“Genius?”

The green-clothed ‘assistant’ suddenly became silent. He was first completely in a daze, and then with a bitter smile full of disappointment and frustration, his body collapsed into a pit filled with muddy water, immediately submerged within, no trace of him left to be found.

He began cultivating at the age of seven, ignited his soul force seed at the age of eleven, broke through into Soul Knight cultivation at the age of twelve. At the age of fifteen, he entered Great Mang Dynasty’s most prestigious Purgatory Mountain to cultivate, reaching Soul Master level cultivation at the age of sixteen. Then, with only six years of time, not only did he break into State Knight level, he even became one of Purgatory Mountain’s dark heroes.

In all of Purgatory Mountain, throughout the entire Great Mang Dynasty, he was already a well-known figure among cultivators, a genius in everyone’s eyes.

He also believed that in this world, there weren’t many people who could compare to him in cultivation speed, nor did he feel any qualms about his title as a genius. That was why even though right from the start, he knew that this young female driver might also be a cultivator, when he saw her delicate frame that clearly still had room for growth, even if she began cultivating from the moment she became self-aware, a dozen or so years of time, what kind of cultivation level could she even reach?

However, reality was before his very eyes. This young lady, was at the Sacred Expert level of cultivation, a level he might not necessarily reach even if cultivated another twenty years.

The green-clothed young lady’s response was just that simple, yet it was even more so real. Even if she naturally looked young, her real age a year or two older, Sacred Expert level… she, was what a true genius was.

“Sacred Expert… born naturally young looking…” When he felt a wave of indescribably powerful sword intent, heard the sound of his own senior brother falling into that water pit, the grim-faced middle-aged man who was currently laying in mud felt that this was a rather unique response. He couldn’t help but want to laugh, yet couldn’t. After a wave of intense twitching, he asked one last question, moreover a question about swords. “What kind of sword is this… why is the aura so icy cold?”

The green-clothed young lady looked at him, silently nodding and seriously replying, “Heart Sealing Frost.”

The grim-faced middle-aged man didn’t release another sound, his body slowly becoming ice-cold under the endless rain, unknown if he even heard the green-clothed young lady’s response in the end.

Li Qilong’s entire body was shaking as he stood there. From the moment black veins appeared on the green clad assistant’s body, he already became aware just how superficial and ignorant he had been all this time… a city supervisor, provincial supervisor, eight sectors… these titles were so clear in the past, yet only now did he realize just how far away he was from those hidden courts, inner institutions, the ones who were behind layers and layers of curtains.

Turns out that after climbing for so many years, advancing boldly in Rudong City, in the end, it was nothing more than this!

“Your majesty… please spare my life.” While watching the shaftless flying sword move back to the green-clothed young lady’s side and into her sleeves, Li Qilong released a helpless laugh, and then looked towards the white-clothed woman, pleading for forgiveness. He didn’t kneel, because he knew that even if he did, it would still be useless.

The white-clothed woman gave the heavy armored giant not far off to the side a look, looked at the green clad ‘assistant’ submerged in the muddy pit, and then at the grim-faced middle-aged man. With an ice-cold voice, she said, “If they were willing to surrender, I can let them live. You, however, are the only one that cannot be forgiven.”

“Why?!” Li Qilong’s body trembled intensely, and then he said firmly, “Your majesty, I can make up for my mistakes through merit, I can inform your majesty of who it was that incited me, all of this as long as your majesty can promise to let me and my family go.”

“Why?” The white-clothed woman was originally calm, but when she heard this line, she instead suddenly became furious, saying with a stern voice, “You still have the nerve to ask me why. Fine, let me tell you why! It is because these three aren’t cultivators of our Yunqin Empire, so there is no ground for blame, but you are one of Yunqin Empire’s glorious city supervisors! Also, these swordsmen, they are all powerful soldiers of our Yunqin Empire, yet because of your stupidity and foolishness, your conspiracies, they had to die here, moreover under my hands! You are the reason why all of these imperial soldiers, who originally could have seized glory and honor, now have to be shamed after death, yet you still want me to leave you with your life?”

While staring at Li Qilong, whose face was now becoming more and more snow-white, his body shaking more and more, the white-clothed woman’s tone was filled with indescribable disgust. “Moreover, you are too stupid, stupid to the point of leaving me disgusted. You thought that you really would have better prospects down south? Why don’t you use your head a bit? Even though I’m a cultivator, I definitely won’t enter the battlefield. By killing me, what benefits would Great Mang Dynasty even receive? Are they scared of the changes I will bring to Yunqin Empire? ... even if their thoughts were this long-term, they would definitely have to first consider the endless wrath my death would incur first. My Yunqin Empire was established through martial might. Following the assassination of the emperor’s sister, if no troops were sent out, not even my brother the emperor would be able to quell the wrath of our citizens. They were merely throwing some rocks, playing along, seeing if they could make the waters a bit more turbid. If they could make some capable individuals in our Yunqin Empire fall not on the battlefield, but rather under their own conspiracies, then that’s naturally a good thing. Meanwhile you, as a soldier of Yunqin Empire, a city supervisor, actually didn’t even have a trace of vigilance, even believing everything they told you, you tell me if there is any use in keeping you alive in this world!”

“As for someone like you, someone as utterly stupid as you, the people you could contact, just what kind of people could they be? Now that this type of thing happened, it will be investigated, even those above the ones you came into contact with will be investigated. Whether you speak or not, what use is there?”

The white-clothed woman’s tone calmed down a bit, but she wasn’t willing to say anything else on this matter. She only looked at Li Qilong whose entire body was shaking, saying, “Seeing as how you previously made great contributions to our Yunqin Empire in the border army… if you are still a soldier of the empire, then pick up your sword, I will at least leave your corpse intact.”

The last bit of hope he had of survival, even this last straw he was clinging onto was erased by ice-cold ridicule. When he realized that there was no chance of a turn for the better anymore, while he slowly lowered his body to pick up his magistrate pens, he saw that his official uniform was already completely covered in mud.

“After all of that… in the end, I am still nothing more than a peasant…”

Li Qilong straightened his body, revealing a bitter smile. Then, as if venting his emotions, he began to charge crazily at the white-clothed woman.

The white-clothed woman walked up to the green-clothed young lady. While Li Qilong thrusted out the magistrate pens in his hands with all of his strength, his eyes closed, an icy-cold aura penetrated his body, piercing through his heart, and then came out of his back. However, right at this time, what made him suddenly widen his eyes in disbelief, was that the magistrate pen that was originally destined to never be able to inflict any damage towards this white-clothed young lady, instead penetrated flesh, roiling hot blood falling on his face.

He saw that in the hands of that white-clothed woman was the grim-faced middle-aged man’s purple jade thin blade, currently pierced through his chest, his strength and will quickly scattering. However, the magistrate pens in his hands also pierced into the white-clothed young lady’s stomach, producing a dazzling bloom of blood, currently bursting from her white palace clothes.

“You…?” Li Qilong’s eyes were completely widened, his body stumbling backwards, a scream released from his mouth. However, the shock he felt would instead never obtain an explanation. The white-clothed woman let go of the blade, and as a result, together with the purple jade thin sword, he fell on his back, never to regain consciousness again.

𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Even though there was a pen stabbed into her abdomen, blood continuously trickling down her clothes, the white-clothed woman’s expression instead remained extremely calm, only turning around towards the carriage covered in black arrows.

The green-clothed young lady didn’t walk up to provide any aid either. Instead, she just stood there, frowning as she looked into her eyes, asking with a sunken voice, “Why?”.

“I believe you also understand that this was a warning for me from those who don’t wish for me to continue down the path I chose to take… meanwhile, what I represent is the will of my brother the emperor, which means that they naturally already made the preparations to accept his wrath.” The white-clothed woman continued to walk towards the carriage. “I clearly cannot continue doing things as they expect.”

The green-clothed young lady quietly thought to herself, her brows furrowing deeper and deeper. “I know that by doing this, you can make the flames burn greater, giving you more reason to do some things, while the others won’t even have any reasons to rise up in opposition… but have you considered that by making the flames greater, it will burn other places as well, for example, Green Luan Academy.”

The white-clothed woman stopped. Her body trembled slightly, and then with a low voice, she said, “Nangong Weiyang, you are indeed a genius, not only a genius in terms of cultivation, you can even think about these things so clearly. However, do you think that I have the room for choice here? You’ve already followed me through a larger half of Yunqin Empire, as for what degree of corruption our style of governing has fallen to, you’ve also seen it with your very own eyes. Moreover, even while under my brother the emperor’s brilliant governing, Yunqin Empire still has many people my brother cannot touch, cannot move. I originally believed that even if the Justice Sector… even if the Martial Sector, even if some people were dissatisfied with the path I took, they would at least show some restraint, do some self-reflection, control their dissatisfaction, but instead, what have they done? In our very Yunqin territory, they’re actually brazen to the point of using this type of method to warn me, warn my brother the emperor! Then, from here on out, what else wouldn’t they dare do?”

After a slight pause, a hint of anger that was hard to disguise appeared in the white-clothed woman’s eyes. “Nangong Weiyang, do not forget, Green Luan Academy is also one of the places even my brother the emperor cannot move. Moreover, you have never taken one step inside Green Luan Academy, your cultivation completely the result of Imperial City’s full support. I really find it hard to understand why you have such a powerful favorable impression of Green Luan Academy.”

“Because I like it.” The green-clothed young lady looked at the white-clothed woman, replying seriously and without any hesitation. “I like Principal Zhang, I like the way the academy does things.”

In the mind of this girl named Nangong Weiyang, the word ‘concealment’ didn’t seem to be in her dictionary, which was why even when talking to the still bleeding princess of Yunqin Empire, after saying these things, she still didn’t care what the other party was thinking at all, seriously adding, “You being like this… I don’t like it at all.”

The white-clothed woman remained speechless for a long time. Then, she took a step forward again, walking towards the carriage with a bit of difficulty, her voice a bit weak and downcast as she said, “However, you should also understand that… everything I’m doing, isn’t for myself, but for Yunqin Empire.”

“I do.” Nangong Weiyang nodded, and then seriously said, “However, I still don’t like it.”

When faced with such a stubborn young lady, the white-clothed woman knew that she had no way of refuting her, the waves of dizziness also making her not want to say anything else. As such, she only silently opened the carriage door, and then sat down. After sitting down, doing what she could to stop the bleeding, this white-clothed woman released a light sigh. She began to think to herself, from the day she walked out from Central Continent’s Imperial City, she always lost track of how many people didn’t like her, yet today, she actually still so stubbornly tried to convince a young lady even more stubborn than herself, it truly was a pointless struggle.