Yu leapt and landed with her bow nocked and taught.

Three humans stepped out from behind various trees, staring at Yu with grins that made her think of hunting cats eyeing prey. The blue-haired inner sect disciple that threatened her outside the Mission Center stepped forward. Two other brown-haired outer sect disciples were stepping forward but were to Yu’s left and right.

“It took a bit of work for us to figure out where you hunted. Everyone has areas they frequent and you went further than we expected. But now that you’re here, we can have a little chat.”

Yu glared and called, “I have nothing to say to you.”

“That’s fine. I don’t need to hear your verger voice speak. All I need is action. Specifically, giving me the mission and all your points.”

“No,” was Yu’s only response.

He scanned her up and down and in a pleasant tone he commented on his observation. “That’s nice armor. I wonder if it would fit Bao Qing when he finishes his recovery. Shame that it’s red, but what can you do?” Then in a deeper, stronger tone, “It’s also a shame that you had an accident in the forest. Your body, dismembered and eaten by the forest’s demonic beasts, was found by random disciples hunting for their own share of points.”

Were they seriously going to try to kill her? Disciples? Sure she figured they’d attempt to beat her up. Maybe even break some bones and disable her. But kill her?

He proved her fear out by declaring, “First, you will hand over all your points and the mission. All you have to do is tap badges with me. Then we can make it painless.”

A sect badge appeared in his hand like all the others. How did he have a badge attached to his chest and another one in his hand?

Snickering came from behind Yu who turned her head just enough to see and the fourth boy from the group stepping forward. “How does it feel, bitch? Do you realize how you are nothing now?”

Trying to think of a way to run, Yu said, “I can’t transfer more than five hundred in a day.”

The brown-haired one on the left was a little too close. She might be able to make it to him and use his body as a shield.

“Ah yes. Well, let’s say that the badge I have in my possession doesn’t have that limit.” The whole time he had been slowly stepping forward.

Yu raised her bow to her face and aimed it at his heart. “Don’t make me do this.”

Yu frustratingly detected a hint of desperation in her own voice. She didn’t want this. Was he too close to run? Had he compressed his Qi?

“Oh. I don’t think you’ll be doing anything.” He was only five paces from her now, the others closing as well.

Yu said, “Stop approaching or I’ll fire.”

“No, you won’t. You’re a weak verger.” Three paces.

“One more step and I fire.”

He stopped three paces from her and said, “Will you?”

Yu said, “I’ll defend myself. You are making threats and approaching too close. Back away and we can all go our own way.”

The voice behind Yu, which was only a pace or two behind her said in a snide voice, “Just do it, Panduan. What are you waiting for? Show the verger bitch her place.”

The inner sect disciple looked annoyed and said, “Shut up, Saiche.”

Shaiche spat, “No! She’s been challenging us too much and too strongly. She needs to be put down. You may be my senior here, but I am higher in family and you do what I fucking say when I fucking say it! Do it now. Seize her Qi and-”

The moment he said those last words, Yu’s mind flashed back to the Alchemists’ Association and that boy, Xing, who froze her body against the wall. She still remembered the stench of his breath as it ran along her ear and cheek and the terror she felt at being utterly helpless and under his control. Without conscious thought, Yu’s fingers released from the bowstring and she screamed.

***

Bao Panduan’s eyes widened as he heard what the idiot boy said. He saw the girl’s terror on her face at the moment he exposed their plan. The young moron, Saiche, had no idea that at Panduan’s current cultivation he had to be closer than an arm's-length of the girl to seize the Qi in her body and freeze her still. The fucking fool had just told her the plan; thus she reacted as any sensible cultivator would at the implied threat. She attacked. And so Bao Panduan saw the arrow flying towards his head from only three paces away and all he could do was desperately call on his Qi to save him.

The mind moves so much faster than the body though. He had only just entered the Qi Gathering stage so he was not entirely comfortable with the change in his Qi flows which were a little sluggish due to the new thickness, as happens to everyone after their initial compression. That slowed his reactions and therefore Panduan could only watch while attempting to move his Qi as a beam of sunlight glinted off the steel arrowhead that took up most of this vision.

Panduan felt pain as the arrow punctured through the forearm he had barely raised in time, mostly thanks to his training. But he tumbled backward and over a root, landing on his ass which caused his arms to reach out. That resulted in the arrow sticking out to be pressed farther and the head to puncture all the way through, covered in his own red blood. His screams were cut off though when he lifted his head and saw something that absolutely shocked and terrified him.

The girl he was supposed to make disappear in the forest, screamed. Out of her open mouth accompanying the noise was a stream of lightning that engulfed the area around her and just in front of him. Panduan would have been cooked if he hadn’t fallen backward. The tiny girl whipped her head around towards the fool, Saiche, who was behind her and whose eyes were wide with shock and terror. He glowed blue as well but before he could act, the fourth heir in line of the Bao family was swamped by the stream of lightning still spewing from Fenghuang Yu’s mouth.

Panduan heard Saiche holler in pain as he fell to the ground, twitching and smoking. Where were their idiot servants?

The lightning finally stopped but the boy got no refuge as his steaming and burned body was pummeled by the tiny body of the girl who had leaped onto him. Still yelling wordlessly, she pulled a dagger Panduan hadn’t seen before out of her boot and slammed it into Saiche’s chest.

Panduan watched, almost as if in slow motion, as the girl lifted the knife and slammed it down again. She stabbed down four more times, screaming the whole time. Blood sprayed everywhere each time she pulled it out, until finally she used two hands and drove the blade deep into his eye. With a twist, she pulled it out, stood and turned to face Panduan and the servants who he saw were frozen still in shock.

The girl’s leather armor, pale face and hands, and silver hair were all painted red, his cousin’s blood dripping from her body and the knife. Then he felt as though the might of the world started pressing down on him. The air wavered in front of her, she stepped forward and vanished. Panduan heard a gurgling sound behind him and started to stand and turn towards the sound but froze once again.

The bloody girl, emitting beams of silver light, was behind one of those he came with. He was a member of a clan in service to the Bao family and his throat was slit. The only reason he was standing was because the girl was holding him up with her arm, now even more drenched in glistening red. Then she released him while stepping backward and was gone again. Jerking his head to the other servant he had brought, Panduan saw the girl standing there with the knife in her hand up the bloody hilt into the boy’s chin. His body was jerking and shaking until she pulled the knife down and free allowing his body to fall lifeless to the forest floor.

The next thing he knew, the girl held her bow, an arrow knocked and aimed at him again, just like how the whole insane episode started.

***

Yu’s panting was obvious to her and likely to the inner sect disciple in front of her.

“I know you’re an inner sect disciple and have compressed your Qi, but if you attempt to approach me, I’ll disappear before you can come near me and you won’t know how you died. If you try to run, if you attempt to touch your badge, if I sense any Qi around you at all, I’ll fire this arrow, blast you with everything I have, disappear and then slit your throat before you can seize me.” She had snarled that filthy word.

The young man before her gulped, nodded, and then stayed perfectly still.

Yu took a few breaths and spoke more steadily. “Bao Panduan, right? Bao Panduan, this is about more than that stupid mission. What is the real cause for all the anger aimed at me?”

The Bao looked confused. “You don’t know?”

Yu’s mental control was failing and she screamed in a high-pitched shout, “Answer!”

Panduan jerked at the reaction, raised his hands quickly, and spoke in a frantic voice. “Ok ok! Easy.”

Taking a deep breath Yu said more calmly, “This started when I first arrived. At the testing before I even knew of your family or officially joined the sect.”

Panduan cleared his throat and gave a surprising reason. “The Inner Sect Vice Leader position was up for filling a few years ago and a Bao family member who was a senior elder of the inner sect was in line for it. But your master blocked the appointment and put someone else in.”

That surprised Yu. It was not at all what she was thinking. What an absurd reason to hate someone. “Are you serious?”

Bao Panduan rolled his eyes. “You don’t understand? That would have been a position of incredible prestige for my clan. It also was a position of real power and granted substantial access to resources, people, and favors. Vice leaders have a lot of authority over their sect level. It could have helped in our fight against the Gui clan.”

In an exasperated tone, Yu said, “Unbelievable. No wonder he didn’t give it to you people. I can’t think of anyone who would abuse it more than your corrupt clan. Even a madman could see that.”

Bao Panduan shrugged. He apparently had nothing to add, either disagreement or agreement. Yu asked, “What exactly was supposed to happen here? Were you really planning on making me disappear into the mouth of a beast? And don’t lie.” He nodded.

Yu growled and felt tears started to fall from her eyes. Her voice sounded as agonized to her as she felt. “I never wanted this. Did you know that it was because of Bao Qing that I even got this damn quest? He was being prideful and arrogant and superior just like the rest of your family when he shoved me into the mission board. I landed on this stupid mission. I didn’t intentionally take it. Just like when you people didn’t get a role because you would have abused it. You stupid fucking people are responsible for your own problems and took it out on me.”

Yu saw his eyes start to widen but not all the way as the world warped again and she stepped backward only to appear three paces behind him, the arrow already released and flying towards the base of his skull.

Inner sect disciple Bao Panduan’s body fell to the dirt with a thump in front of her and Yu’s eyes streamed. She collapsed onto her knees next to his body, bow clattering to the ground and a dead tone whispering into the silent forest, “And now you made me a murderer.”