After Transmigrating as a Wealthy Woman: Don’t You Dare Touch My Baby! [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 78

Lei Shanjiu’s aged face twitched. He narrowed his cloudy eyes, scrutinizing the young girl before him.

“What is your background? State your name!”

Zhong Ying replied indifferently, “An anonymous secret guard serving the Eldest Princess.” She flicked her sword into a flourish, settling into a combat stance. “Fight me.”

Lei Shanjiu hesitated. He could sense that she was not an easy opponent; the aura surrounding her was no weaker than his own. He did not charge in immediately.

However, that split second of hesitation was all the members of the Martial Judiciary Department needed to start jeering.

“Fight! What’s the matter, you old bald donkey? Are you too afraid to even answer a young girl’s challenge?”

“Weren’t you just clamoring about bullying our Princess? Now that someone has come to face you, you’ve lost your nerve?”

“Go get him! Miss Zhong, beat that monk to death!”

The masters of the Lei Fist Sect stood by with darkened expressions. One shouted, “What do you know? Our Elder is simply showing restraint because she is a mere woman!”

Faced with these words, Lei Shanjiu had no choice but to brace himself and step forward.

He clenched his fists, his weathered face assuming a mask of calm. “My Lei Fist Sect only practices fist techniques. Since you use a sword, I shall also use one.”

The members of the Martial Judiciary nearly scoffed at such blatant shamelessness.

“And if you lose with a sword, will you claim it was only because you aren’t skilled with the blade?” Zhong Ying tossed her sword aside and cracked her knuckles. “I, too, enjoy… boxing.”

She likes boxing? The subordinates of the Martial Judiciary were stunned. They whispered among themselves, “Is Miss Zhong’s fist technique actually good?”

“I don’t know, I’ve never seen it.”

Zhu Xingtong stood to the side, stifling a giggle. “My cub… ah, no, Miss Zhong has never lost a fistfight.” She blinked playfully. “The battle will be over in a single punch.”

Lei Shanjiu, possessing keen hearing, roared in fury, “Over in a single punch? Is the Princess looking down on the martial arts of the Lei Fist Sect?!”

“Too much talk!” Zhong Ying threw a punch without ceremony.

Her fist was small, and she didn’t even seem to be gathering her internal energy.

Just this?

Lei Shanjiu ducked and countered with a punch aimed directly at Zhong Ying’s head. If it landed, brains would surely fly. So much for “showing restraint to a woman”—the man was a ruthless killer.

Zhong Ying stopped being polite. Before anyone could see how she did it, she retracted her punch instantly, her toes tapping the ground as she glided back several paces.

Lei Shanjiu’s first strike hit nothing but air.

The crowd fell silent.

Lei Shanjiu’s punch… missed?

“Did anyone see how she dodged that?”

After a moment of silence, a loud cry erupted from the crowd: “That is my sect’s famous movement technique—the Startled Swan Footwork!”

In the next heartbeat, Zhong Ying’s legs became a blur of afterimages. She vanished, reappearing instantly behind Lei Shanjiu.

A fist crashed out!

Lei Shanjiu lunged to avoid it, but he wasn’t fast enough. The wind from the punch grazed his spine, and the sheer force sent a dull, throbbing pain through his skull.

What is happening?

CRACK.

A sudden kick shattered his leg bone. The sound of fracturing bone echoed clearly across the clearing.

“That is my sect’s Wind God Leg!”

Then came a palm strike. Lei Shanjiu was hit squarely in the center of his back. The force of the palm penetrated deep, his internal energy vibrating violently against his organs.

“Pfft—!” He sprayed a mouthful of blood.

He didn’t even have the strength to fight back. Finally, Zhong Ying tossed him aside like a piece of trash.

“That… that was my sect’s Heaven-Shattering Palm…” a timid voice added from the sidelines.

“Is this the time to be worried about that?!” someone yelled, slapping the speaker on the head. “Quick, check on Elder Lei! See if he’s still alive!”

Despite the shouting, no one dared to step forward. As she stood there alone, she looked like a warrior capable of defeating ten thousand men.

Zhong Ying glanced at the unconscious Lei Shanjiu on the ground. “I won. Can we leave now?”

Another elder from the Lei Fist Sect grabbed a younger disciple who wanted to speak and pulled him back.

“Young lady, you have passed the trial of the Lei Fist Sect. We will not block your path.” The sect members stepped back, clearing a way.

However, the matter was not over. Other martial artists refused to budge.

“You think you can just leave? How did you learn the secret palm techniques of my Heaven-Shattering Sect? You’d better explain yourself!”

“And my Wind God Leg!”

“The Startled Swan Footwork as well!”

They were incredulous. How could one person master the secret arts of so many different sects? Not only had she integrated them perfectly, but she appeared to be barely twenty years old.

“You won’t let us pass?” Zhong Ying frowned.

Zhu Xingtong walked to her side and took her hand. “Cub…”

Restraining Zhong Ying, Zhu Xingtong addressed the martial artists. “Have you thought this through? If you make things difficult for me here on Mount Leiming today, what will happen to your sects tomorrow? No matter how strong your martial arts are, you are but a few hundred people. With one command, my army of one hundred thousand can level your mountain gates in an instant. Do you truly wish to be enemies of the Imperial Court?”

Her words cast the sect leaders into a heavy silence.

“If we let you go today, how do we answer to the rest of the Martial World?”

“Exactly! You killed so many people from the Dragon Shadow Pavilion!”

Zhu Xingtong looked at them with cold disdain. “Utterly ignorant.”

She wasted no more words and raised her hand. “All members of the Martial Judiciary, hear my command! Escort me down the mountain. I want to see exactly who dares to stop me!”

She took a bold step forward. Zhong Ying stayed at her side, flanked by twenty elite masters of the Martial Judiciary.

As they advanced, the martial artists retreated.

“Stop! You killed Elder Lei and think you can just walk away?!” The people of the Lei Fist Sect rushed forward again. Losing was one thing, but the death of an Elder was a catastrophe.

“Yes! Don’t let them leave!”

The crowd began to roar in unison. Zhong Ying’s eyes turned cold.

But before she could strike, a terrifying sound echoed through the air—the rhythmic thud of thousands of boots, the vibration of the earth, and the clatter of weapons.

THUMP— THUMP— THUMP—

The sound grew louder and more disciplined. Everyone turned toward the wide mountain path. A dense mass of soldiers in uniform, carrying shields, swords, and longbows, was swarming up the mountain.

The winding paths of Mount Leiming were quickly seized by the military. They charged forward before the stunned crowd. Several generals on horseback pulled their reigns to a halt and leapt down gracefully.

They knelt before Zhu Xingtong, holding up their command seals.

“Eight thousand soldiers of Mount Panlong, by order of the First Prince, have arrived to protect the Eldest Princess and ensure her safe return to the capital!”

“Who dares touch the Eldest Princess of Great Rong?! KILL!!”

That piercing cry tore through the air, and the eight thousand soldiers behind him roared in unison: “WHO DARES TOUCH THE ELDEST PRINCESS! KILL!!!”

The roar shook the heavens. Even Zhu Xingtong felt a surge of pride. These were the soldiers of Great Rong—the men who had once served under her command!

Jingrui, oh Jingrui, you really are something!

The martial artists, who had never seen such a display of military might, stumbled back. Some even felt their knees go weak.

Eight thousand soldiers…?

One-on-one was fine. One-on-two was manageable. But one-on-one hundred? They would be drowned in a sea of spit alone!

“Anyone else who blocks me shall be executed without mercy!” Zhu Xingtong shouted at the top of her lungs. Then, grabbing her “cub,” she ran toward the soldiers, whispering, “Cub, let’s go. This Princess will protect you!”

Zhong Ying smiled helplessly. “Your Highness, please mind your decorum.”

Zhu Xingtong slowed down abruptly and coughed loudly. “Move out! We are going home!”

“Understood!!”

“By the way,” Zhu Xingtong added, “it seems the Martial World needs some discipline. Tomorrow, send some troops to start tidying things up!”

“Yes, Your Highness!”

The martial artists were left speechless. It’s over. The Imperial Court was interfering in the affairs of the Martial World… what would become of them now?

Zhu Xingtong didn’t care. In her view, these people were far too “free.” The court gave them relative autonomy, but not so they could become arrogant, ignore hierarchy, and disrespect the Royal Family. In an era of supreme imperial power, this had exceeded the court’s limit of patience.

It was time to take control.

With twenty masters and eight thousand soldiers, the procession made a grand exit down Mount Leiming. Not a single person dared to stop them. No one wanted to be the “bird that sticks its head out” only to have it cut off.

A few individuals hidden in the crowd realized the gravity of the situation and slipped away through secret paths. The Eldest Princess was returning to the capital; they had to inform the Second Prince immediately!