True Heir of Chaos: From Villainess to Empress

Jian Dan was thrown roughly to the ground. A raspy voice followed.

"Little friend Mó Yuè, there is no need to pretend in front of me. I know my son's petty tricks are beneath your notice."

Jian Dan opened her eyes and rose calmly. Her gaze landed on two faces that bore a striking resemblance.

Standing to the side was Ma Feijun, folding fan in hand, affecting a smug air.

"So arrogant during the day, making a fool out of me," he sneered. "I've got a top-grade recording stone, and I plan to capture every detail of your charming performance."

His greasy eyes lingered on her body, making Jian Dan sick to her stomach. Across from her, Ma Yi, the Ma clan's patriarch, remained unbothered. His Void Refinement cultivation pressed down like a mountain, locking her body in place.

She had expected Ma Feijun to have backup, but not that he'd drag in his father. This wasn't just disgusting, it was obscene.

"Enough, your business can wait," Ma Yi cut off his son and turned to her. "Hand over the Mó Yuè Zhǎn you've bonded with, and perhaps I'll let you live."

So, the father wanted her weapon, and the son her body. Jian Dan saw the crack between their desires.

"With your pressure pinning me down, how do you expect me to retrieve anything?"

Ma Feijun immediately warned, "Father, be careful. This one's slippery. Don't fall for her act."

She ground her teeth. If she lived through this, Ma Feijun would regret it.

"Hmph, she's still too green to outsmart me," Ma Yi said, though he loosened the suppression slightly.

Jian Dan waved her hand. The Mó Yuè Zhǎn had long been restless. Freed, it flashed into the air, its half-moon blade circling her in a protective arc.

Ma Yi's eyes gleamed with greed. This was the prize he'd thought forever out of reach. And now, it was within his grasp. He reached for it, but the weapon ignored him, hovering protectively around Jian Dan.

"Still playing hard to get? Hand it over!"

He increased the pressure. Jian Dan's organs twisted under the force. Blood spilled from her lips.

"If you want the Mó Yuè Zhǎn, you'll have to kill me. Otherwise, you'll never claim it."

"You think I won't?" He'd already abandoned any promise to his son. The only thing in his eyes now was the weapon.

A sword-light pierced toward Jian Dan's forehead. Even Ma Feijun couldn't stop it in time.

She didn't move. Just as Mó Yuè Zhǎn readied to retaliate, she signaled it to hold.

A white beam shot from the ornament between her brows, shattering the sword-light and piercing Ma Yi's chest.

In the blink of an eye, lines of white light began to seep from his body—three, five, then a flood. His form was drowned in blinding brilliance.

Ma Feijun stared, stunned. He reached to help, but the light consumed his arm, reducing it to ash.

"Aaargh!" he screamed, scrambling to retrieve a teleportation talisman.

Before it could activate, a single spark ignited it. It crumbled to ash.

"Leaving without me, dear Ma Feijun?"

Jian Dan's voice echoed from behind him, ice cold.

Her eyes glowed a haunting blue. The Ma clan had gone too far. They had wasted one of her life-saving talismans. Now, she wanted revenge.

She placed a palm on his head. After a swift soul-search, Mó Yuè Zhǎn tore him to ribbons. She incinerated the remains with a fireball.

As for Ma Yi, he had long since collapsed, riddled with wounds. His soul tried to flee the cave but was caught midair by Jian Dan.

She pulled out a jade box, stuffed his soul inside, and sealed it.

With Ma Yi's death, the cave's formation crumbled. Jian Dan didn't rush out. Instead, she summoned her guardian tree.

"Liuchuan, I'm injured. Cover me. We're returning to Mó Yàn Peak—now."

The willow dropped its branches, encasing her in a cocoon and sinking into the earth. Within breaths, they were back in her cave.

From afar came a shrill alarm.

Jian Dan restored her surroundings to their original state, glanced at Shi Ci, and said casually, "What's that noise? So loud. Go check."

"Yes," he answered, still dazed.

While his back was turned, Jian Dan swallowed a top-grade Small Recovery Pill and circulated her qi to mend her internal wounds. She healed nearly halfway before he returned.

"What happened?"

"Ma Feijun, Peak Lord of Mó Yǐng Peak... has fallen."

"How timely."

Shi Ci trembled, his heart sinking. He knew there was no escape now.

Jian Dan reclaimed the silver beetle she'd left on him and spoke lazily.

"Relax. I don't need to kill you. But others will have questions. You'd better tell the truth, or your soul will be forfeit."

His last shred of hope vanished. He dropped to his knees.

Jian Dan poured herself a cup of purple-heart fruit wine and sent her voice to Liuchuan.

"Did we leave any traces?"

"None. I used the surrounding plants as cover. Not even a scent remains. And don't call me so sweetly, it's weird."

"Thank you, Liuchuan." Finally, she relaxed. Just moments earlier, a powerful divine sense had swept over her cave. She acted unaware, sipping her wine.

Tonight would not be peaceful.

By the time the Ma clan received news of Ma Feijun's death, the soul lamp in the ancestral hall had already gone dark. The attendant stumbled as he rang the mourning bell.

"The Patriarch... has fallen."