The dormitory supervisor’s mouth slowly opened wider and wider, unconsciously taking a step back as he stammered: “This is… you’re like this…”

Tie Ci merely glanced at him without bothering to respond, then walked past. The supervisor didn’t dare to stop her and retreated another step.

The group had originally been standing at the moon gate between the first dormitory and the main hall. Now that the supervisor had moved aside, Ma De’s group was exposed. They had been smiling when they heard Tie Ci had returned, but upon seeing her clearly, someone immediately screamed in terror, jumping three feet high. The rest turned pale and retreated in panic.

Tie Ci was half-covered in blood—wolf blood, snake blood—dripping and splattering in vivid red patches. In one hand she carried a large sack, from which grayish-yellow long fur protruded, mixed with dark bloodstains and emitting a foul odor. Even more frightening was that several dead snakes of various lengths hung from her shoulders. Upon seeing Ma De and his group, she pulled down one snake and whipped it across Ma De’s face.

“Buddy, returning your snake!”

Ma De saw her appearance and turned to flee, but how could he match her speed? With a sharp crack, the dead snake struck him squarely, immediately followed by his agonized scream. Blood exploded from his nose, mixing with the snake blood as it sprayed, and a large white tooth rolled across the ground.

Tie Ci didn’t stop there, grabbing another snake to smash into another person’s face. Another scream rang out, and the rest shouted and scattered in all directions. Tie Ci charged into the crowd, whipping and throwing snakes in one fluid motion—crack, crack, crack, crack—the sounds echoing continuously. In just moments, Ma De’s entire group lay on the ground with bruised and swollen faces, surrounded by dead snakes, broken teeth, and chaos.

While Tie Ci was taking action, the supervisor kept roaring for her to stop, but never dared to approach. Only after Tie Ci stopped did he rush forward, and somehow a group of teachers had gathered behind him—instructors, supervisors, academy officials, dormitory supervisors—a whole crowd. Each wore an ashen expression, glaring angrily at Tie Ci.

The supervisor angrily filed his complaint: “…This Ye Shiba stayed out all night, returned from outside the mountain early this morning, filthy and disheveled, then without a word started whipping people with dead snakes, violating multiple academy rules…”

He didn’t need to say more—everyone present could see Ma De’s group writhing in misery on the ground.

The students had all backed away, looking at Tie Ci with complex expressions.

The academy supervisor had always been fair and strict in his enforcement. With such brazen behavior that was undeniable, severe punishment was inevitable.

Several older teachers had already begun angrily scolding her.

The academy supervisor, who was responsible for disciplinary oversight, sighed and looked at Tie Ci with regret, saying: “You should go to the ancestral hall first…”

According to academy rules, students who broke regulations must first go to the ancestral hall to light incense for the ancient sages, then present their case and await judgment.

Tie Ci said: “What, you don’t plan to hear my explanation?”

“That must also be done at the…”

The supervisor, having received the academy supervisor’s instruction, stepped forward to drag Tie Ci away. An instructor was still angrily saying: “In a hundred years, the academy has never seen such a wild troublemaker…”

As the supervisor approached, Tie Ci dropped the hemp sack at his feet. Wolf tails scattered across the ground, and he stepped on the soft, bouncy fur, jumping back in shock. After looking down for a long moment, his expression changed: “This is… these are wolf tails?”

The crowd erupted in astonishment.

The wolf tails that had spilled from the bag numbered at least several dozen!

Everyone knew there was a wolf pack in these mountains. The academy and surrounding villagers had suffered greatly from them. People normally avoided the wolves’ territory when entering the mountains, yet every year people still died in wolf attacks. The academy had posted rewards, but even the best hunters wouldn’t take the bounty, as everyone knew wolf packs weren’t simply collections of individual wolves—they were more vicious and cunning, difficult even for experts to handle. No one wanted to throw their life away casually.

Now this meant… Ye Shiba had single-handedly wiped out the wolf pack?

How was that possible!

The academy supervisor stared at the wolf tails in shock. “These are… from the pack behind the mountain?”

“Yes.”

“How did you…” someone started to ask.

“Esteemed teachers, only now do you think to ask how I came to fight wolves? Are you still going to ask why I stayed out all night, why I used snakes to whip people? What made you jump to conclusions and arbitrarily decide I had violated academy rules without distinguishing right from wrong?” Tie Ci smiled as she used her toe to nudge the wolf tails. “If I had died in the wolves’ jaws, would I have been destined to bear these false accusations, dying for nothing?”

The academy supervisor frowned: “It needn’t come to that. Please explain in detail.”

“Yesterday during archery class, this group lured me deep into the forest, where they had dug a trap waiting for me. After I fell in, they poured down a basket of snakes.”

The crowd erupted in astonishment.

“She’s lying! She’s lying! We didn’t!”

“All poisonous snakes.”

“Nonsense!”

“Look,” Tie Ci lifted a dead snake for display, “Three-step death, Green bamboo snake, Gold-ringed, Silver-ringed… I also heard them discussing that one person didn’t need so many poisonous snakes to kill, so they’d keep a few to raise at the academy, then slip them into anyone’s bedding who displeased them.”

The crowd erupted again, this time shaking the roof tiles.

Everyone stepped back another pace, moving even further from Ma De’s group.

Some people ran back to their dormitories to check.

Ma De lost all his fine composure, shouting: “Nonsense! Pure lies! When have we ever done such things!”

His eyes were fierce and malicious, his words resolute, glaring viciously at those behind him, warning them with his gaze.

They had already agreed on this beforehand!

Without evidence, as long as they denied everything to the death, Ye Shiba couldn’t do anything to them!

But someone came running frantically, followed by a servant whose face was pale white, using fire tongs to hold a still-writhing snake.

The snake’s body was marked with bright golden rings.

The crowd, who had been half-doubting, were immediately shocked at this sight.

Curses erupted everywhere. Seeing this snake and imagining this disgusting, cold creature sliding into their bedding at night, everyone shuddered.

But Ma De’s group panicked.

Why was there a snake?

This clearly never happened!

A hot-tempered student, seeing the snake, flew into a rage: “What vicious hearts! Are you trying to privately judge and punish fellow students? Then let me settle accounts with you first!” He charged forward with a kick.

This kick was like opening the floodgates for everyone’s anger. Immediately countless students pounced forward with punches and kicks. The supervisor’s loud attempts to stop them were useless as he was swept up in the crowd, staggering about and crying out in pain.

The academy supervisor and others were scholars who had never dealt with such scenes, only able to shout helplessly from outside. Ma De held his head as fists rained down like hail. He gritted his teeth and shouted: “No, I didn’t! We don’t know anything about this, don’t be deceived!”

Someone else said: “Finding one snake doesn’t prove anything. What if Ye Shiba had someone plant it? After all, they have conflicts.”

The crowd, hearing this reasoning, hesitated momentarily.

But one youth, unable to bear the beating and inexplicable injustice, suddenly burst out with a great shout: “No! I didn’t! We never brought snakes in at all, and those snakes weren’t poisonous either. When I bought them from the hunter, I was afraid of being accidentally harmed, so I specifically bought only non-poisonous ones!”

“…”

The punches and kicks stopped.

The crowd slowly processed this, mechanically turning to look at Tie Ci.

Tie Ci stood in the morning sun, showing a benevolent smile: “What a good child.”

No one knew who she was referring to.

Ma De let out a pained howl.

The academy supervisor and others looked at each other helplessly.

“The matter of luring me into a trap and deceiving me with snakes has been admitted by the person involved.” Tie Ci said expressionlessly. “Then, they attracted the Qingyang Mountain wolf pack.”

The crowd gasped in shock.

“Bullshit!” Ma De roared.

Meeting Tie Ci’s contemptuous glance.

Ma De instantly understood.

From the beginning, when Ye Shiba mentioned the wolf pack, they denied it and no one would believe her.

She deliberately waited for them to deny everything first, then tricked them into confessing about the snakes themselves. Now their credibility had dropped to rock bottom in everyone’s minds.

At this moment, bringing up the wolf pack matter and pinning it on them, everyone would believe it now.

“The Qingyang Mountain wolf pack’s usual activity area isn’t behind the academy—there are many hunters here and little food. Without someone deliberately guiding them, they wouldn’t have appeared there so coincidentally at that time.”

Everyone nodded in agreement.

“You indeed didn’t release poisonous snakes—that’s because someone among you was afraid of death and bought only non-venomous snakes. To ensure I would die, you found another way to attract the wolf pack. Weren’t you afraid that after the wolves ate me, they wouldn’t be satisfied and would follow the trail forward, entering the academy for an additional meal?”

Expanding and extending the crisis to everyone was most effective.

After all, people care more about matters affecting their own interests.

Immediately, the students’ angry curses once again drowned out Ma De and his group.

“You’re lying! Lying! Pure lies! We never wanted to kill you! We only wanted to scare you, make you stay out all night and get punished. After several punishments you wouldn’t be able to stay, hopefully you’d be scared enough to leave on your own. We could never attract a wolf pack!”

Ma De stared fiercely at Tie Ci: “You’re the one framing us!”

Tie Ci stared into his eyes, confusion rising in her heart.

She could confirm the wolf pack was indeed brought by someone—she had heard sounds. Originally she thought it must be Ma De’s group, but at the time she had some doubts. If Ma De’s group truly wanted her dead, poisonous snakes would have been enough. Why risk provoking those hungry wolves?

Now seeing the expressions of Ma De’s group, it seemed they truly didn’t know about the wolf pack. Then this matter became somewhat delicate. Had someone else been present at the time? Was it he who attracted the wolf pack? Who was he? Why would he do such a thing?

However, Ma De was from the Dayan tribe. Tie Ci had already sent Chi Xue to investigate his identity and background, so for now she still considered him the primary suspect.

“That’s how things were.” Tie Ci said. “Staying out all night was due to being framed, disheveled appearance was unavoidable, and using snakes to whip people… I think I was already quite gentle. I should have used live poisonous snakes instead.”

Everyone nodded in deep agreement.

“These wolves… you killed them all?”

“I don’t have such ability. I was just lucky.” Tie Ci smiled. “As the saying goes, the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. A group of hunters had also targeted this wolf pack and organized themselves, planning to eliminate this menace for the villagers. They had been following the pack, and when the wolves attacked me, they ambushed them. This was everyone’s combined effort.”

The crowd breathed a collective sigh of relief.

After all, having a peerless master among fellow students would be quite frightening.

Everyone preferred to believe this explanation.

This was also the story Tie Ci and Rong Wei had agreed upon—Rong Wei only wanted money, Tie Ci didn’t want fame.

“How does the supervisor plan to handle this?” Tie Ci asked.

“First go to the ancestral hall…”

“Oh, I forgot to mention.” Tie Ci said. “Before returning, I already had someone report this to the authorities.”

The academy supervisor said in surprise: “This is merely an internal academy violation after all…”

“This student doesn’t believe this is merely an internal academy matter. Ma De’s behavior constitutes attempted murder. As a foreigner, he dared to aspire to become a disciple of our dynasty’s Confucian sages, resorting to any means and treating human life as worthless.” Tie Ci said. “Does the academy still plan to keep a malicious foreign murderer here, placing all of our Da Qian’s talented youth in danger?”

An instructor couldn’t help saying: “Ma De’s mother is from a great Haiyou family. He grew up in Haiyou from childhood, nurtured by our Da Qian’s poetry, books, and ritual propriety. His speech and behavior are no different from our Da Qian people. He has never even been to Dayan. Though he has committed crimes, you needn’t always bring up his foreign status.”

Tie Ci smiled: “His speech and behavior are no different from our Da Qian people?”

She smiled while raising an eyebrow, her face full of “Are you speaking up for Ma De or insulting Da Qian?”

Without needing to say more, this one sentence carried full mockery. That teacher, who had probably recommended Ma De for admission, flushed red and retreated two steps.

“The others are mostly accomplices. After all, our Da Qian’s fine sons couldn’t think up such vicious schemes.” Tie Ci smoothly separated out those subordinate students—firstly, their crimes indeed weren’t serious enough for the authorities, secondly it preserved some face for the academy since they couldn’t really send so many students to court, and thirdly it was doing a favor. Whether they appreciated it was up to them—anyway, their petty schemes weren’t as numerous as her counter-attack methods.

Those anxious students immediately felt greatly relieved, most hurrying to thank her.

A few others stood aside, heads lowered looking at the ground, their eyes full of unwillingness.

Tie Ci recognized those people—they had previously been Young Master Qi’s flag-waving followers. In Ziyang they had mocked Shen Mi and been rebuked by her. Coming here and finding that Young Master Qi wouldn’t include them anymore, they had switched to Ma De, this new boss with lots of money but little sense.

She wasn’t certain whether they had participated in last night’s events, but this morning these fellows had definitely come together with Ma De.

Those who had done wrong should go to the ancestral hall to reflect first. The academy supervisor merely waved his hand, and these people forgot about their new boss, dejectedly going on their own.

Before long, officials indeed arrived to take Ma De away. As he left, the man still stared viciously at Tie Ci.

Tie Ci smiled and waved farewell. She caught Shen Mi’s eye in the crowd.

Before entering the academy, she had sent Rong Wei ahead to contact Shen Mi, giving him a poisonous snake to place randomly in someone’s room.

Shen Mi felt relieved and withdrew after his successful mission.

Suddenly an eagle’s cry sounded overhead. Tie Ci looked up to see Dan Ye, that bird-man in red robes flying wildly, gripping eagle talons as he flew down. Before landing he called out loudly: “I’ve been looking for you all night, where did you go!”

Tie Ci stared at him in surprise.

When had they become such good friends? Did he really think of her as his father?

Dan Ye landed and saw the wolf tails scattered everywhere. His expression also changed, eyebrows raised as he looked Tie Ci up and down with considerable disbelief.

He naturally didn’t believe that nonsense about hunters conducting a siege, but neither did he believe so many wolves could be handled by Tie Ci alone. However, Tie Ci didn’t give him a chance to interrogate her. With a fake smile and cupped hands, she said: “I’m filthy and urgently need to wash. Please excuse me.”

She hurriedly turned away. Dan Ye was about to follow when Hu Yin beside him crossed his arms and chuckled: “Central Plains, has saying.”

“Speak! Quickly, can you or can’t you?”

“Eager face, likes stick, cold buttocks.” Hu Yin said. “Don’t look, your daddy, left.”

“Who’s sticking to her? Who are you saying is sticking to her?”

“Whoever, heard person, missing, went looking, drilling woods, drilling all night, that’s who.”

“Amazing, Hu Yin, you can say three characters now. Come, repeat after me: Ugly monster, little stutterer, night witch…”

“Little black skin, bare-butt maniac, three-inch nail…”

…