Fish Baibai blinked her large, innocent eyes. She looked at her Young Mistress, then at the aloof Sword Immortal, her little head buzzing with unknown thoughts. Quietly, she shuffled closer to Li Youci, adopting a posture that screamed, “I’m on your side, Miss!”

Gao Feiyang, meanwhile, sent a sly voice transmission to Zhou Kai.

“Tsk, tsk. What does this mean? A show of force? Or… is she trying to shake your Dao Heart and make you crawl beneath her Netherfire skirt?”

Zhou Kai ignored the idiot.

Li Youci withdrew her gaze from Shen Hanyi.

“We will set up camp five hundred miles from Gazing River City,” she commanded, her voice imperious. “Do not wait for orders from Song Tiancheng. Move freely. If you discover anything unusual near the city, notify me immediately. If you encounter demonic cultivators, kill them.”

She paused, then added, “Xia Min’s strength is lacking. She will follow Shen Hanyi. It is best they look after one another.”

Gao Feiyang bristled immediately.

“Young Mistress, please!” he protested. “While I, Gao Feiyang, am known as ‘The One Who Suppresses All Enemies,’ surely I can be of use? If I stay by your side, I can block any blind fools who dare offend you!”

Li Youci glanced at him coldly. “When you were at the peak of Qi Condensation, you could trade blows with early Foundation Establishment cultivators. Now that you’ve advanced to Foundation Establishment… have you become weaker?”

Gao Feiyang choked. He rubbed his nose awkwardly. “That… that was an adrenaline burst in a desperate situation…”

Li Youci didn’t bother responding. Her figure blurred and vanished from the spot.

The group dispersed.

Shen Hanyi walked side by side with Zhou Kai as they exited the main hall of the warship.

“Li Youci is very strong,” Shen Hanyi said suddenly, her voice cool and clear as spring water. “She just challenged me to a duel.”

Zhou Kai paused, then nodded in understanding.

It was the mutual recognition of geniuses—or perhaps, intense competitive drive. Li Youci likely had no equal among her peers. Seeing someone like Shen Hanyi naturally sparked a desire to conquer.

“Her realm is higher, and she has more treasures,” Zhou Kai noted.

A spark of battle hunger flickered in Shen Hanyi’s eyes. “If we suppress our cultivation levels, the outcome is uncertain.”

Meanwhile, Li Youci stood alone at the prow of the ship. The high-altitude gale whipped her long hair and her dress, which rippled like black fire.

She had removed her veil. In the dying light of the setting sun, her peerless face was breathtakingly beautiful, enough to stop a heart.

She thought of the image of Shen Hanyi and Zhou Kai walking away together, and the challenge she had issued.

“Xia Min”… was Li Youci.

Back when Shen Hanyi was critically injured, Li Youci had mocked Zhou Kai, telling him to “use his own way” to save her. That had been a bluff, a test. In reality, her pragmatic assessment matched Zhou Kai’s: use the Jade Universe Pill to reconnect the meridians and regenerate the flesh. At most, use the Heavenly Sutra to convert Mana into Sword Essence, and the injury would heal in time.

But she had sensed the extraordinary nature of Shen Hanyi’s Sword Embryo. Fearing Zhou Kai might take her mockery seriously and do something rash, she had personally gone to his cave dwelling.

That was simply who the Grand Miss was.

Since obtaining the Cicada Raiment Art from Zhou Kai and witnessing Fish Baibai’s Spirit Root ascend to the Upper Grade, she had initiated the “Xia Min” protocol.

If a day came when she had no choice but to use Dual Cultivation with Zhou Kai to alter her own Spirit Root… she would absolutely not do it as “Li Youci.”

Even if Zhou Kai’s shameless dominance sometimes scratched a hidden itch in her soul—making her feel a strange, trembling heat—her pride would never allow her to bow her head.

Xia Min was her shield. Her retreat.

But now, seeing a Sword Immortal like Shen Hanyi—whose beauty and talent rivaled her own—getting so close to Zhou Kai, sharing that unspoken tacit understanding…

It irritated her.

Beyond her curiosity about Zhou Kai’s “management” of his women, a new feeling spiked in her chest.

A desire to compete.

Removing her veil wasn’t just a declaration of war against a rival genius. It was a sign that the fortress around her heart had developed a hairline fracture.

Zhou Kai, Fish Baibai, and Gao Feiyang did not fly. instead, they moved on foot through the mountain forests, engaging in search-and-destroy.

Zhou Kai had dumped all the Divine Sense points he swindled from Lin Zhiwei into his own stats.

His Divine Sense Intensity was now comparable to an eighth-layer Foundation Establishment cultivator—far exceeding his actual cultivation base.

“What is Song Tiancheng waiting for?” Gao Feiyang complained, shoving a tree branch out of his face. “It’s been three days. All thunder, no rain. He sends one lousy ship to fire a firecracker at the city every day. Who is he trying to fool?”

The Song Family’s “siege” consisted of sending a single warship to fire one shot at Gazing River City’s defensive array before retreating.

Fish Baibai chewed on a random stalk of spirit grass. “Who cares what the Song Family does? We listen to the Young Mistress. Find weird spots. If we see trash from the Yin Ruins Sect or the Fu Family, we smash them.”

Zhou Kai stopped abruptly. His gaze locked onto a dense patch of forest to the left.

“Contact,” he said, his voice low. “Three targets.”

Gao Feiyang blinked and immediately spread his Divine Sense. He found nothing. “Where? Are you just jumpy?”

“Let’s go look.” Zhou Kai moved, weaving through the trees like a ghost.

Moments later, the trio crouched behind a cluster of bushes at the edge of a mountain hollow, suppressing their breath.

Below, two male cultivators in Yin Ruins Sect robes had cornered a female cultivator in a pale yellow dress.

The men were at the fourth layer of Foundation Establishment. The woman, delicate and pretty, was at the second layer. She looked terrified and angry, clutching a dimmed flying sword. Her face was flushed, suggesting exhaustion or drugs.

“Junior Sister Fu, stop struggling,” one of the men sneered. “You may be my fiancée, but I’ve been dying to kick you aside. I need to marry Master’s daughter to climb the ladder!”

He licked his lips. “Tsk, tsk. You’re not as hot as Senior Sister, but you’re still a beauty. Would be a shame if you died by accident, right?”

The woman, Fu Tong, trembled violently. “Zhang Zhen… you… you want to kill me?!”

The other man, slightly taller, laughed. “Kill? How could Senior Brother Zhang bear to do that? Junior Sister Fu, your Primordial Yin is still intact. Surely you’re willing to give your fiancé one last boost for his future?”

Fu Tong’s face went pale, then flushed an unnatural red. “No… impossible! What… what did you give me?!”

Zhang Zhen let out a weird, lecherous laugh. “You’ll find out. Don’t worry, I won’t waste you. After I check the goods, I’ll give you to Junior Brother Lu Zhun. He can refine you into an obedient Yin Corpse. Reduce, reuse, recycle, right?”

“Junior Sister, will you cooperate? Or do I have to get rough?”

Fu Tong gritted her teeth, tears welling up. “You… shameless beasts! The Fu Family and the Yin Ruins Sect are allies! How dare you!”

“Allies?” The second man, Lu Zhun, snorted. “Fu Tong, you’re adorably naive. You’re just a subsidiary family. Cannon fodder.”

Zhang Zhen reached out, his finger tracing Fu Tong’s cheek.

“Tsk. Such tender skin. Much better than the cheap whores back at the sect.”

Fu Tong screamed, her voice piercing the air. “Wait! I know where a dead senior’s cave dwelling is! Inside… inside are one hundred and eight Thunderfire Pearls! Each one hits with the force of a late Foundation Establishment cultivator!”

“Let me go! I… I swear I won’t tell anyone about today! I’ll take you there!”

Zhang Zhen laughed. “Thunderfire Pearls? Nice. But that doesn’t change anything. I’ll just Soul Search you after I’m done with your body. The cave will still be ours.”

He reached out, grabbing the collar of her dress.

Riiiip—!

Fabric tore. The dress split, revealing her undergarments and a large expanse of snowy white skin.

“Ahhh!” Fu Tong shrieked, squeezing her eyes shut.

“Damn, she’s stacked,” Lu Zhun chuckled from the sidelines.

Hidden in the bushes, Zhou Kai and his team watched with deadpan expressions.

This Zhang Zhen guy had practically stripped her, yet he was moving with agonizing slowness.

Lu Zhun appeared to be watching the show, but his posture was tight, scanning the perimeter.

And Fu Tong… despite screaming her lungs out, her eyes were clear. There was no fear in them.

They had been discovered ages ago.

“They’re fishing,” Gao Feiyang whispered. “Using us as bait.”

“Indeed,” Zhou Kai muttered.

The next second, Zhou Kai exploded from the bushes like a cannonball.

A massive war hammer materialized in his grip. He poured every ounce of his Mana and Vitality into the weapon, roaring as he descended upon the bad actors.

“Who the hell do you think I am?! FANG LIZHE?!”