"Fanxian! Fanxian!"
Amid the chaos, Song Xinyao grabbed her and shook her hard, trying to bring her back. Bai Fanxian, too stunned to move, slowly came back to herself. She looked around and forced herself to stay calm.
"...It's okay."
Losing her treasures to the fire hurt. But they had survived worse before. Things could be replaced. Shelter could be found again.
But those things were filled with important memories...
Bai Fanxian bit her lip. She needed to understand what had caused something this crazy.
"Oh! There are two girls here too."
Through the fading smoke, four or five burly men walked in. They were all cultivators at Martial Master level or higher. The one who looked like their leader was at Grandmaster level. The crimson energy still clinging to him made it clear who had done this.
"...Don't let anyone survive."
The leader spoke coldly. He looked toward the two girls still on the ground and raised his hand. A fire spear formed from condensed qi and shot across the street at them without mercy.
An attack like this, for the Bai Fanxian of today, wouldn't merit a second glance. Even ten times more intense, and a single thought from her would be enough to crush it — along with those five men — into nothing.
But that wasn't this Bai Fanxian, whose cultivation had barely passed Martial Artist level.
If hit by this attack, she'd be gravely injured if not dead. Song Xinyao's eyes went wide. She pulled Bai Fanxian into her arms, putting her own back between the girl and the attack.
*THWACK!*
But before the attack arrived, Atao, thrown by the explosion earlier, came running back and shoved both girls out of its path.
Which meant he had no way to dodge it himself.
"AAARGH!!"
The body that had just reached young adulthood writhed on the ground. For him, those flames were no different from hellfire. Atao screamed until his voice went hoarse from torment.
"Atao!"
Song Xinyao was crying, desperate to go to him. But the look in his eyes told her to run. She gritted her teeth. She turned toward the burly men, who were watching all of this as if it were perfectly ordinary, with pure hatred.
"You can't do this! The Guards won't let it go!"
Right — because normally the Guards wouldn't get involved with small problems in the city like children's petty theft. But this was different. These five had openly burned buildings and attacked residents. Even harming many city residents. That couldn't be ignored!
"Guards... hah... hahaha!"
One of the subordinates, barely Martial Master level, burst out laughing crazily. As if her words were the funniest thing they'd ever heard.
"He says that. What should we do, Mister Guard?"
"..."
On the roof of the building directly across from the ongoing events, a man in an all-black robe stood looking down, expression utterly indifferent. A golden symbol hung at his waist, the clearest mark of authority.
"Guard... why?"
Song Xinyao trembled all over, not understanding. Wasn't the Guard supposed to come stop these cultivator thugs' actions? Why was he just standing there?
"...Hurry and finish up. Soon it'll be big trouble."
The voice carried on the wind, the pressure behind it marking him as at least Sage level. He gave his order and faded from view without a trace.
As if he'd never been here.
"As you command... big brother."
The five burly men showed vicious smiles. Their gazes were like wild beasts, full of hunger as they looked at the two children who were their prey.
"What a shame. They'd fetch a good price."
"Can't help it. Once we're paid and leave this city, we can buy a few beauties."
They joked among themselves while walking straight in. Bai Fanxian trembled and accidentally gripped Song Xinyao's clothes tight.
"Why... why?"
Even Song Xinyao herself knew well there was no way to survive in this situation anymore. Those five Martial Master cultivators were more than enough to "eliminate" two unimportant girls.
"You have to blame yourselves for standing out too much..."
One of the burly men sighed as if feeling regret. But his words made another in the group glare at him in displeasure.
"Don't talk so much."
"What's it matter! Consider it helping relieve these two little girls' frustrations before death!"
They came to a stop in front of them. From where the girls sat on the ground, they loomed like five giant demons. Song Xinyao pulled Bai Fanxian close, shielding her from the sight.
"...Those high-level people are really too arrogant."
"Hey, if anyone hears, it'll be trouble."
"Isn't it true? They just can't accept that their own pills can't match cheap ones from the slums, so they ordered us to wipe everyone out."
After letting his subordinates talk nonsense for a while, finally the cold leader opened his mouth to speak something shocking.
"At first they could still tolerate it... but when that 'Grade Two' came out, even royalty couldn't stand it anymore."
*CRACK!*
As if a huge lightning bolt struck through Bai Fanxian's heart.
...Don't tell me?
The root cause of all this craziness happened because of her elixirs?
Song Xinyao felt something change in the girl she was holding. Bai Fanxian's eyes went distant, as if she had left her body. Her lips were moving, forming words no one could make out.
"Heh! Typical upper class. Won't dirty their own hands..."
Even though their mouths were criticizing others, the original intent hadn't changed. They raised their hands high, meaning to finish eliminating these two children's lives.
"Sorry, little girls."
"...Either way, today you have to disappear."
*THWACK!*
But before the crimson flames could be released, behind them appeared a large wooden beam from the collapsed building debris thrown at high speed. Two people who couldn't dodge in time were struck and sent flying. But the group leader who was at Grandmaster level — how could he be injured?
When they stabilized, they found a young man standing before the two girls, panting heavily, his body swaying.
"Haoyang!?"
It was Song Xinyao who shouted the name of the man appearing in the critical moment. The name snapped Bai Fanxian back. She pulled away from her sister's embrace and found the young man, covered in wounds, smiling at her.
"Really glad you're both safe..."
Besides Haoyang, from the building's side also appeared a group of six or seven more young men moving around carefully. They were all the orphan children who had gone to work outside.
"Why did you..."
Before Song Xinyao could finish, Haoyang cut her off, face serious.
"Take Fanxian and run."
This was what made them return and gather here after being hunted and swept in the morning — worry for the two sisters who should still be here.
"We'll stall as long as possible... you two hurry... ah!?"
"..."
Like the same scene repeating. But this time it was Song Xinyao who cut the scene short. She pushed Bai Fanxian's small and frail body into Haoyang's embrace.
"Not me... but you."
After sending her younger sister out, Song Xinyao exhaled in relief and smiled.
"I'm leaving Fanxian to you."
Even though she said that, she didn't move from the original spot.
Because wooden shrapnel had lodged in her right leg, and blood was flowing!
She'd been sitting the whole time with Bai Fanxian blocking the view, so no one had noticed — and that was part of why she couldn't escape the earlier attack.
But the most important reason was that Bai Fanxian was still there.
"...Xinyao?"
Bai Fanxian's eyes went wide. She tried to reach out her small hand toward her sister.
But —
"Go!"
Song Xinyao didn't take her hand.
She didn't look at her. She turned back to face those five burly men who were starting to stabilize. The leader was in the worst mood. Flames were surging from the palm he raised above his head, growing larger, more dangerous by the second.
"...Understood."
Bai Fanxian could hear Haoyang's teeth grind. In the next instant he poured everything into his legs and burst through the encirclement, carrying her, while the other orphan children threw themselves at the attackers to buy them time.
This was the only thing he could do. Especially when hearing Bai Fanxian's voice crying for her sister beside his ear, no matter how strong he'd grown up, Haoyang couldn't hold back a man's tears anymore...
"Sister Xinyao!"
Bai Fanxian couldn't do anything. The last thing she saw before she lost consciousness was Song Xinyao turning back, surprised, a faint smile at the corner of her mouth.
It was the first time she'd ever heard Bai Fanxian call her that.
Before the crimson flame explosion swallowed everything up completely...