stop being a threat to us personally, but when we leave our friends and minions won't have us to help them against a third level if he doesn't advance.
He hasn't even hinted at targeted them now - I'm not sure he'd care to target them next year. Sure, he's probably not hyper-rational or anything, but what does he actually
gain from targeting them? Sure, Ling Qi would be in the inner sect, but if she really cared to she could probably find a way to reach out and touch him - either by finding an avenue herself or through Renxiang and her contacts. She could offer some free tutoring, talismans or pills to someone in the outer sect to ruin his lunch, say. Why give her a reason to? It's not like Li Suyin and Su Ling are the type to involve themselves in the inter-group chaos anyway.
Along similar lines, she could offer something to one of the heavier hitters that didn't make it to keep an eye on them before she graduates. For that matter, Li Suyin is under the direction of someone I wager could easily take care of Yan Renshu if he
were willing to target them because they're associated with Ling Qi. Not that he's shown any evidence of doing so to date. Or of hating Ling Qi to the point of sacrificing everything to get at her (Agrajag he is not).
His actions against her after the theft show he's pretty pissed - trying to trap her in his lair when she escaped, stabbing her with a knife and trying to cut off her finger with the space ring he thought his stolen property was in in the immediate aftermath, giving info he could've sold to Sun Liling for free and trying to meddle with her getting sect points - but they don't show
excessive hatred, the kind that'd lead to him wiping himself out to get at her or to go after anyone associated with her. In fact, Meizhen's probably pissed him off just as much, given how she's been hunting him and his remaining minions.
The message he's gotten so far is - attempting to get revenge on Ling Qi is liable to fail, and only brings more suffering upon himself. Meizhen has made it clear that even if he were able to overcome Ling Qi herself, she'd ruthlessly hunt him down (and I doubt he has any illusions about what she'd do when she caught him). Ling Qi is quite close to Cai Renxiang as well, which doesn't help his prospects much. She herself is almost certainly one of the prospects for graduating through the combat tournament. In short, if he's got any other desires on his mind (like a power base in the outer sect, or making it to the inner sect), going after Ling Qi any further is likely to be less than appealing. After all, she's likely gone in a few months and, unless he draws her eye, she's unlikely to ever bother him again.
We'll see how he behaves when cornered (probably), of course. I'm guessing he'll either panic or gloat (if he thinks his defenses will win out, or if he's gotten Sun Liling or some of her remaining minions to help in an ambush against the duo); if the former, it'll be interesting to see if he tries to bargain, if he has a "why can't you leave me alone?" wail, vows she'll regret crossing him, etc etc.
There is a miniature fun size war going on. The entire sect is a permanent battle royale. Yan Renshu is on the opposite side of the war. It doesn't matter if Yan Renshu has been retaliating against our stealing from him. He is an enemy in this mock war and thinking that Ling Qi is powerful enough that she can pull her punches and treat her enemies with the kiddy gloves, when even the most powerful cultivator's like Sun don't, is the height of hubris.
More importantly, I feel letting Meizhan go all out will lead to more interesting results.
Why are people thinking that "show restraint" is Ling Qi treating people with kiddy gloves, is the "sunshine and hugs"path or any of the similar nonsense?
She's still going to beat him down, break a bunch of his shit, loot him some more and try to deal with him in a way that removes him as a viable threat. She's just not going to do so through means that the sect, if made aware of it, would be unlikely to disapprove of, or that would possibly lead to her saying or doing something that puts Meizhen back in that unfortunate head-space (say, flinching away from a post-torture Meizhen's approach).
