The joyous laughter of twenty-five thousand citizens along the rooftops of Central Avenue froze in their throats as a suffocating, blood-red thundercloud erupted from the scarlet wyrm-skin talisman in Imperial Envoy Zhao Kun’s hand!
KRA-KOOOOOOOOM!
Hovering a hundred and twenty feet above the street on his [Quasi-Rank 4 Wind-Step Flying right Bronze Disk], forty-five-year-old Envoy Zhao Kun , at Half-Step Rank 4. Bit the tip of his own tongue and spat a mouthful of essence-blood onto the eight-inch [Rank 4 Crimson Blood-Lightning Execution Spear Talisman]!
In the Imperial Astral Armory of the Great Qian Royal Capital, each [Rank 4 Blood-Lightning Talisman] took three palace Spirit-Core masters a full month to refine and cost fifty thousand gold taels. Once triggered, it condensed a twenty-foot-long lance of true Rank 4 Spirit-Core crimson destruction lightning capable of blasting a thirty-foot city gatehouse into molten slag!
And right now, Envoy Zhao Kun was aiming that twenty-foot Rank 4 crimson lightning spear straight down. At the second-floor wooden veranda of the [Frost-Pine Loving-Heart Elementary School]—where nine-year-old Gu Nian, seven-year-old Su Nuannuan. Six hundred young schoolchildren from the twelve counties were standing!
“ENVOY ZHAO—STOP! THOSE ARE NINE-YEAR-OLD AND SEVEN-YEAR-OLD CHILDREN AND SIX HUNDRED YOUNG STUDENTS!” fifty-two-year-old Prefecture Lord Qin Zheng , at Rank 3 Mid, roared in horror from the Yamen balcony.
Vaulting over the stone balustrade as he tried to fly across the rooftops to intercept the strike!
Even down in the soap-covered street below, thirty-eight-year-old Battalion Commander Chen , at Rank 2 Peak, of the Black-Armor Capital Guards turned pale under his helmet and shouted toward the sky in shock:.
“Lord Envoy! Imperial military law strictly forbids discharging a Rank 4 war-talisman against a civilian elementary school!”
“SHUT YOUR MOUTHS! ANYONE WHO HUMILIATES THIS ENVOY DIES!”
Completely unhinged by pride and humiliation as the twenty-foot spear of crackling crimson lightning condensed in his right hand. Forty-five-year-old Envoy Zhao Kun glared down at twenty-nine-year-old Gu Changsheng on the pharmacy steps with a twisted, sadistic sneer:.
“Gu Changsheng! Didn’t you just boast about your ‘household rules’?! Watch your two little demon brats and your entire elementary school get blasted into black charcoal right in front of your eyes!
DIE—[RANK 4 CRIMSON BLOOD-LIGHTNING SPEAR]!”
WHOOOOOOOSH—KRA-BOOOOOOOOM!
Hurling his right arm downward with every ounce of his Half-Step Rank 4 cultivation. Envoy Zhao Kun launched the twenty-foot-long spear of roaring crimson blood-lightning straight down from a hundred. Twenty feet in the sky toward the elementary school balcony at twice the speed of sound!
The sheer scorching air-pressure of the descending Rank 4 lightning spear shattered the glass wind-chimes along the street and turned the afternoon air as hot as a blacksmith’s furnace!
Down on the granite flagstones in front of the pharmacy, the relaxed smile vanished from twenty-nine-year-old Gu Changsheng’s. At Rank 3 Late Martial Grandmaster, face, replaced in a ten-thousandth of a second by a pair of eyes burning like twin golden suns of absolute paternal wrath:.
“You dared throw a lethal spear at my kids’ school balcony.”
Gu Changsheng’s right hand gripped the dragon-hide handle of [Father’s Golden Spatula of True Discipline] at his waist as his knees bent to launch himself straight into the sky—.
Yet at that exact split-second, forty yards away on the second-floor wooden veranda of the [Frost-Pine Loving-Heart Elementary School], nine-year-old Gu Nian [Half-Step Rank 3 Martial Grandmaster. Darkening: 10%] and seven-year-old Su Nuannuan [Half-Step Rank 3 Martial Grandmaster, Darkening: 8%] didn’t take a single step backward!
Behind them inside the open classroom doorway, six hundred young schoolchildren from seven to ten years old—including Little Fatty Wang, the blacksmith’s son. The little orphan girls from Frost-Pine Town—were huddled together with wide, frightened eyes.
Five months ago in the original tragedy of this world, nine-year-old Gu Nian had been a starving, lonely boy tied to a freezing woodshed pillar who believed the entire world hated him. Seven-year-old Su Nuannuan had been a terrified child locked inside a dark slave cage waiting to be boiled in a centipede jar.
Today, raised by twenty-nine-year-old Gu Changsheng’s three hot meals a day, warm winter quilts, bedtime stories. One hundred [Little Red Flower Stickers], neither child felt a single shred of despair or hatred in their hearts!
Instead, as the twenty-foot Rank 4 crimson lightning spear screamed down out of the sky thirty feet above the school roof. Nine-year-old Gu Nian planted his yellow bunny slippers firmly at the front center of the wooden balcony, spread his arms wide in front of the classroom door. Looked up at the descending lightning spear with clear, blazing black-gold eyes!
“Classmates, stay behind the line and don’t be scared!” nine-year-old Gu Nian’s steady young voice rang out over the roar of the thunder. “I am Class Monitor Gu Nian—and Dad taught me that a big brother never takes a single step back when his little sister and his classmates are standing behind him!”
“And Nuannuan isn’t stepping back either, Big Brother Nian!”
Right beside him, seven-year-old Su Nuannuan refused to duck behind her brother’s back!
Planting her small pink embroidered cloth shoes shoulder-to-shoulder with nine-year-old Gu Nian’s yellow bunny slippers. The seven-year-old girl set her little pink watering can down on the balcony rail, reached out with her small left hand. Laced her five fingers tightly with her big brother’s right hand!
“Dad gave Nuannuan and Big Brother Nian two bowls of [Eight-Treasure Phoenix-Marrow Rice] last night so we could be. Strong enough to protect our friends!” seven-year-old Su Nuannuan shouted up at the roaring crimson spear in the sky.
Her big dark eyes shining like fearless little stars beneath her yellow straw sun-hat.
“Big Brother Nian—let’s hit that ugly red sparkler together so it doesn’t wake up the little first-graders!”
“Good! On the count of one, Nuannuan—together!”
As nine-year-old Gu Nian and seven-year-old Su Nuannuan clasped hands shoulder-to-shoulder on the elementary school balcony to shield six hundred children with their own small bodies, three supreme catalysts ignited simultaneously inside their chests!
First, hanging against nine-year-old Gu Nian’s heart beneath his yellow bunny apron. Empress Luo Qingxue’s [Frost-Phoenix Jade Hairpin & Soul-Resonance Compass] sensed a lethal threat descending toward her son and her adopted daughter—and released a protective. Flaw-free surge of dormant [Rank 8 Star-Realm Ice-Phoenix Origin Essence] straight into both children’s linked hands!
Second, across the forty yards separating the pharmacy veranda from the school balcony, twenty-nine-year-old Gu Changsheng’s [All-Family Shared Cultivation Link] pulsed like a golden heartbeat. Pouring the full unrefined medicinal reserve of last night’s [Eight-Treasure Frost-Lotus & Phoenix-Marrow Spirit Rice] into both children’s [Half-Step Rank 3] dantians!
And third, the pure, selfless courage of two redeemed children standing hand-in-hand to protect six hundred classmates resonated directly with the laws of heaven and earth!
[ DING! SUPREME SIBLING PROTECTION RESONANCE — DUAL BREAKTHROUGH! ]
* Catalyst #1 : Mom’s [Frost-Phoenix Jade Hairpin] Origin Pulse!
* Catalyst #2 : Dad’s [All-Family Shared Cultivation Link] Surge!
* Catalyst #3 : Unbreakable Sibling Courage Protecting 600 Kids!
* Result : 9-Year-Old Gu Nian & 7-Year-Old Su Nuannuan begin.
simultaneous breakthrough from Half-Step Rank 3 ->.
[TRUE RANK 3 EARLY MARTIAL GRANDMASTER]!
* Daily Income: +415,000 DP/day -> +430,000 DP/day!
HUMMMMMM—ROOOOOOOOOAR!
Ten feet before the tip of the twenty-foot Rank 4 Crimson Blood-Lightning Spear could touch the roof eaves of the elementary school. A pillar of majestic black-gold dragon light and a pillar of fragrant emerald-violet medicinal phoenix mist erupted side by side from the nine-year-old boy and the seven-year-old girl on the balcony!
Across the street on the pharmacy veranda, three-hundred-and-eighty-year-old Grandpa Yao [Warmth: 92/100] clutched his miniature gold spectacles with both fuzzy green flippers. He felt the twin hurricanes of true Rank 3 Martial Grandmaster internal qi awakening inside nine-year-old Gu Nian and seven-year-old Su Nuannuan at the exact same heartbeat:.
“By the Ancestors! Look at the spiritual sky above the elementary school! Empress Luo Qingxue’s dormant Rank 8 Ice-Phoenix Origin Essence inside the jade hairpin just fused with Patriarch Gu’s [All-Family Shared Cultivation Link] to baptize both children’s meridians at once!
Nine-year-old Young Master Nian’s [Innate Chaos Demon Bone] is shedding its mortal cocoon without a single drop of dark resentment—it has evolved into a pure, golden-black [Righteous Chaos-Dragon Sovereign Bone]! And seven-year-old Little Miss Nuannuan’s [Innate Ten-Thousand-Poison Body] has condensed a genuine [Rank 3 Ten-Thousand-Herb Immortal Core Seed]!”
Right beside the plush turtle on the veranda, twenty-four-year-old Auntie Qin , at Rank 3 Early Martial Grandmaster. Sixty-two-year-old Grandpa Fu , at Rank 2 Peak, watched with shining, tear-bright eyes. The six hundred young students inside the second-floor classroom doorway refused to run away—instead, six hundred little hands pressed against the back of the balcony doorframe.
Cheering for their nine-year-old Class Monitor Nian and seven-year-old Little Sister Nuannuan at the top of their lungs:.
“GO, CLASS MONITOR GU NIAN! GO, LITTLE SISTER NUANNUAN! OUR LOVING-HEART ELEMENTARY SCHOOL NEVER SURRENDERS TO BULLIES!”
Even the thirty twelve-foot Rank 2 Peak Lava-Rock Golems down in the crosswalk raised their thirty iron plow-shields toward the sky and boomed in unison:.
“YOUNG... MASTER... NIAN!
LITTLE... MISS... NUANNUAN!
GOLEM... BRIGADE... SENDING...
GEOTHERMAL... CHEER... RESONANCE!”
And down on the granite flagstones in front of the pharmacy, twenty-nine-year-old Gu Changsheng , at Rank 3 Late Martial Grandmaster. Paused for half a breath with his hand on [Father’s Golden Spatula of True Discipline], his eyes brimming with fierce paternal pride. He sensed that his nine-year-old son and seven-year-old daughter didn’t even need him to block the descending Rank 4 lightning spear for them—.
Because right there on the sunlit wooden balcony of the school they loved. Holding hands shoulder-to-shoulder in their yellow bunny slippers and pink rabbit dress. Nine-year-old Gu Nian and seven-year-old Su Nuannuan were about to shatter the forty-five-year-old Imperial Envoy’s proudest Rank 4 trump card with their own newly awakened Rank 3 Martial Grandmaster hands!
Inside nine-year-old Gu Nian’s chest, as the warm silver-blue starlight of his mother’s [Frost-Phoenix Jade Hairpin]. The golden solar stream of his father’s [All-Family Shared Cultivation Link] met at the center of his [Innate Chaos Demon Bone]. Every lesson his father had taught him over the past five months flashed crystal-clear through his young mind:.
“Nian’er, a true man’s strength isn’t measured by how many weak people tremble when he frowns—it’s measured by how many people can eat their dinner in peace when he stands at the door.”
“When someone bullies your little sister or threatens our neighbors, don’t let anger cloud your eyes. Plant your heels, lock your waist, and put every bowl of soup Dad cooked for you into one clean, upright punch!”
Feeling his nine-year-old blood-essence ignite into a roaring golden-black furnace of true Rank 3 Martial Grandmaster Internal Qi. Gu Nian squeezed seven-year-old Su Nuannuan’s small hand once and felt her warm, fragrant emerald-pink medicinal-poison qi pulsing in total harmony with his own!
“Big Brother Nian!” seven-year-old Su Nuannuan’s big dark eyes sparkled without a trace of fear as the twenty-foot crimson lightning spear descended to within fifteen feet of the school balcony eaves. “Nuannuan can feel Dad’s golden rice and Mommy Luo’s pretty ice-bird singing inside Nuannuan’s tummy!
That red lightning spear isn’t scary at all—it’s just a big noisy firecracker that needs a bath!”
“That’s right, Nuannuan!” nine-year-old Gu Nian’s voice rang out like a young dragon’s roar across Central Avenue as the golden-black Rank 3 Grandmaster aura around his small shoulders expanded to thirty feet wide! “I’ll smash its point with my fist, and you melt its tail with your sweet-herb mist—let’s show Dad how much we grew after eating our vegetables!”
Up on his flying bronze disk a hundred and twenty feet above the street. Forty-five-year-aged Imperial Envoy Zhao Kun , at Half-Step Rank 4, suddenly felt the skin on his scalp go numb. The twin pillars of black-gold and emerald-pink light rising from the elementary school balcony drowned out the crimson glow of his fifty-thousand-gold [Rank 4 Blood-Lightning Spear]:.
“Wait... what is happening on that school balcony?! Why aren’t those two little brats running or crying—and why is the spiritual pressure rising from a nine-year-old boy and a seven-year-old girl making my flying bronze disk tremble?!”