"Right... he needs to confess to me first."
"Isn't that right... Bathin?"
Bai Fanxian had arrived without anyone noticing. Her tone was as calm as if she felt neither joy nor anger toward the situation, as though none of it had anything to do with her at all. She looked down and met Grandmaster Lu Qing's eyes without a flicker.
The elderly man laughed softly at the name the young woman had used. He knew at once that she must have arrived long ago, long enough to hear everything they had discussed.
For all he knew, she might have come from the very instant he stepped foot here.
"...Looks like I can't escape it anymore."
Grandmaster Lu Qing nodded in acceptance, and his attitude satisfied Bai Fanxian quite a bit.
"Mm... once this matter is dealt with, I want to hear everything from your own mouth."
The conversation between the two of them might as well have wiped the young man from existence entirely. Fenex had never felt so invisible before. The red fire bird covering him responded to the surge of negative emotion. It cried out at the top of its lungs and spread both wings wide.
"...Don't you dare mock me!"
"Inferno Phoenix Dance!"
SCREECH!
As the sound faded, the fire bird's wing beats sent over a hundred streams of flame fanning outward in every direction, like fireworks scattering without restraint. If this wall of fire were allowed to reach the ground, it would set the entire city ablaze.
"This is bad!"
Even Grandmaster Lu Qing had not expected Fenex to be this reckless. He gathered his qi and pushed himself upward, trying to intercept.
But it was too late.
"Hahaha! Burn to ashes!"
Fenex laughed out loud, watching the flames spread through the air with gleaming eyes, while Bai Fanxian had not moved a single finger.
"..."
"Ready yet?"
"..."
"...Ready!"
BANG!
The instant the answering voice reached them from hundreds of meters away, a clear blue beam of light shot through the sky like a comet and drove straight into the fire bird's center, punching clean through in a gaping hole. The compressed bullet's destructive force could pierce even peak Sage magic. The fire bird screamed in agony. Through the bond between them, that wound rippled back into Fenex himself, making him cough up a rush of blood.
His eyes went wide. Both hands flew up to grip his chest as he gasped for air. He spun around, looking past Bai Fanxian, and focused magical energy into his eyes. On a rooftop in the distance stood a group of figures making no effort at concealment whatsoever.
At the center stood an elderly man in military uniform whose composed bearing concealed a formidable depth. Government personnel moved around him, already responding, issuing evacuation orders to clear the citizens nearby. And standing in front of them all was a girl braced against a blue-and-white sniper rifle, white cold air drifting from its barrel.
At her side, a young man with an expressionless face was demonstrating the correct way to handle the weapon.
Fenex stared, dazed, at his fire bird. The wound refused to close properly. A mass of cold had compressed itself around the injury, forcing his flames to burn through enormous reserves just to melt it away.
"...Zhang Xianyuan?"
"...Damn it!"
He knew the country's Marshal well. Fenex gritted his teeth. He had not been able to detect a single living presence within the surrounding area. That meant the government had evacuated everyone from the moment he began hunting old man Bathin.
They were already surrounded.
Marshal Zhang Xianyuan's arrival confirmed it: the military had control of this entire zone.
"Bai Fanxian... is this your doing?"
From the Barbatos incident, Bai Fanxian's name was already well known to people in his position. And beyond that, he had the distinct sense that this woman had some prior history with Bathin that he had not been told about.
"...I had no idea you'd appear."
Bai Fanxian shrugged as though it were pure coincidence. And in truth it was. She had simply been following Grandmaster Lu Qing through the faint trace of Intent she had left on his body during their last conversation.
As for Marshal Zhang Xianyuan's arrival, that too was coincidence. He had come on separate business and happened to be traveling with Chunfeng, who was delivering the new weapon to Tang Yeye as promised, arriving just in time to contain the damage.
It was perhaps more accurate to call this Fenex's misfortune.
Because had Fenex not released his magic to clash with Grandmaster Lu Qing, Bai Fanxian would not have known he was from the Night Shadow group at all, even if he had walked right past her.
"Hmph... you think I'm a joke?!"
Whether it was Bai Fanxian's unbothered demeanor or some other spark, Fenex's temples pulsed. He swept both arms wide and erupted with magic power at peak Sage level.
His rage had erased every warning the newcomer had given him about this woman — her mysterious strength, her unknown identity.
There was only one thought left in his head.
Kill.
Kill every last one of them.
Large fireballs merged into the fire bird's wings until they seemed to blot out the sky itself. Its eyes turned a solid, blazing red. Its mouth opened and it screamed.
But—
BANG!
Another white beam cut through the sky and slammed into the fire bird dead-on. Its entire body faltered, every process temporarily suspended. Standing beside Tang Yeye, Chunfeng went still, struck by what he was witnessing. He had no idea how Bai Fanxian had raised this girl to be so formidable.
Tang Yeye exhaled lightly. White cold air shot from the barrel's tip. She let her qi burst outward and channeled it into the rifle for another shot. The third white beam pierced through the fire bird's wing, tearing a wide gaping hole. Massive ice formed around the wound and kept spreading.
There was no questioning its penetrating power.
"Whew... it really wastes qi."
The little one grumbled. Fair enough. Each shot from this weapon required her to compress her qi and merge it with the specially forged bullets, making them capable of withstanding qi while also amplifying destructive force.
Each shot consumed over a fifth of Tang Yeye's total qi.
At most, she could fire five.
Or, if she needed more shots than that, she would have to sacrifice destructive power.
Fenex, having taken three of her bullets in a row, bit down hard. He swung toward that distant rooftop with furious eyes. His magic was being steadily drained by the fire bird's ongoing repairs. The creature flapped its wings and launched itself at the building at high speed.
"Shouldn't you go after him?"
Grandmaster Lu Qing grew visibly anxious. He was genuinely worried about that girl. Bai Fanxian's complete calm only made it worse.
"It's fine. That kid's been wanting to try it out for days now."
Bai Fanxian smiled faintly, her eyes fixed on her small disciple — whose own smile was just beginning to show.
"Then I'm going now, okay?"
"Hmm... where are you going?"
Marshal Zhang Xianyuan, who had just surged his qi in preparation for the fire bird charging toward them, was caught flat-footed. At that very moment, Tang Yeye did something no one expected.
She jumped down from the rooftop.
"Hey!"
Not just the elderly Marshal. Even Chunfeng could not move fast enough to stop her.
Tang Yeye, falling through open air, showed not a trace of fear on her face. Her eyes stayed fixed on the fire bird hurtling straight at her.
"Little Red... help me out, okay?"
"...Fine, fine."
WHOOSH!
The exchange had barely ended. Chunfeng and Marshal Zhang Xianyuan — gripping the balcony rail — were startled again when behind the falling girl, a red dragon about two meters in length materialized from empty air. It let Tang Yeye settle onto its back, then with a single wing beat sent a gust of wind slamming into their faces and shot upward into the sky at speeds that outpaced the fire bird entirely.
"..."
"Master told me to protect you only. I won't interfere, okay?"
The Dragon Queen — now just large enough for the child to ride through the air — spoke in a light, unhurried tone. She had only expanded her body a little. Her true form would have stripped the fire bird of every will to fight the moment it appeared.
"Got it!"
Tang Yeye had no fear either. She reached to both sides of her waist, where a pair of blue-and-white pistols — clearly a matching set with the sniper rifle — sat holstered. She pulled them out holding one in each hand.
"Let's name it... Twin Dragon Destruction Bullets of Frozen Slaughter!"
"..."
This kid has no naming sense either...
The Dragon Queen sighed. Freezing cold radiated from her back as two bullets packed tight with white qi fired in pairs, spiraling toward Fenex.
"Ha! It won't be that easy this time!"
Fenex cursed and fired two fire bullets to meet them. The collision sent a shockwave through both sides.
His eyes went wide as he actually took in her face. This child, who appeared under ten years old, had already injured him multiple times — something no one would believe if he told them.
"Hellfire Lance!"
Fenex swung one arm back. A brilliant red spear wrought from flame appeared in his palm, sharp and spinning. He gripped it and hurled it with full force, cutting straight across the Dragon Queen's flight path.
"Hyah!"
Tang Yeye gripped both pistols and channeled qi into the barrels, firing a rapid burst.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The bullets clashed with the fire spear — and in that same instant, Fenex's mouth curved. The fire bird covering him screamed, then spat a second identical spear straight at Tang Yeye before she could prepare.
BOOM!
A thunderous explosion tore open with thick smoke. From where Zhang Xianyuan stood, he could see that at the last possible instant, Tang Yeye had swung one barrel around and sprayed a stream of qi-packed bullets to intercept it in time.
When the smoke cleared, the image before them was this: the girl, still on the Dragon Queen's back. Uninjured. Not a scratch.
But that small body was gasping, swaying, her complexion draining pale.
"That kid's squeezed her qi past her limits...!"
Zhang Xianyuan had spent decades reading the tides of battle. Tang Yeye's condition — he could tell in an instant it came from forcing qi use beyond her limits.
"...Will she be okay?" Chunfeng's brow furrowed. Somewhere on his body a faint mechanical sound had started up — a sign he was ready to move the moment the child needed him.
"Hahaha... where did your earlier skill go, little brat? Looks like each bullet you shot from the start must've been pretty draining, huh?"
Fenex had seen it too. He laughed out loud. Neither the power nor the threat of her shots could match those first three bullets anymore. Even if he simply let them hit, they could no longer seriously injure his fire bird.
But at the same time, his hair stood on end. How old was this child? Her power and her qi reserves both still had so far to grow. If he crossed paths with her ten years from now — no, not even ten years — he would be the one looking up at her with no way to fight back.
"...Too dangerous."
Killing intent surged from Fenex's body. He could not allow such a formidable existence to keep growing. The decision to kill rose clearly in his mind. He swung both arms back, gathering two Hellfire Lances simultaneously — enough to end this child's life.
"Blame your innocence for not knowing your own limits, little brat!"
He hurled both flame-packed spears forward, hot enough to melt everything in their path. At full strength, Tang Yeye could have fired back and stopped them. But with her complexion this pale and her body trembling faintly — it was absolutely impossible.
"That kid's qi really ran out! You need to go help her!"
Grandmaster Lu Qing turned to Bai Fanxian, his voice tight with alarm. But her unwavering calm, even now, baffled him completely.
"Heh..."
What he got in return was a quiet sound of amusement. Bai Fanxian looked up toward the little one, whose face was beginning to show the faintest trace of a smile.
"...Qi ran out?"
"..."
"She's the Alchemy Empress's disciple."
"I'm the Alchemy Empress's disciple."
Bai Fanxian and Tang Yeye spoke at the same time.
Then she let out a quiet breath.
"...There's no way that's possible."
The moment those words fell, Tang Yeye pulled a pill from her pocket and pressed it between her teeth. Her small cheeks worked as she chewed, then swallowed. And then something unthinkable happened.
White light erupted upward like a pillar holding up the sky. It swallowed Tang Yeye and the Dragon Queen entirely. The two fire spears rocketing forward were deflected by the sheer force compressed in that space, scattering apart — and then brilliant light burst outward one final time.
"...I-impossible."
Marshal Zhang Xianyuan, who had been watching every development closely, went still. His lips trembled. He stared at the little one on the dragon's back in disbelief.
Because not only was she uninjured — every sign of qi exhaustion had vanished as though it had never existed. Her complexion was bright and ruddy. Tang Yeye stood on the Dragon Queen's back, both pistols raised with practiced ease, her signature mischievous smile already back in place.
"Not just fully recovering power..."
"What?" Chunfeng did not follow.
"...But that kid..."
"...Already broke through to Grandmaster level."