“Is everyone really alright?” she asked quietly.

  Preston nodded.

  “We were prepared. No one was hurt.”

  The people were safe.

  The house, however, was in ruins.

  And the protective array—which had been battered over and over by Timothy—was already at its limit. It would be useless if another attack came.

  “It’s fine,” Preston said. “A house can always be rebuilt.”

  Lauren frowned. Even if they rebuilt… doing it here made no sense.

  This place was too remote. The strongest person here was still only her grandfather—and even his Core Formation cultivation was the result of her help. She wouldn’t always be able to rush back in time.

  They had to move.

  But uprooting an entire clan wasn’t something she could force on them.

  She was still weighing how to persuade them when a sudden telepathic message came from Drake.

  “Come to the Moonlit Sect.”

  Lauren’s heart skipped.

  Her master had gone to the Moonlit Sect… for her?

  She didn’t hesitate any longer. Timothy’s matter had to be resolved once and for all.

  “Master has summoned me,” she said. “Grandpa, I’m leaving now. Once this is settled, I’ll return.”

  She placed a thick stack of talismans into Preston’s hands.

  “…Alright,” Preston said slowly.

  Lauren stepped outside.

  Dante and the others had already bound several people—among them Indiana, along with a few of the cultivators she had summoned for help.

  “Ms. Lauren,” Dante said, “look who we caught.”

  Lauren’s eyes fell on Indiana. Her face was streaked with tears, her expression tragic—as if she had just lost her dearest loved one.

  “Lauren,” Indiana sobbed hoarsely, “I’ve never wronged you. Why do you always target me? The Evercrest family disowned me. The only family I have left is my senior brother—and yet you still treat me like this. How can you be so cruel?”

  Slap.

  Lauren struck her across the face. Then she pointed behind her at the shattered ruins.

  “How dare you say that?” she snapped. “Look behind you. Those people are innocent. What the hell did they ever do to deserve this?”

  “I only wanted to be included in the family register,” Indiana cried. “I just didn’t want to be laughed at anymore. Is that really so wrong?”

  Lauren let out a cold laugh.

  “Not wrong? Right—you only wanted to be added to the register. So when they refused, your solution was to destroy the entire family, is that it?”

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  “That’s not what I meant! I only wanted Grandpa to come out and talk to us properly!”

  Preston roared from behind the formation,

  “Get lost! Which one is your grandpa?!”

  “Grandpa, you can’t deny our blood relationship!”

  Preston was shaking with rage. He had never in his life encountered someone so brazenly shameless.

  They had clearly already failed in negotiations—that was why he had activated the protective array.

  Lauren slowly exhaled. Her master was waiting—there was no time to waste.

  She turned to Dante and the others and said,

  “Do me a favor. Take all of them to the Moonlit Sect.”

  “Understood.”

  The helpers Indiana had called instantly panicked.

  “We’re innocent!”

  “We only came because our junior sister said someone was bullying her!”

  “Yes, yes! We just arrived and hadn’t even done anything—then we got beaten half to death!”

  Originally, Lauren hadn’t planned to waste her time on these fools.

  But Indiana hurriedly cried out,

  “It’s not their fault! It’s all my fault! Sister, please—let them go!”

  Lauren’s expression darkened completely.

  Fine.

  She waved her hand impatiently.

  “Take every last one of them.”

  The helpers instantly let out despairing groans.

  “Junior sister…”

  “You really screwed us over this time…”

  Moonlit Sect

  Dark clouds churned overhead, pressing down on the mountains like the sky itself was about to collapse.

  The moment Lauren and the others passed through the mountain gate, they were escorted straight to the council hall without delay.

  Inside the grand hall, Timothy lay upon an ice platform that radiated an intense, bone-chilling cold. It wasn’t an ancient ice bed, but its effects were nearly identical. His robes were spotless and new, and every inch of his once-mangling injuries had been restored so perfectly that not even a single crack remained. He looked as though he were merely asleep.

  But that was only on the surface.

  Herbert and Drake both knew exactly how close he had come to true death.

  Indiana broke free from the crowd and rushed straight to the side of the ice platform.

  “Senior Brother… Senior Brother, wake up!”

  Lauren stepped forward and bowed deeply to Drake.

  “Master.”

  Drake’s expression was cold and unreadable, devoid of any emotion.

  Lauren understood all too well—if her master hadn’t warned Herbert in advance, Herbert would never have spared her outside Mistvale after dealing with Timothy. He might not have dared to kill her outright, but he would have crippled her without hesitation. She would’ve ended up little better than Timothy.

  Drake’s gaze settled on her.

  “Shouldn’t you explain yourself?” he asked calmly. “Give Herbert an explanation.”

  Lauren took a slow breath and met Herbert’s furious eyes.

  “Mr. Herbert, you once said that family matters should be resolved within the family. My hatred for them stems from internal family conflict.”

  Herbert let out a cold laugh.

  “So you handled it by nearly beating them to death?”

  “He wanted to wipe out my entire Evercrest family,” Lauren said flatly. “What choice did I have?”

  “What?” Herbert’s eyes widened.

  Lauren inhaled deep.

  “I was in Sunspire when I suddenly received an emergency message from my grandfather. When I rushed back, I saw Timothy and Indiana smashing my family’s protective formation. I personally heard Timothy threaten to exterminate my entire clan.”

  “If I had arrived even a moment later, I would have been collecting the corpses of my relatives.”

  “For killing intent that borders on annihilation… I only wanted their lives in return.”

  Herbert’s eyes nearly burst from their sockets.

  He had been preparing for seclusion when his spirit suddenly warned him of grave danger. His eyelids twitched violently, and a hurried divination revealed that Timothy’s life was hanging by a thread. If he had arrived even one minute later, Timothy’s Nascent Soul would have fully escaped—at that point, even he wouldn’t have been able to save him.

  Lauren lifted her hand and pointed at Indiana, who was clinging to the ice platform.

  “If Senior Brother Herbert doesn’t believe me, you can ask her.”

  “Although the Evercrest family never formally acknowledged her, we still took her in when she was young. They hired a nanny to care for her, fed her, clothed her, and never mistreated her.”

  “What did my family ever do to wrong her?”

  “And yet she incited Timothy to slaughter my entire clan.”

  Herbert’s fury spiked instantly. Her again?

  This was the second time she had landed Timothy in a half-dead state.

  “Indiana,” Herbert barked, “what really happened?”

  Indiana lifted her tear-filled eyes to him.

  “Master… I only wanted to be entered into the family register. I never meant to become enemies with the Evercrest family…”