Chapter 811: I'll Take On Ten
At a petite 1.52 meters, Lin Qingqing had the delicate stature of a doll. Her love for all things beautiful compelled her to wear a light purple princess dress, a rather impractical choice for a trip deep into the Qinling Mountains.
Her legs, impossibly slender and fair like something out of an anime, were sheathed in pleated, knee-high white stockings. A pair of simple black flats adorned her small feet.
Her face was especially youthful and pretty, small enough to cup in one's palm, dominated by a pair of eyes that shone with pristine clarity and an endearing innocence.
If she were carrying a schoolbag, she could easily pass for a primary school student. In truth, she was an adult, a prospective university student who had conquered the grueling college entrance exams and was set to begin her first year in September.
At this moment, facing down Qin Erhu and his gang of tattooed thugs, Lin Qingqing was doing her utmost to project an air of seriousness and authority. But with her cherubic, doll-like features, what kind of threat could she possibly pose?
Qin Erhu and his men simply stared, their eyes wide and hungry. They had never seen a girl as exquisitely beautiful as Lin Qingqing. In a place like the Qin Family Village, even with the constant flow of travelers, none could hold a candle to her.
In an instant, the young woman they had been harassing just moments before was all but forgotten. While she was attractive enough, she paled completely in comparison to this newcomer.
Seeing that her "mighty" presence had failed to intimidate the thugs in the slightest, Lin Qingqing huffed in annoyance. She struck a classic pose straight out of an Ip Man movie, crooked her finger, and declared with all the bravado she could muster:
"Come on! I'll take on ten of you!"
"Pfft…"
The moment the words left her lips, it wasn't just Qin Erhu and his thugs who broke. Even the young couple cowering behind Lin Qingqing couldn't stifle a burst of laughter. The atmosphere was undeniably tense, but Lin Qingqing's antics were just too… foolishly adorable. No, just too cute.
Even Chen Yuhua, watching from a distance with her hands clasped behind her back, couldn't help but shake her head with a faint smile.
"Brother Hu, isn't this little beauty just… wow?" a yellow-haired thug marveled, practically drooling. His triangular eyes were glued to Lin Qingqing's small face, utterly transfixed.
Qin Erhu licked his lips, a predatory grin spreading across his face as he leered at Lin Qingqing.
"Little beauty, how about this? You agree to keep us brothers company, and I'll let this young couple go. What do you say?"
Hearing this, the faces of the young couple under Lin Qingqing's protection changed drastically. The young man immediately stepped forward.
"Little sister, you need to leave, now! I'll hold them off. Wenwen, you two go, quickly!"
As he spoke, the young man gritted his teeth and, steeling himself, charged toward Qin Erhu and his group.
"Heh, he's got a death wish," a thug sneered. They had all trained under Brother Hu; in their own minds, they were practitioners of the martial arts.
Before Qin Erhu even needed to give an order, this thug raised his leg, aiming a powerful kick at the young man's abdomen. The kick was launched with vicious force, enough to rupture his intestines on impact.
The young man's face went pale with terror. He wanted to dodge, but his body simply couldn't react in time.
Fortunately, at that critical moment, Lin Qingqing finally moved.
She let out a sharp, delicate cry as her small, rosy fist shot out, connecting squarely with the thug's calf.
CRACK!
A crisp snap echoed through the air. The thug's calf bone fractured instantly. A tremendous force surged up his leg, sending his entire body spinning like a top. His feet lifted from the ground as inertia took over. After several full rotations, he crashed to the ground with a heavy thud.
"Ah! Ah! AHHHH!" The thug clutched his mangled calf, rolling on the ground and wailing in agony. His face was ashen, drenched in a cold sweat from the blinding pain.
"What the… she actually crippled Yellow Hair with one punch?" Qin Erhu and the other thugs were utterly shocked.
They knew Yellow Hair's strength. While he was no master, he had trained; he could kill a bull with his bare hands without much trouble. And now, he had been taken down by a single punch from a 1.5-meter-tall loli?
The young couple also froze, their eyes wide with disbelief.
They had initially thought Lin Qingqing was just a well-meaning girl acting on a sense of justice, rushing in to save them without thinking of the consequences. They never imagined she possessed such terrifying strength; she was a true hidden expert.
The residents of Qin Family Village and the other travelers, who had been craning their necks to watch the drama unfold, began to marvel and discuss the scene in animated whispers.
"That little girl can't be more than twenty, yet her strength is already approaching that of a Martial Arts Grandmaster. I wonder which family she belongs to?"
This scene also unfolded before the eyes of Shen Anyu, Liu Ruyan, and Zhong Lingyin, who had just arrived in the Qin Family Village and were preparing to venture into the mountains.
Liu Ruyan and Zhong Lingyin, however, were well-prepared for the expedition. Knowing they were heading deep into the Qinling Mountains to find Murong Jieyu, they had both donned form-fitting combat attire. The outfits accentuated their graceful figures, revealing curves as distinct and beautiful as the rolling, distant mountains.
In the eyes of Liu Ruyan, who had already reached the Celestial realm, Lin Qingqing's performance was astonishing.
After all, to be on the cusp of the Martial Arts Grandmaster realm before the age of twenty was the true mark of a genius. To possess such strength at such a young age meant she undoubtedly had a powerful background. For a cultivator on the Immortal Dao path, one's journey began at the Xiantian realm. Lin Qingqing's pure, untainted aura only made her seem more extraordinary.
"Perhaps a renowned master has produced an outstanding disciple…" Shen Anyu said with a faint smile, nodding from a distance toward Chen Yuhua.
Out of respect for her long-time best friend, Yu Guannan, Chen Yuhua gave a slight, almost imperceptible nod in return.
However, the sight of the two stunning beauties flanking Shen Anyu, their relationship clearly intimate, caused Chen Yuhua's delicate brows to furrow slightly.
Back at the Tianshi Sect, Chen Yuhua had already seen several beauties orbiting Shen Anyu, including An Zhiyue, Ji Xiaolin, and Yu Guannan herself.
'This Shen fellow seems to be quite the philanderer,' she thought, a cold glint in her eyes. 'Does Guannan know about this?'
Chen Yuhua pondered the situation. If Yu Guannan was unaware and was being deceived by this scoundrel, she would most certainly help her best friend exact revenge. But if Yu Guannan knew and was tacitly accepting it, then Chen Yuhua had no desire to meddle in their domestic affairs.
After all, as the Rinyue Celestial Venerable who had witnessed the vicissitudes of life in her previous incarnation, Chen Yuhua knew that such matters of the heart were the most troublesome to resolve.
It was like the mortal tale of a husband abusing his wife. If a brave soul intervened and beat the husband, they would often find themselves being scratched and cursed at by the very wife they were trying to help, who might even call the authorities on them.
If Yu Guannan had willingly consented to sharing a man with other women, loving him with all her heart, then if Chen Yuhua were to step in and beat Shen Anyu, she would only earn Yu Guannan's resentment. Their friendship might not even survive.
'Still,' she resolved silently, 'with me here, no one will ever be able to bully Guannan in this life. I will ensure her lifelong happiness and well-being.'
Chen Yuhua stood with her hands clasped behind her back. This was her silent promise—an unspoken oath from a Celestial Venerable that not even the collapse of the heavens and earth could break.
Forget Yanxia's Shen Clan; even a background a hundred times greater meant nothing in her eyes.
She had already given Yu Guannan a protective jade pendant, one she had personally selected from the finest quality jade and carved herself, inscribing it with several protective and warning spells. If Yu Guannan were to encounter even the slightest mishap, Chen Yuhua would know instantly.
A single flare from that cloud-piercing pendant, and she would cross thousands of mountains and rivers to come to the rescue.
However, Chen Yuhua could not have foreseen that, years later, she herself would be bullied by Shen Anyu to the point of teary-eyed dishevelment, forced to line up with her own junior disciple, and even have to beg Yu Guannan for help. In that moment, where would the slightest hint of a Celestial Venerable's might be found?
For now, she buried the matter of her best friend deep in her heart, planning to ask about it later. Chen Yuhua's gaze returned to the scene before her, falling upon her junior disciple, Lin Qingqing.
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