The calm was broken by a message from Silas. Leng Feng, perhaps feeling abandoned by his Jin allies or simply impatient, was making his move. He was personally leading a team to seize a remote Yun family temple in the mountains—a place of minor spiritual significance but immense symbolic value.
This was the opportunity Ye Xia had been waiting for. A chance to close the Leng Feng storyline decisively.
She didn't mobilize the Yun guards. This was personal. She went alone, armed with her spiritual dagger, her Qi Threads, and the dense power of her Middle Phase Qi Condensation.
She found Leng Feng and his men desecrating the temple's main hall. Leng Feng himself was attempting to pry a ancient spiritual jade from the altar.
"Looking for a handout, Leng Feng?" Ye Xia's voice echoed in the silent hall. "Some of us earn our power."
Leng Feng spun around, a savage grin on his face. "The orphan heiress! Come to defend her new family's trinkets? This ends tonight."
He was stronger than the last time they'd met. He had broken through to the Initial Phase of Qi Condensation. His aura was a blizzard of sharp, cold energy.
They fought. It was not like the brawl with Yun Zhong. This was a deadly dance of cultivators. Leng Feng attacked with blasts of freezing Qi, icicles forming in the air and shooting towards her. Ye Xia used her Mountain Stream Style, flowing around his attacks, her Qi Shield deflecting the worst of them.
She was more skilled, but he was more brutal. He fought with a reckless desperation she lacked. A shard of ice grazed her arm, sending a numbing cold through her limb.
Seeing her falter, Leng Feng lunged for the kill. "You're just a stepping stone!"
In that moment, Ye Xia didn't use a fancy technique. She used the first, most fundamental skill the system had given her: [Basic Financial Analysis]. She saw his attack not as a martial move, but as an over-leveraged, high-risk investment. He had committed everything to one thrust, leaving his core undefended.
She didn't dodge. She stepped into the thrust, twisting at the last second so his blade of ice slid past her ribs. At the same time, she unleashed a point-blank burst of pure, condensed Qi from her palm directly into his chest.
There was a sound like a thunderclap. Leng Feng's eyes widened in shock. The cold energy around him shattered. He flew backward, crashing into the altar, the spiritual jade falling harmlessly into Ye Xia's waiting hand.
He lay broken, his cultivation shattered. He was finished.
"Some investments," Ye Xia said, looking down at him, "are just bad bets."
She left him there for his men to find. The message was clear: the Yun family was under new management, and the price of crossing her was utter ruin.