Bai Tang: That's for Bullying Jing Yuanyuan!

Dan Heng had to suffer public embarrassment even while parting the sea. Once he was done, he knocked Bai Tang on the head with an expressionless face.

Bai Tang: Her eyes welled with tears.

It was good that their kid was becoming more outgoing, but being too outgoing was another matter.

She had gone from a gentle, quiet, taciturn girl with a poker face when she first arrived to a lively, rowdy little fox. Wasn't that change a bit too drastic?

"Bai Tang, there really was something wrong with Tingyun. She scared us half to death back then."

When it came time to solve the puzzle, Dan Heng was needed to do the work, so March 7th and Stelle began whispering to Bai Tang.

"Tingyun isn't dead."

Bai Tang's offhand remark made them stop in their tracks and look at her.

Bai Tang said, "What's wrong? Let's beat Phantylia first."

The group started forward again.

"Can I be the main DPS this time?"

She was serious about beating Phantylia. Bai Tang didn't care about the bosses in the other stages and was happy enough being the healer, but Phantylia was different.

She wouldn't feel satisfied unless she did it herself!

She would kill Phantylia herself, cut Zephyro down herself, and punch Sunday awake herself!

"I'll be the shield support!"

Stelle chimed in.

March 7th immediately realized they were changing their in-game roles. "I'll shoot arrows from the back, same as before."

"Great. Jing Yuan can be the sub-DPS, Dan Heng can attack from range, and Welt can be support. Wait, where's the healer? As long as I kill Phantylia fast enough, we won't need one."

Bai Tang put Jingliu, little Jing Yuan, big Jing Yuan, and Aventurine on the team.

If it weren't for the fact that she couldn't see Sister Himeko, she would have unleashed an "I weep for the departed" right at Phantylia.

Dan Heng soon finished, and everyone began preparing for battle.

Phantylia was still getting herself ready. The first things to arrive weren't guests, but blades of ice. Bai Tang had been unable to wait any longer. She had used only one sword against Yanqing, but this time she drew both, eagerly sending two ice blades at Phantylia.

The others who had been about to attack stopped where they were.

March 7th watched Bai Tang suppress Phantylia all by herself. "Do we even need to do anything?"

"Illumination of All Rivers!"

Bai Tang followed a basic attack with Illumination of All Rivers. Before Phantylia could react, she used Aventurine's Imaginary chips to rain down from above, then raised her swords and slashed at her.

The High-Cloud Quintet's finishing move was ready too, and Bai Tang unleashed it at once. The giant mecha's spectral form held the Shard Sword in its right hand and a cannon in its left. A water dragon coiled around it, and a massive bow and arrow appeared behind it.

[The cannon Gundam was specially customized for Bai Tang by Yingxing. Jingliu taught the Gundam its strongest strike, Dan Feng gave it a water dragon, Baiheng declared she would be the spirit behind the Gundam, and Jing Yuan came to pilot it, all to make Bai Tang happy.]

[Now, it had become Bai Tang's weapon for slaying her enemies.]

"So cool!"

"Is this Bai Tang's hidden power?"

"Sigh."

"..."

"Boom!"

The shell, the slash, the arrow, and the water dragon coiled around the Gundam all rushed at Phantylia at once, knocking her straight into her third phase. Her second phase had yet to appear before the Gundam cut it down.

"Impudent!"

Before Phantylia could put on a display, release her illusory flowers, and have a word with the ants below, she had been pinned down and beaten. She had nearly been blown apart without getting a single word out. Did they really think she had no temper?

"Mere ants dare to step forward? Call it courage if you will, but it looks more like recklessness to me. I'll send you on your way and turn you into Voidrangers!"

"Impudent, my ass! Did I say I was an ant? Then you must be the first Lord Ravager to get beaten down by an ant. As for turning me into a Voidranger, I doubt a piece of trash like you can manage it."

The finishing move had to recharge after one use, so it dissolved into the air. Even so, Bai Tang continued in taunt mode. She didn't use a single dirty word, but every one of them struck home.

"I never imagined there'd be a Lord Ravager afraid of death. Your accomplishments amaze me. Looking back, there's barely a single one that stands out. You must have had a great time slacking off under Nanook. I don't know how the worst-performing Lord Ravager like you has managed to survive.

"At your level, if you so much as touch the hem of my clothes, it'll only be because I wasn't paying attention. You're the weakest piece of trash among the Lord Ravagers, yet you dare come to my Luofu and make a fool of yourself. You'd better go home, wash up, and go to bed. Put the Path of Destruction into practice yourself and pave a bright road for the other Lord Ravagers."

Whatever else could be said, Bai Tang's venomous tongue had drawn all the aggro.

As long as she drew enough aggro, Jing Yuan would be fine. If anything happened to Jing Yuan, it would be because she hadn't drawn enough.

"Phantylia isn't going to die of anger, is she?"

March 7th nocked an arrow and drew her bow. Now that the spectral form was gone, she immediately moved to support Bai Tang.

Bai Tang had blown Phantylia apart in a minute. She really was strong. Now that Phantylia had used her ultimate, she would probably be harder to fight.

"If she dies of anger, that saves us some trouble."

Jing Yuan also raised his blade and slashed at Phantylia.

"Take this!"

Watching the battle before her, Stelle felt her blood boil. Forgetting all about being a shield support, she charged in with her bat.

Dan Heng formed a water dragon and, while Phantylia wasn't looking, sent it crashing straight down.

Phantylia was furious. First, some reckless brute had ruined her opening speech and torn her script to shreds, and now she was taunting her.

"To crush ants, nothing could be more fitting than bringing down a star."

The attack was truly fierce, but Bai Tang had something fiercer still. A spectral image of the Luofu appeared over their heads, shielding them from the blow.

This was big Jing Yuanyuan's individual bond: the Xianzhou Luofu.

The enormous Luofu loomed over them. Compared with the other three, Jing Yuan and Dan Heng were the most emotionally shaken.

Bai Tang's words had left a deep impression on Jing Yuan, and this sight showed that her obsession ran too deep to root out. "My Luofu. Bai Tang wasn't wrong."

To Bai Tang, the Luofu belonged to the general, and it was one of Jing Yuan's legacies. How could she not protect it? Someone protected it even more fiercely than she did.

So the Luofu wasn't hers alone. The only ones who could represent it were the two who loved it deeply and protected it until death.

One was General Jing Yuan, and the other was... Yanqing.

Because of Bai Tang's taunts, Phantylia wanted to seize her first and inject her with Destruction. Bai Tang didn't stop her, deliberately allowing herself to be caught.

But Phantylia hadn't expected Bai Tang to have more Destruction energy in her body than she did.

The moment Phantylia seized Bai Tang, Jing Yuan and Dan Heng moved in perfect coordination. Dan Heng's water dragon destroyed the connection to the Ambrosial Arbor, while Jing Yuan's Lightning-Lord slashed at Phantylia herself.

"That's for bullying Jing Yuanyuan!"

Bai Tang thought of the past, and her hatred surged. Without waiting for Phantylia to inject her with energy, she had already mobilized the Destruction inside her, breaking free of Phantylia's control in a second. She then turned around and used Abundance to control the Ambrosial Arbor, giving the other two time to attack.

The reason she wanted Jing Yuan to kill Phantylia was so he could earn merit on the Xianzhou. If she landed the final blow, the people at the top would have one more excuse to make things difficult for him.

She loved fighting and killing, but that didn't mean she actually had no brains. People said she would go mad if anything unfavorable to her was said, but how could she go mad if she couldn't understand it?

This time, she would let the general strike. She could meet Phantylia again on Amphoreus anyway, and then she would kill her with her own hands.