Zhu Chang intercepted Li Lian's path.
Till now, everyone that passed her just gave her weird looks, so she was happy to finally meet someone that wanted to talk to her. However, when she saw the condescending look he gave her, she immediately knew that he wasn't here to have a friendly chat.
"Hey girl! What's a spirit cultivator like you doing on this road. Mind telling me where you're going?"
"Is your head full of shit or are you just stupid? This road only has one destination, so where do you think I'm going?"
"Y-you", Zhu Chang couldn't believe what he just heard.
Off in the distance Hu Ning, Huang Yu, and Yang Mi's jaws all dropped and thought, 'Is that really Xiao Fang's fiancé?'
"You're blocking my path. Move before I make an example out of you."
Zhu Chang couldn't believe his ears. He always thought the Divine Sword sect girls were crazy, but he just met this girl and she was already insulting him. The most shocking thing about it was that she was undoubtedly the most beautiful girl he had ever seen, but her venomous words didn't match her appearance at all.
"Y-you!" He was still at a complete loss for words.
"Y-Y-you. Is that all you know how to say or are you just a stuttering fool?" Li Lian continued to shower him with insults.
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'Is she an idiot?' Huang Yu thought.
Hu Ning was starting to get a bit nervous, because he didn't think she'd provoke Zhu Chang to this extent. Knowing him, he wouldn't be able to take such insults for long.
"Hu Ning, he's going to kill her. He's definitely going to kill her. You have to stop him," said Yang Mi.
Hu Ning didn't respond, he was starting to suspect that there were more to it than it seemed.
"I can't listen to this anymore. If he doesn't kill her I will," Huang Yu said with his trembling hand tightly gripping onto the hilt of his unsheathed sword.
"Huang Yu, how could you say that. Don't you know who that is?"
"That girl is clearly in the wrong, so why should Hu Ning help her. If she doesn't have the strength to back up her words then I say let her die," Huang Yu said in a scornful tone.
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Insult after insult, Zhu Chang was too shocked to reply to any of them before he finally snapped.
"AGHHH!!!!!! A mere spirit cultivator dares talk to me that way?! YOU'RE DEAD!!!"
He crazily undressed the top half of his body, letting his robes folded over his waist to reveal his young unscratched chest and abs.
"Not bad, your boobs are almost as big as mine. Could you actually be a girl? I apologize if I offended you ma'am" She teased some more.
Charging without thinking, he finally unsheathed his sword and attacked like a bloodthirsty maniac.
"DIIIEEEEE!!!"
'Took you long enough,' Li Lian smirked.
She punched a few fist sized fire balls at him while jumping away, but he skillfully used his free hand to deflect the attacks he couldn't dodge, carefully handling the fire balls as if they were boiling hot water ballons on the verge of popping.
Li Lian already seen Xiao Fang do this countless times in the past so she assumed it was just one of their sects basic techniques, but in reality it was extremely difficult to pull off.
Zhu Chang felt extremely accomplished by what he was able to do, so he stopped chasing her to see the look of despair on her face, but what he saw was far from it. She was simply unimpressed.
Li Lian stopped as well. When she opened her hand, a ball of fire formed on her palm, then it suddenly began to compress into a shinning ball of white light.
[ Exploding Star ]
She quickly threw it at him and it sped through the air at a blistering speed.
It was way too fast for him to dodge so he tried to deflect it, but just before he could touch it, Li Lian's hands suddenly closed into a fist again and the white ball of flame exploded just before he could touch it.
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"What!", Huang Yu said in surprised.
The fact that Zhu Chang couldn't deflect that attack didn't surprise him, but the sheer power behind that explosion could be felt from where they stood. They started to suspect that she was actually a master in disguise.
Hu Ning felt like he could vaguely gage at her cultivation realm now.
'Spirit Core realm? But even for a Spirit Core realm practitioner, that attack was way too strong.'
The more he thought about it the more suspicious he became.
'Could it be...'
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As Li Lian waited for the smoke to clear she began to think.
'I practiced this technique so that I could use it against Xiao Fang. Though it's not very strong, it certainly has it's advantages,' Li Lian thought.
When the smoke cleared, she saw Zhu Chang laying motionless on the ground.
"Hmph, we just started but you already want to play dead. Do you still call yourself a man?"
Another ball of fire formed on her palm and it began to condense. She quickly whipped it at his laying body then detonated it, but this time when the smoke cleared the boy was gone.
"Come back you coward!"
"....."
Li Lian looked around but couldn't find any trace of him.
"Hmph, how can that even be called a warm up. Knowing Xiao Fang, he could probably take a dozen of those attacks and not feel a thing. I need to find more people to practice on."
Li Lian eventually continued walking towards the sect.
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Some distance away, Yang Mi was treating Zhu Chang's wounds when he suddenly regained consciousness.
He groaned in pain then spoke.
"What happened."
"That girl is ruthless, she wasn't even going to leave your corpse. Lucky for you, Hu Ning was able to pull you out just in time," Yang Mi said.
With great effort, Zhu Chang kneeled and bowed his head to Hu Ning.
"Thank you for saving me."
"I tried to warn you, but you were too arrogant. Next time I might not be able to save you."
"I promise, I won't make the same mistake."
"Good, we will leave after Yang Mi finishes treating your wounds."
Zhu Chang nodded, but Huang Yu suddenly complained outloud.
"She was too cruel! Zhu Chang was unconscious and unable to fight, but she still attacked, nearly burning him to ashes. Am I the only one disturbed by this?!"
Zhu Chang was too ashamed to speak, and Yang Mi didn't dare to talk ill of Xiao Fang or his fiancé, so Hu Ning broke the silence.
"If you are kind to your enemies, then you are just being cruel to yourself. The three of you are still new to the sect, but you'll soon learn that the first rule to being a swordsman is this: Be Ruthless."
"Ruthless or evil." Yang Mi finally spoke her mind.
Hu Ning suddenly became angry.
"Who was it that drew his weapon first, Zhu Chang or that girl?! He let her words get into his head so he attacked her with the intention to kill, right?! Are you telling me she can't kill the person that wanted to kill her?! The only reason he is alive today is because he is my responsibility, but if I were to uphold the sect's values then I should have let him die!"
The three inner court disciples bowed their head in shame because Hu Ning's words made sense, now the last thing they wanted to do was show their faces anywhere near Li Lian.
"Originally, I wanted you to become more aware of your arrogance, but what you learned today is far more valuable, and it's all thanks to her that you are able to learn it earlier than your peers."
"Hu Ning, what's her name?" Yang Mi asked.
"Her name is Li Lian. Remember it well."
Yang Mi looked at Li Lian again, but this time with a look of admiration and a burning desire to get stronger. She just found her first role model.