Everybody was gathered around the table, eating hot pot when Shi Qin returned to Peace Manor.

What initially felt like a bleak situation to him was suddenly traded for a lively, enjoyable experience. His mother did not expect life to be so entertaining here.

Yao Jiamu was the first one to rise from his seat. “I see, Shi Qin’s mom has arrived.” Shi Qin had already informed them that he’d bring his mother along, which explains why he wasn’t surprised by her suddenly turning up. Instead, he waved at her as a gesture for them to join their meal.

The rest of the men all stood up. With testosterone-filled voices, they greeted her in unison: “Welcome, Shi Qin’s mom!” Of everyone present, Shi Qin’s mother was the one who was the most shocked. These men were serious and surprisingly respectful when they greeted her, even though she was only a regular human being.

Shi Qin’s mom looked over at her son with shock painted all over her face; she did not know how to react to such a scene. She had long grown used to being ignored or even looked down upon by the people of the ancient martial arts world. Such a scenario was pretty much incomprehensible for her.

“Have a seat, Mom.” Shi Qin flashed her a reassuring smile. “These people are my buddies.”

Wu Hongwen, Xiao Yun, and the rest all smiled at Shi Qin’s mom right after that as if to confirm his statement.

Her anxiety melted away upon being greeted with such warm smiles. Finally, she sat down at the table with them, watching her son exchange smiles with these people. This was the first time in her life she had ever seen him in such a happy, stress-free mood.

***

In the Elders Association, every elder from the ancient martial arts world, regardless of their ranking all sat at the table. The atmosphere in the room was solemn.

The Great Elder of the Jiang family sat in the middle-most seat and the chair next to him was vacant. This was where Jiang Shuxuan was supposed to be sitting but he was not in attendance today.

“Great Elder, the heir of our family has only been under Miss Jiang Tong’s guidance for two days and he had already broken through to a new level in the Trial Tower. I say, Miss Jiang Tong is the savior of the ancient martial arts world!” exclaimed one of the elders.

The majority of them nodded in agreement after that statement was made. “No wonder why they call her the descendant of god. What great capability to lead she has!”

While it was true that Jiang Tong could assert that she was indeed the descendant of god, one only needed to look at the people who were under her wing. Their performance had been rising consistently upon their decision to follow Jiang Tong. This further served as proof for them to blindly place their faith in Jiang Tong!

For one to achieve so much in such a short amount of time, if she wasn’t god’s successor, they didn’t know who was.

The great elder watched as they started discussing the matter. Slowly, he put down his glass. “So?” he asked.

These men’s eyes lit up when they detected that the Great Elder seemed to be ready to make a compromise. “Miss Jiang Tong has said that Gu Xiqiao is the source of calamity in this world. We must catch her and burn her to death on a stake!”

“That’s right! We mustn’t let her harm our world, our people!”

“Immolation!”

“…”

The great elder’s facial expression remained unchanged. Looking at his peers, a coldness crept up his heart. Gu Xiqiao had just obtained a batch of resources for the ancient martial arts world a couple of days ago. The audacity of these people to utter such vile words when they were living off her effort. He couldn’t help but ponder the possibility that perhaps the ancient martial arts world was nearing its imminent death?

The great elders of the Tang and Baili families reacted similarly, silently observing these men who were calling for Gu Xiqiao’s execution.

“Great Elder, we understand your loyalty to the Jiang family, however, we cannot allow you to grant her immunity like this!”

“Great Elder, I urge that you remain impartial and apprehend Gu Xiqiao immediately.”

“…”

“I heard you guys are trying to catch me?”

Just when their talk began to heat up, a cold voice came in and interrupted the process. Her voice wasn’t loud but for some magical reason, every single one of them heard what she said loud and clear. They all turned around in synchrony towards the direction of that voice. Simultaneously, the air in the room was suddenly filled with an indescribable pressure exerted by her consciousness.

Gu Xiqiao’s mental strength was enough to overwhelm Wanqi Jue, what more to say of these elders?

They discovered that sitting next to the great elder was a pretty young girl. Instantly, a horrified expression revealed itself on their faces. Why and when had she entered their room?!

Wasn’t the Elders’ Association sealed with the strongest barrier there was out there?

They knew that Gu Xiqiao was powerful. Of course, how could one deny her strength when she was able to breach level 80 in the Trial Tower? However, they did not expect her to be strong enough to break through their barrier! Not only that, her consciousness alone was enough to immobilize them to the point where they could not even lift a finger to fight back!

Powerful! She was so strong that they had nothing on their minds except the thought to surrender!

Only a person who has reached the same level as her in the Trial Tower could imagine how uncontrollable it was, wielding such great power!

This was especially so as Gu Xiqiao had not held back her punches this time.

The elder who had called for her execution just now was now as pale as a sheet of paper. His eyes were filled with fear, fear that was so visceral that it made a mark on his soul. This moment would probably stick with him for the rest of his life and would be carried with him to his grave.

“Is nobody going to speak?” Gu Xiqiao leaned against the long table. She had an insanely good memory. She had already noted down the elders who were plotting against her just now. She pointed her delicate fingers at every single one of them. “You, and you and that one too… you guys were demanding for me to be apprehended, hmm?”

She was correct to the T in pointing out the dirty elders, whose knees buckled out of fear. Their faces were drained of color in the blink of the eye and due to fear and panic, every one of them seemed to have lost their ability to speak. They could only madly shake their heads in a futile attempt to deny their involvement in the discussion from before.

Apprehend her? How could they even think of such a thing?!

One could give them ten pairs of balls and they’d still be reluctant to lay a single finger on her!

The entire Elders’ Association was met with dead silence. Gu Xiqiao rapped her knuckles on the table surface, the sound of which reverberated around the chamber.

This sound was amplified further when it entered the elders’ ear canals. They held their breaths out of fear that Gu Xiqiao would kill them without hesitation!

That was of course, in light of what they had said earlier on, about burning Gu Xiqiao at the stake. How much they wished to stuff themselves from a few minutes ago back up their mothers’ ‘you know what’. Why did they even entertain the possibility of angering such a menacing god?!

“Oh, so you guys weren’t talking about me?” Gu Xiqiao finally put down her finger. Taking her seat next to the great elder, she announced, “Now that that problem’s dealt with, let’s get back to discussing how to prevent this disaster.”

A smile broke across her face when she glanced at the elders.

Unbeknownst to her, a chill had crept up the spines of these elders who had seen her smile!

“No, how could we? We swear that we did not have that intention Miss Gu…” The first elder who brought up the idea of persecuting Gu Xiqiao was trembling, so much so that he almost collapsed onto the floor. Even his voice sounded shaky when he spoke.

The elders were generally highly-respected in the ancient martial arts world. To see them act so cowardly was incredibly laughable, and yet no one in this chamber was laughing.

This was because they understood that they were no better than that fella.

“That’s right Miss Gu, maybe it was just our mental haze. You must forgive us, I beg of you!”

“Miss Gu, please understand that we were only doing so under the direction of Jiang Tong!”

“…”

The great elder of the Jiang family watched as these men’s expressions changed with the snap of a finger. He couldn’t help but laugh at the situation. And to think that these people were vicious old bastards. Turns out they were as fearful of death as any other person. How cowardly, to bend under the will of a stronger party!

“That’s enough.” Gu Xiqiao picked her ear. “I don’t care what you geezers think of me, but don’t even think about blaming me for this calamity!”

She reached out her arm and snapped her fingers right after she said that.

The main door to the Elders’ Association was pushed open and in walked a tall figure, followed by a robot with colorful patterns.

The man was none other than Jiang Shuxuan’s right-hand man, Yi Bing, and of course, Jiji.

Nearly everyone in the ancient martial arts world knew who Yi Bing was, for he was the great general serving Jiang Shuxuan. He was the commander-in-chief for their paramilitary group, which made the elders shudder even more. The thought of suicide became even more acceptable when they saw Yi Bing bow respectfully to Gu Xiqiao.

“Dispatch the items to the elders.” Gu Xiqiao supported her chin with her hand as she observed the elders who were shifting nervously in their seats.

Yi Bing nodded before handing out the papers he had brought with him to the elders.

Gu Xiqiao glanced at Jiji, which prompted the handy little android to pull out a panel for her. Gu Xiqiao flung the panel out, which suspended in mid-air upon reaching a certain distance.

Jiji raised its mechanical arm and projected several photos onto the panel.

One of it was the footage of Jiang Tong having a meeting with some unidentifiable dark figures. That, and a footage of her training routine. It was clear that slivers of evil aura were emanating from her body as she moved. Next came a video of her cursing Gu Xiqiao while sitting in front of the computer.

How could they not understand what was going on after reading through the contents on the handout?!

It quickly became clear that these people were being used as tools for Jiang Tong. Feelings of guilt started swelling up in their hearts as they recalled how harsh they were towards Gu Xiqiao earlier in their meeting. At this point, they just wanted to curl up in a hole in the ground and rot away out of shame and embarrassment.

Bang! One of the elders was red-eyed upon reading the paper. Angrily, he slammed his fist on the table, hard enough to knock over and shatter his teacup. He peered up at Gu Xiqiao and with a hoarse voice, he asked, “The allegations written here on this paper, is it true?”

“Has your grandson been acting aggressively for the past few days, has he not been sleeping well, or has his appetite increased significantly? Sometimes, he may not even remember who the people around him are, and does he have an unrivaled loyalty towards Jiang Tong?” Gu Xiqiao asked bluntly. “He should have innocent blood on his hands already at this point. In a matter of days, he should start acting like that rogue that appeared out of nowhere in the capital. When that happens, no medicine in this world can bring your grandson back.”

Gu Xiqiao did not say anything more afterward and the elder just nodded silently. The realization hit him like a truck. Before this, he merely assumed that his grandson had become stronger under Jiang Tong’s guidance. Who would’ve thought that the truth would turn out to be this? Looking back, it wasn’t his strength that had grown, but instead, it was his evil aura that was intensifying!

The elder’s bloodshot eyes grew even redder when he imagined how his grandson would in the end, lose touch with his humanity and turn into a bloodthirsty monster.

The elders then exchanged looks with each other following Gu Xiqiao’s statement. They frantically flipped through the pages and finally arrived at the list of categories near the end of the document. It was as if they were struck by lightning. With their jaws hanging open, they stared into empty air as they soaked in the predicament they found themselves trapped in. So the heir of their family who followed Jiang Tong would turn into these things in the end?

The bastion of hope for so many families would perish just like that? They found it hard to believe. Then, they recalled what Gu Xiqiao had just said. The truth was harsh and it could not be wiped away that easily!

Defeated, they slumped back into their chairs. Slowly, they began to realize Jiang Tong was the culprit behind their ordeal and they were so frustrated that they felt like peeling her skin off while she was alive!

“Miss Gu, we have wronged you today,” said one of the elders who stood up from his seat. The wrinkles on his face seemed to have deepened significantly after realization had set in. “I will personally make amends for the wrongs I have committed in the future!”

He bowed his head and left the chamber. Because of what he had said earlier, he did not dare to make direct eye contact with Gu Xiqiao. The shame and anger he was going through, however, was observable on his face.

His footsteps were brisk. No one knew what he was going to do next.

A couple of other elders too, requested for her forgiveness before leaving the place.

***

“Tong Tong, the elders have arrived,” said Jiang Lian as he pushed open the door.

Jiang Tong quickly tucked away her phone and a smug look surfaced on her face. “I assume the elders have concluded their meeting. Perhaps they are here to report the result of their discussion, let them in.”

She, of course, knew what the elders were going to discuss today. After all, she was the one pulling the strings.

The thought of Gu Xiqiao being publicly abused created a smile on her face.

Bang!

The door of her room was kicked open. The elder who stood at the forefront had blood in his eyes. Clutching his chest, he yelled loudly, “What have you done to my grandson?!”

Jiang Tong’s triumphant smile froze up. She had been receiving praises wherever she went for the past few days. It had been a long time since she last received such a terrifying look from someone else. Of everyone, this was the last person she expected to find out about her plan. How did they know? How was this even possible?!

These elders were quick to notice the changes in Jiang Tong’s facial expression, which confirmed their suspicion. They knew they couldn’t defeat Jiang Tong but there should be someone who could help them!

“Descendant of god my ass! Miss Jiang Tong, I will spread the word about the deeds the ‘descendant of god’ has done upon us!” The elder glared at Jiang Tong with eyes full of hostility. “Miss Gu will never forgive you for plotting against her! I may not be able to avenge my grandson personally, but I can, however, watch as you fall from grace! You shall die with your eyes wide open, just you wait and see!”