Her name was Shao Lei and her story was a confounding one.

When she set out from her hometown in an obscure corner of the Hong Province in search for fortune, she never expected to be captured and raped by a bandit gang before getting kidnapped to be used over and over again as some reusable towel.

She never expected to live every day dreading the next, being beaten into a miscarriage every time it was apparent that she was pregnant. She never expected to go through such a hellish experience, but she also never expected to be rescued by some legendary cultivator who took her under her wing and nurtured her back to health and into top form, granting her access to all sorts of techniques and treasured cultivation methods.

She never expected that she would be important enough to take part in a Dragon Flight Gala, either, battling it out alongside several hundred of her age mates, securing herself a spot in the first round, then defeating her opponent in single combat.

What she should have expected, however, was to be ambushed on her way to her lodgings in the outer district by a group of masked bandits carrying ridiculously shabby weapons.

Shao Lei wasn’t one to underestimate herself, but they all exuded the aura of someone of Foundation Establishment, and she was far too outnumbered to let quality make a difference over quantity.

A cold pit grew inside Shao Lei, seeping into her limbs as the masked bandits leered at her. She knew that her possessions wouldn’t be enough. She was sure that they’d take an extra step further and have their way with her like those bastards did all those years ago.

And she was going to relive that all because she was too damn careless. She knew she had it coming. The world wasn’t merciful towards stupid people like her. Stupid, stupid, stupid people like her.

“Goddamn, was I close to vomiting, but hey. At least I found y’all,” A voice sounded from behind her. Shao Lei looked behind herself to find Wu Shan, the surprise contestant that made himself known by matching Zhang He in strength.

The bandits were scared stiff by him, faltering visibly, but before they could run away, Wu Shan gestured in the span of a breath, sending out a malicious wave of ill intent, disabling the hapless bandits, making them all collapse on the ground.

“Damn. Mind Rending sure doesn’t take prisoners,” he whistled. He looked down to see the terrified Shao Lei. “Are you alright? Did they do something to you?” Wu Shan reached forward to assess her, but before she could control herself, she flinched backwards, her eyes trained on him like a prey facing a predator, wide-eyed and ready to spring back at a moment’s notice.

“Easy there. Well, if you’re safe, you can head right out. There aren’t any more bandits around,” and with that, Wu Shan occupied himself by stacking the pile of unconscious bandits up before gesturing intensely, creating a rift in the space, dumping the unconscious bodies through it, then at last entering it.

Finally, Shao Lei was alone in the darkly lit street.

She did not expect any of that at all. She still had a long way to go after all.

--

After delivering the bandit gang to the local law enforcement, Wu Shan decided to utilize his day to find more thieving groups within the city to apprehend. He didn’t particularly want to sleep, and neither did he want to waste away the night on some pavilion eating delicacies.

Instead, he decided to help out by cleaning out the dark streets of crime. Gold Stone City was vast, so there was no shortage of gangs waiting inside narrow alleyways to rob you of everything you owned.

After his sixth trip to the guard barracks that night, the head captain of the Gold Stone City Guard came to personally thank him for his service to the city, and once word of his actions reached the ears of commoners, and consequently the contestants, the night was crawling with young talents battling gangs and cleaning the city up.

Before dawn broke, every cutpurse within the city had temporarily closed down business, and the Gold Stone City Jail was stuffed with thieves all awaiting trials.

And like that, Wu Shan became single-handedly responsible for reducing crime rates in the outer district by an immense margin, but truly, he only thought that he was doing the minimum required to justify his existence in the city.

To the other young masters and contestants, he was just showing off and attempting to psyche them out before the second round that night. Public opinion of him dropped considerably because of that.

Wu Shan really didn’t mind. Or more accurately, he wasn’t aware of what people thought of him, but even if he was, he wouldn’t mind. Having decided that he could forgive himself for the transgression of not having turned in the bandit group that accosted him the other night, he decided to head back to some random inn to rest and recover.

--

With thirty-two contestants eliminated the night before, half the number remained to fight during the second round of the Dragon Flight Gala, but because leaving before the Gala concluded was bad form, the contestants still remained in the city.

And the majority of them could be found in the Dragon Flight Pavilion, drinking or debating hotly.

“-I’m tellin’ you that bastard Wu Shan ain’t normal,” rambled Su Chen to his drunken audience of losers. “Not even a breath had gone by, and this eldritch horror with pitch-black wings arrived in front of me and punched through my shield-technique like it was rice paper. That guy’s a monster.”

“Hah! There’s no arguing that! Guy went toe-to-toe with the predicted winner of the whole shebang. He’s a monster. Especially how he started hunting thieves at night for the sheer fun of it,” one shuddered.

“I heard the thieves he attacked were so shaken, some still haven’t awoken yet. What a ferocious man!”

While the losers drank their sorrows away, Shao Lei sat on a far corner of the bar, sipping her wine with shaking hands.

“Stupid, stupid, stupid” She admonished herself. She was so overtaken by fear back then, she neglected to remember that she had a multitude of movement techniques that could have gotten her out of danger, but she wasn’t even thinking.

Her mind was gripped by fear and foreboding, like she never left that accursed bandit den. Her master gave her a new lease on life, and is that how she would use it? Too stupid to even run away?

“Dammit!” Shao Lei’s mind was a whirlwind of emotions. If it wasn’t enough that she had a near brush with depraved bandits, Wu Shan was something completely different.

Shao Lei’s mind would always flash back to his towering figure glaring daggers at the bandits, releasing a wave of grotesque and terrifying intent.

To think he would be her next opponent.

Not only did she seem weak in front of bandits, now the bastard would take her for some damsel in distress and either mock her or go easy on her.

Both outcomes were enough to almost make her vomit.

Her master’s words would always flash back in her mind, however.

“Men that go easy on you or gloat are the ideal target, because they will never know what hit them,” she repeated silently, under her breath. If Wu Shan decided to go easy on her, she would capitalize. No questions about it

But… she heard the stories of what happened to Su Chen. Defeated in half a breath, utterly, in fact. The medics went as far as to say that he was in critical condition at some point during his healing, but as he wasn’t cultivation crippled, he bounced back easily enough.

What if Wu Shan decided to use the same amount of force, and she was caught unawares? What if, instead of her face, he hit her Dantian, shattering it like porcelain? What was to become of her? Would she become a lowly servant whose future is at the harem of some young master? Would she be kidnapped by another bandit gang seeking to release their sexual urges on her again? What about her master? Would she throw Shao Lei aside and take a new disciple?

“Dammit!” Shao Lei yelled, her voice echoing around the room, silencing everyone mid-laughter. Shao Lei turned red and looked at the bar counter, wide-eyed.

“What’s the matter with her?” She heard someone whisper.

“If I recall correctly, that’s Shao Lei, the Cloud Dragon Matriarch’s direct disciple. She’s matchin’ up against Wu Shan.”

“Wow. Shit outta luck, eh?”

Shao Lei’s ears began to ring, drowning out the sounds of silent jeers as she closed her eyes. Those were all losers bitter about being eliminated so swiftly. They couldn’t hold a candle against Shao Lei. They wouldn’t dare fight her with their trifling abilities.

They were insignificant.

Shao Lei repeated the mantra in her mind several dozen times, calming her heart gradually.

Opening her eyes, she stood up from her chair and roared.

“I dare every one of you miserable punks to fight me, all on one! You’ll see if it’s me who’ll lose against that Wu Shan!”

The hot-blooded young men growled and bristled, getting up from their chairs, sobering up with Qi as they glared at her.

“Apologize, you worthless wench! Maybe then I’ll feel inclined to only give you a spank-”

Shao Lei appeared right under the young loser and kicked upwards, closing the boy’s mouth shut, clipping of the tip of his tongue in the process. Before he could even process what occurred, Shao Lei jabbed him half a dozen times in several different points in his body, causing him to writhe on the floor in sheer agony.

And thus the bar fight broke out.

Youths came in droves, aiming to overwhelm her, but Shao Lei’s jabs and light steps were unmatched, allowing her to dance circles around the youths, temporarily disabling their Qi circulation with succinct stabs of her fingers.

Chairs and tables were broken by the sheer weight of dozens of youths stacked on top of them in bleeding heaps, and not a single loser remained to test Shao Lei anymore.

With loud pants, she sat on a bar stool and looked at her hand. These losers were as strong, if not stronger than those bandits, and yet it was so easy.

She really didn’t have anything to fear, did she? No… she didn’t. Nothing to fear at all.

“Wu Shan. I’m ready.”