The system, without hesitation, initiated a purchase from its shop. It rarely resorted to this option, as doing so might attract the suspicion of the Nexus Grid.
However, given the urgency of the situation—and with a staggering 1 billion kill points stored—it made the decision to acquire the necessary item.
But, as always, it had to navigate through the transaction window. This was why the system remained vigilant, carefully avoiding any choices that might draw unwanted attention from the Grid.
“Let’s see,” Yu Shao Yan took out a dagger from her spatial ring and instantly threw it towards Esme, who was standing beside Jenny.
As she anticipated, Ryuk’s figure instantly arrived and caught the dagger, causing her eyes to narrow, as she found a big weakness of his.
“Can’t you even care for your granddaughter?” Ryuk imbued the dagger with Ether and directly threw it back towards Yu Shao Yan, who easily dodged it by sidestepping.
“She will be safe,” Yu Shao Yan kept her eyes glued on Ryuk, clearly sensing that this young man had something to do with Jenny, leading her to believe that he likely wanted something and therefore couldn’t harm her. She continued, “I know you can’t harm her.”
[….]
Skchlt!
“Ugh….” Jenny groaned while in her trance state.
“What? Weren’t you the one who said I can’t harm her?” Ryuk, holding the sword, which he had twisted back, pierced near the heart of Jenny, who was seated, lost in her world.
drip
Blood gushed out of her mouth in that drowned state as he tilted his head and looked towards Yu Shao Yan with a blank gaze, as if her calculations were wrong.
“My Daughter!” Suddenly, a scream tore through the place, causing Ryuk and Yu Shao Yan to turn in the direction where a woman, followed by the Phoenix Order guards who had evacuated her moments ago, arrived here sprinting towards them, escaping due to fear for her daughter.
“Hey, Yao Lian! What are you doing lazing there? Come help me!” Ryuk, from the main palace, looked at the bottom of the peak through the stairs and saw Yao Lian standing there while having a conversation with that malnourished woman.
“Heh? Wh-why me?” Yao Lian, due to her internal energy, was able to hear the voice from that distance. She looked in the direction where she could not see anyone, given the slope of the mountain peak, but she knew that he was calling her, prompting her to turn her gaze downward and glance towards the malnourished woman, adding, “Hide here, I will come in a moment.”
Though she could clearly see an intense amount of internal energy and how the whole mountain peak, from where the stairs joined the main palace and inner pavilion, had cracks on it, revealing how much force was exerted from above, she hesitantly followed his words, taking a leap as her internal energy was somewhat recovered and walked up the ladder.
“Haah… Haa… What happened, Young Master Rui Ke?” Yao Lian, trying to save her internal energy, had exerted much force on her body sprinting.
As she finally arrived at the peak and looked around, she found a sight—Rui Ke stood with a sword in his left hand, turned opposite while piercing the heart of a woman seated on the ground, while Esme’s hand rested on that woman’s head.
“Shoo, go catch that woman,” Ryuk said, seeing Yao Lian instead of collecting garbage down there finally arriving. He pointed with his eyes towards Jenny’s mother, who was sprinting in their direction while struggling with the guards, who were trying to stop her for her safety.
‘What, am I your dog?!’ Yao Lian felt her mouth twitch. Though turning her attention in that direction, she flinched the moment her eyes landed on a familiar figure, causing her to slightly bow, greeting, “Greetings, Matriarch…..”
‘!’
As she greeted her, she suddenly noticed the state of the matriarch, seeing the dust marks all over her body, while her breathing was visible and the density of internal energy around her was low, as if she had just gone through an intense battle, leading her to glance towards Rui Ke and think, ‘Don’t tell me, did he?’
The first doubt that came to mind was whether the sensation down in the inner pavilion she felt as an earthquake was caused by a battle between these two.
But more shocking was the fact that there were no wound marks, not even dirt, on Rui Ke’s clothes.
Unbeknownst to her, it was an artifact that had auto-clean properties, and given that the wounds were regenerating, there were no marks left on Ryuk’s body from the battle. Of course, he was much more damaged and wounded than Yu Shao Yan.
“You? Aren’t you the daughter-in-law of the Wei family? Have you sided with outsiders?” Yu Shao Yan narrowed her gaze as she observed Yao Lian. Having seen her previously, recognizing her wasn’t difficult. She looked disappointed, seeing one of her own there on the side of outsiders.
“Huh? No, of course not, Matriarch—” Yao Lian suddenly shook her head at the matriarch’s words, overwhelmed by her presence.
However, she had not had a positive image of this matriarch, who never went out of her way to save the Lian family from the Wei family’s suppression.
Still, given this woman was the highest in hierarchy here, she showed her respect but was interrupted.
“Yao Lian, why are you greeting that old hag? Come here and go stop that woman,” Ryuk raised an eyebrow as he once again called out Yao Lian. He didn’t want to use the Grimoire right now, as it would just create a hassle if Yu Shao Yan found out about the way he used to enslave someone, making his last resort futile.
“Huh? Yes,” Yao Lian, though she clearly wanted to reject outright, had changed her perception given that this young master had just one-sidedly defeated the matriarch of the Celestial Phoenix Order.
Even though there was no decisive winner, seeing that her clothes bore the tension of battle while the young master’s remained untouched, Yao Lian could guess who was stronger among them.
Thinking that if she helped the matriarch, who had always turned a blind eye to whatever the 18 major families did to the lower ones, she decided to take the side of this young master, who at least seemed arrogant but not enough to harm her in any way.
She somehow understood that most likely after the work here was done, this young man would leave, making her relieved that once he did, she would have a chance.
So she took his side.
“My daughter!” The woman, seeing the state of Jenny lying there, seemingly lost in her thoughts and not even conscious, while blood trickled from her mouth and her clothes turned crimson due to blood flowing from the wound near her heart, shouted.
Due to the interference of the Heavenly dragon domain, she had lost her daughter at an early age, kidnapped and thrown out of the continent. She always felt broken inside until her mother found Jenny on another continent.
There was hope. She had waited for her daughter’s return. As she did, she had not even glanced at a single thing outside. Yet everything had turned like this.
Once again, lying in front of her, Jenny was drenched in blood and was about to die. Yet the matriarch of the Celestial Phoenix Order, who was Jenny’s grandmother, was doing nothing except standing there just like before. It pained her, causing her to yell, “Leave my daughter alone!….!”
