Lu Tianyu touched the tuft of charred hair on his head, his face pale with fear as he asked, “Have I died? Am I still alive?”

“Yes.” Li s.h.i.+nian nodded.

At that split second when the fireball smashed to the ground, it really was a life and death situation. The danger was so great that she felt a suffocating sense of oppression.

The intensity of the heat from the flames could be felt against her face, as if lava fell from the sky that would drown and consume her.

If this had happened before, Li s.h.i.+nian would have been very scared. She used to be just an ordinary student and the most dangerous thing that she had experience was when she got stopped by senior female schoolmates at the entrance to school because she was so popular——

But people change; since the attack of a.s.sa.s.sin Crow and the ugly water ghosts jumped out of the lake, Li s.h.i.+nian quickly grew and matured. There was nothing that could make her emotionally moved now.

People that have experienced life and death are always more resilient and tougher than ordinary people.

Even though she was just a little girl.

On the contrary, the one accustomed to the 'big world', lived like a prince and had almost not experienced any danger before, Lu Tianyu was much more fl.u.s.tered.

“Is my face ruined?”

Li s.h.i.+nian examined Lu Tianyu face with a serious look, not saying anything and gently sighing out loud.

“You——what do you mean by that?” Lu Tianyu's voice trembled, reaching for his face. “I——my face is ruined?”

“Ruined.” Li s.h.i.+nian nodded. “It was ruined when you were born.”

“You——”

“Lu Tianyu, you have to be like a man.” Li s.h.i.+nian snapped. “I know you're nervous, I know you're scared. But the people in front of you are the opponents of your Lu family, the enemy of your Lu family——No matter what you think, even if you're scared to death, you still have to pretend that you don't care about anything and continue to act tough. Don't let those people see your jokes and don't let those people think that the young master of Lu Family is a coward.”

“I——” Lu Tianyu stared in surprise at Li s.h.i.+nian, the girl spoke to him in an unprecedented tone of voice.

“You're very clever.” Li s.h.i.+nian said. “But your cleverness is not used in the right place. There is someone who is the opposite of you.”

“You mean Li Muyang?” Lu Tianyu asked.

Although situated in a sea of flames, Ning Xinhai remained unscathed and without worry.

Cui Shaofeng went over, asking: “Uncle Ning, are you alright?”

“I'm fine.” Ning Xinhai replied, his gaze all along fixed on Soul Haunting Whip Luo Xu. “The best defense is counter-attack. Now you know Buddhist techniques are not just defensive?”

“Attacking two children is really shameful.” Luo Xu said coldly.

“Haha, that makes it hard to accept. Who was it that attacked the kids first? I just followed suit, but now it is shameful?”

“I just gave them a slight punishment.”

“If you say a little punishment is to use your whip to mangle his hands——” Ning Xinhai turned to Li s.h.i.+nian and Lu Tianyu. “Miss s.h.i.+nian, long time no see.””

“You——” Li s.h.i.+nian obviously recognised Ning Xinhai. Back when she was in Jiangnan, he was Cui Xiaoxin's bodyguard. When her big Brother was injured when trying to protect Cui Xiaoxin, it was Ning Xinhai who helped him arranged a doctor. Unexpectedly, things stay the same, but people have changed. The bodyguard of the friend back then, has become their opponent today.

Thinking of Cui Xiaoxin, Li s.h.i.+nian's heart ached a little.

During her long journey to Tiandu, she had dreamed of seeing her close friend again when she arrives at Tiandu. In that case, she wouldn't be completely unfamiliar with the place and the people of Tiandu. At least there was a friend waiting for her here.

It has been a long time since she had arrived in Tiandu, but they still have not seen each other.

“It seems Miss s.h.i.+nian has forgotten me.” Ning Xinhai looked at Li s.h.i.+nian with a ruminative glance. “It is better this way.”

“It is better this way.” Li s.h.i.+nian chewed over these words, thinking that it really is so; it is better to not know than to know. If we know, wouldn't it be more painful and more difficult to face all this?

Luo Xu turned around to say to Li s.h.i.+nian and Lu Tianyu, “You guys go first.”

“Where do you think you're going?” A man carrying a huge sword clattered down the alley on his horse.

Behind him were a group of horses and several skilled masters of the Cui family. They blocked the mouth of the alley, sealing off the escape route of Li s.h.i.+nian and Lu Tianyu.

Seeing the people coming over, Ning Xinhai, with a sluggish expression on his face, asked with a cupped fist salute: “Brother Gu how come you're here?”

Gu Mo was the personal bodyguard of the grandfather of the Cui family Cui Xichen, and also his confidant. His unfathomable cultivation had earned him the deep trust of the Cui family's old grandfather. He had not expected him to come here.

Because Gu Mo was an important person of the Cui family, his position in the Cui Family was more superior. So even Ning Xinhai, such a skilled master of the Cui family was quite respectful to him.

Gu Mo cupped his hands in greeting at Ning Xinhai. “Master Ning. Grandfather told me to come and see, he said not to let the children of the Cui family be bullied.”

Hearing that Gu Mo was personally sent by the grandfather of the Cui family, Ning Xinhai was more puzzled than before.

It was just a conflict between some children, the Cui family made such a big scene. Was that necessary?

“Or——is this a sign that the Cui family is resorting to force on the Lu family?”

With this thought, Ning Xinhai could not help his face deepening into a far more serious one.

It seems that he was lucky to run into such a big event today.

Gu Mo's gaze swept over Cui Shaofeng and there was not much respect. The Cui family has many children; there are those of the direct line of descent and those of a collateral branch of the family. There are geniuses but also some mediocre. Evidently, Cui Shaofeng was not up to his standard.

He asked aloud, “Who bullied you?”

Seeing Gu Mo, Cui Shaofeng's heart leapt with happiness, he pointed to Li s.h.i.+nian. “Her, she attacked me from behind——”

He was too embarra.s.sed to point at Lu Tianyu; he really could not say that this little wimpy brat bullied himself?

He then pointed at Luo Xu. “He's a big bully, he injured both my hands——”

Gu Mo's eyes swept across Soul Haunting Whip Luo Xu and stopped at Li s.h.i.+nian, asking: “You're Li s.h.i.+nian?”

Li s.h.i.+nian did not know much about this man's ident.i.ty, but since he knew her name, he presumably must had investigated her before.

So, she answered in a clear and loud voice: “I am Li s.h.i.+nian. Who are you?”

The corners of Gu Mo's mouth twisted into a cruel smile. “At the foot of the Starry Sky, I could not kill your brother Li Muyang——Sister has to pay brother's debt, today I will behead his little sister first.”

He kicked his heels into the horse's stomach and the huge horse speeded toward Li s.h.i.+nian.