Her purple eyes grew cold as her thoughts sharpened. 'So this is what embarrassed the Angel Corps— being treated as beggars by those they protected.'
The Soul King captain beside her lowered his head slightly, his jaw tightening. He didn't need to explain — Qian Renxue already understood his earlier awkwardness.
The villagers, fearful of losing favor with the tax collector, had chosen to distance themselves from Spirit Hall's forces, hoping to avoid conflict with the empire's bureaucracy. To them, gratitude was dangerous when it threatened their own safety.
Qian Renxue's lips curved faintly, her purple eyes glowing, but there was no warmth in her expression as she was subtly using her ability: Manipulation.
"I see," she said softly, her tone like silk laced with ice.
Gary, sensing mockery but mistaking her youth for weakness, sneered. "You're welcome to see, my lady. But do not meddle in matters of the empire's taxation. Even Spirit Hall's influence has its limits here."
The Soul Kings behind Qian Renxue tensed at his insolence. One of them even clenched his fists, veins bulging on his forearm.
Qian Renxue took one last glance at the storage huts, then turned her back on them. "Let's go," she said lightly to her soldiers. "I've seen enough."
The captain nodded quickly and followed, but the faint chill in her tone made him realize: the Young Master wasn't finished with this matter yet.
Suddenly, as Qian Renxue and her group turned to leave, Gary stepped forward, puffing his chest like a rooster who had forgotten the hawk before him, like an idiot.
"If you're not here to steal the food of the Heaven Dou Empire," he shouted, his face flushed red with arrogance, "then go away! We don't need your kind here!"
For a moment, silence hung heavy in the air. Even the village elder froze mid-breath, sensing the shift in temperature.
Qian Renxue slowly turned her head back toward him, her purple eyes glinting faintly. "Do you think," she said softly, "that I don't have any temper?"
Before Gary could even register her words—
Slap!
The sound rang out like a thunderclap.
The next instant, Gary's body spun through the air, his limbs flailing helplessly. One, two, three summersaults—before crashing twenty meters away in a cloud of dust.
"Lord Gary!" cried the clerk, rushing toward him.
"Lord Gary!" screamed the village elder, his voice trembling between fear and disbelief.
The clerk knelt beside the fallen man, who lay groaning, blood trickling from his lips. Then, to everyone's shock, the clerk turned and shouted at Qian Renxue, his face twisted with outrage.
"Spirit Hall—why are you so cruel? We've done nothing wrong! Why attack our lord? We won't share our food with you! Just leave us be!"
Other villagers, emboldened by his cry, came rushing forward.
"Yeah! Why hurt Lord Gary?"
"Spirit Hall only knows how to bully us!"
"Go away!"
Their voices rose in a wave of angry noise — ungrateful, foolish, and yet exactly as Qian Renxue expected.
She stood still, her face serene, but inside her heart a small, knowing smile bloomed.
'I understand now… the common people always respect the authority they can see — the empire's power, its taxes, its soldiers. Spirit Hall, which protects them is taken for granted.'
Her lips twitched ever so slightly.
'Yes… the higher the trust they place in the empire, the harder the fall will be when that trust shatters. Everything is proceeding exactly as planned.'
No one around her realized that the chaos before them was not spontaneous — it was a stage, and Qian Renxue was its unseen playwright.
Lord Gary finally staggered to his feet, holding his swollen cheek. Humiliation twisted his features as he screamed hoarsely, "You dare hit me!? You think Spirit Hall rules this continent? I'll show you!"
A violent aura burst forth from him as his Martial Soul manifested — a red tiger with burning eyes. His body swelled slightly, veins bulging under his skin. Behind him, four soul rings rose in sequence: two yellow, two purple.
At the same instant, the Soul Kings behind Qian Renxue summoned their martial souls, their spirit rings shining with far greater might — two yellow, two purple, and one black.
The air grew thick with killing intent. The villagers stumbled back in fear, but Gary's pride kept him rooted in place.
"You Spirit Hall people think you rule everything!" he bellowed, "We will never bow to you!"
Qian Renxue raised one hand lazily, her expression unreadable. Her soldiers instantly froze mid-action.
"Let him bark," she said flatly.
Her voice carried no anger — just an eerie calm. The kind that chilled the heart more than any threat.
She turned her back to the village. "Let's go."
The Soul Kings followed her wordlessly, their killing intent vanishing like mist. None of them dared disobey.
Gary stood trembling, his aura flickering with rage, but even he wasn't foolish enough to pursue a group of elite Soul Kings from Spirit Hall.
He spat blood onto the ground and shouted after them, though his voice cracked with fear, "Spirit Hall tyrants! You'll pay for this!"
Qian Renxue didn't even glance back.
---
This was not the first time in three years that she had quietly fanned the flames against Spirit Hall's image.
The empires and the great clans had long been sowing seeds of distrust among the common people — painting Spirit Hall as an ambitious, tyrannical organization. And since her public speech three years ago, those flames had only grown stronger.
Qian Renxue had merely added subtle wind — through the whispers of the Twilight Hermit Order, her invisible hand guided the currents of opinion.
Now, seeing even a small village shouting against Spirit Hall, Qian Renxue's mind moved like a chessmaster examining her board.
'Yes… the first phase is complete,' she thought, her lips curling faintly as she walked through the dusk.
The golden light behind her faded as the sun was slowly setting, leaving only the echo of her calm footsteps — and a small village too blind to realize they had just played another role in the young manipulator's grand design.
(Author notes: What do you think will Phase 2 be?)