"Miss! Miss! Please help us!"
As if she had just spotted a savior, Guinaifen immediately ran up to Kiana.
Kiana blinked.
Like everyone else in the crowd, she obviously understood what Guinaifen meant.
But… was she really sure she wanted her to do this?
Kiana blinked again, but before she could answer, Guinaifen had already dragged her into the center of the performance area.
"Just give it a light tap, just one little tap!"
Afraid Kiana still might not have gotten the idea, Guinaifen shoved the iron hammer into her hands and hurriedly explained further.
"With your temperament, anyone can tell you're a kindhearted, wonderful person! There's no way you'd want to see my friend get hurt, right?"
"Please, please."
Hearing that, Kiana looked down at the hammer in her hand, then at Sushang lying flat on the ground with a slab of stone on her chest, her expression turning a little strange.
"You're really sure… you want me to do this?"
"As a warning, my strength really isn't as small as you think."
"Sure, absolutely sure!" Guinaifen nodded furiously, clearly not taking Kiana's self-assessment seriously at all.
"You're all slim and delicate-looking—there's no way you're that strong. Just tap it lightly, just go through the motions!"
The surrounding spectators joined in too.
"Come on, miss, go for it!"
"Don't worry, that slab looks big, but it's not actually that sturdy!"
"Yeah, yeah! Guinaifen smashes these all the time!"
Apparently, compared to whether Sushang could endure the blow, they found the question of whether Kiana could even lift the hammer more suspenseful.
Kiana went silent for a moment.
She really wanted to ask whether these people had some kind of misunderstanding about her.
After all, the Kiana body came with Kaslana blood. Even at base level, her physical strength was still far beyond ordinary people.
But looking at Guinaifen's eyes, shining with hopeful expectation, Kiana found herself strangely unable to say no.
Maybe if she held back just a tiny, tiny bit… it would be fine?
"…Then I'm swinging?"
"Go ahead!" Guinaifen retreated to one side, not forgetting to cheer Sushang on.
"Go, Sushang! This time it'll definitely be fine!"
Sushang shut her eyes, took a deep breath, and tensed her whole body once again.
Then she looked at Kiana as well.
"Come on, miss! I can take it!"
Seeing that, Kiana raised the hammer.
It was light.
That was her first impression.
Then she looked at the slab.
Probably brittle.
That was her second impression.
Finally, she looked at Sushang lying there.
…She should probably be okay, right?
So Kiana used just the tiniest little bit of force and brought the hammer down.
Bang!
A deep, thunderous impact rang out, louder than the one Guinaifen had made just now.
The slab shattered instantly, pulverized into powder that showered all over Sushang.
The entire scene fell into dead silence.
Sushang was still lying there stiffly, but this time her eyes hadn't rolled back.
Instead, they were wide open, staring blankly into the sky with the hollow look of someone who had glimpsed the end of the universe.
Seeing that, Guinaifen froze.
The crowd froze too.
So she hadn't been joking.
Kiana looked at the hammer in her hand, then slowly said, "Uh… sorry, I think I used too much force?"
Guinaifen was so terrified her soul nearly left her body. She dropped to her knees beside Sushang in a panic.
"Sushang! Sushang, say something! Don't scare me! I was wrong! We're never doing chest-smashing again!"
But after coughing twice, Sushang somehow forced herself upright again.
"Thank goodness, Sushang, you're okay!" Guinaifen's eyes were already brimming with tears.
But Sushang's next move stunned her all over again.
"Miss, I can still keep going. Please give me the final hit!"
"What?!" Guinaifen's jaw practically hit the floor.
"Sushang, are you insane?! You still want more?!"
Even Kiana blinked in surprise.
Among all the enemies she had fought so far, Polka still ranked highest in terms of pure toughness.
But even Polka wouldn't have dared claim she could take a direct hit from Kiana head-on.
And yet this Sushang actually could.
You're stronger than Polka, then?
Sushang, however, just waved her hand and calmly gave her explanation.
"Little Gui, you know how we people from the Xianzhou Yaoqing are."
"Once we start something, we see it through to the very end."
"This is only the second hammer. We agreed to do three performances. If we quit halfway now, then wouldn't those first two hits have been for nothing?"
She patted the stone powder off herself, only to kick up a cloud of dust and make herself cough twice more.
"And besides…" Sushang paused and looked at Guinaifen.
"Little Gui worked really hard to set this up. There's such a big audience today—if we shut it down now, how's she supposed to keep showing her face in Exalting Sanctum later?"
Guinaifen froze, then immediately teared up again.
"Sushang… I'm so moved. We're going to be best friends forever!"
Sushang grinned, flashing a row of bright white teeth through a face covered in stone dust, which made her look a bit ridiculous.
"Besides, miss, even though your swing was strong, your aim was perfect. You hit dead center, and the slab broke so evenly—not even a little off."
She gave Kiana a sincere thumbs-up.
"A master! You're definitely a master!"
"So please, grant me one more strike! Let me finish this act properly!"
Kiana looked a little embarrassed by the praise.
But honestly, she had no intention of agreeing to the request.
If she accidentally sent Sushang to the afterlife for real, Kiana would feel pretty awful about it too.
So Kiana shook her head, just about to refuse—
when a commotion suddenly broke out in the crowd.
Her eyes sharpened.
A group of tourists with grotesque branches protruding from their bodies had appeared, rapidly filling the entire street.
"The Sanctus Medicus is conducting business! Anyone with a brain, get out of the way!"
The moment those four words—Sanctus Medicus—were heard clearly by everyone present, panic erupted.
The tightly packed crowd scattered like startled birds.
So Exalting Sanctum's law and order was this bad now?
The Lord Ravager incident had only just been dealt with. The Yaoqing's general had even come over in person.
And yet now even the Sanctus Medicus dared to strut around this openly?
Guinaifen was so frightened she threw her arms around Sushang, and the two of them huddled in the center of the performance grounds while the Sanctus Medicus members quickly surrounded the entire area.
"Wait, wait, wait!" Guinaifen stammered. "Honored sirs, we're just street performers. We have no money and no power. Why are you looking for us?"
Indeed, these Sanctus Medicus people were acting with a very clear purpose. After clearing the area with remarkable speed, they had directly encircled the very space Guinaifen had carefully picked out for the performance.
But Kiana noticed something odd.
Their formation didn't look like they were surrounding the whole stage.
It looked like they were surrounding her.
At last, a burly man stepped forward.
Branches had already sprouted visibly from his arms, proof that he had consumed no small amount of the Sanctus Medicus' "blessings."
He let out a cold laugh, his eyes sweeping over Guinaifen and Sushang without so much as a second glance, before settling squarely on Kiana.
"My lady, the Cloud Knights of the Luofu will be here soon. Please come with us at once!"
Kiana: ???
Wait, what?
She blinked, making sure his gaze was indeed fixed on her.
"…You're talking to me?"
The burly man bowed slightly, his attitude so respectful it was almost bizarre.
"My lady need not pretend. Our Sanctus Medicus naturally has channels through which we know your identity."
"Please withdraw with us immediately. The Chief has been waiting for quite some time."
The moment he said that, Guinaifen and Sushang exchanged dumbfounded looks, utterly unable to make sense of the situation.
But Guinaifen's expression quickly turned grim.
So the random frail-looking girl she had picked out… was actually a major figure in the Sanctus Medicus?
She'd known it. There was no way such a small, delicate-looking girl could hit that hard.
It was over.
Would this girl kill them to silence them now?
Sushang, on the other hand, still hadn't quite caught up.
She looked from the Sanctus Medicus people to Kiana, bewildered.
"Wait, you know them?"
Kiana answered flatly, "Not at all."
She did know of the Sanctus Medicus, of course.
Wasn't this just that cult Phantomilia had used as pawns, trying to revive the Abundance through the Ambrosial Arbor?
By all rights, after Phantomilia's defeat and the re-sealing of the Arbor, they should have been like a toppled tree with monkeys scattering—lying low and not daring to show their faces.
And yet here they were, brazenly appearing in broad daylight in Exalting Sanctum?
Even calling her "my lady" over and over?
So what—had they figured out she was a Lord Ravager and come to cling to her leg?
Then again, given how brief her standoff with Jing Yuan had been, if there had been Sanctus Medicus spies among the Cloud Knights at the time, it wouldn't be strange for them to know something about her.
But what the man said next made Kiana freeze in place.
"By the Chief's order, we are here to welcome the Lady Envoy of Long Life!"
The Lady Envoy of Long Life?
Since when had she ever had a title like that?
Kiana eyed him suspiciously.
Still, at his level, even if she later decided to wipe them all out in one sweep, they would never be able to do anything to her.
So going to take a look probably wouldn't be a problem, right?
And just like that, Kiana completely forgot her two-hour promise to Xingxiao.
Hopefully Xingxiao wouldn't go on a rampage through the Luofu after realizing Kiana had disappeared.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 139)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter171)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter100)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter184)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 168
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 156
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 105
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 185
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 160
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 150
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 76
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 97
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 66
Uma Musume: From Beginner 116
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 75
Uma Musume: I Want All 93
I Can Copy Unique Skills 79
Summoning an Evil God, but the 55
Supernatural Multiverse 75
My Harem Is Indescribable 68
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 70
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 66
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 69
Still playing traditional Honk 49
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 53
What Should I Do After Switchi 42
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 50
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 38
Transmigrated as Sukuna 35
Checking In in Demon Slayer 40
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 55
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