Canaan racked his brains and tried to come up with a way to put Barbara in her place, but someone beat him to it.

Clap! A figure who had been quiet this whole time suddenly stepped forward and slapped Barbara on the face!

The sound of the heavy slap echoed throughout the hall. Barbara staggered backward, reeling from the blow.

As though the burning palm print on her face wasn't enough, she also felt so humiliated.

"Shame on you! You're so young, yet you're already so scheming!" a Loud voice chastised her.

It was Julie.

She was so angry that she forgot about her manners and slapped Barbara in the face with all her might to defend her daughter.

Never in Barbara's wildest dreams would she have expected an outsider to attack her in front of the Jenkins family.

Thus, she had let her guard down, which was how Julie was able to get close to her in the first place.

"Ah! How dare you hit me! Who the hell do you think you are? I'Ul kill you, you bitch!"

Blinded with rage, Barbara pounced on Julie, claws out...

Clap! The sound of this second slap was even crisper than the first.

Barbara covered her stinging cheek in horror. She couldn't believe that someone else would dare to slap her in front of the Jenkins family!

She struggled to look at the source of the slap, but to her surprise, it was Maria who did it!

And Maria was in her fighting stance.

Barbara was sure that she was already on guard! She wondered how Maria could make it.

As a four-grade pill alchemist, she couldn't defend herself at all against Maria's slap. She staggered backward and almost fell to the ground in a daze.

“Maria!” Barbara shrieked in shock and anger.

“How dare you hit me! Are you out of your goddamned mind?"

“Touch my mother again and I'll rip you to shreds," Maria replied coldly.

Barbara shot Maria a murderous glare, her eyes bloodshot with rage. But when she met Maria's icy-cold gaze, Barbara shrank back in fear. At the same time, she found it hard to believe that a mere look from Maria made her heart palpitate.

How could it be possible?

Only a top ancient martial artist could do that...

Wait a second. Did that mean Maria was a master in ancient martial arts?