Subtitle: I don’t mean anything by it~ I simply believe everyone present here is trash.
Qiweiya rode on horseback, her eyes like a dead fish. Vernis, on another horse, stared intently at her.
“I think I’m perfectly capable of fending for myself, Vernis. You really don’t need to watch me so closely…”
Vernis’s blood-red eyes remained fixed on her, giving Qiweiya a headache. ‘What in the world did Mei tell Vernis?’ she wondered. Ever since they returned to the caravan, Vernis hadn’t stopped staring, making goosebumps erupt all over Qiweiya’s skin.
The members of the caravan gazed at Qiweiya with expressions of profound reverence. Indeed, she had abandoned her disguise. This thought brought a wave of ‘seaweed tears’ to Qiweiya’s mind.
This was the fate of a defeated dog; she had promised Kiana and Mei that she would no longer conceal her true identity.
‘But wouldn’t going to the academy like this just make me a big shot?’ she mused. ‘Wouldn’t that defeat the whole purpose of going?’
After all, there was a troublesome individual at the academy whom she absolutely did not want to encounter. ‘Yes, an old monster who has lived for thousands of years.’
That old monster was the founder of this very academy. Otherwise, how could it have become the ‘Strongest Academy’ it was today, established against the immense pressure from various nations and races?
As for why Qiweiya didn’t want to show her true face, ‘That *freaking* person had already carved a massive statue of me out of priceless Divine Carving Stone and placed it at the entrance!’ she fumed internally. ‘How is that any different from being framed and put on display?’
With its shimmering, multicolored light, even a blind person would know what the Goddess of Ice and Snow looked like. One of the most repulsive characteristics of the Divine Carving Stone, to Qiweiya, was that anyone who saw the statue would never forget her image.
‘Remember, every single detail of the statue!’ she thought. ‘Even if you developed Alzheimer’s, it would be the same…’
‘Should Qiweiya be grateful there wasn’t a ‘naked’ statue of her?’ she mused. After all, that person knew many intimate details about her.
Now, seeing her, the caravan members instantly knew her identity was linked to that accursed statue. They must have visited the academy and seen it, otherwise, their reaction wouldn’t be so extreme.
Their gazes were like those of Chinese people encountering a living Bodhisattva, their eyes practically popping out, as if they wanted to commit every single detail of her to memory and pass it down through generations.
Qiweiya waved her hand. “Hey! Uncle Seim, over here, come here!”
Seim, looking bewildered, pointed to himself with an expression of utter confusion.
“Yes, you! You’re the only one named Seim in this caravan, aren’t you?”
After confirming, Seim’s face flushed with an adrenaline-fueled excitement. Under the envious gazes of his teammates, he scurried over to her.
“Does Goddess-sama have any commands for me?”
Qiweiya scratched her cheek, a conflicted expression on her face. “You don’t have to use honorifics. We Origin Gods don’t have such strict rules and regulations as you mortals do~ Just call me Qiweiya.”
Seim, however, looked displeased and spoke with utmost seriousness. “That won’t do! Lady Qiweiya has bestowed immense grace upon our human race! Our people, for countless generations, have passed down the saying: ‘When you drink from the well, never forget who dug it; always remember Qiweiya!'”
“Slap!”
Qiweiya covered her face, an expression of utter despair. ‘Who knows how those ancient humans managed to twist a famous quote originally attributed to Chairman Mao into this? Now, I’m experiencing the cruel treatment of being revered as a revolutionary ancestor myself…’
“You don’t need to say another word! I don’t want to hear you continue! I feel like I’ll never be able to face my elders back home…”
Although Seim didn’t understand the idiom ‘elders back home,’ seeing Qiweiya’s dramatic expression, he wisely shut his mouth.
Qiweiya nodded in satisfaction. “Not bad, not bad! You have potential, Uncle, I have high hopes for you~ Oh, right…”
Qiweiya pointed to a patch of woods ahead. “Look ahead, what do you see?”
Seim rubbed his head. ‘Is Lady Qiweiya testing my observational skills?’ he wondered.
Seim declared solemnly, “I see a smooth, open road!”
After a moment, instead of hearing Qiweiya’s praise, he saw her giving him a look that clearly said, ‘What an idiot.’
Seim awkwardly rubbed his nose. “Is something wrong?”
Qiweiya’s eyes were like dead fish. “I’m not asking you to ponder the meaning of life, you idiot! I’m saying there are bandits up ahead, and I need you to go tell the whole team to prepare for an ambush!”
Seim froze, turning to stone on the spot.
Qiweiya sighed, rubbing her forehead, and with a wave of her hand, she teleported Seim, who was now in a ‘1, 2, 3, Statue’ state, back to the caravan.
Riding her horse, she stretched out a hand to halt the caravan. Under the curious gazes of its members, she pinched her nose and shouted:
“This tree is mine! This road I claim! If you wish to pass this way~ Leave your women, I say!”
Vernis buried her face in her hands in embarrassment, while the caravan members looked equally mortified.
Silence.
“Caw~ Caw~ Caw~ Caw~” A flock of crows flew past.
“Bang! *Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh*…”
Qiweiya blew on the muzzle of her gun, a wisp of smoke curling from it, and coldly eyed the few crows lying on the ground. “You fools dare to make me embarrassed? Can’t cry now, can you?”
During the eerie silence, a conversation drifted from the woods opposite. “Boss! They stole our lines. What do we say now?”
“Damn it! We’re supposed to say: ‘This tree is mine, this road I claim! If you wish to pass this way, leave your toll!’ Go on, say it loud, with spirit!”
“Oh, oh!”
Then, a scrawny figure darted out, shrieking, “This—this tree is mine!… This—this road is mine—I claim!… If you wish to pass this way~ Leave your—your—your toll!”
“Good! Well said!” came a chorus of shouts.
Amidst a cacophony of cheers, a large group of people—tall and short, fat and thin—rushed out and blocked Qiweiya and her companions. From their midst, a hulking man with an Arnold Schwarzenegger-like physique stepped forward and declared loudly, “Listen up, you *idiots* ahead! You have been robbed by us! If you wish to leave… then hand over your money. Don’t worry, we won’t touch your women, children, or even your aunts and uncles! Rest assured.”
Qiweiya looked at the motley crew before her, a diverse mix of weak and strong, and almost spoke, then hesitated. ‘Did they truly not value their lives enough?’ she wondered. ‘Did they want to block the road and court death?’
Any city-level expert could overturn them several times over, yet here they were, daring to jump around in front of a nation-level expert. ‘They truly don’t know the meaning of the word ‘death’.’
Qiweiya pointed at the hulking man. “Hey! Big guy, do you even know who you’re trying to stop?”
The scrawny man who had shouted earlier tugged at the hulking man’s sleeve and whispered in his ear, “Boss, I think we’ve stopped someone really important. What do we do now?”
The hulking man smacked him on the head. “Are you an idiot?! We bandits have our own bandit code! We can’t just not stop them because of their status. Now, we must uphold the justice in our hearts!”
As Qiweiya’s mouth twitched into an odd expression, the hulking man stepped forward and pointed at her. “Little child, don’t interrupt! Adults are speaking; go play in the mud.”
Silence.
The caravan members behind Qiweiya looked at the bandit leader with pity, for he had successfully courted death.
Qiweiya lowered her head, then suddenly spoke in a chilling voice. “Do you have any idea who you were just talking to?”
As the hulking man and his crew exchanged bewildered glances, Qiweiya raised her head, a terrifyingly evil smile gracing her lips. “It’s not that I’m trying to be rude~ but in my eyes, everyone present here is trash!”
A fierce sense of dread exploded in the hulking man’s mind. He quickly shouted, “Run, lads! We’ve stirred up big trouble!”
With that, he turned tail and fled.
Qiweiya watched the panicking bandits, a cold sneer on her face. “Run? It’s too late now! Stay and accept my torture, a fate worse than death~”
And then… the bandits’ bodies were repeatedly thrown into the air by Qiweiya with skillful force, only to crash back down to the ground. This cycle repeated endlessly, making the caravan members wince in sympathy.
However, they failed to notice the Young Prince, his face alight with adoration, whose fervent gaze seemed capable of burning a hole through Qiweiya.
As for the subsequent punishment… suffice it to say, the bandits eventually walked away, clutching their crotches and looking utterly drained.
You can simply ignore the ants, feathers, and various unidentified black fuzz on the ground.