Chapter 182

Chapter Fifty: You Are Truly Cloud

　　The presence of the Blonde-haired Maiden suddenly vanished, causing the White-haired Maiden to furrow her brows as she exerted all her strength to trace the线索. She managed to catch only a faint scent in a certain direction.

　　Bai Ling was getting anxious.

　　Wait, what about her wife?

　　What about her big wife?

　　”Shrinking Earth into Inches…”

　　She had anticipated the ability to alter terrain, having witnessed something similar in her past life in Tianhai City when a road inexplicably appeared overnight in the middle of a building, splitting it in two. It was speculated then to be the work of a high-tier earth-element Spiritual Energy Manipulator, but now it seemed Yun Liang was responsible.

　　However, this “Shrinking Earth into Inches” technique, which could instantly teleport someone away, was something she’d never seen before.

　　Closing her eyes and carefully sensing, she was relieved to find that the person hadn’t gone too far—likely inside one of the rooms at the innermost part of the complex.

　　Focusing mental energy on a single point and continuously applying pressure in the vector direction, then—

　　BOOM!!

　　The wall blocking her way crumbled with a thunderous roar, leaving a clear path ahead.

　　…………

　　”I? Let’s say so,” the man slowly said, “Let’s reintroduce ourselves—I am the future heir of the Yun Family, a Fifth-tier Earth-element Spiritual Energy Manipulator, Yun Liang.”

　　Yuan Xiaoling frowned slightly, wondering why he was introducing himself when she had been asking if he was the one leading misdeeds recently in Tianhai.

　　”Big Brother Yun Liang, she has connections in Tianhai City and already knows your identity, yet she pretends not to,” Xin Lan seized every opportunity to stir things up, “What a hypocritical woman.”

　　Yun Liang paid no attention to her, as if he hadn’t heard, and even stood up to take a couple of steps toward Yuan Xiaoling, “Miss Yuan, would you care to introduce yourself?”

　　”Must I repeat my information myself? Fine,” Yuan Xiaoling crossed her arms, not losing any momentum, “A Fourth-tier Water-element Spiritual Energy Manipulator, Commander of one of the Five Great Armies of Tianhai City.”

　　Meaning don’t think just because this neighborhood is their territory, but broaden your perspective—a bit wider, and the whole Tianhai City is her home field. She might have trouble stepping out of this neighborhood, but they definitely couldn’t leave Tianhai.

　　Whether or not they caught the undertone of threat, Yun Liang chuckled softly instead.

　　”Miss Yuan, Tianhai City is merely a rootless floating weed, an experimental ground without foundation. Your status in Tianhai doesn’t really matter.”

　　Yuan Xiaoling blinked slightly, “Rootless floating weed?”

　　Could a city be described as such? She’d never heard of this concept before.

　　”Firstly, there needs to be a sufficiently large and united collective, generally a family bound by blood ties, ensuring they maintain dominance in the city. This allows for continuous growth through the siphoning of Spiritual Energy Manipulators’ abilities. The chamber of commerce once aimed for this, but ultimately failed because they weren’t truly a family. The more scattered the bloodlines, the more conflicting the interests.”

　　”After establishing a stable force, you need to provide a system for advancement in terms of power. Each family has its own legacy, and our Yun Family’s Earth-element system is one example.”

　　Yun Liang looked at the Golden-Haired Maiden with interest, “Can you achieve this, Miss Yuan?”

　　Yuan Xiaoling remained silent, unable to answer.

　　No, she couldn’t. Her own abilities were like gifts from the wind, offering no reference value to anyone.

　　Neither Bai Ling’s abilities offered much reference. Die entire family first, endure bullying, and finally experience betrayal. In another world, that’d basically equal unlocking a Mangekyou Sharingan.

　　So…

　　”What do you really want to say?” Yuan Xiaoling asked coldly.

　　She mimicked Bai Ling’s tone, pretending to have backbone while remaining unreadable.

　　”Miss Yuan appears to have everything going smoothly, Tianhai City thriving, everything seemingly on track. But in reality, the future isn’t looking bright at all,” Yun Liang said.

　　Xin Lan, seeing him genuinely helping to criticize Yuan Xiaoling, immediately got excited and chimed in:

　　”Big Brother Yun Liang is absolutely right, Yuan Xiaoling, everything you have now is fleeting, like foam on the sea surface, a paper wall that can be toppled with a push, heading straight for self-destruction!”

　　The two exchanged words, painting the Golden-Haired Maiden as already a skeleton in the grave.

　　Yuan Xiaoling originally wanted to say something about human effort or infinite possibilities, but upon reflection, decided it wasn’t necessary to discuss these matters with him.

　　”How I fare and how Tianhai City fares seems unrelated to you,” she said indifferently, “Rather than the future, I think you should focus more on how you’ll escape today.”

　　Yun Liang smiled, “You’re mistaken, Miss Yuan and Tianhai City can both be related to me.”

　　Xin Lan instinctively chimed in, “That’s right, it’s not up to you to decide. If Big Brother Yun Liang says we’re related, then we are… Hmm?”

　　Wait, something felt off.

　　Yun Liang completely ignored his younger sister’s confused gaze and continued, “If you’re willing, both you and Tianhai City can receive the support of the Yun Family. Be it vast economic power, military strength, or our inherited promotion system, all blessings can be yours.”

　　”… What do you mean?”

　　”I’ve already said, the most important bond to sustain a force is blood and family,” he said, “If you’re willing.”

　　Up until this point, it just felt strange, but after hearing that sentence, Yuan Xiaoling understood.

　　The Golden-Haired Maiden blinked her eyes, pointing at herself incredulously, “Are you proposing to me?”

　　Not that Ning Ning expected it—how could a future big boss, a regional overlord like the Yun Family, possibly be interested in her? Was he craving her body?

　　Ning Ning was just stunningly beautiful, with a voluptuous figure, young yet at the peak of Fourth-tier, wielding extraordinary power over an entire city, and being the daughter of a top supernatural family.

　　Emmmmm, she was indeed pretty great, even she thought so.

　　”Impossible!” Xin Lan nearly jumped up, “How could Big Brother Yun Liang ever look at a woman like you? Don’t be presumptuous…”

　　”That’s correct,” Yun Liang put down his hand and made a gentlemanly bow, “You may interpret it as such.”

　　Xin Lan jumped up this time, shaking her head like a dehydrating mop.

　　”No, no, impossible! Big Brother Yun Liang, wake up! What’s so great about this woman? Sure, she’s a bit prettier, her chest is a bit bigger… some, and she’s one tier stronger, how does that compare to my pure devotion to you!”

　　Yuan Xiaoling glanced at her, checking her reflection in the glass window, wondering if her beauty wasn’t just a little bit better.

　　Never mind, it didn’t matter anyway, apparently Yun Liang wasn’t paying her much attention.

　　”I’m curious, on what basis are you proposing to me,” Yuan Xiaoling found it amusing, “Regardless of what you’ve done in Tianhai City, based solely on what your family did in Chunhai, do you think we wouldn’t know?”

　　The Golden-Haired Maiden gestured toward the window, “The forces you stole from Chunhai City, those called ‘Corrupted Wooders,’ their corpses are still lying outside.”

　　Pretending to gesture, she was actually checking if Bai Ling had arrived, but unfortunately, the window’s view was limited, showing little of the outside situation.

　　”It was merely a temporary conflict of interest; stances aren’t forever distinct. And stances can change easily if you nod,” Yun Liang chuckled, “Our families will pretend nothing happened a few years ago.”

　　”Perhaps from a profit standpoint, but I refuse,” Yuan Xiaoling replied without hesitation.

　　On the side, Xin Lan listened to these conversations, feeling like she was from another world, watching some unprecedented sci-fi movie.

　　Her favorite brother proposing to the big-breasted woman she despised the most, and the big-breasted woman even refusing.

　　What was wrong with this world?

　　Yun Liang suddenly laughed.

　　”Miss Yuan, since you came here today, you no longer have the option to refuse. Have you forgotten how you got here?”

　　Yuan Xiaoling’s heart skipped a beat.

　　”Shrinking Earth into Inches.” With his resources, taking a few people out of the blockade area was entirely possible.

　　”Are you planning to forcibly abduct me?”

　　”I prefer to call it a somewhat forceful method,” Yun Liang extended his hand, stopping only three body lengths away from Yuan Xiaoling, “So I advise Miss Yuan Xiaoling to accept my suggestion gracefully.”

　　Seeing him getting closer, Yuan Xiaoling started to panic.

　　Was this shameless guy really going to touch her?

　　Ning Ning wasn’t some naive girl standing there to be touched. She quickly scanned the room—it was spacious, roughly 200 square meters, but compared to a building, it was still small. If she activated the Tide Agreement here, causing the True Dragon to manifest instantly, it would likely collapse the house.

　　Alright, let’s go for it—

　　BOOM!!!

　　Before Yuan Xiaoling could act, an invisible colossal force shattered the wall from the outside, simultaneously grabbing the flying debris heading toward her and throwing it toward Yun Liang.

　　Xin Lan screamed in fright, falling onto her butt, but the imagined scene didn’t happen. The concrete and brick fragments stopped in front of Yun Liang, reshaping into a stone shield and blocking the impact of the residual Mental-type force.

　　Looking out the large hole in the wall, the White-haired Maiden hovered mid-air, her crimson eyes dripping blood, her snow-white hair wildly dancing in the wind like burning flames.

　　”Do you even deserve it?” she said, looking at Yun Liang.

　　”Bai Ling!” Yuan Xiaoling excitedly moved closer, “You’ve finally come! By the way, how did you… how…”

　　How did you look so cool? Crossing space and everything, how come I never knew?

　　God lifting oneself? Of course possible, using Mental-type force. Bai Ling wouldn’t tell her now, but this was the best she could manage—hovering a few stories high and moving slowly.

　　But this was enough to break geographical restrictions!

　　Xin Lan just got up, rubbing her eyes, “Are you Bai Ling? How did you…”

　　At this moment, she suddenly remembered her late friend Yi Jie, who, as a Perception-type Spiritual Energy Manipulator, once claimed she could spot Bai Ling in a crowd.

　　Back then, the White-haired Maiden quietly sat amidst bustling crowds, her spiritual aura shining like the sun.

　　Yi Jie and her were only Second-tier back then, unaware of how high a level someone appearing like the sun to them could be. Later, seeing the Fourth-tier peak Yuan Xiaoling, they assumed the brilliance of the moon was the pinnacle for a young girl.

　　Until now…

　　Yun Liang was momentarily stunned, then revealed a meaningful smile.

　　”Mental-type? Fifth-tier?”

　　Being from a prestigious family, and knowledgeable about spiritual energy, he naturally recognized that the invisible force other than wind elements could only be Mental-type.

　　”Intriguing, perhaps you’re the world’s first Fifth-tier Mental-type,” he said, “Now I understand why you’ve invested so much in Tianhai City.”

　　”You think you’re like you, only knowing profits and desires,” Yuan Xiaoling placed her hands on her hips, “White Ling’s home is here, where she grew up.”

　　With her girlfriend present, the Golden-Haired Maiden spoke with newfound confidence.

　　”Grew up in Tianhai City, a member of the Bai family…”

　　Yun Liang mused, “I remember, a year ago, when we began laying plans in Tianhai, to clear the path, there was a group of people surnamed Bai who just happened to block our way.”

　　He looked at Bai Ling’s icy face, smirking, “I wonder if they’re related to you?”

　　Bai Ling remained silent, but her killing intent was almost overflowing. A few months ago, she would’ve undoubtedly unleashed a massacre without restraint.

　　”Hey, hey Yun whatever,” Yuan Xiaoling suddenly spoke softly, drawing everyone’s attention, “Hey Yun whatever, you’re truly cloud-like.”

　　Yun Liang frowned slightly, “Why do you say that, Miss Yuan?”

　　”I remember you said your family knows a lot about spiritual energy and Spiritual Energy Manipulators, right?” the Golden-Haired Maiden innocently blinked, “Then how come you didn’t know Mental-type manipulators get stronger the more they’re provoked? Were you distracted by hentai pictures during class?”

　　Calling him Mr. Cloud, he didn’t seem convinced, but Ning Ning wasn’t wrong, was she?

　　Yun Liang’s expression changed slightly.

　　”Miss Yuan, you’re good in every aspect except your speech needs some discipline, lacking the grace of a mother. But don’t worry, I’ll help you improve later.”

　　”Don’t plan too far ahead, think about living long enough to see the future!”

　　The White-haired Maiden in the air gave a cold snort, the air rippling like broken ripples spreading out, a torrent of Mental-type force instantly demolishing the house.

　　Bai Ling effortlessly scooped out Yuan Xiaoling, dividing a strand of Mental-type force to hold the Golden-Haired Maiden around the waist.

　　”How come you ran off to someone else’s house without telling me?” the girl asked expressionlessly.

　　”I didn’t intend to,” Yuan Xiaoling looked utterly innocent, “I was standing there just now.”

　　Actually, Bai Ling knew—Shrinking Earth into Inches, a Fifth-tier Earth-element Spiritual Energy Manipulator wouldn’t lack special skills, just going through the motions.

　　Still, almost losing her wife to someone else required a few questions.

　　Ning Ning knew she knew, cooperating to go through the motions, knowing she knew Ning Ning knew, they briefly bantered before focusing on the battlefield.

　　Landing gently from the air, they then turned their gaze to the ruins demolished by the force.

　　Fourth-tier Uncle He could burn down skyscrapers, Fourth-tier Ning Ning could summon water dragons taller than buildings. For Fifth-tier Bai Ling, destroying a guesthouse with Mental-type force was effortless.

　　And Fifth-tier peak Yun Liang…

　　Crack, crack, crack.

　　The rubble reformed under elemental gravity, reshaping like clay into the form of a palace within half a minute. Yun Liang sat on a clay-made throne, glaring at them with a dark expression.

　　As for Xin Lan, though unseen, there were traces of wind movement. It seemed the Third-tier Initial Wind-element Spiritual Energy Manipulator, Xin Lan, escaped amidst the chaos.

　　Yuan Xiaoling clicked her tongue lightly, feeling a bit regretful.