Chapter 19: Why Are You Acting So Dumb?

“Bad luck, bad luck, bad luck, bad luck, bad luck!!”
Ling Qingli panted heavily, her throat wheezing like a bellows, her heart pounding in her chest.
She couldn’t fathom what she’d done to offend the heavens—why did life-threatening disasters keep piling on?

“Heh heh, little girl, stop obediently, and I swear I won’t hurt you.”
“Then stop chasing me!”
Ling Qingli didn’t slow down; if anything, she sped up.

Seeing her defiance, the Blood Soul Sect elder, Kang Bo, snorted coldly. His right hand shot forward, conjuring a massive blood-red claw.
The stench of blood was suffocatingly close. Ling Qingli whipped her head back, her double pupils locking onto the claw.
Hiss hiss hiss—
The blood claw disintegrated under her gaze, dissolving into ash.

“As expected of double pupils!”
Kang Bo’s eyes widened in shock, quickly replaced by fervent greed, determined to claim her.
“I’ve long heard double pupils counter control-type divine abilities. Today, I see the rumors are true.”

No longer chasing recklessly, Kang Bo formed hand seals, his blood-red spiritual energy surging, coalescing between his palms.
Scorch scorch scorch—
A corrosive sound rang out as the concentrated blood energy ignited, transforming into blood flames reeking of gore and charred rot.

With a fierce thrust of his arms, the blood flames erupted, forming a towering blood-fire wall that blocked the street, cutting off Ling Qingli’s escape.
Her path sealed, Ling Qingli halted, but before despair could set in, her double pupils activated, beginning to dismantle the fire wall.
It needed a moment, and Kang Bo, confident in his victory, had that moment to spare.

“Little girl, you should feel honored. I, Kang Bo, have taken a liking to your talent.”
He launched into a verbal assault:
“Not only will I spare you today, but I’ll let you join the Blood Soul Sect as our saintess. It’s a fantastic deal. You’d better think carefully.”

His generous offer was met with Ling Qingli’s sharp rejection:
“Bullsht! You’re all liars! What’s the Blood Soul Sect worth? I can cultivate without you!”

Her words thoroughly enraged Kang Bo. Double pupils or not, she was just a mortal without even Qi Refining.
“Arrogant!”

Faster than his words were Ling Qingli’s double pupils. The towering fire wall developed a rectangular gap, and she slipped through, escaping its confines.
“What? Double pupils can do that?”

Kang Bo was dumbfounded, feeling the helpless frustration of a maiden facing a thug.
He wouldn’t hold back anymore. Double pupils today, his doorstep tomorrow.

Clearing the fire wall, Ling Qingli felt her mind growing heavy but pushed on, cheering herself:
“Heh heh, double pupils, we’re awesome!”
No sooner had she spoken than a sea of blood appeared behind her, closing in, the shadow of death clearer than ever.

“…Huh?”
Just as despair loomed, at the edge of her vision, a familiar white figure burst into view.
It was that woman!

The infuriating woman who spanked her without warning and didn’t bother to stop her when she stormed off in a huff!
She sat leisurely on the only intact stool by an abandoned tea stall, her slender fingers holding a rough clay cup, untouched by the surrounding chaos.
She was simply there, sipping what was likely cold tea.

Seeing her again, Ling Qingli recalled her stumbling journey, and this woman hadn’t searched for her, hadn’t called out—just waited calmly.
Her nose stung. She was convinced this wretched woman had followed her, watching her make a fool of herself!

Launching a Don Quixote-style charge, Ling Qingli didn’t know if the woman would save her, but she had no choice—this was her only shot.
With her last ounce of strength, she staggered toward the white figure.

Bai Zhou slowly set down the clay cup, her molten gold eyes beneath the veil glancing indifferently, first at the disheveled Ling Qingli, then past her to Kang Bo, chasing with a torrent of bloodthirsty aura.
A faint, impatient tch slipped from behind the veil.
“Disturbing my peace.”

Kang Bo’s eyes were fixed on the double pupils, so close to his grasp—how could he let anyone interfere?
Noticing the white-robed woman seemed to know his target, his killing intent surged.
“Get lost! You’re courting death!”

He roared, his skeletal blood claw slashing through the air, a solid blood-ghost claw shrieking toward Bai Zhou’s face.
This strike held nothing back, a full-force Golden Core attack.
“It’s over…”
Ling Qingli squeezed her eyes shut.

But the expected clash and screams didn’t come. Bai Zhou didn’t even stand. She merely extended a single finger, delicate and seemingly powerless.
Her fingertip tapped lightly—not at the blood claw, but on a slanted wooden pillar of the tea stall.
Tap…
A nearly inaudible sound.

The next moment, that ordinary pillar’s interior, damaged in prior battles with faint spiritual energy lingering, was struck precisely at its weakest node.
Buzz—
The pillar’s negligible spiritual energy destabilized, erupting like a spark in a perfect powder keg.

Crack—Boom—
Starting from the pillar, the entire ramshackle tea stall collapsed, rotten planks, broken beams, and toppled furniture tumbling in a precise trajectory, forming a chaotic yet solid barrier right in Kang Bo’s path.
Bang—

Kang Bo crashed into the sudden junk pile. Uninjured but disheveled, his charge halted, his full-force strike neutralized inexplicably.
“What the hll is this?!”

Shocked and furious, he clawed through the debris, staring incredulously at the still-seated white-robed girl.
“Who are you, Senior? Why meddle in Blood Soul Sect affairs?!”

Kang Bo suppressed his rage, wary. That precise manipulation of spiritual energy was no ordinary cultivator’s feat.
Bai Zhou rose slowly, her veiled hat swaying, her cool voice cutting through:
“She’s my cub.”

Her tone was flat, without a ripple, yet carried an absolute certainty, stating a truth as natural as the sun rising in the east and setting in the west.
Ling Qingli froze, the words exploding like thunder in her ringing ears, her entire body locking up.

“You still standing there like an idiot?”
Hearing someone call, Ling Qingli instinctively looked up, meeting a helpless gaze.
“Get over here, or are you planning to go back to the Blood Soul Sect with him?”

Bai Zhou’s face screamed exasperation. She couldn’t fathom why this kid was suddenly acting so dumb, standing there with danger right behind her.
“…Oh.”

Ling Qingli obediently shuffled behind her, gazing at Bai Zhou’s back.
Bai Zhou’s eyes flicked to Kang Bo:
“As for you… scram now, and your Golden Core might see a few more days of sun.”