Outside the grand formation of Longyin Village.
Kuang Lei stood at the village entrance, leading hundreds of disciples. The great formation shimmered with radiant light, barring their path.
Jiang Shengxiang came rushing over in haste.
Seeing him in the distance, Kuang Lei raised his voice and shouted, "Where is Zhou Shengqian? That cowardly wretch—does he not dare come out and face me?"
Jiang Shengxiang called back loudly, "Elder Kuang, have you prepared to surrender the Mingxia Sect to us?"
"What? Such arrogant nonsense!" Kuang Lei flew into a fury, his aura erupting like a tidal wave. Even the breath he exhaled seemed capable of burning a man to death.
But Jiang Shengxiang only chuckled lightly. "Elder Kuang, I heard Mingxia Sect has thirty-two mountain peaks. Even before Youyan Sect devours you, you cannot wait to hand your land over to us so eagerly?"
With a roar of anger, Kuang Lei raised his massive blade and slashed toward the void. The arc of blade-light flashed with unstoppable force, carving open a gaping fissure across the ground.
Jiang Shengxiang stroked his beard with a mocking smile. "One slash, Elder Kuang, yet you cannot even shake the formation."
A passing villager glanced their way, laughed, and shook his head. "Another challenger, is it? How weak!" He hefted his hoe back onto his shoulder and left without concern.
Jiang Shengxiang smiled but said nothing more.
These intruders were far stronger than those before, but he had no intention of alarming the villagers. In the end, Fairy Yao Ranran would resolve it all.
Whether the enemy was strong or weak, whether they were elders or disciples of some sect, it did not matter in the slightest. If Jiang Shengxiang's words had already enraged Kuang Lei, the casual disdain of the passing villagers became the ultimate humiliation.
Grinding his teeth, he poured every ounce of strength into his blade.
"Just a mere third-grade formation. Watch carefully how this elder carves a rift into the heavens above your heads!"
His long blade turned pitch-black, eerie blood mist coiling around his arms and wrapping itself about the tip of the weapon. The energy condensed into a blood python's triangular head, fanged and bristling with malice.
The creature opened its gaping maw as the strike fell, shaking even the earth itself.
Kuang Lei's lips curled in arrogance.
This slash carried seventy percent of his full power. Even if it could not destroy the formation completely, it should at least shatter its surface like glass, leaving deep cracks across it.
Jiang Shengxiang did not move. He only smiled faintly, stroking his beard as he looked up at Kuang Lei's prideful face.
A few villagers nearby sensed something different about this challenger and stopped to watch, curious.
A bloody glint flashed across Kuang Lei's eyes. "All of you… die!"
The blood python's head enlarged in an instant, its massive jaws threatening to swallow the village whole. But before it could descend, a cool streak of spiritual light cut through the air.
The python's maw faltered mid-bite, its eyes flickering in confusion before its entire body evaporated into mist. The blood spray dissolved into crimson rain, drenching the disciples of Mingxia Sect until they looked like blood-drenched wretches.
The villagers blinked in surprise, then burst out into raucous laughter.
"Hahaha! So that's what he wanted us to watch?"
"He's entertaining, I'll give him that. Honestly, even that Qi Refinement cultivator who came yesterday looked stronger than this one. But no one has ever talked as big as him!"
"Come on, nothing worth watching here. He's probably not even a real cultivator—maybe just a trickster who knows a few parlor illusions. Not worth our time."
"Right. My cow is about to give birth. Better to watch that than waste another moment here."
The villagers greeted Jiang Shengxiang in passing and went on their way. Jiang Shengxiang forced his legs not to tremble, wearing an air of calm while his heart pounded.
He thought wryly, "Heaven help me!"
He had actually dared to taunt a Jīndān Zhēnrén to his face. In all eighteen generations of the Jiang family, surely he was the boldest fool of them all!
Kuang Lei, meanwhile, was stunned to hear such mocking laughter. Adignified Golden Core elder, ridiculed by mere mortals as if he were nothing more than a street performer!
Why had his attack not struck the formation? That old village chief could not possibly have blocked it. Someone must have intervened.
Could there be a hidden supreme expert within Longyin Village?
The thought made Kuang Lei forget all pride, panic rising as he considered fleeing underground.
Jiang Shengxiang suddenly bowed low and called out obsequiously, "Fairy Ranran, this is Elder Kuang Lei of Mingxia Sect!"
From behind the barrier, Yao Ranran stepped out, her purple skirt fluttering.
Kuang Lei, preparing to flee, caught sight of her face. His breath stalled. First struck by her beauty, he then blurted out in disbelief, "Qi Refinement tenth layer?"
"That's right, she's at the tenth layer of Qi Refinement!" Xiao Rong jumped out proudly, hands on hips.
Kuang Lei's expression twisted. Was that something to boast about?
No—something was wrong!
"Was it you who just acted?"
His gaze locked onto Yao Ranran. Her presence, the respect Jiang Shengxiang showed her, and that flash of spiritual light all pointed to the truth. This woman was not ordinary.
Yao Ranran admitted calmly, "Yes. It was I who blocked your strike."
"Lies! With only the tenth layer of Qi Refinement, how could you possibly stop me?" Kuang Lei roared in fury.
He might be simple-minded, but he was no fool.
Yao Ranran tilted her head, as if explaining something trivial. "First I did this, then I did that, then finally I did this again—and the attack was blocked."
Kuang Lei: Listening to her words is like gaining profound enlightenment!
"Nonsense! Who is the one behind you? Which Daoyou hides in the shadows, too afraid to show themselves?"
"What? Someone's hiding behind me?" Yao Ranran jolted, turning to look over her shoulder, patting herself down in search of anything attached to her. After confirming nothing was there, she huffed angrily. "Daoyou, don't spout ghost stories for no reason!"
Kuang Lei blurted, "Sorry—sorry my ass! I didn't tell you any ghost stories!"
His face flushed red. In front of so many people, this little girl had him dancing on her strings!
If not for her round and lovely face, those clear, bottomless eyes, and her air of purity like a snow lotus atop a sacred mountain, he would never have endured this humiliation.
"Then why did you say someone was behind me?"
That was exactly the kind of scare you saw in ghost tales!
Yao Ranran glared at him, thoroughly displeased. "Demon cultivators always lied!"
Normally, Kuang Lei would have erupted in curses.
But the moment her eyes met his, brimming with a mix of annoyance and innocence, the anger inside him dissolved. It felt as if he truly were at fault.
How could he deceive such a pure and holy girl?
"Elder Kuang? Elder Kuang?"
His disciples, seeing him silent, called out cautiously.
Kuang Lei jolted as if waking from a trance. His pupils shrank violently. "What just happened to me?"
"Leave this place, and I will pursue the matter no further."
Yao Ranran's voice was calm, her expression composed. She no longer wasted time on him.