Author note: Sun Qing is back and man did I enjoy writing this chapter. Another chapter coming tomorrow!

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Sun Qing had been talking about her punishment the moment they had left and hadn’t stopped.

This caused Sun Jiao to smile lightly which, against expectations, was neither from displeasure nor forced. Sun Qing’s voice was soothing to the ear like a singing summer bird.

Even though it was pleasurable Sun Jiao didn’t pay attention to what specifically was said and Sun Qing didn’t seem to expect him to respond.

The voice that gave a relaxing feeling was perfect for traveling and to Sun Jiao it was the gift that kept on giving.

Sun Jiao’s lips curled up slightly more.

Xiaobo hoped to use the temptation of Sun Qing’s body and get Sun Jiao to stop her. The first time she had talked for any length he hadn’t been paying much attention, but now that he was listening he found her endless chatter annoying.

Caught between two lies and no way to retort Xiaobo could only suffer in silence.

The two were almost at the gate when the two guards accomplished what Xiaobo wasn’t.

The two turned to each other, pulled out their weapons, and bashed each other on the head. They both crumpled to the ground unconscious.

This caused Sun Qing to lose her train of thought and left her with yellow hair and a mouth open in surprise.

“Brother! Did you see that? They were so scared of you they tried to kill each other to gain your favor!”

With a chuckle Sun Jiao corrected Sun Qing.

“I think they did that so that we wouldn’t kill them.”

“They dare!? Don’t they know they don’t decide that? We should kill them! Oh they might be faking it and attack us from behind! We must definitely eliminate future threats right brother? ”

With a finger on her chin and a smile she turned to look for her brother’s approval.

“Oh? You would bother with trash? Sister you’re almost the Fourth Layer. You can’t go around wasting your time on the likes of them.”

Sun Jiao knew it would be impossible to make Sun Qing into a kind and caring woman.

Not receiving the approval caused her to become a little upset. She rarely spoke back to her brother, but that had always been because they never disagreed on these matters.

Confused on what to do Sun Qing could only timidly reply.

“But...brother they might attack us once we pass…”

If anyone heard her now they would vomit blood from surprise. Even her father, the emperor, didn’t think the uncontrollable Sun Qing could ever use such a timid voice.

“You’re not afraid of them are you?”

Instantly the confusion cleared. Her brother thought she feared them! No wonder he was disappointed in her!

“No brother! Hmph! Hmph! Even if there were a hundred of them attacking me from behind I wouldn’t be scared!”

Sun Jiao decided to ignore Xiaobo.

“Good. Good. With you here I’m not worried either.” He reached out and patted Sun Qing’s head. She had grown a bit, but was still almost a head shorter than him.

Sun Qing had been hoping for a nod or a single word of praise. Closing her eyes she pushed up onto the tip of her toes forcing her head into Sun Jiao’s palm even more.

If water was praise then the Sun Jiao she knew was like a desert and at this moment she had found an oasis.

Sun Jiao returned his hand to his side and continued on past the guards approaching the door. Sun Qing stood for a moment enjoying the warmth in her hair before jumping forward and kicking the gate.

The gate and a good portion of the wall exploded inward. Had two guards sounded an alarm then more guards would have been standing behind the door and died instantly. Unbeknownst to them their clever or cowardly act had saved lives and the blast itself had served as an alarm. From that perspective they had performed their duty above and beyond expectations.

The guards flooded the courtyard from the guard’s quarters on both sides of the entrance. They were a mix of late First Layer and early Second Layer with a handful of them reaching the middle of the Second Layer the ki stage. From a separate room next to the guard’s quarters a monstrously large man emerged wearing a guard’s uniform.

With a voice matching his size he erupted in a roar filled with fury.

“ATTACKING THE SUN FAMILY THIRD PRINCE? WHO DARES?”

Gu Long was not only the third prince’s captain of the guards, but also the only Third Layer cultivator in the guards. Both he and his two lieutenants had gone to the Heaven Elements Academy where they studied cultivation and obtained elemental attributes.

Heaven Elements Academy had strict acceptance. Joining and staying in the academy required that one reach the First Layer by 13, Second Layer by 15, and 3rd layer by 20. These ages were considered barely acceptable to the academy. Even Jian Chen who had reached the second layer at 18 wouldn’t be qualified to join.

The Heaven Elements Academy existed as a place for clans lacking powerful cultivation methods to send their talented children to cultivate without having them join a sect which would often place limitations on their members.At the Heaven Elements Academy they could recieve cultivation methods that could give elemental attributes, pills, treasures, and techniques that would synergize with their elemental attributes.

Gu Long had joined at 13, but was sent away at 20 when he had failed to reach the Third Layer. Even having failed to graduate he was considered to be an outstanding talent. It was only that Heaven Elements Academy was a place where outstanding talents were only considered so-so.

Despite failing to graduate Gu Long still managed to breakthrough to the Third Layer and receive a very well paying and honorable job with the Third Prince.

Sun Qing gave a snort, but the talkative bird remained otherwise silent. In private she often controlled the conversation, but in public she would defer to her brother thus giving others the impression that he was the stronger of the two and in absolute control.

Xiaobo had naturally explained all this to Sun Jiao so he was prepared to speak, but as he opened his mouth he was interrupted.

“CAPTAIN THAT’S THE SECOND PRINCE AND PRINCESS!”

Gu Long felt as if he had a bucket of cold water poured over his head. The two had attacked first and with the third prince backing them up they could defend themselves with impunity. This meant that Sun Jiao alone wasn’t enough to cause his reaction, but Sun Qing was another matter entirely. They could defend themselves, but only if they had the strength!

As Gu Long thought about it the chill from the shock was slowly replaced by anger. Sun Qing had been at the body step of Third Layer for several years and everyone knew her strength.

Rumor was she could match a Fifth or Sixth Layer cultivator but that would only be if she went all out! Inside the city she was forbidden from doing this since last time she had gone all out she had caused significant damage to the city. When the emperor investigated he found out it was for a trivial reason and forced the limitation on her that she couldn’t do so unless it was an emergency.

Gu Long was thus confident he could hold out long enough for the emperor to be contacted by the Third Prince and receive reinforcements. This confidence wasn’t unfounded as during his time cultivating at the Heaven Elements Academy

This confidence wasn’t unfounded as he was not only Third Layer ki stage, but also had earth attribute and a Snapping Dragon Turtle technique both of which specialized in defense.

Having talked himself into regaining confidence he again spoke, but with much less force this time.

“So you’ve come to start a fight huh? Planning to kill the Third Prince and his entire family? Outside the palace I might have to show respect, but to someone that came to murder and rape his way through my home I will show no mercy!”

Sun Jiao didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. First the man said he was starting a fight, then kill a whole family, and he finally added on rape? If Sun Jiao continued to let him talk then would he get charged with cannibalism next?

The guards though saw the righteousness of their captain and had their moral raised with each evil charge laid against Sun Jiao.

“Yeah how dare you come into our home!”

“We won’t let you get away with your evil crimes!”

They all began to shout out support for their captain. Gu Long had seized the initiative and raised the moral of his troops. If this war then the battle would all but be determined.

Sun Jiao couldn’t take it anymore.

“Sister, shut him up.”

Sun Qing had a frown from Gu Long’s words. In her opinion Sun Jiao definitely wouldn’t waste time raping anyone here. He much rather torture and even if he was inclined to rape he would be able to find much higher quality women elsewhere.

Hearing Sun Jiao’s words though made her frown turn to a smile.

“Yes, brother!” and with a skip she was already in front of Gu Long.

Opening her palm she thrust it towards his open chest.

Gu Long, knowing the two’s volatile behavior, wasn’t surprised by the sudden attack.

Placing his arms in front of him a turtle shell made out of brown ki formed in front of him.

How could Sun Qing’s open palm without any technique break Gu Long’s earth attribute ki combined with a defensive technique?

Her palm slammed into the shell which trembled slightly as it dissipated the force, but still held firm.

Though the palm didn’t break the technique it still shoved Gu Long back two steps and caused his arms to feel numb. This caused Gu Long to be secretly shocked and wonder how the petite girl in front of him had such a powerful body. It must be known that Gu Long’s arms were bigger than her waist, but he could tell from that single strike; in a competition of pure strength he would lose.

Sun Qing landed lightly on her toes with a smile.

“Hehe! Earth attribute is pretty tough isn’t it? That’s the Divine Turtle Shell Protection technique isn’t it? Cracking is going to be fun isn’t it? It is!”

She prideful and didn’t enjoy sharing her voice in front the soldiers as they didn’t deserve to hear it, but would often forget her pride during a fight as she would get too excited and couldn’t hold back.

With another laugh she began to speak in a singsong voice.

“Green turtle, brown turtle doesn’t matter to me! Crush it up, grind it up, turtle stew in three!”

On saying three she launched forward with her ki appearing around her like clouds surrounding a mountain. It was a erie grey with a hint of ethereal green.

This time she skipped off the ground and twisted her body delivering a side kick to the brown ki turtle shell. The force of the kick blasted into the side of the turtle shell sending a shockwave outward. The shockwave crushed the ground beneath the two sending huge cracks throughout the courtyard like mighty dragons ripping through the earth. The guards near the captain were thrown back with streams of blood shooting out of their mouth.

The pressure from the kick continued on behind Gu Long and slammed into the front of the palace building causing an indent into the wall. Only the area behind Gu Long’s shell shield was undamaged.

“One!” she shouted out.

Gu Long, realized he couldn’t hold back and quickly brought out two shields from his space ring. The shields were square at the top and halfway down ended in a triangle. Rather than the shields attaching perpendicular to his arms they instead were parallel so that if he threw a punch he would be thrusting the triangle towards his opponent.

Releasing the Divine Turtle Shell Protection technique he then reformed it with help from his shields.

The shields were treasures he had earned at the Heaven Elements Academy and could help increase the strength of his technique.

This time when he activated the technique the shell surrounded his entire body as though he was standing inside a turtle shell.

Smiling at the change Sun Qing didn’t show any sign of worrying which caused Gu Long to sweat. With her song and the “one” after her attack, he knew she planned on ending it in three moves. If she didn’t then she would lose face in front of the soldiers and that was definitely not something she could allow.

Gritting his teeth he pushed down the fear. With every risk there was opportunity. If he could hold out for three moves then the two would most likely have no more face to continue their attack and could only retreat in shame! The reward for turning the two back on his own would be significant. Perhaps he could even receive help getting to the peak of the Third Layer!

Sun Qing moved again and this time small black spirits mixed in with the grey ki clouds surrounding her and a wailing sounded out that cause the soldiers to shiver.

Was going to make the song a bit longer(each number having it's own line), but don't want it to be to large of a habit for her. The 2nd line if you're curious was

“Change the size, larger prize, but no more harder to crack. Turtle stew, not for you, but for me it's a lovely snack!”