Chapter 12: The General

Ji Tianxin slowly rose from her chair. As the cold glint of steel approached, it was impossible to tell how she struck. All that could be seen was her afterimage sweeping through the crowd, and by the time she reappeared, those masters who had tried to attack her were already sprawled on the ground.

They were not dead, but it seemed as if half their lives had already left them.

Madam Chen recoiled several steps in terror. These fighters had all been recruited by the General's Manor to guard the household! Each of them had already stepped into the Marrow Cleansing realm! How... how could they crumble so easily, like blocks of tofu shattering at a touch?

Suqing merely smiled. These half-trained warriors, who had only just brushed against the threshold of Marrow Cleansing, dared to act up before her mistress.

Just then, a horse let out a sudden whinny beyond the crowd, and a striking figure leapt into view astride the steed.

Before the rider arrived, his voice rang out: “Who dares to cause trouble in my General Xuanwei’s Manor?!”

The whistling wind sent the corner of Ji Tianxin’s cloak flying. The crack of a horsewhip sliced through the air straight towards her!

Such force and authority—any grown man would surely have been reduced to pulp under that lash!

“Mistress!” Suqing gasped in alarm.

Ji Tianxin made no move to dodge. In her eyes, the approaching whip grew larger and larger, until it halted an inch from her forehead.

The onlookers all held their breath; some even threw up their hands to stifle their screams or shield their eyes.

After landing, Ji Yuanruo also froze, his gaze falling upon Ji Tianxin’s face, momentarily dazed.

He had expected the troublemaker to be some savage bandit, never imagining it would be... a little girl?

And this child—she had caught his horsewhip with her bare hand!

Barely a dozen feet separated them, yet the difference in their heights was stark. Ji Tianxin gripped the whip at such an angle that it slanted steeply downward.

The moment Madam Chen saw Ji Yuanruo return, she barked out an order: “Yuanruo, kill that little wretch for me!”

Ji Yuanruo frowned, staring at the hand that had so easily caught his whip. “Who are you? Why have you come to my manor to make trouble?”

He could never bring himself to kill a child, but if this was a troublemaker, discipline was unavoidable.

Ji Tianxin looked at him. “I told you, I’ve come to claim my kin.”

Her voice was soft, but everyone could hear her clearly.

Ji Yuanruo was about to reply when Madam Chen cut him off.

“Nonsense! There’s no such person in this household. This little brat was clearly sent here to bring disaster upon our family!”

Ji Tianxin turned her gaze to Madam Chen, a barely perceptible curve at the corner of her lips. “I’m not just here for kinship. There is also—”

Her words were interrupted.

“Enough! What is going on?!” The sound of galloping hooves and soldiers’ boots brought everything to a halt before the manor gates.

At the sight of the newcomer, everyone in the General’s Manor bowed in unison. “General!”

A middle-aged man clad in armor, tall and imposing, with dignified features and a natural air of authority, strode forward. The rows of soldiers behind him radiated a fierce aura.

“Father!” Ji Yuanruo called out at once.

Madam Chen’s heart skipped a beat, but she quickly stepped forward, crying, “Husband!”

Ji Huaili took in the wounded guards on the ground and the gathering townsfolk, and thundered, “What disgraceful chaos is this at the gates of my household?!”

He fixed his gaze on Ji Tianxin, who still held the whip, and demanded, “Child, was this your doing?!”

His voice boomed like a bell, edged with anger—as though a single wrong word would see Ji Tianxin and her companions seized at once.

Ji Tianxin released the whip and slowly turned to meet those hawk-sharp, piercing eyes.