At Jun Li's feet, the last of the Palace Guards lay bleeding into the rain-sodden stones. Although she had not held any intent on killing them, she certainly hadn't restrained herself either. With their Cultivations, it is possible that all may survive, though many were maimed permanently.

  "Hey…" Jun Li called out to one of the barely moving Palace Guards. "Why are you here? Do you just get paid well? Or do you think people like Ren Liwei are actually worth protecting?"

  After waiting a few moments for a response, Jun Li let out a disappointed sigh. "What a meaningless fight…" Jun Li put her scorn aside and pulled two small jade bottles from her Spatial Ring.

  One contained blood replenishment pills, while the other contained an elixir to ease fatigue. If these were the products of a normal, local alchemist, they would have been useless to Jun Li at this moment.

  For most restorative pills and elixirs, the Cultivator that consumes them must enter meditation and manually guide the medicinal essence through their body, while simultaneously dispersing the impurities of the medicine evenly through their meridians, so that it might naturally fade with time and further Cultivation.

  But Jun Li was far from a normal alchemist.

  Under the scrutiny of Zhu Enlai, she had been able to study some of the esoteric methods contained in her inherited memories. One of the most impressive and restrictive aspects of Jun Li's inherited alchemical knowledge was the complete intolerance for impurities they had, and the profoundly thorough refinement techniques within that allowed such high standards.

  According to Zhu Enlai, an alchemist who produces pills with an impurity of less than 5% would be considered a great expert, the likes of whom could comfortably carve out a position for themselves in any branch of the Alchemist's Association.

  The alchemical methods contained in Jun Li's memories, however, considered any level of impurity over 0.2% as a failure, completely unfit for human consumption.

  'These ones should be… about 3.8% impurity?' Jun Li pondered as she consumed a blood-replenishing pill. They were easily some of the purest pills Jun Li had ever made, and although they fell far behind the standards of her inherited wisdom, they were more than good enough for her to benefit from without needing to consciously absorb their effects.

  "Are you done watching?" Jun Li called out to Ren Liwei, who impassively watched as Jun Li cut down the Palace Guards.

  "Don't worry." Ren Liwei stepped out from the shade, towards Jun Li. "I was just making sure nobody could have any complaints after I kill you. I mean, after all this… there's simply no way to justify your actions here."

  "You're the one who hurt these idiots. I don't have to justify anything." Jun Li believed with absolute confidence that she was not responsible for anything that happened to the guards who attacked her.

  In her mind, the matter was entirely between her and Ren Liwei, and if they wanted to intervene on his behalf, then that was Ren Liwei's fault.

  "It's not that bad, actually..." Jun Li thought for a moment. "I'm here to make an example of you, to make sure nobody makes the mistake of harming my family ever again. They'll just add to the deterrent." Ren Liwei felt true disgust at Jun Li's words. "Even for a commoner, you truly are the lowest of the low…"

  "...don't you get bored of saying the same shit over and over…?" Unwilling to listen to Ren Liwei speak any further, Jun Li threw a butterfly sword at him, chipped and dulled from her fight.

  The sword Jun Li had thrown was smoothly deflected by Ren Liwei, a sharp blow with the back of his hand sending it careening into the palace walls.

  Yet, the sword had indeed forced a movement out of him.

  Splitting her focus between the techniques of the Glass Cloud Art and the Sparking Thorn, Jun Li had shadowed her thrown sword, slipping into an advantageous position and aiming a finger strike to slip past Ren Liwei's momentarily compromised guard. 'Sparking Thorn - Single-Point Strike!'

  Caught in the middle of defending himself, Ren Liwei forcefully activated some manner of technique, wreathing his fist in an electric current and lashing out to clash with her strike. 'Dark Cloud Art - Searing Bolt!'

  The exchange was too fast for either party to formulate any conscious thoughts behind their actions.

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  Even with the instinctive confidence built up over months of training her fingers to pierce through flesh and bone, Jun Li knew she wouldn't come out on top in a battle of raw power. This rapid, quarter-second assessment caused Jun Li's body to follow the muscle memory of her training.

  'Yield to thunder, and pass through flesh…' Within a half-second, Ren Liwei's fist violently blasted past Jun Li, sending a wave of pressure through the air, forcing the gently falling rain to clump and fall against the ground, with a noise akin to a bucket of water being poured out.

  Suddenly wincing in pain, Ren Liwei stepped off the garden grounds, leaping up to the lowest level of the palace's tiered roofing.

  Looking down towards Jun Li, who had remained below, Ren Liwei ran a hand across his flank, feeling streams of blood seep from a deep wound. Not a perforation, as Jun Li's initial technique would have created, but a laceration, as if made by a blade.

  Uncharacteristic of Ren Liwei, he made no display of anger or hate, instead drawing his spear, and once again wreathing his extremities with the electric power of his Martial Technique.

  Below, Jun Li was pleased with how well her training had served her. Switching mid-strike between the tenets of the Sparking Thorn, to the Drifting Ghost Blade, and implementing it barehanded… it was a demanding thing, and Jun Li would not have intentionally attempted it. 'No better way to find your limits than real combat… Master Zhu was right.'

  Glancing up at Ren Liwei, Jun Li saw the reserved intensity he bore, assuming a practiced stance with his spear. For a moment, Jun Li felt a strong aversion to fighting him, the memory of watching him train with the puppets of the Inner Sect playing in her mind. 'Well… I still have to kill him.' That aversion, however, only lasted a moment.

  Leaping up to the tier of roofing Ren Liwei waited on, Jun Li drew a long sword from her Spatial Ring. The blade she now held was the best she had found in her Spatial Ring, and she had trained with it extensively, finding that it suited both the Sparking Thorn and Drifting Ghost Blade quite well.

  A few steps out of range, Ren Liwei held his stance, the Martial Technique of his family maintained in perfect form, filling his weapon with an electric current strong enough to vaporize the rain as it landed on the spear's head.

  The proficiency Ren Liwei had in this technique wasn't solely fueled by simple talent, but equally by his pride in the heritage of his family, and in the martial legacy of his clan. The obsessively cultivated reverence that defined him pushed him to seek mastery of what he saw as his birthright.

  Ren Liwei made the first move, approaching in rapid, irregular movements that made it difficult to judge when he would enter attacking range.

  As Ren Liwei closed the gap, Jun Li slowly backed up, not fast enough to fully disengage, but fast enough to give her a split second longer to react to the movements of Ren Liwei's spear.

  With a burst of movement, Ren Liwei's spear fell in innumerable strikes towards Jun Li as if a landslide, the slight movements of Ren Liwei's hands evoking large, sweeping movements of the spear. Sharp thrusts and biting swipes cut towards Jun Li with the energy of a wild beast.

  Maintaining a wide distance, Jun Li smoothly slid across the tiles of the palace roofing, using the Glass Cloud Art to evade Ren Liwei's spear by inches, a vague electric tingling brushing against her each time.

  The dextrous and subtle movements of Ren Liwei's spear suddenly disappeared. Changing his grip on the haft of the spear, Ren Liwei slipped into a wider stance and violently swept the spear across the tiling of the roof, carving through tile after tile and sending chunks of glazed ceramic flying into the air, battering Jun Li with a force akin to a hail of sling bullets.

  Jun Li braced herself, even as the shattered tiles cut and bruised her through her robe, knowing that attempting to dodge or block in any manner could be used as an opportunity for Ren Liwei. Unfortunately, that instant of stillness was all Ren Liwei was looking for.

  Positioning himself with his back to the palace wall, Ren Liwei stepped deeply into Jun Li's range, sweeping his spear with a force that made it clear that Jun Li's options were to retreat or suffer greatly.

  At such close range, Jun Li lacked the room to dodge with grace and so shot back, directly off the palace roofing, out of range. Ren Liwei's eyes lit up, and a ghastly smile broke free on his face.

  "Yes!" With all the speed and fury of thunder, all Ren Liwei's hate and anger returned at once as he leapt off the roof towards Jun Li. "No escape!"

  In an instant, Jun Li realized her error. In being forced to escape the roof, she had leapt into the air, and with Ren Liwei's quick response, they were once again within range of one another. "Try dodging in the middle of the air!"

  Ren Liwei raised his spear, electricity exploding off its surface as he twisted mid-air into a practiced form. "Dark Cloud Art…" As Ren Liwei executed his technique, Jun Li attempted in vain to use Qinggong and speed her descent. "...Sin Shattering Thunder!"

  With a great 'crack' of lightning, Ren Liwei's spear slammed into Jun Li's side, the long blade of the spearhead carving into her gut with such force that the haft of the spear bent into a crescent.

  Her mangled body flying from Ren Liwei like the payload of a catapult, Jun Li's unconscious body ricocheted off the solid wooden pillar of a garden pavilion, cracking it and sending her body tumbling into the palace gardens, where her blood began to flow into the soil at an alarming speed.

  With a sigh of genuine, joyful relief, as if a burden had been lifted from his shoulders, Ren Liwei looked towards Jun Li with a smile. "Heaven truly is fair!" Speaking, Ren Liwei made his way to the garden pavilion, taking refuge from the rain as he slowly recovered, clutching his trembling spear-arm.

  "Be content, Jun Li." He spoke, looking down at Jun Li's limp body, not bothered by whether or not she was conscious. "A dog's death like this… is better than you deserved."