The group consisted of twelve people, including Xuanjian. They formed a circle and trapped Yuanqi inside.

Amidst the flashing swords and clashing blades, Yuan Qi's small figure swiftly weaved through the encirclement.

Xuanjian also realized that after fighting for so long, they hadn't even managed to touch a single piece of Yuan Qi's clothes.

Between fights, Yuan Qi made faces at them and yelled, "You're so stupid! How did you grow up to be this big?"

Xuanjian and the others were furious. They were all experts among Xiangli Lin's guards and rarely had any rivals. Now they couldn't even beat a little girl. It was utterly humiliating.

They were furious and enraged, so they attacked even more fiercely.

Yuan Qi sat on a dry tree branch not far away, watching and shaking his head with a sneer: "They're really stupid. The guards of the Xiangli family are nothing special."

Xuan Jian possessed profound inner strength. Hearing the mocking voices behind him, he turned around abruptly and saw another Yuan Qi leisurely watching the battle.

"How could there be two?" In the blink of an eye, he was stabbed in the chest. He looked at the two Yuan Qi in disbelief, then collapsed to the ground, dying with his eyes wide open.

The remaining eleven people were also stunned, and suddenly realized that the opponent's strength was far greater than they had thought.

"Kill her! Kill her!"

As soon as he finished speaking, "Yuan Qi," who was trapped in the middle, suddenly turned into a huge fireball and exploded with a "bang!" The eleven people around him were torn to pieces and died instantly.

"How boring, a bunch of good-for-nothings." Yuan Qi jumped down from the tree, took out a teleportation talisman, and instantly disappeared from the spot.

In just a few breaths, Yuan Qi appeared in an alley not far from the fortune-telling stall.

She strolled slowly toward the fortune-telling stall.

Zhang Liu's noodle stall had quite a few customers, and he spotted Yuan Qi, so he casually picked up a bowl of noodles.

Yuan Qi accepted it politely: "I told you I was fine. See, I'm back now."

Xiangli Mansion.

Xiangli Lin and Kong Qing had been waiting for Xuan Jian to return. He was supposed to be back by noon, but they waited until dark and still hadn't seen him.

Xiang Lilin lay on the bed, his body covered in sores, almost every inch of it was in good condition. He was very irritable and angrily yelled at Kong Qing: "Are you even capable? I've been treating you for days and my injuries haven't improved at all. If you're not good enough, then let your master do it."

Kong Qing was a middle-aged man in his forties or fifties, with a mustache, wearing a light blue Taoist robe, and holding a whisk in his hand. His expression was calm and his eyes were arrogant. He didn't care about Xiang Lilin's pain at all. He said with disdain, "Master told you before that this spell has a backlash, and you said it didn't matter. That's why Master helped you cast the spell on Xiang Liyouming. Why are you in such a hurry? This spell backlash isn't an illness. How can it get better so quickly? Just wait. Change the dressing every day and recite the spell a hundred times. Maybe it will get better in three to five months."

Xiang Lilin wished he could beat Kong Qing to death. Kong Qing, relying on his little bit of magic, didn't take him seriously. Today, it was clear that if he had just made a move, that little girl Yuan Qi would have been dead, but he refused to do so.

That's absolutely despicable.

Moreover, he wanted a lot of money; he was greedy, shameless, and cunning.

However, he is indeed quite capable. In the entire Rong Kingdom, apart from the Imperial Preceptor, his master is the most powerful. It's just unexpected that Yuan Qi broke the spell his master had set up.

He pounded the bed a few times: "What will it take for you to make a move?"

Just then, one of the guards who had been sent out to investigate why Xuanjian had not yet returned came in.

"Second Master, Xuanjian and the others all died on the mountain! They died a terrible death."

Kong Qing's first reaction was disbelief: "Tell me how you died."

The guard then described what he had seen: "Xuanjian was killed by a sword through the heart. The others looked like they had been blown up. Their bodies had burn marks, and their heads and limbs had been blown off. Body fragments were everywhere, attracting many predatory animals."

“I’ll go take a look. I’ve placed talismans on their weapons, making them dozens of times stronger than usual. This Yuan Qi has at most four or five years of cultivation; how could he possibly defeat them?”

He felt this was no small matter; he might have met a formidable opponent.

Yuan Qi only performed three divinations by nightfall that day, all of which were trivial matters not worth mentioning.

After she returned to the manor, Shenxun came to report.

At noon, Yuan Qi took advantage of a free moment and had the little paper doll send a message to Shen Xun, instructing him to keep watch at that cliff and see who would go there to investigate.

Shenxun was a bird, which made it very easy for him to evade human sight. He waited there until it was completely dark before he met a Taoist priest.

The Taoist priest examined the scene for a long time, very carefully, and even found some ashes from the burned paper figure.

Shen Xun witnessed the entire event and even followed Kong Qing back to Wuji Palace. Only after Kong Qing met with his master, Xuan Qing, did Shen Xun return.

Shen Xun told Yuan Qi everything she had seen.

"So it was Xuan Qing from Wuji Palace. No wonder."

Shen Xun didn't forget to remind her: "It is said that this Xuanqing Daoist is extremely skilled. He has already passed the Foundation Establishment stage and has lived in the world for more than two hundred years. He is a formidable and ruthless character. His senior brother is Xuanji, the current Imperial Preceptor. If the two of them join forces to deal with you, you will be in for a lot of trouble. You must be careful."

Yuan Qi wasn't afraid. To her, this was nothing. As powerful as it was, it wasn't to the point that she couldn't beat it.

...

After resting for a day, Li Huilin felt much better. Taking advantage of the maid's absence, she ran out of her room and limped towards Yuhua Pavilion.

This time she learned her lesson and made sure that Xiangli Mingzhu wasn't in Yuhua Pavilion before quietly pushing the door open and going in.

Jiang Juncai was practicing his martial arts cross-legged in the room. She didn't dare to disturb him when she went in, so she just stood there and waited.

Jiang Juncai noticed someone coming and stopped. When he saw Li Huilin, he didn't give her a friendly look: "I already agreed, what are you doing here?"

Li Huilin was very unhappy: "Since you've already agreed to it, why don't you go to the Li family to propose marriage? Are you trying to fool me?"

Jiang Juncai snorted: "My mother doesn't agree. I'll have to put in some effort to persuade her. Just wait patiently. Once I've convinced her, I'll go to the Li family to propose marriage immediately. I won't fool you."

Li Huilin found a place to sit down and reluctantly argued with him: "I think you're just fooling me. Look how badly I'm injured, and you don't even care. I've been waiting all day for you to come and see me. If you want to take me as a concubine, why don't you come and see me? If you did come and see me, your mother would naturally know that you have feelings for me, and maybe she would agree to our marriage. In the end, you still don't want to take me as a concubine."

Jiang Juncai lost his patience and suddenly became irritated: "I just don't want to, so what?"