“Who is it?”

The tall Fourth Prince barked the question.

But to his surprise, it was neither the raging storm lifting the tent flap nor some blind, stupid guard.

The one who appeared before them was a long-limbed girl wearing a bamboo hat, her face obscured.

They could not see her true appearance.

But from her graceful figure, her otherworldly bearing and her fair skin as smooth as mutton-fat jade, it was obvious the girl under the hat was an extraordinary beauty.

“Heh heh… little beauty, come here and let your lord have a look.”

The pig-like Sixth Prince’s eyes bulged with delight. This was exactly the kind of thing he liked most.

Seeing Jiang Zirou, he grinned until his mouth nearly split open, drooling to the point where even the other rebel princes subtly edged away from him with disgust.

The Crown Prince set down his wine cup, his expression turning stern.

“How did you get here? What business do you have here? Where are the guards outside?”

At his words, the other princes finally realized something was wrong. They quietly sat up straighter.

“I came here to kill someone.”

Unnoticed by them, the torrential rain had stopped. A single shaft of golden sunlight pierced the clouds and fell on Jiang Zirou.

She removed her bamboo hat.

But she still wore a large bronze fanged demon mask.

The Sixth Prince sighed in disappointment—still unable to see the beauty’s real face.

“You came here to kill someone? Hahaha! Little girl, what are you going to kill us with? Don’t tell me you plan to use your body to drain us all?”

The ugly, shifty-eyed Seventh Prince burst into loud, delighted laughter at her words.

He laughed for quite a while uUntil he realized no one else was laughing. The princes and martial grandmasters around him all looked coldly indifferent.

Embarrassed, he shut up.

“With this, I kill people.”

The Great Xia Dragon Sparrow slid from its sheath.

With a sharp, ringing blade-song, the sentient saber was already hungry for blood.

“The Great Xia Dragon Sparrow… what is your relationship with the Old Prince?”

The Taixuan Sect’s old Daoist turned solemn. He realized that although the girl before him was young, she was undoubtedly a formidable expert.

Even more shocking, as a peak grandmaster himself, he could not see through her cultivation at all.

‘Could I have judged wrongly?’

The absurd thought flashed through his mind, but he rejected it immediately.

Beside him, the master assassin Raksha of Dead Man Lake suddenly leapt forward like an arrow shot from its string.

“Attack!”

A thunderous roar erupted from the towering Martial Alliance Leader, whose dark-red face and iron-tower build radiated crushing power.

The elegantly dressed patriarch of the Nangong Clan also struck simultaneously, his cold sword flashing toward Jiang Zirou’s right flank.

The Taixuan Daoist and the monk of the Hanging Temple gritted their teeth, discarded their sect rules and attacked as well.

In an instant, five overwhelming waves of killing intent closed in from all directions.

This was an execution formation.

Even the Old Prince, at his peak, would have struggled to escape unscathed.

But Jiang Zirou had spent three years cultivating the True Martial Body and had long since stepped into the Martial Great-Grandmaster realm.

Facing the combined strike of five top-tier experts, Jiang Zirou merely closed her eyes and whispered, “True Martial Body: Endure.”

Both hands gripped her saber, its point resting lightly on the ground.

Golden light flowed across her form, forming a massive ancient bell around her.

Dong!

Five dull explosions sounded almost simultaneously.

At the first clash, Jiang Zirou did not move at all, steady as a mountain.

But all five grandmasters staggered back a full step. Their faces turned paper-white. A few who were slightly weaker even bled from their noses and mouths.

“Half-step Martial Great-Grandmaster!?”

The Nangong patriarch shouted in disbelief.

Jiang Zirou’s lips curled in the faintest smile.

But her hands did not slow.

A jade-white finger extended and tapped toward the Nangong patriarch’s brow.

Boom!

He raised a hand to block—yet was blasted through the air, his feathered crown falling off.

Half his arm was shredded by the immense force, blood mist spraying as bare white bone was exposed.

“Cha!”

Jiang Zirou struck without mercy.

The Great Xia Dragon Sparrow shone gold as it cleaved toward the Taixuan Sect elder.

He raised his famed Guiyun Sword in panic—only for it to shatter into fragments with a loud crack, scattering shards through his hair.

A punch, then a palm strike.

The Martial Alliance Leader and the Hanging Temple monk were both top experts.

But they could not withstand one who had cultivated the True Martial Body.

The monk with stronger cultivation had both arms shattered and sat pale and trembling.

The slightly weaker Martial Alliance Leader had his chest caved in and was thrown aside in a spray of blood—life or death unknown.

Finally, Jiang Zirou raised the Dragon Sparrow and slashed toward a ruined corner of the tent, forcing out Raksha, Dead Man Lake’s most mysterious assassin.

She followed with a thunderous punch.

Powered by the True Martial Body, her fist was like an army’s unstoppable charge—its force alone blasting the old assassin through the air and into a muddy puddle.

She walked toward him.

“I dislike killing. But Dead Man Lake has disturbed my peace again and again, even plotting against my brother. I cannot spare you.”

Raksha’s body quivered miserably, blood bubbling from his lips.

His death was imminent, but he showed no fear.

“Hehehe… little girl, I knew I’d run into you. I knew that after three years, your talent would have pushed your cultivation to something monstrous. But someone like me who has lived for over a hundred years—did you think I would come without preparation?”

His eyes shone with malice and deep jealousy.

“Heaven truly is unfair. I’ve cultivated for a century, endured endless schemes and suffering and only just touched the edge of the Great-Grandmaster realm. And you… so young… you’ve already reached it. But so what if you're a half-step Martial Great-Grandmaster? Today—you die!”

His expression twisted hysterically.

He ripped open his robe and pulled out a lump of blood-red flesh which he stuffed into his mouth without hesitation.