Justice

Someone kicked him hard in the shoulder. He grunted and rolled onto his back, revealing a handsome, striking face with sharply defined features.

The youth's brows were drawn tight, his lips bloodlessly pale. His shoulders trembled as he suppressed his anger, like a wounded lone wolf.

Qiaoqiao's eyes widened. Wasn't that her fourth senior brother?!

These people actually dared to humiliate her fourth senior brother like this!

Seeing that the man's next kick was about to land on her fourth senior brother's stomach, Qiaoqiao clenched her fists.

[Aaaaah! They've gone too far!]

[I'm furious!]

[How dare they bully Fourth Senior Brother like this! Those scoundrels! Time for me, the champion of justice, to take the stage!]

Without a second thought, Qiaoqiao rushed out.

Chapter 19: Justice

The man hadn't expected a girl in yellow to suddenly dart out. Before his raised foot could come down, the flowering branch in her hand flicked out, her slender white wrist twisting. Sword light stabbed diagonally toward him. Before he could even get a clear look at her, Sword Qi sent him sprawling, and he landed hard on his backside.

"Owww-"

The fall left his tailbone aching and numb. He struggled up with a howl and saw a pretty girl standing before him, her soft, long hair woven into a braid that hung over her shoulder, her almond-shaped eyes glaring at him in anger.

"You, you-" the disciple said. "Which peak are you from? Why are you sticking your nose into this?!"

Qiaoqiao stood in front of her fourth senior brother and declared, her words ringing firm, "According to sect rules, disciples who injure others in private fights are to receive a hundred lashes of the disciplinary whip and be expelled from the sect. Are you all itching for a whipping?"

Thanks to Elder Chen, she had almost memorized those sect rules.

Someone scoffed. "What private fight? We just saw Junior Brother Fu spill his medicinal herbs and kindly helped him pick them up."

As he spoke, he crouched down, picked up the medicinal herb seeds on the ground, and scattered them over Fu Fengyuan. He raised a hand and patted his face, the gesture utterly humiliating. "Isn't that right, Junior Brother Fu?"

Fu Fengyuan turned his face away, his brows knitting even tighter.

"You're Qiaoqiao, that little junior sister from Ethereal Peak, aren't you?"

"You took first place in one secret realm trial and think you're something special? Now you dare to come show off for this useless senior brother of yours?"

"Hahaha!"

They burst into loud laughter.

These people were second-generation cultivator wastrels within the Flowing Cloud Sect. All of them had some backing, and they were so accustomed to throwing their weight around that they thought nothing of Qiaoqiao.

"We just wanted a heart-to-heart with your fourth senior brother. Get lost if you know what's good for you. Otherwise-" The man snickered. "We'll beat you too."

"Then let's fight. Who's afraid of whom?"

When it came to fighting, Qiaoqiao had never backed down.

"Fine, you're asking for it!"

The man raised his whip and lashed it at Qiaoqiao!

But before the lash could land, someone caught it in a tight grip.

Fu Fengyuan stood up, enduring the searing pain beneath his ribs. His voice was hoarse and edged with ferocity. "...Don't touch Little Junior Sister."

The wastrels exchanged glances, all finding this a novelty.

"The mute actually spoke!"

"So he can talk."

"Filthy mute, don't dirty my whip!" The wastrel wielding the whip was named Wu Fang, a disciple of the main peak's grand elder. He wrenched his whip back, the blazing whip leaving a burn across Fu Fengyuan's hand. When he lashed it down hard again, the flowering branch coiled around it.

He tugged, but couldn't pull the whip free.

Being restrained by a little girl in a single move made Wu Fang feel utterly disgraced. Humiliation turned to fury. "What are you standing around for? Get her!"

The wastrels rushed her together.

Fu Fengyuan was alarmed and tried to shield Qiaoqiao, only to see the corners of her lips lift, without the slightest trace of panic.

With a soft jingle of bells, a white crane descended from the sky into the crowd, its feathers flying out like blades. "This Lord Crane is here! Which blind fool dares bully Qiaoqiao?!"

Crane feathers formed from Spiritual Qi whistled out, as dense as a raging storm. In the blink of an eye, they knocked the whole group of wastrels to the ground, leaving them lying there howling.

"A Xue, you're so cool!"

The wastrels ground their teeth. "Qiaoqiao, you're despicable!"

She had actually called a spirit crane with Nascent Soul cultivation to help in a fight between Foundation Establishment disciples. Wasn't that using the strong to bully the weak?!

"So you're allowed to gang up on me, but I'm not allowed to call for help?"

"When it comes to fighting dirty, I've never lost!"

Fu Fengyuan: ...

Looking at his little junior sister's proud expression, he couldn't help laughing. It pulled at the injury beneath his ribs, and he let out an involuntary hiss.

The immortal crane was even more eager to stir up trouble for the spectacle, calling loudly, "Shen Ji, Tingyu, Wen Zhi, come quickly! Someone's bullying Qiaoqiao!"

It called so many people in one breath that the wastrels realized things were about to blow up. Mindful that today was the sect master's birthday banquet, they fled like a puff of smoke and vanished.

Wu Fang wanted to run too. He reached down to pick up his fallen whip, but Qiaoqiao's eyes shifted, and she lifted her foot and lightly stepped down.

"Ah!"

Caught completely off guard, Wu Fang dropped to his knees before Fu Fengyuan with a thud. He landed so solidly that several cracks appeared in the bluestone paving.

[Wow.]

[Those knees hit really loudly!]

[That has to be a comminuted fracture, at least, right?] Qiaoqiao pondered.

Wu Fang gritted his teeth. So vicious!

Once he was kneeling, Qiaoqiao took out her Storage Bag and kept stuffing wound medicine into Fu Fengyuan's hands.

Fu Fengyuan hurriedly said, "That's enough... Little Junior Sister..."

"Fourth Senior Brother, how could you let these people bully you?"

Qiaoqiao thought, [Fourth Senior Brother really is so miserable.]

[I couldn't find anyone more miserable than Fourth Senior Brother in all the storybooks I've read this entire year!]

In her memories, her fourth senior brother had been a cheerful, optimistic youth. He would tell stories to make her laugh, and when he returned from trips down the mountain, he would bring her candied hawthorn skewers and newly released storybooks. When she was little, he had been the one closest to her among her senior brothers and sisters.

But after he reached Foundation Establishment, everything changed.

His meridians became blocked for no apparent reason. His Dantian held Spiritual Qi, yet he couldn't execute any techniques, and from time to time, excruciating pain would wrack his meridians.

Elder Ning tried many methods but couldn't cure him, so she had no choice but to send him to True Person Yao, letting him study pharmacology under True Person Yao while True Person Yao treated his condition.