Without warning Zhi Ruo sprung forward like a kangaroo launching itself from a springboard. The first guard in her way was unwittingly slapped down and rolled groaning leaving a line through the snow before anyone could register what was going on.

Another shriek of pain and another guard lost hold of his shiny sword which flew one direction and his body the other, he tumbled over the uneven snow-covered surface of the frozen ground and crashed into another guard who was slow to react. Both of them slithered away with horrific screams and the sounds of breaking bones.

Zhi Ruo's ghost-like figure weaved through the shocked guards bare-handed, her feet hidden under her long dress produced white circular ripples on the top of the friction-less frozen ground. With every step the air whistled and whined.

To the untrained eyes she seemed to disappear and reappear somewhere else in the blink of an eye with snow flakes twirling and flickering around her body without ever touching her skin.

The hapless guards who tried to confront her were sent flying with every nonchalant attack. Even two hundred guards on this level wouldn't be a factor if Zhi Ruo wanted to get to Hong Zang.

All onlookers stared at the scene in silent amazement, especially the females who were just scrambling away to get their children to safety. They all stopped and watched the red hair first-lady of House Hartley elegance and violence in equal measure.

Never would they have thought they would one day see the lady-like Zhi Ruo flogging the guards of a noble in public. The former bandits had the best view from behind, they heard and saw the bone-breaking hits being delivered from a closer vantage point than anyone else.

In their eyes Zhi Ruo was now the most powerful and majestic woman they had ever seen.

The residual screams of the battered guards seemed to be carried off in the distance with the wind, elongating their painful shrieks as it echoed out in the western hills.

After seeing a dozen men scattered across the ground beaten to a pulp and wailing miserably in pain, the others didn't dare to impede or attempt to block her path to Hong Zang, they quickly fled to the side leaving the fat man unguarded.

The fat on Hong Zang's face jiggled in fright and his eyes bulged as if he was suffocating on a piece of meat stuck in his throat. His guards parted like the red sea and he saw the woman dressed in blue who he had just insulted moving in his direction with a trail of injured and bloody guards laying behind her.

Her graceful balletic steps on the tip of her toes seemed to mesmerize the fat man for a moment before he was brought back to reality by her voice.

"Trash, say it again" Zhi Ruo's voice was cold and whisper-like but everyone present heard her loud and clear.

Before the startled fat man could apologize or start begging for mercy..

Pa! a slap stung across his face sending him flying six to seven meters. Tap. tap, tap. before he could crash against the floor like the others before him, Zhi Ruo stepped across the ice like a phantom and caught up to the flying man, she stretched out her dainty left hand and the fat man was once again within her grasp gripped by the collar.

Hong Zang wailed in misery and spat out a few teeth, the blood from his bleeding mouth gushed out and stained the lapel of his white outfit.

"Trash, say it again." When Hong Zang heard the phrase a second time, he quickly tried to say something with his swollen jaw.

Pa! another slap landed on the side of his jaw before words could emerge from his throat.

Even in the cold conditions, half of his face swelled up to the double its normal size. Again he was sent flying backwards with the red hair phantom-like figure giving chase...

"You owe me five gold coins."

"What? That's half a month's wages, you are not seriously going to collect, are you?"

"A bet is a bet." Qin Li said to Fu Qian with a dignified look.

They were both on the second floor of the manor looking out a window through the swirling downpour of snow flakes and watching Zhi Ruo's performance.

"How was i supposed to know that she could actually slap that fat slob over five meters."

"Hahaha," Qin Li laughed, "If you weren't sure you shouldn't have bet, now pay up."

Fu Qian was livid as he retrieved five cold coins and gingerly passed them to Qin Li as if he was giving away his family's heirloom.

"Trash, say it again." Pa! The phrase was repeated again and followed by another ear-ringing slap connecting with the face of the fat noble.

Outside Zhi Ruo had begun to work on the other side of the man's face, his body wobbled like jello with each assault he endured, but he wasn't allowed to hit the floor after being sent flying by every single hit delivered.

His remaining guards shuddered every time they witnessed him receiving another merciless face-slap, just the sound of the beating alone reverberated through their very bones.

Soon he was unrecognizable, his head was the size of a giant bore and his skin-tone was as pink as a flamingo basking in the summer sun.

The only silver lining for Hong Zang was that he still had one good tooth left in his mouth. The others were all lost in the snow or swallowed into his belly.

Finally the man could take no more and fainted, Zhi Ruo now let him hit the ground for the first time since the beating began then turned and gave the death stare to the remaining guards, they trembled and buckled almost falling to their knees.

"Take this trash out of my sight and off my property, if any one of you trash dares to return." She shook her petite fist at the guards sending shivers down their spines.

The men hurriedly scrambled to get the overweight man placed in his carriage and throwing the injured guards on some horses then quickly left the western hills without so much as looking backwards and too scared to utter even a single word.

Everyone living in the western hills who had just witnessed the scene, watched with awe as Zhi Ruo walked back elegantly to the manor with not even a wrinkle on her regal blue dress.....

"Who was he?" Qin Li asked Fu Qian after the excitement had died down a bit.

"He's a barely civilized thug of a noble who inherited the flat lands from his late father, he enjoys torturing and tormenting the commoners living on his lands. Working them to death is a common occurrence there." Fu Qian answered flippantly.

Qin Li went into deep thought for a minute.

"Spread the word covertly that commoners from the flat lands can take refuge in the western hills."

Fu Qian smiled and said "yes sir." before leaving the room feeling a little bit better after having lost his money.....

Meanwhile in the Castle of the young prince...

"Sir Hartley I wanted to talk to you directly and inform you of the rewards for the recent successful mission carried out in Tivoli."

"First of all congratulations to you both for a job well done. We even have prisoners we can ransom for a hefty sum."

"Thank you your majesty," Hartley gave a bow from his seated position.

Prince Jian leaned forward in his chair, he was sat at a seat with his two bodyguards lurking diligently in the shadows behind and a desk between him and the commander and Hartley.

"There have been some unforeseen developments on this mission and commander Genk have given you credit."

"Hmmn." Commander Genk sat next to Hartley nodded his head with a throaty grunt.

"The country of Aidonia has gained greatly from this mission and so in turn you shall gain as well. First, I'm going to extend your territory by half."

The prince shuffled through a few parchments then unfurled a map and made a new line with his quilt.

"The title for your reformed territory will be sent to you soon."

Commander Genk smiled, nodded and slapped Hartley on the shoulders without saying a word.

Harley's face was still showing no emotion so the prince continued.

"You will receive twenty percent of the gemstones we receive annually or the equivalent in gold coins and thirty percent of all white iron mined. Also we will split the proceeds from the coal mines equally from now on."

The prince sat back with a questioning gaze as he waited for Hartley's response. The prince was a shrewd operator and after the reports he had read, he wasn't going to miss the chance to bring the youth even closer into his circle.

After a while Hartley gave his response, instead of thirty percent of the white iron, he would take twenty percent, provided the prince supplied some rank 3 martial scriptures and a rank 3 cultivation technique. Because Hartley had circumnavigated the traditional cultivation route with his blue star fragment. He had failed to realize before now that in order to raise competent forces one needed above average martial scriptures and cultivation techniques.

This was a great opportunity to acquire these things and Hartley wasn't going to let it slip by.

The prince thought things through for a minute but in the end he agreed readily. Martial scriptures and cultivation techniques were priceless but those things needed years to pay dividend when raising a brand new force so he didn't mind giving Hartley a few copies.....

Meanwhile Hartley was collecting rewards, Baron Hongtian was sat alone in a dark luxurious room fuming.

A tear-drop shaped flame was fluttering at the end of a candle while he read through some parchments at his desk.

The platoon of men he had sent on the mission to Tivoli on behalf of the eldest prince was decimated.

Captain Bojin had returned with only about a third of the men he had left with. To make matters worse Commander Genk and his subordinates were getting all the plaudits from the mission and everyone seems to be glossing over the losses that he had to endure.

He had just received and read a message about a feud between House Hartley and House Zang but he was very wary of Hartley.

Months ago when the youth was on his way to the capital, Baron Hongtian had sent one if his best assassin to eliminate the youth in the province of Papine as a favor to Song Zemin.

Up til this day that assassin has not returned.

By all accounts from Captain Bojin the youth was powerful or he had powerful backers, either way Baron Hongtian wasn't going to barge into the western hills to find out. At his age discretion was the better part of valor.

But this feud between House Zang and the western Hills could be leveraged to his advantage if he played his cards right...