A veiled woman was running quickly, her green robes fluttering in the wind. Behind her, a group of fifteen men chased after her.

“Yingyue, do you know what you’re getting into? Just give us the Dragon Jade amulet, and we’ll stop chasing you. I’ll even give you the antidote to your poison!” Murong Yingyue stopped suddenly, the people chasing her nearly shooting past her and off the cliff she had stopped at.

“You’ll really let me go? And cure my poison?” A clear, sweet voice rang out from behind the veil.

The leader of her pursuers, and her cousin, Murong Cheng spoke again.

“Yes, we will. I promise. Hand over the amulet and I’ll cure your poison right now.”

“Okay then. It’s a deal! You definitely can’t back out, ‘kay?”

Yingyue approached Murong Cheng, putting her hand into the satchel where the amulet was.

“Give me the antidote first.”

“Yes, yes, of course.” Murong Cheng inwardly sneered. She was really too dumb. She was the largest threat to his position as heir, and she still thought he would let her live?

Although she was a complete waste, her bloodline was still purer than his! He, Murong Cheng, a cultivation genius, couldn’t possibly accept being under such a weak girl, who was barely thirteen! The Murong clan elders truly were blind. They would rather support her because she had a purer bloodline than him, instead of support him, who was a green rank at seventeen! A once in a century genius!

However, none of that would matter once he got a hold of the Dragon Jade amulet. It represented the position of heir!

It was the ironclad law of the Murong family. Whoever has the Dragon Jade amulet, as long as they have the blood of the Murong family flowing in their veins, would be heir! The elder generation usually didn’t participate in this, as it really was too shameful for them to attack a younger generation. Similarly, if it were to be exposed that they were scheming against the younger generation, not only would the elder be expelled, so would the person they were backing.

Murong Cheng took out a vial and handed it to Murong Yingyue.

“Here, I’ll give it in advance to you as a show of good faith.” On the surface, he smiled kindly, but in reality, all he wanted to do was laugh. You want to cure your poison? It was impossible! He had been spiking her food and drink with the Flowering Bud poison since she was young. While the poison would remain dormant, once it came into contact any cold poison it would flare up wildly, killing her in seconds!

Before, he had merely given her a weakened dose of Icy Heart poison. It was meant to make the Flowering Bud poison partially activate, leading to her organs melting slowly. She would then die slowly, and by the time anyone noticed what was wrong, it would be too late to figure out when she had ingested poison. It was the perfect plan!

However, who knew that waste Murong Yingyue would notice something was wrong with her drink, accusing him of poisoning her in the middle of the family banquet? He had been forced to try and settle the situation, coaxing the elders to calm down and analyze her accusation. After all, he had never seen this younger cousin of his before, so how could there possibly be a grudge between them? He had also claimed that he would settle things with Murong Yingyue, saying that he wanted to clear up this misunderstanding. He had taken her outside, to the backyard nearest to the Jin Forest.

But!

The waste was incredibly physically fit, able to somehow run as fast as him and his guards. She had led them into a chase through the forest, all the way to the Cloudy Cliff. Murong Cheng had only “offered” to stop chasing her because he was afraid the Yingyue would throw herself off the cliff. He still needed the amulet, so he could only bargain this way.

Yingyue stuck her hand out, placing her hand on the vial, slipping it into her sleeve. But before she retracted her hand, she suddenly gripped Murong Cheng’s forearm, slinging it over her shoulder as she turned, her back facing him. She pulled herself forward, flipping Murong Cheng into the air!

She let go of him, and he went, flying, all the way to the cliff’s edge. Murong Cheng, stunned into stillness, stared blankly at Murong Yingyue.

“You-”

Murong Yingyue strode confidently towards him, and with a well-placed kick, sent him off the edge. Murong Cheng let out a strangled sound as he fell, hands covering his crotch. The guards were frozen in fear.

Oh my god! Did you have to kick him in his family jewels?

Murong Cheng was a green ranked cultivator, so his reflexes were very good, allowing him to quickly grab on to the ledge. He slammed into the cliffside, screaming as his “family jewel” took another blow. Murong Yingyue stepped harshly onto his hand, twisting her foot hard as her expression turned vicious.

“Is that how you thought I would fucking react? Do I look that dumb?” Murong Cheng’s guards stared vacantly at her.

Excuse me, but weren’t you acting to make us think exactly that? You are also only 13, okay? Who would think that a 13 year old would be so ruthless!

They shivered, thinking of her kick.

“You’re the goddamned dumbass, you’re the fucking fool!” She continued to vent her anger, slamming her foot down again and again.

“You bitch! Stop right now! Do you want to kill me? If I fall down I’ll die. Do you want to be responsible for a death?” Murong Yingyue stopped stomping on his hand. Thinking he had convinced her he continued.

“Now pull me-” He froze as she took a gleaming dagger out of her robes. She gave a brilliant, innocent smile.

“What the fuck do you mean, ‘do you want to be responsible for a death?’ You’ve been the one spiking my food with poison for years, and you want to talk about murder? Besides, a small fall like this wouldn’t hurt a mighty green ranked expert like you.” She crouched down, drawing the hand with the dagger back to stab him.

Murong Cheng paled. The fall wouldn’t kill him, but the demon beasts in the chasm below certainly would! The sides of the cliff were too smooth to climb, and the ground below was very rugged. He began to desperately beg.

“Murong Yingyue! I will give you anything! Just don’t push me off this cliff!” Yingyue frowned. What the hell! Your lines are so cliche! You’re practically the small fry cannon fodder of a wuxia novel, ‘kay? If your lack of originality won’t kill me, it’s going to be the edge of your cardboard cutout personality!

“Just for saying that, I’ll cut off your arm instead of your hand.” Murong Cheng panicked.

“Stop! Don’t you want the antidote? I’ll give it you, just pull me back up!” Yingyue smiled coldly, though he couldn’t see it.

“Oh? So you’re saying the one you gave me earlier was a fake?”

“Yes, yes! The real one is right here. If you push me off you’ll never get it. The poison will slowly melt your internal organs. It will be a very painful death! Also don’t even think about finding an antidote on your own. I’ve poisoned you with Icy Heart poison. Let’s not even talk about the ingredients, you couldn’t even invite an alchemist to refine it for you!” Murong Cheng threatened.

“You... You are all stupid!” Yingyue was speechless. Wasn’t this guy a bit too dumb? Even telling her the name of the poison? Besides, she was pretty sure she had already mentioned that she knew he’d been poisoning her for years. The Icy Heart poison wasn’t very hard to treat. Why is he going around posturing like this?

The guards: How did we get dragged into this? We aren’t even doing anything right now?

The Icy Heart poison on its own was not very fatal. At most, it would cause mild heart problems. However, a certain idiot had revealed the name to her, believing the person he told had no idea about poisons.

It’s too bad for him...I have Master to thank for forcing me to memorize all of those poisons...not that I’ll tell him... Yingyue took out a small, pea-sized pill, popping it in her mouth. That should take care of the poison for now. I’ll drop by and visit Second Senior Brother later, he he. I hope he still isn’t mad about what happened last week. He can’t hold a grudge forever.

Without another word, she promptly stabbed at him, the dagger slicing cleanly through his arm. My, this dagger is really good! I should “borrow” a couple more from Second Senior Brother when I see him.

“You bitch!” Murong Cheng’s face twisted in pain. Yingyue straightened back up, brushing dust off her robes. She watched happily as he fell, smiling widely.

The guards, who had been frozen in shock up until now, finally moved.

“Kill her!” Every guard was a member of the Murong family. If they could get their hands on the Dragon Jade amulet, it wouldn’t matter that they came from a branch family, their position would skyrocket. Of course, these guys were wary of each other, afraid the others would kill them, and completely disregarding Murong Yingyue.

Yingyue whipped her head around. Shit, I forgot about these guys. Ahhhhh, Second Senior Brother, you’re really too ruthless, sealing my cultivation. I’ll never speak to you again after this! She reached into her robes, then froze in realization. Fuck! I left my weapons in my other robes. I only brought poison antidote and a dagger. I can’t face this many orange ranked cultivators at once!

She turned tail and resolutely jumped off the cliff. Yingyue grit her teeth. Whatever, I’ll just make sure to land on Murong Cheng. He should’ve hit the ground by now.

Again, the guards were shocked. Who would expect her to jump off to her death? They rushed to the cliff’s edge, but it was too late, she had already disappeared into the dark bottom of the chasm.

“What...what do we do now?” One of the guards spoke up nervously. The head guard turned angrily to him.

“Hurry back. If anyone asks, the young master and miss Yingyue went to the forest to talk. Young master ordered us to wait at the forest entrance, so he could talk more privately. And none of you say anything!” He glared, his gaze sweeping across the rest of the guards.

They all nodded in agreement. No one wanted to take the blame for this. The consequences were severe. At best, they would be expelled from the clan. At worst, their souls would be refined by the young master’s father.

They began to turn back to the forest entrance, but a masked figure in green stood before them. The mask was a plain white, covering the person’s entire face. One of the guards stepped forward.

“Who are you?” If Yingyue was there, she would’ve scoffed at the cliche cannon fodder line. If this scene wasn’t a set up for the person in green to display some amazing identity or to mercilessly and viciously slaughter all the guards, she would bite her tongue off! He was even wearing the “mysterious maskTM!”. This guy just needed to be wearing those “pure white robes” or be “wrapped from head to toe in dark clothing.”

The head guard was more wary. How did the person appear without him noticing? He may have been distracted, but he was still vaguely aware of his surroundings. If he, a yellow ranked expert couldn’t sense him, it meant that the other person was a higher rank than him. Even a gap of one level was incredibly vast. It was nearly impossible for a lower level to beat someone of a higher level. The head guard glared at the guard who had spoken up earlier.

“Fellow cultivator, please forgive his rudeness. We’ve been feeling stressed, and he accidentally took out our frustration on you.”

“Is that so? What has you so stressed?” The stranger asked. The guards relaxed. It seems this person hadn’t seen what had just happened.

“I’m sorry, but we cannot tell you this. It’s a-” The head guard was cut off.

“I want compensation. You’ve been rude to me, and now you won’t even tell me why?” The head guard was startled.

“Don’t you think this request it a bit excessive? It was merely impolite, and he had only said one sentence.”

“I want compensation.” The person repeated. The head guard wanted to argue, but he needed to get back as soon as possible. He decided to just give the person some money and be done with it. He took out a pouch of money from his robes. He took out a silver coin.

“Here. This should be enough, right? Now, fellow cultivator, we’ll ne-”

“It’s not enough.” The head guard clenched his fists slightly. He then took out a gold coin.

“How is-”

“That’s not enough either. I want his life.” The man in green pointed to the guard who had spoke earlier.

The head guard was absolutely enraged. He had been cut off thrice already, and this unreasonable man was demanding one of his men’s lives as compensation for speaking slightly rudely.

“You are too-” The guard was cut off yet again.

“I was joking.” He relaxed slightly but complained. I don’t think there’s anyone in the world who jokes like you! His next sentence made the head guard pale. “Such a cheap price, I’m really ripping myself off. I’m actually going to take all of your lives. You little ants should feel honored that I even spoke to you.” As the last word left his mouth, all of the guards promptly dropped dead.

The there-in-spirit Yingyue grumbled. She was half correct okay? He did murder them mercilessly. It just wasn’t very dominating. What a lame high-lofty-super expert!

“Murong Yingyue...” The figure in green mumbled. He smiled to himself. That girl’s thoughts are very entertaining. Looks like I’ve found a new toy. Such good timing, I was just thinking today that it’s been a while since I last had some good entertainment.

He walked gracefully past the corpses of the guards, jumping off the cliff.