Miss Grace's residence stood near the lumberyard, a proper suburban villa with clean air and lovely scenery.
Kenneth's party arrived at the appointed time, and Li Fei went out to greet them herself, all smiles.
"Good morning."
Li Fei greeted them warmly, and noticed that Kenneth had brought not only two bodyguards but also a few tabloid reporters trailing behind him.
He himself wore a sharply tailored white suit and looked every inch the dashing gentleman.
But when the debonair young noble laid eyes on Li Fei, his genial smile visibly froze, and for a moment he simply forgot himself.
—This woman...
Even Kenneth, who hated Li Fei down to the marrow, had to admit it: every single time he saw her, her beauty stunned him. It was a heart-stopping allure that radiated from within, and had nothing to do with her having changed her hairstyle.
He quickly collected himself and greeted her politely.
"Good morning, my lady."
"Please, come with me."
Li Fei warmly ushered them into the hall. They had barely sat down when servants brought coffee and pastries.
After a few pleasantries, Kenneth declared his sincere wish to bury the hatchet.
"I'm terribly sorry. My past rudeness led to some unnecessary misunderstandings... I'm also grateful that you've been willing to forget those unpleasant matters and accept the friendship of the Medis family."
As he spoke, he took out three gift boxes and gently pushed them to the center of the table.
"Two portions of griffin essence blood and a Soul Gem. They can't erase my offense, but I hope they let you feel our sincerity."
"I can feel the Medis family's sincerity."
Li Fei nodded happily and reached for the boxes, but a spell contract was slid onto them first.
"Your outstanding performance at the Magic Academy is plain for all to see, so the Medis family would like to hire you as a family tutor, so that we might learn from your wisdom."
"These gentlemen from the press will bear witness as well," Kenneth added courteously.
"Ah, I did promise that."
Li Fei smiled lightly. "But you know, the Enforcement Corps is always preaching that people shouldn't sign spell contracts carelessly, so they don't get cheated... Don't misunderstand, I'm not doubting the Medis family. It's just that every citizen of Loxibrook has a duty to uphold the spirit of that policy."
"So I'll need an expert to look this contract over first... Also, I'm only a first-year, my skills are shallow, so I'll have someone appraise the griffin essence blood too. I trust the Medis family's sincerity completely, but you know, a little caution never hurt anyone."
—Peasant.
Kenneth scoffed inwardly, but still made a "please" gesture and let Li Fei step out briefly with one portion of essence blood and the contract.
They were all people who guarded their reputations. Nobody would try any underhanded tricks on something destined for the newspapers.
While he waited, he tried striking up a conversation with Miss Grace and got nowhere. Luckily, Yusura, who had stepped out earlier, came back just then. The kindly elder kept chiming in with "young and promising" and "a bright future ahead," and the two chatted and laughed as though they'd met too late in life.
The unlikely friends were in the middle of a lively conversation when Li Fei returned to the hall.
"It seems you've fully grasped the sincerity of the Medis family," Kenneth said happily.
"Mm. It's real."
Li Fei nodded.
"In that case, I can bring this out early."
Smiling, Kenneth produced a bottle of champagne and set it lightly on the table, the corners of his mouth curled. "To celebrate our fruitful cooperation."
"Ah, don't rush to open the champagne."
Li Fei's gaze shifted to Yusura. "Is it done?"
"Yes."
Yusura drew a letter from an inner pocket and handed it to Li Fei.
"Good."
Li Fei tucked the letter away and pointed at a potted plant nearby. "Take that out of here. Flowers and plants don't grow easily. It would be a shame to burn them."
Yusura did as asked, lifting the pot and leaving with the two half-beast servants who had been pouring tea and water.
"What is the meaning of this?"
Kenneth glanced around the now rather empty hall, and his smile gradually faded.
The two guards behind him sensed that something was off too. They quietly gripped their weapons, and the profound aura of mid-Sequence Transcendents spread outward. The reporters found it hard to breathe. Their faces flushed red and they staggered back several steps.
"The Medis family's sincerity is genuine, and bringing reporters along was a wise choice," Li Fei said with a faint smile, taking her time. "But you made a few mistakes."
"First, you shouldn't have given me real griffin essence blood."
"Second, you shouldn't have picked a negotiation site outside the city."
"Third, and most important of all: you shouldn't have provoked me, because I hold grudges."
Seeing Li Fei finally show her blade, Kenneth slowly rose to his feet and let his two guards step in front of him, while his eyes swept the room.
He hadn't dared leave the city to meet a vengeful, greedy enemy without preparation. In fact, before setting out, Kenneth had sent people with Transcendent tools to scout the place in advance. He had also gotten confirmed intelligence from his "eyes," Miss Grace, and only after learning that Li Fei had come alone did he bring his guards and the reporters to the meeting. To be safe, a powerhouse of the family was also lying in wait in secret.
After all, back when the Angel of the Solitary Isle had only just risen to fame, her private feud with Kenneth hadn't been enough to threaten the Medis family. But since then the Spell Encyclopedia Lady had claimed the laurels, founded the Sparkfire Charity Organization, and earned the Golden Brooch. Her reputation in Loxibrook now stood at its zenith, and the light she gave off was no less dazzling than that of the twin stars of the Magic Academy.
That meant Li Fei's very existence had cost the Medis family their sleep, and a private grudge between youngsters had been laid on the tables of the Medis family and even the hunchbacked, wheezing Noble Alliance.
So today's negotiation had been taken very seriously by the whole family, which had sent a powerhouse to watch over it in secret.
Kenneth firmly believed that unless a high-Sequence powerhouse was lying in ambush here, a mere low-Sequence mage girl, however extraordinary her talent, could never threaten his safety!
"Don't bother looking."
Li Fei picked up the still-steaming coffee from the table. "There's no hidden high-Sequence powerhouse here."
"I'd heard you suffered lingering damage to your soul. It seems it's already past saving."
Facing her undisguised hostility, Kenneth's expression darkened, and his tone took on a warning edge. "If I were you, I would never anger a noble family that has shown goodwill."
"Noble?"
Li Fei smiled. "Rumor has it... that when the Medis family joined the noble camp and rose in rebellion, they came within a hair of total destruction... and only because the Count's principal wife moved into the Bai Manor with her daughter, putting in a good word for you on the side, did the Medis family narrowly escape the reckoning."
"Let me clarify here: that's not a rumor."
"Because I've been a guest at the Bai Manor."
"I have to say, your late father had decent taste... your stepmother, and that stepsister of yours, with no blood tie to you at all..."
Li Fei paused, licked her lips, and went on as if savoring the memory.
"So juicy~~~"
"You!"
Hearing Li Fei bring up those two, Kenneth's handsome face twisted for a moment.
For the Medis family, the late Countess and her daughter were an untouchable scar, a smear of mud on the family's face, sinners that every member who regarded the iris crest of Medis as an honor strove to forget and could never stop dwelling on.
Who could have imagined that the proud and imposing Count of Medis had never once touched his own wife? Even when she carried another woman's daughter, he dared not voice his anger. He swallowed his knocked-out teeth along with the blood, then put on a smiling face and fawned over the mother and daughter, who had been remade in another woman's image, with every show of deference.
But every direct-line member of the family knew it was true.
The reason the Count of Medis swallowed his pride so meekly was simple:
the Countess's lover, Lady Kalida, was a high-Sequence powerhouse.
Later, the she-devil in league with Lady Kalida cut down a Duke in full view of everyone and incurred universal wrath. The Medis family joined the noble camp without hesitation, determined to make those two women regret it, to leave them unable to live and unable to die.
But the outcome of that war made the whole world tremble.
The she-devil crushed the mighty noble coalition like rotten wood. Amid the ruins left when the old order came crashing down, she walked the red carpet paved with noble blood, passed beneath banners hung with severed heads, and was crowned the youngest Supreme.
The new order tore off its hypocritical skin. While establishing a series of laws to create a prosperous and peaceful living environment, the she-devil led by example in demonstrating the truth that whatever isn't forbidden is permitted, and a den of iniquity called the Bai Manor rose from the ground. The Countess and her daughter no longer needed to hide. While the Count's bones were barely cold, they openly moved into the Bai Manor and lived very happily there. After all, it held not only a beloved lover and mother (though in the context of the Bai Manor, those two could be understood as one and the same), but also many like-minded sisters, who could sit as equals with the high-Sequence ladies. Sometimes they compared notes with the esteemed City Lord, Lady Elizabeth, on how to banish demons and protect the righteous, and sometimes they delved into the anatomy of the phoenix... Out of consideration for their past devoted service, they had even interceded for the Medis family, allowing the rebels who should have been wiped out root and branch to carry on.
But clearly, the members of the Medis family were not grateful. They had survived, yes, but they had lost their most precious possession, their noble dignity!
After that, Kenneth's stepsister and stepmother became the family's most Forbidden topic. Everyone knew the truth, yet they tacitly kept it unspoken, as though those two had never existed.
Li Fei, however, understood well that if you hit someone, you hit the face, and if you kill someone, you kill the heart. Though her relationship with the sisters in the Bai Manor was perfectly innocent, a pure friendship that had only nearly produced Charm Marks, that didn't stop her from fabricating a lie close to the truth to tear open the Medis family's old scar.
Judging by Kenneth's expression alone, she had achieved her aim.
His face contorted, he said, biting off each word:
"So you plan to go back on your word again..."
"Senior, you misunderstand."
Li Fei grinned brilliantly, the line of her enchanting lips curving upward. "I'm still willing to work with the Medis family. It's just that before that, we have to settle our accounts."
As she spoke, she pulled out a crimson spell book with a glaring hole in it.
"Don't do anything dangerous."
Kenneth took out his staff as well, quickly chanted an incantation, and raised a fourth-tier Mana Deflection Shield. Then, his eyes half-lidded, his tone full of menace, he said: "Otherwise, in self-defense, I may cause you some unnecessary harm."
As he spoke, he took half a step forward.
Kenneth could tell that the spell book in Li Fei's hand was of no mean quality, with a bloodthirsty, malevolent aura.
But in the end, it was a defective piece with a huge hole in it.
So what if it could still store spells?
Unlike a Spell Scroll, a spell book was more powerful, and could even be entrusted to a strong Transcendent to pre-load spells beyond the wielder's own level. But it had to be fueled by the wielder's own mana, and the spell's power depended on the caster's ability. And what grade of spell could a low-Sequence mage cast even if she wrung herself dry? Fourth-tier? Fifth-tier?
He mustn't forget that Kenneth had personally witnessed the miracle Li Fei performed at the exchange tournament. He knew very well that her real strength lay in close combat. As for her magical attainment, apart from cultivating especially fast, knowing an especially large number of spells, and casting especially quickly... there was nothing special about it. Even holding a spell book, she could hardly pose a lethal threat to a mid-Sequence Transcendent.
"Is that your last words?"
Li Fei sensed a veiled, dangerous Transcendent aura outside the hall lock onto her.
Obviously, it was the hidden powerhouse issuing a warning.
But her expression didn't change. She urged him sincerely: "Why not say a few more?"
"Give it a rest."
Kenneth finally couldn't help sneering. "It seems too much praise has made you lose yourself."
With that, he took another half step forward, his gaze gloomy, weighing whether to teach Li Fei a lesson and vent a little of his hatred.
The two guards beside him weren't focused on Li Fei either, but on guarding against any helper who might appear at any moment.
Put simply, a mere low-Sequence mage girl who could cast a fifth-tier spell at full effort would already count as having abundant mana. And considering the gap in casting skill, a fifth-tier spell from a low-Sequence mage would hardly be more lethal than a standard fourth-tier one. There was no way it could break a fourth-tier shield and kill Kenneth.
And the moment Li Fei dared to fire the first shot, the hidden powerhouse would step in and put a stop to this farce.
So as long as she had no helpers, the situation wouldn't spiral out of control.
Unless... this girl, who had set foot on the Transcendent path only a few months ago, and who had already claimed the laurels of the two academies' exchange tournament with mid-grade battle qi, had also quietly mastered an Advanced Meditation Technique and gathered a lavish set of gear, so that she could cast sixth-tier spells with a low-Sequence body...
The possibility flashed through one guard's mind, and then he shook his head almost imperceptibly, nearly amused by his own fanciful notion.
"It's not me who'll be the death of you, but your arrogance."
Li Fei sighed softly, and a surge of mana suddenly poured into the Blood Demon Scripture.
A heat wave laced with thick sulfur fumes roared out, and a blazing flame bloomed from her palm.
"Stop!"
Sensing the terrifying, bone-chilling aura, the powerhouse lurking outside the hall bellowed, and a giant ice pillar punched straight through the wall, trying to wedge itself between Li Fei and Kenneth.
But it was too late.
Amid a low roar from the abyss, the azure fourth-tier mana shield dissolved like foam, and vanishing together with it into the black-and-red magma was Kenneth, voice, smile, and all.
"Damn it!"
"Get out of the way!"
The two guards clearly had no resolve to die saving him. They simply dodged by instinct to save themselves. And the Transcendent following in secret could never have imagined that the Medis family's once-in-a-century talent, a powerful mage who had stepped into the mid-Sequences, wouldn't last a single exchange against Li Fei.
He could only watch as the scalding ball of magma swallowed Kenneth.
And so the grudge was settled.
Li Fei yawned lazily.
Apart from spurring her on a little at the very beginning, this guy hadn't been able to pose the slightest threat for a long time. Killing him wasn't even worth celebrating.
Sizzle, sizzle...
A moment later the light and shadow faded. The huge hall lay in ruins, the ice pillar across its center cut in half. The neat floor tiles where Kenneth had stood had become a charred black pit, and the lingering heat licked at the ice pillar, so that water kept dripping onto the scorching bottom of the pit with a sound like a teppanyaki grill, along with an acrid smell.
Li Fei pinched her nose in disgust. Having studied junior high physics, she naturally understood that part of this nauseating stench came from Kenneth himself, vaporized and gasified.
Whoosh...
Mana, now physical, surged out and tore the ice pillar to pieces. A middle-aged mage with a mustache floated in midair, looking down on Li Fei, his Mage's Robe snapping in the wind.
"You have some nerve!"
The middle-aged mage roared, his beard and hair bristling, his freezing killing intent washing over Li Fei like a tide.
When Li Fei stayed silent, he slowly descended from the air and walked step by step up to the murderer of his family's genius. The mountainous pressure nearly froze the air into ice.
"You dared trample on our family's goodwill and kill one of my kin... Do you want a fight to the death with the Medis family?!"
The mage forced the words out through his teeth and raised his wand, deadly mana flickering at its tip.
"A fight to the death? Do you Medises have what it takes to go up against me, Li Fei?"
Li Fei couldn't even be bothered to lift her eyelids. She calmly lit a cigarette.
"You really think I wouldn't dare kill you..."
The mage's expression grew darker still, the mana around him practically boiling.
"Want to kill me? Fine, I'll give you the chance."
Li Fei exhaled a puff of smoke, then reached out and took hold of his wand herself, pressing the tip against her own forehead, her eyes full of provocation and mockery.
"Ready yet?"
"One incantation and my little life is yours."
"..."
The middle-aged mage said nothing. He first glanced at the golden dove brooch Li Fei had deliberately pinned to her chest before leaving the house, then at the few remaining shards of Kenneth's staff in the deep pit, and at the humanoid outline left by dissolved Transcendent materials, and finally turned his gaze to that bewitching face, so utterly unafraid.
He was beyond furious.
And so, in a state of towering rage, this powerful mage actually reined in his mana of his own accord, so as not to hurt Li Fei, who stood right in front of him.
His overbearing aura wilted in that very moment.
That was exactly what Li Fei had wanted to see, so she didn't press him. She dropped her mocking look and flashed a radiant smile.
"As long as the family continues, the appearance of an even better genius is only a matter of time."
"So let's get back to talking about the cooperation agreement. Wouldn't it be lovely to bury the hatchet?"
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