Nine days later.
A verdant mountain valley. A slender waterfall cascaded down like a ribbon of shimmering silk.
The waterfall's waters splashed into an ancient pool, deep and jade-dark, its surface rippling gently.
Colorful carp swam lazily through the water.
Upon a white rock at the pool's edge, Feng Jinhuang sat cross-legged, eyes tightly shut.
Her delicate, radiant beauty was reflected in the water, lending the ancient pool a sudden wealth of captivating charm. The carp in the water, the crystal-clear pool, the silver waterfall, and the green valley all became mere backdrop.
Yet Feng Jinhuang's lovely brow furrowed deeper and deeper.
Despite her best efforts to calm her mind and steady her breathing, she could never last more than thirty breaths before a scene flashed up from the deepest recesses of her heart— A hallucinatory peak of pink crystal. A naked man, gazing down at her with dark, fathomless eyes.
And she—clinging to the cliff's edge, looking up, having seen every last inch of that man's body!
The bloodied hole in his left arm, still trickling blood. His solid muscles. His broad chest. And the massive thing between his legs… It was as if it had been carved into the depths of her soul.
The memory was so indelible that this heaven-blessed prodigy simply could not forget it no matter how hard she tried.
And then—this man had slowly, almost languidly, extended his right foot and stepped on her face!!
The sensation of being stepped on—how desperately Feng Jinhuang wanted to erase it, yet the feeling was searingly vivid, so clear that even now she could recall every detail of it.
"Forget him. Forget it! Calm down. Calm… calm down, steady your breath…" Feng Jinhuang's breathing grew more and more ragged.
Her nostrils flared, her full chest heaving with increasingly pronounced rises and falls.
Inside her heart, shame, humiliation, and hatred intertwined to form a volcano.
"How dare he? How dare he do this to me?! Aaargh—!" Feng Jinhuang could contain herself no longer. Her phoenix eyes snapped open, her body shot upright, and she threw back her head in a long, piercing howl.
BOOM!
The volcano inside her erupted. Rage flooded her chest, nearly melting her whole body with its heat!
"You despicable, shameless, contemptible wretch—you dare step on my face?! I'll tear you to pieces!!!" Feng Jinhuang roared. Fire blazed from her eyes as her fists and palms struck out wildly.
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM…
Deafening booms rang out like rolling thunder, erupting one after another in relentless succession.
Feng Jinhuang's eyes spewed flame. Dazzling fire evaporated the ancient pool, scorched the green mountains. Her fists and palms flailed in wild, frenzied attacks, sending sand and stone flying in every direction, splitting mountains and cracking the very earth!
In barely a handful of breaths, Feng Jinhuang had utterly destroyed this valley. This terrifying combat power was such that even ten Fang Yuans attacking together could not match it.
"Ahhhhhhh!"
"You damned bastard!!!"
"I'll flay your flesh from your body one strip at a time! I'll grind your bones to dust one by one! I'll make you writhe in agony for seven days and seven nights!"
"I swear, I'll make you suffer endless torment. I'll make your life worse than death. I'll make you regret every single thing you ever did to me. And in the end, I'll burn you to ash and scatter your remains to the wind!"
Feng Jinhuang's roars continued without pause. The fury in her chest had robbed her of all reason.
Hundreds of miles away, atop a tall peak, a thatched cottage had been erected.
Through the cottage's window, a pair of beautiful eyes watched Feng Jinhuang from afar, filled with worry.
"Sigh, my little Feng'er…" The owner of those eyes wore pure white silk robes and a pale green sash, her bearing elegant and noble. Her features bore a seventy to eighty percent resemblance to Feng Jinhuang's.
She was Feng Jinhuang's own mother—Fairy Bai Qing, a Sixth Transformation Gu Immortal!
"Stop watching already. In the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, you've looked seven or eight times. The Green Sea Rising Tide Tea I carefully brewed for you is going cold. Come, sit down and drink." Feng Jiuge sat nearby, speaking with helpless exasperation.
"Drink, drink, drink—all you care about is your tea. Is Feng Jinhuang or is she not your daughter? You, her father—not an ounce of worry?" Bai Qing turned around, brow tightly knit, her tone laced with reproach.
"Sigh, our little Feng'er has been fierce and competitive since she was small. Talent, temperament—she excels at everything. She's never once failed to take first place in any sect competition. Now she's suddenly stumbled. The Fox Immortal's inheritance is the first failure of her life, and the most devastating one at that. And you, her father, are still in the mood to sit here drinking tea?"
"What's more—even if the failure were one thing, Feng'er also suffered an enormous humiliation! She was literally stepped on! Just think—Feng'er's pride is legendary. She's never deigned to look at any boy her age twice. And now she's been defeated by having someone step on her face! And—and on top of that, it was the first time she'd ever seen a boy's body. This… this…"