I didn’t see it in the lower realm, but I’m seeing it now: why Lucia was the sole ruler of the realm despite her huge shortcomings, why everyone listened to her stupid, time-wasting requests and tolerated her nonsense, why Ilya Pentorn completed submitted despite the demon’s vast intelligence and ambition. Lucia’s terrifying. She’s chasing the Flowing Water Sect members with techniques designed to kill in one hit, forcing them to always be in motion. A single mistake will cost them their lives. When she catches them, the heat from the flames she’s releasing melts their skin, flesh, and bones, and they dissolve like water before her hands can even touch them. Occasionally, bits of flesh and blood drip on her arms, but they disintegrate rapidly, which is great because Lucia just barely managed to lift someone, bouncing him up like loose grains of sand, over her head. The gory remains sprinkled over her body, sizzling as they bounced while disintegrating towards the ground.

The Flowing Water Sect members used their techniques to summon different kinds of animals, but Lucia simply swung her hammer. When it moved, it left an elongated line of fire in the air like a painter brushing a mark onto a canvas. Whenever the hammer collided with a liquid beast, steam exploded outwards with a deafening sizzle. Thankfully, none of the Flowing Water Sect members retreated towards where Senior Mu and I were hiding. We were standing completely still; any fluctuation or movement would give away our location.

Even when Low Sway personally took action, the summoned liquid creatures weren’t enough to stop Lucia. She no longer recklessly collided against the cow, opting to smash it apart with her hammer instead. Despite the ferocity of the hammer swings, it still painted a graceful picture thanks to the trails of fire left behind. Still, even though she was unstoppable, Low Sway was slippery enough to escape her grasp. His subordinates, unfortunately for them, were not. Eventually, Low Sway was the only one left. His face was red from exertion, and he was panting hard, but there wasn’t a single trace of sweat on his body thanks to the heat. It was hard to imagine heat alone was enough to wear down a holy child of the Flowing Water Sect, but the pill Lucia consumed did seem pretty potent. I wonder what the side effect is. There’s no way consuming a pill like that doesn’t have any severe side effects. Which begs the question: why would she eat it? Her bodyguard is enough to oppress everyone present. I know Senior Mu can’t erect a barrier this large simply by tapping her foot.

I wasn’t sure if it was because of the mist in the air or if I was seeing things accurately, but it seemed like the flames covering Lucia’s body were dimming. The berserk pill must’ve run out of energy. If Lucia doesn’t catch Low Sway now, she’ll have no chance once she’s suffering from the drawbacks of the pill. Then again, it doesn’t really matter. Lucia’s bodyguard is willing to intervene at any time to cheat in Lucia’s favor.

Low Sway panted and twisted his body to the left, his waist turning into a blob of water to make the unnatural action possible. His body morphed and wiggled, barely evading the edge of the encroaching flame each time. “Damn, aren’t you afraid of the consequences!? Do you know who I am? I’m the eldest son of the Flowing Water Sect leader!”

Either Lucia couldn’t hear him, or she simply didn’t care. Even though her movements were slowing down, and the flames around her body were dimming, she kept swinging her hammer, each one of her strikes fatal. At one point, the two passed by the barrier, but luckily, I wasn’t harmed; though, my skin did blister.

“Hey!” Low Sway shouted in the white-haired woman’s general direction. He grunted as his torso extended, and a second later, there was a sizzling sound as a flaming hammer passed the space where his torso used to be. Low Sway shouted again, “Hey! You’re her elder, right? You can stop her before it’s too late!”

“Too late?” the white-haired woman asked and raised an eyebrow. “Too late for what?”

“If a squirrel kills the holy child of one of the seven great sects, squirrels won’t be able to remain neutral anymore! The seven great sects will wipe your race out!”

“Oh, please,” the white-haired woman said and rolled her eyes. “A war with the squirrels because of a few killed juniors? The seven great sects can tolerate losing much more than that before they’ll declare war.”

“You’re insane!” Low Sway shouted as he leapt forward. Steam rose off his back as the tip of a flaming tail raked the air behind him. I’m not sure if Lucia always had this ability, but her tail was whipping wildly about, swinging while accumulating force every time it missed which caused her body to veer off course. Her footsteps and swings compensated for the shift in force, and there was no unnaturalness in her movements, her body moving like a flowing river of fire. “If I die here, there’s no way you, as a guardian, would be allowed to walk away as you wish. Big Elder Fluffytail might because she’s the disciple of the White-furred Tyrant, but who are you? A mere escort!”

“Look out,” the white-haired lady said and pulled a plush cushion out of her interspatial ring. She placed it down and took a seat on top of it. A goblet appeared in her hand, and she raised it up to her lips before taking a sip. With her strength, it didn’t matter if she drank while she was pregnant. The baby was destined to grow up just as strong as her. “I think you should worry more about your own life before worrying about mine.”

Low Sway grunted and dove forward, somersaulting on the ground before popping up into a sprint. “What do you want? I’ll give you everything I have if you get her to stop!”

“I’ll already get that when you die,” the white-haired woman said. “If you stop resisting, I’m sure she’ll make it painless.” Lucia’s guardian’s eyes shifted, her gaze meeting mine. There wasn’t any hostile intent in her smile, but it still sent chills down my spine. Were we next?