Chapter 359: Slay! Warning!

"Say that again—what did you say about the people of our Tianyu Dojo?"

Near the spatial gate, Horii stared fixedly at the esper before him, his voice nearly hoarse as he asked.

The surrounding espers all fell deathly silent, not daring to make even the slightest sound.

The esper facing Horii was nearly in tears, but under the crushing pressure of Horii's aura, he could only reply once more:

"Th-they probably all died..."

Bang!

Before he could finish speaking, he was sent flying by a single palm strike from Horii, hurled dozens of meters away.

Only after crashing into the wall did his momentum finally stop, and he dropped to the ground, his fate unknown.

"Great Xia's SS-rank, Xu Jingming! Very well!

Not only did he slip in right under my nose, he even killed every single one of our people!"

Horii had already reached the peak of fury.

Sakuragi Rin was a rare S-rank esper awakened once in decades for Sakura Country, and moreover the hope of Sakura Country's rise!

Anyone else could die, but she alone must not!

Beyond his anger, Horii couldn't help worrying about how he would explain things to the Grand Supervisor.

The original purpose of this operation had been to kill Xu Jingming.

But not only did he fail to kill Xu Jingming, he ended up losing Sakuragi Rin along with a hundred of Tianyu Dojo's mid-level forces.

"Stealing a chicken only to lose the rice" wasn't enough to describe the current disaster—this was losing the entire rice vat itself!

But just then, someone suddenly cried out joyfully: "Supervisor, the Holy Maiden has returned!"

Horii whipped his head around, and sure enough saw Sakuragi Rin walking out of the spatial gate with eight espers.

Though Sakuragi Rin at the forefront looked drained, she appeared to be in no life-threatening danger.

As for the remaining eight, their condition was even better.

"Holy Maiden, you're unharmed? That's wonderful!" Horii was overjoyed at the sight.

The large number of Tianyu Dojo members around them also breathed a sigh of relief at this.

Sakuragi Rin!

Their lofty, pride-worthy Holy Maiden of Tianyu Dojo absolutely could not be harmed!

"Xu Jingming killed Mark and the others. I only survived by using my trump card in the end.

But I was in a state of severe, near-fatal injury. After I recovered a little, I discovered that nearly all of our people were almost wiped out."

Sakuragi Rin spoke the excuse she had long prepared, her slender, graceful figure standing ramrod straight:

"As Holy Maiden, I failed to protect my companions' safety. The responsibility for this operation lies entirely with me. Please punish me, Supervisor."

"Such virtue—truly worthy of the Holy Maiden."

"Right, the noble Holy Maiden—even though the fault isn't hers, she still steps forward to accept punishment."

Sakuragi Rin was covered in blood, her condition arguably at its absolute worst, yet the first thing she did upon emerging was to take responsibility.

This act undoubtedly won the goodwill of most of the Tianyu Dojo espers present.

Horii naturally knew the fault wasn't hers, and waved his hand:

"This time the Great Xia people were far too cunning. It can't be blamed on you..."

Before he could finish, an esper hurried over with an anxious expression and reported in a low voice:

"Supervisor Horii, bad news—Great Xia's Ninth-Rank Wu Sheng Lord Xue Jian has destroyed our branch in Asahikawa City.

According to reports from residents in the city district, the entire thousand-meter radius around Tianyu Dojo has become a no-man's-land, with not a single survivor.

"Great Xia's Ninth-Rank Wu Sheng dares to strike at us?"

Horii's expression shifted slightly. "What's the reason? Are they trying to declare war on us?!"

"It seems... seems it's because we targeted their SS-rank Xu Jingming, so they chose to retaliate."

The man glanced at Horii's expression and reported cautiously.

"Targeted their SS-rank? Baka!"

Horii laughed in spite of his fury. "They killed nearly a hundred of our members, and we haven't even settled the score with them yet.

And now they're the ones coming to settle the score with us?! How absurd!!

Great Xia is truly so overbearing!

I will report this matter to the Grand Supervisor. Lord Xue Jian must be held responsible!!"

"Oh? You want to hold me responsible? Then I'd love to see how you plan to do that!"

Suddenly, accompanied by a low, bloodthirsty voice, a crimson figure appeared in the distant sky.

In the blink of an eye, he flew right before them.

The immense oppressive aura emanating from this person made every esper present hold their breath.

"Lord Xue Jian?! You're still here?!" Horii's expression changed drastically.

"The most important target hasn't been killed yet—how could I leave?"

A cruel smile curled at the corner of Lord Xue Jian's mouth. "Horii, you actually dared to make a move against my Great Xia's pride.

Your heart deserves death—so please, go die!"

Whoosh!!

Lord Xue Jian vanished from where he stood in a flash.

"Not good!"

Horii hurriedly activated his enhancement-type esper ability, his entire body seeming to blur into an illusion as he fled.

But even so, after a flash of crimson sword-light, his fine head was still directly sent flying!

Pfft!

Fresh blood spurted from his neck like a fountain.

The head of Juejing that had crashed onto the ground had not yet lost consciousness, and instead was shouting:

"I'm not willing to accept this, I'm not willing to accept this!! The Great Supervisor will definitely avenge me!"

A head actually speaking — this had completely exceeded the understanding of ordinary people.

But for an eighth-tier Grandmaster of the Enhancement system with a tenacious life force, it was perfectly normal.

In fact, if Juejing's head were reattached, he could even continue to survive.

"Not willing to accept it? From the moment you set out to make a move against Xu Jingming, the outcome was already sealed."

Smack—

A combat boot came down, and Lord Xue Jian crushed Juejing's head directly underfoot, as if stomping a stink bug to death.

From that moment on, the figure who had overseen the Tianyu Dojo was utterly dead.

And the group of ability users nearby had long since been stunned stupid!

Who could have known that the Tianyu Dojo, merely for making a move against Xu Jingming — without even causing any actual harm —

had directly scrapped an entire branch, plus an eighth-tier Grandmaster?

"This is Great Xia, this is the degree of importance they place on Xu Jingming!

I knew it — the consequences of going against Xu Jingming would absolutely not be as simple as they said!"

Sakuragi Rin secretly cried out in her heart, and even her own legs were trembling under this immense pressure.

Xu Jingming hadn't been harmed, yet they had already suffered such a retaliatory blow.

If Xu Jingming had truly died at their hands, she simply didn't dare imagine how severe the consequences would be!

"Lord Xue Jian! You've gone too far!"

Just as the crowd was still reeling in shock, three more figures flew in from the horizon.

Of these three, two were blond-haired, blue-eyed Caucasians; only the one in the middle had a Sakura Country face.

"Great Supervisor!"

A towering hatred flashed through Sakuragi Rin's eyes, and she quickly lowered her head, afraid that any abnormality might be noticed.

"Gone too far? I think it's you people who've gone too far!"

Lord Xue Jian snorted coldly, "This time it's merely a warning. If you dare to make another move against Xu Jingming —

the consequences will no longer be as simple as losing just one branch and one eighth-tier Grandmaster!"

Having said that, he paid no heed to the Great Supervisor whose face had turned the color of pork liver, and looked directly at the other two Caucasians:

"Furthermore, these words of mine aren't only aimed at them — they apply equally to you lot of American pigs.

Don't let us discover again that you harbor any intentions against Xu Jingming!"

Whoosh—

After speaking, Lord Xue Jian's entire figure shot straight up into the sky.

And not one of the three ninth-tier Martial Saints present dared to stop him.

Lord Xue Jian was a mid-tier ninth-tier Wu Sheng; they were merely low-tier ninth-tier. If it really came to a fight, they truly might not be able to win.

"The Martial Saints of Great Xia — one day you will pay the price! Let's go!"

At this point, having suffered a great loss, the Great Supervisor had no way to strike back.

After cursing once, he could only begin cleaning up the aftermath.

The only thing that gave him some comfort was that Sakuragi Rin was unharmed.

"Holy Maiden, this time our Tianyu Dojo Asahikawa branch has suffered heavy losses and urgently needs rebuilding.

We not only need to rebuild the branch's facilities, but also need to recruit personnel.

During this period, you should stay here for now, and be responsible for getting this work done well."

The Great Supervisor said in a measured tone.

And at that moment, Sakuragi Rin had already suppressed all her emotions, her beautiful face wearing an incomparably serious expression:

"Understood, I will certainly do my utmost to handle the rebuilding work well."

Perfect — let me begin completing the task the Master assigned, starting right here in Asahikawa City......

PS: Three updates complete. Once again, thank you to all the reader bosses for the gifts sent — thank you, thank you~~