"My Lord... all our bases have been destroyed. Our remaining people, less than one-tenth of our original strength, are now surrounded," said a man in black, bowing with trembling hands. His handsome features were etched with resolute determination.
"You may go."
From her seat of authority, a frail figure, ravaged by poison, her muscles atrophied and large patches of toxic spots appearing on her face, remained eerily calm, her expression devoid of any outward emotion. Only upon closer inspection could a flicker of pain be perceived.
Only now did she believe it. Her brother, her closest blood relative, had betrayed her. He had even spared no expense in researching new poisons and spent six years systematically dismantling her power.
"Why..." she murmured softly, head bowed. The vast empty room offered no reply. Tears streamed down her face, striking the ground with force. Ultimately, they could not overcome the hardness of the stone. Her form was flung, vanishing into the air...
"After so many years of relying on each other, did you ever once treat me as a sister..."
In the face of life and death, at the brink of her demise, she suddenly no longer understood him.
In the dim room, she sat at the apex of power, swaying precariously, yet managing to sit upright. Black blood trickled from the corner of her mouth...
"Haha... hahahahaha!" she laughed, her voice loud, unrestrained, yet utterly desolate and broken.
She laughed at herself. What she had desired was not power, not status, not wealth, but simply a heart that would accompany her through life, nothing more! How laughable this was!
She, who was so cold-hearted, had only shown softness for one person, and in the end, she could not escape betrayal.
If there were a next life, she would live only for herself. This heart, Bai Ran, would never again be given away, not by half!
The frail figure lost its vitality, but her body remained ramrod straight.
...
Xuanji Pavilion
"Baili Divine Lord! Divine Lord! Oh dear, oh dear, something major has happened!" An old man with a snow-white beard, his hair blown about haphazardly, rushed in in a panic.
"Second Elder, your demeanor is most unbecoming. This is against etiquette." The man, clad in a snow-white robe over a moon-white silk inner garment adorned with auspicious cloud patterns, wore a piece of jade of exceptional quality at his waist. The jade, though seemingly rough in shape, possessed an ancient and solemn aura. His dark hair was casually tied back with a silver thread.
"A man as handsome as jade, a gentleman without equal in the world."
"Ancestors! What etiquette are we concerned with now? The Evil-Averting Star in the east has become two! One of them is you; where did the other one come from? Could it be that another you has appeared in this world?"
Another Evil-Averting Star? Baili Divine Lord flicked his sleeve, and a water mirror rose from a nearby pool. Within the water mirror, in the eastern sky, an exceptionally bright Evil-Averting Star hung in the heavens. Beside it, nestled a faint Evil-Averting Star.
Baili Divine Lord frowned, his handsome brows knitting together. "Two stars with the same pattern. This can only mean... the destined person has appeared."
"Des-dest-destined person?!" The Second Elder's goatee nearly flew off in shock. This was more stimulating than the Divine Emperor's death! Baili Divine Lord's destined person!
Following the stars' guidance—the Lower Realm, the Myriad Beasts Continent.
Within the Vermilion Bird Kingdom of the Myriad Beasts Continent
"A good-for-nothing is truly a good-for-nothing! To dare challenge me so shamelessly, what arrogance!"
On the arena stage, a burly young master, whose flesh rippled with excess fat, sneered. He swung a punch at the person opposite him, then wiped his hand on his robe, his eyes brimming with disdain.
Opposite him stood a woman with a sallow complexion and a skeletal frame. This was Bai Ran, the fourth daughter of the Bai family, infamous throughout the Vermilion Bird Kingdom as a fool and a cripple.
She was heavily struck, crashing onto the arena floor, seemingly at her wit's end. Her body was covered in blood, as if she had just been pulled from a pool of gore. She could only weakly prop up her upper body, having exhausted all her strength, her gaze fixed blankly on a spot below the stage.
"Sister Ran, you shouldn't have challenged him. Everyone in the Vermilion Bird Kingdom knows you can't cultivate. How could you be so reckless! Whatever you want, your sister will get for you. Please, just concede."
A woman with a pure and beautiful countenance, dressed in simple white robes, stood below the stage, her voice filled with anxious tears as she pleaded with the woman on the stage.
"Third Miss Bai is truly kind-hearted. Unlike Bai Ran, who, despite being a cripple, causes trouble everywhere she goes."
"Indeed. How many troubles has Third Miss handled for her, both openly and behind the scenes? If it were me, I would have abandoned such a sister long ago. Third Miss Bai is simply an incarnation of a Bodhisattva."
The onlookers marveled at the Third Miss's kindness. She could have easily ignored this cripple, yet the moment she heard her fourth sister was challenging the young master, she rushed over, so worried.
Bai Luohan's words made the young master even more disgusted with the person on the ground. This cripple caused him trouble every day, and he would use this opportunity to teach her a lesson!
"Hey, cripple! You have no parents, do you? Then call me Grandpa and say you were wrong, beg me to spare you, and I'll let you off. How about that? Hahahaha!" The young master's face jiggled with laughter, a comical sight.
However, everyone in the Vermilion Bird Kingdom knew that Bai Ran, the fourth daughter of the Bai family, was a cripple who couldn't cultivate, and a fool. Making her call someone Grandpa would be more difficult than getting a stone to speak.
Bai Ran merely propped herself up, staring at him blankly, making no move. Her gaze annoyed him, and he flew into a rage. "You dead cripple, how dare you look at me like that! Watch as Grandpa beats you to death!"
With that, his cultivation of the second stage of Qi Refining erupted. He stomped his feet on the ground and lunged towards Bai Ran, throwing a punch at her.
He stepped on Bai Ran's hands and punched her vital points with all his might. Judging by the splattering blood, he was using his full strength. "Bang—Bang—Bang—"
Watching the collision of fists and flesh, the bloodstains clinging to his fist as he raised it, and the small figure gradually ceasing to move.
The crowd below began to panic. "Hey, hey, stop hitting her... Is she not moving anymore?" Realizing the gravity of the situation, the onlookers held their breath, anxiously watching Bai Ran.
Although Bai Ran was a cripple, her grandfather, Bai Zhantian, was the strongest person in the Vermilion Bird Kingdom! Furthermore, Bai Zhantian doted on this granddaughter dearly. Now that he had entered the palace, if he returned and saw his granddaughter on the verge of death here... they couldn't imagine the consequences!
They would have the person on the stage who was beating someone, and all of them who were just watching, torn apart and reassembled! That old man was not a reasonable person! He was stubborn as a bull!
"Sister Ran! Sister Ran, are you alright? Please, stop hitting her... She knows she's wrong, she was wrong," Bai Luohan sobbed.
"Dead cripple!" The young master also noticed. He stood up and kicked the person in the bloody puddle, but she remained motionless. "Hey! Don't tell me she's actually dead?" In an instant, he panicked. The young master was prepared to teach her a lesson, yes, but he hadn't intended to kill her!
The young master quickly turned and said, "Everyone saw it, right! She was the one who challenged me to a death match! Her death is her own doing! It has nothing to do with me..."
Before he could finish speaking, a blur streaked past behind him. The young master was sent flying, tracing an arc as graceful as a swan's neck in the air, before crashing heavily onto the ground. Silence fell over the surroundings, no one daring to speak.
"Hiss—" The onlookers recognized the attacker. Impossible, how could it be! The one who attacked was the supposedly clueless cripple, Bai Ran!
Bai Luohan's hand, which had been wiping away tears, froze.
The spectators stared at the stage, at the blood-stained figure in tattered clothes. Bai Ran now stood straight, her eyes no longer clouded and dazed. Her pair of cold, clear eyes swept over the crowd below. The onlookers suddenly felt a chill down their spines, and they tacitly fell silent.
"Sister Ran, it's wonderful that you're alright. Just concede the match and admit defeat. It's not shameful to be weaker," Bai Luohan said, looking at Bai Ran.
She was indeed alright, but the original Bai Ran was not. As she fell to the ground, her soul had transmigrated here, indicating the original host's death. As she lay on the ground, a sudden surge of hatred and a flood of memories washed over Bai Ran.
Take someone's money, solve their problems. Avenge her and settle her grudges. This would be compensation for borrowing her body.
Bai Ran glanced indifferently at Bai Luohan and turned around, facing the young master who was struggling to get up.
"You! How dare you ambush me!" he said, then abruptly erupted with spiritual energy and charged forward with a punch. "Cripple! I held back just now! This time, you'll die if you don't die!"
Bai Ran remained motionless, watching him coldly. As the punch carrying spiritual energy was about to smash into her face, the onlookers swallowed their saliva. It was over. Bai Ran was finished. She could have escaped even if she had only pretended to be dead earlier.
At an extremely close distance to her face, she moved. Her body shifted slightly, and in a counter-attack, she grabbed the incoming arm and slammed him forward with immense force. The young master's massive body spun in the air before being smashed heavily onto the ground. With a mere four ounces of force, he had managed to crack the arena floor, leaving a deep pit!
"Aaaahhh!" Amidst the stunned silence of the crowd, the young master's spine... was broken. Bone had pierced through his flesh. He would never be able to stand up again.
However, this was a death match, and the competition was not over. Bai Ran narrowed her eyes. Blood dripped from her clothes, following her as she slowly walked towards the young master, leaving bloody footprints with each step, like the blooming Amaryllis in hell, dangerous and sinister.
"Don't, don't come any closer! I warn you! I am from the Hua family!" The young master, stripped of his former arrogance, looked fearfully towards the crowd below. "Save me! Quickly, save me! Do you want to watch her beat me to death?"
The crowd: "..." This was a death match. Life and death were at stake.
At this moment, a clear voice rang out. "Sister! Stop quickly! You've already won. Just for my sake, let him go." Bai Ran looked up, meeting Bai Luohan's eyes. The chilling gaze made her shiver.
Bai Luohan quickly shifted her gaze. What was wrong with this girl? Why had she suddenly become so terrifying?
Bai Ran lowered her head and stared at the young master. A vast shadow enveloped him. He knew this kind of gaze well. Whether it was from the family head, the emperor of the Vermilion Bird Kingdom, or even a more noble being, it was the gaze of looking down on an ant.
Bai Ran swiftly threw a punch. Without any spiritual energy, her small fist seemed to contain infinite divine power. "Bang—Bang—Bang—" Punch after punch, striking the young master's temples, jaw, chest, and abdomen... to kill him!
Bai Luohan clenched her fists, her delicate fingernails digging deep into her flesh. The gentle and kind expression on her face was about to crack. Her venomous gaze locked onto Bai Ran.
At first, the young master trembled and prepared to cry out, but when the first punch landed, his consciousness began to dissipate, his vision blurring.
Everyone watched in stunned silence. No one knew how long had passed, or how many punches Bai Ran had thrown. They didn't even know when the young master had died. They only knew that the flesh on the young master's body bounced up and down with Bai Ran's fists, up and down... the complete person on the ground gradually becoming a fragmented one...
"Too terrifying..."