At that moment not only did Madam Liu realize that something was wrong with the girl in front of them but everyone else in the room realized it too.
Bai Lingling's smile stretched wider, her lips curving in a way that made their backs go cold.
She realized it instantly.
Her reputation of not being human had been completely exposed.
Her pupils narrowed into thin, sharp slits.
Her gaze turned so icy cold it didn't even belong to a human anymore.
"K-kill… kill her now!" Madam Liu screamed suddenly, her voice cracking as she stumbled back. She pointed at Bai Lingling with shaking fingers like she was pointing at a demon crawling out from hell.
"Aww, too bad," Bai Lingling said mockingly as she jumped to her feet. Long white whips made from her snake skin materialized in her hands, glowing faintly under the torchlight.
Before any of them could even move, she swung the whip.
Crack!
The nearest man flew across the room and slammed into the wall. Blood splattered instantly.
Another tried to run toward her with his staff glowing, but Bai Lingling twisted her wrist and the whip wrapped around his neck. One pull and his body hit the ground like a dropped sack.
They screamed.
They rushed at her.
They swung their staffs with all their strength.
They chanted spells and formations in panic, but nothing worked.
Bai Lingling's movements were too fast, too sharp, too wild. She spun through them like a real snake dancing through fire.
Whip to the leg.
Whip to the chest.
Whip to the jaw.
Bodies dropped one after another.
And even as they fell, half dead and coughing blood, they still dared to glare at her with that look of contempt as if she was beneath them.
"You filthy creature…" one of them spat before fainting.
"You dare raise a hand against us…" another wheezed before passing out.
"You are just a wretched…" someone whispered weakly, still trying to crawl away.
Bai Lingling didn't even blink.
Then the room shifted.
Madam Liu's face twisted in panic as two officials beside her grabbed her arms.
"T-the door! Open the door!" she shouted as they dragged her toward the exit.
The moment Bai Lingling saw that, she burst into laughter.
"You want to escape?" she said as she snapped her whip forward. The white coil wrapped around all three of them at once.
"You cannot."
She yanked the whip. All three of them flew backward and crashed onto the floor in a heap, screaming.
The two officials scrambled to get up but Bai Lingling didn't give them a chance. Her arm sliced through the air.
Crack! Crack!
Two heads rolled before their bodies even realized they were dead.
Madam Liu stared in horror, shaking uncontrollably. She tried to crawl back, pressing her palms against the bloody floor.
"D-don't come closer! You better let me go!" she cried out desperately. "If not the royal family will come for you! Do you hear me?! The royal family..."
Bai Lingling froze.
Royal family?
Meaning the people behind Madam Liu…
the ones who wanted her dead…
the ones who wanted the Phoenix Vein Fragment…
Her expression darkened instantly.
"Who exactly dared to send you in the royal family?" Bai Lingling asked, her voice sharp like she was speaking through fangs.
Madam Liu realized too late that she slipped.
"No one sent me! I don't know what you are talking about! I-I just-"
Bai Lingling didn't have the patience to listen to bad acting.
"Well," she said with a sigh, "I am still going to have your head."
Madam Liu's eyes widened.
"What-what are you-"
She never finished her sentence.
Bai Lingling's arm slashed sideways.
For a moment, the world froze.
Then Madam Liu's head hit the floor and rolled away as if the room itself rejected her existence.
Thick, terrifying silence fell over the cold room.
Bai Lingling stood there, panting.
Her whip dissolved back into nothing.
Then her knees buckled.
She dropped to the floor and spat out a large mouthful of blood, her vision blurring completely.
Her strength was almost gone.
Her body was still broken.
Her core felt like it was tearing apart.
But her eyes were steady.
Burning.
Alive.
She wiped the blood from her lips slowly.
"In this life," she whispered, voice shaking but firm, "anyone who dares to mess with me… will visit hell before I do."
...
The Phoenix vein fragment was an extremely rare item on earth. Anyone who possessed it would acquire extraordinary powers and benefits.
And the people who possessed it were called the Heavenly Phoenix Bearer. Only a few people in this world had the opportunity to acquire the Phoenix vein fragment and the original owner of this body was one of them.
The Phoenix vein fragment was left to the original owner of the body by her mother who passed a week a month ago after her husband died in battle.
Even though she was simply 16 years old, she was already giving a serious role such as a city overseer after the inheritance of her mother's Phoenix vein fragment making her the envy of everyone around her.
Unfortunately because her parents were rarely around to take care of her since such a young age, she was the constant target of bullying from her relatives.
She naturally became weak and malnourished, despite being known as miss her life was worse than that of a servant.
For now Bai Lingling had no idea who wanted her treasure so bad. But she knew that she escaped heaven cheating her, this time around faith wasn't going to repeat itself again.
Bai Lingling dragged herself and walked towards the door entrance when she saw the head of Madam Liu laying lifelessly, she let out a small weak laugh.
She remembered her so called fiancé had a close relationship with the royal princess, it's such a pity that the original owner of this body thought he really loved her but Bai Lingling wasn't naive at all.
She simply suspected that that so called princess had something to do with this Madam Liu.
"It would not be nice to come without a gift eh" Bai Lingling smile as she picked up Madam Liu's head by her hair and pushed open the door.
It did not take long till when Bai Lingling stepped heard hurried footsteps surrounding her.
"Miss!" "Little Miss are you there" "If you can hear us give us a sign!"
At first Bai Lingling frowned in confusion because it was clearly a group of men plus a female searching for her at this time of time of the night.
But then she realized that their voices seemed familiar and immediately searched her memory, that was when she realized that these people were some of the men her mother left for her before passing on.
Bai Lingling simply did not hesitate and walked towards the sound of her voice, the moment she got to where they were she could tell they all seemed to be worried and searching for the original owner of this body.
There were multiple men who looked like guards, plus a younger looking woman. They all had their backs turn towards her, so none of them really noticed since Bai Lingling had approached gently.
Till she spoke.
"I'm here"
"Ah!" "Who's there?!" "Who dares...?!" They all screamed reacting immediately as the turned their backs.
"Heh, that was funny" Bai Lingling let out a little laugh since that was the first time she had been entertained in a long time.