Denunciation, Public Enemy of the Four Kingdoms and Nine Cities

"Elite disciples from every sect?" Serena sneered. She didn't say anything more, but everyone could see the contempt in her eyes for these so-called elites.

Thinking back on their earlier behavior, it was rare these people weren't making a fuss. Well, they're young, and their skin is thick enough.

Fortress Lord Ling and the others wanted to argue, but Serena didn't give them the chance: "They're the future of the jianghu, but Ninth Royal Uncle's Black Riders are the future of the Nine Provinces. I expect these Riders to protect me and Ninth Royal Uncle in days to come. As for your so-called elite disciples—no matter how famous they get in the jianghu, I don't know them, and I don't plan to know them."

In other words, no matter how much glory these people earn in the future, Serena will never need anything from them—so don't try to use jianghu prestige to pressure her.

Serena made it clear: she would treat the Black Riders first. Even if their injuries weren't serious, she would put them ahead of all the wounded sect disciples.

There was nothing wrong with that—people have their own priorities. Fortress Lord Ling wouldn't treat someone else's disciple before his own son if both were injured; even knowing his son's wound wasn't fatal, he'd still care for him first.

But since it wasn't happening to them, and they were on the 'outside,' these people naturally climbed onto the moral high ground to accuse Serena for their own benefit.

At first, it was just verbal accusations. When Serena refused to budge, they got physical—a heavy palm slammed onto her table, blocking her from treating the Black Riders: "Miss Feng, if you don't treat my disciple first today, don't even think about treating them at all."

The burly man who spoke had a face full of rough muscle and glared at the Black Riders with malice.

"Is this a threat?" Serena laughed coldly in anger, her chest so tight she could barely breathe.

Yesterday, she spent an entire day and night treating the wounded—none of these people even thanked her. She didn't care; she was just doing her job as a doctor. But today, their behavior made her truly angry.

She stuck to her professional oath, doing her best as a doctor. But that didn't mean she couldn't adapt. Faced with such blatantly unreasonable 'relatives' of the injured, Serena didn't bother arguing—she took action instead.

In full view of the crowd, Serena opened her medicine chest, took out a syringe and a vial, and drew up the drug.

What was she doing? Everyone looked confused, but no one dared to ask.

Serena gripped the syringe, her gaze sweeping over the crowd before landing on the man who threatened her: "Today, I want to see how exactly you plan to force me."

As soon as she finished speaking, she jabbed the needle straight into the man's arm. He yelped in pain and tried to pull away, but it was too late—the drug was already injected.

"What did you do to me?" The man was startled, but couldn't sense anything wrong with his body.

"I'm a doctor—what do you think?" Serena replied sweetly, then her expression turned cold: "Get out."

"You..." The man tried to curse her, but his vision blurred and his body went limp, collapsing to the ground. "You—you poisoned me..."

"Miss Feng, are you murdering people now?" Fortress Lord Ling's eyes widened, immediately trying to pin a crime on her. Serena snorted impatiently: "Fortress Lord Ling, do you just repeat whatever people say? If you're going to accuse someone, at least check the facts first. Wait till he's dead, then call it murder."

Besides, even if she did kill someone, so what? The ground was already littered with corpses—what's one more?

A bunch of self-righteous hypocrites—their hands are stained with blood, they're selfish to the core, yet expect others to be selfless.

Fortress Lord Ling frowned, but Serena threatened directly: "You'd better not mess with me, or I won't mind putting you all down."

She'd had enough of their nonsense. If Ninth Royal Uncle didn't want to use this group to take down Prince Damien of Southlyn, she'd have lost it already.

"Miss Feng, aren't you afraid of biting your own tongue, bragging like that?" Fortress Lord Ling, seeing the man was unharmed, looked a bit embarrassed. Hearing Serena's threat, he felt even more humiliated and spoke with a passive-aggressive edge.

"Bragging? Fortress Lord Ling, do you doubt Miss Feng's strength, or do you doubt mine?" Ninth Royal Uncle stood outside the crowd as the Black Riders stepped forward, clearing a path for him.

"Ninth Royal Uncle, you're just in time." Fortress Lord Ling pretended not to hear his words, playing the victim first: "Ninth Royal Uncle, we mean no harm. We just hope Dr. Feng will show some kindness and treat the wounded disciples—otherwise, they won't make it down the mountain."

"Fortress Lord Ling, I think you're confused. Whether these people make it down the mountain has nothing to do with me," Ninth Royal Uncle raised his brow, pointing at the Black Riders. "They're the only ones I'm responsible for."

"Ninth Royal Uncle, we're implicated because of you." Fortress Lord Ling hesitated, sighing as if reluctant to say more.

"Implicated by me? That's a joke. When did I ever drag you into this? Just because I don't speak doesn't mean I'm easy to talk to—I'm just too proud to bother arguing with you." Ninth Royal Uncle was arrogant to the point of being infuriating, but with the Black Riders all around, the crowd could only stew in silence.

Fortress Lord Ling, repeatedly humiliated, simmered with rage. He took a deep breath, forcing himself to put on his gentlemanly mask: "Ninth Royal Uncle, you and I both know what's really going on. Saying it out loud would only ruin the peace between us."

"Know what? Know that Fortress Lord Ling colluded with Moonvault Palace Sect to kill me; or that you joined forces with the demonic faction to put me to death; or maybe you took orders from Northlyn to assassinate me." Ninth Royal Uncle spoke slowly, but gave Ling no chance to interrupt. As he went on, Fortress Lord Ling's face turned from green to deathly pale.

"N-Ninth Royal Uncle, don't slander me!" Fortress Lord Ling bit his tongue hard, reminding himself to stay calm—Ninth Royal Uncle didn't really know anything, he was just bluffing. Ling couldn't afford to show weakness first.

"Slander?" Ninth Royal Uncle sneered. "We'll see who's really slandering whom once it's investigated. The Moonvault Palace Lord is right here—just ask. Oh, and my people just reported finding Moonvault Palace Sect corpses in the ashes of Skyvault Fortress."

Ninth Royal Uncle, as if the fire wasn't hot enough, tossed on more fuel.

"What?" Fortress Lord Ling and the Moonvault Palace Lord shouted in shock. Ling's reaction was partly an act—he wanted to distract Nolan from his earlier accusations.

"You old bastard! You burned my Skyvault Fortress!" Fortress Lord Ling seized the chance to make a scene, shouting without regard for his image, trying to divert everyone's attention.

The Moonvault Palace Lord didn't want to make enemies with Skyvault Fortress and quickly denied it: "Impossible! I was on the mountain—how could I have done such a thing?"

"This is a trivial matter—no need for me to lie. The truth will come out once we're down the mountain." Ninth Royal Uncle never said Moonvault burned Skyvault Fortress, only that Moonvault corpses were found there. But in their fury and guilt, Fortress Lord Ling and the Moonvault Palace Lord failed to notice.

Serena thought to herself that Ninth Royal Uncle was ruthless—but she liked it.

"Let's go, we're heading down the mountain." Fortress Lord Ling and the Moonvault Palace Lord couldn't stand it any longer and tried to leave, but were blocked by the Black Riders.

"No rush. Princess Royal Helena of Lyndaria is still here. Before we go down, let's clear things up—I want to know who's really doing the slandering."