"Remember, once you go back, do not reveal yourselves. I will summon you through the soul imprint if I need you!"
"Yes! Master!"
Another uniform voice echoed.
"Go!"
Zi Linling waved her hand, and the one hundred and fifty-nine people quickly vanished into the Misty Forest.
As for the remaining forty-three people, she already had a plan for them.
"Originally, I could have just killed you. But now I've changed my mind."
Zi Linling's sly gaze swept over the forty-three people.
She noticed that as soon as she spoke, a spark of light appeared in half of their eyes.
Zi Linling sneered and continued, "However, I've already given you a chance, but you didn't cherish it. So, even though I've changed my mind, you still need to earn it yourselves."
She paused deliberately and then said, "I will restore your spiritual power later, and you can challenge them."
She pointed at Mu Qingyan and the others behind her, then continued, "If you win, I will give you a chance to live. But if you try to escape, I can guarantee that not even your bones will be left behind!"
After speaking, Zi Linling signaled Ye Lingyuan to withdraw his domain, but Long'er and the Wind-Winged Illusionary Tiger remained in their massive forms.
Ye Lingyuan naturally understood her meaning.
If they had arrived a moment later, Mu Qingyan and the others might have already become cold corpses.
Therefore, she wanted to reclaim the situation for Mu Qingyan and his companions.
This was what was called being protective!
The corners of Ye Lingyuan's mouth curved upwards slightly.
Mu Qingyan's brows furrowed slightly. Although he was intelligent, he was not cunning enough, so he couldn't quite understand Zi Linling's actions.
It was Fatty Qian who first exclaimed, "Sister-in-law, I don't count, right?"
Zi Linling smiled and said, "If you don't want to, then step aside. Oh, and bring that moronic princess over. It would be troublesome if she were to be beaten to death. While I don't fear trouble, it does require thought."
Ye Lingyuan's smile deepened.
Her Lin'er's mouth could always anger their opponents to death.
Others feared trouble, but she feared that dealing with such trouble would tax her mind.
Indeed, the position of Queen of the Underworld was hers to take.
Mu Qingyan's furrowed brows instantly relaxed.
The Queen's mouth could anger one person to death, and now she wanted to anger a second.
Qing Yu's mouth twitched slightly. He finally understood why the Prince doted on the Queen so unusually.
This Queen was just as sharp-tongued and cunning as the Prince!
Perhaps this was what the saying meant: birds of a feather flock together, or rather, if you're not family, you don't end up in the same household.
Although Qing Feng and Qing Lei saw Zi Linling for the first time, they were already utterly impressed. Qing Dian, however, turned his head away dismissively.
Fatty Qian's small eyes once again brimmed with light, wishing he could immediately kneel and become her disciple.
As for the person in question, Chu Kerren, she was so angry she was about to explode.
She had harbored a sliver of gratitude upon hearing the first half of the sentence. But the second half had made her heart clench with anxiety.
"Witch, you... you're going too far!"
Zi Linling looked up with a bewildered expression.
Of course, it was feigned.
"What? Did I say something wrong? Do you want to fight them?"
As she spoke, she deliberately glanced at the black-clothed men.
"I..."
Chu Kerren's words got stuck in her throat.
She had been insulted, yet she couldn't retort.
The frustration was indescribable.
"Moronic princess, Sister-in-law is protecting you. Don't be ungrateful!"
Fatty Qian added a critical blow with his timely intervention.
"..."
Chu Kerren was speechless!
Of course, she was speechless with anger.
She knew that Zi Linling had insulted her.
But on the surface, the words sounded exactly as Fatty Qian had interpreted them.
"Are you going to fight or not?"
Zi Linling looked at Chu Kerren with a smile, but the smile didn't reach her eyes.
Chu Kerren looked at the black-clothed men opposite her and noticed the bloodthirsty aura emanating from them.
She couldn't help but shiver and eventually stood next to Fatty Qian.
However, to show she wasn't afraid, she said haughtily, "How could these lowly wretches be worthy of fighting this princess?"
Zi Linling gave her a meaningful glance and didn't bother with her.
But Fatty Qian wasn't going to let it go and scoffed, "Just a moronic princess, can you even defeat them?"
"Who says this princess can't defeat them? This princess simply can't be bothered to act!"
At this moment, she no longer cared about Fatty Qian calling her a moronic princess, as she needed to uphold her pride.
"If you can't, you can't. Why make such a lame excuse?"
"Fatty, no one would think you're mute if you just kept your mouth shut!"
...
Zi Linling glared at the two of them, and they immediately stopped arguing.
Finally, peace returned to her ears.
Zi Linling then said to the black-clothed men, "You can start choosing your opponents!"
The faces of the black-clothed men grew uglier by the second.
They had originally planned to target Fatty Qian and Chu Kerren because, among the opposing group, those two seemed the easiest to bully.
Of course, this was merely their own arrogant assumption.
But now that Zi Linling had excluded these two, they had to choose from the remaining people.
However, none of the remaining individuals were simple.
Even the ordinary dark guards possessed extraordinary combat skills.
This was because they were the dark guards of the Underworld King's mansion, trained personally by Ye Lingyuan.
Thus, the black-clothed men hesitated for a long time, and not a single one stepped forward.
"What, still unwilling to seize the opportunity?"
Zi Linling's expression turned cold, and she said to the two divine beasts in the air, "In that case, Long'er, Little Tiger, they are yours to handle!"
After a roar of the tiger and a dragon's cry, Long'er and the Wind-Winged Illusionary Tiger became excited.
With a swipe of their massive claws, two people were torn into bloody mist.
The black-clothed men were caught off guard by Zi Linling's swift action. While panicking, they began to scatter and flee.
Zi Linling watched coldly, knowing that those people could not escape.
After all, Ye Lingyuan's strength was undeniable.
As expected, the fleeing individuals slammed into a barrier, were repelled, and fell to the ground, coughing up blood.
Of course, this was done intentionally by Ye Lingyuan, as he shared a similar trait with Zi Linling – protectiveness of his own.
Since these people had intended to kill his people, they should have been prepared to be killed at any moment.
After crushing two people, Long'er and the Wind-Winged Illusionary Tiger ceased their attack.
This was, of course, Zi Linling's command.
"Since you are unwilling to fight them, I will do it myself."
As her voice fell, a wall of fire rapidly spread, quickly forming a circle that enclosed the black-clothed men.
Then, she flickered and appeared within the ring of fire.