"Uwaaah!"
Jade, Aventurine, and Topaz felt their eyes bulge as they gasped wildly for air.
Their expressions were dazed; they couldn't even determine whether only a single breath had passed—or several Amber Eras had slipped by.
"Y-you… what are you?!"
They rapidly backed away until their spines hit the wall.
If this deceptively cute little monster truly went feral, even if they drained Diamond's power dry, they would never be able to stop her!
Where did such a terrifying powerhouse come from? And with such a misleading appearance!
Jade was drowning in regret.
She had misunderstood everything from the start.
Feixiao wasn't improvising—she had clearly planned this long ago!
Just one wave of aura had crushed them into helplessness. Finding a child like this was definitely not something that could be done on short notice!
Jingliu turned her head and said to them coldly, "Silence is golden. Say less—I don't feel like dealing with you."
Then she faced away from the three IPC members and shot Feixiao a resentful look.
Next time, you handle it.
If Jade's condescending "talking to a child" attitude hadn't irritated her, Jingliu wouldn't have intervened at all.
Feixiao's ears twitched, her mood clearly delighted.
She nodded back at Jingliu, assuring her not to worry.
She hadn't wanted things to escalate to this point either, but when someone picked a fight, she had to respond.
More importantly, the Interastral Peace Corporation needed a lesson—a reminder to behave themselves on Yaoqing.
These merchants were never satisfied with simply reaping profit from the Denizens of Abundance planets Feixiao conquered; their infiltration of Yaoqing had never stopped.
This was far more irritating than the Alchemy Commission's rebellion on Luofu.
Jing Yuan could stir the waters, lure out the enemy, and cut them down.
But Feixiao had a harder time. These people waved their "ally" status while lobbying all over Yaoqing. If left unchecked, trouble was inevitable.
If the Interastral Peace Corporation one day truly managed to buy off one of the Six Charioteers, then staged an "independence vote," and finally sailed the entire Yaoqing Xianzhou over to the Interastral Peace Corporation's side—well, it wasn't impossible!
Support a proxy, fracture the other faction internally, then control them through a puppet regime.
This wasn't coincidence; it was the Interastral Peace Corporation's usual strategy!
Though Yaoqing hadn't reached that stage, it was time to draw a clear line and force the Interastral Peace Corporation to stop overstepping.
Feixiao had long wanted to make an example—but she hadn't found a suitable "chicken" to kill in front of the "monkey."
Something this serious required a chicken king to warn the monkey king.
And today, she just happened to encounter three of the Ten Stonehearts.
Could there possibly be a better target for establishing authority?
Thus, Feixiao's earlier smile toward them had been entirely sincere.
If you want to sleep, a pillow comes right to you.
She needed a Interastral Peace Corporation representative with enough weight to serve as a target.
And these three… well, they'd practically gifted themselves to her!
After exchanging a look, Jade, Aventurine, and Topaz silently returned to the resting area.
They stared at Feixiao wordlessly. Jade, positioned in the middle, stood slightly higher in rank.
After a long moment, she rubbed her temples and spoke with difficulty: "General Feixiao, you win this time. We indeed underestimated the strategic depth of a general."
"However, using a master of unusual stature to exploit our unpreparedness will only work once. Next time, the Interastral Peace Corporation will return the favor."
Feixiao merely chuckled and shook her head. "You still don't understand what you actually lost to."
Jade's brows furrowed—Feixiao's attitude confused her, but it also stung faintly with humiliation.
"Vanquishing General, we already conceded. Must you humiliate us further?"
Aventurine and Topaz stared at Feixiao as well. Clearly, they shared Jade's interpretation.
Everything was obvious, wasn't it? Feixiao was simply taking advantage of victory and rubbing salt into the wound—common behavior in business.
The three had completely misunderstood Feixiao.
Watching from behind the counter, Sylvester shook his head softly.
He knew Feixiao hadn't used some elaborate scheme. On the contrary, the Interastral Peace Corporation trio didn't actually know much less than Feixiao did.
But they had ignored a possibility—one of them had even witnessed the origins of that possibility.
He chuckled. "Weakness and ignorance are not barriers to survival. Arrogance is."
"Mm?"
Sylvester's words snapped their attention toward him.
They turned and protested, "Shopkeeper Sylvester, let's speak plainly. The truth is clear. A powerful unknown figure manipulated us. No matter how cautious we might have been, the advantage from missing information was impossible to overcome, wasn't it?"
They felt justified in their defeat—and wanted to defend themselves.
But to their surprise, Sylvester's first words actually agreed with them.
"Correct! Information disparity can determine victory!"
"Then you…" Jade's confusion deepened. Why criticize us for arrogance then?
Before she could finish, Sylvester gave the answer.
"Because the information disparity wasn't nearly as big as you think!"
"And this situation didn't have to happen in the first place."
His tone softened. "You picked a fight with Feixiao because she 'cut' in front of your line, yes? From your perspective, Feixiao provoked you first, correct?"
"Was she not? A general refusing to ride a Starskiff and instead sprinting on foot—how could that not be intentional?" Jade asked with full certainty.
Sylvester laughed. "Not at all. You three clearly weren't assigned to Yaoqing before. Ask your colleagues and check her records. Feixiao always runs to work."
"Yeah!" Feixiao flashed a victory V-sign, extremely proud of her disciplined routine.
"This…"
Jade, Aventurine, and Topaz exchanged awkward glances. They truly hadn't known that—and verifying it would be far too easy for such a thing to be a lie.
So, they had mistaken a personal habit… for provocation?
A guilty silence spread among them. If this was true, then they had been looking for trouble where none existed.
That… wasn't their intention at all.
They lowered their heads in shame. This wasn't just embarrassing—it violated their own personal principles.
They never considered themselves spotless, but they certainly prided themselves on being distinct from the unscrupulous Marketing Development Department.
Had they simply been stained by association this time?
The Interastral Peace Corporation's reputation had made them too familiar with such incidents.
And so, with nothing but "familiarity" to go on, they assumed the worst—and today's mess was born.
Indeed… they had acted arrogantly.
How humiliating…
Seeing that they understood, Sylvester nodded with a gentle smile and continued, "And as for this little—cough—lady, you also knew of her, or at least heard her name. And Miss Topaz even saw her not long ago."
"Me?"
Topaz, startled at being singled out, immediately looked at Jingliu.
But when she mentally sifted through every child she remembered, she couldn't place her.
Though that icy, silver-white hair… did look familiar.
Long hair like translucent frost…
A blurry figure surfaced in Topaz's mind, slowly overlapping with the little girl before her. She let out a scream:
"You're—Luofu's former Sword Champion—Jingliu!"
"That's right—the owner of the [Samsara Elixir]!"
Everything clicked, and she slapped her thigh in frustration.
Of course! Just as Sylvester said!
The day Jingliu obtained the [Samsara Elixir], Topaz had been there.
Topaz had even grabbed two relics before Jingliu. Then, terrified of ghosts, she bought two roasted lamb heads to perform a cleansing ritual for Duke Inferno!
"That's me."
Since they would figure it out after some discussion anyway, Jingliu admitted it outright.
"The one who stripped your five senses was me. It's an ability I gained after my second cycle."
She added with calm regret, "It's just unfortunate that before I even drew my sword, you had already lost the ability to resist. That showed me just how feeble the Interastral Peace Corporation has become—unable to even withstand a warning strike."
"Ugh…"
The three felt tears rising.
It's not that we're weak—it's that you are way too strong!
Back in Penacony, we weren't the top, but the whole family still had to go all out against us.
And here we can't even last a single move?!
Is this not unfair?! The world hasn't changed—you've changed too fast!
They almost regretted knowing the truth.
Ignorance would've hurt less. Now they not only had no ground to stand on, they had to lower their heads and take scolding.
Seriously—A warrior may die…
But humiliation…
Whoever wants to be tough can become tough!
If someone insists, why don't they take this little ancestor's sword?
Forget the three of us—if Department Head Diamond were here, even he would bow honestly.
===BREAK===
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