Most kids are competitive, especially when they have a particularly proud personality.
“Heh.”
Emilia scoffed.
“To deal with a petty thief like you, I don’t even need to use Phoenix Fire.”
As she spoke, Emilia casually took a thin sword hanging on the wall, holding it with one hand.
Despite her small stature, this pink-haired loli exuded an elegant yet fierce aura when wielding the sword, clearly well-trained.
“Princess, shouldn’t you refrain from bullying someone unarmed?”
Mo Li spread her hands.
Emilia glanced at her sideways, but the murderous look in her eyes seemed more like a playful kitten’s antics on her loli face.
She tossed the thin sword to Mo Li and picked up another one herself, clearly intending to defeat Mo Li with swordsmanship, leaving her speechless.
The first clash revealed the gap between them.
Emilia, born into the royal family of the Papal State, was personally taught by a renowned sword master. With her exceptional talent and intelligence, she learned quickly, achieving considerable skill in swordsmanship at a young age.
In contrast, Mo Li had never learned any formal sword techniques, not for lack of desire but because she lacked the opportunity. Her sword skills were honed on the edge of life and death, focusing on speed and precision to catch opponents off guard. Once entangled, the longer the fight, the more openings she would reveal.
Emilia’s swordsmanship was undeniably standard, deadly yet elegant, with dazzling swordplay that was hard to defend against. Mo Li, with her rudimentary skills, was no match for a princess in a fair sword fight, retreating repeatedly and sustaining several cuts.
However, Mo Li’s goal was almost within reach.
As long as Emilia didn’t use her bloodline power, she would eventually win.
What was Mo Li relying on, given her overall disadvantage? Simply put, it was the princess’s naivety—in other words, she was taking advantage of Emilia’s youth and lack of experience.
Yes, she was about to play dirty again.
“When boasting, did the assassin ever consider her own weight?”
Emilia taunted, pointing her sword at Mo Li’s nose.
Mo Li remained silent, advancing to deliberately expose a flaw to Emilia, who predictably took the bait. In their genuine sword fight, Emilia gradually realized Mo Li’s true skill level, even inferior to the maids in her palace, so she pursued her relentlessly. Unbeknownst to her, this played right into Mo Li’s hands.
Taking advantage of Emilia’s distraction, Mo Li discreetly took a pellet from her cloak, embedding it in her sword blade, then threw the sword and quickly popped a white pill into her mouth.
Emilia was stunned, not expecting Mo Li to throw away her sword during a duel, but she instinctively blocked it with her sword.
“Boom boom!”
A greenish-yellow smoke billowed. Caught off guard, Emilia inhaled the scattered particles, her pupils contracting.
“Despicable thief! Always using such underhanded tricks!…”
“No choice, Princess. Our starting points are different, and it’s nearly impossible to beat you by conventional means.”
This was a paralyzing powder, Mo Li’s favorite poison from her past life, simple to make, easy to use, and convenient to carry, perfect for travel and mischief.
Soon, the paralyzing powder spread throughout the room, and Mo Li had already taken the antidote the moment she threw the thin sword.
What to do now?
Obviously, run!
Mo Li wasn’t naive enough to think a simple paralyzing bomb could subdue the princess.
She had learned her lesson in her past life!
Just as she was about to escape through the window, a scorching wind blew away the greenish-yellow powder. Suddenly, the temperature in the carriage soared.
Sensing danger, Mo Li quickened her pace towards the window, ducking her head and rolling on the ground to avoid the rising heat behind her. A cherry-red figure swept past, nearly setting her cloak on fire.
“…Hey, Princess, we meet again, huh.”
Mo Li awkwardly greeted the cherry-haired girl who blocked her path, forcing a smile onto her face.
“You really are a slippery and shameless rat.”
Emilia was smiling, but it was the kind of smile that made one’s scalp tingle with fear.
“Thanks for the compliment. After all, being naive and sweet doesn’t get you far in this world.”
Mo Li bantered while desperately trying to think of a strategy. Two dishonorable sneak attacks had successfully angered this princess.
A pair of wings burning with golden flames unfurled behind Emilia, and the room’s temperature kept rising. Mo Li even felt the floor getting hot under her feet.
This is bad. This phoenix princess is thoroughly pissed off, even revealing her bloodline’s phantom. Can she still survive?
It’s said that the temperature of phoenix flames can melt even diamonds…
Mo Li swallowed hard.
As she had guessed, Emilia had lost the desire to torment Mo Li. She despised these cunning little thieves who resorted to endless schemes and tricks. Such people weren’t even worthy of being used for her amusement.
She decided to unleash a phoenix fire, burning this disgusting girl to ashes.
The scorching sensation enveloped her entire body. Mo Li had once wondered what it would feel like to be consumed by flames. It wasn’t as bearable as she imagined, like a thousand fiery maggots gnawing at her bones, burrowing into her marrow, tearing through her flesh and organs…
Is she going to die?
What a pity, the hard-earned chance to survive is gone just like that.
But it was merely a pity. As for other emotions, Mo Li had none. She had nothing to hold onto in this world, coming and going like a handful of dust, so there was no such thing as unwillingness…
Wait, no…
Given the temperature of phoenix fire, she should have melted without feeling any pain.
Why…
“Crackle!”
“This is…”
Mo Li was astonished to see the flames devouring her gradually extinguish, only then noticing the silver dragon scales covering her skin.
Was it Qian Baiyu’s bloodline that saved her life?
Mo Li was utterly surprised, and Emilia, who witnessed the whole process, was even more shocked, her mouth agape.
She knew how terrifying the temperature of a phoenix’s life flame was. There was almost nothing in this world it couldn’t melt, yet this mysterious little thief before her had somehow emerged unscathed from her phoenix fire…
