If our leader can’t kill your sister, then it’s my loss! In that case, I’ll kneel down and kowtow to you thrice, and call you Great-Aunt!”

Lin Qingxue thought for a moment. “And what if Sister Ruoyan kills your leader?”

The chubby youth began to cackle again. “That would never happen!”

In the lake, Zhuo Yifeng and Rong Yueshan overheard the chubby youth’s conversation with Lin Qingxue. They both stopped attacking each other, took a deep breath, and dove deep into the lake. Zhuo Yifeng was solely worried for Yun Ruoyan’s safety, but Rong Yuehong was both interested in the high-rank beast core and in somehow claiming credit for Yun Ruoyan’s death to report back to Rong Tianling.

About twenty meters down, both of them saw Zhao Ming and Yun Ruoyan, about ten meters apart from each other. Zhuo Yifeng rushed toward Yun Ruoyan immediately. Rong Yueshan narrowed her eyes when she saw the glimmering spiritual barrier surrounding Yun Ruoyan’s body, her heart thumping in shock. 

How could Yun Ruoyan be a peak eighth-rank blademaster?! 

If that were indeed the case, then as an early seventh-rank blademaster, there was no way she would be able to kill her!

However, before she entered Kongming Academy, Rong Tianling had commanded her to kill Yun Ruoyan no matter what.

If she weren’t able to kill her herself, could she get some external help? Rong Yueshan’s gaze turned to Zhao Ming, and an idea sprang up in her mind. After all, Zhao Ming had had a conflict with the pale-faced youth in her party, and this would be her revenge. She slowly swam toward Zhao Ming’s body.

Zhao Ming was still in shock at Yun Ruoyan’s sudden “breakthrough”, and didn’t notice anyone sneaking up to him at all.

When Yun Ruoyan saw Zhuo Yifeng swimming toward her, she motioned at him from afar and waved her dagger at Zhao Ming, motioning for them to attack him together. Zhao Ming’s rapid-fire attacks had likely consumed the majority of his spiritual energy, and it was her time to take the offensive.

However, just as Yun Ruoyan was about to strike, she noticed Rong Yueshan approaching Zhao Ming from behind. In her hands was a gleaming dagger, about the same size and shape as the one in Yun Ruoyan’s hands.

Yun Ruoyan’s instincts told her that Rong Yueshan was about to attack. Although she wasn’t quite sure what exactly her plan was, she still subconsciously motioned to Zhao Ming’s back.

When Zhao Ming saw Yun Ruoyan making a gesture at him, he didn’t react immediately. By the time he turned around suspiciously, Rong Yueshan’s dagger had struck at and sliced through his throat, causing dark-red blood to gush out of the wide gash.

Zhuo Yifeng’s eyes widened. Rong Yueshan and Zhao Ming didn’t seem to have any large enmity, and such casual, indiscriminate violence and slaughter was rare even amongst the beastkin.

[1]

Zhao Ming opened his eyes and mouth wide in disbelief. A small pearl fell out of his mouth and sank to the bottom of the lake.

Rong Yueshan smiled maliciously at Yun Ruoyan, discarded the dagger in her hand, and kicked Zhao Ming’s body down to propel herself up as she rushed back to the surface. Zhao Ming’s throat and windpipe had both been cut, so he couldn’t consume a life-saving spiritual pill even if he had one. 

Yun Ruoyan and Zhuo Yifeng hurriedly returned to the surface behind Rong Yueshan. Neither gave Zhao Ming a second glance, even as they passed by his side. Just like a wooden puppet, Zhao Ming’s corpse sank to the bottom of the lake, coincidentally landing in the dragon’s grotto that Yun Ruoyan had uncovered.

[2]

Just as Yun Ruoyan and Zhuo Yifeng were about to broach the surface of the lake, the baleful lament of a dragon came from the underwater grotto again, and Yun Ruoyan looked down once more. That glance filled her with fear: the darkened grotto had somehow filled with flames, and countless black dragons were dashing out of the flames and wailing. 

The wails grew louder and louder, stabbing into Yun Ruoyan’s eardrum like needles. They possessed an unusual resonance that beckoned to Yun Ruoyan, so that even as she painfully clutched her head, her body began to swim back down toward the grotto.

“Not good—the grotto’s been stained with human blood, and its baleful aura is spreading!” Qiuqiu could feel Yun Ruoyan’s confused state of mind and was extremely anxious. “Mistress, wake up! Don’t be controlled by this aura!”

Zhuo Yifeng was swimming right in front of Yun Ruoyan. When he noticed that she wasn’t following behind him, he turned back around and saw to his shock that she was swimming back down. Even though he was almost out of air, he turned around and swam in Yun Ruoyan’s direction.

On the other hand, Rong Yueshan had emerged to the surface once more. As she swam quickly to shore, she called out toward Zhao Ming’s team, “Run, run! Yun Ruoyan killed your leader, and she’s coming to kill you all now!”

“What?!” The chubby youth stared at Rong Yueshan in disbelief. “What did you say happened to our leader?”

The pale-faced youth helped pull Rong Yueshan ashore. She pretended to be frightened as she continued yelling, “Your leader was trying to steal Yun Ruoyan’s high-grade beast core and ended up killed. Yun Ruoyan’s a vicious girl, and she’ll likely target all of you as well as soon as she gets out of the lake! Run!”

“Well, fatso?!” It was Lin Qingxue’s turn to be conceited. “I told you your leader would die at my sister’s hands, didn’t I? Well? Kneel down, kowtow, and call me Great-Aunt!”

“Call you Great-Aunt?!” The chubby youth’s face turned dark before he bellowed, “I’ll kill you in revenge right now!!!”

The chubby youth had a speed unbefitting his girth. He pounced on Lin Qingxue like a leopard. Although she shot an arrow at him, he dodged it agilely in mid-air. By the time Lin Qingxue reached for another arrow, his chubby body had reached Lin Qingxue.

Lin Qingchen, standing right beside her sister, immediately unsheathed her sword and thrust it at the youth, who defended with a sharp sword that one of his teammates tossed at him.

The other youths from the Chen kingdom all rushed up to attack the Lin sisters together. Unlike Rong Yueshan’s team, which consisted almost entirely of scions from the capital who had been coddled from birth and had almost no fighting strength at all, the team from the Chen kingdom was relatively skilled. 

Their leader, Zhao Ming, was a peak seventh-rank blademaster, just like Yun Ruoyan. The chubby youth was a sixth-rank blademaster, possessing a cultivation slightly more advanced than Lin Qingchen. The remaining youths weren’t too weak themselves, each having about the same cultivation as Lin Qingxue. 

Lin Qingchen clearly wouldn’t be able to defend against the chubby youth’s attack for long. As he slammed his sword down on her and she tried valiantly to defend, her sword was knocked away from the impact.

As for Lin Qingxue, after she managed to shoot two other members of the Chen kingdom team, her bow was grabbed by a number of youths at the same time.

“Let go!” they shouted together.

“No, I won’t!” Lin Qingxue shouted back.

1. Even among animals, humans have a surprising propensity to kill their own kind. And even among humans, 

wuxia 

cultivators clearly take the cake.

2. Dead bodies initially sink as their lungs fill with water. Then, as the bodies decompose, bacteria in their gut create gas, causing them to float once again.

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