The air in the room thickened to an almost suffocating extent. 

“I said, are you done yet? Because I am.”

A huff of exasperation came from Lei Qiu, causing the two holding him to tremble anxiously. 

Tilting his head, Lei Qiu raised an eyebrow and frowned slightly, saying,“Let go of me. I’m getting bored.”

Long Guowei’s glass exterior began to crack more than it already had. Hand clenched tightly around the bloodied sword in his hand, his teeth ground into each other in anger. 

“...Bored?” His shoulders slumped down as his body felt the defeat. “Is this funny to you?” The sword by his side clattered to the floor as his hand gradually became looser and looser from shock. 

Lei Qiu groaned in irritation as his shoulders were still bound tightly by the two lackeys. “I asked you both to let me go, are you deaf?” Feeling their unmoving grasp, Lei Qiu hung his head down towards the ground. There was only one good thing about this situation. 

Bai Huiliang isn’t here.

The corners of his mouth tilted upwards, growing wider and wider until he looked up to the one looming in front of him. Long Guowei. 

The other boy's face scrunched up in confusion and some other emotion, one only comparable to fear. 

“Why… why are you…”

Lei Qiu smiled. Not the kind or caring smile only shown to Bai Huiliang. Nor was it an expression that offered any sort of comfort or solace. The mere sight of such a face sent thoughts swirling in Long Guowei’s mind. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end. Everything in his body was telling him one thing: RUN. He tried but his body wouldn’t move. The air stood still as if an invisible hand had trapped everyone in that room in place. Sweat beaded down Long Guowei’s face and neck. He was in danger and everything in his being knew it, and yet there was nothing he could do to get himself out of this situation. He couldn’t leave even if he wanted to. In an attempt to speak the words got caught in his throat nearly choking him to death. Tears welled up in the eyes of Long Guowei as he saw only the darkness which poured out of the eyes of the other. 

Silently a ball of white fur wormed its way around Lei Qiu’s leg. Glancing down at the creature beside him, Lei Qiu smiled, “If that's all, I’ll be going then.” A powerful burst of wind sent the two disciples on his sides flying off only to fall into the hard wooden walls of the cabin. Stepping forward, Lei Qiu walked past Long Guowei who had fallen in fear right alongside his lackeys. A  thought having struck him, Lei Qiu turned around and faced the group just before reaching the door. 

“One more thing, I guess I should be thanking you all.” 

Before the group had any time to process what had happened and what his words meant, the small cat-like creature behind him grew and morphed in form. Growing and growing until something else entirely stood in the exact spot the cat once was. The Fengli Wind Tiger. Smiling, Lei Qiu petted the tiger behind the ear. 

“It is because of you all that I made a new friend after all, right?” said Lei Qiu as he glanced at the three while saying so. 

Their skin paled a concerning amount. Something they had truly only heard of, something near legend was standing before them. This beast, the very creature Long Guowei had hoped would kill Lei Qiu the night before. Not only had he (LQ) survived but he had managed to claim the beast for himself. Images and thoughts weaseled their way into the three’s heads as they imagined the massive jaws of the beast opening and swallowing them whole, killing them without a second thought. These boys had never been so closely acquainted with death as they seemingly stared it in its monstrous face. 

Smiling one last time, Lei Qiu turned and left, leaving the three to simmer in their fear and attempt to wrap their heads around the events that had just transpired. 

The beast, having morphed back into a cat, moved at his pace alongside him. 

Zheng Ai, have I wrapped up this section of the plot?... Zheng Ai?

After waiting a bit for a reply and getting no response in turn, Lei Qiu frowned and continued onward. 

The bullying arc was supposed to last for a couple of months at most but I assumed I’d be able to wrap it up quickly like I’ve been able to do for everything else…

Sighing in thought, Lei Qiu furrowed his brow.

How does the bullying arc end? Well with them dead I guess. Does that mean I have to let Xiao Bai kill them?

Shaking his head vigorously, Lei Qiu dismissed the idea. There was too much wrong with the idea of Bai Huiliang killing the trio. For starters he had his personal feelings against young Bai killing such despicable kids. More practically however was a fact that stood as the main grounds of why Bai Huiliang shouldn’t be allowed to kill them in the first place. 

In the novel after Bai Huiliang kills the three in heated revenge, he then has to spend the rest of his time in the sect doing everything in his power not to get caught for his crime of killing a fellow disciple. Eventually he gets caught and the sect, unwilling to listen, sentences him to a fate worse than death for a cultivator. The sect leaders destroy his spirit roots, causing extremely agonizing pain but worse than that, it renders him mortal and unable to cultivate his power anymore. Sure eventually he recovers physically and finds a new way to cultivate but still, I can’t let Xiao Bai go through that. Not this time. 

This left Lei Qiu with only one option. In order to help protect Bai Huiliang and move the plot along, there was only one thing he could do. Only him. 

Prying eyes hiding a good distance away had been watching the lost in thought Lei Qiu who had been standing in place for a few minutes now. Lei Qiu had to either find a way to get rid of those three, or kill them himself. Somewhat satisfied with the conclusion he had come to, Lei Qiu wrapped up his thoughts and left, as did Xiao Bai also leaving from his watchful distance.