Taken aback, Ye Qingtang immediately turned toward the source of the voices.
Standing beneath a tree, several tall, slender teenage girls were surrounding a petite figure.
“Meng Yao, stand further back from her. You don’t want to get infected by whatever strange disease she has. So disgusting. She smells so bad… It makes me feel like vomiting.” One of the teenage girls pinched her nose and she glared disdainfully at the wretched-looking Mu Ziying.
Mu Ziying’s clothes were covered in dust and fresh bruises had appeared all over her hands and face. Blood mixed with dirt was smeared all over her face, making her originally delicate features look very dirty and pathetic. She stood quietly beneath the tree, her head lowered, not uttering a single sound. She only clutched her cloth doll tightly against her chest.
“I am talking to you, can’t you hear me?” The more the teenage girl stared at the silent Mu Ziying, the more detestable she found her. She kicked Mu Ziying straight in the stomach.
The intense pain had Mu Ziying hunched over in pain. Her already petite figure curled up into an even smaller ball.
“I have already tried to teach you this for half a year, why do you still not understand the rules? The elixirs were given out by the academy for this month, why haven’t you handed them over to me? Do I have to come looking for you myself? Mu Ziying, you are really something, aren’t you?” Meng Yao glared hatefully at Mu Ziying.
Mu Ziying was still very young and had a very reserved personality, clutching that tattered cloth doll of hers all day long. Unfortunately, her exquisite little face attracted quite a bit of attention.
At the same time, it brought her quite a bit of trouble too.
Meng Yao and her gang had pretty high innate talents and made use of their powers to bully the other students. A girl like Mu Ziying naturally became their target.
Beatings, threats, and extortions were common daily occurrences.
“Meng Yao, no need to waste your breath on her. They said that this dumb girl is secretly practicing the forbidden skills. She might secretly harm you one day.”
“Forbidden skills? No wonder… she always has that stench about her…”
Mu Ziying, who had been keeping quiet the whole time, suddenly shuddered. She lifted her eyes and stared at the teenage girl who had just spoken. Her stare was seen as a kind of rebellion and it annoyed Meng Yao and her gang.
“What are you staring at?” Meng Yao frowned. She suddenly focused her attention on the tattered cloth doll in Mu Ziying’s arms. Meng Yao gave a smile.
“Bring me that tattered toy of hers.”
Mu Ziying’s face changed the moment she heard Meng Yao’s words. But before she had time to react, the teenage girls had already stepped forward and snatched her precious doll away.
“Give it back to me!” Mu Ziying suddenly cried out, her voice was frail yet filled with anger.
“This lousy thing, so dirty. Mu Ziying, we are doing this for your own good. Anyone can see that this is not something good for you. To prevent you from going astray, we will help you destroy it. No need to feel too grateful to me for this.” Meng Yao gave a malicious smile as she held the cloth doll disdainfully. A ball of fire suddenly ignited in her hand as she made to burn the doll.
Mu Ziying instantly went pale as she struggled like a mad person out of the grasp of the other teenage girls. She pounced toward Meng Yao.
“You’re asking for it!” Meng Yao narrowed her eyes as she directed the fire in her hand toward Mu Ziying’s face!
But the moment the fire left her hand, a black flame shot over from another direction and crashed into it.