"No wonder a Fifth-Order Yang Fiend appeared out of nowhere. So that's how it is." Madam Boss gave a slight nod. "The Yang-Locking Land is no ordinary place for any force. Aren't you afraid that once the battle begins, you'll destroy this precious ground?"
Qi Jin's expression was grave. "If it can resolve our troubles once and for all, what is a mere Yang-Locking Land?" Though he said this, the pained look on his face was plainly visible — if a real battle broke out here, the Yang-Locking Land would be utterly ruined. For Golden Rainbow Province, that would be an enormous loss.
"So it seems you're dead set on killing me here."
"Is this madwoman not dead — how can any of us live in peace?" An elderly man standing to Qi Jin's left barked in a low voice. His hair and beard were entirely white, yet his complexion was ruddy. A vicious aura radiated from his body, as though he had fought his way out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood. He let out a cold snort. "At the Sixth-Order Open Heaven, you've already managed to bathe the Three Thousand Worlds in blood and pile up corpses everywhere. If you ever advance to the Seventh-Order, where would any of us find room to exist in this vast cosmos?"
Madam Boss gazed at the old man with cold eyes and said softly, "If I don't die today, the day will come when I flatten your Senluo Altar and slaughter every last member of your Ling Chunqiu clan!"
The elderly man called Ling Chunqiu's face changed. He actually took an involuntary step backward, clearly shaken by Madam Boss's imposing manner. But he quickly gritted his teeth. "Since we've come here today, don't even think about leaving alive!"
Madam Boss waved her sleeve, too lazy to waste more words with him. Her cold gaze fell on the final person — a stunningly beautiful woman who appeared to be in her late thirties or early forties. Her figure was graceful and seductive, her waist slender and supple, and her peach-blossom eyes were especially mesmerizing, brimming with an almost soul-stealing allure.
"Are you too going to make things difficult for me?" Madam Boss asked coolly.
The beautiful woman's gaze flickered. She stepped forward and dipped into a curtsy. "Greetings, Sister Lan!"
Madam Boss said, "So you still remember that you have an older sister. I thought you'd long forgotten."
The woman replied, "Sister, the kindness of your guidance back then is etched deep in my heart. I am grateful to my very core — how could I ever forget?"
"If you haven't forgotten, then how dare you come here?" Madam Boss said through gritted teeth. "If you withdraw now, I'll let it pass. But if you remain obstinate, don't blame me for forgetting the bond we once shared as sisters!"
The woman called Yue He slowly shook her head. "Sister Lan, though I am grateful for your mentorship back then, had you not been so stubbornly set on your own way… he would not have died. I've come today not entirely of my own will, but also to settle the matter of what happened back then. Please forgive me, Sister!"
Madam Boss stared at her deeply for a long while before finally nodding. "Very well. Since that's how you feel, I'll grant your wish. That way I'll stop feeling like I owe you something. But remember — in a life-and-death struggle, if you're careless enough to die at my hands, don't blame me on the road to the underworld!"
"Yue He wouldn't dare!" The woman bowed.
"Why waste so many words with her? Let's attack together and kill her!" Ling Chunqiu's body churned with sinister energy, his face twisted with killing intent, as though he wished nothing more than to hack Madam Boss into pieces right then and there. But he was only Fifth-Order after all, and facing a formidable existence of Madam Boss's fearsome renown, he couldn't help but feel a twinge of trepidation. This expedition was led primarily by Qi Jin, the champion of Golden Rainbow Province — until Qi Jin made his move, how could Ling Chunqiu dare to act rashly?
Qi Jin stepped forward, clasped his hands behind his back, and called out in a clear voice: "Madam Lan, regardless of who was right or wrong back then, countless disciples of my Golden Rainbow Province have died and suffered at your hands. Today, as their champion, I shall avenge them. If you know what's good for you, surrender quietly. If you dare resist, don't blame us for overwhelming you with numbers."
"You want me to surrender? Keep dreaming!" Madam Boss cried out with a sharp voice.
"Then so be it…" Qi Jin drew a deep breath, and suddenly his voice boomed like spring thunder: "Let battle commence!"
As the words fell, the phantom of a small universe world flashed behind him and vanished. Qi Jin threw a punch, and the aura of World Force surged outward. An enormous fist projection hurtled toward Madam Boss with devastating force.
And in the instant he struck, the prepared Ling Chunqiu and Yue He simultaneously summoned their Artifacts, raining them down upon Madam Boss in a furious barrage.
In a flash, the heaven and earth energy around Madam Boss became violently chaotic, and the void itself shuddered.
Yang Kai's entire body tensed. He had been racking his brain for an escape route even as Madam Boss exchanged words with those people, but in the face of an absolute disparity in strength, any scheme or stratagem was empty talk. He found himself utterly without a counter.
Three mid-order Open Heaven cultivators struck in unison. Yang Kai felt every hair on his skin stand on end as a tremendous sense of crisis enveloped him. Even though those attacks were not directed at him, the mere aftershock of such world-ending power could annihilate him on the spot.
In that critical moment, a gentle force wrapped around him and flung him outward in an instant. Yang Kai knew immediately that Madam Boss had shielded him in this desperate hour. His vision blurred with rapid motion, and when it settled, he was dozens of li away.
He looked back, and the sight nearly tore his eyes apart. The area where Madam Boss stood was already engulfed within an enormous sphere of blinding light. Inside that radiance, violent power raged wildly, and Madam Boss's figure was completely invisible.
Fighting three against one, she was already at an absolute disadvantage. And at this moment of mortal peril, she had still divided a fraction of her strength to protect him. How could she possibly contend with such terrifying attacks?
The light faded quickly, and a white figure stood tall in the void. Yang Kai could clearly see a thread of blood trickling from the corner of Madam Boss's lips. That crimson stain pierced his eyes like a sharp knife plunged into his heart, making him clench his fists until they trembled.