They looked at one another, fear immediately creeping across their faces. Leng Xiyue was right. They were merely retainers-hired muscle kept by the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, to put it bluntly. They had only become this young lady's lackeys through honeyed words. What was throwing away their dignity if it earned them money?
But by the same token, none of them wanted to throw away their lives for money!
"Miss, please don't push us too far. Our young lady is-aargh!"
A Soul King stepped forward, intending to say more, but Leng Xiyue fired without even looking at him, shooting straight through his left leg.
"If you're going to be a dog, learn your place. Who gave you the right to speak here? You have two choices: stay loyal to your mistress and let me shoot you dead, or get the hell out!" Leng Xiyue pointed her gun at the others and snapped coldly.
She had not the slightest goodwill toward these people. Today, they had kicked an iron plate by running into her, but what if it had been someone else? Whether that person could even leave on their own two feet would probably have been in question!
At Leng Xiyue's words, the remaining five exchanged glances, then scattered. None dared gamble their lives on whether she would actually kill them.
They could no longer stay in Heaven Dou City. Better to find some small town and make an honest living as mercenaries or hunters!
Tian Meng also hurried forward. Finding a rope somewhere, he tied up the Soul King whose leg had been shot through and tossed him aside.
As Leng Xiyue slowly approached her, step by step, the girl looked as though she had seen a demon from hell. Accustomed to bullying others, when had she ever encountered someone this fierce?
"Y-you stay away!" The girl panicked, her voice taking on a tearful quaver.
Leng Xiyue walked up to her, grabbed her hair, then took out a bottle of cold-pool water and tossed it onto the ground. "I've always kept gratitude and grudges separate," she said coldly. "My brother bumped into you. That was our fault. This bottle of cold-pool spirit liquid could easily fetch a hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins at auction. Consider it compensation for your losses."
"But you ran your mouth at my brother and even dared to tell others to attack him. That's a debt we'll have to settle properly!"
With that, Leng Xiyue raised her hand and slapped the girl across the face.
Smack!
The slap left the girl frozen on the spot. In all her life, no one had ever dared hit her.
"You hit me? You dare hit me? Do you know who I am?"
Smack!
"You worthless dog! I'll have you killed!"
Smack!
"Dad, Grandpa Bone, Grandpa Sword, save me..."
Smack!
"Stop hitting me! Stop! I was wrong! Waaaah..."
Smack!
Only after delivering another slap did Leng Xiyue register what she had said. Still looking a little unsatisfied, she remarked, "Sorry, I got into a rhythm. I thought you had some backbone. Who knew you'd cave after just three slaps?"
With that, Leng Xiyue shoved her away. The girl staggered a few steps, then crouched on the ground and began to cry.
Leng Xiyue had not held back in the slightest. The girl's face was swollen from the blows, but she had no sympathy for someone like her. She waved to Tian Meng. "Tian Meng, let's go."
"Go? You're not going anywhere."
Leng Xiyue suddenly felt an immense pressure rise behind her. She turned with difficulty and saw an old man dressed in black robes and golden armor step out of a black hole, a series of Soul Rings hovering behind him.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight... nine. Leng Xiyue's face turned ashen. Good grief, wasn't the Heaven Dou Empire supposed to be pathetically weak, with so few Titled Douluos that you could count them on one hand? How had teaching some random noble girl a lesson brought a Titled Douluo straight to her doorstep?
If I'd known... I would've slapped her a few more times.
"Well, well. Beat the little one, and the old one comes running? You couldn't teach your child manners, so I helped you out. What? Instead of giving me something to thank me, you're going to punish me?" Leng Xiyue showed no fear whatsoever, lifting her head proudly to face the old man.
"Hmph! What a sharp-tongued little girl. Save your words for after you come back with me!" For a moment, the old man did not know how to rebut her. Rather than say more, he flicked his sleeve, and a bone chain emerged from the void, hurtling toward Leng Xiyue.
Clang!
Just as the bone chain reached Leng Xiyue, a figure blocked its path. Blades flashed, and the chain shattered inch by inch, scattering across the ground. A towering metal man stood before Leng Xiyue with a blade of light held across his body. It was Kaldalis.
Sensing a threat from this metal man, the black-robed elder immediately frowned. He was about to speak when Kaldalis took a single step and vanished in a flash. Reappearing right in front of him, he slashed without a word.
Even after living for nearly a century, Gu Rong had never seen anything so bizarre. There were no Soul Rings or Soul Skills, only strength far surpassing his own behind every movement. Before such power, skills seemed like useless burdens-the brief delay needed to unleash one was enough for his opponent to cut him down!
Gu Rong struggled to defend himself while shielding Ning Rongrong as he retreated. Every bone chain he summoned to block an attack was chopped to pieces on contact. Here in Heaven Dou City, he dared not unleash his most powerful skills, leaving him no choice but to flee in disarray.
Kaldalis pressed him relentlessly. Unable to escape, Gu Rong could only abandon his defense and summon a bone dragon to open a spatial passage.
In those few seconds, Kaldalis slashed him across the back. Crimson blood instantly soaked his robes. Gu Rong gritted his teeth and hurriedly dragged Ning Rongrong into the spatial passage, not even daring to look back. Soon, both figures disappeared.
Seeing that command over space, along with the bone dragon the old man had just used, Leng Xiyue immediately understood.
Wasn't that Bone Douluo Gu Rong of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect?
If that old man was Gu Rong, didn't that make the girl I'd beaten Ning Rongrong?
Good grief, I'd only been in Heaven Dou City for a day, and I'd probably already offended the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect beyond forgiveness!
Still, Leng Xiyao felt no regret, only a touch of ruefulness. She had always thought Ning Rongrong had a warped sense of right and wrong, no respect for her elders, an arrogant and conceited nature, and eyes only for profit. She held everyone else in contempt, so there was nothing surprising about her treating actual ordinary commoners this terribly.
After meeting her today, Leng Xiyue felt no sense of incongruity at all. If anything, she thought it perfectly normal.
Ning Fengzhi might count as a good man, but he did not know how to raise a child. All he did was clean up after her misdeeds, while the two Titled Douluos blindly spoiled her without the slightest regard for reason. Even a dog raised by them would probably end up biting everyone it met.
Well, she had no mother to teach her, did she~
Before you continue