Translator: Fate Proofreader: Silavin As the voice finished speaking, a surge of purple mist erupted from its source, like stars glittering in the sky. From there, a gigantic purple palm descended down, as if it was the hand of God. This palm contained terrifying Sacred Principles and looked like it could crush everything. All divine abilities and techniques would be easily crushed into dust under its might. Pop! “Sh*t…” “It’s the Sky King Zhi Yang. Why is he here?” Song Fan and his friends looked shocked and in disbelief. The palm struck Song Fan and made him spit blood. The force sent him flying backwards, which destroyed several buildings. His expression had completely turned into one of shock as his whole face turned pale, as if he had met a terrifying being. His body and voice were both quivering with fear. The force of the palm didn’t stop there. It landed on his friends. The force made them spit blood and scream in pain, deeply humiliating them. The accumulated momentum from the strike immediately exploded forward, sweeping away trees and cracking the ground open with its might. Many buildings also collapsed from the onslaught. This scene stunned Gu Xianer, who had been planning to fight back. However, she still had a frown on her face as she glared coldly at Song Fan and his friends. “If I hadn’t passed by here at this time, I wouldn’t have witnessed all of you bullying a new Junior disciple. You have flouted ill-conceived rules of the Immortal Academy and embarrassed all of its disciples.” Energy vibrations came from the sky as the voice spoke. Then, a man clad in purple robes and surrounded by purple Qi appeared. He was tall, handsome, and strong, with a purple crack between his eyebrows which added to his respectability. It was the Sky King Zhi Yang! His expression was cold as he frowned at the group still coughing up blood. “If I see you bullying others again, I won’t be as kind. You shouldn’t use your place as Senior disciples of the Immortal Academy to bully those weaker than you.” “We won’t. We will never dare do it again…” “Please have mercy, Sky King!” “Have mercy, Sky King! We have learned from our mistakes and will not bully others from now on…” Song Fan and his friends were humiliated and shouted in panic. There was no trace of their prior forcefulness and arrogance; they looked extremely fearful as they shivered, like the man before them was no ordinary man but a terrifying being. “That’s good.” The Sky King nodded in satisfaction, then ordered coldly, “Why aren’t you apologising to her?” He looked at Gu Xianer in concern after he finished talking, like one would towards a Junior disciple. “Are you hurt?” “I’m fine.” Gu Xianer shook her head and her expression eased slightly as she looked at the man in confusion. [Sky King Zhi Yang? The name sounds familiar. I think I’ve heard about him before coming here. He is supposed to be a powerful ancient monstrosity, as well as a Ranked Discipled…] “I don’t really need your help, though. I could’ve dealt with this myself.” She continued, confused about what was happening. The Sky King seemed to freeze at her words, but he felt validated as her proud demeanour was similar to the one she had back then. He smiled at her. “I see my actions may be a little excessive. You seem capable of handling yourself, since you are already so confident. I am Zhi Yang, Successor of the Purple Mansion, known as the Sky King Zhi Yang. How should I address you? With your powers, I don’t think you are just any ordinary person.” He asked again politely and naturally, making it not feel awkward at all. Gu Xianer was stunned by this but remained silent while looking puzzled. This is way too confusing. She shouldn’t be suspicious of someone who had tried to come to her rescue, helping her deal with these annoying people. However, that feeling did not go away. Zhi Yang didn’t seem to mind her silence, looking at her with a steady and calm gaze. He then turned to Song Fan and his group, still prostrating themselves while shivering in fear. “If I hadn’t happened to be passing, you wouldn’t be so lucky. You shouldn’t threaten her when she is more powerful than you.” “We know now. Thank you, Sky King Zhi Yang! We will never do this again!” Song Fan and his friends said fearfully. Gu Xianer was stunned once again at the Sky King’s words, and her frown became deeper. She didn’t know whether this was just his natural behaviour or it was for some other reason. [I’d never expect him to say that. How is he so confident that they’d never be able to beat me? Did he see through my trump cards?] Gu Xianer had only heard some things about him, including the fact that he had been the number one in the Upper Realm and was extremely strong and powerful. [We’ve never met before and that claim of just ‘passing by’ is a little too coincidental! Still, am I overthinking this? That would mean he has been waiting for me here the entire time, right?] “Why aren’t you apologising and compensating for your mistake?” Zhi Yang scoffed coldly again, looking annoyed. Song Fan and his friends turned pale at his words and immediately apologised to her fearfully, as if they were extremely scared of the Sky King. She frowned at this, but decided not to pursue the matter, as she felt that she was not such a stubborn person. They have already paid the price after getting such serious injuries and also apologising to her. Since someone had come in to punish them, she saw no need to further pursue the matter. “Okay, today’s matter is settled. Get out of our sight, you are all extremely distracting.” Zhi Yang nodded in satisfaction and waved a hand to dismiss them. [This whole heroic rescue might be a little old-fashioned, but it is good enough for a first meeting between us. It seems extremely natural and a reasonable coincidence. In fact, since very few people know that Song Fan is my follower, Gu Xianer would never suspect this has all been staged by me.] Song Fan and his friends sighed in relief at this and prepared to leave. But then, a voice called out mildly. “Wait.” A subtle energy vibration came from the void as a mild-looking man in white clothes strode out. “Have I, Gu Changge, allowed you to leave?” Gu Changge was here. His voice was neutral without any inflection, and he did not look at the shocked, staring girl. Instead, he was gazing coolly at Song Fan and his group, who were currently prostrating themselves. Wang Zhongyong had informed him of Gu Xianer’s arrival. He didn’t want to come, but he knew her too well. If he did not come to meet her, she would definitely come to him and irritate him endlessly. Naturally, with such things in mind, he moved to meet her and had witnessed the entire scene. [Sky King Zhi Yang, are you seriously asking for death? Still, this foolish girl, can’t she tell this is all an act directed and set up by him to be a hero for her? Those old monsters she calls her Masters would die of rage if they saw this. All their lessons seem to have gone to waste on her. Seriously. I want to open up her head and if there is anything inside at all!] [Still, Sky King Zhi Zang. I have to admit, I hadn’t paid much attention to you before. But now, you sure have a lot of Fortuity on you. Enough to even pose as a Fortuitous One.] “Gu Changge…” Sky King Zhi Yang looked slightly stricken, feeling that things had progressed far beyond his control. He immediately put on a surprised expression, as if he hadn’t expected Gu Changge to be here. “Young Master Gu, why are you here?” he asked with astonishment, as if he didn’t know the relationship between Gu Changge and Gu Xianer. “Gu Changge…” Gu Xianer looked briefly surprised and pleased, but then regained her cold demeanour as she snorted. “What are you doing here? I thought you didn’t want to come pick me up.” Gu Changge did not pay attention to her, though. His expression was cold as he looked down at Zhang Fan and his friends. They had already gone deathly pale when they saw him appear. If the fear they had felt before was fake, it was all too real now. They were shivering down to their core as Gu Changge’s gaze was so cold they could feel their souls freezing over. It was like they were tiny ants or even worse in his eyes. The fear he elicited in them was far more extreme than from anyone else! They had the intuitive need to look at the Sky King Zhi Yang, but did not dare to. That would be equivalent to leaking his plans and the consequences would be bad for them. Gu Changge spoke again calmly, “Do you recognise me?” His unwavering gaze fell onto Song Fan and the others. “Y-yes…” Song Fan and his friends felt themselves go numb and their skulls about to split open. Their entire bodies had gone cold as they answered Gu Changge in quivering voices. Just who didn’t know him here in the Academy? “That’s good.” Gu Changge nodded, expression still neutral. “Do you know her?” He pointed to Gu Xianer, who was still glaring at him. Song Fan and his friends looked more terrified now, verging on the edge of desperation. “We do now…” They braced themselves as they answered in the best way they could. “You know her now? Well, it isn’t too late for you,” Gu Changge said mildly. “However, I did say no one could bully her except for me. So, how would you like to die?” They shivered as they heard the final word, looking scared and desperate. It was no joke when it came from him. They kept stuttering as they pleaded with him, on their way to prostrate themselves and cry to him. “Young Master Changge, please spare us! We didn’t know she was your sister!” “That’s true, Young Master Changge. Please spare us; we will never do it again. Have mercy on us. It’s all just a misunderstanding!” “If we knew this, we would never dare do it even if we had the courage of a thousand lions!” Song Fan was begging now, afraid for his life. “Gu Changge, you are too much. What did you mean by ‘no one can bully me except for you’…” Gu Xianer was annoyed, wanting to punch him. She knew that Gu Changge was standing up for her though. She had encountered such harassment as soon as she came in, and their apologies did not relieve the anger inside her. Gu Changge was a little excessive in threatening their life, though, as the mistake did not amount to a death sentence. However, it was something that he would do, and an act which made her touched yet helpless. After all, not everyone could act and care for someone else like this. “Young Master Changge, this punishment is too severe. They were rude but did not cause any harm to Lady Xianer. They had been ignorant of the fact that she is your sister, so their mistake is not so serious.” Sky King Zhi Yang spoke up, frowning. Gu Changge’s extreme and cruel behaviour made him frustrated [Why does he just kill others for the simplest of reasons? I never expected things to progress like this. Still, on the account that I am a Ranked Disciple speaking up for them, even Gu Changge would be merciful towards them.] “Have they been punished?” Gu Changge raised his eyebrows slightly in response. He then continued, “I don’t think so. Letting them die this way is too easy for them. That girl’s slightly stupid, but others should not even think of tricking her. Anyone who does so should pay the price. All of them combined is nothing compared to a strand of her hair. No one, let alone some unknown people, can bully a member of the Gu Family, especially my sister!” Gu Xianer froze at that, looking suspiciously at Gu Changge. [I’ve been tricked? Was all this staged by the Sky King himself? What is his motive? We’ve never met before, right?] Immediately after that, she recalled his next sentence. Her brain turned into static and her face went red. [Why did he say that out of nowhere? All of them combined are nothing compared to a strand of my hair? Who praises others like that? How corny. He really has become more disgusting.] “Young Master Changge, please give me some courtesy. They will give Lady Xianer a satisfactory apology for everything today. We are all disciples of the Immortal Academy, after all…” Zhi Yang spoke calmly in a deep voice. A hint of fury had flashed across his face once he saw Gu Xianer’s expression, but he soon returned to his prior expression. “Give you courtesy? Who do you think you are?” His words were interrupted by Gu Changge at once. He looked icy yet undisturbed by the whole incident. “Are you brave enough to accept it if I gave it to you?” A resounding silence followed his words, so much that a needle dropping could be heard. Song Fan and his friends were so shocked they were shaking in terror. Gu Changge struck at once after finishing his sentence, showing his aggression. A palm extended down from the sky, accompanied by a colourful divine light. It resembled the technique of the Sky King and looked to be as powerful as a milestone grinding the world to oblivion. “Gu Changge, you…” Zhi Yang’s expression darkened with anger as he clenched his fists. He hadn’t expected Gu Changge to say that without giving him any courtesy, and now Gu Changge had attacked the group to kill them. He had to swallow down that anger though. “Zhi Yang, save us!” “We don’t want to die!” Song Fan and his friends were all too desperate after seeing the giant palm, wanting to fight back yet too suppressed by Gu Changge’s terrifying aura to move. “This was all a ploy by Sky King Zhi Yang! It has nothing to do with us!” When they saw Sky King Zhi Yang not moving to protect them, they endured patiently, believing in him. However, at the last second, when the last thread of hope was gone, they wished to confess the truth in hopes it would save them. “What are you saying? I was even kind enough to save you…” The Sky King’s expression shifted slightly before turning cold. “You still want to frame me now?” Squish! Gu Changge did not give Song Fan and his friends the chance to blabber on, knowing that Zhi Yang did not care whether they lived or died anymore. After all, he would never admit to all this.