Chapter 176: The terrifying lady behind the counter.
The eight men looked at the quiet lobby and communicated with their eyes.
Instantly, four of the intruders sprang to action as they prepared to ransack the lobby.
"Gentlemen, we\'re closed for today." A sweet voice came from behind the counter.
Hmm!
They froze in their path and slowly turned their heads in the direction of the voice.
Standing behind the counter was a beautiful lady smiling at them.
She was part of the ladies sitting behind the counter in the day.
Her bright smile sent a deadly shiver down the spines of the intruders.
Their leader, an Intermediate Foundation Building realm stage 6, had scanned the room with his spirit sense but failed to notice the girl.
How could this be possible?
The mere fact that she willingly showed herself told how confident she was in protecting herself.
The men looked at the highest cultivator among them, which was their leader, waiting for his decision.
Should they attack or not?
Recovering from his shock, their leader glared at the smiling lady and said.
"Woman, we don\'t plan on hurting you. We only need all the Spirit Comms in the stores and the secret for making the Spirit Comms."
"Hmm?" The lady twisted her lips, thought for a moment, and shook her head.
"I don\'t think you have the strength to hold that kind of secret if I give it to you."
"You…"
"Do you all have families?" She interrupted.
The smile on her face was no longer an alluring smile. It was a creeping smile that sent shivers down the spines of the men.
She stepped out from behind the counter and walked slowly toward the men. Her gait and confidence left the intruders speechless.
There were eight of them, three in Foundation Building realm, and the other five at the peak of Qi Refinement realm.
As for her, she was only at the early Qi Refinement realm stage 3. Where did she get her confidence?
She didn\'t care what was going on in the minds of the men; she strode toward them and continued. "Do you know what? I pity you." She shook her head. "Alright, enough of the chitchat. Who is going to die first?"
"Yes, I remember. Your families. After I kill you, we\'re going after your families. This is to warn others. An attack against the Celestial Heavenly sect is a crime that you won\'t bear alone. But your families."
"You\'re a sect?!" The leader of the men asked in shock.
His voice quivered. He gasped under the hood. His men behind were also shocked.
The atmosphere inside the lobby dropped a couple of degrees. They tried to digest what they just heard.
"D-Do you know…"
"Stop being a pussy. Of course, we know. We\'re the barren lands. Do you think we give a damn about some useless law?" The lady waved her hand dismissively and took a step forward.
Whoosh!
"Die!" She shouted.
Her movement was swift, leaving a gust of wind behind. She appeared right in front of one of the men.
Her hand forming a deadly claw, going for his heart.
The man was stunned for a couple of seconds but quickly recovered and tried to defend himself with his sword.
Unfortunately, his body failed to respond to his command.
He was confused with fear etched on his face under his hood.
Confusion, a state to be avoided and overcome, or could it be a fertile ground?
He watched slowly as the deadly claw ripped through the fabric of his clothes and dug deep into his flesh and pulled out his heart.
Thud.
He fell to the ground with his eyes wide open. Deader than dead.
The other men watched what happened with their jaws dropped to the ground.
The lady didn\'t just attack an ordinary person. She attacked one of the Foundation Building experts among them.
What was happening?!
This shouldn\'t be possible?!
In moments of profound shock and upheaval, does the human spirit reveal its resilience and capacity for adaptation, or does it expose vulnerabilities that challenge our fundamental understanding of existence?
They questioned what they knew and what they were witnessing right now.
The resilience of men came to fruition when their leader woke up from his stupor and shouted.
"Attack! Kill her!"
With his loud cry, his men woke up from their trance and pounced on her.
The lady watched calmly as the seven men lunged toward her with their deadly weapons.
Does the experience of helplessness unveil the true nature of human vulnerability, or does it serve as a catalyst for the discovery of inner strength and resilience?
She shook her head. Whatever it may be, that won\'t deter her.
There lay a thin line between life and death. And these men just crossed the line of death. And death shall they receive.
Whoosh!
She sidestepped their barrage of attacks, and her claw dug into the heart of a man.
A miserable cry escaped from his mouth as he watched how his heart was ripped out from his body.
Regret and unwillingness descended on his soul and he crashed to the ground.
Whoosh!
Bang! Bang!
She disappeared from her original spot, and a powerful barrage of attacks crashed down.
If she had waited a second late, she would have been hit by the attack.
"Watch out…" The men\'s leader had the words stuck in his throat when he saw the lady appear right in front of him.
Just the mere cold gaze of the lady sent shivers down his spine.
His heart pounded heavily against his chest, sweat dripping from his head.
His resilience came to action as his eyes burned with unyielding determination. He gnashed his teeth and tried to summon his Qi to attack her.
Failure, an inevitable and integral part of the human experience. The unavoidable, the inevitable, but when it occurs, men seem not ready for it.
Under the shocking gaze of the leader, he witnessed his Qi failing to respond to his call.
He tried to open his mouth, yet his mouth failed to open. He screamed in his mind, yet his voice failed to come out of his mouth.
In that moment, he experienced what it meant to be weak. The weakness that came from the depth of his soul.
Humans would be human. An insignificant speck of dust in the large scheme of the universe.
Thud!
She held his heart and looked at it for a couple of seconds before glancing at the frozen men.
"W-We surrender."
*****