As for starting trouble, she was never afraid.

Lin Jiuci! It felt almost like meeting her older sister for the very first time, yet she loved her instantly.
"Jiuci, I know how to read the situation. If you are in the wrong, I will still give you a beating when we get back," Lin Jiuge said, her tone shifting.
Lin Jiuci put away her smile and nodded obediently.

The next day, Zhang Boyu, still unyielding and resentful at school, was beaten by Lin Jiuci once more. Neither of them was willing to submit to the other.
However, Zhang Boyu's previous cruel words had already wounded the other children's hearts, causing them to deliberately keep their distance from him.
Even without any scheduled breaks, Zhang Boyu kept challenging her to fights, yet the outcome remained identically the same—he lost every single time. Refusing to surrender, he would pick himself up, fight again, and continue to lose.

Unreconciled to his defeats, Zhang Boyu finally grew wiser in his methods. He ran back to his grandfather, throwing tantrums and crying until he secured a stash of powerful talismans.
This time, he was certain he would win. Zhang Boyu arrived exceptionally early that morning, waiting with wild excitement for Lin Jiuci to appear.
Lin Jiuci had no inkling that danger was lying in wait for her.

"Lin Jiuci!" Zhang Boyu glared at her, clutching a talisman in his right hand as he lunged straight toward her.
Before Lin Jiuci could even react, with a deafening blast, the talisman detonated right beside her. Tian Ting and Tian Hao immediately rushed forward, only to find themselves engulfed in billowing clouds of smoke.
As the thick smoke finally cleared, Zhang Boyu was seen lying flat on the ground, completely unconscious, while Lin Jiuci stood frozen in place, as if frightened out of her wits.
With a helpless sigh, Tian Ting had no choice but to summon the adults once again.

Zhang Xianglin arrived first. Upon seeing the miserable state of his son, he asked no questions whatsoever and immediately moved to attack Lin Jiuci, only to be intercepted by Lin Jiuge, who had just hurried over.
"Senior Brother, what do you think you are doing?" Lin Jiuge asked, her face dark with fury.
"Junior Sister, hand that little beast over right now!" Zhang Xianglin had completely lost his reason.
"Senior Brother, what kind of joke are you telling? The 'little beast' you speak of is my own biological sister! Furthermore, do you even know what actually happened, Senior Brother, that you would so recklessly pass judgment and condemn my sister?" Lin Jiuge cared not a whit for her senior brother's cultivation level.

"Junior Sister, is there even any need to ask? Your sister is standing there safe and sound, while my son is knocked out cold!" Zhang Xianglin roared in rage, lunging forward to attack again.
"Your son is unconscious, yet instead of trying to save him first, you attack my sister without asking about right or wrong? Senior Brother, there is no such logic in this world!" Lin Jiuge refused to give ground by even an inch!
"Junior Sister, forgive me." Zhang Xianglin decided that even if it meant offending the Combat Venerable, he would cripple that little brat.

With those words, he shifted his stance and charged straight at Lin Jiuci. Lin Jiuge's anger flared to its absolute limit—asking no questions, she unsheathed her golden sword.

Tian Ting and Tian Hao hastily heraded the group of children away, pulling them far from the battlefield. Lin Jiuge tossed Lin Jiuci into the arms of Zhou Yan, who had just arrived, and charged toward Zhang Xianglin with murderous intent.
"Uncle-Master," Tian Ting and Tian Hao bowed in greeting.
"No need for formalities. Tell me, what on earth happened here?" Zhou Yan asked, coaxing the trembling Lin Jiuci in his arms.
"Uncle-Master, we are not entirely sure ourselves. We just arrived to find the situation like this," Tian Ting replied with a bitter smile.
"Jiuci, tell Senior Brother what really happened. Don't be afraid; Senior Brother will back you up," Zhou Yan coaxed the little girl in his arms.
"Wuwuwu, Senior Brother, Zhang Boyu bullied me! The moment I stepped into the courtyard, he used some item to blast me—even my protective talisman shattered!" Lin Jiuci cried, her emotions finally breaking through once she was safely in the arms of someone familiar.
Zhou Yan looked at the protective talisman hanging around Lin Jiuci's neck; it was indeed charred and spent.

The two fighters were evenly matched, leaving the rookie school children gaping in utter astonishment. They were so, so strong!
Zhang Xianglin was at the second layer of the Unfettered Realm, while Lin Jiuge was only at the second layer of the Mortal-Clarifying Realm. There was a vast, unbridgeable chasm between their cultivation levels, yet somehow, they were fighting to a complete standstill.
"Uncle-Master, shouldn't we break them up?" Tian Ting asked anxiously.
"It's fine, at worst one of them gets crippled," Zhou Yan replied casually. After all, Zhang Xianglin's oppressive aura didn't even amount to a quarter of their grand-uncle's.
"But—" Tian Ting didn't know how to phrase her worry. What if Senior Aunt Jiuge got hurt?
"Rest assured, Jiuge knows what she's doing." Zhou Yan rarely bothered to comfort anyone, yet he himself felt deeply comforted at that moment. Splendid! Now that he walked around the grounds, no disciples ever randomly passed out anymore, and they could actually converse with him normally.

Tian Ting grew even more frantic. Why was Uncle-Master Zhou completely missing the point of her worry?
As the fight dragged on, Zhang Xianglin's mind gradually cleared, filling him with profound shock. His junior sister, with merely that level of cultivation, was fighting him to a draw even while wielding a golden sword. He was now riding a tiger and unable to dismount; winning would look disgraceful, and losing would look equally disgraceful.

The longer the fight continued, the angrier Lin Jiuge became. Why was her little sister's schooling path so treacherous? Making friends with peers was already difficult enough, and obnoxious parents of unruly children were simply detestable.
The golden sword flashed brilliantly, and Lin Jiuge's aura continuously surged upward.
"Master, those two are so powerful," a disciple whispered quietly, wondering if they too could ever become that strong.
"Yeah, Master, Lin Jiuci's older sister is amazing!" Children possessed a very straightforward sense of right and wrong. Because they liked Lin Jiuci, they decided that regardless of her sister's cultivation level, her sister was simply incredible.
"That is our Junior Grand-Aunt, after all," Tian Ting said proudly by reflex.
"Lin Jiuci's sister has such a high seniority?"
"Lin Jiuci's sister is so cool!"
"That's right! My sister is the most amazing person in the world!" Lin Jiuci's fear vanished entirely. She motioned for Zhou Yan to put her down, and began boasting to the group of little children about how unimaginably formidable her older sister was.

Watching Lin Jiuci debate with a bunch of toddlers about whose sister was superior, Zhou Yan realized for the first time that Jiuci was an absolute sister-fanatic.

Driven to desperation, Zhang Xianglin was forced to unleash his ultimate trump cards, yet no matter how powerful a magical artifact was, it appeared utterly fragile and useless before Lin Jiuge's golden sword. Zhang Xianglin had never imagined he would be driven to such an utterly humiliating state.
"Boom!"
A figure materialized between them, separating the two combatants with a single motion. Recognizing that the newcomer was a stranger, Lin Jiuge could tell from his attire that he belonged to the same generation as her master.
"Xianglin, stand down. Go and check on Boyu," Zhang Geng said indifferently. Ever since his grandson insisted on entering the academy, his daily routine had consisted entirely of losing face; now, even his dignity was nearly squandered. What a worthless descendant.
"Jiuge greets Uncle-Master Wusi." From their strikingly similar facial features, Lin Jiuge deduced the newcomer's identity—Wusi Yuanzun, Master of the Artifact Hall, Zhang Xianglin's father, and Zhang Boyu's grandfather. She had beaten up the older generation, and now an even older one had shown up. Should she call for her master?

"You must be Jiuge. This time, Boyu was in the wrong. Once he wakes up, I will personally take both him and Xianglin to the Hall Master to confess their guilt and accept punishment," Zhang Geng stated.
This was the first time Lin Jiuge learned that the place where she lived was called the Hall Master's residence, and she fully understood the underlying implication in Zhang Geng's words.
"Uncle-Master Wusi, this was merely a scuffle between children; there is no need to make such a big deal out of it. Senior Brother Xianglin was just acting a bit hasty in temperament, and no real harm was done. There is no need for a formal visit of apology," Lin Jiuge politely declined.
Just like that, an unprovoked spar was casually dismissed as Senior Brother Xianglin merely having a hasty temperament, successfully turning a major issue into a minor one.

"Junior-Brother Wusi." Wodao Yuanzun also appeared on the scene.
"Senior-Brother Wozhan." Zhang Geng understood that with the Combat Venerable present, it would be even harder for him to turn the tables.
"Senior Brother, Junior Brother will take his leave now." It was better to just retreat.
"I won't see you out," Li Yun said with a stiff, mirthless smile. Having no ground to stand on yet daring to pick a fight with his disciple—what audacity!

"Disciples Tian Ting and Tian Hao pay respects to the Combat Venerable," the two said. This was, after all, the legendary number one combat expert of the Azure Continent.
"The two of you take the students back to their studies. I will be taking Jiuci back with me for now," Li Yun instructed.
"Understood, Venerable."
"Jiuge?"