Linglan looked flustered, spoke in a rush, and came bursting in like a whirlwind.
But this was the wrong place!
Hanyu scratched her head. Shouldn't Linglan have gone to the Bai siblings to say this?
Why come to her?
"Something's happened... Bai Jingliang and Sister Junya are both in trouble."
Linglan panted hard for a while before managing to get the words out.
Hanyu gave her a strange look. "No, if they're in trouble, there's nothing I can do for you!"
Linglan clutched the hem of her clothes pitifully, looking on the verge of tears. "Besides those two, I... I only know you here. I didn't know who else to tell."
Hanyu helplessly invited her inside and poured her a glass of cool water. Only then did she sigh and say, "Go on! What happened to them?"
Linglan gripped the cup tightly, took a sip, then slowly began to explain...
A quarter of an hour later!
Hanyu had a terrible headache. This wasn't how she'd imagined things going!
Wasn't Bai Junya supposed to show off her extraordinary talent, slap the clan elders of the various families in the face, and become the Bai Family's new star?
How had awakening a water-type supernatural power only made her more valuable?
What were those people from the Bai Family thinking?
"Bai Jingliang tried to take Sister Junya and run away, but the clan elders caught him on the spot. Sister Junya was locked in her room, too. I... I don't know who to ask for help."
"But there's nothing I can do for you!"
Hanyu sighed. It was their family matter; an outsider had no right to criticize, let alone interfere.
Linglan drooped her head, clutching the cup. She lowered her gaze and murmured, "I wanted to take Sister Junya and run, but I realized I couldn't beat her family."
Hanyu was startled. She stared at Linglan in a daze. "Even your Sect Master could only obediently send her back. Where'd you get the confidence to think you could run off with Bai Junya?"
That was a bit harsh. Linglan, who'd already looked on the verge of tears, burst into sobs. Hanyu was completely flustered and hurried to comfort her.
"Don't cry! People will think I bullied you."
Linglan acted as if she hadn't heard, crying on and on, her shoulders shaking. Hanyu's head began to throb.
"But if no one helps them, Bai Jingliang will be locked up forever, and they'll sell Sister Junya off."
Linglan sobbed sadly.
"That really is another family's business. There's nothing you can do about it."
Hanyu sighed helplessly.
Why was this little girl so stubborn?
Linglan suddenly looked up with hope in her eyes, her face streaked with tears. "Can you help me rescue them? You're so good at fighting!"
Damn!
She thought so highly of Hanyu that she'd been planning to run away, and now Linglan wanted her to storm the Bai Family and haul people out?
"You think far too highly of me."
Hanyu refused outright. Linglan kept sobbing as she looked at her. "I heard them talking outside the door. Because Sister Junya has a gifted supernatural power, the Qin Family is even more pleased. You made Sister Junya more valuable. Don't you feel guilty?"
What a shakedown!
The girl was just looking for any way to make Hanyu help.
Hanyu shook her head firmly. "Even without me, her family would still have forced her to marry."
"Don't you feel guilty?"
The little girl kept asking.
Hanyu nodded without hesitation. "Even if the sky fell, there's no way I'd feel guilty!"
As soon as she finished speaking, a loud crack rang out. Hanyu looked up in alarm. The entire crossbeam suddenly split with crack after crack, and the tiles overhead began shaking violently.
In the next instant, her expression changed. The entire ceiling suddenly collapsed.
A crowd of cultivators had already gathered outside the inn. Third Elder Qin stared coldly at the collapsed second floor and sneered.
The guests downstairs had all run out at the noise. The entire roof of the second floor had collapsed, leaving it open to the sky, and dust covered the whole level.
Once the dust settled, a figure shifted among the rubble. Hanyu shook the tiles and dust from herself, crouched over Linglan, whom she'd managed to shield in time. Apart from her deathly pale face, Linglan was unharmed.
Hanyu let Linglan go, then turned to look at the cultivators below. Her gaze met that of a cultivator dressed in black finery.
Third Elder Qin looked astonished. He'd thought the younger members of the clan were exaggerating, but this person's body really was incredibly tough. He'd torn down the roof, hoping it would at least leave her hurt and suffering, but she'd come out completely unscathed.
He couldn't even tell what level of cultivation she had. He was a half-step Divine Peeking cultivator—how could he fail to see another person's cultivation? Either this person was stronger than him, or she had not a trace of cultivation inside her.
How could that be possible?
"Go up and kill her."
Third Elder Qin waved his hand. The cultivators behind him swiftly drew their blades and swords, leaping into the air one after another.
In an instant, blades and swords hummed. More than thirty streams of sword and saber energy formed a net and rushed toward Hanyu.
Hanyu hurriedly flung Linglan away, then spread her hands. A fire lotus appeared in an instant, and a blazing inferno wrapped around her before bursting outward.
A massive wave of fire surged in every direction. The net formed from blades and swords vanished on impact.
"Get down here!"
Hanyu roared. The flames surged and rushed even more fiercely toward the thirty-plus cultivators in the air.
"Fall back, quickly!" one cultivator shouted before dropping from the sky.
The few who were a step too slow were immediately out of luck. Tongues of fire wound around them, setting their clothes ablaze. One after another, they fell like dumplings dropping into a pot.
When they hit the ground, the flames still didn't go out. Rolling around was useless.
Hanyu was surprised, too. She hadn't expected that the source she'd absorbed last time would also have given her the supernatural power traits of that Peeping God Realm expert.
The Black Robe cultivator's flames had had one defining trait: they were extremely hard to extinguish, and they spread incredibly fast.
Third Elder Qin looked astonished as well. He couldn't believe it. "A cultivator with a purely physical supernatural power? What kind of freak is this!"
He immediately set aside his contempt and called to the twenty-odd cultivators still standing. "Form up! Eight Desolations and Six Harmonies Strike!"
She couldn't let them combine their attacks. Last time, just over a dozen cultivators with lousy cultivation had managed to unleash that kind of power. Now it was a group of Shore Realm cultivators—who knew how powerful they'd be?
At once, the twenty or so cultivators quickly gathered together. Hanyu withdrew her fire-type supernatural power, her heart hardening.
She looked around. There were no onlookers left—only Linglan, standing in the distance with a frightened face.
"Hungry Ghost Path!"
Hanyu swept out a hand, and a gigantic Hungry Ghost Diagram appeared behind her.
"Attack!"
They launched their attacks almost simultaneously. Hungry ghosts poured out in hordes, surging outward like a tide.
On the other side, the combined attack of the twenty-odd cultivators exploded like thunder. A huge tornado instantly engulfed the entire area.
The inn, already half demolished, was blown apart by the tremendous wind. It was truly terrifying! The hungry ghosts at the front were swept into the vortex, torn apart and crushed.
Before Third Elder Qin could even celebrate, another wave of hungry ghosts surged toward them like floodwater, in even greater numbers. They brandished Bone Blades and charged into the vortex without a care for their lives, wave after wave.
In the blink of an eye, the hungry ghosts had filled the entire vortex. White bones flew through the sky in every direction, a horrifying sight.
"Third Elder, we can't hold on!"
The cultivators' faces went pale. Maintaining the combined attack required a steady flow of True Essence. Now that a horde of hungry ghosts had thrown themselves into it, the burden on the cultivators had instantly grown heavier.
They couldn't even keep the wind churning, let alone blow it farther.
"We can't hold on!"
One cultivator went pale and let his sword fall from his hand, then sank to the ground. One after another, the others soon ran out of strength.
The tornado abruptly stopped. One by one, the hungry ghosts' skeletons clattered down from above, their jaws knocking together as they crashed into the cultivators. It was a terrifying sight. The tornado had swept that many hungry ghosts into the sky, and now every last one of them was falling toward the cultivators.
"Ah..."
One cultivator was the first to be caught by the hungry ghosts. Before he could even use his Shore Realm cultivation, a group of skeletons swallowed him whole.
"Get into the sky!"
"We can't! They're still falling from above!"
"Elder, save us!"
"A bunch of useless fools!"
Third Elder Qin ground his teeth in fury, but he couldn't just abandon them. They were all vital forces of the Qin Family. He conjured a saber and a sword out of thin air and performed the Eight Desolations and Six Harmonies Strike all by himself.
"Heaven and Earth Reversed!"
With an angry shout, the bluestone slabs on the ground shattered inch by inch, carrying the disciples and hungry ghosts up into the sky with them.
"Why are you still standing there? Get away!"
Third Elder Qin roared. The cultivators finally came to their senses and hurriedly escaped while his control slackened.
"Hanyu, your energy's almost depleted!"
Little Glazed suddenly warned her.
Hanyu frowned. It was always at the crucial moment that Little Glazed let her down.
Meanwhile, hungry ghosts kept rising into the sky with the broken stones. Third Elder Qin crossed his saber and sword, unleashing a tremendous shockwave. A wave of force surged into the air.
The massive explosion blew countless bones apart in midair. The powerful impact also forced Hanyu back a few steps. Just then, the Hungry Ghost Diagram dissipated.
"This girl absolutely cannot be allowed to live!"
After dealing with the hungry ghosts, Third Elder Qin looked at Hanyu with an extremely vicious gaze.
She had a formidable body and two supernatural powers. Either one could reap low-level cultivators as easily as cutting grass. If this kind of freak were allowed to grow, no Aristocratic Clan could withstand her. Unfortunately, the Qin Family had already made an enemy of her.
She absolutely couldn't be left alive!
"Can you tell what level he's at?"
Hanyu knew Little Glazed could sense the abilities of others. Otherwise, she wouldn't have discovered Bai Junya's hidden gifted supernatural power.
"Half-step Divine Peeking!"
Little Glazed quickly replied.
"And he wants to kill you."
Little Artifact Spirit didn't need to tell her that. Just looking at Third Elder Qin's eyes, wide as copper bells, made it clear he hadn't come to make peace.
"Everyone, fall back!"
Third Elder Qin waved at the battered cultivators behind him. "You're not needed here."
He was afraid Hanyu would unleash her supernatural power again. His carelessness and underestimation had allowed the cultivators to combine their attacks too early, wasting a great deal of True Essence. Now that they'd lost seven or eight cultivators, it still hurt.
If he let Hanyu reap the rest of the disciples, Qin Tiannan would never forgive him when he returned.
After speaking, he swung his saber and sword repeatedly.
"Azure Wave Art!"
The enormous saber and sword energy transformed into waves, surging like the roiling sea...
Before you continue