Bai Chen struggled with all his might, but his cultivation had been sealed by Xiao Man, leaving him at the mercy of the disciples of the Cang Lang Sect. He was both furious and anxious, unwilling to die, yet utterly incapable of doing anything.
Suddenly, a foot appeared out of nowhere, kicking Zou Shuang hard in the groin, sending him flying backward to crash against the wall. The wall cracked like a spiderweb.
"Ah!" A piercing, soul-chilling scream jolted everyone in the small town who hadn't yet woken up.
"Senior Brother!"
Zou Shuang fainted from the extreme pain.
Xiao Man turned her head, smiled charmingly at the two men holding Bai Chen, and instantly appeared between them. She seized their arms and applied a slight force. With a *crack*, both men fell to the ground, clutching their broken arms and screaming in agony.
Bai Chen knelt on the ground, his face a mask of shock as he watched Xiao Man subdue three people in an instant. He was too stunned to react.
Xiao Man lifted her foot and placed it on one of the men. "What were you doing just now?"
Bai Chen sniffled, his voice thick with grievance. "Xiao Qin, where did you go? They were bullying me."
Xiao Man raised her hand and slapped Bai Chen across the face, cutting off his tearful protest. "Useless! If someone bullies you, you fight back! A dignified man, seven feet tall, acting like a three-year-old, crying when bullied. How shameful!"
Bai Chen covered his face, staring at Xiao Man. He wanted to cry, but he dared not. His heart was wronged, but he couldn't cry.
"Who... who are you? We are disciples of the Cang Lang Sect. How dare you injure my senior brothers?"
Xiao Man took out a piece of clothing from her Qiankun bag and threw it to Bai Chen. Her gaze fell on the speaker, her eyes deep and unfathomable. "Do you know who he is?"
"Yes."
"If you know, why did you still dare to attack?"
The Cang Lang Sect disciples fell silent. They had dared to attack because they assumed Bai Chen was alone. They usually couldn't stand how Bai Chen, a pampered young master, lived, and wanted to teach him a lesson.
"Do you know the consequences of offending our Cang Lang Sect?"
"What? Are we, the Qian Ji Sect, afraid of you?" Xiao Man stomped harder on the man beneath her foot, driving him into the ground. The disciple coughed up blood and lay still. The other Cang Lang Sect disciples, having never seen such a formidable person, immediately changed their expressions.
"You... what do you want?"
"You bullied my senior brother. What do you think I want?" Xiao Man reached out, snatched the Qiankun bag from one of them, and tossed it playfully. The others understood Xiao Man's intentions.
They were resentful, but seeing the fate of the others, and remembering that even Bai Chen, their strongest disciple, had fainted, with who-knew-what damage to his nether regions, they didn't want to suffer further.
The men exchanged glances and immediately tossed their Qiankun bags to Xiao Man. Xiao Man's gaze fell on Zou Shuang, who had fainted on the ground, and then on the Qiankun bag at Zou Shuang's waist. The men sucked in a cold breath but were helpless. They could only retrieve Zou Shuang's Qiankun bag and tremblingly hand it over to Xiao Man.
Only then did Xiao Man mercifully release her foot. The Cang Lang Sect disciples, seeing this, quickly dragged their injured companions and fled.
The onlookers also dispersed. Bai Chen, pursing his lips, followed Xiao Man like a wronged little bride. "Where did you go?"
"Sleeping in the room."
"You weren't robbed?"
Xiao Man glanced back at Bai Chen. "Do you think they would dare to rob me?"
Bai Chen choked. He recalled Xiao Man incapacitating Zou Shuang with a single kick and heavily injuring Cang Lang Sect disciples in front of others. With such a fierce disposition, no one would dare to rob her. But wasn't she afraid of retaliation?
"Xiao Qin, aren't you afraid of retaliation from the Cang Lang Sect?"
"If I were afraid of retaliation and let myself be bullied, I would rather strike first. I'll beat them until they're scared to even think of retaliating. Isn't that enough?"
"You're only at the middle stage of Foundation Establishment. The Cang Lang Sect has late-stage Golden Core experts!"
"So what?" Xiao Man replied nonchalantly. "Don't all sects have clashes among their disciples? As long as no one is killed, what can they do to me? They have Golden Core experts, don't we have them in our sect?"
Bai Chen was disheartened and silently followed Xiao Man into the Dong Yue Forest.
"Xiao Qin, am I really that useless?"
"Not at all." Xiao Man's reply was casual. "If I hadn't sealed your cultivation, with your strength, you could have dealt with them. But they had superior numbers and were skilled in deceitful tactics. Facing them, you might not have won."
"Why is it that even though your cultivation is lower than theirs, they fear you?"
"Because my methods are ruthless, and I intimidated them." Xiao Man looked at Bai Chen. "Do you know why they dared to bully you so brazenly?"
"Because my master didn't come."
"Wrong. Because you exposed that you were alone!" Xiao Man corrected him. "When you're out, you don't need to plot against others, but you must guard against them. At all times, never reveal your weaknesses, especially when encountering those who harbor ill intentions towards you."
"Why do they have ill intentions towards me?"
"Young Master, although the Seven Sects are allied, they are also in competition behind the scenes. As the most outstanding senior disciple and future successor of the Qian Ji Sect, how could you not provoke envy?" Xiao Man reminded him. "Let alone people from the Cang Lang Sect, even disciples from your own Qian Ji Sect might wish you dead."
"Impossible. The disciples of my sect are not so shameless."
"If you die, then everyone could become the successor of the Qian Ji Sect. If you live, they have no hope. Tell me, don't they want you dead?" Xiao Man asked gently. Bai Chen was good at everything, except he was too naive. And people who are too naive don't live long.
"Then what about you? Do you want me dead too?"
"We have no conflict of interest." Xiao Man's tone was cold. "I don't want to be the sect master of Bai Yao Hall, nor do I want to be in charge of the Qian Ji Sect. While you are outstanding, you are not so outstanding as to make me jealous. Besides, if I were to kill everyone more outstanding than me, I wouldn't have enough lives to do it." Sudian Novel Network
"Then they..."
"Their vision is too narrow; they only see the Seven Sects. I see a vaster sky." Xiao Man looked up at the sky, her gaze extending to the horizon. "I want to become a Nascent Soul Great Cultivator!"
Bai Chen was shocked by Xiao Man's ambitious declaration. To become a Nascent Soul Great Cultivator, knowing that there were only three Nascent Soul Great Cultivators on the entire Cang Xuan Continent, and now only one remained.
But for some reason, hearing Xiao Man say it, he felt that perhaps it was possible to strive for it. Then he heard Xiao Man continue.
"I want to become the ruler of the Cang Xuan Continent!"